Electric Bike

Karl Gesslein / April 10, 2016 This article will attempt to convince you that it’s worthwhile to get your lazy ass out of bed before everyone else when you want to hit the singletrack trails so that you get the best snow conditions and don’t put other non-electric riders at risk. It also lays out a template for how to deal with encounters with your friendly local law enforcement officer, and explains why you should avoid the locals. When I used to XC ski (back when there was actually real snow) I noticed something particular about snow. If you wanted the best...

Karl Gesslein / December 20, 2016 There sure are a lot of opinions out there about how and where to charge your ebike battery when on the road. There are two schools of thought out there. The respectable, considerate types will ask permission before they plug in anywhere in the hopes that people will say yes to their request (they almost always do). Delinquent types like myself tend to just do whatever they want to and see what they can get away with. This article is aimed at degenerates who prefer to ask for forgiveness rather than permission when it comes to charging...

Karl Gesslein / December 26, 2016 Whenever I surf the web to find out what is happening in the ebike industry I get pretty depressed. The US ebike market is a wasteland of cheap underpowered hub-powered ugly ebikes and overpriced underpowered torque sensing mid-drives. *facepalm* It’s no wonder that no one is buying this crap. The biggest problem I see facing the ebike industry is the way they desperately cling to the 750W power limit on all their ebikes. The industry will never mature as long as they continue to do this. This is the best selling ebike in America. The Ped-e-slow at...

Karl Gesslein / January 29, 2017 One of the things I always tell people who want to learn to ride bikes in the woods is that the most important rule to follow is always this. Don’t look at the trees It’s not that hard to do, and the biggest problem with our brains is that wherever we look is where we tend to end up. If you look at the spaces between the trees then that’s where you’ll go, if you look at a tree, that is exactly where you will go. This is all well and good most of the time, but when...

Karl Gesslein / April 20, 2017 I like Micah Toll. There is not a lot of people in the DIY ebike world that haven’t projected their crazy energy and opinions at me at some point in the last several years. Micah has always struck me as being level-headed, intelligent and non-judgemental which are rare qualities to find in the DIY ebike world. In 2013 he released his first book “The Ultimate Do It Yourself Ebike Guide” which inspired a lot of people to build their own ebikes. I’ve never read his first book (I’m too cheap and opinionated) but I have read many of...