DoYaSeeMe

No wireless charging, to transfer some juice from the smartphone to get back home? Bike racks / stands that recharge the bike? Bike frames and helmets with solar panels?

@Patrick9-32: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWnjC99PvZg&vl=en https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06f9zAIT6Ig

I also used Solarstorm x2 for a few years, but, although they light up the night really well, I had a few problems with them. A couple of times they turned off without warning, it's really scary to go pitch black at 30-40 km/h in a forest. Battery life indication is a joke, one of the lights i had kept going from 3 leds to one in a matter of minutes, another one turned off immediately after displaying 2/3 leds. One pack of batteries died after just a couple of months, one of the chargers didn't work from the start. The wires are pretty bad quality, they break easily. All my Solarstorm kept heating up a lot during 3-4 hour nighrides. Another thing, they may be strong, but the spread, spill, intensity, light color are not ideal. I switched to Ferei and then Lezyne and got significant more quality and reliability for just a few extra $$.

I'm using 2 Lezyne Power drive 900xl for night riding. This combination is very flexible, I can obtain a larger cone of light by rotating them outwards a little, or place one to project the light further away, (useful on higher speed). When climbing, I turn one off, when in the city, I turn one on strobe. I can go from 1.5 hours with around 1400-1500 lumens (both combined, on max power) to around 4-5 hours (in power saving mode). Since they're small, they don't have problems with their mounts, they're easy to carry, even inside pockets (145 grams each). No hassle with external batteries, connectors, cable rattling, they're waterproof. I got them new, on offer, for the equivalent of 75-80$ shipped. Only issue is that the batteries can't be replaced, otherwise they're the winning setup. I'd like to see some light combos in reviews as well. It doesn't have to be only 1 vs 1, the most powerful, the most expensive or the cheapest, etc..

@rxdog1: Anyway, the seals are not 100% rubber. My question is how badly they're affected by the cold (a few hours of -10 degrees celsius and snow). Will this shorten the life of the seals considerably? Will they allow more dirt in or increase friction by getting tighter?

@rxdog1: From what I've read, the polymer chains of rubber shorten on heat and relax in cold, an exception to the rule we are used to.

How does the cold (below freezing temperatures) affect the seals and wipers? Rubber tends to get softer, will this increase the amount of dirt and water getting through? Does snow riding affect service intervals?

E-bike, Moped, etc. are just labels. Motorcycles are not forbidden on certain places because they are called motorcycles, but because they pollute and pose a certain danger due to their weight, maneuverability, fuel used, etc.. This new breed of vehicle has the all the characteristics of a bicycle with the added ability of giving you extra power, should its rider choose to. No one is forced to buy it, no one is forced to keep that electric motor running at full power. Why all the hate? Well, I don't think this hate is about e-bikes. We are territorial animals, once we ride a certain trail, it becomes "our" riding spot and anyone who's not from our "pack" or an invited guest becomes an intruder. Animal packs usually adopt only their own kind, so, by comparison, for a mountain biker, everyone else would be intruders on his " own riding spot", be it an e-biker, hiker, ATV, car, or even another slower or faster mountain biker. In addition, an e-biker looks like either a degenerated animal or one that mimics the kind of the pack in order to cheat the adoption ritual (sweating the climbs to earn the trails). We need 2 things: to evolve beyond our animal instincts and to understand that the places we ride are not only "ours". If we do this, we'll be able to evolve further, to dump the posessiveness and share, to develop proper rules of etiquette and ride - hike - bike - motor - whatever happily ever after.

@DrChaos: I'm thinking of something that could replace the standard bottom bracket and crank spindle, to allow for normal and even direct mount chainrings and the usual crankarms. On the other hand, I'd like to see the Hammerschmidt getting a revamp as well.

I'm still looking for a 2x-3x gearbox that would fit in the BB space. With that, the cassette could be made with smaller jumps between cogs, or reduced to 4-6 cogs to cut weight on the rear wheel and improve the chain line. Why isn't anyone trying this?