2018 MOAR Bike and upgrades.

My MOAR e-bike.  I think I received it the first week of March 2018.  I of course wanted to put it together and go ride it but we were leaving for a month in Argentina and Chile with the majority of time in Patagonia.

Here is a picture of me with the new bike all put together and ready for the first ride.

Since MOAR was a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign I knew that  there would always be issues with something and this was true with the bike.

Since my first ebike build was a 48V 1000W unit that totally kicks ass, I decided to get the 500W with a larger battery.  I knew this would be an easy build and should be one of the first ones complete which it was.  Keep it simple and you won't have as many issues.  It's not the fastest but I don't care I want reliability and didn't want it to look like an ebike which are super easy to spot.

Yes I wanted it last year but the bike was being improved on a weekly basis and for the good.    I could tell that Ken the CEO (or owner) was being very thorough about design and testing but then started adding more colors, more motor options and a bunch of other things and I could see the scope creep coming.This isn't what you should do on your first crowd funding campaign but I'm not the one in charge so I just chilled since I already had an ebike that I built a few years ago.  Here are my 2 bikes.

Even after receiving my bike I knew there would probably be a few issues and I had to go over all the bolts to be sure they were tight, the front fender is held on pretty lame with a couple of zip ties and the back fender flops around so I drilled a few holes in the fender and ziptied it to the back rack and now it doesn't move.

It's not pretty but does the job and you can't really see it anyway so I don't care.  I'm into function not glamour.  Another issue I had was the tiny zip ties that were used on the machine.  They kept breaking and one allowed the wire to rub on the tire which I didn't like so I replaced a few of those. You can see the broken tie and the wire hanging a little in the top of the photo.

I also added a mirror to the bike bar end that I had on one of my bikes

After riding the bike to work a few times I didn't like how tall my lunch pack and other crap were on the back battery. I am not flexible so getting on and off and lifting my leg much higher was a pain in the ass.  You can see how high the bag comes up.

Since I live in the Pacific North WET of the US I knew I'd get caught in some sort of crappy weather which is why I ordered the fenders.  Well they will do in a pinch but are semi useless so to the design lab I went.  I am an engineer at Boeing but also own a sign shop which is what I'd rather be doing.  Here is a simple solution to help keep the crap off of the components and you can get the supplies on any street corner, especially after an election. (LOL)  There are tons of these 18"x 24" coroplast signs that people think they can just litter up our neighborhoods well NO take those shitty signs down.  I picked up a few and made some "additional" fenders for my bike.  Yeah it's not "pretty" but as you know I don't care.   Here is a piece from a sign I used for the front.

I cut it to size then painted it flat black.  After I did that I put a few holes in it with a soldering gun and zip tied it to the front shock.

Then I went to work on the back.  I just don't want rain, mud, and other crap to get on the joints, electrical wires and components if I don't have to which will make it wear prematurely.  These simple pieces can be replaced anytime since there are an abundance of signs available - LOL

So here is the back fender area.  I have not completely finished but this keeps the majority of crud off the wires and upper linkage.

It's really not to noticeable but does the job.  Now back to the carrying my lunch and other tools, etc. issue.  I'm a long distance motorcyclist from WAY back!  My current bike is a 1999 BMW R1100RT 

I found some front saddle bag type bags for an ATV that I thought I might use on my motorcycle but it just did'n't work out but then they turned out GREAT for the bike.  I only needed a bungee cord to loop over the top and through some loops on the bags and presto, problem solved.  Here is a shot with some small bungee cords which I replaced with a thick one that went over the top and made it sturdy so neither bag would hit the tires or spokes.

So there you have it for now.  I only have about 200 miles on the bike because I have been enjoying recovery from shoulder surgery this summer.  I hope to ride later this fall after I get the ok from the Doc an Physical Therapy folks.  

Happy riding.

Rotator cuff surgery (Right Shoulder) - 6-14-2018

June 14 I was supposed to start surgery at 7:15 AM. and arrived at the surgery center about 7:00 AM to checked in. After checking in and watching some cool video on on grizzly bears and their cubs we were called in to a prep room. My nurse Chrissy or Christie was a hottie and very helpful.

     We went over some paperwork and then she gave me a gown, socks, and hairnet to put on. When she came back to the room she explained that they were going to do a nerve block in my shoulder,  this would numb my entire arm and shoulder area . There are two types of blocks that happen, motion and sensory. I was lucky enough to enjoy both .

     The Dr. came who was going to administer the nerve block and explained how it would work. First a small shot of lidocaine into my neck. This would be followed by another shot that injects some sort of fluid next to the nerve bundle.  The doctor used an ultrasound machine to locate the nerve bundle which is under your collarbone. The Dr. pressed so hard with the ultrasound that it hurt but not hard enough as the shot needle was huge (as thick as pencil lead) . He directed the needle and when it was in the right spot he told Christie to start injecting some fluid. On the ultrasound machine when the fluid was injected next to the nerve bundle you could see muscles being moved away from the bundle, it was pretty cool. The Dr. did this same routine three or four times. How the nerve Block Works is the fluid goes around the bundle and I believe swells to prevent it from allowing the flow of nerve signals to your extremities. This is a slow process and can take up to one half hour to start working. My entire shoulder down to my fingers was the motion block, all of my fingers on the other hand had the sensory block.  My fingers felt like they had fallen asleep and I got too enjoy that feeling for the next 30 HRS.

About 9:15 AM a different anesthesiologist came in to the room and explained what he would be doing in the operating room. Right after he left the nurse came in who would be working in the operating room also. He had a Star Wars cap on which was fun to look it.  (I make it a point any time I go in for surgery to thank all the people that help me through the ordeal. When I explained to Christy how much her help meant to me, she almost started crying. I told the second nurse how much I appreciated his help in getting my life back to normal and he said he really enjoyed doing this job.  Other nurses & folks that helped really appreciated the kudos as well.  It was their normal day at work but for me it was fixing my shoulder for the REST of my life!   He then walked me to the operating room.

In the operating room the bed I was to lay on looked like the injection table for a prisoner being put to death. I made a joke about that and the three guys chuckled that were in the room. I knew two of the three men in the room. One of them asked how I hurt my shoulder. I mentioned I got tripped by a parachute line while taking powered parachute flying lessons. While chatting with the guys I felt a cool fluid starting in my left arm up the IV. The anesthesiologist said he was giving me the general, I immediately thanked everyone for their help today and then I woke up and in their recovery room.

My next nurse was about my age and again very helpful. I don't remember what all she did but she made me comfortable and removed some wires and hoses I think,  maybe got me some cookies & juice, then she disappeared. Then my final nurse Carrie went over paperwork and what I was supposed to do my first week she did other things that I don't remember but then helped me out to the car. It was funny that she kept stressing me to bring back the schmock, like it was made of gold are something.

The ride home was fairly uneventful however I was surprised that it was now 1:30 in the afternoon. I think my biggest complaint was my fingers feeling like they had fallen asleep and there was nothing I could do about it. I lay down the lazy boy for the rest of the afternoon . 

 At 11:00 PM my nerve block was still working, but I took some pain pills anyway. As I have an Amazon Echo I set a timer for 4 hours to wake me for more medication. This was a handy tool as I could just talk to it and it could do what I needed. Like clockwork every 4 hours I took my pain medication and every other time the stool medication.

The most difficult thing to do was go to the bathroom because you had to do everything with only one hand, remove & put back on clothing. The other problem was getting out of the lazy boy chair as the arm to change the chair position was the arm that I had worked on.... I had a cane that really helped a lot to get out of the chair and steady myself when taking my first few steps.

If I remember correctly Carrie called me that afternoon around five to see how I was doing. She again emphasized me to bring the schmock back I told her I wanted to wear it for Halloween ha ha ha,  bringing it back must be tied to her bonus. lol

My surgery was Thursday morning and Friday evening Dr. Cameron called to see how I was doing. I mentioned a few issues I had and he said things were progressing quite normal. I go back to see him next Friday.

I took the pain medication for two days straight and on the third day stop taking them has the main pain had gone away. Like I mentioned earlier, the nerve block took 30 hours to go away. Currently the major pain I have is when I make an abrupt movement like getting out of the chair, turning, or bumping into something. The sling is a pain but really keeps your arm immobilized and in the right position for healing.

Sunday I was finally able to take a shower woo-hoo! We get to remove the monster bandages and see what had actually happened to me. The Dr. put four holes in my shoulder, I told him to make it look like bullet holes. Lol

Here are three of the four incisions. The fourth is on the back side of my shoulder. I think with a little Photoshop I can make these look like bullet holes. ;-)   It's pretty incredible that they can do such work with such small incisions. The Dr. had to drill and install an anchor to attach my tendon to the bone, some on other things he needed to do were file away a few bones spurs, and clean up some arthritis and who knows what else.