Ease of use and a thrill to ride, especially when you have a heart probem

by Ken
(Bury St Edmunds Suffolk UK)

I have been a cyclist all my life and have several good road bikes. However on 8th August last year as I cyclist swiftly homeward a sudden slight pain in my chest meant I covered the last 2 miles carefully.

To cut the story short next day my doctor got me started on a treatment plan and told me I could no longer cycle. This was the worst moment of my life. Browsing the internet after seeing someone on an electric bike I finished up buying a Cyclematic Powerplus E bike and my cycling life started again.

It is truly a wonderful feeling to still be able to pedal and cover the ground at up to 17-20 miles an hour with the minimum of effort. Not strictly allowable according to the dctor but I am determined to keep going.

I bought the Cyclematic Power Plus on 25 August 2011 and received it within 2 days. Easy to put together and easy to ride. So far I have covered 700 miles with a regular 8.5 miles weekly 5 day commute plus some rides out at weekends. It has worked well with never a problem even in very wet and windy weather.

Only one puncture so far but this was in the back wheel and there my problem happened. I could not figure out how to take out the back wheel as I did not want to damage anything.

Sports HQ, the supplier, said just unplug the electric cable which feeds into the back axel and the wheel would come out. NOT so simple! You can certainly remove the black plug cover but are then faced with wires feeding into the hollowed out axel. Sports HQ said you can disconnect the cable at a point where it is fastened to the chain stay.

However, I could see that even then something would need to be done to disconnect the rear drum brake and it is not clear how to do this. I was able to mend the puncture as there is plenty of room to take the tyre off the wheel and extract the tube. I could also find the thorn which had punctured the tyre and seal the hole.

My question now is does anyone know how to safely take off the wheel as I would like to change the tyre to one with a Kevlar puncture repellent strip. Believe me it would be no fun trying to mend a puncture at the side of the road on a dark and wet night. I much prefer to just put a new tube in and mend the puncture later.

Comments and help please.