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Well we managed to have the most crashes in one ride during the cargo bike championships last friday; tip for future events, 2 wheels is better than 3 for fast cornering! Anyways this coming weekend is also packed with with activity, and that includes Grin having a booth both at the inaugural Main Street Bike Expo on Saturday June 10th, and also both Saturday and Sunday at the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire.

After missing the beat last year we're back to being involved with now the 3rd annual Vancouver Cargo Bike championship this Friday. It's happening once again at the end of Bike to Work Week at Creekside park, only this year there's a dedicated track so less dodging of pedestrians around the seawall bike path.

It's not too late to register and we'll be sponsoring a prize of a $150 (or 15% off an order) gift certificate for anything at Grin to a winner in the e-cargo category. We hope to see many of our customers there and if you've been considering a cargo ebike yourself this would be a great event to check out. We'll be racing our legendary Frankentrike and as always we have a fondness for the homemade and wacky.

We've been able to add the powerful Magura MT4e hydraulic brake system to our offering of ebike kit accessories. This provides amazing hydraulic stopping power when you need it, with a built-in switch on the lever arm to activate regen or controller cutout.

If you already have hydraulic brakes then the TripWire is a great way to add electric cutoffs to your existing levers. But for those looking to upgrade their ebike from mechanical brakes to hydraulic or building up a new conversion from scratch, these Magura's are among the best.

The brake levers are a symmetric flip-flop design so the same lever works equally well on the left or right handlebar, and come fully bled with 2200mm long hoses. Magura has designed them so that you can then cut the hose to length without the complicated bleeding step if you follow their instructions (See Video Here). The hardware for cutting the hose to length is included with each kit.

We've got them stocked with 180mm disk rotors and various frame caliper adapters to fit this rotor size. For the electrical termination you can choose between a 15cm cable with 2-pin HiGo plug or a longer cable with JST-SM connectors for setups running a V3 Cycle Analyst.

Ebike parts tend to be lag the standards used in the modern bike industry by several years but we do our best to move things forwards. Recently the 650b aka 27.5" wheel size has largely replaced 26" as the standard for new mountain bikes, but hub motors in 650b rims have been nearly impossible to find. 

We've addressed this and now have our front and rear eZee kits available in a prebuilt 27.5" option with a Schwalbe Big Ben tire. We also have stock of both Alex DM24 and and Velocity Cliffhanger rims. We can now offer a 27.5" size for the 9C+ kits, Bafang G01 kits, TDCM IGH kits, and other custom wheel builds. This addition will ensure that Grin has a drop-in hub motor option for all the newer bikes out there.

We're new stepping closer to the full release of the V3.1 Cycle Analyst firmware and are smoothing the upgrade process. The Cycle Analyst software suite has been updated to contain the latest 3.1b20 firmware. This latest build is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. And if you are missing the USB->TTL programming cable, we have that now available on the amazon store too, along along with the digital aux buttons.

Earlier this year we produced a video showcasing the new digital aux input buttons, and have now prepared 4 more short youtube videos highlighting some of the other new features available in the 3.1 firmware, from screen customization to factory resets. Have a look

Youtube video showing the ability to customize what item(s) show up in the main screen.	Youtube video showing new ebrake setup menu table, with proportinal regen, logic polarity, and minimum brake time.
Video tutorial on selecting and hiding which display screens show up when still or when moving.	Demonstration of the new factory reset feature, where you can restore all of your CA3.1 settings to a factory default state.

At last Xtracycle has released the long awaited follow up of their FreeRadical bolt on cargo extenion kit, now called the Xtracycle Leap. It's a full redesign that is cleaner, more rugged, and more versatile than the original, with accomdation for 24" - 29" wheel sizes and a greatly improved frame attachment system.

We've got them in stock both stand alone and as part of a full electric package with a rear geared or direct drive hub motor. And to celebrate their arrival, and cargo ebikes in general, we're having a month long sales event on most of our cargo packages to kick start the season!  This includes:

	25% discount on the great value eZee Expedir bikes	(no coupon needed)
	20% discount on the Yuba Cycle Stoker system	(coupon StokeRight)
	15% discount on the classic Stokemonkey kit	(coupon StokeLeft)
	10% discount on the new Leap + Motor kits	(coupon LeapHigh)
	A free Satiator upgrade wih the Juiced Bikes ODK	(coupon FastCharge)

To use the coupon codes, you'll need to be logged into our website with an account and then you will have the opportunity to put in the code during checkout. This sale will last until April 15th. 

Plus, for local Vancouver customers are selling our floor model Yuba Mundo and 2014 Edgerunner ebikes, both with Cycle Stoker drive systems installed. So if you've been mulling over a cargo ebike purchase for a while but have been a bit leary of the prices, now is the time to drop by our shop for a visit.

We're used to travelling all around to various trade shows and events but it's been a while since we've had one in our own backyard. This coming weekend Grin will have a booth in the Vancouver Bike Show at the Vancouver Convention Center downtown.

Not only will we be showing off some of the great new Grin products like the LiGo batteries, All Axle hub motor, Tripwire brake cutoffs, Satiators and Phaserunners, and all that, but we're also running a sale on cargo ebikes, including 25% off on brand new eZee Expedirs. There will be floor models to try and both Bike Friday and Brompton folding bike kits built up as well.

If you are into the Bike and/or Outdoor scene in Vancouver, there is a lot going on at the Convention center this weekend so we recommend you register and come for a visit. Our booth is B300 near the Bike Trials Show.

UPDATE:  Our first day at the VBS has been really great and we look forwards to meeting many more local Vancouverites on Sunday. There is lots to see and we have some show specials to offer those who visit so it.our little booth.

Last week was a momentous occasion for Grin Technologies, as our innovative LiGo battery modules got ready for primetime. I'll let the video do the talking!

Our product update and video for this week relates to something close to our hearts, the seemingly timeless Cycle Analyst. While the Version 3.0 CA firmware has been stabilized for some time, our partner Teklektik has been quietly working very hard towards a 3.1 release that fully realizes all of the features we had originally envisioned for this device. One of the best of these is a dual button control input, making on the fly adjustments easier than ever before. Have a look:

Using this requires first updating your Cycle Analyst firmware. The V3.1 beta releases have been published on endless-sphere since last spring, but the latest CA3.1B13 code is getting very close to the final release, and we think it's time fo a wider swath of users to check check it out. You can download it from ES or our CA3 info page, just keep in mind that an upgrade from a 3.0 device will overwrite all of your settings and statistics, so make sure to record those first before reflashing.

We have the inexpensive dual buttons in stock to ship to anyone wanting to get a head start on this upgrade path for their CA devices. Then in March/April we expect to make the 3.1 firmware our new standard that is preloaded on all the CA3 devices, and we will have a number of video tutorials covering the many other new features.

We quietly started carrying Hailong downtube mount battery packs last fall, but didn't announce anything as they lacked UN38.3 certification and so were available for local pickup only. Well, that's all changed and we now have a 52V 13Ah downtube battery with UN38.3 documents that we can ship over the world. These battery packs are using the Panasonic GA cells, nominally 3.5Ah each but we'll rate them more conservatively at 3.3Ah.

 
These are great low center of gravity batteries for ebikes running 20-25A motor controllers. The BMS circuit is capable of 40A continuous but usage at these levels isn't recommended for cell longevity. For bikes that don't have suitable waterbottle eyelets on the downtube, we also have sourced a nice Banjo Brothers frame bag that holds them neatly from the toptube, and helps your conversion look less like an ebike with the obvious battery exposed.

Not sure how to pick a battery?

We've also recently rewritten our battery kits info page, updating it to reflect our 2017 battery options with summary explanation on choosing the best pack for your setup. 

This updated page also includes tips on parallel or series wiring for connecting batteries and other tidbits that you may find useful when considering a new battery purchase.