What did you do to your EBike this week?

I "summerized" my Levo. The temperatures will be consistently in triple-digits through September so my battery is now at a "storage" level and I drained the sealant from the tires so it doesn't turn to a gooey blob.

I'll have to live vicariously through those of you that don't live on the surface of the sun during summer. My “summer” bike isn’t nearly as fun.

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Gila Man said:
I "summerized" my Levo. The temperatures will be consistently in triple-digits through September so my battery is now at a "storage" level and I drained the sealant from the tires so it doesn't turn to a gooey blob.

I'll have to live vicariously through those of you that don't live on the surface of the sun during summer. My “summer” bike isn’t nearly as fun.

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Seems like we're solidly in monsoon season now. The 10-day forecast has chance of thunderstorms every day! The worst part is the dew point is high, so it feels humid and uncomfortable. Been getting to the trailhead before sunrise to beat the heat. It was so humid Sunday morning it was actually hazy! Luckily there was a strong wind so it wasn't too horrible.
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Powerslider said:
Seems like we're solidly in monsoon season now. The 10-day forecast has chance of thunderstorms every day! The worst part is the dew point is high, so it feels humid and uncomfortable. Been getting to the trailhead before sunrise to beat the heat. It was so humid Sunday morning it was actually hazy! Luckily there was a strong wind so it wasn't too horrible.
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It would definitely be nice to get some rain. Unfortunately, we don't seem to get as much rainfall on the west side of the valley as compared to the east side. Maybe, if I wash the car and park it outside, vacuum last night's dust/dirt out of the pool and balance the chemicals, that may be just the ticket to piss-off the gods and give us a good drenching. Yesterday's dust storm covered the back patio so I'm sure the gods would love to wash all of that into the pool. Fingers crossed ;).
 
Gila Man said:
It appears that we get dust today instead.

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That’s just weird weather down there. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I’ll take the water (snow sometimes) over those conditions. I’m still wearing two layers of clothing when we start riding in the morning. Turn on the air-conditioning when the temperature gets past 22 Celsius. 🥵
 
Stihldog said:
That’s just weird weather down there. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I’ll take the water (snow sometimes) over those conditions. I’m still wearing two layers of clothing when we start riding in the morning. Turn on the air-conditioning when the temperature gets past 22 Celsius. 🥵
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I spent 55 years in western Washington so I've had my fill of wet and grey skies. The desert is definitely a different animal but, I prefer the blue skies to the grey. Our A/C doesn't turn on until the inside temperature hits 25.5 Celsius. The lower humidity makes higher temperatures much more bearable down here. After a rain, the humidity rises quickly since the heat evaporates the water so quickly (nothing like the Gulf Coast or eastern seaboard states). Mid-October through Mid-May is, in my opinion, great weather for outdoor activities. Summer is when you can finally get into a restaurant without waiting because all of the "snow-birds" have left for the summer. The photo is of the temperature in our garage last night.

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My brakes were not good, I had to pull so hard that I thought I might lose all circulation in my finger tips. They did not need bleeding. The brakes are Sram Maven Base 200mm discs with resin pads, so they should be better than this. I thought that a proper bedding in process might do the job. A recent post reminded me that I have some Swissstop brake silencer. It's not just for getting rid of brake howl, it is also great for ensuring that you have well bedded in pads and discs.

I removed the pads and sanded them by rubbing over 80 grit abrasive in a figure-of-eight fashion on a flat surface. They quickly came up nice and clean, no sign of contamination. I cleaned the calipers and the springs with 100% IPA. I abraded the discs by running them through some wire wool held in my fingers. Then cleaned the discs with the IPA. Now for the Swissstop!

Lay the pads on a flat surface on top of a paper towel. Shake the aerosol can until the ball has been rattling for 30 seconds or so. The contents are finely ground metal powders so they tend to settle out quickly and congeal at the bottom of the can. A quick half a second burst per pad is all that is required. The pads go a greasy looking black and then dry over a few mins into a silvery sheen. If you overdo the spray as I did on the first set, the film on the pads is a soft and sticky, yikes! At first they look as though they will never work again, the worst case of contamination you have ever seen in fact! But fear not! I used a paper tissue to wipe the metal backing plate around the edges to remove surplus treatment, but only to stop it getting all over my fingers. Until it dries, it is black and greasily metallic looking. Reassemble the pads trying not to touch the pad surface. At this point you will be wondering will your brakes ever work again?

I recommend doing one end of the bike at a time because the braking at first is non-existent. It took me ten or so stops before it started to feel like I had any braking worth the name. It took another ten or so before the braking was very good. You can tell that the braking is improving with every stop and once a plateau has been reached.

I'm off out tomorrow, so I'll soon know if the road test is replicated on the trails.

"Swissstop Disc Brake Silencer" (note the 3x "S'') is expensive, but you do not need a lot. I bought a 50ml aerosol can 14 years ago (so it keeps well). It worked then to stop brake howl and I noticed that it worked very well to assist bedding in!
 
Have a can of "Swissstop Disc Brake Silencer" stashed but never had to use it.

Today replaced the Miranda 155mm cranks on our bikes with Pinnd 155mm cranks because felt the Miranda cranks were a bit flexible when stood on the pedals. The Pinnd cranks are beautifully made but then they should be for the £money!
 
Ref my previous post #1448 (2 up).
I tested them on the trail I do the most today and there was not the improvement I was looking for, in fact I was probably kidding myself that there was any at all. I asked my buddy if he was happy with his brakes and he said that he was very happy. What pads have you got? "Gorilla Red" he said, "Because they were recommended to me". Hmm I must give them a try. Then at a rest stop a bit later on we swapped bikes to see what we each thought of our brakes. (You can probably tell what 's coming!) :)

He thought mine were great and I thought his were very similar to mine. I'm 20kg heavier than him, that must be it!

I will try some different pads, but not Gorilla red (never heard of them anyway)!
I have a note in my log:
Trickstuff 260 Standard Brake Pads are high performance material.​
Or give Galfer Purple a try!​
Or see Disco Brakes for copper free pads.​
​
Any comment on those pads?
 
Changed grips and rear pads to Bullit. Santa Cruz OG grips were soft and comfy and little amount of texture, these felt totally different without gloves. But I got used to them after few runs, quite good grips.
IMG_4631.webp
 
steve_sordy said:
Ref my previous post #1448 (2 up).
I tested them on the trail I do the most today and there was not the improvement I was looking for, in fact I was probably kidding myself that there was any at all. I asked my buddy if he was happy with his brakes and he said that he was very happy. What pads have you got? "Gorilla Red" he said, "Because they were recommended to me". Hmm I must give them a try. Then at a rest stop a bit later on we swapped bikes to see what we each thought of our brakes. (You can probably tell what 's coming!) :)

He thought mine were great and I thought his were very similar to mine. I'm 20kg heavier than him, that must be it!

I will try some different pads, but not Gorilla red (never heard of them anyway)!
I have a note in my log:
Trickstuff 260 Standard Brake Pads are high performance material.​
Or give Galfer Purple a try!​
Or see Disco Brakes for copper free pads.​
​
Any comment on those pads?
Click to expand...
TRICKSTUFF 260 POWER - Grippy AF but I had to sand a few times as I found they liked to glaze - didn't think they represented good value.
not used Galfer purple (I use their rotors)
Disco Brakes - Carbon Pro (metal free) - I've stuck with these on the front and will probably put them back on the back now we're nice and dry - consistent modulation and power - very good value (esp. if you buy a 4 pack)
So not quite the same - but similar...
I'd also recommend Swiss Stop E compound - good value cos they last (feel similar to the disco carbon)
I think the Disco Carbon Pro and the Swiss E compounds are similar the Galfer purple
 
Gila Man said:
I hope the unemployment was by choice. Nice stickers or as our Canadian folk say, decals (pronounced deckles).
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At my age it's pronounced "retired". Now get off my lawn. ;)

Yes, becoming a professional man of leisure was entirely voluntary and long overdue, although I'm still below the traditional age. I had the pesky issue of actually enjoying my job thus kept doing it well after the numbers penciled out.
 
AirKuhl said:
At my age it's pronounced "retired". Now get off my lawn. ;)

Yes, becoming a professional man of leisure was entirely voluntary and long overdue, although I'm still below the traditional age. I had the pesky issue of actually enjoying my job thus kept doing it well after the numbers penciled out.
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Congratulations and welcome to the club! Don't worry about your lawn, I don't want anything to do with them after 55 years in the Puget Sound. I traded mine for rocks, cactus and a splotch of artificial turf for accent color.

I bailed early after my agency had a change of upper management (not for the better) and increasingly unnecessary regulatory agency permits slowed my current projects to a crawl. The last few years made a job I liked just frustrating. Now I get to do what I want, when I want (with the wife's permission) and ride as often as I want. My only frustration now is all of those "working people" and their morning rush hour slowing my drive to my riding places.

Again, congratulation sir!
 
I had my first attempt at fixing the gouge I put in my top tube with a folding saw the one with the two rows of teeth. My main concern was the paint colour. Santa Cruz gave me the Pantone reference (Pantone 567 C) for the Midnight Green that goes on the Vala but they don't make a paint to match. :(

So I went the local car parts store (Halfords in the UK) and bought one of their standard paint touch up samples.
Here is my first attempt. Ignore how rough it is, just look at the paint match! I think it is a very good match indeed. Some more paint to fill in the grooves and it will improve I'm sure. Then a nice and thick helicopter tape to replace the ultra thin framewrap that I had to remove, and I'll be good to go.
Gouge Painted 1.webp


This was the paint that worked.
Paint Halfords 2.webp

They have quite a few greens, so ensure you get the correct one.
 
Bought Crankbrothers Stamp 7 Large pedals, now gotta mess around with the pins to make them play nicely with my shoes with "Dotty rubber" soles.

Edit Sunday 19 July: after today's ride leaving them alone, work fine.
 
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steve_sordy said:
Ref my previous post #1448 (2 up).
I tested them on the trail I do the most today and there was not the improvement I was looking for, in fact I was probably kidding myself that there was any at all. I asked my buddy if he was happy with his brakes and he said that he was very happy. What pads have you got? "Gorilla Red" he said, "Because they were recommended to me". Hmm I must give them a try. Then at a rest stop a bit later on we swapped bikes to see what we each thought of our brakes. (You can probably tell what 's coming!) :)

He thought mine were great and I thought his were very similar to mine. I'm 20kg heavier than him, that must be it!

I will try some different pads, but not Gorilla red (never heard of them anyway)!
I have a note in my log:
Trickstuff 260 Standard Brake Pads are high performance material.​
Or give Galfer Purple a try!​
Or see Disco Brakes for copper free pads.​
​
Any comment on those pads?
Click to expand...
What diameter are your rotors F and R?
 
Blew my Fox Genie again today. It’s surprising because I’m not a super hard rider. @SP SUSPENSION mentioned it’s possible I have a bad shock the last time I had it in. Starting to feel like I do. Doesn’t top out now even after deflating and re-inflating. Booooooo 👎🏻


IMG_3940.webp
 
Powerslider said:
Blew my Fox Genie again today. It’s surprising because I’m not a super hard rider. @SP SUSPENSION mentioned it’s possible I have a bad shock the last time I had it in. Starting to feel like I do. Doesn’t top out now even after deflating and re-inflating. Booooooo 👎🏻


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So it’s not holding air? When it “blew” did it bottom-out and then not rebound?
 
Gila Man said:
So it’s not holding air? When it “blew” did it bottom-out and then not rebound?
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Im not exactly sure when it happened tbh. I just started to notice the rear end and BB hanging low while riding. It won’t rebound all the way so it was riding squatted down; and had maybe half travel.
 
steve_sordy said:
Ref my previous post #1448 (2 up).
I tested them on the trail I do the most today and there was not the improvement I was looking for, in fact I was probably kidding myself that there was any at all. I asked my buddy if he was happy with his brakes and he said that he was very happy. What pads have you got? "Gorilla Red" he said, "Because they were recommended to me". Hmm I must give them a try. Then at a rest stop a bit later on we swapped bikes to see what we each thought of our brakes. (You can probably tell what 's coming!) :)

He thought mine were great and I thought his were very similar to mine. I'm 20kg heavier than him, that must be it!

I will try some different pads, but not Gorilla red (never heard of them anyway)!
I have a note in my log:
Trickstuff 260 Standard Brake Pads are high performance material.​
Or give Galfer Purple a try!​
Or see Disco Brakes for copper free pads.​
​
Any comment on those pads?
Click to expand...
What diameter are your rotors F and R?
steve_sordy said:
200mm, twin pot Sram Maven Base, organic pads
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220mm F&R floating rotors transformed our brakes.
 
steve_sordy said:
Do you believe that the benefit you noticed came from the increase in diameter or the "floating" aspect?
Did you keep the same pads?
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Part of the benefit will have came from the increased brake pads area (the physics are simple) and part will have come from them being floating rotors (much literature about this).

Kept the same pads (Shimano D03S) for two years then recently switched to Swissstop D27 RS pads which are (reputedly) longer lasting. We. Shall. See.
 
Powerslider said:
Blew my Fox Genie again today. It’s surprising because I’m not a super hard rider. @SP SUSPENSION mentioned it’s possible I have a bad shock the last time I had it in. Starting to feel like I do. Doesn’t top out now even after deflating and re-inflating. Booooooo 👎🏻


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You know who to call! Lets get that in here- call me at the shop tomorrow.
 
This week was the first proper riding of my new toy, so played with the controls and suspension and got it feeling pretty good. Never had compression knobs to fiddle before, so that could be interesting. I also extended the chain stays as the front was feeling really looooooooong. It still does but I’m getting used to driving the big boat. It’s fun.
 
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