Other peoples' cars not starting, they are blaming "water in the gas line". People!... All Minnesota gas is 10% ethanol. That's as much alcohol as adding 16 bottles of HEET gas line antifreeze to your tank when you fill-up.
Adding yet another bottle of HEET will do diddly squat.
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Our kid was north of Bemidji MN all weekend... -36C temps. Her EV was plugged-in to an extension cord, but only added 160km range in 48 hours (because when plugged-in, EVs try to heat the battery to ~0C).
Then 2 of 3 chargers in Bemidji dead; Brainerd worked before the cold snap but dead now; Little Falls has been dead all month.
So she'll charge to full in Bemidji then drive through to St. Cloud below the speed limit.
The bright side is: lots of other peoples' gas cars were even worse off.
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I had the ridiculous thought "It's probably just four servos to move the stitch selector arm, length, width & speed dials... I could drive them with arduino+bluetooth and an app!"
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I tried, and I failed. I put out the Montgomery Wards Computer2001 sewing machine (from about 1986?) out for junk collection... but then I brought it back inside. It freezes mid-stitch, then works again after power-cycle. I think maybe I can fix it. Maybe it's just a bad solder, or a dying DC transformer.
[#]VintageSewingMachines
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@ternbicycles
GSD #CargoBike with a Target haul +JoAnn + 3 loads of wet laundry. And it rides better than empty.
After 85km in the snow, I'm finally starting to get the hang of the studded tires.
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Bloomberg CityLab has published yet another "US Cities with worst traffic" report (sorry, not worth linking to), and the list is topped with places you'd be crazy to drive in (but have great transit).
This reads more like a report of:
"Objects that hurt the most if you choose to hit yourself in the head with them"
Yes, driving there stinks, but why would you?
If they want a useful list, it should rank "cities you can't get around at all", which is going to start with places like Dallas
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Kudos to my wife, who parked the bike for all of last January/February, but this year has set personal back-to-back coldest bike-commute records. Today at -13C (and we warm-up tomorrow).
[#]BikeCommute
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NYT is running Congestion Pricing anecdotes. Interviewees have no concept of the cost of congestion.
Example, a food truck owner who says he "hasn’t found a solution that would allow him to stay afloat. Maybe close the business and find something else to do,”
A food truck costs about $40k-$125k per month to operate. This one advertises 13 hours/day, so may cost about $3.40 per minute. If he can open five minutes earlier each day due to less congestion, he's already made-up the toll cost.
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I have had a flat bike tire and either: (1) couldn't find the puncture without soap & water ; or (2) the tin tube of rubber cement in my patch kit was already hardened.
This contact lens case is my attempt at carrying fresh cement & soap. I'll note that it's not airtight, and the cement hardened in less than a season, so I'm wrapping it in electrical tape this time... and we'll see.
[#]BikeTooter
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Tor as default Android browser:
If I click a link in Mastodon, Tor opens to a blank web page. If I flip back to Masto and click the same link a 2nd time, then it flips back to Tor and the link loads.
Any way to keep Tor open so that it can accept a link from another app?
I have "Tor as default browser" both in app Settings and Settings -> Apps -> Default Apps
[#]Tor #privacy
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Okay, #SaintPaulMN. I need to bike from East River Rd to Lake Street every day. My choices are:
Based on maintenance, it seems like your plan is #2.
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Oof, I hadn't fallen in years, but got spanked hard by the ground tonight. I was riding the #TernGSD about 13mph on a MUP with 1" of mashed-potato snow. (Sadly, I had 8 miles to go)
I've got studded Marathon tires, but the front wheel can quit rolling and start plowing/sliding really easily.
I'm going to have to park the GSD and switch to an MTB with 26" IceSpikers. Maybe if IceSpikers came in 20", that would be enough to make the GSD a #winterbike .
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Happy #carfree day!
It's five years since I switched to getting around by bicycle. And today I cancelled my driver's license!
I have officially voted myself "off the island". Not my monkeys, not my circus.
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"Bring chairs to dinner" they said.
(and frozen Centennial Lakes, Edina MN USA)
[#]cargobike
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After watching videos of Battery Doctor fixing Bosch ebike batteries with water damage to the BMS, I have taped up my batteries with electrical tape before winter.
There is one long piece of tape down the side, under the bottom and back up the other side. And a short piece on the handlebar the top. (I snipped it twice on the bottom so I could fold a flap inwards where the electric contacts are)
[#]Bosch #ebike #TernGSD
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Related, I have no idea what temp my battery is. If I take a room-temperature (19C) PowerPack, and ride to a store an hour away at -14C, then 15 minutes shopping, then another hour home... has the battery gotten below -5C? I have no idea (though the motor turning off says maybe it did).
Can I use an IR thermometer to check battery temp? It's too bad the display won't tell me the pack temp.
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Why are #ebike batteries so picky?
When parked, our #EV will not heat the battery until it reaches -20C. So if it's -15C overnight, that's also the Operating Temp when we start driving. And if plugged-in, it will also start charging at -20C (though it will heat to 4C in the first 2 hours).
An iPad has storage temp to -20C.
But Bosch ebike batteries:
How can EVs get away with operating at -20C pack temp?
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There is a problem when I reach a hill to climb: on a normal bike, I'd downshift 2 gears and increase cadence a bit.
But the only way to force a downshift, is by slowing cadence. Then the bike slows way down; pedaling becomes a grind, and the AutomatIQ doesn't ever shift down far enough.
In practice, my hack is: stop pedaling completely for 1 second. This makes the hub reset to lowest gear. Then start climbing the hill; it may upshift a bit as it figures-out what is needed.
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I've ridden it only about a thousand miles, most fairly flat; on lots of slushy and snowy days, when I picked the ebike.
I have not noticed any difference in operation at temps down to -25C. (unlike my old Shimano Alfine hub).
Some days, I wanted ride slower or faster. This meant launching the phone app, waiting 30 seconds for Bluetooth, then 3 clicks to get to the screen to change cadence. Not fun outside at -25C! Or in rain.
The optional $50 handlebar control is only orderable from DE
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I've had 2 years on my bicycle with the Enviolo AutomatIQ self-shifting internal-gear hub, and have a few thoughts!
For those not familiar, the Enviolo hub is internally geared, but is continuously-variable (like the volume knob on a radio, which can be set to anything between "soft" and "loud"... NOT like a normal bicycle with which you can choose one of several gears)
The AutomatIQ shifts for you, to keep your cadence consistent up/down hills.
[#]Enviolo #BikeTooter #ebike #ebikes
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