1722 MPG

That’s the miles per gallon equivalent my dad’s electric bike gets, based on the EPA’s conversion calculation. Of course, the battery won’t actually last long enough to go that far on a charge, but that’s what the numbers say.

My dad built this bike this spring, basically from nothing. He put together all the components based on his research and it runs like a dream. It’s a blast to ride too. He used a relatively small motor, so the speed will max out at 20 mph, which is plenty for a bicycle and right where he wanted it (although it would be sweet to have it faster). After you hold the throttle where you want it for a number of seconds the cruise control kicks in and you’re really rollin’. He mainly uses this bike for running errands and really loves it.

The only thing he’s not sure about is the frame it’s on. He’s not all that comfortable on the mountain bike frame so he’s thinking of swapping all the components over to a classic 3 speed which would give him an upright riding position. I think it’s a great idea and would look really cool on that kind of frame. Maybe someday I’ll build one of these, but I need to build a fixie first. This is a really cool bike.

Fake Bicycle

I got my new lens in the middle of the week and only really got to play with it for about an hour the day I got it.  The Saturday after I got it was a nice day, so I geared up and went to do some exploring north of the River Market where I live.  There is this nice bicycle and walking trail along the Missouri River that I’ve been on a few times before, but never with my camera.  I spent a few hours down there, mostly in solitude, taking photographs of some interesting things I saw, and trying out a few new techniques with my new lens.

As I was walking around a bend in the trail, I heard a shout of pain, and then witnessed a goofy guy with his kids, playing on this statue of a bicycle.  The man had climbed on the fake bike and sat down with unsurprisingly painful results.  He quickly got off the bike, and though his kids were thoroughly entertained by his antics, he was visibly shaken by the experience.  I chuckled to myself, and made a mental note to come back and investigate this bike more thoroughly.  A few hours and many pictures later, I made my way back to this bicycle.  This time there was nobody playing on it, and I was able to get a couple pictures of it.  I found it interesting that they placed this very inviting plaything right next to some dangerous steps that led down to the river.  As you can see, these steps are so dangerous someone was compelled to install a sign warning of their hazardous nature!  Enough about these crazy steps; I think this is a pretty cool little statue to have on a bike path.