Mercane gets used at home (and other riding notes)

as it happens (for a little while) I'm working in Brisbane but back in Killarney for the weekends, and while I bought the Mercane Wide Wheel to use for getting around the local area (and to and from work) I also wanted it for getting around town.

So we had typical "Mountain Weather" this weekend with a mixture of drizzle, overcast and sunshine. Unperturbed by nature I took it out on the weekend and did some rides. All on one charge, as while steep the town just isn't that big. One could always walk from one side to the other, but then the Mercane is a time saver, where walking would take 20min the Mercane takes 5. Its also just bloody good fun on the way too ;-)

I'll be writing more about this scooter over time, so look over on the left for the "Mercane Wide Wheel" label (or indeed click on the words there as that's a link too :-). This will then open all my posts about the Mercane in "most recently written" order (essentially backwards in time order). You'll find plenty of pics of the scooter there.

Location

So this is a picture from about half way up the southern hill of the town looking north. So you can see that its basically a hilly area with the town in the valley...

... and I live just at the bottom in that nearest run of houses. The field in the middle is where the river goes through and the houses on the far side of the river are were the "shops" are.

Outings

So this weekend I did the following:

• go into town twice
• go up and down the hill behind me at least 7 times (over both days) to visit friends and to generally just see if it would go up (among) the steepest hills in town.
• twice took a run out of town a bit (which is also hilly) the last time with a mate on his bicycle (more on that in a mo)

The road out of town is this one, and its a gradual slope up that a brisk walk makes talking on the phone difficult (because of the breathing).

So basically I rode up this road (note the cracks) and, over the crest, then up over the ridge over to the right and over a few more hills that are out of sight.

Out with a MTB

Interestingly on Sunday when doing this with my mate on his bicycle (who lives near the top of the hill, which is to the left in the above image) as a pace partner, I found that on the gradual inclines I only needed half throttle (yes, you can pick something other than off and on if you're careful) to keep pace, and it was only on the steeper bits of down hill that his better rolling advantage gave him a need to use his brakes (so we could keep chatting and being social, as this wasn't a race but an after noon ride).

Going up the steeper hills I was surprised that he needed to be changing down a couple of gears and even doing a bit of standing in the pedals while I still had some throttle in reserve. I'm not saying he needed to go into "hill climbing" mode, just it was worth his while standing a bit.

Yes, that's right, I could have pulled away from him had I wanted to - up hills. Now clearly he could have gone serious and left me (taking advantage of more speed on his down hills for a starter) but it showed me how good this thing is as a commuter and general "roustabout" and comparable in speed to a moderately ridden bicycle.

He even mentioned that he may get one for his kids so that they can come out when he goes cycling (and they're between 12 and 15) and keep up.

The Steeper Bits

Oddly enough my driveway is about the steepest bit I have to navigate (because my house is on a slope and having a gravel drive), although the last bit of the street joining the road up the hill is steeper. So I get up this by actually kicking to assist the motor (who'd have thought you can kick it along just like a scooter).

Its not too hard and actually only needed 4 or 5 kicks each time, and once over the "crest" of the steepest bit (but still uphill) the motor was enough.

This is interesting because when I was thinking about this (before buying) I expected that my driveway and the end of my street would be the problem areas for it. I did this in thinking about how much energy a good cyclist can put out, which is about 400W and 1000W peak. So I reckoned that (given that) the dual motor would "storm up" while the single motor would need a bit of assist.

Seems that is about right.

Additional thoughts

While one may think that the Wide Wheels are a plain gimmick they are actually very interesting. In the road above with longitudinal cracks the wheels rode right over them without blinking, sure irregularities in the surface cold be felt in the handle bars, but it was nothing more than a bit of steer. I know that my Evo+ hitting them is a big issue (like offing me).

The wide wheels come in handy too when you have to suddenly leave the concrete or asphalt for a car or an errant pedestrian. Being wide they do not just dig in and come to a rapid stop (where you can find yourself falling off again), but cope with the softness of grass and just slow down as if you were using the brakes gently.

I liked that a lot!

Now recalling that this is the single motor model I find this is actually entirely sufficient for a commuter (but probably not someone who's after it as a "wild thing" for entertainment and thrills). Given that I want it for practicality to be sitting in between "walking" and my motorcycle, for trips to the shops, for getting a couple of  km into work in the suburbs each day and for visiting mates in the local area, this pretty perfect.

• its way faster than walking
• saves me starting my motorbike up for just a few km (and it hardly gets warm)
• allows me to go into the shops with it (I put the shopping basket onto the platform and push it along)

The other "considerations" I had when weighing up which to buy were the following points (in no particular order):

• The open front wheel (because no motor) provides a convenient location to lock the scooter up "outside" in those places where you can't or simply don't want to take it inside.
• the wheels with motors do not spin freely while the wheels without motors do, so when I don't need that extra power I am having to power that extra motor (and fight the friction of the gears inside, because while its a hub motor its also got planetary gears, see video below)
• having that extra power would probably encourage me to push it harder and go in rougher places, which will reduce the life of the scooter. I also have an economic thread in the fabric I'm weaving here.
• While the dual motor has more batteries (helping with that range issue), its also heavier, which makes lifting it in and out of the car / house harder.
• I got this one for AU$1000, which was AU$600 less than the dual motor, or put another way the dual motor scooter was going to cost me 60% more, but still be the same speed on the flats (speed limitation) or suck batteries harder (if I unleash the limiter).
• These things just aren't motorcycles, and so on open roads a motorcycle is faster, on foot paths you mix with pedestrians, so it is a compromise.
• The smaller battery charges faster than the bit one and as I did this whole weekend on just one charge I consider that's a benefit.

So right now I feel like that Single Motor Mercane Wide Wheel has been an excellent choice, its a compromise (and what isn't) and for a person who wants a low end electric vehicle to get places which would be on the verge of walking (and yes, this thing is not a toy kids scooter with a motor on the back, its a genuine vehicle) this is fantastic and better than anything else I've seen in the category of single 500W motor.

I think its win win

I'll leave you with this shot of my scoot at the summit of the local hill on Sunday Afternoon

This is the top of the hill at the back of town (and I live at the bottom of this hill) and it was nice to get up there and watch the sunset.