Hi Steve,

I have followed all of your trips since the first, through the Palouse. I am so happy that Dodie was not seriously injured. My wife and I have a Bike Friday tandem we have ridden less and less since 2005. I have had several accidents on my Mt. Bike, and I have come to believe that the tandem is a bad idea as I enter my late seventies. If I have an accident on the tandem, my wife mightl be injured too. So reading about Dodie's accident motivated us to go to Eugene and order two NWT, with the Alfine 11sp hub and belt drive. We also added e-assist which will become more and more useful on the hills we readily ride near our home in Idaho.

The test ride in Eugene was a revelation. The system watches your cadence and keeps it the same as you pedal up a steep hill.

Thanks for your wonderful journals and pictures over the years.

Bill Bonte
Moscow, ID

Throttle is something we never want, because it smacks of a "motor bike". "Pedal assist" can be of two types: Cadence sensor and torque sensor. Cadence sensor just looks that you rotated the the pedals (even a little) and turns on the motor - also not good, too much like a throttle. So that only leaves torque sensor. That adds a percentage to whatever effort you are putting in.

To have torque sensor added to a Friday, it takes a torque sensing bottom bracket. A hole needs to be drilled to allow the wire from this to exit - scary. But then it can be connected to a front or rear hub motor and controller compatible with the ok for air travel batteries. Kits for this are available from Bike Friday or from Grin (ebikes.ca).

Its impressive they were able to fix Dodie's bike after the trashing it took.

Will the battery work with a throttle and pedal assist?

Thanks Marilyn. Stan Rogers was the greatest!

It is good that the Bike Friday will rise again. Thank you for the song. Uplifting music was just what my heart needed today.