I just returned from a brief trip to Chesapeake Virginia. Where I rode the Great Dismal Swamp Canal trail all the way to where I could the NC line!

The old road that runs parallel to the intercostal waterway (interstate 17) has been closed down and turned into a park. I have fond memories of driving that road with my father as we left Elizabeth City to visit family in Chesapeake.

Getting to ride the route I traveled countless times as a kid on a bike was amazing. Even after 20+ years I was shocked how much of the road I remembered, especially the abandoned houses along the way.

It’s a mostly straight bit of road with a few turns. For someone interested in building their own high powered electric bikes that are not exactly legal but look legit you could not ask for a better place to ride. This two lane blacktop goes straight for days!!!

My brother has a rare hip disease that nearly cost him his leg when he was a child. He is lucky to be able to walk today though he does have a VERY bad limp and pain that will probably never go away fully.

Because of his hip issue I never thought we would travel on bicycles 20+ miles and be able to ride to the VA/NC border with ease! Electric bicycles made that not only possible but FUN!!

He even managed to beat me in a 1/4 mile drag race. I cut the video down because for much of the original you can’t even hardly notice we are approaching. They are both 52V and go up to about 2400W. His 52T chainring verses my 38 tooth allowed him to pedal at higher speed thus assisting the motor and made up his lack of a good start. I got the hole shot but around 30 mph he caught up won.



We went about 22 miles total and were not exactly traveling with much regard for efficiently or range. With our spirited riding and minimal pedal assistance we still didn’t manage to drain the batteries down below 50% power. Both were sitting around 53% when we got back to the beginning of the trail. I managed to regen my battery a little bit on the way back. My battery is 1/2 the size of the other bike’s battery. If you can pedal around 20mph I have one of the bikes wired to do regenerative braking but it adds resistance and will wear you out.

It’s kind of a nice feature to extend your range but it’s much more effective in hilly terrain where you can easily get above 30mph just by pedaling. On flat land I view it as only a range extender. The regen braking works better the faster you are going. It will slow a bike down from 35-20mph with quickness but in the 15-20mph range it just feels like biking with a brake rubbing.









The end of the road. Or is it?

When the road ends you can keep going along a trail.


The last mile or so there is no trail so you have to ride the shoulder or in the grass. We went far enough to see the state line but I couldn’t talk my bro into riding the shoulder/grass all the way to the actual line to get pics.



This was taken pretty close to the end of the trail in the actual park. I thought I had a pic of the NC/VA border off in the distance but I think my brother took that picture on his phone.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
(video)

That looked like great fun!

Hardly looks dismal at all! Thanks for the pix.

Oh trust me there is lots of dismal there. Anyone who has paddled the NW River in Chesapeake will know what I’m talking about. We just took pics in the nice, picturesque areas. It’s mostly a lot of swamp/farmland with a road intersecting it.

This place is awesome. If you ever find yourself in the 757 and have friends in the area with bikes you should go and ride this trail. You won’t regret it.

I’m planning a trip to my old house in NC. I’m going to need to upgrade both of my bikes to a two battery set up with a generous reserve battery and potentially a legit solar array to recharge the batteries once we reach our destination that unfortunately does not have any electricity. It’s an ambitious project but it will be loads of fun.

The GoPro VThoky gave me is acting up. Hopefully before this trip happens I can fix it and source two more for coverage of what should be a most excellent ride.

You have an electric assist bike? How is it? I'm 62 and trying to slug my way back to the rides I used to do 5 years ago. Not getting very far. A review on your Ebike would be greatly appreciated.

Goose5 stay tuned. I am planning a long term YouTube video review of my first build as I am rapidly approaching 2,000 trouble free miles after about a year and a half after building it. I’ll also include my second build and one that is in the works right now.

These things are amazing. I feel like if I could get the majority of MTB riders and even motorcycle riders to try out my builds it would totally change their mind towards electric vehicles. It changed my perception 100%.

Yes, mine is “technically” designed as a pedal assist bike but I didn't like the interface of a pedal assist bike so I ditched all that crap and use a 1/4 grip twist throttle. I find this is ideal for trail riding and gives you FAR MORE CONTROL over the bike than that stupid pedal assist bullshit. Coming from a motorcycle background as well as someone who raced BMX in sanctioned events and rarely lost I prefer a twist throttle, which is basically illegal in our fucked up litigious world run by morons.

The good news is most places don’t blink and eye if you have a battery attached to your mountain bike as long as you’re not cruising past fools at 35+ mph on a trail and acting like an asshole. Most won’t notice it unless you give them a reason. I strive to avoid imperial entanglements and so far it’s worked brilliantly.


I rigged mine up to provide up to 2400w of electric assistance whenever I twist the throttle. The people who wrote the law didn’t race BMX and I doubt they ride motorcycles so I don’t give a flying F$&k what laws they pass. My bike is hardly a CR250 in the form of a Mountain Bike. The controller I have phases the power in VERY slowly so even if I wanted to tear up the single track and do wheelies I couldn’t unless I provided considerable pedal assist. It’s more or less a commuter focused motor that works well on and off road. It likes to be around 18-20 mph where it just sips the juice slowly and provides exquisite range.

If you are a good ambassador of the e-bike world and put 500w stickers on your bike those idiots will never know your e-bike is basically a motorcycle/moped.

This will allow you to go places you never dreamed possible. If you live in a place full of hills it will make your ride MUCH more enjoyable. My local 1000+ acre park banned motorcycles. They don’t blink an eye at my e-bike and I hope it stays that way.