kevertjecargobike

[kevertjecargobike]

I should be more active here. follow the link above to see the latest news...

[kevertjecargobike]

Great tutorial on how to put an Urbanarrow cargo bike on a car! Google doc is available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UBGT_eE4q0dJZWZrOoBdM80b6WFO_g83NNEB7iRewIc/mobilebasic

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Der Podcast mit Tilman von der Radelbande demnächst unter podcast.pimpmycargo.bike

[kevertjecargobike]

Finally I can control my #urbanarrow with my phone.

At least this is the promise. Turns out it can´t tell my Bosch system to help me get forward. Speed and cadence and light control work, power is supplied, so I suspect a serious, bug.

[kevertjecargobike]

I finally need to fix this. This is killing my nerves. Contacted the support for find out if I should put Oil on it.

[kevertjecargobike]

Underbody lights on the #urbanarrow. They are still around from 15 years ago. Back in those days we cut windows in the sides of our PC towers and illuminated the inside. The light controller has an option to react to music. So I should have disco bike tomorrow at the critical mass bike ride. In parallel, the sound system is being properly fit into the bike.

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First time on a train. Went rather smoothly. I'm always nervous when the steps are a little deeper and I have to scratch the bottom of the bike a bit. I'll have to get some help to get out of the train.

[kevertjecargobike]

I also need to share details on my mug holder! It is made from metal and very sturdy. XLC is the manufacturer. I paid around 15€. You can find it on Amazon: XLC Zubehör Cupholder BC-A08, Schwarz, 2503205000.

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I also got a dampened bike seat a couple weeks ago. The old one was simply not solid enough. The screws broke numerous times. The angle was not stable. More details to come.

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Testing the bike on German trains. RE2 to Cottbus. Only driving until Friedrichstraße. I'll report how it worked out.

[kevertjecargobike]

If the urban arrow is the VW Touran of cargo bikes, this is the Golf. They also make an Pedelec version. Meet the Muli. You can back one now and get a good deal on it startnext.com/muli. My thoughs:

rides great

brakes a great

rides like an urban arrow, but lighter

build quality was very good, frame and weld looked very well made

small front wheel was no problem on flat tarmac

price is hefty, but It’s a cargo bike! They are never cheap.

mechanism to open and close the cargo bay was very solid

no rain protection of the cargo

metal mesh used for cargo bay, very solid

[kevertjecargobike]

Flat tire repair #fail

I had a flat tire. The non-flatable tires ran flat. Thank you Schwalbe. January 2017, 8pm after a long day of work. 0°C outside temperature.

I tried this tire repair stuff called “Reifen Pilot” as you can see in the picture above.

It was a mess, and didn´t work. Partly because of the cold, I was too stupid to put screw it on the tire vent properly and half of the goo was all over the place but not in the tire.

Took off the chain and shifter cables. The cables turned out to to be impossible to put back on.

What a mess. But I was getting there. You can still see the tire repair goo on the tire.

The back brake was not working anyways anymore, so I decided to skip the re-assembly.

It was too cold to take off the pump adapter. And it took the vent with it. What a mess.

22:23pm I HAD FINALLY MADE IT HOME

[kevertjecargobike]

I found this video now, after I had to fix a flat tire at around 0°C in the dark after working late two weeks ago. Good tip, you don´t need to remove the wheel for a flat tire. 

[kevertjecargobike]

Painting our Shimano Zee discs RED

As mentioned before, I wanted disc brakes with red discs matching the red hydraulic wires and the red seat belts.

Since the original Shimano Zee discs were only available in black, I had to make them RED myself. Bought some red glossy spray paint today and went at it:

First step: Masked the discs. Using normal masking tape

Second step: Sand papered (is that a thing?) the disc:

Third step: First attempt on spray painting the discs:

Fourth step: realized this layer of paint was lousy. I accidentally watched a Youtube video which turned out to be very helpful.

Fifth step: Sanded the first layer of paint off and followed the tips of Adam Savage from the Youtube video. The second attempt of spray painting was much better. I painted the front of the disc from the top, rotated it 180 degrees and painted the back. This way not only the facing sides of the discs were painted evenly, but also the inner sides. I was also much more conservative, only spraying super thin layers. After each layer I used my wife's hairdryer to dry the paint. I was able to add allot of layers of paint in a very short time.

Images of the discs after the final paint:

The paint job on the inside was quite good. There is some traces of paint on the outside, but I´m sure they will rub off from the brakes.

It looked quite cool actually after I sanded off the first lousy layer of paint. Shabby chic used look. Unfortunately I was too enthusiastic and forgot to take a picture of the shabby chic brakes. Maybe I will be forced to go back to that look because the paint will not stay on the disc when riding the bike through the dirty streets of Berlin.

[kevertjecargobike]

1200€ für ein eBike. So bekommt man die Autos aus der Stadt.

1200€ financial support for an eBike. That´s how you get your citizen to leave behind cars.

[kevertjecargobike]

Photos of the new brakes. What a journey. Underestimated the final price, but the result is great.