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>Build electric mountain bike from kit
>1kw motor, lithium battery good for supposedly 30 miles, aka 24 miles irl
>Paired it with solar charge controller that runs on a 30 watt folding array
Basically my idea of camping is riding this thing 20 miles or so out into a huge forest preserve near my home wearing one of these backpacks http://www.voltaicsystems.com/array.shtml loaded with a folded tarp, a 30 watt folding solar array + spare lithium batteries, food, a butane rocket stove with canister + compact telescoping metal cup for heating water, dehydrated food, a camelbak, some flexible pouch water bottles and water purifying hand pump.
This weighs a shitload so it further reduces the total range of the bike to 20 miles, it's running on static electricity by the time I get to the hill I camp on. Once there I set up camp, including the folding array which slowly recharges the bike's battery over several days so I can get home at the end of the trip. I use the smaller backpack array for charging stuff like my phone/tablet/gps/camera.
Everyone I tell this to who loves the outdoors is absolutely disgusted. And I understand their point of view. But mine is that there's several ways to enjoy the outdoors. One of them is to purposefully handicap yourself so you get the primitive man experience. My enjoyment comes from getting all the pleasure of natural beauty and exploration, but overcoming the discomforts and inconveniences with technology, and constantly refining my gear loadout to provide as many modern amenities as possible in the smallest space/weight.
Who is right? Both of us? Neither?
>1kw motor, lithium battery good for supposedly 30 miles, aka 24 miles irl
>Paired it with solar charge controller that runs on a 30 watt folding array
Basically my idea of camping is riding this thing 20 miles or so out into a huge forest preserve near my home wearing one of these backpacks http://www.voltaicsystems.com/array.shtml loaded with a folded tarp, a 30 watt folding solar array + spare lithium batteries, food, a butane rocket stove with canister + compact telescoping metal cup for heating water, dehydrated food, a camelbak, some flexible pouch water bottles and water purifying hand pump.
This weighs a shitload so it further reduces the total range of the bike to 20 miles, it's running on static electricity by the time I get to the hill I camp on. Once there I set up camp, including the folding array which slowly recharges the bike's battery over several days so I can get home at the end of the trip. I use the smaller backpack array for charging stuff like my phone/tablet/gps/camera.
Everyone I tell this to who loves the outdoors is absolutely disgusted. And I understand their point of view. But mine is that there's several ways to enjoy the outdoors. One of them is to purposefully handicap yourself so you get the primitive man experience. My enjoyment comes from getting all the pleasure of natural beauty and exploration, but overcoming the discomforts and inconveniences with technology, and constantly refining my gear loadout to provide as many modern amenities as possible in the smallest space/weight.
Who is right? Both of us? Neither?
