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Entries by Michael Kaye (965)

Tuesday
Mar082022

First eMTB Ride With Bafang Ultra Upgrade

My first test ride out with my FREY eMTB and the newly installed Bafang Ultra 1500 watt motor.

Surprisingly I was actually able to get my eBike into my 2001 New Beetle, I just needed to take the front wheel off, no big deal. Once I got to the trials near Surrey Athletic Park I met up with my buddy Steve-O who also just got a new eBike. (Luna x1 ludicrous).

The goal for today was to have some fun riding and make sure everything with our bikes was working well, and also not get too banged up ;)

For the most part I have to say I was really happy with how my FREY eBike performed, I have do a rear brake issue as I need to bleed it again as it was a little spongy and my highest gear was skipping just a little, but other than that my FREY eMTB with the new Bafang Ultra Motor was a pleasure to ride.

Tuesday
Mar012022

This Didn't Go As Planned - Bafang Ultra eBike Motor Upgrade

This video is more or less is a journal of me upgrading my FREY eBike motor from the stock M500 which is a 250 watt, 95 Newton Meters of torque to the Bafang Ultra (M620) 1000 watt, 1260 Newton Meters of torque.

I was hoping it would have been much simpler than it was but in the end this upgrade started out late January and just finished recently so almost two months of not being able to ride my FREY eBike for a variety of reasons.

Reason number one was the motor mounts on my FREY eBike where not compatible with the new motor so I had to weld in an adaptor plate which I thankfully ordered just in case, welding the plate in was an additional cost of $500 over and above the Bafang Ultra Motor Kit price of around $1000.

My next hurtle was all on me and if this had not have happened, this project would have only taken about a week or two to complete. When I was installing the motor I was not careful enough with my cable placement and when I place the last motor piece on the eBike which is a plastic cover, I accidentally put a screw through the main wire harness cable that at first did not short but once I put load through it the cable shorted which in turn shorted the main controller to the motor requiring me to buy  anew controller at a cost of around $200.

My next realization was that when you replace a controller on the Bafang Ultra motor, you will then in most cases have to calibrate the controller to the motor which via my online investigation required something called Bafang BESST Programming tool. Unfortunately this did not work and just recently I found out from Bafang that the only way to calibrate my specific motor is to use one o their LCD screens called the C961 which can be programmed at their factory to calibrate my specific Bafang Ultra motor. They are at this time sending me the preprogrammed screen in hopes that I can get my motor calibrated and working

As I was growing impatient and at the time I felt like I was not going to be able to calibrate my motor, I ordered a second motor, yes this is now a very expensive project but hopefully I can get my non working motor working again and either sell it or have a backup motor if my motor ever fails.

Anyway this video is a mix of clips while all of this is happening, I can say I learned a lot about my motor and maybe if you are in a similar situation this video will help you and save some time and money.

 

Tuesday
Feb222022

I'm Still Alive the Rona Did Not Get Me

It's been over a month since I posted or made a video and there have been reasons for this, sometimes life gets a bit hard and you need a bit of down time to sort things out and deal with the challenges life puts us through.

I wouldn't say I have been "depressed" but I have been in a bit of a slump and not really all that motivated for a number of reasons. If it was just one thing I am sure I would be in a much better state but there have been a variety of things hitting all at once compounding things.

I feel like I am hopefully climbing out of this funk I am in, I guess things could get worse but I am optimistic they will not. I have a lot going for me at the end of the day and need to focus on those things.

In this video I go over some of the challenges I have been dealing with over the last couple of months, hopefully I don't sound to much like a little whiny bitch ;)

Saturday
Jan152022

I Got The Rona

After about 4 years or so of not getting sick at all, I was almost starting to think I was impervious to viruses and colds and flues and then it finally happened… I got the Rona.

Now I am not 100% sure if it is the Rona since I have not been tested yet but all signs indicate it’s probably Omicron. I have ordered some antibody tests that I expect to come in shortly, I will be checking my blood for Covid-19 Antibodies once I know my body has had enough time to make them after getting sick this time.

In this video I talk about my symptoms and how I felt start to finish getting the Rona. I can say at least for me it was not big deal, the soar throat was probably the worst of it for me.

Tuesday
Jan112022

How to Get on TRT in Canada if Your Testosterone is Too High

This information is not medical advice and is only for entertainment purposes. Do not listen to me, always take your doctors advice and put your health first.

The reason I am making this video is because here in Canada we have very rigid qualifications within our health care system that determines whether a person qualifies for TRT. You will need to see you doctor, get blood work done and only if your bloodwork results indicate that you are below what is considered a normal Testosterone threshold, then you can go on TRT that may be covered by Canada Medical and monitored by your doctor.

In the US they have a much more flexible system as there are lot of TRT Clinics that work in a similar manor with doctors to assess your Testosterone levels but they don’t just look at Testosterone levels, they also consider symptoms and put everything in perspective in relation to if a TRT protocol would benefit someone or not.

The benefit to Canada’s system is that if you qualify for TRT, your TRT protocol will be generally covered by Canada Medical. The benefit to the US system is that you are much more likely to be able to find a clinic willing to put you on TRT but at a cost to you. At the end of the video I will recommend  a TRT Clinic in the US that I endorse.

Can a person in Canada pay for their own Testosterone and have their doctor provide them with medical bloodwork and advice regarding levels and dosages? Yes this is possible but you would be required to find your own source of Testosterone. In Canada Steroids are not illegal to buy, own and use but they are illegal to sell outside of a regulated pharmacy without a prescription. That said there are what I can only describe as underground online pharmacies where you can get steroid but quality will be hit and miss, so you will need to do your own research when acquiring such medication not from a licensed pharmacy. Typically a bottle of Testosterone is around $100 Canadian and will give you anywhere from 10 to as much as 40 injections depending on how much you are taking and how potent the Testosterone is. So basically cheaper than protein at the end of the day…

How does this effect what your doctor can do in terms of giving advice about a TRT protocol that has not been prescribed? Your doctor is obligated to give you medical care to the best of their ability no matter what harm you may be inflicting on yourself. Similarly to someone that is obese or an alcoholic or addicted to drugs. Your doctor will give you advice and do their best to put you on the right track as it is their job to look after your health to the best of their ability. They do not have to agree with you lifestyle choices. I guess they could refuse to be your doctor but that would be an extreme situation.

So your doctor will more than likely want to keep track of your bloodwork knowing you are taking Testosterone so they can advise you on your levels and what dosages make sense for a TRT type protocol. The big difference here is that you are kind of in the drivers seat rather than the doctor being in the divers seat so you administer more or less Testosterone then what would normally be prescribed, just keep in mind there are always negative consequence when abusing any drugs.

One often overlooked option if you want to get on Doctor prescribed TRT in Canada, but have bloodwork that is perhaps just over the threshold allowed to be covered by Canada medical, would be to somehow temporarily crash your Testosterone on purpose so when you get your bloodwork drawn you are below normal thresholds.

I wonder how this could be achieved? Hum... Keep in mind this explanation is completely hypothetical and just meant to explain what might happen given a situation where one has exogenous Testosterone in their system and then goes cold turke. It is well understood that when a person goes on Testosterone, their body will adjust for the higher levels of exogenous Testosterone in their system by shutting down its own production of Testosterone. What happens when a person comes off of an exogenous source of Testosterone, is their body takes a little while to begin producing Testosterone again on its own. So for a period of time that person would have much lower than normal testosterone levels.

The goal is to figure out the time when your exogenous Testosterone has crashed and your natural Testosterone has not kicked in yet. Most oil based Testosterones have a half life of around 7 days which means if your Testosterone levels are say 800 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL), then one week later they would be around 400 ng/dL, and a week after that they would be around 200 ng/dL, a week after that 100 ng/dL.

So for this hypothetical example, I would recommend a person takes say 100mg of Testosterone per week for about 2-3 months to get their body used to the exogenous Testosterone so their own Testosterone production is somewhat shut down. They will know this because they will have some testicular shrinkage (yup that’s going to happen so get use to it!). This amount should put them in normal ranges of around 500-900 (ng/dL) for most people but I can not say for sure since everyone is very different. Even if they where at the high end and around 1000 (ng/dL), a week after stoping injections of testosterone, they would be around 500 (ng/dL). A week after that around 250 (ng/dL), a week after that around 125 (ng/dL) which should make them well below normal levels on their bloodwork as it is unlikely that their body has had enough time to start producing its own Testosterone.

In other words they are going to need to wait about 3-4 weeks after their last injection before they get their bloodwork done in order to show low levels of Testosterone. This is of course all hypothetical and not advice at all, just a random idea on how exogenous Testosterone would effect natural Testosterone and ultimately lead to an overall reduction of Testosterone in your system given certain circumstances.

Again this is a situation that could hypothetically be used in Canada to qualify for TRT, in the US you have a lot of other options. One of which is to consider a TRT Clinic like Royal Medical Center where if you sign up and use my GFO40 Code in the “Message/Heard About Us” Field you can save $45 per month for a period of time on your TRT Program.