Scooter Testing and MORE Brake Repair

Last night from 10-11pm Shane, Charles, Franco, and I did some testing of our scooters in the Albany St. garage. The test consisted of a hill climb from the bottom of the garage to the top level (driving directions: right turn x 20), a distance of about a half mile.

Energy = Power x Time

Deathscooter's results: 11.8 Wh in 78 seconds

11.8 Wh = 544.6W x 78s x 1h/3600s

P=IV

544.6W=26.4V x 20.6A

20.6 Amps average going up the Albany St. garage. Learn something new every day.

"Not enough gang signs."

The Sisters of Anarchy

On to the brake repair portion of the post. Five minutes prior to leaving for the test, I let one of my floor mates who will remain anonymous use my scooter in the hallway. He accidentally made the scooter run itself into a wall which knocked the brakes loose.

"But Adrian, you said the brakes were welded to the front fork!"

"Yeah, J-B Weld."

As a result, the brake calipers now clamped the 'spokes' of the wheel instead of the rim, providing almost no braking at all. On the trip over to MITERS I went full throttle all the way used my shoe to slow down. Good thing I didn't need brakes for the testing.

First attempt: Use picture hanging wire to provide tension to hold the calipers in place.

Looks good, right? No, not right... and not left either.

Now I can't turn.

Attempt 2: Use longer picture hanging wire to provide tension to hold the calipers in place and attach the other end of the wire to something that moves with the wheel.

Several minutes, a screw, and three zip ties later, we have wound the wire around the front of my scooter in such a way that accomplishes our goal. 

Used a screw to tension the wire.

Another discovery during this process: my brake pads are depositing themselves onto the wheel. 

I did reach home safely after this quick fix, but as much as I enjoy the thrill of speculating on whether or not I'll be able to stop the next time I use the brakes, I need to fix this for real. I'm going to try to get access to one of the TIG welders in EMB and mount a steel plate to the front fork, which will hopefully allow for sturdier brake mounting.

Deathscooter Brake Replacement Update

Wow. These bike brakes are five times better than the old brakes ever were. I tested them out on Bay State Rd. before I took to the real streets, and I almost flipped over. Oh well... it was either front brakes or no brakes at all. I now have functional (also very sensitive) brakes that will hopefully last until winter, at which point I will probably have to rethink my transportation modes anyway.

Original post here.

Deathscooter Brake Replacement

Yesterday while riding east down Comm. Ave. I was almost hit by a truck. Twice. The bike lane is never safe. I was wearing a helmet (I think of it as a fashionable plastic hat) which made me feel a little better about the events, but regardless I would have been farther from death if I had full breaking ability, which was currently in short supply. These brakes should have been replaced a few weeks ago, so I can safely say that brake pads have about a month and a half of life on the scooter.

Putting my foot down on the asphalt was more effective than clamping the brakes as hard as I could.

And so I was inspired to travel to a bike shop in kenmore and purchase some $10 bike brake pads. They fit nicely and work very well. I live to ride another day with greater deceleration capabilities.

I'll update on the status of these brakes in a few weeks.