more vs less (what I think so far)

So, its been just a few weeks with both Mercanes (or a bit over one and a half months with just the single wheel) and I've found that its a mixed bag of good and "issues". Let me put my thoughts together on this:

Single rear motor

the good :

• I like the moderate but sufficient power delivery. Its not enough to put you and keep you off balance and sufficient for most hills (except the really steep ones, to put a number on this 5 degrees and it'll struggle 4 degrees and it'll do it). Personally I find up hills I'd prefer to be on the Mercane than a bicycle (except when fitness training)
• its lighter (at least 4kg and the front is much easier to lift) making it easier to carry and lift into the car. Its at that weight where another 4kg moves it from heavy to "ouhfff")
• it has less "friction" in moving it around when (say) in the supermarket because the front wheel has not motor and rolls nicely (see this youtube video showing wheel resistance) 
• it has better clearance underneath as the battery box and single controller is more snug
• it is light enough to get a small amount of "air" when attempting to jump obstacles such as nasty pavement joins
• it steers very neutrally and is easy to learn to be confident on it
• the brake is best described as quite adequate (unless you're attempting to speed through crowded areas or places with low visibility)
• charge time is less

the issues:

• you'll need to kick (or get off) on really steep slopes ... getting off is a good option as that will return far more battery distance than the 10 meters you stood on it for
• its not "exciting" acceleration (which may be a hidden good)

The Dual

the good:

• man does this thing kick when you hit the throttle (starting off) and it hits its top speed much sooner than the single
• it just motors up long steep hills that the single will struggle with (and probably you walking would too)
• somehow the dual gives more distance than the single does (as u/InfernotTerror mentions) which I suspect is because that while it will use more power on the hills (like say up to 1000W) the speed limiter will on the straight mean it uses only about the same power as the single does, and you have 50% more battery (which will probably give more than 50% more discharge)

the issues:

• its a lot heavier than just picking up a 4 kg extra may sound. Many will struggle to lift it into a car boot, I certainly don't like lugging it into the house, and glad I have a wagon
• the underbelly hangs low and so you have to be careful when lifting it over steps to not drag that belly pan
• torque steer (which may be contact patch geometry issues ) is very noticeable, the more the steering is off from straight the more you'll feel that hit on the bars as it tries to fight you. You do get used to it, but it will require you to focus on that.
• front wheel loss of traction will occur far far more than on the single because the front motor is pulling just as hard as it can and you will weight transfer back because of that (unloading the front, reducing its grip) unless you remember to lean forward. This is definitely a scoot that reminds you that you MUST use body English on these things not just stand there like a passive statue as suggested in the promotional material. This will undoubtedly lead to more stress on the steering stem over time too if you just use that lever as your balance pole. When the front breaks away (say, entering a driveway that's firm fine *(think tennis court) sort of gravel) it won't be coming back (even one reviewer had some fun with this)

So I think that summarizes it ... so now, I'll get out and ride ;-)

PS: I've finally done the video comparison of the uphill journey over to my mates place, its here.

Motor temperature

Longish ride (about 6km), lengthy hills, cruise control all the way and set onto "power" setting.

No problem :-)

things that go bump in the night...

During the week I live in "the city" and come home on the weekends. Surprisingly (although I live in a rural area) the footpaths (that's sidewalks for Americans) in "the big smoke" are shitloads worse than they are here in the countryside. Here are some examples of what I encounter every day:

I photographed this during the day, but experienced it first at night. It was clear that my OEM headlight was barely up to snuff, so I got a brighter one. Stuff like this looks innocent to anyone used to riding a bigger wheeled (and thicker tyred) bicycle:

... and you may be tempted to steer around that puddle, but when you look up close you'll find the reason why when you did, that on your scooter you heard that loud "BANG" when you hit it.

Yep, to your tiny 8 inch wheel that's a rather large whack it's going to get.

When you start looking around you'll see more of them...

and

as well as cunning shit hiding in places you just won't see:

Classy...

So if you were on a scooter like a Xaiomi and your tyres weren't pumped hard, then there's every chance that when you hit that you'd be walking home (and or late to work) and then joining the legion of sufferers who are going through "changing the tube hell" (google it).

This is exactly the reason I picked a scoot with non-penumatic tyres like my Mercane.

Now if you (as do I) commute home in the dark often enough sometimes you miss this sort of detail  and then you'll eventually (despite every endeavor) hit one of these bumps and hear that "BANG" as your rubber tyre absorbs what it can, and your suspension tries to give a bit too, but inevitably your tyre and rim will squeeze that tube to a pinch and its leaking. Inevitably however you'll find that some of the hits will leave a deeper mark (if you bother to inspect your rims that is).

So far I've had some doozies (because I live in the bum-hole of SEQld; where maintenance is irrelevant to a bankrupt council)

Eg this one which clearly flattened the rim a bit:

and this one which went "full on" in impact ...

but being exactly on the support "spoke" couldn't just bend the rim ... and you know when you look at it I felt that one don't you ;-)

If I was on a Xaiomi that would for sure be a "walking home" ding.

As well there have been sharp stones which have put cut marks into my tyres which would have been punctures for sure

and this one which was probably a pinch as I went over one of those concrete bits at an oblique angle

And so?

Now none of this has stopped me, delayed me or prevented my scoot from keeping on keeping on. Yep, no flats, no down time, no late for work, no pushing it home, it just keeps on going.

Eventually that rim will need to be replaced, but when that time comes, I'm quite sure that doing so will be

• less difficult, 
• less expensive and 
• less time consuming...

than all the fucking flats I'd have had in the last 2 months of scootering around the shit roads of Logan City. Eg this thread on reddit is just typical.

Spent 2 days and over 6 hours trying to fix and replace a tire on the M365. They made it practically impossible to do, I have looked at some youtube videos and they make it seem like its way easier than it actually is to replace it. Does anybody have any tips?

So exactly as I anticipated at the start: pneumatic tyres and small wheels is a bad combination.

Now its worth pointing out here that the Mercane has quite soft and pliant surface rubber (unlike the implication from people saying "solid rubber"), which provides excellent grip even in the damp. In fact I'm sure that half the reasons why those puncture (of a pneumatic) type penetrations have occurred is because its soft pliant rubber ... but because its a foam filled tyre it just keeps working.

Now, keep in mind that the force of impact = the mass multiplied by the velocity squared (yes squared) so this means that for every small increase in speed the force applied when you hit a bump goes up much much more.

If anything it might be nice if the tyres were a bit thicker ...

insignificant niggly shit that's gone wrong with my Wide Wheel

I thought I'd put together this page that I may update as more surfaces of the niggly details I have had from delivery with my two Mercane Wide Wheel Scooters

Lets start with the first one, the Single motor

Aside from there being missing screws in the base plate (which a text to the shop rectified, and they posted me them) I found that the side covers to the swing arms were loose, so as I was pulling out screws to loctite them (I strongly recommend this as otherwise you will loose some) I took them out of the side covers and examined why they were loose.

The reason turned out to be that the parts where the screws held them into the swing arm had shattered, and this was how it was on delivery. Luckilly the bits of plastic were all there and I was able to glue them together as seen below:

curiously though that pattern looks like this was actually 3D printed and indeed the crappy plastic makes me think it may have been ... it really is brittle plastic and while the accuracy of casting and fit is good, they just won't last as they are with this plastic. So I also used some silicon to assit holding (just a few bits around the inside of that plastic to hold but not make it impossible to remove)

Then move on to the second one, the Dual Motor

The grip area was covered with a bit of cardboard, and when I was peeling the tape off the kick board it just lifted a bit of paint off ...

So far it hasn't spread but I think this is shitty and indicative of a poor paint preparation (you can see the alloy underneath has not been etch primed before painting by the crystal shapes)

The dual motor too had some pre-broken swing arm cover mount points, but the plastic was different, more flexible. None the less I've siliconed them on too.

The grip area was not well applied (as visible above too) and I pressed out some bubbles with a roller and the standing on it (and sun) has ensured it sits well now.

So far that's been it for me, which all in all is not significant and for the price for what you get I'm totally comfortable with this, although I've read on the internet some other issues others have had.

Feel free to comment with your issues and links if you can to where you've written it up. Please note that this blog is moderated and so comments will not be published before I've reviewed them and comments containing nothing more than advertising or spam will be deleted. I don't do ads on my blog and so neither will others.

Best Wishes