Above 1200 Sq/FT The Action Sports Garage
- Thread starter Grant Gunderson
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
rbkool
Active member
Interesting to see the average speed (5.3 mph) on the ride you posted. I am definitely not criticizing, but genuinely interested as at your experience/fitness level + E-bike, I would have expected a higher average speed. What am I missing? Are they super technical/slow trails? lots of rest breaks? quickie in the woods?? lol...
OP
Grant Gunderson
Well-known member
Haha. It’s a combination of it being very steep and technical on each end of the loop, the Bosch SX motor she was in was a dog and..
That was a test ride. We wanted to see how her bring on one of the lighter weight low power e-bikes would do for her as her biggest issue with e-bikes is the weight and most of that is in the battery. The Bosch SX only had 60nm of torque vs the 150nm the Avionox has. So I had to stay in eco snd she krpt going from trail to boost as the Bosch is just way under powered. Plus you could feel a ton of grit / internal resistance in the motor on the Bosch demo. After that test it sealed the deal to get her a Crestline. Full power, more travel and with a 600wh battery it ways about the same as the Bosch with the 400 as the Avinox batteries are more power dense. Right now if you were to buy an e-bike I wouldn’t look at anything other than Avinox. It’s just that much better.
The guys from Litespeed dropped off a few titanium bikes at my shop today. This is bike ****. I really wanted one of these as a kid that was really into bikes in the 90s but couldn’t afford it.
And then their this this titanium 32” wheel monster!
They are **** as hell jamie and I took the hard tail out for a ride this evening. We both always wanted a Litespeed. It climbs amazingly well but the head tube angle is firm the 90’s still. It’s way too steep to be enjoyable. If they would slacken the front end it would be a fun bike to add to the quiver.
Ideally I’d love it if they made a titanium version of the transition sentinel.
I told the guys I’m bored of modern trail bikes, but if they did a 150mm full suspension titanium bike with modern geometry I’d buy one in an instant.
We both thought the new XT brakes were way better than the mavens on our rbikes and the shimano wireless shifting seems better than SRAMs.
hardtop5000
Well-known member
I recall finding a bare Litespeed frame at an MTB swap-sale event in the late 1990s. I picked it up and it just didn’t make sense to my senses. It looked like metal tubing but it felt as light as cardboard.
OP
Grant Gunderson
Well-known member
I do recall reading that thread. He did great work. Paul Brodie has a great you tube channel on MTB and motorcycle frame building too. Back in the day Jamie owned a ti frame from Seven as well.
I’d love a ti bike but for that kind of $$ it’s got to have good geometry. It’s like none of the ti guys have updated the geometry since they began. Most likely because it’s a lot of work and money to build new jigs.
That 32” is lighter than a lot of road bikes. It’s mind blowing but being fully rigid and single speed it’s a nitch that I don’t care to fill. That being said 32” wheels are interesting.
Jamie had a great point yesterday that doesn’t matter how light it is. If it’s too steep of a head tube it’s twitchy and thus slow. She was riding for the Juliana factory team (Santa cruise) when she won nationals and a lot of that is they had some of the best geo of the time. She won worlds when she was on a specialized s-works…. Those were stupid light full suspension bike but with decent geometry
Cdubu52
Well-known member
Mmmm. Lightspeed. When I saw the picture before I read the post, I said to myself "Dream Bike". I used to ride MTB back in the college days and fresh out of school. I havent been on a mountain bike in years, but as soon as I saw that pic, It brought back those memories!
OP
Grant Gunderson
Well-known member
All I can say is it’s been a crazy ride since the Tuneup in Bellingham when I got a surprise visit from head of Shimano NA, head of motor design and another guy (board level)from the head office. Pretty sure they walked in to the shop thinking we need to shut this guy down from doing unauthorized repairs.
I gave them a tour of the process, showed them all of the custom tooling I’ve made and discussed failure modes with them. I then gave them 5 random service reports from various motors I’ve rebuilt. Their head of motor engineering told me those were more detailed than anything they had internally. One of them mentors isn’t a bike repair shop it’s an engineering laboratory.
Next day I get this:
“
Grant san,
Thank you very much for your time today.
We are very impressed by your skills, product knowledge, and vision for the future.
Also, I would appreciate it if you could let me know if you discover any new issues with our products.”
A few days pass and the main guy sends me a copy of the site visit report he’s presenting at the head office in Japan and asked if I had any insights about motor design I could share. I then presented him with a 25 page report of what Ive learned from all of our motor rebuilds and the database I’ve kept of every one. Complete with failure analytics, graphs, charts correlations, and of course photos.
I then got the following response:
“Thank you, Grant san.
I'm completely wordless.
This is the first time I’ve come across an external party that has conducted such a thorough analysis and summary of our products.
Given my current position, I can’t offer any advice or opinions on the content of your report, but I’m simply amazed.
For now, I’ll suggest to our headquarters in Japan that a senior engineer from our team visit you once.
Kind regards”
Coming from a board level director I’ll take that as a very positive sign. I’m starting to get the impression that I changed their mind that motors are not repairable but that there is significant value to them in long term data of having a well equipped service center repair their and others motors.
Stian and I took off to bike on the east side for the weekend. 60+ miles in 3 days. I’m really enjoying how well the Avinox motor performs. It’s very natural feeling with its higher resolution sensors. Had zero issues toeing the kid too! In fact Stian went from saying sad go faster to dad this is too fast!
We had a great trip!
And meet Lucas, he’s going to be our full time dedicated suspension tech and he’s factory certified with fox, Rockshocks and Ohlins. He will be part time a few hours a month this summer while he relocates to Bellingham from Portland but will be here full time this fall. Looking forward to having some really good help. I’ve been very slow with hiring help as I’d rather be slow then brining the wrong person on. In my mind it’s all about, attitude, mindset and being able to enjoy being around who you are working with. I’m glad I’ve found the right mix.
I gave them a tour of the process, showed them all of the custom tooling I’ve made and discussed failure modes with them. I then gave them 5 random service reports from various motors I’ve rebuilt. Their head of motor engineering told me those were more detailed than anything they had internally. One of them mentors isn’t a bike repair shop it’s an engineering laboratory.
Next day I get this:
“
Grant san,
Thank you very much for your time today.
We are very impressed by your skills, product knowledge, and vision for the future.
Also, I would appreciate it if you could let me know if you discover any new issues with our products.”
A few days pass and the main guy sends me a copy of the site visit report he’s presenting at the head office in Japan and asked if I had any insights about motor design I could share. I then presented him with a 25 page report of what Ive learned from all of our motor rebuilds and the database I’ve kept of every one. Complete with failure analytics, graphs, charts correlations, and of course photos.
I then got the following response:
“Thank you, Grant san.
I'm completely wordless.
This is the first time I’ve come across an external party that has conducted such a thorough analysis and summary of our products.
Given my current position, I can’t offer any advice or opinions on the content of your report, but I’m simply amazed.
For now, I’ll suggest to our headquarters in Japan that a senior engineer from our team visit you once.
Kind regards”
Coming from a board level director I’ll take that as a very positive sign. I’m starting to get the impression that I changed their mind that motors are not repairable but that there is significant value to them in long term data of having a well equipped service center repair their and others motors.
Stian and I took off to bike on the east side for the weekend. 60+ miles in 3 days. I’m really enjoying how well the Avinox motor performs. It’s very natural feeling with its higher resolution sensors. Had zero issues toeing the kid too! In fact Stian went from saying sad go faster to dad this is too fast!
We had a great trip!
And meet Lucas, he’s going to be our full time dedicated suspension tech and he’s factory certified with fox, Rockshocks and Ohlins. He will be part time a few hours a month this summer while he relocates to Bellingham from Portland but will be here full time this fall. Looking forward to having some really good help. I’ve been very slow with hiring help as I’d rather be slow then brining the wrong person on. In my mind it’s all about, attitude, mindset and being able to enjoy being around who you are working with. I’m glad I’ve found the right mix.
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Congrats, that is awesome feedback and ultimately the attention from Shimano. I can speak from years of working for a Japanese company, its rare, but great to get that kind of feedback!
Sounds like you just solidified yourself as a key technical resource for them!
Sounds like you just solidified yourself as a key technical resource for them!
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
That is extremely cool to get what you have been working on to be noticed and so well received by a major OEM. Hope it creates more psoitive direction for your business to become a major national service center.
rattle_snake
Well-known member
Grant-san,
Very difficult to impress and receive positive feedback like that from a major Japanese company. They are all about the details.
At my work we get the other type of feedback.
Very difficult to impress and receive positive feedback like that from a major Japanese company. They are all about the details.
At my work we get the other type of feedback.
Nobody-named-Olli
Well-known member
Reads like you’ve been “knighted”, Grant! Very impressive!
Kind regards,
Olli
Kind regards,
Olli