::Wondering Mind::

I posted last week over at beijingdaze.com about the complexities and steps required to procure a driver’s license and motorcycle license plate in Beijing which can be quite a process if you wanna do it all legally… which i did! After a few weeks of trying really hard to procure myself a gas-powered two-wheeler, I finally gave up and went the “greener” route with an e-bike.

The idea has been floating around my brain for almost a year, after reading Kaiser Kuo’s musings about owning an e-bike and how it had put [him] back in touch with Beijing .

I liked the idea of the e-bike for many reasons: ecologically friendly, low maintenance, practical, no legal hassles and generally easy to own. My biggest problem though was the range: Most e-bikes on the market right now have a 30 to 50km range on a good day unless one invests in a lithium ion battery that might cost twice the price of the bike and won’t necessarily work out for the best.

My adventures and roamings through town can be lengthy on any particular evening taking me from the East side of town to the CBD then over to Gulou with a pit stop in Sanlitun, a trip to 2 Kolegas and finally back to the East side of town. This type of Journey adds up to about 60km and I needed a bike that could last the distance.

beautiful on the outside, scary on the inside

My first choice was a Big Turtle King or Da Gui Wang (大龟王). I like the way they look and they’re popular enough that it would be easy to get them serviced anywhere in town. The standard battery comes with realistic range of 30 to 40 Km when travelling at 35 k/h, much less if going faster. Don’t believe any shop keeper that says otherwise. Better batteries are available at a premium with the Lithium Ion option running at 4000RMB for the battery alone but it will last for 80 to 100km depending on the speed you’re driving.

I figured I’ll get one with the base battery and then upgrade as needed after I was convinced it worked. However, a trip to the bike shop changed my mind rather quickly: The big turtle kings are nothing but the shell of the gas powered version that someone took the engine out off and hacked up with an electric motor. They’re literally using fuse switches like the ones outside my door and there are naked cables running under the hood. There was no way this thing is gonna withstand one of Beijing’s famous downpours without electrocuting me… yeah, everyone is riding them but that don’t mean I will.
There is an export model making the rounds around Beijing that should be cleaner/neater but it’s not readily available and will run you 5000RMB minimim with the shitty battery.

Next up were the brand names: Cityfy is had a good reputaion but didn’t make any model i cared for. Yamaha, on the other hand, had just come out with the Metis Max which was a substantial upgrade to the regular Metis series they had been building for years now.

I had seen this model online and it was rated with an autonomy of 80km on one charge. I was lucky enough to be at the shop when someone that owned one came around and i was able to ask them a few questions about it. In a nutshell, of all the options available, it seemed like the one most likely to fit my needs and i got it. Total cost 4000 RMB including registration which was the taobao price.

The bike, or scooter I should say, is quite comfortable and has no problem handling 2 passengers! There are two power settings on it: Low and High. Using the low setting allows you to go at speeds of 25km/h to 30km/h and travel for at least 60 to 70km when riding alone.. about 60 if you have a passenger.
The high power setting brings in quite a bit of zip to the experience and lets you go between 35 to 40 km/h for a distance of up to 40km… this is all on the stock battery!

I’m also a lot more comfortable riding something that I can assumed has seen a semblant of quality control so that the lights and other components won’t fail without a warning! I could have paid a lot less but I’m a firm believer in the “You get what you pay for” motto.. this thing is gonna last me.

I’ve been using this baby for exactly a week and I can’t believe the difference it’s made in my life already: I can go anywhere i want anytime I want without dealing with taxis, crowd on a subway or any of the mafan that has plagued my life over the past few years. I’m also slowly venturing into side roads and back alleys seeing a whole new side to Beijing i never new existed.

now, unto the negatives:

- The battery on this thing is a freaking monster: it weighs in at 29kg… yeah, that’s twenty nine kilograms!
- There is no odometer telling you how much you’ve travelled. you have to rely on the battery gauge and learn to estimate your own distance. I used google maps to figure out how much i travelled on average and keep a cheat sheet as a reference.
- It is no speed demon
- As a brandname, it’s not so easy to mod the bike. local no-names can have tons of addons but the Yamaha might not handle them.
- that’s it

I decided to keep track of distances travelled per day and taxi costs I would normally pay to travel said distance in an excel spreadsheet just for the heck of it and so far, I’ve logged the required amount km I would do on a normal week in taxis! And guess what: in one week, I’ve saved 10% of the bike’s value in Taxi fare! yes, I had no idea I was spending in excess of 400 RMB/week in cabs!
At this rate, I would recoup the whole cost in about 10 weeks. That is not to mention the fact that I am no longer drinking out as much as i used to. 1 alcoholic beverage is all I’m allowing myself at the moment.

Do I have any buyer’s remorse? Nope! I can’t believe it took me this long to take the jump! The battery weight is definitely a pain in the ass and a bit of a concern. So far, I’ve taken it in 3 times and I’m getting used to it but I’d much rather have a 10kg battery. I still look at the Big Turtle Kings with envy sometimes but that more because i like the way they look. If someone were to clean them up and do a neat install, I’d consider switching and getting the extra speed but for now, I think I got the best bike for my needs.

My next mission is to convince bar/restaurant owners to set up charging stations much like they have free wi-fi available. Keep a charger or two handy for those customers that might require a little top-up. It costs less than 1 RMB to recharge the whole battery for 10 hours so think about the extra added value of keeping a customer on a seat drinking/eating while their bike charges. You’d make up that insvestment in a heart beat.

The Silver Daze

I’m also fixing to Join Kaiser in his quest to get a gang together with the sole purpose to keep bike lanes car-free…. I’ll go one step further and say i want them to be pedestrian free as well!!! Those bastards have sent me into fits of road rage cursing at their selfish ways over the past few days… who’s with us?

I just had an epiphany: my life now revolves around batteries!

My iphone is my ultimate tool! I’m constantly making sure that it is charged so that I don’t run out of power and fall off the grid or can’t access my information.
My macbook pro is my other tool of choice! god forbid i forget my power cable at home as it would spell tragedy… I never got the 7 hours advertised battery life, more like 4 hours under moderate/heavy use.
My camera has also been an essential part of my armada since beijingdaze.com took off: I have documented almost every meal I’ve had and every show I’ve gone to. No camera = no post most of the time.
Now, for the new addition, my e bike: Battery life is now dictating where I go and how fast i get there most of the time! If I’m out, I literally have to stop and pull the 29kg battery out, go home and then recharge the damn thing before i can use the scooter again.

oil dependency? I don’t think so…

(yes, I know oil is used to get electricity yaddi yadda.. it’s still battery life as far as I am concerned)

my oh my! how the mighty have fallen! I remember roaming around the Southeast United States on my Yamaha virago, racing clouds and trucks and what not! Now, I have joined the ranks of e-bike riders in Beijing with my very own Yamaha Metis Max…. more on this puppy after I’ve spent extra time riding it around!

how about that?

I’ve mentioned Beijing Daze quite a few times on here recently and for cause: It’s keeping me busy and distracted but it’s also giving me the opportunity to somewhat get back into the music scene after a long time of absence.

Over the past year, it’s give me the motivation to get away from “expat” Beijing and rediscover parts of the city that i had ignored in favor of the general bar scenes. I’ve also managed to get to know quite a few amazing/great persons hanging out til the wee hours of the morning talking music.

Meeting these musicians comes with benefits, one of which being the ability to secure a shitload of songs that i can share with my readers with absolutely no strings attached. so if you care about live music or want to hear some of what’s brewing in the Beijing music scene, head on over to http://beijingdaze.com/category/freeloading/ and get yourself those mp3 while they’re still up.

there’s rock, bluegrass, country, reggae, etc…. the list goes on with more goodies on the way!! merry christmas!

Been a while but no worries, i’m still around! I think blogging over at BeijingDaze is taking up most of my disposable time but fear not… u still get some pieces of my wondering mind!

Right now, it’s crunch time with preps on the way for the world cup! yeas, yours truly managed to secure tickets to a few games and i’m planning to have a blast! So far, I’m scheduled to catch Germany-Serbia, Germany-Ghana as well as a round of 16th game between 1H and 2G… how about that?

There is a bit of doubt though because I’m hitting South Africa in their winter and that is a word i don’t really want to hear about for another few months considering we just came out of the winter-that-never-ends in Beijing with temperatures flirting with the 0 Celsius in April.

Nevertheless, the prospects of going back to what has become one of my favorite countries is quite thrilling. I get to spend loads of time hanging out with a person i care deeply about/for and also visit parts of the country i have not seen like Port Elizabeth.

here’s one toworld cup fever baby!