Conversion Demonstration

[REV Bikes]

I've been getting excited about organising a free demo bike conversion session at CERES Environment Park in Melbourne this Saturday.  What a great idea, to teach groups of otherwise uninterested people how to build their own rev-bike  
CERES had a very funky Jamis bike donated for the project (interesting how much harder conversions are on new fandangled bikes with bells and whistles everywhere, compared to simpler older bikes!).  I've learnt not to bother even trying with alloy suspension forks, and especially with drop-outs (i guess we could have made it work with an axle spacer..).   But it was decided to ditch that bike and go for an $80 Aldi steel-frame bike instead, less mods required  
I had a great (and well known) e-bike enthusiast teed up to deliver the session, who seemed to be getting right into the idea of sharing his skills in the REAL WORLD.  Because I'm sure you all agree, a girl couldn't possibly know enough about this stuff to command respect from this audience    
But then, at the last minute, the guest presenter pulls out.. by email!  
Not even the balls to have a conversation about it  

[GM Canada]

Sounds like a fun time! Just relax you will do fine.

Do you have a front internal mp2 kit? That would be the easiest to do. I would suggest the following.

Just have the bike on the kickstand, have the brake levers, throttle, and control buttons already done. Then explain to people how you removed the old grips with a knife and brake levers by loosening a couple of screws. Then you added the new Items by "just slide them on and tighten them up"

Have someone help you flip the bike over. Take the old wheel off and put the new one on . Might want to have an exta tube and tire on the new one already and explain how you can just transfer the tire and tube you have already.

Have a loose battery on hand and just sit it in front with a long battery cable. Plug everything in and give it a couple slow spinups.

Of course you need to practice this a few times first, but you should be fine.

Because I'm sure you all agree, a girl couldn't possibly know enough about this stuff to command respect from this audience   

Also I think you are looking at this wrong. If I had a choice of watching a girl or a guy demostrate an ebike build, well .....
hmm, I better not say, but I think you know what I'm saying   

Gary

[Bikemad]

Then explain to people how you removed the old grips with a knife

I have never had to resort to using a knife, I simply loosen the brake levers and just pull on them to compress the rubber grip and simply push it off from the inner end. Perhaps you should this technique next time and see how well it works. I like to remove things without damaging them so they can be re-used if necessary.
 

If I had a choice of watching a girl or a guy demostrate an ebike build, well .....
hmm, I better not say, but I think you know what I'm saying   

We certainly do, because you've already said it earlier today:

Looks pretty groovy, but what do I know
Can we see the bottom?

Gary, you should be really ashamed of yourself!

Because I'm sure you all agree, a girl couldn't possibly know enough about this stuff to command respect from this audience 

Well I'm sorry Rebecca, but I'm going to strongly disagree with you there, I fail to see how a person's gender has any bearing on their ability to retain knowledge, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting it. 

Anyway, as long as you know what you're doing, you'll be able to show everyone exactly what's involved, and hopefully you'll manage to persuade a few more people to go electric as well.



Alan

[REV Bikes]

Thanks for your input guys    Does make me feel better somewhat.
I have done a few Magic Pie conversions, I know what I'm doing well enough to do it..  
But the point was I engaged someone a lot more expert (who told me he had a background in electronics engeneering), and told the hosts of this event so in the planning stages.  So they have cancelled it now that he pulled out  
I've only been playing with bikes for about 6 months, had never even touched disc brakes until last month!  
I hear what you're saying, and of course I agree, that folks would LOVE to see a girl doing it, makes it seem much easier too..
But they don't want me to do it, as I am not confident in my technical or electrical knowledge, that's why I found someone else to do it in the first place.
20 people were booked in to attend!  That was a sell-out!  

[REV Bikes]

Oh dear, someone didn't like some parts of my posts..?   oops.. that's right, identities should be kept top secret here 
At least through this experience I know for next time, and LOOK OUT FELLAS..  I may just be determined now to become THE expert on electric bike conversions, so I never have to trust another man for ANYTHING ever again!   

[GM Canada]

Oh dear, someone didn't like some parts of my posts..?   oops.. that's right, identities should be kept top secret here 
At least through this experience I know for next time, and LOOK OUT FELLAS..  I may just be determined now to become THE expert on electric bike conversions, so I never have to trust another man for ANYTHING ever again!   

Whoops you were edited! I hope its not you telling me off for my coments! lol

I think what is great about you being a presenter is the fun of someone demostrating a job, having some difficulties and having a sence of humour about it. There is a very good example of this with Mag Ruffman. She is a clumbsy do it yourself girl from Canada. She did very well on tv in Canada until she became good at fixing things. Take a look at this video. If you can stick with it you will get a few laughs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XqW7kChosY

Gary

[GM Canada]

Then explain to people how you removed the old grips with a knife

I have never had to resort to using a knife, I simply loosen the brake levers and just pull on them to compress the rubber grip and simply push it off from the inner end. Perhaps you should this technique next time and see how well it works. I like to remove things without damaging them so they can be re-used if necessary.

Sure that works most of the time, but the intent here is to make it as easy as possible. I have done quite a few conversions now and the hand grips don't always come off as easy as you stated. Quite often they are very hard to come off with that method. I did not want to cut off my leather grips that came with my Townie. I tried to slide them off with the brake levers but after an hour and not budging at all they started to tear where there were being compressed by pushing on the levers. I was then on the web for a while looking for replacements I could buy. I found nothing like the originals so I used a different method. I wiggled a long but narrow screwdriver in at one end in between the grip and the bar. Then rotated it round and round until the screwdriver was inside the grip all the way to the front. I then started injecting dishsoap inside to act as a lubricant. Then after another 2 hours I had them both off, Voila that simple!

Yup thats right 3 hours to get the grips off! Thank god for beer!

Gary

BTW nice job combining my posts. You had me look back to see if I actually did that by mistake