I don't get the whole ebike hate thing either. If it's pedal assist what's the big deal? It's ridiculous to call it a "motorcycle" like many people do. I know if I had an ebike I would find myself riding a lot more than I do now. I don't see how the impact on the environment is any different from a pedal assist bike compared to a regular bicycle. We're not all champion cyclists, I'd gladly take the advantages an ebike would offer. I think it would make riding more fun and get me out riding more often.

FWIW: Mine is recharged using 100% renewable energy, either from my home solar system or my crane yard solar system. I just mention that as a way to persuade nay sayers that it's neat technology. Any MBR'r who sees me out knocking hikers off the trail, ripping up the ground, or otherwise being a jerk, has my permission to kick my ass. Like skiers when snowboarding came along, " the sky is falling", it'll work out. Also like...... when the sailplane crowd discovered the Mackay airstrip and the Lemhi Range soaring, some of the long time hang glider pilots got upset, a few years later, its all good.
Nice ride tcj! Good components, weirdly "funner" then you'd think, right? I NEVER exercise for purely excercises sake, unless its fun, these things have me pedaling my ass off. Using the plane to scout new bikes rides is of course another excuse to go flying! Mixing with traditional MBR's on theirs trails ( near or in town) is way down on my list of concerns, I have so many other places to ride, with no crowds!

courierguy wrote:FWIW: Mine is recharged using 100% renewable energy, either from my home solar system or my crane yard solar system. I just mention that as a way to persuade nay sayers that it's neat technology. Any MBR'r who sees me out knocking hikers off the trail, ripping up the ground, or otherwise being a jerk, has my permission to kick my ass. Like skiers when snowboarding came along, " the sky is falling", it'll work out. Also like...... when the sailplane crowd discovered the Mackay airstrip and the Lemhi Range soaring, some of the long time hang glider pilots got upset, a few years later, its all good.
Nice ride tcj! Good components, weirdly "funner" then you'd think, right? I NEVER exercise for purely excercises sake, unless its fun, these things have me pedaling my ass off. Using the plane to scout new bikes rides is of course another excuse to go flying! Mixing with traditional MBR's on theirs trails ( near or in town) is way down on my list of concerns, I have so many other places to ride, with no crowds!

Or when everyone was flying taildraggers then they started making all those damn nose wheel planes!

These things are just way too much fun. I have let probably 30 people ride my bike at the Langley airport. I have it set in PA-1 and third gear. Every person that rides it gets about 30 ft out and all I hear is a big WHOA. They always come back with comments like, this is amazing, I can't believe this and this is the coolest thing I have ever ridden. 5 of the guys have ordered kits for their bikes and I am ordering two more kits for my downtube folding bikes. This conversion has got me out riding a huge amount more and feeling much better for it.
KenW

I went to town yesterday and found the bike shop that sells Montague bikes. They brought out a Paratrooper from the back and said it was the most popular mountain bike model they sold. It is a nice bike that seems well built and costs $800 and something bucks. They also had a variety of E assist gear and were capable of selling parts, assisting or doing the full conversion.

The other thing I keep debating about is the charging needs of the batteries as electricity is hard to come by in the remote areas of Alaska where I want to go explore with the airplane/bike. I'm doing a little research into the motor(gas) conversions too as gas is much easier to find in the woods than 120Vs.

I definitely see one in the future but the price of getting there is something I have to balance with parts for the plane. I see about $1500-2000 for a new E-Montague and so off to work I go.

I am seriously considering picking up a montogue bike for the plane, but nobody around me sells them and I'd really like to sit/ride on the different sizes before buying one.

one of those BBS02's would be really nice on it as well, I see you say you are getting some impressive range with yours but what size battery are you using Mah wise?

11.5 AH, Panasonic PF from Luna Cycle. Only 6.5 lbs! By the time you draw it down, you will for sure feel like you did something/gone somewhere. I am real happy with it for the plane, plenty of range relative to its light weight. I would choose that size again in a heartbeat.

I guess I need to get off dirt roads going up mountains, and stay on level paved roads, for a report on max range. My crane yard is 13 miles from home, and about 1100' vertical lower. Can I make it there? Hell yeah. Can I make it down there and back? Don't know, but I'll give it a shot and report back.

does the stock rear gear sets handle these high power electric motors like the bbs02/bbsHD? I see there are geared hubs available for a pretty penny, I just cant imagine the tiny chains/gears holding up to that kind of abuse....

Yes, they say they wear a bit faster, but they are cheap to replace, and when that time comes getting best quality ones is the way to go. It's viable with the stock setup, hub drives have other issues, the biggest being any mechanical advantage by being able to use gearing, they are one speed. My fat tired rock crawler bike goes 6 mph in low, and 28 in high, and will out climb any hub drive, plus go faster.

I really want to keep this thread aviation related, lets not get bogged down in bike details, that can be asked on e bike forums like www. endless-sphere.com. e- bike general discussion is super informative, with a lot of characters, some with decades of solid bike experience and as such a great source of info. they have a great search function there also, sign up there is my best advice.

Great photo tag line, at least in my opinion <g>.

I needed a replacement trailer fender after backing into it with the crane. Rather then drive (70 miles, one way) I flew a bit over 30. then, 5 minutes after landing and assembling the bike and trailer,clear across Idaho Falls to the trailer place, breakfast on the way back, effortlessly, and fun. The folding Travoy trailer is also working great, can't even tell its there. I'm coming up on 500 miles TT now between my plane's Montague and my rough trail fat bike, and I use the e bike I keep in the crane several times week when on jobs. While I am used to the independent utility of having a bike along in the plane (been doing that for 20 years), having the motor assist transforms the experience. It is WAY more practical, as my range is greatly expanded. 10, 20+ miles no sweat, literally. Up and over a 3,000' mountain range, piece of cake.

There is a real nice synergy between the plane and the e bike, several times now, most days actually if the weather and work schedule cooperates, I fly AND ride. Flying low and slow is a great way to find new bike trails, biking some where is a great way to check out a new LZ. I am absolutely no exercise freak, and have never had a weight problem, but damn these things are oddly funner then hell, and since I am peddling 99% of the way, I am losing a few lbs. Screw that...more importantly I can easily cover vast amounts of terrain after landing the plane, lack of ground transport has always been the bugaboo of pilots, I seem to have that licked, or at least abrogated quite a bit. It makes the whole flying thing, even better.



My new, re purposed anyway, fire resistant genuine US Air Force insulated flight suit battery containment and transportation system, on the lift strut. I cut the legs off the suit (I never used it except for a couple times, it's major drawback for winter flying was that it was too warm, and you had to take your boots off to take it off, awkward going into a cafe). It's made of Aramid, and thanks to we taxpayers is absolute top quality, sewing the ends shut and using the existing zipper made it a perfect battery bag. I have two, though one is only needed for 20-30 mile rides. Unlike the cheap hoverboard batteries that have been in the news lately, these Panasonic and Samsung quality cells have a good BMS (battery manage system), nonetheless hanging them from the strut ensures no chance whatsoever of any problems in flight. I may make a couple of mini pods, streamlined with spinner caps perhaps, but just strapping them in place seems to work fine. Note fender on forward baggage floor, it fit perfect, barely.

OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN!

With apologies to Ms. Spears. What I did again was take one of my spare batteries when only one was needed. I had landed a canyon site and then biked up 2500' vert 10 miles away, 20 miles round trip. I had to hike up a bit higher as the trail just got too damn steep, 35 degrees as measured with the inclometer app on my phone, the apple sized rocks acting like big ball bearings didn't help. It was a bitch to walk up much less ride. I MAYBE could have pulled it off with the lower geared fatbike, maybe, but the Montague ran out of power and traction all at once. I don't think I could have hung on anyway so it was time to hike.

This was my first bike trip that involved landing off airport in a place I hadn't been before, so fun and challenging, before it got fun and challenging in a different way. I had spotted this ride from the air a couple days before. This new thing, of keeping my eyes open for interesting bike rides while flying somewhere, is my new hobby. It's a nice mix of two different activities complimenting each other. It was a not too steep but steady climb except for that last steeper part. I was in pedal assist mode 2 most of the way. The PAS mode can be easily changed while riding with the handle bar controls, and is set where ever based on steepness, how much of a hurry I'm in, how much further I may have to go (helping the battery out by pedaling a bit really increases the range), how feisty I'm feeling, or how wimpy I'm feeling. To put this in perspective somewhat, I got winded a bit for sure, but averaged 8 to 10 mph, got warmed up but never sweated profusely. Not like riding a motorcycle, or like pedaling a 100% regular bike, but the best of both. The complete silence is what's really cool, and why I have a bear bell, don't want to surprise anybody. The trail was dotted with what I'm guessing are badger holes, a half dozen or so every mile, most big enough to take out the front wheel, they served to keep my alertness level high on the much faster ride back down. The Montague once again performed flawlessly, 350+ miles now.

The LZ, with the destination summit in the background.



One of the typical holes in the trail caused by a badger, I hope, and yes I was prepared in case it was at home.




The steeper part I didn't try and ride, it's a bike after all not a motorcycle, all dirt maybe, but the rocks on top......



I didn't make the highest summit, never planned to, just this plateau was plenty high enough and a great view.

Great stuff on your post, and I appreciate your answers on the PM, and especially your updates with the pictures. A real game changer for me, to land and bike/cheat/ebike for a day or to a nearby trout stream is huge, really looking forward to another use for my aircraft. The fact that the Montague rack doubles as a stand works out great, it allows the bike to stand up nicely in my Zenith 750 on the stand, I should only have to make a small mount to secure it on the floor. I can lay it flat in the back and keep the passenger seat, but this is the way I see carrying it most of the time, and just toss the seat in the back.

I also have a 79 Jeep CJ that we use for jeep camping, and rather than haul around the Honda 90s we have which have to carried in a carrier, we're taking the bikes, which easily fit in the back, and we will use the little Ryobi generator/inverter pictured to charge the extra batteries we have. It will be interesting to compare the use of the quiet ebikes on the trail, vs messing around with the Honda 90s pros and cons of each, and where you can take them.

The Bafang motor and the Panasonic Luna Shark 52V 13.5 battery is pictured with it.

Again, thanks for this thread, really opens up some possibilities.

I got this video link from another pilot (Murphey Rebel on amphibs) who's just starting of getting into e bikes for his plane. What a professional video, very well done, not too long, and with awesome scenery. I strongly urged him to waste no time in getting geared up, he will have a blast.

https://youtu.be/keP5ECKgQaY

Zenithguy: I just bought a brand new Paratrooper Pro, I didn't realize all the little advancements they had made since I got my older Paratrooper (the Pro is more upscale). So this will be my 4 th bike I'll be building up, I need to sell one! I figured if I'm going to pack one in the plane, I want to build up the ultimate, the new Pro will have a BBSHD plus the German engineered Rohloff internal geared hub. Expensive, sure, but screw it, I want it bad This is the same financial logic I use on airplane things, and it's served me well over the years, I think anyways. That hub is bulletproof, super reliable, and has 14 speeds all enclosed in an oil bath, no derailleurs to screw with.

Your setup looks good, but what I'd like to see is someone, maybe I'll have to do it, the world needs it, a very small 4 stroke generator capable of only 300 or 500 watts, using this little Honda engine, 8.6 lbs! http://engines.honda.com/models/model-detail/gx25 I could use one in the winter for pre heating the ski plane, I only need 200 watts, the e bike charger needs 300. It'd be nice to keep the total generator weight down to less then 15 lbs. SOMEONE BUILD THIS, I'LL BE FIRST IN LINE TO BUY IT.

courierguy wrote:I got this video link from another pilot (Murphey Rebel on amphibs) who's just starting of getting into e bikes for his plane. What a professional video, very well done, not too long, and with awesome scenery. I strongly urged him to waste no time in getting geared up, he will have a blast.

https://youtu.be/keP5ECKgQaY

Zenithguy: I just bought a brand new Paratrooper Pro, I didn't realize all the little advancements they had made since I got my older Paratrooper (the Pro is more upscale). So this will be my 4 th bike I'll be building up, I need to sell one! I figured if I'm going to pack one in the plane, I want to build up the ultimate, the new Pro will have a BBSHD plus the German engineered Rohloff internal geared hub. Expensive, sure, but screw it, I want it bad This is the same financial logic I use on airplane things, and it's served me well over the years, I think anyways. That hub is bulletproof, super reliable, and has 14 speeds all enclosed in an oil bath, no derailleurs to screw with.

Your setup looks good, but what I'd like to see is someone, maybe I'll have to do it, the world needs it, a very small 4 stroke generator capable of only 300 or 500 watts, using this little Honda engine, 8.6 lbs! http://engines.honda.com/models/model-detail/gx25 I could use one in the winter for pre heating the ski plane, I only need 200 watts, the e bike charger needs 300. It'd be nice to keep the total generator weight down to less then 15 lbs. SOMEONE BUILD THIS, I'LL BE FIRST IN LINE TO BUY IT.

Quit posting crap, every time you do, my emergency account disappears, I just bought four of your lights from your other post.

I lucked out and found a new Pro about five miles away, and also bought the BBSHD. I need another Montague for my wife, but she's 5-1 so I don't think your's would work. One issue, the neck really isn't adjustable, so I had to pick up the Octagon extension, good for another 4.5 inches, and it collapses also.

I looked everywhere for a smaller generator, and the Ryobi was about the only one that small with an inverter, and proven. Honda did have one in the 70's, about 400 watts I think, and you can find those, they call them "Vintage" now(!), but they do not have an inverter. You will be a hero to all the wives that find out we lied to them when we said a 12V hairdryer will work just fine.

courierguy wrote:I got this video link from another pilot (Murphey Rebel on amphibs) who's just starting of getting into e bikes for his plane. What a professional video, very well done, not too long, and with awesome scenery. I strongly urged him to waste no time in getting geared up, he will have a blast.

https://youtu.be/keP5ECKgQaY

Zenithguy: I just bought a brand new Paratrooper Pro, I didn't realize all the little advancements they had made since I got my older Paratrooper (the Pro is more upscale). So this will be my 4 th bike I'll be building up, I need to sell one! I figured if I'm going to pack one in the plane, I want to build up the ultimate, the new Pro will have a BBSHD plus the German engineered Rohloff internal geared hub. Expensive, sure, but screw it, I want it bad This is the same financial logic I use on airplane things, and it's served me well over the years, I think anyways. That hub is bulletproof, super reliable, and has 14 speeds all enclosed in an oil bath, no derailleurs to screw with.

Your setup looks good, but what I'd like to see is someone, maybe I'll have to do it, the world needs it, a very small 4 stroke generator capable of only 300 or 500 watts, using this little Honda engine, 8.6 lbs! http://engines.honda.com/models/model-detail/gx25 I could use one in the winter for pre heating the ski plane, I only need 200 watts, the e bike charger needs 300. It'd be nice to keep the total generator weight down to less then 15 lbs. SOMEONE BUILD THIS, I'LL BE FIRST IN LINE TO BUY IT.

I'd guess that several would be in that line. A dozen years ago, I bought a tiny Coleman generator--uses a Subaru 2 stroke, but it's horribly loud. I haven't run it since I used it to keep my Ma's freezer going after the Windsor tornado 8 years ago, but it worked fine then. I bought it when Fort Collins Downtown airport was still open. My hangar had an electric bifold door, and there were enough power outages that I could see having to use it to raise the door, though I never did have to. It also has enough power to run the Reiff engine heater. I have carried it in the airplane a few times, but although it's a smaller and lighter than a Honda 1000 watt, it's still more than I'd like to take. And like I said, IT'S LOUD!

Cary

This weekends flike (bike ride combined with flight?) I took two batteries on this ride, as it was going to be an epic near 4,000' gain and around 30 miles. I've taken to carrying the batteries on my jury struts, it frees up room inside and totally eliminates any concern of any kind of in flight issues. I realized later this my first for real off airport landing at a new site with full camping gear plus all the e bike gear. No preblemo In what is becoming my new theme now, while on the bike after landing down lower, I kept my eyes open and got a feel for the terrain I was going through. If I land anywhere later I have a better feel as to what to expect rock wise etc. Then later, after riding back down hill and packing up I low level flew the route I had just rode. Since I didn't go near as far as I had planned, I could, again, have made the ride on one battery only. I plugged in the spare anyway, just so I could really haul ass on the ride back, 30 mph+ anyway.

In this case I had taken a wrong turn, (I thought), and the pass I ended up at was only at 8K. Later when flying it, I realized that if I had gone over and down that pass, it headed back up to my ultimate goal. It is so nice having eyes in the sky, after being on the ground and getting turned around, it gives me a renewed appreciation for being able to fly plus helps out next time I ride that route. I saw two different herds of elk, 50 strong at least. Plus several smaller groups of the critters, and lots of antelopes. It was like the old TV show, Wild Kingdom, but for real

courierguy wrote:This weekends flike (bike ride combined with flight?) I took two batteries on this ride, as it was going to be an epic near 4,000' gain and around 30 miles. I've taken to carrying the batteries on my jury struts, it frees up room inside and totally eliminates any concern of any kind of in flight issues. I realized later this my first for real off airport landing at a new site with full camping gear plus all the e bike gear. No preblemo In what is becoming my new theme now, while on the bike after landing down lower, I kept my eyes open and got a feel for the terrain I was going through. If I land anywhere later I have a better feel as to what to expect rock wise etc. Then later, after riding back down hill and packing up I low level flew the route I had just rode. Since I didn't go near as far as I had planned, I could, again, have made the ride on one battery only. I plugged in the spare anyway, just so I could really haul ass on the ride back, 30 mph+ anyway.

In this case I had taken a wrong turn, (I thought), and the pass I ended up at was only at 8K. Later when flying it, I realized that if I had gone over and down that pass, it headed back up to my ultimate goal. It is so nice having eyes in the sky, after being on the ground and getting turned around, it gives me a renewed appreciation for being able to fly plus helps out next time I ride that route. I saw two different herds of elk, 50 strong at least. Plus several smaller groups of the critters, and lots of antelopes. It was like the old TV show, Wild Kingdom, but for real

Great pictures and info, the bike shot is one of those "I wanna be there, and with that bike" shots. I think a new book and thread " The $200 Bike Ride" is in the works, forget about the $100 hamburger.

On the way to JC, I first had a little bike ride outside of Challis, up and over the Lemhi's. Then, looking to the west, that's Challis in the distance. Later that day I biked up the range behind town. About 5 K vertical for the two rides. Piece of cake with a little E assistance.

I used the bike 5 times in 2 days last weekend, getting mo gas, beer, and later a motel room. Anyone ever walk from the Challis airport into town? Just far enough to be a PITA, forget it if you're carrying anything, on the bike it was a few minutes 30 MPH ride with a cup of coffee in one hand while towing the bike trailer with 8 gallons of mo gas ($2.45, no lead). I always wanted to head up the main drag, which aims at the Frank, to see how far it is paved, once on the gravel I kept going until I had the opposite view from this picture posted. It's like a new super power, being able to ride a bike that far that easy, while at the same time a "bike like" experience. Quiet, and I'm pedaling so I still get a sense of accomplishment and for sure exercise.

I got my brand new Montague up and running, it has a Rohloff 14 speed IGH (internal geared hub), which cost more, a lot more, then the entire bike, but they are bulletproof and one of those high quality things that, dammit, is worth the outrageous price. It has over a 500% gear ratio change from the highest to the lowest, a stump puller AND a high speed cruiser. So I have 4 e bikes at the present time, I'm not sure how that happened ?

First some scouting out some future bike rides.



Then the Challis ride, I found a spot below the ridge access road that was used a lot by ATV's judging by all the tracks, so I landed my ATV there.
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Sorry if you've mentioned it already, but I couldn't find it. Which montague do you have? The paratrooper?
I'm really interested in building one of these bikes up, just not sure where to start. Haha.