Rurui XT10 700 mile update

 A few things have changed since my last update.  The issue where the motor would cut out intermittently got worse.  I contacted Rurui support and after many emails, photos, and videos, and tests, they sent me a new display and controller.  

After I replaced these 2 items, and fixed some damaged motor wires, the bike performs far better. The controller appears to be a later version. I immediately noticed a big power gain especially in PAS 1.  It used to top out at about 11mph in PAS 1 and not it is more like 13.5mph.  The biggest difference is the power everywhere, and that it sustains that power even on long hills.  I have now taken it on about 5 rides, including long hills in loamy terrain, steep hills, and some paved trails with long climbs.  It performs so much better now.  It no longer surges or cuts out like it had done since I bought it.  

Upgrades since my last post

I replaced the 52 tooth chainring with a 44 tooth.  This give me better low speed performance for off-road.  It translates to about 18% more torque (and lower speed) from my pedaling.  Of course this is a trade-off with top speed which is also reduced 18% but I ride mostly off-road and don't need the higher speeds.  Now with the improved motor performance, and this addition climbing torque, I can climb hills I never could before.  

I also bought a wider range freewheel but you can't replace it without removing the motor wiring.  The axle nut is too large for the freewheel or freewheel tool to go over and the nut threads are too small for the motor connector to go through.  It appears I will need to unsolder the wires from the motor, or cut and modify the wiring so I can take this apart.  

I heave searched the net for a solution but what I found so far have been mostly people hacking the harness apart and band-aiding it back.  Yuk.  

I had to replace the rear brake pads from all the long hill descents I make on a regular basis.  Here is where regenerative braking would really help.  Just riding the brakes down long hills is hard on them.   

Saying Goodbye to Motorola

 I bought my first cellular phone back in the mid 1990's.  It was a Motorola bag phone.  

These photos were taken when I finally disposed of it in 2021.  It had of course been packed away in a box for decades as these old analog phones no longer work.  This thing was a great phone in its day though.  In 1998 we were travelling across Wyoming and never lost coverage.  We made a call from there and it was clear as can be.  We were miles from anything.  For years I would keep it in the trunk when we went on trips as it had far superior range to any of the handheld phones.  

On September 11, 2001 I was in the air on a flight to Atlanta.  Yes, bad day for flying.  We landed in Atlanta to find an empty airport just before lunch.  Not something you will likely ever see.  Finally we did find some people gathered around the bars where they had the news playing on the TVs.  Just as we walked up, the 2nd plane hit the tower.  We spent the rest of that day and night driving back home.  At the time I did not have a portable cellular phone as that bag phone was not something you took on a plane.  I was unable to contact my wife for hours.  When I got back home, the first thing we did is get me a cellular phone.  It was a basic handheld, no frills, and of course it was a Motorola. 

We eventually upgraded to flip phones.  Finally, in 2009 I bought the first Droid.  Honestly I was really disappointed at first with this device since Android was barely half-baked at the time.  It was version 2.0 and it lacked many basic features like proper Bluetooth support.  It finally had a few updates and because pretty good.  For its day it was really pretty good.  We had a Droid 2, and a Droid 3, and several Bionics over the next few years.  Next we got Droid Max which finally had a big battery for the time.  After the Max I got a Z2 Play.  My wife had a Moto G.  Then we all upgraded to Z4s when  they came out. 

I really loved the Moto Z phones.  Its unfortunate they ended that line.  The mods were a great idea, especially the batteries.  Most of the other mods had limited usefulness for me.  I did use the 360 camera a fair amount.  The batteries were awesome though.  Most people just use them wrong.  I alwasy had a mod battery attached.  The batteries I had all had a great grippy rubberized coating so the phone did not slip out of your hand.  The also protected the back of the phone from drops.  You could hot swap batteries too.  I had a 3500mAh and a 2200mAh.  I normally used the 2200mAh but on trips or times I needed longer battery life I could swap in the bigger one.  If I really needed even more, I could take them both.  

In 2021 every update that Motorola pushed out to these phones would break at least 2 of the 3 we had.  By break I mean you could no longer make calls or send/receive texts most of the time.  It would work in some places around town, bot not in most.  It was really bad.  I tried both Motorola and Verizon support but the only fix was to wipe the phone and start over.  This happened about 5 times.  Neither Motorola or Verizon could ever fix it.  At that point I decided no more Motorola phones.  

Today I just activated my Pixel 6 Pro, replacing my Moto Z4.  

Over the years I had several other Motorola devices including a Xoom tablet, a Moto 360 watch (2nd gen), several T605 Bluetooth car kits, a TK30 car kit, and a lapdock for the Bionic.  Some were great, some just OK, and some had issues.  My Bionics were great for their day.  My Droid 3 had issues.  I really liked the Z4s until 2021.  Motorola had some great features like the twist to capture gesture to open the camera, and the chop-chop to turn ON the flashlight.  I will really miss those features.  I will also miss the Moto-mod batteries and the 360 camera.