My E-bike and repurposing a replacement wheel

 

A year or so ago I purchased a new E-bike made by Ancheer for around $700.  It is one of the most affordable and highly rated E-bikes on the market and mine came with a 250 W motor in the rear hub.  (Click here to buy one - as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)  After about 500 miles of pushing it really hard the motor failed on a steep hill.  I reached out to the manufacturer and they immediately offered to replace the motor.  Then came back a little later and said they didn't have motors available so they would send me an entire new wheel and tire.  Needless to say I was very impressed!

I certainly did not want to just put the old wheel in the trash so I took it to my local bike shop, and they said they could reuse almost all the parts except the burned-out motor and were happy to have it.

The replacement wheel came packed in a very sturdy cardboard box filled with chunks of white foam and also a dozen or so big bubble pack envelopes that they must have had around.  I took the bubble pack envelopes to my friend Tracy at Saltbox Pottery so she could use them for shipping her plates and she was grateful to have them.  Of course, the cardboard box was easy to cut up and put in the recycling bin.  I will also repurpose the white packing foam for shipping products.  I can cut that stuff to size with my bandsaw as needed.

This is all about living on a planet with finite resources and reusing and repurposing things as much as practical.

The reason I added large panniers to the bike is so that I can pick up trash and redeemable/recyclable cans and bottles that I find along the side of the road here in rural Maine.  Some days I fill both panniers!