Monday, March 24, 2014

Winter Weather



So this winter in Kansas City has been a pretty harsh one. I did manage to make it out and enjoy it just enough to know I needed to put winter tires on (required in Germany). I am currently at ~ 3600 miles and have some minor repair to keep it operating at peak performance. Major things to note after a harsh winter is to make sure to keep everything weather proofed so it doesn't rust to provide easy repairs and maintenance in the future.

I did make a trip over to visit Germany and get some basic maintenance tips and other things to keep TWIKES in the USA up and running. I plan on working with a few other TWIKE owners in the USA to get a better maintenance guide on their vehicles. One called me up with "hey, have you ever noticed this weird noise" and with my limited experience, I was able to walk him through the repair and how to make sure it didn't break anything else.

As I've found out recently, if you are interested in learning more about the twike, INFO at TWIKE dot COM is usually the best way to get info if you don't have TWIKE contacts to lean on and ask questions

I have finally taken a road trip on a beautiful spring day about 50 miles (~100 round trip) over to Lawrence, KS to  visit a friend. I was able to utilize the J1772 High voltage charging plug to fill up my batteries because I averaged about 50 mph heading over which mostly drained them.  My favorite part is the cars that will pass you on the highway and stop just so they can pass you again. 

As long as the road is in good condition, the drive is never really that bad. Lightweight vehicles do have obstacles to overcome, but it's not bad for a vehicle made in 2000. ( oh yeah, on my trip to Germany, I found out mine was delivered in  2000 over to North America)