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Topics - Specter

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Energica / Custom Gloves

« on: May 10, 2024, 04:36:10 AM »

So im at the track today.
My gloves don't exactly fit like I really would like them to.
I have shorter / fatter fingers, so in order to get a glove that is not strangling my hand and causing my fingers / hand to go numb in short order, I usually go a size up. After talking around on the track, it seems I am not the only one who has the issue with floppy finger tips on their track gloves. In some high maneuvering situations, this could possibly get caught up and upset the bike a bit if you tap or slide a brake or throttle or whatnot when maneuvering your hand and the glove burdens you. It can be a distraction you don't need on a track.

Does anyone know of any place that does custom gloves or makes gloves in short fat sausage fingers size?

Thanks
Aaron

PS, Yes I have worn several pairs extensively, in the sun, wet them, all the tricks trying to make them fit better... doesn't work exceptionally well.

Energica / Chain Ticking

« on: April 12, 2024, 02:17:14 AM »

So my chain, has about 8k on it, was extensively cleaned, and re adjusted (seems to be happening fairly often now) and it has a tick in it. I can feel it when riding, tick tick tick every time it goes around the front sprocket.

I am aware this is probably a significant wear spot, the chain has a fairly large slop span, it can get tight to the point of barely making minimum clearance of 30 mm to over 50 mm at it's loosest spot when rotating the wheel to look for the loose spot to adjust from.

anyways, the ticking. Is this something that,
A. yes aaron chains do that when they get old, it's probably a worn flat / or sticking area but it's still safe to ride for a while, the tick alone is not major

or
B. Yes aaron you molested your chain very well here, you should probably replace it sooner rather than later (permanently)
or
C. This is very dangerous you really need to get that thing off the road now before it lets loose and takes your leg with you.

Is this something that is a really bad thing to be riding on or am I safe for a bit.

I do have a new chain and what I have been doing is, once a month taking the current one off, put different chain on, so i can take the dirty one and givce it a good bath in a soaking bucket and a brush to get it genuinely clean deep down, the lubricating it and putting in a bag to hold until next change out.

im overall looking at my chains about once a week now, or once every 100 miles or so, or if I burn a battery down in under 100 miles (riding really rough, like track day or wot at 8 am on sunday morning for 15 miles straight thing), adjusting if needed, lubing .. quick brush spray and deep clean once a month needed or not.

Given how much dirt and dust is flying everywhere with all the construction, and the gd silt that's in everything now being blown all over, I feel this extra level of chain care is really needed to keep from replacing them every 5 or 6k miles, at 230 dollars a pop

Chain ticking - ticking time bomb or reminder to put new one on?

thanks
Aaron

General Discussion / Forum Down

« on: April 12, 2024, 12:59:43 AM »

So it seems the forum was down for a few days here.
Is there some way possibly you could give a few trusted members the power to reboot it or whatever it may have needed to reset / restart it, so that next time, one of them can possibly fix it and not have to wait for you to have to find time in your life to get a chance at it?

Im fairly familiar with the simple machines software, although am running an older version on my website just as a FYI.

Be nice not to have the forum drop for 2=3 days yet at the same time, understand you are not married to the forum either and Do have a life, so offering a possible alternative solution.

Aaron

General Discussion / Thank God for Traction Control

« on: April 07, 2024, 08:52:13 AM »

So I head out to the American Legion today at about 11 am because we had an event, and I had to cook.
so here we are at 930 PM and I finally am back home.
They have been working on the road leading up to my subdivision the past few weeks, getting ready to redo it, the dump trucks tore it all up.

Well, between the time I left and the time I came back (Mind you it's pitch dark out and you can't see shit this time of night)
The sorry sons of bitches used the machine to grind down the fucking pavement, obviously to repave it I guess in a few days or whatever, but LEFT the shit there, half an inch or more loose asphalt all over the road, with uneven gouges in it, grooves...the works.

I hit this loose gravel at about 45 mph. I tell you, Eva deserves some sort of award for the dance she started doing!! That damned bike started dancing all over the place and the dashboard lit up like a christmas tree, traction control, pretty much taking out anything resembling putting power to it. It slid, it slithered, I got it under control about 30 both legs out, asshole so tight you couldn't pull a banjo string thru with a bulldozer at this point! I am fairly positive that the traction control saved my ass tonight, at least from a very bad case of road rash. The moment my bike started sliding it took over, I am sure if it was left to me, Id probably have been on the ground before I got power cut enough to not power slide.

Would have been nice for the shit heads to at least put a sign up, road under construction or something. There's a HUGE difference between running a street sweeper and leaving an inch of loose gravel.

Anybody who says Traction control is just useless crap, and more stuff to break and does nothing.
I respectfully beg to differ.
The GD city owes me a new pair of underwear now.

Aaron

Energica / Charging Plug Indicator

« on: March 23, 2024, 07:06:56 PM »

Just thinking out loud here.
More than once I have 'forced' the plug on my bike, it was connected, and that stupid little lock thing was up, and I wiggled and snapped the plug out of the charging port, because the bike was done charging, it said remove plug, but didn't release the sob. I heard it snap as I forced the plug out past it then said, oh shit, hope I didn't break anything.

With a lighter gauge AC J plug you can kind of feel if it's latched or not, but still they can get stiff sometimes and you may not notice it's still holding, especially if you are someone who is newer to e bike charging.

Forcing the charge cable out is a BAD thing, you snap that latch or booger up the switch, it's a done deal, you won't charge anymore until you jump or fix that thing.

Now, a smaller cable you can kind of feel, a BIGGER cable, say for a full blown CCS charge, that thing is rated at 100 amps or so, it's HEAVY, plus since it's so thick, it's awkward, and you have to smash it's ass down to make sure the latch thing is fully seated or it won't initialize properly.

You have no clue if that sob is latched shut or not, the frame flexes and pops so you may not hear the 'click' when it does.

How about a little red light / green light led by the plug to let you know if the lock latch is up or down? For future bikes of course.
OR, and no you can't redesign the control pad on it, too expensive, but you CAN change the software a bit. How about wording then on the charge screen, latch engaged, latch free.. or something to that affect to let people know HEY, it's still LOCKED, don't yank on it? Maybe also a little icon that lights up by a picture of a charge plug on the charging screen or something, that shows if the switch that tells you, ok the plug is fully inserted, is activated or not. This way you KNOW you got the plug seated fully and properly, and the charge start request won't fault out on you because of that error. (It doesn't even tell you why it faulted most the times either, it just times out or gives a general fault, how hard would it be to add verbage, plug switch not made?)

The signals are already coming into the bike, or at least a 'last command', 'last state' byte is should be available to look at. This is an eazy peazy upgrade that would be a really GOOD thing, and make charging a bit easier overall.

It's these little classy things, that while are very minor, make people go, wow, that's a nice feature, and want to buy the bike... just my 2 coffee beans worth of opinion.

Aaron

Energica / Shock sticking a bit

« on: March 20, 2024, 10:29:13 PM »

My front shock, sometimes when I come to a stop it'll stay compressed a bit, until I jiggle the bike a bit, like after braking at a stoplight, then it'll pop back up. It doesn't always do this but once in a while.

Is this just the shock wearing out, or did I break something in it? About how long do shocks last, I do run it on the track once in a while but it's been doing this before the track,just seems a bit more frequently now. Does something need lube / replacing or what?

The shock still feels good, not like it's shot or just flopping, and I don't see any fluids leaking out so not sure what's going on here.

Thanks
Aaron

General Discussion / 2D Data Download

« on: March 07, 2024, 02:58:34 AM »

Hello everyone.
The Dainese airbag system uses the 2D airbag technology to do it's thing. Basically the GPS input and some other stuff that it gets to figure out if you are getting into a wreck or not.

I am under the impression this data can be downloaded directly out of the suit / jacket etc if you own one and analyzed with the proper software.

Has anyone done this, and what software would you recommend and how well does it work for you?

Dianese is being less than open about being able to do this when you call their stores, and I remember seeing something somewhere about some software that is free / but an updated version that you can purchase that does really nice graphics and stuff for you, but for the life of me I can't find the stupid link again!

Thanks
Aaron

General Discussion / Leather Vest Cleaning

« on: February 03, 2024, 08:42:01 PM »

Good Morning Everybody:
I have a leather riding vest I wear. Many bikers have them, with their numerous patches, flags, and stuff on them.

Problem is, vest is leather, the patches typically are some sort of cloth.

Patches get dirty and grimy.

How is the best way to clean them? Obviously you can't throw it into the washing machine, it's leather, but what is the best way to clean the patches so they are not all dirty and grimy looking? How do you clean yours?

Thank you
Aaron

Energica / It's finally here!

« on: January 16, 2024, 11:15:59 PM »

Well,my corsa cliente finally showed up today! Wow this is a nice bike.
Unfortunately it's raining like a fkn hurricane right now in Jax, and this weekend, while the track is open it's going to be coming out of freezing temps the night before with a high in maybe the 50's not very good riding weather. God is teasing me!!

Anyways here are some pics for those who wanted them. Ill get some better ones posted tomorrow, it's raining out and we are between bands and I want to try to get the bike in the garage before it gets soaked.
Aaron

Energica / Call me Worthless and Weak but....

« on: January 10, 2024, 01:13:42 AM »

Ok, so I need to jack the bike up to do chain maintenance, tire maintenance, whatever.
A. The bitch is heavy, it's a hell of a heft to try to lift it with one of the paddock stands.
I got the Enerciga one and it's woefully incapable. You'd have to be hercules to lift it with that thing, there is no torque on it, and Id have to weld a huge ass bar to it to get the leverage.
B. The bike needs to be straight up and down, it don't normally stand this way w/o help, and if you do manage to prop it so it's straight, it's very wanting to tip this way or that way. This means you need to really be holding it upright while the ass end is being jacked up. That takes 2 people, I do not have a clone.
C. If you do manage to get the leverage to start lifting the bike, I just see the slightest lean this way or that and it's over on it's side. What happens if you try to lift it and it's not already straight and level?

D. basically it appears you need 2 people to do this safely and I am only 1 person.

I would like some sort of hydraulic jack or paddock stand that can be operated by one person, while you are holding the bike upright, it lifts the bike off the ground and secures it.

I looked at bike jacks, and they seem like they are wanting to lift from the underbelly area somehow.

or maybe some other idea I have not thought of here. Something that can lift the rear tire (or front) that can be operated by one person who is not especially strong anymore due to my spine being half metal. Even if the existing, I put a long ass handle on it so I could heft on it, I still see that initial lift off the ground, as the bike is leveling itself, if it's not perfect, it just wants to tip right over w/o someone holding the bike steady.

any ideas?

Thanks
Aaron

General Discussion / Happy New Year

« on: January 01, 2024, 01:27:13 PM »

Happy New Year everyone.

Hopefully 2024 is a better year than 23 was and everyone gets a lot more riding in, and a lot less down time on the bikes.

May your batteries stay charged, and your wheels stay pointing towards the pavement.

Aaron

Energica / Chain wear .vs. Powerful Regen

« on: December 29, 2023, 09:43:24 AM »

Was talking to a friend today about electric bikes and explaining how a hard regen setting can really pump some power back to the battery. Ive seen 24 kw or so of regen going back on some faster / longer regen's. with that. How does that wear on the chain. I mean, before e bikes, chains really only bore stress in one direction really, or one vector. Ok bigger bikes had some engine braking but that wasn't as severe as some of the regen settings can put on a chain, or for as long either Id assume.

Are chains manufactured to take the stress in BOTH directions equally, or is their 'strong force bearing vector' just really in one direction?
If the chain is getting worn /stretched, is the slap slam of really loading them up with 30 to 40 hp equivalent power just wallowing them out all that much faster.

In normal braking, the brakes are taking the brunt of the force, in a regen braking, the chain is taking the brunt really, it's transmitting the force from the wheel to the generator which is keeping the steady stress on it, unlike an engine which is idling down.

Just wondering how much faster a chain is going to wear with strong regen .vs. no regen or a non regenerative type bike overall. Given it's not a super tight circuit with the chain, the backlash /slap could be pretty significant from power to regen shift.

Has any study's been done on this at all?

Just curious.

aaron

Energica / Weather Range Loss

« on: December 17, 2023, 10:53:16 AM »

So it's July / August and the temps are in the 90s.
Lets say your Energica bike gets 100 miles per charge.

So it's December and the temps are in the 40's or maybe a bit lower.
About how much range loss is to be expected from the battery due to the cold?

Thank you
Aaron

Energica / 12 Volt Module and RF inteference with Bike.

« on: December 10, 2023, 08:30:05 PM »

Hello everyone:
Looking to install some 12 volt appliances, we'll call them.. on my bike.

Energica's voltage conversion module that puts out the 12 volts. How many amps can that thing put out max? Can it handle 10 Amp or so?

also, would mounting, say a Ham Radio on the bike running in the 2M and 10M band potentially cause an issue with the bikes electronics?

Thanks
Aaron

Energica / Handlebar Bolts

« on: December 09, 2023, 10:36:39 PM »

So I am trying to install a Ram Mount on my handlebar. The one I choose is the one where you take a bolt out of your handlebar hold down pad, and slide the mount over it, it's a ball, then put the bolt back down thru it, then you can slide your goodies on the ball and tighten down.. anyways.

The 4 bolts that hold the handlebar down via the pad there. They are Hex head's. Whomever worked on my bike last, they torqued these down so tight I can not get it loose. I see indications that someone tried earlier and slightly deformed the head on the bolt.

Any suggestions how to loosen this thing without breaking stuff?
I already snapped one hex wrench trying to loosen it, are these reverse threaded by any chance?
I dribbled some Penetrating Oil on it hoping to free it up a bit but they are not corroded that I can see, god I hope someone didn't locktite it.

Impact wrench maybe? Any ideas to try so I don't wring the bolt head off and find myself in a bad situation.

Thanks
Aaron

also, once putting back, what are the torque values for those 4 bolts that hold the handlebars on?