Posts by BenWilson
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Islander, my gut feeling is that a cheap electric would let you down. An expensive one might be OK, though. There's a huge difference between something made out of thick steel carrying a brushed motor and lead acid batteries, and something made of some lightweight alloy, carrying a brushless hub motor and lithium based batteries. The difference is reflected in the cost.
So hard to advise, there are so many factors. Personally I'd find the danger factor on your country roads a little daunting. One perfectly good and much cheaper alternative is to get a pushbike carrier for your towbar, and then ride the bike around town. These can hold several bikes so you could get the dangerous difficult hills out of the way, then the whanau can jump on their bike and go about their business, catching up (or getting picked up), at the end of any trips to town. Saves gas, using it only for the more efficient long haul, and gives everyone the freedom they might require/desire when they get to town. Call it a hybrid solution.
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LOL. I tend to be amused by Murray's commentary in much the same way I would be if Homer Simpson did the commentary. He might even be flattered by the comparison.
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Oamaru is a pretty small town, so it might be OK, actually. Depends how far out in the sticks you are. Mine pushes me along, it just doesn't give the range that it would to a smaller person. Some of the scooters would do just fine, if you don't want to pedal. You're lucky to be down that way, most of the electric bikes and scooters for sale in NZ are in Christchurch.
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Steve, I think there's nothing absolutely wrong with continuing a discussion until doomsday. But there's also nothing wrong with pointing out it's going nowhere.
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Electric bikes (which can be pedalled I understand?)
There's many configurations. Some are basically a push bike with a bonus motor and battery (like mine). Others are basically a scooter (I have one of those too). Having owned the former kind for a few years, I think the idea is good, but now I'm actually pedal fit enough to just find it limiting, and have gone back to just a decent pushbike. The scooter kind was something I tried, but in Auckland they just don't have enough range, and they're a real bugger if you pull up short. What then? Push the damned thing home? Mine has pedals, but no gears, better than pushing, but still a real grind. Got caught a couple of times and decided that this was not a solution for a hilly town. But for a big flat city, or for urban dwellers, it could be perfect. But, OTOH, so could a pushbike. The electric appeals to old people and people who don't want to get all sweaty.
it shouldnt be too difficult to have a low but distinct chirrup emanating from 'silent' vehicles?
The silence factor is tricky - balancing silence danger and noise pollution. Pushbikes are dead silent. An electric with a brushed motor (the cheapest, most common kind) has a very distinctive sound when it's straining, but goes back to silent when it's coasting along at top speed. Brushless motors, however are very silent. They are also the most efficient, and can naturally take advantage of regenerative braking, so they are really the motors of the future. My scooter (also Chinese) has one, and it's freakishly silent. But it also has other safety features like a loud horn, a bright headlight, indicators (which also make an annoying beeping sound), mirrors, etc. It even has an alarm with a remote. Quite a cool device, not bad for $300, but I actually have no use for it. My size is a real problem, it's designed for people under 80kg really.
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Amusing concept. When will GM realize that the Chinese already use electric vehicles on a massive scale? My own electric bike is Chinese, and that kind of thing retails at about $500NZ, probably much less in China. Not to mention the standard safety bicycle, which is a great old idea, and very cheap, space efficient, emission free.
They aren't gonna go for it. Americans might, though.
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If I ever personify Wellington it is from the Mr Burns playbook. It means "Those bastards and bureaucrats down in the State capital".
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RichO, k, you're right on the time line. My perception is, I guess, that he had mentally defected well before he was sacked, which was why he was sacked. Too much speaking out about how lying about election promises was a really bad thing to do. Basically his finest hour.
Perhaps he was cynical about it all, knew what they were going to do and saw how he could make a big play. But I actually don't credit him with that much brilliance. Seems to me, he was actually just gutted. I don't think National runs such a tight ship that they can't have people within their party being gutted and saying so publicly. That was my point re: Kaye. And I think it's a good thing.
Islander, I guess I'm just not that cynical. I think people can change, politics can change, and yes, even National can change. A little bit, and slowly, but still...
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I'd rather have a government that didn't propose stupid initiatives in the first place.
Of course. My reason for not voting for them. I'm just saying that I feel that there's something different about a National that floats stupid balloons than one that just forges ahead with what's written on the balloons. It's far less scary, and a sign of the enormous impact the Clark years had on our political landscape.
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Any brownie points someone might win for being a "maverick" are immediately lost when Pappa Key gives his blessing
They are with me and you, but maybe not for people who aren't already inclined to distrust National. Then they only thing they can say against Kaye personally is "She didn't try hard enough" or "She didn't wield enough influence". Which could actually be a reason to push her higher into the inner Nat circles. I'm trying to see things from the other perspective here, sometimes it helps.
There is also the possibility that Kaye and Banks are actually quite genuine on this matter. Radical, crazy talk. But it happens. I distinctly remember hearing Winston Peters speak at University, singing the praises of all the things that National was going to do if/when they got in. I admired his nerve, he had to deal with an extremely hostile and vocal crowd yelling at him about what a fool he was, that his party had no history of doing anything he was saying, that he was a puppet, etc. Within a year he had defected from National. A fool and a puppet he may have been, but I think at some level he was genuinely dismayed by what his party turned out to be really planning to do.
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