A Tale of Two Vans

in #art3 years ago (edited)

Immersive Van Gogh

A friend had to rearrange his travel plans recently and we were the lucky recipients of a great surprise, two tickets to the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Minneapolis.

This is a traveling exhibit and after its stint here in Minneapolis it’s headed to Chicago. All in all it was an interesting experience. As you can see from the video above, the exhibit wrapped you in the vibrancy of Van Gogh’s work. A lot of work went into this multimedia exhibit.

That said, my wife and I both agreed that we didn’t think it was quite worth the price of admission if we were to have paid for the tickets, unless you happen to be a hardcore fan of the artist. Premium tickets were $55 each and included a small cushion so you could sit on the floor through the approximately thirty minute multimedia presentation.

Poof! The VanMoof Honeymoon Phase Is Over

I was in the midst of taking my second ride on the VanMoof S3 after installing the spanking new Schwalbe Marathon ePlus tires (which I love by the way) and the bike’s display began flashing 16 Err.

This dreaded error happens to be a total battery failure which left me stranded two miles from home. Even if the battery goes to zero while riding the VanMoof S3 the computer is supposed to partition enough battery to power the e-shifter but with the 16 Err that’s apparently not the case. The bike was stuck in the highest gear, which made it even harder to pedal. Needless to say, I closed my cardio ring for the day.

It’s a bummer, I have to admit. 700 miles into my ownership experience the bike has to be sent back for repair and I’ll likely be without it for most of the remainder of the riding season. Since we don’t have a VanMoof service center in the Twin Cities I have to partially dismantle the bike, stuff it into a box, and drop it off at a UPS store.

To their credit, VanMoof customer support has been very responsive so far. They’re sending me the box and hopefully the packing material as well.

When I bought this bike I knew from research that I had done that this would be an “early-adopter” experience and there might be bumps in the road. This situation is less than ideal for a product that costs over $2k but I still have faith in the brand.

The S3 has been brilliant 99% of the time and if VanMoof can solve these QC issues they will meet their goal of transforming transportation in major cities and also vastly improve people’s health as well.

The ebike industry is still very young and quality control is spotty across all brands due to the immense demand for ebikes during the Covid pandemic. The industry is struggling from supply chain issues as well. Around 5% of bikes shipped across all brands are defective in some way. This is something to keep in mind if you’re in the market for an ebike in the near future. Purchase a bike with a decent warranty and from a brand with a good reputation when it comes to support.

The VanMoof saga continues. I'm realizing this relationship is going to take some work and I'm willing to do it if they can learn from their mistakes. I’ll be sure to keep you all up to speed with how it all plays out.

Old Faithful

Thankfully, old faithful, my 62 year old Raleigh is still working flawlessly.

A few days ago I decided to pedal my blues away and took the old girl out on a twenty mile ride with our condo’s bike club. Two sweaty hours and seven hundred burned calories later we made it back without incident.

This speaks to the level of craftsmanship of past generations. Our grandparents sure did know how to build things.

Random Photos

Our “honey dealer” at the St. Paul Farmers Market.

The usually raging Minnehaha Falls, dried up to a trickle due to the recent drought.

Amstel (aka “The King of Cathedral Hill”) relaxing and begging on a picnic.

All for now.

With Gratitude,

Eric Vance Walton

(All images are original.)



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Let’s Keep In Touch

www.ericvancewalton.net

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The draught has been horrible lately. I don't think my grass knows what it wants to do half the time. It would be nice if we could get a few days of showers. Maybe not right in a row, but twice in a week would be good. At least something to cut the heat and humidity. We were camping this past weekend and it was almost miserable. That sucks about your bike. It sounds like it might have not been to bad if there was a way to manually shift it. They should think about adding some kind of override in the future.

Sorry to hear that camping was so uncomfortable! The lack of rain has really put a damper on the summer, strangely, because in a normal year you hope for sunny/dry weather. I'm headed up north to a cabin for a guys weekend in a few days and there's a fire ban so that means no campfires.

It would be great to have some redundancy/mechanical overrides built into the bike. My main disappointment in this entire situation is just that. The PowerBank gives you a range of over 100 miles. What happens if you're riding solo 60 miles away from help? As best I've been able to determine the 16 Err, isn't actually a total battery failure but a blown battery fuse. There are a slew of these being reported on social media.

I've suggested to VanMoof that they consider making the battery fuse user serviceable in the future. Most vehicles have a fuse box that is easily accessible so why not put one on a bike? It would save them money and the customer the headache of packing up the bike and shipping it for service. The company is actually pretty good at listening to customer feedback so hopefully we'll see that change on a future model.

I really hope they take that to heart. That sucks about the fire ban. We have come close to not being able to have a fire a couple of times in the past. I hope you have a great weekend despite that!

Thanks, I'm sure we will! It's pretty amazing up there on lake superior.

Oh yeah! One of my favorite places!

Everything is relative. Great photos, especially the bee grandfather :). Very funny. Thanks.

I went to the Van Gogh exhibit in Ottawa on Saturday. I found it quite enjoyable. (I think our tickets were around $20). I liked the subtle artistic license that the presenters took. Small winks here, leaves flying there, a flicker of a smile. It was entertaining for an hour, but it definitely wouldn't be something I'd go to twice.

I really think they could hit a much broader audience by releasing it on some form of VR form of Netflix. If I could strap on a VR headset (with audio), sit back, relax, and possibly take some form of mild hallucinogen, with all the time in the world ... I think I would enjoy it much more.

I'm glad to see the Raleigh is back on the road. It deserves a little more time in the sun. :-)

All the best.

It would be well worth $20, we find when we travel that most things are more expensive here than in other cities. I agree about the cool subtleties. It was tastefully done. The VR idea is a great one! Some day that will be a thing, probably sooner rather than later with all of the development going on now. Oh that Raleigh holds a special place in my heart. It was a wreck when I bought it in 2012 and it took two years and lots of parts from England to get to this point. I hope to keep it for many more years! All the best to you as well. Thanks for the comment!

Hello dear friend @ericvancewalton good afternoon
In good time, have received the tickets for the exhibition.

I'm sorry that I had to walk again accompanying your bike, I hope you don't miss the whole season without it.

I take this opportunity to wish you a splendid afternoon

Thank you! I hope you're day was a great one my friend!

I really like Van Gogh, but that is very pricy, I certainly would not pay that price, although it would be nice to feel immersed in his art.
I would love to get an ebike, but unless I get one each for my 3 girls it just wouldn't work, need to save up for that (that would take a long time).
Love your honey dealers hat xxxx

Yes, ebikes aren't cheap! Even entry level ones are just under $1k. You can buy kits to convert current bikes but they usually don't work quite as well. The honey guy is a trip! He gets so excited when we bring back our empty canning jars. He's been there for decades.

Did you have to push it those two miles?

I let others be the early adopters. My frustration tolerance is too low to get over such bumps in the road. Or rather, I do whatever I can to minimize stress. Thank you for being different from me.

Love the old faithful.

No, I rode it. It was hard to pedal from a standstill but easier when I gained some speed.

I kind of enjoy being the first to jump into something like that. It can be frustrating AH at times but I always end up learning more than I otherwise would have.

Thanks, that old bike rides like a dream. : )

I had a bike from 90s with the contra brake system, I don' t know if you ever seen. I think old bikes were much more durable, comparing to the modern bikes.

Yes, many of my first bikes I had as a child had those kinds of brakes. We used to pedal backwards and skid, laying patches of rubber.

I loved moving art @ericvancewalton. An exhibition out of the ordinary.

Yes, it was something out of the ordinary to do. It felt great to be out amongst people and not watching Netflix. 😊


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