E-bike giants Pedego have released a little guide to keeping your battery in top condition. Here are their three tips: #1. Keep The Battery Cool Environmental conditions are an important factor affecting lithium batteries. For example, leaving one in your car in the hot sun will guarantee you lessen the life of your battery. In fact, that would be the worst situation: keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures. It’s a good rule of thumb to store your bike out of the direct sunlight for long periods and when not in use, keep your battery in a cool place, preferably below 20°C (68°F). The chart below, provided by Battery University, shows the impacts of temperature upon recoverable capacity of a battery. #2....
In Bike Otago's first maintenance course lesson, instructor Phoebe taught the secrets of bike fit, safety checks, and rear wheel removal and puncture repair. Next week will focus on brakes and suspension, with the final session revolving (hah) around bearings and drivetrain. If you are interested, you can still join part-way through - just flick us an email.
For a long time, the quality of electric conversion kits available here in NZ has been variable to say the least. Thankfully NZ company Lekkie have designed an electric conversion kit that matches the quality of our SmartMotion electric bikes. Here's one we installed on a customer's bike recently - a fast road commuter with a lot of practical touches. Lekkie have designed two kits. The one installed here is the Summit, which replaces your bike's crankset and drives through the chain. This means the motor's power can make full use of your bike's gearing - super-low gears for steep grades, and high gears for a greater top speed. We'd recommend this for maximum performance, or if you've got an...
You might think of Bike Otago as being a mountain-only store, but we're all part-time roadies too. In fact, Bike Otago's owner, Kashi Leuchs, has a long history with road racing, including representing New Zealand in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Since we're a growing little store, we've now got the space to start playing the roadie game properly - and to increase the availability of bikes, we've partnered with road experts Capital Cycles. BMC is our brand of choice - not only do we keep BMCs in stock, but we're also able to get any BMC from Capital Cycles at the awesome prices below (or check their website here for more!) This means you get the great pricing and the expertise...
Join the Bike Otago womens' fun riding group for an adventure to Alexandra with Scarlet Hagen on Sunday 24th May. Everyone is welcome, but you must be female and the riding will be aimed at beginner level riders. Depending on numbers we may split into different groups for certain sections. We will have a driver (or two depending on numbers) help us while in Alexandra so we can shuttle you to the top of the hill a few times, ensuring we get the most fun possible. We will pick you up from outside Bike Otago at 10am (we will be renting a 11 seater van and trailer). We should be on the bikes by 1pm and depending how people are feeling, we...
