One Wheel Maintenance.

This is my steering wheel

If I do not have a good grip between my feet and the peddles, then I may not be able to avoid a car, a person, or a car.

Today I saw the sandpaper-like grip tape starting to curl up on the edges. Some wheels have peddles with spikes where this could never happen. But all my wheels have had grip tape, so I am used to it.

If you catch it right away, you can glue it back down before it rips or folds and breaks. I use crazy-glue (here it is called 'la gotita'). A bit of alcohol to clean the metal and the back of the grip-tape, then a drop of that super fast glue. Finished.

I have a thousand kilometers on this vehicle (621 miles). I use this one for short errands where I have to go inside a lot of shops and carry shopping bags. For these trip, I do not use a helmet - too much to juggle.

For medium trips or all day riding on the bike paths or in the forest preserve, I wear full gear. It is necessary when you will be riding on rough terrain or going fast on trails. Putting on safety wear and taking it back off again is no fun, but it is worth it when riding long distance or doing tricks.

For extra long trips, I just take the motorcycle. It is twice as fast as this one, but I must stay on the roads and cannot ride on the sidewalks to skirt some miles.

Several electric vehicles needing to be charged renders a fair size electric bill. Mine was 9,000 pesos in local currency, which is only $41.00 in USD. That was the highest electric bill I have ever paid here and it is still less than I ever paid when I lived in the U.S.

Life on the cheap!