Thanks guys, That makes me feel a bit better. I'm used to more grooved tires than the Avons. I'll stick with these for now and just continue being careful if it rains.
On a lighter note:
I rode to work today, got a handful of people to stop in lanes next to me at lights and give me the NOD. Pretty cool.
The commute is about 13 miles door to door, mostly highway. I left a little early so I could avoid some traffic. I went from ~95% to 75%, which roughly works out to be ~2kwh used... and at local rates of ~$0.10/kwh, cost me $0.25 including some fudge factor for charging inefficiency/variance in riding. I'll know better once I plug it in to charge (I've got a Kill-a-watt meter that the bike is plugged into).
For the same trip, in the morning, on slow or stop and go highway speeds, I'd average about 20mpg on the way to work in my Audi A4 Quattro, so for the same route, it'd cost ~$2.50 in gas.
That's HUGE. I wasn't even thinking about that kind of savings when I got the bike.... so yeah, awesome! So comparing 16 weeks of riding as an example:
Empulse R:
16 weeks * 5 days * $0.50/day RT = $40
Audi A4 Quattro:
same 16 weeks * 5 days * $5/day RT = $400
That's 10 times cheaper, and since it's mostly Water and Wind power in Oregon, it's a lot better on the environment.
And yes, I plan on charting my Kill-A-Watt meter versus miles ridden.
