First break in service

The back tyre got punctured last night. If it were the front tyre, I would have happily fixed it myself, but I really don't feel confident disengaging the back wheel from the gears, let alone the electrics. (I also suspect there's a loose wire in the electrics somewhere - the throttle doesn't work 100% of the time - but that's not urgent.)

So, back to walking and PT for a little while. Thank all the gods who made the gods that one fine cycle shop in AKL has stepped up and said they can get it fixed before Christmas! I will happily pimp them here if they actually come through on their promise. Stay tuned.

A step towards self-sufficiency

I thought that it was becoming much easier to pedal my bike recently. I put it down to me becoming super-fit. But no, what happened is that my bike was refusing to go past fifth gear (out of seven).

So! how do I spend a glorious Sunday afternoon? Getting greasy and sweaty, turning the bike upside down on the front porch, getting totally confused and possibly making things work, searching the Interwebz for tutorial videos, figuring out what to do, doing it about twenty times before it finally works... but finally getting the gear cable tightened just so, and now everything appears to be underway.

This used to be the kind of thing I'd get the services of a professional for, but (a) I'm flat broke; (b) everything I can do to the Silver Machine by myself makes me feel a little more like a strong independent woman like you see on the sanitary pad adverts.

This shit just got real yo

I have just moved into a flat on my own, thus no longer having access to former flatmate's car. I am therefore entirely dependent for my mobility on public transport, and the Silver Machine. Is this even possible in Auckland? Only someone as demented as me would dream of finding out.

The first hurdle to cross is learning exactly how much shopping I can carry home from the (thankfully very close) supermarket without risking the whole thing falling off. Gone are the days of weekly or fortnightly huge grocery shops - now, brief stop-offs for two bags full or so, most days after work.

I am not used to being popular

One thing you hear a lot of in the news these days is how much Auckland car drivers hate cyclists, to the extent of suggesting banning them from the roads and cheering on drivers who run them down. But when stopped at the lights the other day, one car driver asked me friendly questions about the Silver Machine. Perhaps that's a clue - unlike many other cyclists, sadly, I take my responsibilities of driving a vehicle seriously, and I stop for red lights (and at least slow down and give way at stop signs). Also, they do say that it's only male cyclists who get the massive hatred from car drivers - apparently if you wear a blond wig, cars no longer intentionally ram you.

But yeah. Cyclists love it, scooter drivers love it, and even car drivers seem to be getting the point. Nothing's fallen off it recently - although the handlebars seem to be coming a bit loose and the Allen keys need to be dragged out recently.

The big test comes up very soon. I have been using my flatmate's car on and off for three years, but I am now moving out on my own. I will be living in Auckland with no car, just the Silver Machine. And that may well be the real test. For example, I will have a very limited mobility while the trains are not running over Christmas.

Enhanced practicality

Latest purchase: handlebar basket ($60), to make small shopping trips practical without having to hang plastic bags off the handlebars. Yes, it looks retro. No, I don't care.

One absolutely necessary accessory if you want to run a Wisper bike: a set of Allen keys (also known as "hexes", I believe). I have had to adjust the handlebars once, the screws on the mudguards and the brake cables twice each since I got this thing. I get the feeling that perhaps the construction crew didn't quite imagine it would be going over as many potholes as you find in an average Auckland street.

The fact that the brake cables start slipping after riding in heavy rain is a bit disturbing.

The next level in cycle chic

In honour of Hallowe'en, I cycled to work in full goth today, and yes that's including boots with stiletto heels. It was absolutely no probably riding the Silver Machine in such get-up - it was actually more trouble walking (note to self - long skirt and stilettos, bad combination).

A couple more technical niggles. The other screw from the front mudguard fell off, but luckily I had bought replacements. What was more annoying is that the handlebars had gradually slipped until they were pointing straight down. While the Harley-Davidson look has its appeal, it's not comfy. So, my advice to would-be Wisper purchasers: invest in a set of Allen keys. You will need them, sooner rather than later.

In other news, this blog well may be featured in this fine green-consumer magazine sometime soon.

A shoutout...

... to everyone who came on the 350 bike ride on Saturday - in particular to our reader who greeted me while we were waiting at the Herne Bay shops, and to the two other Wisper e-bike riders who I touched base with. Kia kaha, e hoa mā.

If all else fails, repent sins

Tip for all bike riders in Auckland: before going on any journey which involves significant slopes, test your brakes properly first. Especially in wet weather.

Last night I had the most hair-raising journey down Onehunga mall imaginable. I was lucky not to be caused a serious injury when the road finally came up to greet me.

I'm quite perturbed that the brakes on the Silver Machine have slipped so badly in just two months. But then I go down some steep hills, on which I need to have the brakes on all the time, so maybe it's just my bad riding habits.

Also of note: yesterday was so wet that it took me until midday to dry out.

More bike-train synergy

Mt Albert - Greenlane via bike; then to Otahuhu by train; riding to Otahuhu shops and back; then train to Newmarket, thus home.

I think I pushed the capability of the battery to just about its limits, but I was happy with that. I don't think I'll try the Greenlane route rather than the Newmarket route in future - I was thinking to avoid the New North Road hill, but I forgot there's a megabitch of a rise on Balmoral Road before you get to Mt Eden Road. (As to train, hopefully after Western Line double-tracking is complete, the train will be useful for me to get to Newmarket as well.)

But man alive, that Otahuhu railway station is seven kinds of dump. Considering that it's the main interchange between Southern and Eastern lines, it needs a facelift and fast.

First problems

The chain on the Wisper 705eco has a nasty habit of slipping off. The chain guard, while making it feasible to cycle in a long skirt, also makes it a bit tricky to put it back on.

One of the screws holding in the front mudguard was also shaken loose, but that was trivially easy to replace.

Otherwise, all holding up fine. Today marks a month of solid commuting, which I believe was the challenge, in all weathers.

We get reviews

"That's an amazing invention!" - some European sounding fellow as I comfortably cycled past him up Great North Road today. Several other times, while stopped at the lights, fellow cyclists have contributed appreciative comments, or asked technical details of how the Silver Machine operates. If you're reading this, thanks for your interest, guys - the reason I might have sounded diffident in response is that I'm painfully shy with strangers.

zzzzz

Downside to a brand new e-bike. You want to ride it everywhere for the first week or two. And then you realise that the hybrid vehicle runs partly on energy stored in your own body, and then you want to demolish a McDonalds and sleep for about a week. And since I'm losing weight, the first is not an option for me. Woe.

I must be insane

Biked to football practice in Three Kings - a 13 km round trip, more or less. I'm surprised I was able to get out of bed this morning. Coming right after my commute to work, I just about ran the battery flat, especially since I was dumb enough to try to ride up Frost Road in Mt Roskill (had to go down to 1st gear and pedal like mad, even with the motor on - slope's possibly even more intense than the top of Queen Street). But it was nice to ride over the motorway overbridge at Keith Hay Park. It's pretty, and a good view at night.

First long-distance voyage

Mt Albert – Papatoetoe, for an end of football season barbecue. Since my friends live right by P/toe train station, I could have done things the simple way (Mt Albert - Newmarket by train, Newmarket - P/toe by train). But I wanted to show off the Silver Machine! So – bike to Newmarket (7.2 k = about 20 minutes with electrics) and take the bike on the train. What could be simpler than that?

Let me see. What if you get totally lost in Newmarket's one-way system and rail-related construction zone, and miss the train? And there ain't another one for an hour, thank you very much underfunding of Auckland rail?

Simple, if you're a crazed masochist like me. Bike to Orakei to get the Eastern Line train. Which I did, and that's another 5 ks to my journey. Oh, and now that I check Google maps, there was a much quicker way I could have gone, down Middleton and Basset and Shore roads. But I had no map so I just went to the Remmers shops and down Victoria Ave anyway. Still, I got there in time; and the extra exercise means I could eat another sausage or two without guilt.

So - no real problems getting the bike up New North Road in one direction, or up Khyber Pass Road (at night) in the other direction. Yes, I at least caught the right train on my way home. And for those interested - the clippie on the train treated the Silver Machine no different to any manual bike, just as I expected. So this is feasible. The only real problem is that I may have come dangerously close to running down the battery altogether with my unscheduled detour. Well, I'll know better next time. At this stage, all mistakes are learning opportunities.

*cough* *cough*

It seems that the Almighty is seeing fit to tease me, as He teased Moses in the desert. The first two days of my ebike commuting life have been afflicted with an unpleasant cold.

Hasn't held me back, though. On Monday - feeling like death warmed over - I got from Western Springs to the Grey Lynn shops (up what is apparently known as "Chinaman's Hill") in third gear. Today, I did it in sixth. Praise be for the electrics.

Yesterday I was wearing a knee-length skirt, knee-length socks (yes, the Zettai Ryouiki look, anime fans) and high heels. And pedalling was not any sort of issue. Okay, it was also scarily windy, and the skirt blew up past what might have been considered bounds of decency on the way home, but that didn't bother me much. Today, it's a short dress over slacks with flat shoes - no significant difference.

Everyone loves the bike to death at the office. It may well be that I'm providing my suppliers with endless free advertising. The most common comment, though, is that I'm apparently foolhardy and brave riding a bicycle on the same road as Auckland drivers. But, if we don't cycle for fear of lunatics driven by petrol, those lunatics will have no incentive to change their ways.

The Silver Machine on Queen Street, 29/08/09

L'électrique, c'est chic

This blog endorses the Copenhagen Cycle Chic manifesto, with the following comments and caveats:

• if my clothes were going to cost more than my bike, then I'd have to get to work in Yves St Lauren or similar
• if my experiences yesterday mean anything, it will be difficult to not let the bike upstage me, for the first while at least - although I have the kind of personality which means that I can probably reverse that given a bit of effort;
• of course we don't have freedom of choice over helmets in this country.

I encourage you to read the rest of the blog. Those Danish ladies are style-tacular.

It has begun. You're in the hands of destiny.

Purchases today:

• one Wisper 705 eco e-bike, from Scooter é Motion, Eden Terrace, Auckland: $1699
• a serious business front light: $45
• a serious business lock: $20

And then we were ready for action.

Classy features of the 705 eco:

• Intelligent electrics. Basically, when you switch the motor on, you can control it via a handlebar throttle, like a motorbike. But that burns a lot of power. What's far more efficient is the Pedal Assist mode. Simply put: when you pedal harder, the motor switches on. Or, in other words, the motor switches on automatically when you go uphill, or otherwise make an effort. It basically flattens the landscape.
• Classy old-school accessories, like kickstand, bag carrier and little bell.
• The battery (about the size and weight of a 2.25 litre bottle of Coke) can be lifted out and taken inside for charging.
• Step-through frame, rendering it eminently practical for riding in a dress, as I was today.

First ride: from showroom up New North Road, through Symonds Street, down Wakefield / Mayoral Drive to Queen Street. Parked on Queen Street and hung out for about an hour. Virtually everyone who passed did a double take and asked what was up with the shiny wheels. I suppose I'll get bored with explaining the workings of it to everyone after a while, but still I'm kind of excited.

Getting home was of course the real test. Up Mayoral Drive, Greys Ave and Pitt St to K'Road - got to the top in 3rd gear (out of 7), with Pedal Assist on. A little bit of effort on the pedals, perhaps getting a bit warm and breathing deeply, but no real issues at all. At my level of fitness, doing that on a manual bike would have me puffing like steam engine and barely able to move by the top. A triumph.

Things to get used to:

• Make sure my bag is securely fasted to the carrier. It fell off a ways along K'Road and dragged for a few metres, embarrassingly. Eventually I'll want proper pannier bags.
• Locking bike and taking the keys out of the battery when going inside places.

But other than that... the test drive was a success.

Now, the serious business. Certain friendly folk on the Better Transport forums express scepticism that bike commuting (even e-bike commuting) is feasible for professional women who want to look good once they get to the office. Certainly I think the "lyrca brigades" are responsible for an idea that only serious-business fitness nuts take bicycling seriously. But through the month of September, I will bicycle (from Mt Albert to Grey Lynn, about 5 kms) every working day, wearing vaguely professional clothing, and let you know what happens.

Photos of today to come, insha'allah.

Electric-bike eases the effort of cycling

...on the second morning I decided to go for it a bit, and later that week gleefully received third-hand reports from car commuters who had noticed a "blonde girl hurtling along past all the traffic on bicycle with far too much ease".

One British woman's account of a summer of e-biking.

...and you know what I mean...

I live and work in Auckland, New Zealand, and in a few days I will take possession of an electric bicycle - a Wisper 705 eco. I aim to use it for my daily commute of about 5 kms, including one serious hill, and also to take it further afield with the help of my city's train system. The purpose of this blog will be:

- to identify any teething problems related to the regular use of e-biking;
- to prove that it is possible for young, professional women to use an e-bike and stay fashionable;
- to vaguely ramble about other matters concerning sustainable urban transport.

The blog title is from this bad-ass number by space-rock legends Hawkwind, and yes, the bike is silver.