Ouch

Last week I went to ride my bike to work. I pulled it out of the garage and as I twisted the throttle to head up our hill the front wheel left my bike. I was stunned. It broke the forks right off my bike. After a little bit of research I learned that you shouldn't use an electric front wheel with aluminum forks. They are too weak. You should only use steel forks. As it happens we've had an old steel bike hanging around for some time. You can tell it is steel from the rust. I switched the wheel and accessories over to the steel bike and today I made the maiden voyage. Everything functioned well going into work and back again until I was about half way home. I was cruising down Hillary street right in the middle of very heavy traffic in front of some middle school. As I was negotiating around the traffic jam I was quite surprised to find myself flying over the handle bars. I'm not sure how I managed it but I hit the pavement and rolled and as far as I could tell I was completely unscathed. My poor bike was another story. Batteries were scattered all over the road, I noticed some broken plastic reflector pieces, my fork and seat were all twisted around and my poor front tire (with the motor) was no longer with my bike. Traffic was stalled waiting for me to drag the wreckage to the side of the road and several people asked if I was alright. It was very embarrassing but it must have looked pretty cool. I assured everyone I was OK and waved them on. I think I could have reassembled the bike but I didn't have a wrench so I called Lisa. Unfortunately she was a good hour from getting me so Sarah called her friend Taylor Peterson (one of my former scouts) to come and get me. It was hours later before I realized that I have removed a small amount of skin from my left knee (the skin on my right knee is only now fully regrown) and my left wrist is starting to throb.

I'm wondering if this electric bike is going to be more trouble than it is worth.