to the edge of the Rim

The area around here is called The Scenic Rim and its actually the edge of an old (millions of years old) volcano. Where I live is just back from the remaining walls of that and the plateau (500meters above sea level) gradually recedes over hundreds of kilometers to the west into the deserts of the center of Australia.

In previous videos I've gone up to the top of the range from Killarney to the tops of that (Queen Mary Falls and over to Carrs Lookout) and down to The Head. Today I took the scoot from just near The Head (where I parked last week) and took it right to where it descends down onto the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range.

This is a view from Carrs Lookout to the East showing todays journey with the red line.

Some of it was below the visible edge over there.

Here are the GPS stats

...and the trip video

I mentioned in that video I would provide a link to some of the bird sounds I've previously recoreded in the Rainforest near there so here is one.

You may have noticed the trees there (on my brief excursion) are buttressed ... this is one just near where I parked in there (although not taken today).

Its a fascinating and complex landscape.

I had a brief bit of excitement on the tail end of that above video when I decided to go down and sus out the cows ... a Red Bellied Black snake was out and took some exception to me riding past him (had a bit of a go at me but as I was going fast he kept going his way:

Some Australian language can be heard

As I mentioned earlier this pretty much completes the trip (done in sections) riding my scoot from my house all the way (car lifted some sections) to the edge of the range

All up that's about 30Km and actually I think that if I modded the scoot to have regen brakes then I may indeed be able to do it in one hit, because there are enough really steep down hills which may indeed make it possible. Cos then I could use the regen to save my brakes AND charge my battery for the last bit.

Especially given that I've done some of those bits "there and back" as well (like I rode up to Queen Mary falls and back, and have done the entire top of the ridge and back to Carrs from Queen Mary falls too.

So, there you go ...  a quick tour of the area on a Sunday Arvo.

PS: almost forgot to add in Pete scratchin around on his Beemer

Day Tripper

So this afternoon I thought I'd go over to the next town, which is just across the border into New South Wales, its a tidy little trip for the Mercane with a nice hill climb and some interesting scenery

This is the trip map from my GPS

and the GPS summary of distance, speed and altitude

So an hour more or less to do 20km. That's longer than I'd realistically walk for that trip (although not as long as many hikes I've done) and enabled me to see and experience the afternoon scenery without consuming a whole day or indeed much energy.

At the border crossing there was a cattle grid (don't want the cows walking across the border carrying pests now do we) (and the rabbit wire)

which represents more challenge for my scooter than one may expect watching the cars go over it ... I carried it over.

Countryside is beautiful (even if it is dry)

and its always nice to spend a little time tootling around town

and some local has always got something "that they're gonna  do up"

I like that the wide wheel stays put in thick foliage all by itself...

church was already closed ...

thank god right ...

So having seen the sights (well the touristy ones) I came home and still had 47V showing on the dial

Nice

The Mercanes (Single vs Dual) side by side on the same trip

I've been wanting to do this comparison this way for a while, but only just recently found the editing tools required to do it. So here is both the Single and the Dual motor versions I have on the same trip. There are a few differences but aside from having to kick a few times on the 9degree slope and needing to walk up my driveway its only a 10 or soe seconds difference in trip times.

So, by the time of the top of the first hill it was only about 7 seconds in the lead (not much) and required me to give it a few kicks ... if it was a race then I'd go more power (and torque) but its just a trip to my mates house (usually for a cuppa or an afternoon beer), so a few seconds doesn't really make a big difference.

Is the extra power of the dual worth the money? Well it depends on you and also on the price difference. In Australia that price difference approaches 50% more for the Dual motor.

I've got a few more thoughts on this over on this blog post.

Hope that helps

up the steep bits

I'm always one to be interested to find where the limits of things are, so naturally I wanted to test the Mercane up the steepest long ascent in the area, so I picked this one

My GPS shows that its a bloody steep climb

and you can tell by the drop to walking speed about a kilometer after starting back that something happened!

Yep, I found not the limits of the motor and battery power, but of the brakes!! On that steep descent trailing them relentlessly caused the disc to overheat and I had to walk back most of the way (easier down than up I suppose!) or risk brake failure.

Here is my gopro footage of that.

so ... now I'm wondering about how to use the regen brakes capacity which I understand is in the in the controller in concert with the disc to perhaps get this little baby to its limits.

Or maybe accept that I've pushed it past where it was ever thought of that it could go ;-)

PS: an interesting and worth while read for the brake novice is here: http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/how-hydraulic-brakes-work/

I'll quote the relevant point about brake fade:

---

Pad Fade

All friction material (the stuff your pads are made of) has a coefficient of friction curve over temperature. Friction materials have an optimal working temperature where the coefficient of friction is at its highest. Further hard use of the brake will send the friction material over the optimal working temperature causing the coefficient of friction curve to decline.

This high temperature can cause certain elements within the friction material to melt or smear causing a lubrication effect, this is the classic glazed pad. Usually the binding resin starts to fail first, then even the metallic particles of the friction material can melt. At very high temperatures the friction material can start to vaporize causing the pad to slide on a layer of vaporized material which acts as a lubricant.

The characteristics of pad fade are a firm, non-spongy lever feel in a brake that won't stop, even if you are squeezing as hard as you can. Usually the onset is slow giving you time to compensate but some friction materials have a sudden drop off of friction under high temperatures resulting in sudden fade.

Green Fade

Green fade is perhaps the most dangerous type of fade which manifests itself on brand new brake pads. Brake pads are made of different types of heat resistant materials bound together with a resin binder. On a new brake pad these resins will cure when used hard on their first few heat cycles and the new pad can hydroplane on this layer of excreted gas.

Green fade is considered the most dangerous as it can catch users unaware given its quick onset. Many people would consider new brake pads to be perfect and may be used hard from the word 'go'.

Correct bedding-in of the brake pads can prevent green fade. This process removes the top layer of the friction material and keys the new pad and rotor together under controlled conditions.

---

I hope you found that helpful.

dead battery walking

Well, I took the Mercane single motor off to the "far away shops", got what I thought was not far from home and realised I was wearing my cap not my helmet and went back home for the swap. Then went back to go to the shops. I suggest a quick review of that trip data (and interestingly discharge data discussion) here.

Anyway, I did almost the whole return trip before it caved ... about 2km from home, which was not bad and did a nice predictable draw down consistent with what I'd expect from the discharge curves.

I was watching the battery voltage carefully and can report that at about 42V (running along on a flat smooth road and no head wind) it suddenly (within 2 seconds):

• dove down hard
• powered down the display during that (much like turning it off at the switch)
• powered down the indicator LED's on the "dash"

It then would not power back up, so I walked for a while and clicked on the ignition switch and it briefly powered up and then repeated the above.

So this verifies my understanding of the discharge rates and my concerns about how far I'll get once I start seeing 46V on the flats and buckling down to 44 on the uphills. It also lets me know when the battery management system denies power drain, and its also at a level that's slightly higher than the "low cut off" on the motor controller(s) which is 40V. So this means (assuming correct voltage reporting) that the BMS shuts my battery pack off at about 3.23V per cell.

I've done some calculations on "pack" level voltage from this wonderful data source:

interestingly their "Unknown" battery dies at about where my battery died and follows a very similar discharge curve to what I see. If I'd had genuine LG batteries in there I might just have got home ... maybe.

I checked my trip on google maps and it turns out that my turn around point was just past half way, 4km. So that means that my distance since charging this morning is pretty close to 23Km, which given I did this on "Power" mode is pretty close to what the makers claim for "up to" distances. And I have a number of hills on that trip too.

I got home and stuck it on the charger and it took just under 3 hours to charge (normally I recharge earlier and its under 2).

In my view the battery pack in the Mercane seems "reasonable" for its budget and isn't fantastic nor is it crap.

I hope this data is useful to someone

what's fast enough?

I can say that from my experience in motor bikes that "wanting a bit more speed" is a seductive and in reality beguiling goal. Its cyclic because when you get something faster it doesn't take long before its "pedestrian" and you need faster to feel like you're going fast.

Same is true with scooters.

On my blog I've put up quite a few posts showing distances, speed as numbers, and even speed relative to a bicycle (however in a more open road). Speed feels fast relative to whats around, and more related to how close things are to give a sense of how things are moving relative to you. Look out the window of a jet at 30,000 feet and if feels as if nothing is happening, but you're going much faster than when you were taking off.

So tonight I tried to make a quick video of me going to where the local shops are (just around the corner) where things are more crowded and lots is happening in close. In a situation like this 24km/h is really the sensible speed limit (as well as the one imposed by law in Australia), even a little fast at times.

So if that's not fast enough for your wants then ... well at least you know the Mercane isn't for you ;-)

afternoon ride

Reilly Report:

I took the Mercane up to the other side of Carrs lookout (before it gets super steep) in the Pajero to have a tootle around

which more or less went like this :-)

and went back again after the tourists left to enjoy the lookout in a bit of solitude...

Always travel prepared to hydrate ... this is Australia after all.

Cheers

Sheared Bolt Head (fixing it and I hope preventing it happening again)

So, lets see how this goes:

Video Part 1

So, about extracting that bolt it didn't go down without a fight ... but I won.

First I tried the "proper way" and drilled it and used an "Easy Out" ... sadly that didn't work and the fucking thing broke in.

here you can see the broken tip of the "Easy Out" and the mangled end of the bolt which came out "the old fashioned way" by brute force. Yep I was able to get clearance between the gooseneck and the bolt and do it with "vice grips"

This time on this battle I fought the law (friction) and "I won".

Now when I took the bolts out I saw that the primary problem was that the heads of the bolts were not given an even surface upon which to grip (thus dis-advantageous forces could be brought onto the edges of the bolt head). This is evidenced by the shitty crapy washer that was used:

So, suitable for a pie tray, but not in this sort of environment. Now I've used double (and better) washers. This will mean that more even pressure will be applied to the bolt head (reducing the chances of another "pop off").

giving the heads a good chance of survival ... I mention this aspect in the last video.

Next, while I had the need to pull the headset off to get at that bolt I thought I'd show you what it looks like (hopefully you'll never need to see it). I'm quite impressed.

This design is actually very sound as it will enable the system to fail gracefully and safely should one or more bolts fail ... this is because the design will cause the front bolts to fail first letting you know something is wrong pretty quickly while having the remaining two still hold shit together. Very nice.

Analysis Segway

Lets just segway off here on a quick analysis of this design: as you can see the back of the gooseneck holding the steering bearing is strongly supported at its back by large flat bit of cast metal against large flat bit of cast metal cast and held down from movement with 4 bolts. So referencing that above close up picture of the neck out, lets look at the angles of force here.

Principally there are 2 directions of force that the mount can take, one is the transfer of road impacts the other is the riders weight (and of course momentum changes which effect what your weight is).

The shape of the gooseneck and its "keying in" to that slot to the anchor points means that the road impacts (the fastest shocks the system will experience) are taken against that pair of thick cast pieces, not on bolts. This means there can be no mechanical wear from stress ( == a good thing).

Next the weight of the rider pivots around that angle shown above and has an amount of leverage (the length of the straight red line) but because of the way the mechanism is seated the only bots to take significant load are the front two anchor point bolts (orange). These will be under tension only, which is good because shear is what scissors do (... which is why we call them shears) and bolts have much lower shear strength than tensile strength. Keep that in mind when reviewing the "basic kiddy-level" (seriously no engineer would be comfortable with this after first year) engineering on the (quite high powered and fast) Zero 9 which failed below.

No wonder it failed ...

End Segaway ... 

Anyway at the end of all this it looks like this (with the double washers) and is now test driven and back on the road.

Lastly I took this opportunity and pulled the belly pan off the Dual Motor and inspected that. Its interesting how different that is in assembly:

They have "double washered" the leading edge AND used spring washers AND used lower tensile strength bolts. Now this may seem like a "bad thing" but actually its possible this is a good thing. You see that lower tensile strength bolts are less "brittle" and thus inclined to stretch (or bend) before just snapping.

So maybe what's happened here is that my Single Motor Mercane is an older one and they've just dressed it up to look like a 2019 (with the key operation) ... perhaps they've learned about what's better (by observing failures) and adjusted accordingly.

Either way now both are fully operational, I understand (and I hope by sharing this you do too) more of what I need to keep an eye on with my scoots and things will go well from here on in...

stitch in time saves nine (and maybe some skin and bone too)

I'm a big fan of preventive maintenance, its how I've kept so many things I own lasting for so long (like my 1989 Pajero which is still going nicely thank you).

I decided that I thought I could feel some movement in the steering head bracket where it joins the board and pulled the base plate off to have a look if any bolts were loose.

Turned out one was, but not how I expected:

So this bolt has had the head shear off, but I am not sure this is what's causing the small amount of play, as the others were tight.

None the less I'll be now taking extra care in riding on bumps until I can get back up home on the weekend where it will be:

• easy out that bolt shaft
• go to the bolt shop to get a replacement (maybe more)
• remove and inspect the other bolts
• replace those washers with something better (perhaps even a stack)

Interestingly the bolt is FKE 12.9 which as it happens is a very high standard of bolt strength. I got this information (from this site)

Property Class 12.9 

PC 12.9 parts have a minimum tensile strength of 1220 MPa for all sizes. These parts are very high strength. In fact, they are the strongest of all the parts that we have covered in this series of blogs. 1220 MPa are roughly equivalent to 175 Ksi.

So that's encouraging ... especially how my scoot always gets used on "smooth roads" ... a compilation of one of my favorite tracks around a wetland area

My advice to you is if you haven't pulled the belly pan off your scoot I recommend you do so because you don't want that other bolt to go and risk a situation of having no front wheel (at speed). Like this one I observed on a website:

which goes to show that bolts need to not only be high tensile but also screwed into something which will take the forces (which are magnified by speed). As it happens that bike was doomed from the start because the maker did not put the full compliment of bolts that were needed in on assembly:

pretty fucked for a scooter which costs nearly double mine...

So if you value your physical health, take safety inspections (like brakes) seriously.

Happy Scooting

PS: The Solution

 my solution to my problem is here (well, its the next post above this too, but if you didn't come in through the front page you may miss it)

More to life than simply death

A friend of mine (and Father figure) often mused "that there must be more to life than death" ... I believe he is correct but not in a way he was perhaps angling from.

We are not just individuals, we are a functioning part of a society. When we focus on just our own lives then we fail to see the ongoing interconnectedness that our lives have in society.

 If *we* are achieving nothing then that's our choice. We do actually (see it or not) form part of a fabric of society.

The cotton plant produces short fibers which are spun into longer threads and woven to make a blanket, jeans or a shirt. We don't see that bud but it was there.

What happens when I die I can't imagine, but what I can do to help others is something that I can imagine, and choose to do.

Be that Cotton Bud

Public Service Announcment: Mercane Safety Issue (and what you should do)

UPDATE: I'm revising part of this post as new information has come to light and I've redone some of the videos, so:

There appears to be a number of disc brake calipers that have failed (see this post on Reddit for example) and according to the notification by one of the US resellers the problem may be related to a caliper adjustment being set too far forward (and possibly loading the cam up into a weak place).

To be clear we are talking about this part here:

Mine is adjusted so that the lever is pretty much all the way over to the right before brakes are applied, and only moves a small amount (less than half its throw) in activation.

This is an example of a video of a failed caliper, note the angle of the activation lever:

This is a video I made responding to that post about the operation and movement of mine showing normal movement of the lever in the operation of the caliper. Take note of how far it moves and from how far over on the right (back) of the bike it moves.

when you watch that first video take note of the starting position, his brake caliper lever is further forward than mine ... I would think this is a key symptom (and it has emerged it is ;-)

So IF you are in a situation where you don't know and don't have a dealer you can discuss this with, I propose that to diagnose this you do the following:

1. check that the starting position of the lever is more or less all the way back by undoing the bolt securing the cable and it will then fall back to its "un tensioned" position. It should not fall far
2. if it didn't fall back very far then its probably all good, if it did then you'll need to look more carefully. Either way return the lever to where it was and re-tension that bolt holding the cable.
3. take the scooter to a place where you can test the brakes without needing them to stop. A wide open grassy area like a park (not filled with people) would be good because then the grass will stop you pretty quickly by just powering off. If you can lock up the back wheel and it does not fail then you know its good to go.

Now, if any of the above seems mechanically too complex then my most sincere advice is :

• "don't own a scooter" or 
• "ask or pay someone who has mechanical aptitude to do this for or with you"

So, IF you found that the lever was too far over to the left (the cable side) to actually activate the brake then you'll need to adjust this. There are almost no good guides on the internet for this (probably because until recently these calipers were used on mountain bikes and people usually figure it out themselves in that community or take it to a bike shop). That may be a good option for you here.

However assuming you like me want to do it yourself (because that's how you've learned so far) then I've put together a few videos showing what to do and some "discover as I video" commentary. Each of these is about 3 min long. I'll put them here for your reference.

Taking the caliper off:

Now, with the caliper off lets "cut to the chase scene". The US distributor has paid for an engineers report exploring the problem and offering a way to clarify what the problem actually is: here.

In case that ever vanishes I've made a copy of that on my Google Drive here.

Unfortunately there are no guidelines as to how to be sure if that retention ring is properly installed (I may have a look myself). But the above paragraph makes clear that the symptom of the arm movement discussed in all my videos is pretty much a key indicator.

Lets first look at the components:

I've got an arrow on the left (in red) pointing to a small lubrication port (which I mention in my below video) and an arrow pointing to the thrust bearing where some grease is shown.

In the figure below they've cut away the caliper and shown how the part sit in together.

from this I was then confident to dismantle mine further and look at exactly that retention ring.

The ring is intended to be turned with a two pointed tool which matches holes and allows you to turn it. The spring compresses as the arm is moved and the retention ring forms a point where the arm can not go further because the spring is fully compressed. As shown here:

at this point one simply can not apply more pressure on the brakes because the retention ring is stopping the piston moving out further ... as it should because that's how stuff works. This means that if you need more movement you in fact need to adjust the pads (shown soon).

My caliper shows this normal range of movement in my above video and so if yours is showing that range of movment then you probably do not need to go further. But for the sake of showing how to fix the problem I have. In the video below you can see the retention ring, the brake pads and how caliper moves them.

You can strip it by doing the reverse of my process ... and if you find you need to, you adjust that retention ring (as I show in the video) to the place where the spring does bind at the logical end of caliper lever travel (which I show also).

After that you may need a few small tweaks of adjusting that inside pad adjuster to get things just right and you'll also perhaps need to adjust the way the caliper sits on the swing arm relative to the disc, that's shown also in this video which becomes clearer in what its talking about now that one knows there is an adjuster for the outside pad too...

I talk through some more adjustment bits here, but I'm no professional presenter so you may find it a bit "rambling" ... but I feel (even given that) its worth sharing still. Among other things it shows how to position the caliper (which may surprise people to learn was not a custom job for the Mercane and us used on other bikes) exactly relative to the disc. The important thing is to have the disc in the middle of the caliper and then adjust the inside pad (which otherwise does not move during braking) to be just kissing {but just not} the inside of the brake disc) and then the outside pad (which moves when you squeeze the disc) to  allow the brake to release or operate.

I don't script these videos so sometimes I say the wrong words (or struggle for words)  as I'm not an anchor news reporter reading from an autocue, but just an engineer.

Lastly I do not believe that the gentlemen who explored this in another YouTube video have actually nailed a solution to the problem, but rather like my earlier versions of this post have just shown a way of testing if you do have the problem or not.

Ultimately if you feel that you are uncomfortable with this  you may consider it best to consider a change of caliper the best course of action. I know many discuss the move from a cable activated mechanical one to a cable activated hydraulic one, or even a complete hydraulic system ... myself I don't because I'm of the view that'll just be another different set of problems. The choice is yours

Either way its my view that unless you have one of the faulty calipers that its just best to disassemble your caliper and inspect it as I've done.

evening ride

Lovely evening ride tonight, even with two nails, so watch out for the occasional swearing

some interjected thoughts about my Mercane Single motor scoot and riding around. I get that in the USA the single motor isn't competitive with the dual because of the way its priced there, but over here there is a 50% extra premium on the dual ...

(pimping my ride) just because I can

After spending a bit of time this weekend working on a mates (electric) skateboard and doing a bit of quick preventive maintenance on my Mercanes I thought I'd just whack the old fish eye on the camera and have an in close look at the Mercane from a perspective you almost never see on the web.

Firstly you can see the strength and simplicty of the solid cast gooseneck and suspension system.

while it may not be a lot of travel, you can see it definitely has room to soak up bumps. Now while a pneumatic tyre may deform a little bit more (those who know about riding bicycles with 80psi in there will know that's not always true) there will be a point where the penumatic without suspension will pinch between the obstacle and the rim and you'll be walking home.

The rear has suspension too ... and as you can see a disc brake (which I've just put that tube onto to protect the cable sheath from rubbing).

The disc is easy to maintain (well unless you're fully and utterly incompetent, so I guess that's a good portion of Millennials I'm sad to say) and just requires occasional adjustment to ensure that its nicely aligned.

The wide tyres actually give good grip and personally I don't see any point in altering the system because relative to the diameter of the wheel that disc brake has enormous potential to lock that wheel up >>which you don't want to do<< if you can avoid it because a sliding wheel does not get as good a grip as one that's not (hence ABS).

What you do want to do howere is to develop a body reflex that when braking your put your weight back and down (shift your arse back and down, not stand like a statue).

Indeed the scooter has an integrated part of the chassis which allows you to put your foot right back there and take that weight. Look at the re-enforcement of the cast alloy based on its shape.

This isn't just intended to be sexy looking, its intended you'll put your rear foot (not both feet, keep one forward to help you with stability and feeling direction and slides) and take weight.

If you grew up on a scooter that had only a rear fender brake, you'll instinctively put your weight back there (because that's how you stopped), but if you've got some bicycle experience you'll have that brake lever right there on your hand and you have excellent control.

Being a disc it sheds heat well, so you can apply gently early to prevent too much speed build up on long down hills in town areas (although lengthy {like over a half a mile without a break} steep down hills on mountains will challenge it).

So far I really enjoy both my Mercanes (the single motor and the dual). Sure there are lighter scooters, sure there are more powerful ones, but for someone who wants a low maintenance scooter (bye bye checking tyre pressures or flat tyres, as I've had bicycles for years) this scoot is hard to beat.

Mercane brake cable sheath: repair and prevention

In my last post I identified that swingarm movement had caused some wear that broke through the outer plastic covering of the cable outer (sheath?) which will eventually lead to water ingres and rust, resulting in threading a new cable through ... being one to avoid pains in the arse by following "a stitch in time saves nine" adage I thought I'd nip this in the bud on both my scoots.

in closer the breach in the outer skin of the sheath is clearer (I mean that's how insignificant this is):

So basically my fix is this:

• short length of 5mm nylon tube
• apply a small amount of silicon sealant to the cable sheath where its breached
• slide the tube over the cable and thread some of it down the neck of that aperture

This is what I used (cost $1.70)

This is how I did it and an explanation of what I did.

So pretty simple stuff and something I'd expect takes no more than 5 minutes to fix. Indeed I did it on my Dual Motor version (showing no sign of wear yet, perhaps as the single gets the most miles?) I did it in around 2 minutes. If I wasn't dividing my attention between checking camera screen and doing the job and talking about it it would have been under 2 minutes. So here is that video from start to finish:

Mercane brake cable wear issue

There is a problem with the Mercane Wide Wheels that has emerged over my time of usage and which I recently found after reading a thread on the subject.

The issue is that as the suspension moves up and down because of the geometery of the suspension the cable guide must run past a cast alloy part of the chassis. This is it here:

(and LOL, a perfect shot of my wheel dent too)

Looking more closely you can see that the plastic covering of the sheath has worn exposing the inner spiral of metal which is the cable guides strength (needed to allow the cable inside to move).

you can see clearly here its worn through the plastic but will take a LOT longer to wear through the metal.

This slow motion video shows exactly what happens as one of my friends just lightly bounces up and down on the scooter in the room

So while this is not an urgent fix I will attend to it this weekend because I don't want dirt / dust and particularly water (mixed with the above) getting in and fouling the cable. To be honest such will take quite some time,its already been 3 months and many miles to this point.

I will do a follow up post with my solution (which I expect to be pretty simple).

morning ride across the range

Here where I live its right on the edge of the Great Dividing Range, and so its a very pleasant trip across the top through (normally) moist Rainforest and green hills to look East to the ocean.

So here is my trip from Queen Mary falls East to Carrs Lookout, its 26 minutes (the way back didn't make the recorder due to card being filled)

On the ride I conjectured that it may have some amount of rise, so here is that from Google:

not as much as I'd thought, but as you can see I made it in less time than a cyclist would (which is interesting because on flatter ground I've found that Google is pretty close to the same time I take).

Battery was grinding down on the way back, but was 47V when I returned to where I'd parked the car.

I'll leave you with one of the views taken with my stills camera.