Justin Lemire-Elmore

As a result of supply shortages and customs difficulties with performance mosfets, our summer production batch of infineon motor controllers was unfortunately set back by almost 2 months. That leaves us now out of stock on all the controller models, and until the new batch arrives sometime in September we won't be able to supply Nine Continent or Crystalyte conversion kits either. Sorry about that. We're also only down to only front 26" eZee kits, and front Crystalyte kits. New sea shipments from both eZee and Crystalyte are expected in late Sept / early Oct.

In part because of the stock situation, we've decided this will be a good time to do some serious renovation work at the shop, starting this coming labour day long weekend until Sept 8th. During this time both the online and physical stores will be closed, and our phone line may be disconnected. We will try our best to handle any urgent issues over email, and thank you in advance for your patience.

One final project that Adam finished just before his departure is a cute but thorough introductory guide to ebike conversions. Our website generally assumes some level of technical background or previous familiarity with electric bicycle hardware, so this guide offers a non-intimedating way to get acquainted with the very basics. We hope that people appreciate this nice parting gift from Adam.

We promise this will be the last Stokemonkey update until we actually announce universal availability,,, the last 10% always takes the longest time. BUT, for those who have been waiting patiently the news is good. Our updated bracket design works with the right side freewheeling drives as well as the classic stokemonkey configuration for driving the cranks. And, for those classic style stokemonkey builds, we’ve produced an updated clampset that fits tubes from 3/4" up to 1.75" in diameter, accommodating a wider range of frame types without shims or adapters.

 

Both are in their final stages of volume production and should be ready in early September.

Then on Wednesday evening Justin and Robbie will be travelling to Hub City Cycles in Nanaimo to give an introductory workshop on electric bicycle conversions. This could be fun for islanders who are curious about what's involved in retrofitting a bicycle, or who have a bunch of burning questions for two aficionados. Details and address are on the Hub City website. 

1800km later Justin and Robbie have completed their electric cargo bike ride from Vancouver into San Francisco and had a fabulous time meeting up with everyone at the San Mateo Maker Faire over the weekend. All prototype gear under test held up to the task. A big thanks to Frank, Ken, Will, Wake, Otmar, Pete, Bill, Michael, Eric, Patrick, and the many others who took them in and helped along the way make this a trip to remember.

We're hoping it's not too late, but a research team at the Portland State University is doing an widespread survey of electric bike users in the USA, but they said Canadians are welcome to participate too. So if you have 10 minutes to spare and want to share your experience with electrics, fill it out here.