Good example of no protective clothing, won’t get much exercise with one of these but, will get one anyway, and keep it legal (maybe).
A nice bike. It would have to be an off-roader only I suppose. I’m sure it must be comparable with petrol engine bikes that needs all the usual regulations. There wouldn’t be anywhere to ride it around here.
Done some digging mart, they can come restricted, street legal, the good point, they don’t need Road Tax, but, they have to be registered with DVLA and display the number plate, they also have to be insured, I have been quoted £200.00 for third party, but the insurance will not insure against theft because they are infinitely nickable apparently.
It’s going to be so tempting for some people to de-restrict the speed limit. There will of course be ways. The current limit was set by EU rules. Now that we’re out, the legal limit could be raised. I read the the U.S is 20MPH for on-road use.
I’ve often felt the restriction kick in on my e-bike and wished it could go a couple of miles an hour faster. Then I have to remind myself just how hard it is to keep up a constant 15.5MPH on an ordinary bike.
If it was 20MPH, I might find myself wishing I could go a few miles and hour faster than that. 
Mart, been doing a few miles on the Ebike lately, what has come to mind is this, although we live in a village, the two roads that serve it are busy A roads. All the years I manually cycled to the City and back, I was not aware of being vulnerable to traffic because I was too wrapped up in the process of peddling and, there was generally a reason for the journey like getting to work and back. Travelling the same roads (and some B roads) on the Ebike is a different experience, Ok, these Ebikes come into their own in a suburban environment, or on a track in a rural setting, so, I have the same dilemma that I have with the manual mountain bike, that is to get to pastures new, either bike will have to be loaded into the car, so, my thinking is, keep the manual Mountain Bike for riding locally, and get the Sur ron, and transport it by car to places like Derbyshire, where there is a mixture of lanes and tracks, and the bike is designed for such treatment.
I will keep the bike I assembled, for the odd occasion during Airshow season when, with the Son, we can park a few mlies from the epicentre of the traffic chaos and just cruise through.
There’s more traffic on the roads and it is generally faster than when we rode bikes when younger. However, I find confidence builds if major roads are ridden on regularly. I think a few items are essential though.
- Reflective stickers on the bike and clothing (a reflective belt for instance).
- Turn the rear light on if the day is dull.
- Most importantly, a handlebar mirror. A lot of the scariness is not knowing what traffic is behind. Is a car going to get close as it passes? Is it safe to hand signal, move across to the crown of the road and turn right? Good to be aware of what’s behind and stay safe(r).
I would feel most uncomfortable riding on busy roads without a mirror.
I completely agree about the mirror, Mart.
Where I live, a headlight and tail light are required. On the rare situations I have ridden at night, I have put both on a strobe setting that increases visibility.
We need to be lit up like Christmas trees! 
I find this mirror to be the best for a wide range of vision. I only have one for the right-hand side but there is one available for the left as well.
That looks like a good one - wide angles both vertically and horizontally, and adjustable, too.
The good part is that I haven’t broken a mirror for ages. Not since stopping the off-road riding and falling off occasionally. Cuts and grazes were tolerable but replacing the mirror hurt even more because it costs money.
I always had a spare at home.
Gonna get me one of those mirrors, when I was out in the cold the other day, I had my woolly hat on and my hood up, I wanted to turn right from a main road into a side road, but needing to see over my shoulder to move to the middle of the road was impossible, all I could see was the inside of my hood so, I had to pull over at the side of the road, have a look round then proceed again.
The mirror should overcome all that.
It’s necessary to cut a hole in the end of the handlebar grip in order to fit the mirror. It comes with an outer sleeve for expanding inside handlebars with a large inside diameter. The sleeve is removed for a small inside diameter.
The handlebar hole on the Claud Butler was too small even with the outer sleeve of the mirror removed. Where there’s a will there’s a way and I ended up having to enlarge the hole a bit (aluminium). Not enough to weaken the end of the handlebar though.
I’m pretty sure the mirror will fit OK (no problem on other bikes) but just an aspect worth looking at.
Edit: photo added.
Just bought it mart.
It’s all behind you now then. 
I wont look back in anger.
On reflection and all that.
I expect you’ll soon find the best angle for the mirror. I find it best when you can just about see the side of your sleeve in it, This seems to cover not only the lane behind but right across to the other side of the road as well.
Older Zeefal mirrors were this shape and a bit smaller than the newer ones…
I had a job to get used to the new shape at first but have come to prefer it now.
The photo shows an old-shaped mirror, still intact on the Claud Butler. Note the screw, rather than an allen bolt. It shows I had to do something about the fitting of it because of the small inside diameter of the handlebars. It’s a solid enough fixing but not standard.
Just been round the Country Park on the Hog:-). Lots of Dog Walkers, and the iced up puddles made stuff interesting, roll on Spring.
I haven’t been doing much riding, apart from going to the doctors own pharmacy and back once in a while. About a 5 mile round trip done on the e-bike. I hope it will be a different story in the Spring when riding ought to be a bit more enjoyable.
I’ve been keeping my leg muscles up to strength with indoor exercises and will try and be brave enough to do a 12 mile circuit on the ordinary bike (Claud Butler).
Mart, as predicted, the plastic expanding stopper is to big a diameter to fit into the handlebar end!
That’s a nuisance to say the least. Even with the outer sleeve removed? Below is what I had to do. Not a neat job because I didn’t have a drill that would do it and I was worried that even with a drill, to much of a hole might be dug.
I reamed it out with an old chisel that was just bigger than the hole. It’s only the first ¾" of the handlebar so it hasn’t weakened it.
I used a longer screw to screw into the expander so that it started expanding on the first few turns. I hope you manage to fix the mirror somehow. I think a person of your calibre will be able to.
