My lovely Dad picked me up from home Saturday morning. We bundled Sheldon into the big boot and took him off to Electro Bikes for some TLC.

They replaced the battery. This is the 3rd battery. Apparently, because the batteries are from China, it’s difficult to follow up queries regarding quality. However, it’s within the 6 month warranty so now I have another 6 months of cover. Can’t complain too much.

I’m hoping that it’s able to run flat in the future without the same problem occurring, but the fella said it’s not great to let it run flat. I’m not entirely a fan of that idea because it means I can’t experiment as much as I’d like.

I also queried why it didn’t ride like a normal bicycle without power. He gave it a test ride and mentioned to me that, because it only has 6 gears, the low gear is higher than a ‘1’ of a normal bike and that I’d need to invest in a 21 speed gear bike if I wanted that ability. Also, it is very heavy and the handle bars do mean I’m in an upright position (which gives me less push power).

I’m not entirely a fan of it not riding like a normal bike. Yeah, I get that I still have to build my strength, but I can get around on a normal bicycle quite fine so it’d be nice if it did ride like a normal bicycle as it means I could ride it when it runs flat rather than getting stuck while I’m out and about.

Not that I’m meant to run it flat.

*sigh*

I did discover something new about the batteries. It turns out that these Lithium batteries have about 500 charges in them before they start running down quicker. It turns out that every charge counts as a charge no matter what the battery level is at when you charge it. What this means is that if I charge it every night, I essentially am giving it a charge when it doesn’t really need one. Given the bike gets me to work and back fine (2 trips) but perhaps not to work and back twice in a row (4 trips), the only way to reduce the charges would be to purchase an additional $150 charger to keep at work or take my charger with me when I ride so I can recharge after ever 3 trips rather than 2. That’s a new habit I may need to get into – riding with my charger. Doesn’t see too onerous. I might start giving it a go.

Electro Bikes gave my baby a good tune up which means the brakes now work like a dream. In fact, it’s running really really well. They also let me borrow a helmet so I could cycle home! Yay! And I even got swooped by a magpie at Tarragindi, sped up and off and then giggled about it for the next 5 minutes. You know you’re happy to be back on a bike when you find yourself overjoyed at being swooped by a magpie!

They’re really nice blokes at Electro Bikes and I can’t fault their customer service. I reckon it must be tough looking after a fairly new technology. Word is that the problems I’ve been having aren’t widespread and that the Galaxy is selling like hot cakes. I suppose I’d really like to hear from other Galaxy owners, so hopefully me writing this blog means someone will stumble past it one day and get in touch to swap their own stories of love and war.

I’m hoping to ride Sheldon to work every day this week. I am really sick of all the coughing and spluttering on public transport. I think I need some fresh air and a germ free environment. My neck/shoulder is a bit dodgy at the moment, but the beaut thing about electric is that you can choose to ride using as little effort or strain as you like. You don’t have to flog it when you’re a little bit ruined.

We’re fully charged and ready for a week of riding!