MTB / ROAD Bike Hybrid

HYBRID COMMUTER BIKE
(Last Update: 13 APR 2017)

I purchased an E-bike exactly 2 years ago today (April 10, 2015) with the hopes of:

1. BEATING HEAVY TRAFFIC

The distance of my work from my home is roughly 8km (one way) but it usually takes me almost 1.5 hours by car to get home.

2. SAVE ON GAS & PARKING FEES

I used to have a 1.8L Toyota Revo SR with a budget of Php 200 per day going and coming to and from work. Multiplied by roughly 22 working days in a month = Php 4,400 on gas. Parking fee ususally costs me Php 50-55 per day (assuming Php 50) x 22 working days = Php 1,100. Adding up gas consumption for the month and parking fee will cost me about Php 5,500 just for my daily commute to work. *Geez :(

3. LEAVE FOR WORK JUST ON TIME & GET HOME EARLY

If I use the car, I will have to squeeze in 1 hour allowance for travel time going to work. My shift starts at 8:30AM so that means I should be on the road by 7:30AM which equates to me getting up at around 6:30AM. Getting home is worse. I get off by 5:30PM and it usually takes me 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get home. The Ebike brings and gets me back in 30mins tops. So I can sleep more in the mornings and get home early in the afternoon.

The price of the Ebike that I bought is like buying a new smartphone at Php 35,000.00 that I paid in the course of 8 months (supposed to be 6 months but I got delayed twice) Hence, I paid for at around Php 38,500.00 together with interest.

Everything was smooth sailing from then on. Then last January, we received news that our Land Transportation Office is now demanding that Ebikes should be registered. They started impounding unegistered Ebikes in different cities (Makati, San Juan, etc.) for a hefty sum of Php 10,000.00 to get it back. With the fear of that happening to me, I decided to purchase a bike. Luckily, my officemate was selling his 2nd hand bike for a low price of Php 700. I immediately grab the opportunity.

It used to look like this...

With a bit of upgrades, it transformed to this...

And then this...

Finally, added decals to look like this...

I think the most valuable upgrade that I made is changing the tires. It did not only considerably felt lighter but also made this commuter bike faster!

To be continued...