I ordered a 24Volt 16AH Battery with my Magic Pie since here in Australia the law is a maximum of 200 watts. The MP 24Volt combo claims to produce 250 Watts, so I'm only slightly illegal. Yesterday morning, after I putting it all together the night before, I was eager to road test it. Its been extremely wet here lately but in between showers I set off into the hilly suburban streets and then to the long country lane where my grandchildren live on a 30 Acre semi-rural plot.
First reaction was; 'cripes, this has LOTS more power than I imagined, it certainly is NO TOY'. I weigh a little over 100 Kg and it easily coped with all the hills, only the extremely steep ones needed me to help and pedal. The second thing was speed, I'm an old bugger and last year went over the handlebars of a MB which put me on crutches for 20 weeks. My 24 Volt outfit here in the urban locale of a small village on the outskirts of Brisbane, lots of footpaths with the occasional car appearing unexpectedly out of a driveway, who needs to do more than 26 or so Kph?
The other noteworthy observation was the power of the regen brake effect. On the damp roads yesterday I was very much aware the rear wheel could lose traction if the regen 'effect' were used in a sharp corner at speed. Experiencing the vigorous regen effect makes using the actual brakes feel rather dead and lifeless, a bit like stepping on Chairman Mau.
Things that went wrong:
I fitted the Magic Pie conversion to a very old (PINK!) Ladies bike. There is WAY too much cabling and I'm going to have this tidied up by a specialist electric bike shop. I can't do it myself. Also, the deraileur disconnected itself TWICE. I noted this is tapered and I will need to file it flat and maybe get a spring washer to keep it in place. This is the only 'problem' I had and in no way a GM problem. However, I notice the RED light indicating EMPTY on the throttle control shows all the time. It also appears the charger will switch off after 2-3 hours, it gets quite hot. Is this normal?
In summary; I am delighted with this thing, as a kid I lived in hilly Mt Macedon Victoria, I would have given my left testimonial for one of these back in the 1960's. For the approximate cost of registering (let alone insuring) a 6 Cylinder Car in Queensland, I have another vehicle which will be used daily for all the little trips to the bottle shop, my watering hole, the supermarket or hardware shop. It costs SFA to run and maintain, and it gives me the exercise I need and it's fun to ride.
I'm a happy man.
