I remember the strange times in aviation, I guess. After 9/11 no one really wanted to own an airplane, and I had just sold mine. For five years I looked at Ultralights, thinking I might build something. I flew in several Rotax 503's, UL's like Titans, Challengers, that sort of thing. But the stuff was not that cheap or compelling. Anyway, those 2 strokes were pretty fragile and they tended to use the EGT. There's a joke about a
CHT in this article.
I watched the Light Sport stuff, used to write stuff and send it to Avweb about LSA. But it happened and the UL people weren't on board. There was never any great design. The pricing was horrible. I shudder when I think of what 100 HP aircraft motors cost, for casual aviation.
At least we can tinker in the ebike arena. The costs are the opposite of sport flying, cheap stuff from China. A bit healthier too. Cheap batteries could make electric light aircraft workable. The silence would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the insights on ebikes. I think it's trouble if you set those PAS systems to one set of parameters. People can get pretty healthy in 6 months of riding, so their cadence could change a lot.