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I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

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Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#11

Post by jasonkester »

If you're not familiar with this channel, do yourself a favor and watch your way through his backyard trail build videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAsuk8OndHs&list=PL5S7V5NhM8...

They're so well done. Sadly, he doesn't do them anymore because Youtube's algorithm doesn't make it worth his while. Evidently, he gets the same traffic & revenue from a 10 minute video reviewing "stupid bike gadgets" into the camera as he does for spending a month building a cool bike jump and editing together one of those amazing videos on the playlist.

If youtube rewarded evergreen stuff like that instead of cheap "reaction" videos, it'd be a much cooler place.

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#12

Post by freetime2 »

jasonkester wrote: post #11

If you're not familiar with this channel, do yourself a favor and watch your way through his backyard trail build videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAsuk8OndHs&list=PL5S7V5NhM8... They're so well done. Sadly, he doesn't do them anymore because Youtube's algorithm doesn't make it worth his while. Evidently, he gets the same traffic & revenue from a 10 minute video reviewing "stupid bike gadgets" into the camera…

Is it the YouTube algorithm's fault? Or viewer preferences? I think YouTube would be happy to recommend the videos to more people if more people watched them.

I watch photography videos on YouTube, and camera review channels consistently have far more subscribers than channels who make content about taking photos. (Or at least they did in the past - in recent years camera tech has really matured and interesting releases are much less frequent, and reviewers seem to have taken a hit).

I think people just like gear. Should YouTube not show people what they like to see?

I've watched some Berm Peak videos in the past and I mostly know the channel for its videos about builds/repairs, or his video about the history of valves. The mountain biking videos are good too, but only hold my interest for so long. If I want to see mountain biking I'm more likely to look at some of the stuff Red Bull is putting out.

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#13

Post by Gigachad »

jasonkester wrote: post #11

If you're not familiar with this channel, do yourself a favor and watch your way through his backyard trail build videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAsuk8OndHs&list=PL5S7V5NhM8... They're so well done. Sadly, he doesn't do them anymore because Youtube's algorithm doesn't make it worth his while. Evidently, he gets the same traffic & revenue from a 10 minute video reviewing "stupid bike gadgets" into the camera…

Youtube seems to regularly suggest old videos to me so I think it's less a problem with evergreen content and more that youtube pays for minutes watched so someone who does cheap reaction content can produce more minutes to watch than someone who spends a long time on one video.

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#14

Post by Forgeties79 »

_def wrote: post #3
himata4113 wrote: post #2

A bit of a tangent, but I hate the way this channel uses AI. There's moments where the creator doesn't really know what they're talking about so they ask AI which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, I don't mind it! However, the way it's repeated verbatim mimicing the speech style of the creator is so offputting I don't really know how to describe it, sounds like someone trying to speak a language they don't know…

Maybe the trick is to own it - are AI vtubers already a thing?

I can’t imagine having such a functional view of “consuming content” in my life that I’d ever want to watch that.

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#16

Post by nrabulinski »

I hate how he’s doing the kind of project a ton of people would like to help with, for free and on their own time, yet he’s making an LLM do all the interesting work. He can’t code so he vibecodes the whole frontend. He can’t reverse engineer so he leaves Claude with the uart connection. He doesn’t understand something so he makes an LLM explain it.

With his platform he could easily find a person (or a couple) who could do this work themselves, not only saving him money, but nerdsniping someone into hacking a bike. A win-win for everybody.

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#17

Post by utopiah »

I don't have that model but I can very confidently say :

- do NOT buy an e-bike with custom parts, no matter how "cool" it is!

I bought a CowBoy years ago and honestly, it was great. Until it wasn't. Inexorably, it does not matter how good the parts are, how well designed it is, wear and tear WILL create problems. You WILL need to replace parts. If nobody but the company making the bike sell them you will get in trouble. It's the same with the App, if it's not open source relying on standard AND with existing, not upcoming, GadgetBrige support they will stop supporting your bike and brick it.

Please, pretty please, as consumers who expect to keep on maintaining your bike over years, ASK your repair shop what THEY think is a good bike to fix. Not what is a good bike to ride.

PS: I now ride a Fixie because screw CowBoy and all those e-bike startups who believe they are the new Apple. They aren't and I was the one paying for their delusion.

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#18

Post by bdamm »

Nevermark wrote: post #15

I have a red one and a blue one. In storage at the moment. I guess I won't be riding them anytime soon. But I am glad to know there is a way to resurrect/improve them!

If anything this video is kicking off a storm of amateur hacking enthusiasm for these wild bikes. Do us all a favor and sell yours!

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#19

Post by DANmode »

utopiah wrote: post #17

I don't have that model but I can very confidently say : - do NOT buy an e-bike with custom parts, no matter how "cool" it is! I bought a CowBoy years ago and honestly, it was great. Until it wasn't. Inexorably, it does not matter how good the parts are, how well designed it is, wear and tear WILL create problems. You WILL need to replace parts. If nobody but the company making the bike sell them you will get in trou…

> I now ride a Fixie

With a conversion kit? ^_^

Re: I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]

#20

Post by mulmen »

freetime2 wrote: post #12
jasonkester wrote: post #11

If you're not familiar with this channel, do yourself a favor and watch your way through his backyard trail build videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAsuk8OndHs&list=PL5S7V5NhM8... They're so well done. Sadly, he doesn't do them anymore because Youtube's algorithm doesn't make it worth his while. Evidently, he gets the same traffic & revenue from a 10 minute video reviewing "stupid bike gadgets" into the camera…

Is it the YouTube algorithm's fault? Or viewer preferences? I think YouTube would be happy to recommend the videos to more people if more people watched them. I watch photography videos on YouTube, and camera review channels consistently have far more subscribers than channels who make content about taking photos. (Or at least they did in the past - in recent years camera tech has really matured and interesting relea…

> Is it the YouTube algorithm's fault? Or viewer preferences?

I didn’t read the rest of your comment but it’s the fault of the algorithm because that tail wags the dog. It’s physically impossible to watch all videos so we are all at the mercy of the (a) algorithm.

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