The disaster
About two weeks ago, pursuing another minor rattle, I once more split the case on the BionX battery. At this point, let me tell you something important:
Don't do that!
It is not easy to reassemble the battery case. There is a circuit board that is connected by some quite stiff wires to the actual battery pack and other points. It is supported by two rather flimsy plastic posts. Getting everything lined up while sliding the two halves of the case together is tricky.
While I was struggling with that, somehow I let the bottom of the circuit board make contact with a piece of metal lying on the workbench. There was a FZPTT!! noise and a smell just like the smell that my old Lionel electric train used to make, such is the nostalgic power of odors. Examining the damage I noted that the circuit board had many surface-mount resistors on the back, one of which was now at the center of a half-inch brown stain.
And of course, when I did get it together and back on the bike, the system wouldn't boot up, but just showed an error code on the console.
OK, so Joe at Velolectric was nice as could be about all this, and said he'd do his best to get BionX to treat it at least partially as a warranty issue, although I really don't care, I figure I zorched it and if I get out of this paying no more than the dealer cost of a new battery pack, I'm good.
Bicycle Season Passes
So time has passed while emails, and the battery pack itself, have been tracking back and forth to Toronto, and now, for me, cycling season has expired. This is kind of a bummer because the last two weeks in the Bay Area have been about as ideal for cycling as you could imagine: daytime highs of 75, clear sky, light breeze. Perfect.
Nevertheless, this weekend we leave for three weeks with relatives on the great Puget Sound. When we get back around the 24th I should be able to retrieve the repaired bike and pay my penalty. But then it is time to pack and whoops, off to tour Germany for 6 weeks. (If you like the style, you can follow us through Germany at our travel blog.)
So this blog will be pretty quiet until mid-October. I'll be back to riding then and will be able to report once again (sigh) about regaining fitness after a long layoff.
