The Proviz 360+ Jacket. The solution to commuting visibility

Up to know, I mitigated issues of visibility by waiting until the clocks went forward in Spring before cycling to work - and stopping when they went back again in the Autumn.

This meant that although I've always had a selection of fixed and flashing lights on the bike, and a dayglo yellow jersey, ultimate visibility was never a problem.

Giving up the Kawasaki in favour of my e-bike/pedelec converted Dawes has involved commuting to work in all weathers - and darkness - so I needed to address issues of visibility and weather protection.

For those unfamiliar with Regents Park in London, it is quite dark at night  - streetlights are poor and the hedges that border all the roads make it a gloomy place for pedestrians and cyclists. As a result, when riding home in the dark on the Kawasaki, cyclists with highly reflective clothing are much more visible at night in a motorcycle's headlight - when dayglo is much less effective (the clue's in the name !).

Sometime towards the end of last year I (literally) saw a cyclist stand out like no other. It was as if his entire torso was glowing white !  As soon as I had Googled it, I knew I just had to have one of these.

It's a Proviz 360+

I will go as far as to say this is the greatest advance in cycle safety since the invention of the LED


Instead of a few reflective strips or panels the whole jacket is made out of a highly reflective material. All cyclists (and motorcyclists) know that there is little you can do about those "SMIDSY" (Sorry Mate I Didn't See You) muppets out there - who aren't even looking but this is a very "in your face" jacket under vehicle headlights.   

I believe that other manufacturers also have super-high reflectivity materials - the Dare2B "Observate" available at Halfords for example but this is clearly (or not so clearly!) a lesser product. Of course most cycling specific jackets have some degree of reflective material -  but my research suggested that Proviz was the clear leader in this field (www.provizsports.com) 

 The effect  is not always obvious to the wearer (it would dazzle you if it was) as it reflects light back to the source - making you highly visible to car drivers in the dark. To the wearer it often seems to "shimmer" in some light. The jacket itself is of high quality and clearly properly designed for cycling. It is waterproof, breathable and well fitting. 

The Proviz website is clear and easy to use and there are regular discounts sent by email if you register. Not the cheapest on the market but certainly not unreasonably priced for what they are. I have the "top of the range" 360+ version at £120 but there is a cheaper version with less breathability for £79. There is also a range of other products that use the material such as gilets, helmet covers and rucksack covers. 

To cap it all their customer service is exemplary. When I had a small problem with mine they replaced it instantly with no quibble. Since buying the jacket I have also bought a high-viz (dayglo) gilet and a pair of gloves from them and I will certainly be buying some waterproof trousers at some point in the future. I highly recommend this product and the company.

Of course as I write this the clocks have now gone forwards for Summer time - which reduces the benefit of this jacket - although read my next post for a solution for dusk and dawn visibility before we get to full daylight for both the morning and the evening commute. 



 

Commuting in London on an E-Bike - A Fortnight On

I'm now a fortnight into commuting by E-Bike and I'm very happy with the Panda E-bike conversion of my Dawes Sonoran. If you're thinking about converting your existing bike to a Pedelec then a Panda kit should definitely be on your shortlist - find them at www.pandaebikes.com/

It is worth saying that I am not office-based in Central London every day so this fortnight doesn't represent 200 miles of e-biking - in fact it's barely half that total distance. The 10ah battery is perfectly adequate for my 10 and a bit mile each way commute even on the highest power setting and I've stopped packing the charger in a pannier "just in case"


The first clear lesson is that an old man on an e-bike is not quicker over 10 miles than a fit "normal" person. Overall I am consistently  5-10 minutes minutes faster than I used to be but I am still passed like I'm going backwards by the "Regents Park Rouleurs" on the Outer Circle- and just about every other fit commuter everywhere else.

There is a "big win" (obviously) on hills. The available power let's you just keep going without your speed tailing off the further you ride uphill. This assistance means that you keep going against headwinds and also those long slight inclines that tax the less fit.The Panda's controller is excellent. There is a clear assistance from a standing start and the way it tails off at the legal maximum of 15.5 mph (25kmh) is unobtrusive. It also comes back in again neatly if you lose a bit of momentum on the flat. 

I have managed to get used to riding in a lower gear - and changing down early to ensure that turning the pedals as I change down through the gears doesn't cause me to surge forwards as I'm trying to slow down.This surge of power as you turn the pedals does mean that you have to be careful when picking your way between cars in very heavy traffic but like most things you get used to it.

Most importantly, I don't arrive at the office sweaty and wheezing and that's the key. Electric power doesn't make the journey quicker, it makes it significantly easier. 

The second lesson is that as electric power doesn't suddenly turn you into car! You still need to think - and ride - like an urban cyclist. Nothing new here but my key pointers for commuting in London are:

• Visibility - take every opportunity to be seen by other road users (more on that in the next post - a couple of "product reviews")
• "Own" your piece of the road
• Positioning is key - remember that in some circumstances it is better to be on the "offside" of the traffic in the centre of the road than it is to be "hidden" on the nearside
• If you are riding nearer the kerb, DO NOT ride in the gutter  - you have no manoevring room to the left and all the "mung" on the road collects there leaving you even more vulnerable to punctures
• Your biggest hazard is the road surface itself - the level of potholes (especially on Kilburn High Road) is such that being thrown of your bike is a far bigger risk than the other traffic
• Wear appropriate clothing - including a helmet

Commuting in London on an E-Bike - First Efforts

With the conversion all finished, it was time to actually use the converted bike "in anger" last Friday.

I rode a quick circuit of a 6.6 mile local route including a very big hill and managed to take 4 minutes off my best (fit) time so I was immediately impressed.

The commute to my office in Great Portland Street in the West End of London from my home in Stanmore is another matter. This is a 10.5 mile journey including some significant traffic - and in the early morning there is also the cold to contend with.

For the first trip in to work I probably picked the foggiest day in London for a very long time and it was also a cold one.

Despite the cold, it was a good trip. The motor applies power smoothly (and swiftly from standing start) and fades away unobtrusively as it hits the 15.5mph (25kmh) limit to ensure it stays within the EPAC (Electrically Power Assisted Cycle) regulations. Five minutes faster (in both directions) than my previous best times for the journey and I think there's an even greater time saving possible with some changes to my riding style.

Firstly, although the power from the 250Watt front hub motor is entirely "adequate", it does not have a great deal of torque available. As someone with a reasonable degree of power in my legs but a low level of aerobic fitness, I have always stuck to "grinding a higher gear" rather than "spinning a lower gear".

The other thing to get used to is the fact that I do not have "brake switches" to cut the motor power when braking. This is because my bike has combined brake and shift levers (it's the apparently "odd" Shimano "Megarange" "Rapid Rise" system). It also explains why I think every bike shifts the "wrong" way as this system is thumb push to change up and finger flick to change down.

Shift direction is irrelevant here anyway as the issue is that the combined brake and shift levers prevent the use of replacement brake levers with a cut out function. This means that as long as the pedal is rotating, the motor is running even if you are braking. As you need the pedals to be turning to change down the gears with a derailleur system it means modifying my riding style further to change down before I start to brake as I come to a halt.

So with 2 changes to my riding habits I should be fine - tomorrow will tell what effect that has on journey times.

Converting my Dawes Sonoran to an E-Bike Part 4 - Battery, Controller, wiring and LCD Display

Now it's just a matter of fitting the battery, the controller, the display and connecting it all together.

It's a bottle battery so 2 screws and we're done - on the down tube rather than the seat tube. As I wrote in part 1, I sent back the original round bottle battery for the "upgraded" USB version. Although the USB port is of little use to me, this battery simply slots in and out where the "normal" version has a screw in plug which is significantly less useful. The upgraded battery is also 10Ah rather than 8Ah. 

The controller is another matter. The box fits neatly enough on the seat tube and the controller itself fits easily inside. However, Panda's wiring is generous in length so I tried to get as much of it inside the controller box as I could. This was a little fiddly and it then became difficult to hold it all in place before screwing the  two halves of the box together. The fit of the lid once it was crammed with controller and wires became a little less tight and I covered the seam with insulating tape - neat and hopefully weather proof.
  

The wiring from the battery to the controller does not have neat pugs but a pair of bullet connectors so I used heat-shrink tubing to protect the connection.  Unfortunately, Maplins colour code their heat-shrink by size so the most suitable tubing was bright blue - at some point I'll wrap that in insulating tape to neaten the job.

The other connections have (very) tight plugs but I've taped some of them as well - and combined with a selection of cable ties the overall installation is neat enough.

The LCD controller fits neatly on the handlebars and the rest of the wiring s just a matter of plugging it in.Unlike some, the LCD display can be configured to display in MPH and the instructions are not too "Chinglish" for an intelligent person to understand. 

I still need to find a neat solution to seal the ends of the three "spare wires" (thumb throttle and 2x brake cut-out) that you can see in the picture below.

Here's the complete installation - ready for the road. A quick test on a known and previously timed route of 6 and a half miles revealed that I was a full 5 minutes quicker than when I was 5 years younger, over a stone lighter and considerably fitter.

Converting my Dawes Sonoran to an E-Bike Part 3 - the Pedal Sensor

In order to know when to provide assistance, the motor needs a signal from the controller to tell it when to apply the power.

As an aside, thumb (or twist) throttles are also available although this is a subject all on it's own as legislation has recently changed. Pre-2016 UK E-Bikes would often have a thumb throttle but as I understand it, a hand throttle of any type is only now permitted as a "walk assist" when pushing the bike. In any event, I did not specify a hand throttle with my kit. 

To power up the motor therefore we need some form of pedal sensor. More expensive E-Bikes have a "Torque Sensor" which tells the controller to apply power proportional to the effort put in by the rider. This provides a very natural ride and almost feels like you have "bionic legs". This type of sensor is generally found on bikes with "crank drive" motors rather than hub motors although the Wisper 905 Torque, my preferred choice when I get round to buying a complete e-bike is a (rear) hub motored and torque sensed bike.

Having ridden bikes with this system I can absolutely say I prefer it - but it does require effort from the rider and is less suited to people who need to be able to use a bike but want the bike to do (almost) all of the work.

The alternative is the significantly cheaper (and less complex) rotation or cadence sensor. This simply triggers the motor via a magnetic sensor fitted at the crank.

Panda's sensors are "easy fit" and come in two parts that clip around the crank without the need to remove the crank arm. The sensor disc is secured by a metal ring and the complete disc is a simple friction fit around the crank. Time will tell if this is sufficient to stop it spinning freely. The sensor itself fits to the frame and has slots for cable ties as well as a sticky pad. This allows the location
to be tested before sticking it down firmly. There is a pivot which is adjustable to ensure the correct 1-3mm clearance between the sensor magnet and the sensor disc.

Converting my Dawes Sonoran to an E Bike Part 2 - more about torque arms

I mentioned the need for a torque arm in the last post. Here's a bit more info and pictures.

The "drop out" into which the axle/spindle of a bicycle wheel fits is simply an inverted "U".  If the nuts holding the wheel in place become loose, the wheel will simply fall out.  Clearly this is not a good thing. Although the weight of the bike will hold it in place when stationery (and theoretically the weight of the bike and rider will hold it in place while moving - but only if you cycle on billiard tables !)

With a hub motored wheel, a new dimension arises. On an unpowered bicycle, the wheel simply rotates around the axle. No rotational force is applied to the axle. With a hub motor, the axle must be held firmly as the wheel is powered around the fixed centre.

This applies a considerable amount of rotational force (torque) and increases the chances that the nuts could work loose. As a result we need to ensure that the fixed centre of the hub cannot rotate in the dropout.

This is achieved initially by the fact that rather than the axle being round, it is larger than on a conventional bicycle and the sides are flattened to fix the axle into the slot of the drop out - is essence, the axle fits the dropout slot like a spanner fits a nut. As a result, the torque from the motor can even open up the drop out making this problem even worse - especially if the nuts themselves work loose.

This brings us neatly to the torque arm. A plate, fitted to the flattened off axle with an arm which is either jubilee clipped to the fork (an aesthetically awful solution) or bolted to a mudguard stay mount. The ones supplied by Panda are made by www.torque-reaction.co.uk and are magnificent pieces of machined stainless steel.

I selected a "multi-angle" torque arm for my Dawes Sonoran s the standard "eyelet style" did not reach the mudguard stay mount. An additional issue for my bike is that the stay mount and fork are in the same plane so one or the other needed to be packed out with washers to allow for the thickness of the steel plate. The official fitting videos show the "arm" fitted behind the "eyelet" but this means that the axle has to be packed with washers and I felt that this was an inelegant solution as well as leaving insufficient thread for the nut.

The alternative, placing the "arm" in front of the "eyelet" is a far neater solution although it does mean packing out the smaller M5 bolt with washers - and any force applied in the event of a loosened main nut will be applied to this weaker bolt.


I'll be keeping a close eye on the security of all nuts and bolts.

Converting my Dawes Sonoran to an E-bike. Part 1

With the box of bits ready to go, and the bike indoors to make work easier through the winter I started the conversion.

The first thing was to take the opportunity to replace the tyres with a set of new Continental Town Ride Reflexes with reflective sidewalls (to go nicely with my Provis Reflect 360+ Jacket !) and at the same time fit new rim tape and tubes.

With its new tyre fitted, the replacement front motor wheel drops neatly into the dropouts. The axle is flattened to ensure it cannot rotate (so that the hub motor "drives" the wheel) and there is a "tabbed" washer to support this. It is important that this "tab" goes into the dropout last as the wheel does not sit neatly in the dropout if it is inserted first.

The torque from the rotation of the hub motor means that the axle can spin out of the drop outs - or even "spread" the dropouts over time especially with aluminium forks. On way to prevent this is with the fitting of a torque arm but the supplied version did not suit my forks so I will need to order a different version to suit my aging RST Forks.

I have also decided to replace the standard "bottle" battery for an upgraded version. As well as a slightly higher capacity,  this battery has the advantage of a "clip in" fitment where the standard version has a screw in connector. Panda e-Bikes have continued to be highly responsive to email queries and the new battery should be with me in the week to allow me to continue the conversion next weekend.

In the meantime, here's the hub motor wheel loosely installed in the front forks awaiting the arrival of the new torque arm.