I really enjoy riding my electric mountain bike off-road around here. I go every weekend. However, there are more places I would like to explore that are too far to go on it. I do have a rack to carry it with my SUV but that takes work and still the riding range is limited (by me). I started riding with a friend who is also into dual sport motorcycles. He convinced me to get a dual sport bike.
Back in the 80's and 90's I had dirt bikes. My first was a 1982 Honda XR250. It was not very powerful so I upgraded to the XR500, then a 1986 XR600. My last dirt bike was a 1989 KTM 500MX and that was the best bike I owned to that point. Fast forward more than 25 years and now I bought this 2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro.
At 325lbs it is the heaviest bike I have owned by almost 60lbs. It is also the most powerful at 74HP, 10HP more than my KTM. I wanted a dual sport so I would not have to haul it and because I wanted to explore some roads that require licensed vehicles. I like the idea of just riding from my house.
I enjoy mountain biking off-road and often in areas with no cellular. Sometimes I ride in areas with many established trails that cross each other and navigation would help. I looked into bike navigation but they have small screens, are costly, and many of the features are redundant with my Garmin fenix 6x Pro Solar watch. I also never trade in my old smartphones so I have several fairly recent ones laying around. I decided to use my old Motorola Z4 smartphone as a biking navigation using. First I needed a real robust mount. I started on Amazon and found this one.
It grabs all 4 corners and locks in place.
I cleared and reset the phone, removing all unnecessary apps to minimize battery consumption. I also put it in airplane mode, and keep WiFi and Bluetooth off to save power. The Moto Z4 I am using also supports MotoMod batteries, of which I have a few. I am using the 2200mAh unit primarily and I can hot swap in others if it gets low on the trail (which is unlikely). I could also connect the phone to the USB port in the bike display to keep it charged if I wanted. I removed the SIM card as well so it would not search for cellular even out of airplane mode. Then I installed Google Maps, Trailforks, Garmin Explore, and GAIA maps. All of these offer offline maps of bike trails. There are many others too. So far I found GAIA to be the best for bike navigation as it can ever store satellite maps offline.
Here is how I organized the home screen.
Here is what GAIA maps looks like.
Here is a video showing the use of this riding some trails.
This first ride was on a pretty easy trail. I have yet to test it on harsher rides but so far it seems solid. I am of course by no means the first person to do this. I wanted to use an old phone, and not my current phone, just in case that mount breaks or I crash the bike. Also, I didn't want to drain the battery on the phone I use normally since I want to be able to make calls, or message through my Garmin satellite messenger in case of trouble.
I am selling my 2010 Mercedes E350 4matic sedan. It has 167k miles on it but runs and drives great. There is a slight whine in the drivetrain that has been there for years. The rims have curb rash and some are somewhat bent but it does not cause any problem. It was hit in the back in 2019 but there was no structural damage and we had it repaired at Benishek & Will which is a very reputable body shop. Current Kelly Blue Book value is $5,782 - $8,569. I will sell it for $6,000 or best offer.
I bought this car in 2015 from Autohaus in Peoria. We took many road trips in this car, especially between 2015 through 2018 so many of these miles are highway miles. The car has had very few miles since 2021. It has always been kept in a garage. This is the first year of the W212 body style and these have been great cars.
I now have over 350 miles on this bike, most of that off-road. This bike has been great for my riding style. I have the optional range extender battery which allows me to ride about 75 miles off-road on a charge. My riding includes many long hills and loamy conditions that burn through power too.
I have had some creaking noises which sound like they are coming from the handlebar area and possible the motor area. I checked and rechecked everything and all is tight.
When I bought this bike they offered several upgrades. One of which was a $300 Wren hub upgrade. I passed on it thinking why would I need that? Well, I found out why. I was up at Little Red Rock on a loamy hill. I hit the throttle and heard a snap and then the cassette just spun, no longer driving the wheel.
Luckily I was up hill so I was able to coast down to a main road and get picked up. I got home and took the hub apart and sure enough the ratchet teeth had sheared the ends off.
Now I decided to get the upgraded hub.
If you have an electric mountain bike with a high torque motor like this Bafang Ultra M620, best to also get a hub that can support it.
This bike is heavy but I used to ride dirt bikes back in the day so I don't mind the weight. The bike alone (no batteries) is 72lbs according to Biktrix. The main battery weighs 10.3lbs and the range extender weighs 7.6lbs. Total weight is about 90lbs.
Here is a video that shows the use of the throttle for some steeper or loamier bits in the beginning of the video. Watch for my left thumb applying motor power (throttle). Starting around the 5 minute mark, I begin the downhill portion that shows the suspension soaking up the terrain at around 20mph.
This next video shows a steep but short hill when I use the throttle to climb at about 25s in.
We were looking to replace our Mercedes GL450 as it was accumulating miles and it does not get the best fuel economy. As we really loved the GL450 we were looking at newer Mercedes GLS and GLE vehicles to replace it. We drove many of both the GLS and GLE but could not find one that really worked for us. The newer Mercedes seats were an issue, as was the overall feel of the vehicle. We decided to look at Porsche Cayenne and drove a couple of them. We liked the vehicle better and ended up with this 2021 base Cayenne.
We had driven Cayenne's in the past (at least a decade ago) and never really liked them much so we didn't expect to like the newer ones either. However, Cayenne's changed substantially in 2019. Back in the day, the base Cayenne V6 was anemic too. This new turbo V6 is much better. I really wanted the hybrid version but cars are hard to find right now. Also, the Cayenne Hybrid is getting an upgrade for 2024 so maybe in a few years we will upgrade to one of those. For now we are getting used to the Cayenne.
I went to Dream Racing at the Las Vegas Motorplex to try out the new C8 Corvette. I have been interested in the C8 since they announced it would finally be a proper mid-engine car. I drive a Porsche Cayman S which is also mid-engine and it is the best layout for a sports car in my opinion. I like the looks of the C8 Corvette as well.
The experience starts with a short video to set expectations and orient you to the track and performance driving. That is followed by a ride around the track in an SUV. One thing unique about Dream Racing versus Exotics Racing or Speed Vegas was you don't wear helmets in the street cars. Helmets are only required in their race cars.
Seated in the car I adjusted the seat and wheel to my liking. I am not a big fan of the large center console but it did not bother me as much while driving either. I could get used to it. The feel behind the wheel was centered and good. As we pulled onto the track and gave it full throttle and the traction control kicked in for a bit. The traction control intervenes a bit more than I would like but still better than many other sports cars. It's hard to beat Porsche traction control on the track. I only bought 7 laps and that is not even enough to really get consistent with the line as you can see in the video, I am a bit sloppy and inconsistent. The engine makes 200HP more than my Cayman S and that was very nice. It also has a wide powerband but drops off earlier than what I am used to in the Cayman S. It took a bit to learn to shift earlier. The sound is very different than the Porsche but it is a good sound. That comes through pretty well on the video. The transmission was also very good. The handling is also good and pretty neutral. I did not understeer like the Ferrari 488 did.
My biggest complaints with this car is the brakes. Dream Racing even upgraded to some slotted rotors but they were a bit warped when I started, and very warped by the end of my session. The chassis could easily handle a serious brake upgrade and if I was going to track one of these, a brake upgrade would be a must. I suspect the Z06 will have solved this issue.
The car is clearly heavier than my Cayman S, by about 650lbs. You can really feel it too. The center of gravity is also noticeably higher. The chassis gets more upset when switching directions than the Cayman S. The car feels like it is sitting higher, based on the handling. I felt like I could not push it as hard in the corners. Dream Racing uses Pirelli P Zero tires and maybe they are not as good as the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires I have on the Cayman S. The feedback was good and with some more seat time on the track I could work around this. It was certainly a fun drive.
The C8 Corvette is a great car and Chevy has done a great thing here delivering a car like this at the price point they are asking. Most owners will likely never track this car hard and they will be very happy with their purchase. Those who do want to track it should consider a brake upgrade first, or consider the Z06. If Dream Racing or Speed Vegas get a Z06 I may just have to try that.
So far the cars I have tried at these track venues are the Ferrari 488, the Porsche GT3 RS, and this Chevy Corvette. The GT3 RS was the best track car. The next car I want to try at the track is the Porsche GT2 RS.
I have now driven 3 different venues as well. Speed Vegas has been purchased by Exotics Racing so now that is at the Speed Vegas facility south of town. I drove Exotics Racing back when it was at the west edge of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway area north of town. Dream Racing is in the center of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval track.
We had a SunPower solar system installed on our house. It consists of 20, 400W panels, 14 on the East roof and 6 on the South. The total system generating capacity is 8kW. Since the panels are on different roof angles, it is unlikely to get that 8kW since they will reach peak output at different times.
We still have net metering here so we did not install a battery system yet. Net metering allows us to sell our excess power back to the energy company and accumulate a positive balance with the utility. During the times of year with higher solar generation than consumption we build up a credit which can be used during the summer months to pay for the usage that exceeds our generating. Basically, you somewhat use the grid as a enormous long-term battery. I believe as more solar powers the grid, these net meting plans will go away so I wanted to get in while they were still available. The 30% tax credit was also a huge incentive. Our system went online in April, the same month the utility raised the rates over 6% making the value prop that much stronger.
Utility power meter for solar showing energy sold back to the grid (arrow left)
Here is what the dashboard shows for a full day.
The system requires changing your power plan and your house power meter with the utility. The new meter shows which direction power is flowing. You can also see the daily summary on the utility website.
The grey shows the amount of energy the solar generated and the house used. The green shows the net power we sold back to the grid. The black shows the amount beyond what we generated in solar that we had to buy from the grid. April 12 was a cloudy day and April 13 was sunny. Even on that cloudy day we generated most of what we used.
Our system is sized to deliver 100% of our annual electric energy needs based on prior power consumption. It does not generate 100% of our peak power needs. The system also does not supply power if the grid goes down. We would need a battery system for that. At some point it will make sense to add a battery system but right now with net metering and a very stable grid here it does not seem cost effective. I do expect the cost of home energy storage to drop and the systems improve going forward.
