Optibike Preview Tease

[John C. Sagebiel]

You all will now get to see something that even Craig hasn't seen yet.
Photos from Gunslinger paint of my new frame. The logo and coloration
are the flag of the State of Nevada, USA. Front fender is the silver
web like the bottom of the frame and the stripe continues through the
rear fender.
The silver is for Nevada's nickname "The Silver State". Most of San
Francisco was built on the money made from pulling silver out of the
Comstock Lode.
All this and power too!
Cheers,
--John

[OptOut]

WOW!
It's you John!

Best,
Joe (mobile)

On Sep 5, 2008, at 9:57 AM, "John C. Sagebiel" <jcsag...@mac.com>
wrote:

> <Sagebiel 001.jpg>
> <Sagebiel 002.jpg>
> <Sagebiel 003.jpg>

[deerfencer1]

Very slick and beautiful John! When are you taking delivery?

L

> Sagebiel 001.jpg
> 44KViewDownload
>
> Sagebiel 002.jpg
> 30KViewDownload
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> Sagebiel 003.jpg
> 28KViewDownload

[Keith Felch]

You're a spoiled, spoiled little man, John, and I hate you and your new
bicycle.

My OB4 in 2013 will be labeled "Italia" with the traditional Meatball
Sandwich logo.
Keith

[lowco2]

Keith,
Without a doubt, my friend, without a doubt. :-)

Larry,
Delivery will be whenever Craig gets the playa dust out of his ears
and gets this thing built. Serously, I think the frame should be
delivered to Optibike today and they can start building next week.
Builds take a week, so if they can ship the 12th (Craig, you
listening?) I can have it the next week. Plenty of good riding left.

--John

> >   --John- Hide quoted text -
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[Bike_on]

John-

Awesome! Very original and creative. Definite spoilage.

What are you going to do with your 600T? Ebay?

FYI, I am upgrading my headlamps with 2 x 3W LED, MR16 bulbs. They
will be brighter and use less power. Every consider this for your
bike?

Since school began, the soccer moms are out in full force, talking on
the cell phones, and pulling out in front of everything on the road.

Dan

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Keith Felch]

Dan,
Do you have your Air Zound horn yet?

[lowco2]

Hey Dan,
Thanks... The 600T is under a first-right-of-refusal contact to my
wife. If she decides she does not want it, Ebay or something. The
bike's running great and giving excellent service.
I have not changed my lights, I don't use the lights much these days
at all, but I'm very interested to hear both where you got those bulbs
and what you think of them. Mostly, I really need light to see, not
just to be seen, so the halogens are really nice on the lonely,
deserted roads I pass over. I've seen other riding lights that are LED
and they are not sufficient, IMHO, for seeing obstacles far enough out
in front to change dirction at 30 mph. I've thought about using my
NiteRider (HID bulb -- awesome light power; chews batteries like no
one's business) this winter as a supplement.
So, please pass along your source and your thoughts on the LED's.
Regards,
--John

[Keith Felch]

A Surefire G2 LED held in your teeth works great, too!
http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/24460/sesent/00

Keith
----- Original Message -----

From: "lowco2" <jcsag...@mac.com>
To: "TidalForce Forum" <Tidal...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 10:38 AM
Subject: [TF] Re: Optibike Preview Tease

[Bike_on]

These LED bulbs from Ledtronics:

http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/MR16-3W/default.asp

They should be 1/3 the power for the halogens, and brighter. I found
one web site that stated a 1W LED was brighter than a 10W halogen. I
have not checked all the numbers on that, but I will have 3 x 1W LEDs
to replace a 10W bulb, times two.

I chose the wide angle, 60 degree, and warm light LED.

I'll keep all posted.

Keith- No air horn...yet. I'm trying not to clutter up my
"dashboard". If you noticed on my post for the aero bars, I have my
throttle, cycle computer and thumb bell (to alert roadies). I have
now added by Blackburn 4 white led next to the throttle for safety.
The aeros pretty much take all the space on the handle bars, but
then they off a lot of linear inches themselves.

Antother plus for the aeros and throttle is the extra throttle in
case the normal thumb breaks. I have had that happen, and I have a
second source. The bigger benefit is alternate riding position for
the wrist fatigue. My rides are 1 hr+, 2x a day.

DR

[Keith Felch]

Check this out re: Surefire G2 LED:

Flight Bag Light Saves the Day
I'm a general aviation pilot. Recently, I was celebrating getting my
commercial pilot's certificate by flying to Santa Barbara for dinner with
two pilot friends of mine. Even though I wasn't the pilot on this flight, I
still put my SureFire G2® LED and A2 Aviator® into my flight bag.

After we landed on the runway, we discovered that our landing light and taxi
light wouldn't turn on. It was a dark night, and the moon was covered, so
the visibility on the ground bad. Plus, some of the taxi lights were out of
service as well. A wrong turn at a busy airport like Santa Barbra could
cause a major disaster. So, while my friends were wondering what to do, I
simply pulled my G2 LED from my bag and stuck it out the cockpit. When I
pushed the button, no kidding, the taxi way was totally lighted. In fact,
this little flashlight worked better than the original lights on the 1980
Piper.

Using only the G2 LED, we taxied to park in one piece. There are lots of
things I learned when I took my flight training, but there's one thing I've
learned on my own: Never take off without my SureFire.

Alec W.
Taipei, Taiwan

Yeah, baby.

[optibike]

Funny thing John, I was only a few miles from you last week and you
HAD A FREE TICKET and I did not see you. No soup for you.

:) seriously, you are all set to be built soon after your BEAUTIFUL
frame gets here.

Question for you all:

What is more important with respect to E-bikes? - Range or Speed?

Would you rather be able to ride at 25-30 mph for 2-3 hours or 40 mph
for an hour? Pretend you can't have both.

Craig

[lowco2]

Yes, and you didn't swing by???
I was on duty, the only way I was coming out Black Rock City was on a
helo. Didn't get called.

40mph for an hour. Then recharge at work and 40 mph for an hour home.
Speed, baby, speed!
--John

[lowco2]

Actually that would be 40 mph for 24 min which would get me to work,
then recharge and 40 mph for the next 24 min home. NO QUESTION.
--J

> > Craig- Hide quoted text -

[OptOut]

Range for me, but the big caviot is that's on my TF that handles like
a tank at 100 lbs. Good chance if i rode a sporty opti I would be
happier with higher speed. I've not been comfortable with high speed
on my TF since I fell last year.

Best,
Joe (mobile)

[Jerome Daoust]

To handle this question, I started a separate discussion:
http://groups.google.com/group/Tidalforce/browse_thread/thread/7685880ea3732b0f#

On Sep 5, 12:08 pm, optibike <cr...@optibike.com> wrote:
>

[Keith Felch]

Under those conditions of choosing between 25-30mph for 2-3 hours, or 40 for
an hour, I'll choose the longer run time, hands down. Once I start going
over 25, I can really feel and see that I'm spending a lot of juice just
fighting the wind.

Keith
----- Original Message -----
From: "optibike" <cr...@optibike.com>
To: "TidalForce Forum" <Tidal...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 12:08 PM
Subject: [TF] Re: Optibike Preview Tease

>
>
>

[thesaxman]

Dan,
Hoping that the person behind those blacked out windows sees you may
not be enough. Get a bike horn that'll cut through the glass and the
hiphop. Don't worry about cluttering your bars so much.

Let 'em know you mean business, and live to see your grandchildren, my
friend.

Keith

[remf]

I have a Surefire A2 which I can attach to a handlebar camera mount.

It's high beam for your bike.

rem

On Sep 6, 3:50 am, "Keith Felch" <thesax...@cox.net> wrote:
> A Surefire G2 LED held in your teeth works great, too!http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/24460/sesen...

[remf]

40 MPH for an hour of course!

40 miles is plenty range for me.

rem

[deerfencer1]

I'll cast my vote with Keith and Joe for range over that kind of speed
any day. IMO 40 mph is WAY too fast for a bike to average--and this is
coming from someone who loves nothing more than occasionally spanking
the blacktop in the mid-30's range.

But 40 mph AVERAGE? I don't think so. Selling a bike that fast to the
general public is a lawsuit waiting to happen IMO. I have trouble even
taking in air at that speed, never mind handling an unexpected
maneuver should a pothole, woodchuck, or aggressive/careless driver
suddenly appear.

A top motor speed into the low 30's is plenty, especially given the
Opti's freewheeling capability. My fastest (short sprint-type) rides
on Uma have been in the 32 mph range, and that pace is about as fast
as I'd feel safe with on public roads. Anything much above that pushes
the machine well out of the e-bike category IMO, and into e-
motorcycleville. Which is ok if it's sold and configured as such, and
meets all the federal safety requirements.

LH

[Richard Papa]

What a wonderful story! Maybe Opti need to look at these bulbs!

Great stuff,

Rich

-----Original Message-----
From: Tidal...@googlegroups.com [mailto:Tidal...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Bike_on
Sent: 05 September 2008 18:55
To: TidalForce Forum
Subject: [TF] Re: Optibike Preview Tease

[thes...@cox.net]

Yeah, Dan, those bulbs look great. Please let us know how they work out.
Keith

[Richard Papa]

I would like both options.

Maybe Opti can design a user interface the customer can program for his/her
daily needs. Ride to work during the week, play fast the weekends :) That
way everyone wins!

Maybe we can link our Optibikes through our computers to the Optibike
website and have all the features we need there... Log in, download and
go...

Just my UK£0.02,

Rich

[OptOut]

Now we're talking Rich!
Your ￡.02 is worth what? $10,000 US!

Best,
Joe (mobile) iphone!

On Sep 8, 2008, at 2:05 PM, "Richard Papa" <papa...@btconnect.com>
wrote: