Repeating our warning to check your Down Low Glow system for signs of insulation breakdown and bare copper.
The battery output wire on the Down Low Glow has a certain amount of insulation. But with repeated flexing that insulation can break down.
Please look at the battery in the picture and compare it to yours. The black insulation has kinked and separated where it exits the pack, and you can see the white and red insulation of the inner two wires underneath. This is a result of repeated flexing of the wire. It is worse in cold places where the insulation can be brittle.
Our goal with this announcement is to keep you riding safely with the Down Low Glow, and to prevent needless short circuits. In our experience, most of these short circuits happen because the type of wiring damage shown above has escalated to the point where the white and red wire jackets have also crumbled, and bare copper is visible. If a customer continues using the battery at this point, the output wire may twist, bringing the two coppers into contact with eachother. When copper touches copper, a short can start at any time, but it still may take days or weeks of use before it happens, if it happens.
Short circuits are scary and can create lots of foul smoke and possibly a few seconds of a small open flame. They can melt surrounding plastic objects like nylon backpacks. You certainly wouldn’t want to hold one in your hand. But in our experience they are unlikely to start a fire. We shorted five batteries outside our workshop underneath a newspaper, and none of them ignited the newsprint. The sputtering, smoky part lasted about 2-3 minutes on average before the pack had dispensed most of its energy.
About a year ago we tried to recall batteries from a specific, problematic production period in 2008. But since this type of failure invoves wiring, and all Down Low Glows sold to date have wiring, we are asking that you simply check out your system to see if it has this type of wear.
We want to replace batteries that show this type of wear. If you have one that’s showing signs of wear, please either follow the DIY steps to prevent further wear on your battery, or send it back to us for replacement or service.
We worked with our battery manufacturer on this issue and are now selling batteries with a thermal fuse that prevents short circuits. We’ve also beefed up the strain relief on the wire leaving the pack. Down Low Glow systems sold today are much less likely to fail in this manner.
We have a reputation for excellent customer service and for being generous with warranty periods. If there’s something bugging you about your Down Low Glow system, or anything else you bought from Rock The Bike, please let us know.
Are all Down Low Glow systems destined to fail in this manner eventually? No!
New units have better tapering strain relief.
All DLG systems can last if you follow these Dos and Don’ts:
Don’ts:
Yank the wires when disconnecting the battery from the charger or from the light tube(s). Yanking puts unneeded strain on the wiring.
Don’t carry or swing your Down Low Glow battery by the output wire:
Dos:
Do hold your battery pack by the pack itself:
Use two hands to pull the main power connector apart. Same for removing the battery from the charger:
DIY repair:
1. Pinch output wire as shown to prepare for taping step.
2. Wrap tape over one side of the loop.
3. Wrap tape over the other side of the loop. The tape prevents yanks and tugs from creating strain on the wire where it exits the battery pack.
The mod shortens the battery’s output wire a bit.
Pastana Surfs Valencia as Rock The Bike crew roll from Bike Expo to nighttime gig at Baobab.
Of the three in our crew that can surf Mundos only Adam Pastana has the sense of foundation that allows him to dance while surfing. We were on our way from the SF Bike Expo to power the Genie and yours truly at Baobab Village last night.
My parents have told me to take this off our homepage and focus on selling the Down Low Glow.
I think it’s rolling street theater and an absolutely stunning breakthrough in rocking the bike (lowercase). It’s inspiring to me, so I hope that, despite the obvious safety considerations, it’s inspiring on some level, to you too.
Besides that, this brief video shows three of our most important products in action: firstly the Mundo, which we already knew was stiff as a tree trunk and danceably strong, is apparently a great handling surfing bike too. A bike this rigid and predictable is going to be reassuringly stable when you carrying a passenger or a serious load.
Adam’s not only surfing the Mundo, he’s also carrying 30 pounds on one side of the bike in a GoGetter bag while towing a 75 pound Electric Fender Blender Pro from one event to another. Two other bikers pass on the right, with the Down Low Glow providing excellent Side Visibility; one is towing a racing bike on a Mundo.
So you see, it’s not just a video, it’s how we put our gear to the test, week in, week out. If you want to buy your bike products from some place where they all drive to work and click the mouse all day, go right ahead. But if you’re looking for people who ride, who push the envelope, who break and fix things, people you can trust with gear recommendations, you’ve found the right place.
Welcome to Rock The Bike.
Read MoreSurfin’ Mundos with the Rock The Bike Crew in SF
Adam Aufdencamp spreads his wings on his first Mundo surf.
Below: Video of a Sunday Night Mundo surf with Pastana and Masha. Footage: Aufdencamp.
TreeHugger post confirms that at least 70 percent of accidents between bikes and cars are related to Side Visibility
A TreeHugger post confirms the importance of Side Visibility for cyclists, stating that 60% of accidents between bikes are cars are due to broadside impact alone (and broadside is only one of several accident types that can be considered “Side Visibility” types). This is consistent with what we’ve been saying about Side Visibility all along. Every rider has to make their own decision about safety — whether to wear a helmet and what type of lighting to use. But this evidence definitely supports the Side Visibility.
In fact, what they call a “broadside is far more common. They are defined as ” any crash when a bicyclist hits or is hit by a car on a perpendicular road.” Yokota at Cyclelicious clarifies it as “That’s when a motorist goes straight through an intersection even when there’s a bike right in front of him” 60.5% of the accidents were caused that way, compared to only 13% by the right hook.
I enjoyed seeing their black and white drawings of intersections, similar to the ones I made in SketchUp 4 years ago to show the Side Visibility benefit of the Down Low Glow :
Check out an excerpt from a recent Down Low Glow testimonial on the topic of Side Visibility:
I have had many situations where a car has come to an intersection where they had a stop sign and I did not, at least half a block ahead of me, with no other traffic on the road to prevent the car from pulling out, and they waited for me to pass. This situation has happened many times since installing the Down Low Glow.
Read MoreThanks Fair Oaks St. and the Yes Men! for too much fun in San Francisco Halloween weekend.
Late night Haunted Hay Ride on the Biker Bar, cruising down 18th from the Castro to the District, with five European tourists along for the ride.
Rockin’ Halloween colors on our way to Fair Oaks St. with a Masked Masha rolling a Mundo with the Down Low Glow. At sunset, yeow!
Whoah. Amazing weekend. So much gratitude to the crew, the people of Fair Oaks St., and the Yes Men!
Kai and Pastana showed up Saturday afternoon to help mod the Biker Bar into a Haunted Hay Ride.
Tara had texted me earlier to “try 6th and Bryant as a source for $15 hay bales.” Then on the way there I realized she was sending me to the wholesale flower market. Thanks for the tip, T! I pulled in and immediately saw a bale in a stall. One cam strap on the Mundo. Back to the house.
We reduced the hay to useful cushion sizes and cam strapped Kai’s birdcage to the Biker Bar.
Kai bringing Pooh into the mix.
Do you wanna go on a Haunted Hay Ride? Yes I wanna go on a Haunted Hay Ride? Do you wanna go on a Haunted Hay Ride? Yes I wanna go on a Haunted Hay Ride? When you wanna to go on a Haunted Hay Ride? Hmm, I dunno, how about now?
We kept the dancing going for the big kids for another couple hours.
Sunday Afternoon. Do it again.
Heading to the San Francisco debut of the Yes Men’s touching and hilarious “The Yes Men Fix The World”
Adam practicing one of the building block skills for no-hands surfing.
The lucky recipients of three $4 million Survivaballs.
Escorting the Survivaballs from the Roxie to the closest Chevron.
The Yes Men used the march as an opportunity to tout the
benefits of the Survivaball. Rock The Bike supplied the mobile P/A and
later the Pedal Powered Stage for the rally.
We turned up the dance music, including an exhuberant “I Will Survive.”
After the Chevron protest, we kept the afterparty going.
The Mundo 1000 has been holding it down as our most efficient pedal power bike.
If you’ve read this far and you’re local, you’ll probably want to join our SF Cruisers email list, and come out Monday night to Dia De Los Muertos with the Rock The Bike crew.
Read More