Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, January 2013

We have waited to write about the GNG kit because it proved to be immediately popular (electricbike.com’s leader Eric stumbled across the new GNG site in Aug 2012, about six months ago), and the inevitable upgrades that endless-sphere builders added were rapidly defining the strengths, weaknesses, and limits of this handy kit. Bottom-Bracket (BB) drives have really taken off this last year, and for good reason. The prices for the basic parts have come down, and the selection has improved too.

Part of the reason is because of a type of BMX bike called a “trials” bike, which is used for performing stunts (shown here with rider Danny MacAskill). They frequently have pedal crank-arms that hold a freewheeling chainring onto the BB. By putting two chainrings on a freewheeling BB…a motor can drive one of them, while the other chainring drives the rear wheel. This arrangement allows the motor to power the bike without the pedals moving. The GNG kit does not require an extra-wide pedal-axle, like some other BB-drive kits.

The biggest benefit of a BB-drive is that it is an inexpensive way to give the motor the use of the bikes gears. Whether you are limited by a legal street E-bike power-cap, or you have an unlimited-power off-road E-bike, external gears allow the motor to stay in its higher RPMs, so it’s not necessarily drawing high amps, or generating excess heat in the first place.

The EGO is an Austrian BB-drive that is a powerful and high-quality system, and has been around for a while, but…it is expensive (EU 2400, $3000 USD…Yikes!). The Cyclone is from Taiwan (which also has lots of hills), and although it is somewhat more affordable than the EGO, it is still pricey for the entry-level quality of parts you get, along with many customer reports of how noisy the system is.

A Chinese exporter called GNG recently began packaging and selling a brushless 48V BB-drive that they advertised as a 450W system. To the inexperienced buyer, that sounds weak, and we suspect it is advertised this way to sell in the many countries that have a 500W power limit for E-bikes.

The controller has been verified to put out a stock unmodified max power of 22-Amps, and since watts are “volts times amps“, that makes this a continuous 1,000W system. Plus, since this system applies its 1000-watts to the BB, the fact that this motor is using the bikes gears, would give it the same performance as a much more powerful “one-speed” hubmotor built into the wheel.

The GNG primary reduction uses a toothed belt from the motor to a jackshaft, and this runs quieter than the Cyclones metal-geared primary reduction. The stock belt is much looser than needed, and has a tensioner wheel to take up the slack. It is not spring-loaded, and you simply adjust the proper tension and then bolt it down.

The stock design has way too much “wrap” around the 14-tooth motor-drive pulley, and experimenters have verified that the excessive wrap uses up around 100W, even when its just spinning unloaded. The excessive wrap is there to help keep the belt from slipping when applying the full 1000W to the small pulley. Here is a graphic to show what I mean.

A quick e-mail to the customer service department of the famous Gates drive systems company provided professional engineering advice. Experimenter “LightningRods” then ordered custom laser-cut sideplates for the GNG mounting bracket that would allow the jackshaft to have its position adjusted, so as to properly tension the primary belt/chain without any wrap at all (these plates also allow a larger diameter pulley than the stock 80-tooth, which helps the motor RPM reduction). This lowered the parasitic power loss of the primary belt down to a more reasonable 10W.

However, now you have fewer pulley-teeth engaged, and if you apply high power, the belt will slip, leading to an early belt death.

If you run this kit with the advertised 48V, the motor will be spinning so fast that you cannot add pedaling when you are at the top speed (bikes are often designed for a cadence of 80-RPMs at the pedals). Two solutions for this have been tried. You could run it at 36V with a different controller, which makes it a well-balanced USA street-legal 750W system. When doing this, the slower motor RPMs (due to the lower volts) will allow you to pedal along with the motor. Adding pedaling will greatly extend your battery range, and make your motor and controller run a little cooler. The other option is to swap-in larger diameter chainrings while keeping 48V.

So is the GNG kit ALL good? to be honest, there are several weaknesses. It’s actually quite a nice kit at 750W (@ 36V / 20A). It has a reasonable top speed on the flats, and you can downshift the bike to tackle the hills. The kit is only $400 plus shipping…just add a battery, add a charger, and a bike (near $1000 total, plus a bike, when a significant 15-Ah battery is added). The mild steel mounting bracket has arrived bent for some buyers (due to rough handling by the shipper?), and it flexes when using 2,000W. Both of these points indicate that the bracket’s not quite as strong as it should be. Because of this, there are now custom sideplates available that are specifically designed to be stronger (found here at endless-sphere.com), and these plates also allow proper tensioning of the belt/chain without any idler needed.

If you add more power by raising the stock 48V or the 22A, the primary belt will begin skipping, and then quickly shred. Several off-roaders have upgraded the primary to a chain-drive, which is noisier, but then it can handle 3,000W without trouble. The example in this pic is using #25 chain (there are also examples using #219 chain). The large sprocket is bolted directly to the side of the stock pulley, and the small 12T drive-sprocket is from an 8mm shaft that is bored out to 10mm. Notice the idler wheel is barely deflecting the chain so drive losses will be low.

The stock belt is only 15mm wide, and builders immediately looked into a 20mm or 25mm wide belt-and-pulley set, so a fairly quiet belt could handle more power. But it’s not an easy swap-in. The stock 14T drive-pulley is a part of the motor-shaft, and must be ground off first. That is not easy to do yourself properly, and a machine shop can be expensive. One builder found that if he sanded the sharp edges off of the rough-cut stock 14T pulley, the belts lasted longer.

There are a wide variety of small sprockets that can be used on a GNG motor-shaft that has been turned down to 10mm, 12mm, or 0.500-inch. However, we have not yet found a good 20mm wide pulley with a small enough tooth-count, in order to make up for the removal of the deep idler belt-wrap. (the search continues, since a primary belt would be much quieter than a chain)

One major point in favor of the GNG kit (besides the affordable price), is that the custom Bottom-Bracket freewheel holder uses affordable and available off-the-shelf 16T freewheels, and this freewheel is the one part that is likely to need replacement about once a year with frequent use (almost forgot, the toothed belt is likely to need replacement every few months).

Also, the motor appears to handle 72V X 30A = 2,100W well, because it is an inrunner that has the hot stator coils attached to the aluminum motor shell, which helps it shed heat under heavy loads. Until the arrival of this affordable motor, most E-bike non-hubs were either too expensive, too small, too wide to fit between the pedals, or didn’t shed heat well. It’s just frustrating to find that this GNG motor-shaft and drive-pulley are one piece, when a 10mm diameter shaft stub would open up an entire world of opportunities for experimentation and using this motor in other applications. Even 12mm or 0.500-inch would be much more acceptable.

So…what’s the final verdict? This is not a plug-and-play system like the popular hub-kits. It’s more involved and also technically challenging to install it properly on a bike. But, in my humble opinion…it’s better and more affordable than the Cyclone, and it’s definitely much more affordable than the very expensive EGO.

Bosch and Panasonic have produced very high quality BB-drives for the power-restricted global markets. But I doubt North American customers will pay a high price for a low-power 250W system, no matter how nice it is.

If you are happy with 750W, you are mechanically handy, and you live around a hilly region, this might be the kit for you (you will save money by getting the lower voltage 36V battery, but you also have to buy a 36V controller, so the cost evens out). It “may” be possible to get GNG to swap the controller for one that already has a Low-Voltage-Cutoff (LVC) set for a 36V battery, so ask before ordering, and then check it when the kit arrives before plugging in the battery.

The stock kit is 1,000W (and 1,000W applied with the use of the bikes gears is a LOT of fun!), but it definitely wears out belts too quickly. It really needs a 20mm wide belt with de-burred pulleys and proper primary belt tensioning. If you perform a simple mod to the stock 9-FET controller, you can easily raise the max amps to 30A, which would provide around 1500W, but…if you do this…add a cheap temp probe to the controller so you can stay at least one step away from frying anything. And be aware at 1000W+ you will need to upgrade the primary drive to a chain, unless you don’t mind replacing belts often.

Link to buy the GNG BB-drive from this article.

endless-sphere.com forum discussion about the GNG.

Discussion about changing the primary drive to a chain.

Pedego, known for their beach cruiser line of electric bikes, has made the brash move of releasing a Sand/Trail bike, a natural progression for a company that made its start selling beach bikes to the Southern California market. Now you can buy a Pedego Trail Tracker and feasibly have the option of rolling off the strand and onto the beach for some fun off-road, riding in the sand. However, the Pedego Trail Tracker is not well-purposed for sand riding, despite its huge tires. Pedego is marketing the bike as more of a trail blazer. The editor of electricbike.com got to take the Trail Tracker on a spin, and see if it really is an off road machine, or just a stylistic road cruiser with over sized  balloon tires.

Fat Electric Bike History

One of the hottest new trends in electric bikes is Fat Electric Bikes. Fat bikes are bicycles with tires that are 3.5 inches wide or wider. Their higher weight is worthwhile in places where the local area has a lot of sand or snow.

Dan Hanebrink pioneered first the fat pedal-bike, and then his Fat electric bike (read our review). The mid drive Hanebrink remains one of the best electric fat-bikes you can buy, but at a premium price of over $7000.

Surly started the fat pedal bike crazy with their affordable Pugsley pedal fat-bike. When I saw this bike hit the market, I immediately wanted an electric one. It became one of my first electric bikes, which I converted as a DIY project. It used a high quality BMC motor (read review)  and a Rohloff, as its 14 speed drivetrain contained in the hub  in the rear.  This bike was expensive to build, but it achieved my desired aim which was to ride an electric bike in the wet sand without the fear of corrosion ruining my moving parts. The only thing that required maintenance on my bike was lubricating the chain. The bike did develop a lot of unsightly rust on any exposed metal component (screws, brackets, etc).  Although riding electric bikes in the sand seems like a glamorous activity…it comes at a price of oxidizing your new expensive electric bike.

Fat  bikes usually do not make much sense as a pedal bike because of all the added drag and weight of the wide tires.  On electric bikes, because you have a motor, this weight and drag does not matter much. The look of fat tires on a bike is awesome.

Electric Surly Pugsley

Soon after Surly started making fat pedal bikes, Tommi Sea followed suit with a $600 version of a made in China fat bike with spider tires. Many people I knew converted Tommi Sea bikes into electric bikes  because of their low cost.

Recently, Pedego teamed up with Tommi Sea to produce an electric fat bike as a joint project. The two companies  had  a dramatic falling out just a few days before Inter Bike 2012 this summer. From what I heard from an executive at Pedego, the dispute involved Tommi Sea wanting to do a front wheel drive, and an IGH hub sand bike, and Pedego wanting  to do a tried and true rear hub wheel drive. The two companies split ways both determined to release their own version of an electric fat bike.

What resulted is two very similar electric fat-bikes on display at Interbike. The front wheel drive IGH Tommi Sea E-monster and the rear wheel drive Pedego Destroyer. Tommi Sea was enraged that Pedego used their “Destroyer” name because this is what their company had called one of their pedal fat-bikes for years. Pedego claims they used the name “Destroyer” coincidentally. Pedego recently changed the name of their new fat-bike to the “Trail Tracker”, which in my opinion is a better suited name anyway.

Tommi Sea E-Monster

There is no love lost between these two companies…expect a price war.

Initially Pedego said the retail price of  their Trail Tracker fat bike would be $3,500. The latest retail price I have heard for this bike today is $2,800. The bike has not officially hit the shelves yet so this number might change.

The Tommi Sea E-monster is a very similar bike, and is therefore in direct competition with the Pedego. Both bikes are made entirely in China. As of this writing E-monsters have an MSRP of  $3,195

The Pedego Trail Tracker Features:

600 watt geared hub motor

Pedego until recently has used reliable but big and heavy direct drive hub motors. In their city commuter, we saw them use a sexy and small geared hub motor. The Trail Tracker also uses a geared hub motor but this one is rated for 600 watts.

Single Speed Pedal System

You  can see in the above picture that Pedego opted for a single speed gear system. This makes sense on a rear wheel hub  drive electric bike that could potentially be ridden in sand. Sand wreaks havoc on a derailleur gearing system. So therefore a single speed is the only “clean” option on a rear wheel hub drive. I personally prefer the front wheel drive route with IGH (Internal Gear Hub like the Rohloff) in the back. The single speed that Pedego has chosen for this bike is geared way too low for normal street riding. I found when I rode the bike I had a hard time pedal assisting the bike because the gearing was not high enough. For low speed trail riding and hill climbing the gearing is probably OK. The drawback to single speed is you cannot have both.

48V / 10-Ah Lithium-ion battery

The Pedego Trail Tracker uses a 48V / 10-Ah battery attached to the bike via a welded rear rack.  This battery has proven reliable on other Pedego bikes such as the Interceptor and the City Commuter.

Avid BB7  brakes

The Pedego Trail Tracker uses Avid BB7 brakes which are top of the line mechanical disc brakes, which work great. This is as good as you can go without going hydraulic.  The BB7s have finger adjustments on both sides of the rotor, and therefore can be adjusted quickly and easily without tools.

Spider Fat Tires

The Pedego Trail Tracker has chosen 26-inch Spider 4-inch wide tires. This tire is wider than the more expensive Surly Endomorph (3.6 inches), is made by the same company in China (Innova) and handles fine. Because it is a full four inches wide it does create nearly twice the drag and tire noise a standard mountain bike tire would create. Also these fat bike tires do not handle well on the street and are notoriously awkward in corners (they only like to go in a straight line).

One thing to take note is that, even though these are 26-inch tires, because they are so fat, they effectively are 29-inches in diameter when totally inflated. So in essence, this is a 29er electric bike.

Hydro-form Alloy Tubing

One of the nice touches of the Pedego Trail tracker is it uses hydroformed aluminum tubing, which adds a nice finished look to the frame. Also Pedego has done a good job of running many of the unsightly wires through the frame tubing. Pedego has smartly gone with a steel front fork, which adds to the safety of this bike, especially when riding on gnarly off roads. Aluminum forks have the tendency to snap when ridden hard which can cause catastrophic injury.

Simple Controls

Pedego has decided to save money on this bike and skimp on its dashboard. It has a very simple and cheap battery gauge on the right hand grip. It uses a twist throttle also on the right hand grip.

Suspension Seat

Although the Pedego Trail Tracker comes with no real suspension, the 4-inch tires effectively give you an inch of air suspension. Also the bike comes with a springy seat and a low quality suspension seat post. I could notice the seat making annoying squeaking noises when I was riding, but I could not tell a noticeable difference in ride cushiness. The seat suspension is an easily upgrade able component which the owner should consider. A high quality suspension seat post and a Brookes suspension seat would go a long way to smoothing out the ride in this non suspension bike. We recommend the Thudbuster seat-post if it fits in your budget.

Kickstand

Pedego has gone the extra mile and included a kickstand with the Trail Tracker. A kickstand is not an easy accomplishment on a fat bike because they ride do high.  The Kickstand does an adequate job of  holding the heavy ebike up even when riding on grass or sand.

Can The Pedego Trail Tracker really be ridden in the Sand?

In the wet-packed sand near the water, you will have no problem riding the Trail Tracker on the sand. Be warned however, the wet pack will wreak havoc on your components, and the bike will not stay shiny and new. It might even void your Pedego warranty. As for riding on soft sand…good luck. The Pedego is not only back heavy with its rear motor and rear battery, it is also not very powerful. This bike will not ride well in soft sand.

What about trail riding?

The Pedego’s big fat tires are great platforms for riding off road. They will provide you roughly an inch of suspension. However even with a 600-watt hub  motor, you will need to pedal assist this bike a lot to be an effective off road rider.  It will be a dog when climbing any kind of hill because it lacks the gearing of a mid drive. Also because of the geared hub motor, there is a chance you could fry your motor depending on how hard you ride it. The Pedego bike comes with a one-year warranty, and that would be the time to put the hard test to this motor riding off road.

What about city riding?

Pedego’s forte is in the commuting bikes, such as the city commuter and their cruisers. The Trail Tracker, despite its name, is more designed as a cruising bike than a hard-core trail blazer. As a city commuter this bike will work fine. The big tires will give you extra stability, and the components will perform fine. What this bike is more about than anything is attitude. Its big tires and rugged look will get you a lot of attention when riding. Also this bike screams electric bike, so forget about being low key and stealth.

Not Balanced

The Trail Tracker comes with a standard Pedego 48V rear mounted battery. This is a simple, cheap,  (and ugly) battery mounting solution that works OK.  It is not a purpose built frame. The Trail Tracker, like all Pedego bikes, is back heavy, since all the Pedego bikes use rear-wheel-drive hub motors and rear mounted battery packs. Because this is a big and unwieldy bike to begin with, the fact that it is so poorly balanced makes it especially difficult to move around. For heavy duty trail riding you will really feel the back heavy nature of this bike. For riding in soft sand you can forget about it. The back wheel  will sink in the sand unless your body weight is under 150 pounds.

Big  Bulky Bike

Like all fat bikes the Pedego Trail Tracker is a very big bike with its big tires and extended frame. It has nearly the same wheel base as a cargo bike without the utility of a cargo bike. It is hard to move around, takes a lot of space to store, and can be a nuisance if you are trying to load your bike in Public Transit such as a bus or a subway. The fat tires do not fit in standard bike racks, even after letting the air out of the tires.  Know what you are getting into…owning a fat bike can be a hassle.

Riding Impressions

The Trail Tracker is slightly louder than the City Commuter and other Pedego electric bikes I have ridden, as would be expected because of the larger geared motor and large tires. The tires do add a lot of rolling resistance, etc, and do not handle very well on street use. Also for street use I wish the bike was pedal-geared higher so that I could comfortably  pedal-assist it at speeds greater than 12-MPH.

It has a top speed of somewhere around 20-MPH although I am just estimating because it does not have a speedometer. It has ample torque for street riding and even hill climbing, although riding off road you will wish you had more.

I would expect to get around a 15 mile range given the 48V / 10-Ah battery (480 watt hours) read our story on watt hours and estimating range. Normally I would expect more range  but anticipate 15 miles based on the  extra rolling resistance of the tires, and the difficulty in pedal assisting this bike at cruising speeds.

In all, I think the Pedego Trail Tracker is a great riding around town machine, but is not powerful/torquey enough for serious off road, or some in the sand use (unless its the wet sand at the beach).

Special thanks to the nice folks at Electric Bike LA who let me test ride this burly E-bike hot off the presses from Pedego. This is one of the only dealers who currently has the Trail Tracker in Stock.

The Neo Jumper is the flag ship, full suspension version of the Neo line of  Easy Motion electric bikes. Recently I got the shocking news that internet friend Kepler from endless-sphere had decided to sell his hot rodded Stealth Bomber which he wrote an EB.com story on a few months back (read that article here). When asked why he decided to sell his 50-MPH super E-bike, Kepler said in part because he had test ridden an Easy Motion Jumper, and decided that he wanted to buy the $4,000 350-watt bike. This was a bomb shell to me…this guy selling his 10-kilowatt bomber and buying a 350-watt miser in its place? What is the electric bike world coming to? (to be fair, it’s worthy of note that Kepler lives in Australia, where the street power limit is 200W, and his Bomber was only used off-road)

Also fellow electric bike editor spinningmagnets did a write up on the Neo Jumper and seemed mildly impressed and even did some angry nanny state finger waving and hollering (his conclusion: great E-bike if the power was raised to the USA limit of 750W, and even then it’s too pricey).

After all this bomber dropping  hoopla I have been dying to test ride a Neo Jumper and yesterday, thanks to the good folks at Electric Bike LA, I got my chance.

Custom Battery Pack

The Neo line of bikes from E-motion are based around a high quality 36V / 9-Ah Samsung  battery that is built into the down tube, in a very elegant purpose-built frame. The Easy Motion Neo line made our list of top 10 ebikes with  purpose built frames. The tooling and per-unit cost to make such a frame and custom battery is expensive, and this is why you don’t see many electric bike companies doing it. Compare the Neo line to many other electric bike brands. Most will weld all their battery packs to the rear of the bike via a rack, a much cheaper, easier, and uglier way of doing things.

The purpose-built frame not only looks really sweet, but gives the Neo Jumper an awesome bicycle-like feel when you ride it. When you lift it, it feels perfectly balanced. It feels like you could bunny hop this baby (if you are a dreamer)…oh wait, it weighs a hefty47 pounds. (still light for an electric bike). Because of its perfect front-to-rear balance the Neo Jumper feels lighter than what it is.

The lithium-ion battery pack on the Neo Jumper is lockable, and removable. You could feasibly carry a second battery  in your backpack.

Of course this purpose-built frame does have its drawbacks. The battery pack  is proprietary and therefore more expensive to replace, and of course expensive when you want to buy a second pack. The battery pack is relatively small (36V / 9-Ah = 324 watt hours) so don’t expect to get very far (17 miles realistically  see our story on estimating range).

Easy Motion is limited on their product offerings because they are stuck using this same downtube battery in every bike. 36V / 9-Ah for many consumers (including myself) is just not enough (especially in this price range).

At this writing, an extra or replacement 36V / 9-Ah  battery pack will cost you $375. It seems reasonable but remember, this battery pack is only 324 watt hours. (compared to 480 watt hours for a 48V / 10-Ah pack).

Also, to charge the battery it must be taken out of the bike and placed in a charger. Not as convenient as most ebikes which you just plug the bike itself into a charge port.

Digital Dash

The Neo Jumper has pedal assist via a torque sensor and a twist-throttle. The throttle mode only works when it’s switched to the throttle mode (no pedal assist over-ride). The slick no-nonsense digital dash also displays battery capacity and speed. Elegant, small, and simple. Unlike many production electric bikes, it does not have that made in China look. However, this type of battery meter is not as accurate as a Cycle Analyst which measures amp-hour usage to the watt hours.

High Quality Suspension Components

The front forks alone on the Neo Jumper cost over $1,000. The forks definitely feel high-quality and have a lock out lever on  the handlebars. The rear shock also has a lock out which is easily accessible while riding. I am not sure when an electric bike rider would ever want to lock out the suspension (I guess if the battery dies and you are peddling up a hill) but you have the feature there if you want it. Pete over at electricbikereport.com said while trail riding he would lock the suspension and bunny hop over obstacles (Yeah right!). Naturally he didn’t get any “bunny hopping 50-pound bike over obstacles” video posted…but I dare him to…(post it here Pete, for $20 reward).

At any rate, the suspension on this bike feels better than any other suspension I have felt on any other production electric bike other than the $12K Optibike. It feels like the suspension would feel on a $1000+ mountain bike.  Not  bad, since most production electric bikes settle for a Wal-Mart level of quality in the suspension just so they can say that they have suspension. (think $120 mountain bike).

Hydraulic disc ebrakes

Very few production electric bikes have hydraulic brakes, because few hydraulic brakes have E-levers which automatically shut off the power when you hit the brakes (an important safety feature if the throttle electrically shorts to the full-on position). The Neo Jumper uses Tektro E-comp hydraulic brakes, the only type of brake I know of designed for electric bikes with this feature.

Brushless geared hub motor

The Neo Jumper uses the Dapu motor, a small brushless geared motor. It’s rated for 350 watts but can handle up to 750 watts as proven by the Pedego City Commuter, which uses the same motor (read review).

Torque sensor

The Neo Jumper utilizes one of the best torque sensors in the business, a TMM4 which is built into the rear drop out of the frame. A torque sensor is an expensive feature ($150 retail) and it brings the power on smoothly, and adds more power the harder you pedal. Cheaper bikes have a cadence sensor which just measure how fast you pedal. Read our report on torque sensors. If you ride with a torque sensor, the system will force you to pedal harder than you will with throttle-only, thus extending your range. It hard to be lazy when you ride with a torque sensor. A torque sensor has the added feature as being a back  up in case your throttle fails.

Lots and lots of gears

This bike has 30 speeds, a front and a rear derailleur.  Personally I do not see the need of so many gears in an electric bike, although I have heard it argued that in a low-powered torque-sensored bike, it somehow makes sense. Sorry, but it still doesn’t to me. I see derailleurs as a maintenance headache, and having two of them adds a lot of complexity to your riding experience. I am a big believer in 8 speeds maximum for an electric bike…and even that is usually too much until the battery dies.

Complex Ride

For such a low-power ride, you have a lot of options when riding this bike. While riding you can lock or unlock the suspension with two levers you have access to. You have two gear levers to change between the 30 gears. You have an electronic dashboard to pick the level of pedal assist. You have a  twist throttle that you can only use if you have the dashboard in the right setting. And you have the left and right brake levers. There is a lot going on on these handlebars, and that makes for a complex riding experience. Of course you can ignore almost everything and just put it in high gear and select throttle mode which is the way I recommend riding the bike…especially at first. When you want to extend your range you can flip into torque sensor mode and experiment with the 30 different gears until you find just what your happy with.

Ride Quality

There is no doubt about it, this bike is awesome to ride. It feels smooth and high quality. The motor feels snappy for only being fed 350-watts, but not as powerful as much cheaper 48V Pedego. It is not very fast (20-MPH tops) and it will not go very far. If you can live with that and just want an ultra plush, “non electric bike”-like ride, then this bike is the one you’ve been looking for. Its so light and nimble, that when you are in torque sensor mode, you can actually forget you are on an electric bike and you are just this well conditioned athlete on a slick looking (and stealthy) pedal mountain bike.

In throttle-only mode I was able to get 17-MPH top speed without pedaling on level ground, and I am a 190 pound rider. So to get over 20-MPH you will have to pedal hard. I noticed when climbing any type of hill, the bike really bogs down. Its when climbing hills you will really wish you had more than just 350 watts on hand. On a mountainous off-road hill you will wish you had 1500 watts. 350-watts is very little for a bike designed for off road use and remember, since it is a hub motor you are basically running 350-watt single speed. BH E-motion does make  some mid-drive bikes with the Panasonic drive system, which would be really clean solution for the Neo Jumper. Its disappointing that BH decided to  offer their bikes just  as hub bikes in the USA.

Comparable bikes:

I really can’t think of any high-quality full-suspension purpose-built E-bikes at this price range. How incredible is that? Where is the Pedego and Currie full-suspension electric bikes? It would be a crime to compare this elegant bike to the clunky A2B full-suspension. We have to go to a hard-tail bike to find anything comparable that I have ever personally ridden. In the $4,000 price range, you are looking at the top of the line Stromer bikes. The Stromer and the Neo lines are very similar.

The Stromer St1 is the best competitor to the Neo jumper that I know of.  The Stromer is pedal assist only, has a 30mph top speed, and has higher quality components but not suspension.  Read our Stromer St1 review.

A Warning On Range and Company Marketing

I received a message  from one of the managers at Easy Motion USA who took objection to my 17-mile range estimate for the Neo Jumper. As our regular readers know, we estimate each electric bike’s range based on the watt hours of the battery pack (read our story on how we estimate range). This way we can come up with a fair estimate we can apply to all electric bikes. E-motion wrote: “What are you basing your 17-mile range on? The  level of assist, rider size, topography, tire pressure and wind conditions all come into play. Our 60-mile range is based on a 170lbs rider on flat ground with no headwind in Eco mode with properly inflated tires.”

Claiming a 60-mile range on a bike like this with a 320 watt hour battery pack is the type of  ridiculous exaggeration that electric bike companies do all the time which ends up hurting themselves and the industry. The only way you will get 60 miles on a 320 watt hour battery is if the rider puts in a great majority of the effort. Its obvious that any electric bike can have a 60-mile range depending on how much the rider pedals.

For the average rider, in average conditions, you will be lucky to burn 20 watt hour per mile. Divide that by 324 and you get 16.2 miles. That is a nice real world estimate of what to expect from this bike…not the companies 60-mile claim, which is ludicrous.

A 36V /9-Ah battery is considered very small for the industry, especially at this price point.

I hate when companies claim 60-mile ranges on E-bikes like this, and it makes me question the rest of the company’s  integrity. I like that companies like Pedego and Currie are posting realistic range numbers on their marketing literature, and by the way, component wise, the Neo Jumper is very similar to both Pedego and Currie.

I know that Easy Motion has not yet developed all their marketing material. I really encourage them to be honest and forthright about range and performance data when they do.

If Easy Motion goes forward with their 60-mile range claim on this bike, I would not recommend anyone spend the $4,000 to buy it. You will be disappointed that you were misled.

For a true 60-mile range look at bikes with big lithium-ion battery packs such as the Optibike, the Stealth Bomber, or the affordable Juiced Rider ODK. But be warned…big battery packs are expensive, heavy, and bulky. As of this writing,  you do have to pay a price for real range on an electric bike no matter what some dishonest marketing brochure tells you.

Conclusion

A very nice bike. But I could not live with paying $4,000 for a bike with such a small battery pack, and only a 350-watt hub motor. But if it’s fast enough and goes far enough for you, this bike might be for you. It is among the sharpest and cleanest looking  production electric bikes I have seen. It does lack the performance and range I typically desire in an offroad bike…especially at this price.

Read our own spinningmagnet’s perception of the bike found here.

A discussion about the E-Motion jumper can be found here.

Here’s a video of the E-Motion presentation at the Interbike convention.

Battery: 36V / 9-Ah (324WH) Samsung Lithium Manganese (LiMn)

Gears: 30-speed Shimano Deore Derailleur
Shifter: Shimano Rapid-fire thumb-shift
Brakes: Tektro Auriga hydraulic disc brakes – Front and Rear
Wheels: 26″ – Quick release front
Tyres: 26 x 2.25 Schwalbe Rapid Rob
Forks: Rock Shox XC32
Rear Shock: Suntour Epicon Lord 120
Mudguards: [Optional]
Rear Rack: [Optional]
Pedals: MTB Aluminium
Saddle: E-motion Cross
Seatpost: Aluminium
Handlebar: E-motion Cross Alloy
Sidestand: Yes
Cycle Computer: Yes
Modes: Off, Eco, Normal, Sport, Boost
Range: 17-miles  (EB.com estimate) depending on mode, terrain and rider input
Weight: 22kg (49lbs) Including Battery
Max. Rider Weight: 120kg (265lbs)
Warranty: Two Years [Bike and Battery]

Craig from Electric Bike LA….thanks Craig!

The BionX is  the best selling hub motor kit in the United States, and probably  the world. The Bionx is not only sold as a kit, but many manufacturers use it as a turn-key solution to very quickly bring a quality ebike to market. These manufacturers have included, Trek, Ohm,  Smart and Grace.  Unlike most kits, the BionX is designed and manufactured not in China, but in Ontario Canada. At least some of (if not most of) the components of the BionX kit are made in Asia under tight quality controls.

The BionX hub motor comes laced into a wheel. Available wheel sizes are  20″, 24″, 26″ and 700c.  Of course you can always have a wheel builder lace a BionX into your own wheel. The system includes a lithium-ion battery, handlebar-mounted control unit, cool throttle, battery charger, and all the hardware and wire cables required to electrify your bike. It weighs in at 19.4 lbs

I test rode the 36V PL-350W  kit ($1,500). There is also a 24V  250W kit ($999)  and a “premium” 48V kit available. ($2,000).  As of 2012, all  BionX kits are covered by a two-year factory warranty.

Which types of bikes are BionX-able?

Check out our gallery of example BionX kits. Hardtail mountain bikes with front suspension seem to be ideal. Full-suspension bikes are one of the few types of frames not good for a BionX kit because it is sometimes difficult to mount the battery.

The bike I demoed is a Montague folding bike which seemed like an ideal bike to modify because of its excellent battery placement position and its decent retail price (about $700).

BionX options:

You can go with a 250W or a 350W… You can go with the 36V or the 48V…although either 36V 0r 48V will have a 350-watt motor with similar performance.

The BionX comes with two different mounting options. A rear rack mounting option (standard on most conversion bikes) and a triangle mounting version.  Having the battery weight in the triangle makes for a much more balanced ride than a rear rack mounted battery. With the heavy motor and battery in  the rear, your bike will feel unbalanced and seem heavier than it is. If the bike you have selected to convert does not allow the triangle battery, I would  suggest you pick a different bike with adequate space in the frame.

BionX does not offer a front motor mounting option, as most other kit manufacturers do.

To Kit or not to Kit

Many people have old bicycles in their garage gathering dust that they are attached to. Turning it into an electric bike will almost guarantee the bike will see the light of day, and be used more.  The higher quality the donor bike the better an electric bike it will make, and the more likely it will be ridden. The Bionx kit can transform your beloved bike into a cutting edge electric bike.

One  question you may be having  is should you convert an existing bike you rarely use, or buy one of the flashy new factory electric bikes that have been hitting the market lately. This is a hard question, because there is not much of a price difference between a top of the line BionX kit and one of the new Asian-made bikes from companies like Currie, Stromer, Easy Motion and Pedego. It use to be people would convert bikes because there was no store-bought production bike which fit the bill. These days $2,000 will buy a really nice electric bike, and a purpose built electric bike has many advantages over a conversion bike no matter how elegant the kit. The same day I test rode the BionX I also rode as well an Emotion Neo Jumper, which is a good example of a high-end production bike ($4,000 for full-suspension model).  Because bikes like this have a purpose built frame, and its hard to tell they are an electric bike (no rectangular battery to be seen anywhere).

Here is a comparison of the two batteries…of the Neo Jumper and the Bionx Kit. Both are the same size (36V / 9-Ah) and similar chemistry.  As you can see they have different form factors. One is very boxy (BionX) and the other is slick and neat:

One advantage of going with a kit is you can always take the kit off and transform your E-bike back into a regular bike again. And of course the next advantage of the kit is you can convert any bike that has a frame you like, and are not constrained to the factory E-bikes on the market now.

Another advantage of the BionX kit (even though it is expensive) is that it is probably a better financial deal than a production E-bike. You can spend $1,700 on a BionX kit, and $700 on a new hardtail suspension bike, and for $2,400 you will have an electric bike that is probably higher quality than most electric bikes on the market now for the same price.

The BionX Motor

BionX uses a direct-drive (DD, gearless) 350W motor. This limits the moving parts and makes for a robust and reliable set up. The benefits of the direct drive motor include reliability, quietness, and regen braking. The drawbacks are its larger diameter and it’s heavier than a geared hub motor. If you look in the above picture you can see how large the hub motor is in a 26-inch rim. Below is an example of a 350W geared hub-motor (made by Dapu) in a 26-inch wheel of the before mentioned Neo Jumper.

The geared motor is smaller, and stealthier looking. Most  new electric bikes coming out are geared hub motors. So BionX might be a bit behind the times with their big and heavy non-geared motor. To the BionX’s credit, it is thinner than almost any hub motor out there. But when you look at an electric bike, you do not notice how thin the motor is…only how large a diameter it is. The motor in the bike pic below is twice as thick as the BionX, but is super stealth.

The BionX Controller:

All other E-bike kits I know of have controllers with a bunch of wires coming out. The BionX kit on the other hand has an internal controller cleanly built into the hub with the motor (similar to the Golden Motor Magic Pie). This really cuts back on the clutter you see outside the bike, and makes installing this kit much easier. The motor and controller are water resistant and can be ridden in the rain.

The Bionx Dash Board

The BionX has a really sweet dashboard which tells you remaining battery, how fast you are going, how far you have  gone and even what time it is. The dashboard is  custom configurable. In addition, the dashboard controls what level of pedal assist you want, or what level of brake regen you want. Below is a video describing how you can choose levels of pedal assist, and levels of regen using this dashboard:

Cool Throttle

Although the  throttle might seem cheap at first glance. It is actually one of the better throttles I have felt on an electric bike. Most E-bike throttles are cheap China twist or thumb throttles. The BionX throttle is a refreshing change. It is a push button which is variable. So you can push it a little bit to get a little juice. With the 350W motor, this throttle works perfectly. It also has a + and – button above it. This is an alternative way to adjust the pedal assist mode, instead of using buttons on the dashboard. When you are riding the bike it is a real convenience to be able to change the level of assist without your hands leaving the hand grips. For example, when going down a big hill, you can change into a high level of regenerative braking, so you can slow yourself down without wearing or heating up your brake-pads.

The BionX throttle has the extra bonus benefit that it can be used on either the left hand or right hand side. Conventional E-bike throttles can only be used on the right side.

The BionX Battery

The lithium-ion battery of the BionX as of 2012 comes with a two year warranty. It used to be the battery was only warrantied for one year, so my guess is that BionX has improved their battery to be more reliable. Like other high quality E-bike batteries it consists of “18650″-size cells (also found in cordless tools). It is small at 36V / 9-Ah, so you can expect around a 17-mile range under normal riding conditions. The battery that comes in the 48V kit is larger. If you want extra battery, you are stuck buying an extra battery from BionX and figuring out how to mount it to the bike. The BionX is 100%  proprietary, and it is hard to crack if you want to hack it.

Regenerative Braking

A unique function of the BionX kit is very effective regenerative braking system. Regen means that when you are going down a hill, your motor is slowing you down and actually putting energy back into the battery. To activate the regen you simply apply the rear brake lightly…and you feel the drag of the regen kick in. Hit the brake harder and you hear the regular mechanical brake pads of the bicycle kick in. The BionX also has variable regen, which you apply either through the dashboard, or through the handlebar control (the minus button). When  going down a long steep hill, you could apply just the right  amount of regen to cruise down at the speed you want without using your conventional brake. Obviously this adds to the efficiency of the BionX system, and also drastically cuts back on your brake pad wear, and brake heat (very useful if you frequently have long downhills while carrying cargo). Regen braking is always silent and never squeaks.

Read more about regen systems on ebikes

One drawback of a regen system, is that it is said that the bike will not free wheel as effectively, because the motor will always have some drag even when coasting.  On the Bionx bike it seemed to freewheel perfectly when regen was at the lowest setting, and I did not notice any extra drag compared to a regular bike.

Torque Sensor

The BionX has the torque sensor integrated into the motor axle. The BionX patented torque sensor is known to be one of the best  in the industry. Also the BionX software is spot on. This all equates to a really fine pedal assist experience. The BionX does a terrific job of blending electric assist with your pedaling power.

Read our story on torque sensors. 

If you use your torque sensor wisely, the BionX will force you to not to be lazy, and you will always have to input some power if you want electric assist. This will vastly increase your range. The less pedal-assist you use, the farther you will go. If you ride only in the pedal assist mode, the BionX motor comes on so smoothly you can barely feel it. Its easy to forget you are riding on an electric bike when you ride this way, you simply feel like a super athlete when bicycling…

Installation

Installing the BionX system on  a bike is fairly straight forward, but BionX does recommend that you have it installed by a qualified shop. The shop I spoke with (Electric Bikes LA) said that it takes an hour and a half for a skilled technician to install a BionX. At a shop rate of $70 an hour that comes to $100 worth of labor to transform a regular bike into electric bike.

BionX Proprietary

The Bionx system is completely integrated. The big drawback to this is if you need to replace a blown controller, blown motor, or bad battery….you are stuck with BionX parts and BionX pricing. This is one of the big drawbacks of BionX.

Hot Rod a BionX?

Many DIYers over at Endless-Sphere started with basic hub conversion kits, and decided that the hub motor was not powerful enough for them. Their are many options for hot rodding a hub motor (see our story).  However hot rodding a BionX (because of the proprietary components) is just not possible. So you will be stuck with a 350W kit, even if you decide later you want to upgrade. This is another drawback to BionX.

Is it fast enough?

This is the core question for me regarding BionX. I live in the USA that has a 750W federal limit on E-bikes (500W in Canada). Anything under 750 watts is definitely considered a bicycle. The BionX is only 350 watts, less than half the wattage of what I am 100%  legally allowed to operate anywhere in the USA.

For me I like my bikes to be at least 750 watts, and most of the time a heck of a lot more (of course I limit my E-bikes to 750W when riding on the street

Riding the Bionx, it feels very similar to the 250-400 watt production bikes I have ridden. At times I tell myself that it’s fast enough. You can get to 17-MPH or so without pedaling.  It’s when you start climbing hills that you really wish you had a bit more. The bike really slows down to a snails pace on hills.

For me the BionX is not fast enough, especially for the money it costs. I would not personally own a BionX simply for these reasons. To me an expensive and slow E-bike  is a deal killer.

What  I have seen happen many times  is  when  someone first rides an Ebike  they are satisfied with the lower power levels. But as they ride more and get familiar with the E-bike, almost always they wish they had more power. If they get off their bike and ride a faster ebike, then they really want one.

BionX or a no-name kit

BionX kits are 10 steps ahead of every other kit provider out there. Most kit providers are simple box shufflers. BionX has been making and innovating hub motors for nearly 10 years. They have full-time engineers on staff, and are constantly striving to improve their product. It is by far the most reliable hub kit you can buy, easiest to install, smoothest pedal assist and finest user interface.

Although Bionx is a nice solution, it isn’t for everyone.

• BionX kits are expensive ($1,800 as tested).
• BionX Kits are low power (350 watts maximum).
• BionX Kits are proprietary (you can only  use BionX electrical components).

BionX kits do offer big advantages:

• BionX kits are the most reliable kit on the market.
• BionX kits are the highest quality kit on the market.
• BionX comes with a Lithium-Ion battery, most kits do not and if they do…they are usually junk.
• BionX has figured out how to mount the battery pack.
• BionX has a finely integrated regen, no other kit has this.
• BionX offers a two-year warranty and stands behind it.

If you want a high-power kit, and one that is inexpensive,  you have to take your chances elsewhere.

If you are looking for higher power than this, I would recommend kits with Crystalyte, BMC, 9C or MAC motors.  Look at our list of recommended vendors.

Conclusion

If the BionX system is fast enough for you (and you can afford it) it is definitely the most elegant, most complete,  well-built hub motor kit on the market, and that just might be the right kit for you.

Here we compile a gallery of Bionx builds found all over the internet.  These are examples of frames that have been used for people who are thinking about building a Bionx kit.  If you have a bionx build and you would like us to include your bike, please email us at info at electricbike.com. Read our review on Bionx Kits.

The Airnimal folding bike is one of the nicest most expensive folding bikes made. When someone slaps a Bionx kit on it is a testament to the confidence people have in the quality of Bionx. This is my personal favorite of the bikes in this gallery. Airnimal electric bike…what a concept.

Probably the most popular and most practical Bionx conversion is a hard tail suspension mountain bike. Here is an excellent example with an expensive KLM. An electric KLM. No longer do we need to wait for the Egnition Just kidding, the Egnition is still worth waiting for.

A less expensive but still sweet Trek Bionx conversion. Trek also sales some ready to go Bionx bikes.

A practical bionx commuter complete with fenders and a book rack. Disc brakes are always a good idea on an electric bike.

Bionx kits can be slapped onto a recumbent just as easy as a conventional bike. Notice how the battery pack is not as conspicuous on a recumbent.

This is about as low as a step through can get. What a sweet looking Bionx conversion! Since there is no triangle to mount the battery a rear rack must be used making the bike tail heavy.

Surly makes well designed steel frame bikes. This no suspension bike with fenders makes for a beautiful electric bike. This one was put together by the tasteful people at Splendid Cycles.

A ladies version of a Trek cruiser. Notice the rear rack battery instead of the triangle mount.

A Bionx powered Montague makes an excellent electric bike. And it has the added bonus of being foldable. I reviewed a bionx motor strapped to a Montague bike (read review).

This Montague Bike has been converted with a Bionx battery and features a golf bag carrier. A Bionx bike would make a cheap alternative to a golf cart!

This is the full suspension trike the HP Velotechnic converted to an electric trike via Bionx.

This Bionx Folder was made popular by NYCE wheels which is known for selling more Bionx Kits and folders than any dealer in the United States.

Here is a ladies step through bike which would not fit the triangle battery pack…so a rear rack mounted battery is used.

Bionx kits fit great on a mountain bike…as long as it is a hard tail and can utilize that triangle mounted battery pack.

Basic Bionx commuter.

Bionx electric trike

350 watts is barely enough for one rider….now you want to use it for 2 riders? Twice as much fun or twice as much work? You be the judge.

Bionx powered recumbent tandem.

Recumbents make great electric conversions.

The bionx fat electric bike. See our story on Fat bikes for more examples of fat ebikes.

The Trek Transport is a Trek bike with a Bionx kit with some custom touches such as custom molded battery pack in the rear rack.

This is a custom cargo bike by Clever Cycles, an Oregon company that specializes in custom cargo bikes. . They have chosen a Bionx system to power this expensive set up.

The Surly Big Dummy is a cargo bike with an ideal place to mount the Bionx battery pack. Instant electric cargo bike. The Big Dummy is my personal favorite cargo bike for electric conversion. (read our story on electric cargo bikes)

You have the option of ordering your Bionx kit in a road bike 700cc rim. Road bikes are not popular choices for electric bikes because the ultra thin tires give them less traction and seem a little flimsy to carry all that extra weight. But every once in a while you do see an electric road bike such as this one.

Another electric Bionx mountain bike with a hard tail.

Pedego has made a name for itself by offering California cruiser style electric bikes that are “fun” and reliable.  The key to the Pedego Interceptor is that it was a pretty fast electric bike for its time. In fact, it was named the “Interceptor” because it was supposedly designed for Police use, and originally only offered in black and white colors.

I have yet to hear about any cops riding around on Pedego bikes, but I have seen many Pedego Interceptors with Hawaiian-shirted riders speeding down the streets and bike trails of LA. Lets take a closer look into the Interceptor and see why it is one of the best selling bikes in the USA market.

The Frame

Pedego Interceptor

Pedego Comfort Cruiser

The Interceptor is built around the same 6061 aluminum frame as the Comfort Cruiser (the Pedego base model).  The only difference other than color choices between the $2,000 Cruiser and the $2,500 Interceptor, is that the interceptor is a 48-volt system, where as the Cruiser is 36-volts. $500 seems like a  lot of money to spend for just a little more power.

The Comfort Cruiser would have 360-WH’s of battery compared to the Interceptor’s 480 watt hours.  If a little extra speed is not important to you, then you should save your money and go with the Comfort Cruiser, and save that $500 for nifty adds ons (how about an extra battery for longer trips).

On both the Cruiser and the Interceptor, you can easily add an extra battery (which you can bungee-cord to the top of the battery rack). The stock battery packs are easily swappable.

The Interceptor and Comfort Cruiser are also offered in Step Through models:

Is it fast?

The Pedego Interceptor has the reputation of being one of the faster store-bought electric bikes available, and that has been its main selling point. I tested the Interceptor up to  over 20 -MPH top-speed on level ground without pedaling. See our Pedego Interceptor Owners report for more real-world speed and range data. The Pedego by today’s standards is fairly fast, although there are production bikes at lower price points that are  actually faster, such as the $2000  Juiced Rider ODK-II.

Simple Design

There is nothing technologically advanced about  the Pedego Interceptor. Nothing to make me say “WOW!”  It is all about using tried-and-true Chinese components, assembled, boxed  and sent in a cargo container, and sold at a relatively expensive price ($2,500). This is not an elegant purpose-built frame (read our definition) such as the Easy Motion, also the Stromer, or even the Currie Izip.

Instead, the Interceptor has the battery in a rack which is welded to the back of the bike . For an electric bike guru like me, this is the least impressive way to mount a battery pack, and is only one-step above a home-built bike with a Topeak rack in terms of aesthetics. Also having the battery pack in the rear, and the heavy direct drive hub motor also in the rear wheel, makes this bike noticeably back heavy. You will really notice this extra high-mounted weight when leaning the bike over to step onto it. Therefore, if you are a shorter rider, I really recommend the step-through frame.

The large controller is also mounted under the battery…this is a lot of stuff mounted in the rear end. If this were my bike I would put a pannier bag on the rack, and hide some of this ugliness while also moving some of the weight a little lower. At least the rack was welded on, instead of clamped on.

We would have expected by now that a mature design from an experienced company would have moved the battery pack to the frames triangle. It would be easy and inexpensive to make a heavy-duty plastic enclosure that matches the shape of the downtube, so the weight of the battery pack would be more centralized and lower. Such an enclosure would be backwards-compatible for the thousands of existing Pedego owners, even if the compartment was only used for gloves and a bike helmet.

Pedego frankly seems more focused on marketing than they are on offering an innovative product.

The Interceptor Rear End Screams “Electric Bike!”

The good news about this design, is that this is a decent-looking cruiser bike which is nicely color-coordinated.  Seems simple…but its hard to get a China electric bike to look right. Take a look at the Currie Zuma for an example of a design that falls flat and  gets color coordination wrong.

If you are looking at Pedego bikes consider  the Pedego City Commuter or the Pedego Trail Tracker at about the same price range, which offer  a slightly more innovative package.

The Pedego Advantage

Pedego, a five year old California company, has become one of the two biggest players in the USA ebike business (Currie Technologies is the biggest). Pedego follows a simple model and does it well:

• Made in China
• Reliable drive system (very few customer returns)
• Welded battery mount
• Reliable lithium-ion battery
• Fun color co-ordinated bikes
• Effective marketing campaign
• Excellent after-sale customer support

The Interceptor, one of the original Pedego models, follows that successful pattern. No doubt about it, the Interceptor is a simple bike, following a simply successful business model.

Pedego’s business model is focused on the word “fun.” Interestingly if you go to the Pedego website there is no technical specifications on the Interceptor. Nothing on how large the battery is, what components  it has etc..

So, for $2,500 what do you get in a bike that is really not that technologically special? Pedego does a great job of providing a reliable product, and the Interceptor is no exception. If the Interceptor does give you trouble, expect Pedego to be supportive during the one-year warranty. One year is admittedly short (many companies are now offering two years), but even after the warranty, getting replacement parts should be no problem. However, Pedego is a company that seems to charge big for replacement parts when you do need them. Read the next section for an example.

Battery Pack

The Pedego Interceptor uses a 48V / 10-Ah (480 watt hours) lithium-ion pack consisting of 18650-sized cells. I have heard from many sources that this battery pack is indeed reliable, and should last the average user at least a couple of years. The battery pack has a key on and off switch and a battery meter built in.

The very bad news about the Pedego battery pack is the company charges a large amount for a replacement pack or an extra pack.

Check out these prices:

• 36volt 10ah $595
• 36 volt 15ah $890
• 48 volt 10ah $795

To me these prices are ridiculously high, especially since I know how cheap they are getting these from China. Luckily there is atleast one ebay seller selling Pedego compatible packs for cheaper. However it just goes to show what to expect when it comes to getting replacement parts from Pedego…expect to pay high prices.

Hub Motor

The Pedego interceptor uses a direct drive hub motor. As you can see in the picture, this is a large hub motor, which is not very well hidden. It is not as compact as a geared hub motor, such as the motor used on some of the new Pedego models like the Trail Tracker and the City Commuter. (read our comparison between direct drives and geared hubs). The geared hub motor on the back of those other Pedego’s is hidden nicely behind the disc brake rotor. As you can see in the above photo, there is nothing hidden about the interceptor motor.

The advantage of the direct drive hub motor is that it has a single moving part and is therefore ultra reliable and robust. The Interceptor is hot-roddable by simply changing the controller to a unit with higher amperage, higher voltage, or both. (read our article on hot-rodding a hub motor)

Also the Interceptor motor is a bit quieter than a geared hub motor.

Handlebars

I like that Pedego uses real cruiser handlebars on their cruiser bikes. Other electric bike cruisers such as Currie’s Zuma use half cruiser bars for some weird reason (I think it is to save space in the retail stores). Also like the rest of  Pedego bikes,  good color choices and styling  are used.

The long “sweep-back” of these bars allows the rider to sit upright when just cruising. But if you stand up to pedal, your knees will still clear the front of the handlebars.

Controls:

There is nothing fancy about the Pedego control panel.  The red button is an on and off switch. A simple 3-light battery indicator is as cheap as they come, and only will give you a general idea how much battery you have left. It has a twist throttle with no pedal assist. The 6-speed is a click shifter, and is also controlled by left hand.

For this price point I would really like to see some kind of digital dash or pedal assist system, but the Interceptor has no fancy bells or whistles. Well, actually it has a bell on the left hand side…also notice the fake leather hand grips (skimpy for a $2,500 bike):

6 speed Shimano

The Pedego comes equipped with a Shimano 6-speed to aid with its pedal assist. I notice the gearing is high, which is great for a faster electric bike. At top speed, I was still able to comfortably pedal-assist the Interceptor up to speeds of around 30-MPH.

Suspension Seat

The cushy seat has springs built into it to ease the ride. Also there is a suspension seat post. On my test ride I could feel the suspension squishing but it was not a very nice compression. The set-up was  squeaky and not very effective. To me it was more annoying than effective, at smoothing out the bumps.

Kickstand

The Pedego utilizes a center kickstand which is a bit harder to activate than a standard side kickstand. The benefit of a center kickstand is that it is suppose to be more solid on uneven or soft terrain. While photographing this bike in level grass, I noticed that the bike tipped over onto its side pretty easily.

On a closer look at the center kickstand, it appears to be solid, but is actually pretty cheap and flimsy in its construction…a disappointment in a $2,500 bike. The components in general all around this bike are pretty cheap in quality. Pedals, crank set, seat, etc. Mixed with these parts are some nice quality name brand components such as the tires (Schwalbe) , brakes, and the shifting set.

 Brakes

Front Brakes: Avid BB7	Rear Brakes: Dia Compe Hub Brake
	;

Front Brake:  Avid BB7. Considered one of the best mechanical brakes on the market. To get better brakes you would have to go with hydraulic. Provide excellent stopping power (needed for a heavy electric bike, and they have easy tool-less adjustability.

Rear Brake:  Dia Compe hub brake: Dia Compe is the second biggest component builder in Japan, just behind Shimano and they make some quality stuff.  The hub brake provides adequate stopping power, but not as much as disc brakes would offer. Hub brakes have the benefit of being virtually maintenance free. All you need to do is squirt a syringe full of grease into the access port when the brake stops squeeking. No need to change pads ever.

Color Choices

Pedego is known for offering bikes in a wide variety of colors. The Interceptor, originally intended as a police bike,  used to come only in black or white. Today you can also order a Pedego Interceptor in red, or the very snazzy brushed aluminum. In addition you can choose what color of Schwable tire you want at no extra cost. You can get Black, brown, cream or grey. If you dealer does not have an Interceptor in the colors  you want, you can always order what you want , and just wait a few days. Also, it is possible to special order an Interceptor in any of the flashy colors that the Comfort Cruiser comes in.

My favorite color?…brushed aluminum which is also the Interceptor that Captain Kirk (William Shatner) of the Enterprise chose. I will take some of whatever that man has:

 Specifications

Motor: Brushless, gearless hub motor in rear wheel

Power: 500 watt continuous

Pedal Gears: Shimano 6-speed rear derailleur

Shifter: Shimano SIS 6-speed thumb shifter

Battery Size: 48V / 10-Ah, 480-WH ( read our watt hour story)

Tires: Schwalbe balloon, with free color upgrade

Throttle: Twist grip

Frame: 6061 aluminum, in standard and step-through

Handlebars: Cruiser type with Promax Stem

Battery indicator: Simple 3-light system on throttle

Brakes: Avid BB7 mechanical disc (front), Dia-Comp hub brake (rear)

Measurements: 46″ Wheelbase,  Height 33″-39″

Weight: 56 pounds

Warranty: one year

Price: $2,5oo Retail

Competition Comparison

If you are considering the Interceptor, you might also want to take a look at the  Motiv 48V Cruiser bike, which offers a very similar cruiser electric  bike, with geared hub motor, mid mounted battery pack, upgraded color choices, with a longer warranty and a lower price.

Stay tuned for our upcoming California Electric Cruiser shoot-out, comparing these electric cruiser bikes.

Conclusion

For me, the Interceptor is not a very exciting ebike, and does not offer enough for its $2,500 price tag, and as of 2013 it has become outdated by some nicer bikes in the same price range, including models with a purpose-built frame and geared hub motors as an option. The Interceptor established itself back when it was one of the few electric bikes on the market, but…in today’s market they badly need an update to keep up with new offerings in the ebike scene.

Many thanks to the nice folks at Electric Bikes LA for loaning me the Interceptor to review.

Read a thorough owners report on the Pedego Interceptor

The Stromer ST1 is one of the most exciting electric bikes to be released and one of the best production ebikes I have gotten to test so far.  A complete redesign from last years bike, the Stromer ST1 sports higher quality components than last year’s Stromer, and a price tag of $3,500-$4,000.  For this extra price you are getting a boat load of special features including: Magura hydraulic brakes, regenerative braking, carbon forks, purpose built frame, torque sensor, and all around quality components. I rode last years Stromer, and was not that impressed (read review).  It seems like Stromer, which has since then had an ownership change, has decided to step up their game and take some real gambles by offering a fast and expensive electric bike with some unique features  to the public. Is it worth the high price?  We will take a close look in this review.

Stromer is offering  two new models. I tested both the  ”Elite”  and the “Platinum” versions of the Stromer ST1.  Since these bikes are very similar, I will try to cover both in the same review. Let me start by stating the differences between these two models.

 Elite and Platinum…little differences

The Elite bikes comes with a 9-speed Shimano Sora, an 11.5 amp-hour battery, and has a top speed of 20-MPH. The Elite has more low end torque and is  a little better for hill climbing. The Elite comes with the carbon rigid fork only. The Platinum comes with a 27-speed Shimano XT, 14.5 amp-hour battery and has a top speed of 30-MPH. The Platinum does not have as much low-end torque, but for accelerates from 10-MPH and up, it’s faster than the Elite.  Their controllers hardware is the same, but with different software for the Elite and Platinum.  Basically the Elite has a power cut off  once the bike reaches  20mph, and the Platinum has no cut off. The motors are wound different for the Platinum and Elite, the Elite is designed for torque and acceleration, the Platinum for top speed.

The Stromer ST1 Elite is $3,500 and the Platinum is $4,000.

9 speed vs 27 speeds

I am a big believer in the idea that an electric bike rarely  needs more than 9 speeds unless the battery dies. The 27 speed on the Platinum requires a front set of derailleurs with three chainrings, an extra shifting cable, and an extra shifter on the handlebars. This adds to the  complexity of  riding and maintaining the bike.

I think the electric bike industry should take  a page from the fixie movement (no-geared bikes)….more gears aren’t always better.

For this and other reasons mentioned later in this review, I actually would advocate saving the $500 and going with the Elite.

Purpose Built Frame

The most special thing about the Stromer compared to other ebikes is its purpose built frame.  Its expensive for an ebike company to hide the battery pack in the frame this well. The Stromer features a swappable  battery pack in the downtube. It has a key lock to keep it from being stolen. Only a few electric bike manufacturers go the route of a purpose built frame, and it definitely is a big improvement over the most common option of welding a rear mounted battery pack.

The purpose built frame makes  it possible to provide perfect balance, with the weight of the battery up front, and the motor in the rear. Also it makes for ultra clean awesome looking ebike. You will be hard pressed to find an ebike that looks better than this one.  Maybe the Neo Jumper?

The Stromer is offered in 3 sizes of frame, something most ebike manufacturer don’t bother with.  This way you are able to get the right sized frame for your “standover” height, handlebar reach, and the proper pedal-stroke posture. It is attention to detail like this that makes the Stromer ST1 so special.

Both the Elite and the Platinum are offered in a  step-through frame. If you are a short person or a lady, the step through could be a no brainer. I really like step-throughs in electric bikes. Remember, an electric bike weighs a lot more than a traditional bike and you never feel the weight more than when you are stepping on and off the bike. If you do not mind the aesthetic looks of the step through, it is a good option. Both frames are plenty strong and come with a 10-year warranty.

Battery Packs and Range

To fit into that  purpose built frame , the Stromer has proprietary battery packs consisting of 18650-format Samsung cells in a unique configuration that fits in the downtube of the bike.  They are offered in both the purple colored  Elite version and the Gold Platinum version.

Samsung offers some of the highest quality cells available for electric bikes, and it shows Stromer’s commitment to quality that they spent the extra money to equip their battery pack with name brand cells. For the end user this will result in a battery pack that will last for years to come. In fact the Stromer battery pack is warrantied for a industry leading 3 years.

The purple:  36V 11.5-Ah, 414 watt hours, Cost:  $549

The gold: 36V 14.5-Ah, 522-WH, Cost: $699

One important thing to realize is that either size of these battery packs will work in both the  Platinum or Elite. The Stromer battery packs are fairly small and easily backpackable if you want to ride with an extra one, to double your range.

Stromer advertises a 25-50 mile range on the Platinum which seems like a fair estimate. Thank you Stromer for being honest and not exaggerating your numbers.

On the Elite, Stromer advertises a 20-40 mile range.

New Stickers and New 30-MPH Top Speed!

Stromer lost the Swiss flag stickers it previously wore, and instead has very nice understated “Stromer” stickers. This is a simple but effective upgrade in itself.

And most exciting, where other ebike companies have several cheesey warning stickers plastered on their bikes (wear a helmet, abide traffic laws etc)  the Stromer ST1 Platinum comes with a warning sticker that says  off road use only. (see above)

What an awesome sticker!  That is because its 30-MPH claimed speed breaks the 20-MPH federal limit.

It is so exciting that a big electric bike manufacturer has decided to claim such a high top speed, and openly declare their bike is “illegal” for road use. Pretty ballsy for a bike that is obviously intended for road use.

Now if you plan to ride your illegal Stromer on the street, read this article and peel off that sticker. Stromer claims the sticker is “tamper resistant.” But I found with a little help from my fingernail I was able to peel a sticker right off.

That’s the good news. The bad news is I am not sure if the Stromer Platinum can fairly be considered a 30-MPH bike. I am not even sure if the Platinum would be deemed  illegal if put to a speed test. It is serious work to get this bike up to 30-MPH, and without peddling…forget about it. The federal law says theres a 20-MPH limit without pedaling. It feels like the Stromer Platinum would just barely break 20-MPH without any peddling,

On the other hand, the Stromer ST1 Elite hits its claimed 20-MPH top speed with little pedaling effort.  These two bikes are a lot closer together  performance wise than you would assume from reading  claimed speed numbers. My guess is that under “real world” conditions, the Elite is a 25-MPH bike, and the Platinum a 28-MPH bike. Where as Stromer calls the Elite a 20-MPH bike (low balling estimate) and the Platinum a 30-MPH bike (high balling estimate).

In any case its awesome that a major ebike company has decided to release an ebike that breaks the federal speed limit. Great job Stromer! Now on to the Killjoy:

Stromer, You, and the Police

So does this mean you can get into trouble with the Police for riding your Stromer ST1 platinum?  Most likely not.  I believe this sticker is put on the bike to protect Stromer as a manufacturer  from liability of  selling a bike that is capable of 30-MPH.  But if you want to be on the safe side, and you plan on riding this bike on the street, the first thing I would do is peel off that sticker. The last thing you want is proof that your electric bike is illegal.

Most police  do not know the law when it comes to electric bikes, and if they did they have no way of telling if your bike is within federal limits (does it go over 20-MPH without pedaling? Does it burn more than 750 watts).  I know several people who ride 6,000 watt plus 50-MPH ebikes, and they put a “750 watt” sticker, just in case they are pulled over by the Police….and just claim they can pedal really fast.

Read our story on how to get away with riding an illegal ebike on the streets

Read our complete story on the legality of Ebikes in the USA.

Look No throttle!

A 30-MPH claimed top speed is pretty ridiculously cool. The next brazen thing I noticed about this new Stromer is that it has no throttle. That will make many people scratch their heads and make many people opt out. This bike is pedal assist only. No way to cheat this bike, you have to put in your fair share of pedaling if you want to go fast. This appears to be the trend for factory E-bikes from the big manufacturers.

Most high end electric bikes (including last years Stromer) provide both throttle and pedal assist options, and they let the rider choose. Usually, riders will prefer using a throttle because it is less work…and lets face it most Americans are lazy (especially the type of American who spends $4K on an electric bike).

Stromer has imposed their  ethics on the people, by deciding that pedal-assist is the “right way” to go, and eliminating the throttle all together from their bike. This reminds me of a friend of mine who runs a popular electric bike store in San Francisco (Brett Thurber) who not only does not believe in throttles on electric bikes, but exerts his will by trying  not to offer  throttle controlled bikes in his store.

For a bicycle purist, pedal-assist makes a lot of sense.

Pedal-assist  (sometimes called “pedelec”), greatly improves range because you have to assist the bike during start up which is the most energy-draining time for a hub motor which is wound for high speed. Most riders using pedal-assist with a good torque-sensing system will get a 50 percent range increase over just using a throttle. They will also pedal a lot less in pedal mode, than they would in pedal-assist mode.

I will be honest…I am a throttle guy. However, the Stromer made a believer out of me concerning the beauty of pedal-assist. Because it does not  use  a throttle, Stromer was able to do away with the cheap hand grips that are synonymous with most electric bikes and instead uses some really nice hand grips that do a great job of softening the ride and adding to the feeling of control. Riding the Stromer with pedal-assist felt liberating and I found myself wanting a pedal-assist bike. I would definitely get in better shape if I rode one of these instead of my throttle bikes.

Also, you can now ride at full speed with no hands! 30-MPH, sipping a drink and waving at gawkers…what a thrill.

Torque Sensor

The Stromer features a torque sensor built into the rear drop out (most are located in the bottom bracket).  I rode last years Stromer (read review) and it was not nearly as clean of a pedal-assist feeling. It felt jerky the way the power came on and off, and was a constant reminder that you are riding an electric bike. I opted to ride with throttle only on that bike (last years Stromer offered both pedal-assist and throttle). The ST1 seems to have alleviated that problem with some really nice firmware that bring s the power on in a nice and smooth transition.

A torque sensor is an expensive feature, only offered on the highest-end electric bike,s and is different from a cadence sensor which only measures how fast your are pedaling…and not how hard you are peddling. Read our complete  article on torque sensors. 

The Stromer torque sensor feels great the way it applies power. You feel bionic when you ride on this bike, and if you try…you can forget you are riding an electric bike and just feel like a well conditioned athlete.

Carbon Fork and Schwalbe  tires

Last years Stromer used cheap suspension forks and I was not impressed with the ride or the look.

The Stromer ST1 is the first production electric bike I know of to come with a carbon fork.  Where as most electric bike companies are suck in the 90′s and bringing bikes with cheap front suspension forks and cheesy Chinese suspension seat posts, the Stromer goes with a slick carbon model. The idea of carbon forks is that they provide a little bit of spring. Also they add to the aerodynamic look of the bike.

The Stromer also has nice thick  Big Ben Schwabe tires, that do a great job of absorbing bumps. This, and the before mentioned hand-grips make for a very smooth ride. Not at any point during my test ride did I wish I had suspension, even when going up and down curves. For road riding this is a  helluva sweet package, and leaves nothing to be desired….

It should be noted that all Stromer ST1 Platinum buyers will be offered the option of a SR Suntour front suspension fork at no extra cost. I only recommend this option if you plan to do a lot of off-road riding. As described above, I feel the Carbon rigid fork is too sweet a package to opt out of.

Magura Hydraulic Brakes and Regenerative Braking

I have to say this is the nicest braking package I have seen on an electric bike.  Not only do you get Magura hydraulic disc brakes that have plenty of stopping power, but the brake levers have cut off switches, that when activated not only shut off the motor, but also activate regenerative braking which will add up to 20% range to your ride. (read our article on the low down on regenerative braking). Regen will also add so much to the electric braking effect, that your brake pads will not get as hot on a long downhill, which is a great safety feature.

One bothersome about the Stromer St1 brakes is that they do squeak.  I have experienced this on multiple ST1′s I have ridden, and have heard this reported from other riders.  The squeak is not so bad but definitely audible and on long downhills can be annoying (thank heavens for regen brakes which are silent). I have heard from one bike mechanic  that upgrading to a higher quality brake pad can help.

Proprietary Dashboard

The Stromer dashboard is a clean looking package designed just for the Stromer. It offers four levels of assist, shows the speed or the time of day, and also the very important battery charge-level indicator.

High Quality components

One thing I notice is that many ebike companies have a few name-brand components, but then really cheap out when it comes to random components such as pedals, stem, crank set etc. I was impressed with the Stromers component choices. This bike has quality components all the way around including the FSA stem and crank set, nice pedals, nice hand grips, good rims, etc. You can tell that Stromer was taken over by a bicycle company (BPM) because this bike is build with quality bicycle parts.

Gearless Hub Motor

Where as most of the newly designed electric bikes are using geared hub motors, the Stromer has decided to stick with a gearless hub motor…a  500 watt hub motor. Notice this motor is fairly large, compared to the geared motor on the Neo Jumper for example. The direct drive hub motor on the Stromer is larger and slightly heavier than a geared hub motor but offers the advantage of  being more reliable, quieter, and offers regenerative braking.

The motors on the Elite and the Platinum are wound slightly differently. The Elite is wound for torque and acceleration, the Platinum is wound for speed.

Usually a direct drive motor is super reliable because it has only one moving part. However, the Stromer motor has the controller built into it, greatly reducing its complexity and also its chances to fail.  This seems to be  the same motor (Ultra Motor) which is used on the A2b and does not have the best track record when it comes to reliability. However, a new Stromer owner will be relieved to know that the motor is covered by a 3 year warranty.

The direct drive motor has the advantage that it is extremely quiet.

Accessories

Stromer is offering accessory kits and option like the “City Package” pictured above which includes  front and rear fenders, custom rear rack and a B&M or Super Nova front and rear light system.

The City package cost $200-300 depending on how bright you want your lights to be.

Ride Report

Riding this bike on the street, knowing it is  a law breaker, I was a little nervous that it would give me that familiar thrill ride associated with fast built home bikes I have ridden. Not so. The acceleration on the Stromer is very mild, and if anything, maybe even…disappointing? However it is definitely an ultra smooth experience.

What can  I say, you put together all the components listed above, and this bike just rides great.  I was very impressed with the ride quality, like night and day compared to last year’s Stromer. It accelerates fairly slowly and takes a minute to get to top speed, so it doesn’t have the feel of speed that some electric bikes do, where you can just peg the throttle wide open. But it does have that bicycle feel going for it, where you feel like a well conditioned athlete riding a well tuned performance bike. I heard no annoying jankiness or squeaks while test-riding this  bike, even when going up and down curves. The Stromer ST1 is built solid.

Everything together, the braking system, the torque sensors, the geometry, nice tires, and the quality components all the way around, really make this bike a pleasure to ride. Of course I wish the acceleration was faster, but this bike will be fast enough for most everyone else, and is faster than most every other production bike on the market. To get faster than this you will have to go with an expensive Stealth Bomber or Optibike.

Stromer Warranty and Replacement Parts

Stromer is now offering a 10-year warranty on its frame, and 3-year warranty on all other components including battery. This is an industry leading warranty and on an electric bike, the warranty is extremely important. For example the replacement cost on the Platinum battery pack is $750.

One contingency to consider: Stromer has not yet established itself as a big player in the USA market…yet. The only reason for this is the high retail price of their bikes, in a less than stellar economy. One possible contingency is that Stromer could bite the bullet and end up in the ebike graveyard if these high-priced bikes fail to sell. Very few ebike companies are prospering in the USA market and more are failing than are succeeding.  Stromer seems solid, especially now that it has been bought out by a major bicycle company (BMC), but…you never know.

Because the Stromer has many proprietary parts (custom battery pack, etc), if they did go out of business down the road, it could be a big problem to get replacement parts. When you spend this much money on a quality electric bike, you probably plan on keeping it for many years, even decades. Getting replacement parts when you need them is critical.

Competition Comparison

There is only one bike that I know of that compares to the quality (and high cost) of the Stromer and thats the Neo line up by Easy Motion especially their Neo Jumper (read review). If you are considering the Stromer ST1, take a look at the Neo Jumper, which offers many of the same features plus full-suspension for the same price as the Stromer ST1 Platinum. The general quality of components and the speed of the Stromer beats out the Neo. So its really just a question if you are into full-suspension or not.

Conclusion

Stromer has really raised the bar, and has come to market with a potential game changer. The only draw back to this bike is the price. Offered at $3,500 for the Elite  and $4,000 for the Platinum, I feel this bike is well worth the extra money instead of  the $2,500 generic Chinese-made bikes which are currently flooding the USA market. The day before I test rode this bike, I test rode the Pedego Interceptor (read review) and really, there is no comparing these two bikes…not even in the same ball park. The Stromer is designed in Switzerland and made in Taiwan. As bicycle people know there is a big difference between China-made and Taiwan-made in terms of quality. Whether you are spending $2,600 or $3,500 you want your electric bike to last a lifetime. The Stromer ST1 is so high quality, it could stand the test of time and be a prized possession for decades to come.

If money is an issue, I actually prefer the $3,500 ST1 Elite over the $4,000 Platinum. The only big difference between these two models is the slightly larger battery pack, and you can always add the bigger battery pack later. I prefer the 9 speeds on the Elite over the 27 speeds on the Platinum. And I do not see a big performance difference when riding these two bikes side by side.

The Stromer ST1 ( Platinum or Elite) is probably the best electric bike I have reviewed so far under $5,000.  It is simply a super sweet package and leaves little to be desired. I will list its stand-out features, many of which are not offered in any other electric bike:

• Purpose-built frame offered in 4 different sizes, and 2 styles (standard top-tube and step through)
• Ultra clean looking bike
• Proprietary battery pack, consisting of quality Samsung cells.
• Industry leading braking system, which includes regenerative braking and Magura hydraulic brakes
• Slick looking carbon fork
• Schwalbe Big Ben tires, the nicest tires I have seen on a production ebike
• 30-MPH top speed on the Platinum
• torque sensor with improved software programming that provides a smooth power delivery
• Industry leading 3-year warranty
• Obvious quality of components all the way around on this bike

Now let me struggle to come up with a list of cons:

• High Sticker Price
• Relatively heavy at 62/65  pounds.
• No throttle will be a big turn off for some buyers.
• Motor and controller are built into the hub, which is not as bulletproof as keeping the two separate.
• Proprietary battery will be hard to replace if company goes under
• Direct drive hub motor is larger, heavier and less stealthy than a geared hub motor
• No suspension on base models

Manufacturer Specifications:

Check out the photo gallery below, click on a pic for a high resolution image. My adventures with the Stromer St1.

The huge global bicycle company Specialized invited 30 members of the media to an exclusive ride-event in San Francisco which included: breakfast, a presentation by the Specialized engineers, a talk by the Specialized founder, a ride through San Francisco on 30 Specialized Turbos, and they capped it off with a nice lunch. Arriving at the meeting place, I noticed that the fleet of Specialized Turbo bikes were lined up on a red carpet in an impressive (and very expensive) formation. At $6000 each that is a lot of cash.

This press event is way beyond what I have seen or heard of any electric bike company ever doing. Specialized is big bucks, and knows how to throw a good  party.

Let’s move on to this  exciting $6,000 28-MPH bike.

Purpose-Built from the ground up

Specialized uses a purpose built frame (read our definition). This entire bike was designed from the ground up with 5 years of development time, using a team of engineers in Switzerland to develop what Specialized views as the worlds best (and fastest) electric bike. Is it really? Is it worth the $6,000? Read on. In any case, many components were custom made for this bike, most notably the battery, the motor, the controller, the dashboard, the rims, the tires, and even the Charger. Specialized pulled out all the stops on this bike.

We will look at all the features to this bike in detail in this review.

The key benefit to this bike is that it can achieve close to 28-MPH, while still weighing-in at a very light 47.5 pounds.  To be called “light weight” is a big achievement for any electric bike with any decent speed or range.

Take a look at the world lightest (17 pound)  electric mountain bike

A new category of bike

The Specialized Turbo is part of a new breed of electric bikes that we have seen lately.

• Battery built into downtube
• Pedelec only
• Rear hub motor
• expensive

Most E-bike “assemblers” have chosen cheap components for a thrown-together made in China package. The Turbo is quality-engineered and developed to be an electric bike with high-quality parts all the way around. At $6,000 this bike is not cheap, and it has a published top-speed of 28-MPH, breaking the 20-MPH speed limit that most E-bike manufacturers conform to.  Making a bike that specialized admits (actually hypes up) that it is illegal (by federal US law) takes balls. Hats off to Specialized for offering a law breaker to the public.

Read our tips on how to ride an illegal fast bike on the street and not get nabbed

Battery pack

To make the bike look this stealthy and sleek, Specialized Turbo decided to go with a smaller battery pack, so that the downtube does not look much different from a regular bikes frame. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of watt hours and range. 343 watt-hours is very small for a $6,000 electric bike, and regardless of manufacturer claims, you will not get as far on this pack as you would get on a larger pack on a different bike. (read our story on calculating range)

It is a very nice package that locks into the downtube very elegantly, is removable, and is made from high quality LiNiMnCoO2 18650 cells, which should provide a long life span. Before buying this bike I would want to know exactly what the warranty on this battery pack is, and what the replacement cost is…key info that Specialized (as of this writing) is being  vague about.

No throttle!

The Turbo is pedelec only. It has a digital interface on the handlebars which allows you to select which level of pedal assist you want…turbo, eco, no assist, and regen. Regen can also be activated by applying the rear brake.

There is a growing trend worldwide of using the pedelec configuration for new E-bike models. This is because many countries have conflicting and confusing laws concerning E-bikes. By producing an E-bike that will only provide power when you are pedaling, many legal conflicts will be avoided across a broad range of countries that they hope to sell many E-bikes in.

Torque Sensor

The Specialized Turbo utilizes a torque sensor, instead of a throttle. This means the bike applies power depending on how hard you pedal. This is much different (and better) than a cadence sensor which applies power based on simply how fast you are pedaling. (read our compete article on torque sensors). As would be expected on such a quality bike, whatever model of torque sensor it is using, it is a very good one. Power comes on seamlessly and smoothly…as if you are Superman. You can easily forget you are on an electric bike when pedaling this baby, and simply feel like you are an incredible athlete.

Digital Dash

Initially Specialized announced a wireless dash with  a wireless control on the handle bar.  They did away with this plan and now offer a basic wired dash. Here you can select what speed mode you want to operate in, and also see what speed your going and how much battery you have left.  Battery life is displayed through what percentage is left, and when you hit 0 your battery pack dies. This is more sophisticated than any other battery read out  I have seen on any other production electric bike because it is actually measuring how much juice is being used rather than just measuring voltage and estimating battery. I watched this display during the ride and it really seemed to be counting down from 100 based on real usage. This is better than the Stromer and Easy Motion displays for example which just estimate percentage.

The Turbo also has a little thumb button on the handlebars where you can select which level of assist you want.  The 4 levels of assist are turbo, eco, no assist, and regen.

Tires and wheels

Specialized has chosen to go with their Armadillo 700C road bike tire, which is completely smooth like a slick. It is a rugged and puncture-resistant tire designed for on road use only, and its design has maximum efficiency and low rolling resistance in mind when riding on pavement. This tire is a rough ride compared to most ebike tires I have ridden on, and does not have good traction for anything but ideal road conditions.

It’s interesting that Specialized developed a rim just for the Turbo. They wanted a 700C road bike rim…but strong enough for a 27-MPH electric bike, so they developed a rim which is a cross between the strength of downhill rim and the size of 700C tire. This also gives the Turbo a slightly higher gearing since a 700C is equivalent to a 27″ tire, a bit larger than the standard 26″ used on most electric bikes.

Another Specialized innovation is they decided to custom-develop a 20mm thru-axle as standard for both the front and rear (like the axles on a fancy front suspension fork). The purpose of this is to make the axle stronger and lighter and supposedly make the bike corner better. This also means that if you ever want to replace the rear motor, you have to stay with the Specialized hub motor, because it is the only hub motor in the industry that will mount to this type of axle.

Hub Motor

The Specialized Turbo uses a proprietary gearless hub motor, which is smaller and lighter than most comparable gearless  hub motors that I have seen (such as the Bionx or the Stromer). The gearless hub should be fairly reliable, and allows regenerative braking (where a geared motor wouldn’t). Although the motor is publicly rated at 250 watts, I feel this is just to get past European regulations (250 watts is the maximum output allowed in Europe) but really, this motor is putting out more than 500 watts continuous, and even more than that at peak watts.

I would also comment that this is the nicest looking hub motor I have ever seen. It’s  obvious that this one was not designed by Chinese engineers.

Regenerative Braking and Hydraulic Brakes

The Specialized Turbo has a rare feature, regenerative brakes, and they kick on when you depress the rear brake handle. The regenerative braking adds a subtle stopping power to slow you down gradually. If you need a faster stop, you depress harder on the brake handle and the hydraulic disc-brakes kick in. If used wisely, regenerative braking will increase your range on average about 10% and will drastically reduce the wear on your hydraulic brake pads. (read our article on regenerative brakes.)

The Specialized Turbo uses Magura MT Carbon hydraulic brakes, very similar to the Stromer brakes (minus the carbon). I noticed on the test bikes that the brakes were a little squeaky. I have heard that this is because of the cheap brake pads that come with these high end brakes. If you buy this bike, and the squeak bothers you, I would recommend upgrading to better brake pads.

Shifting components

For the pedal gears, the Specialized uses a SRAM 10 speed with rear derailleur only, and a double tap shifter system. These components performed flawlessly on my test ride and provided a seamless shifting experience.

Nice charging system

The Turbo comes with a completely silent charger with a magnetic hook up much like an Apple Laptop…It takes 2 hours to charge the bike to full (much of this is because of the tiny 350 watt hour battery pack). The same charger will charge the battery through a charge port in the bike, or with the battery removed from the bike.

How fast is it really?

Specialized, with its marketing machine, hyped this bike as being “the worlds fastest electric bike”, a claim I think is a marketing blunder. The Specialized is a long  way from the fastest electric bike (read our story on 10 fastest electric bikes)

And it’s not even fast by production bike standards (read out list of 10 fastest production bikes.)

Also see our list of  illegal fast ebikes available in USA for 2013

For my test ride at 190 pounds pedaling hard the maximum speed I could achieve was 25mph.  I am guessing without pedaling (if i could go throttle only) this bike would not break 20mph.  So not only is this bike not the fastest ebike currently available, it might not be as fast as the average $2000 ebike which is a disappointing reality. USA customers appreciate fast bikes, and will be let down if they spend $6000 to buy the “fastest ebike on the planet” only to have their downtube blown off  by a $1000 home built bike.  Check out an example of a 45mph  home built bike based on a Specialized mountain bike frame.

Ride impressions

The Specialized Turbo has a lot of roadbike DNA in it. Aggressive riding geometry, uncomfortable (but light) road bike seat, and the steering is quick, so…you have to stay on the ball at high speed. It is a bit too aggressive for daily commuting, and riding 25-MPH on this bike feels a little fast and squirreley. Bigger and fatter tires might make a big difference on the jarring feel this bike has.

Real world range

The path these 30 bikes took on a test-ride was 10 miles. It was a blazing fast ride with a former Tour De France rider setting the pace, and a lot of bicycle industry people keeping up. All bikes were in the highest setting “turbo” throughout the ride. The path we took was moderately hilly.

On this ride my bike used 51% of its battery on the 10 mile circuit. Out of the 30 riders, three ran out of juice before reaching the end, and had to pedal the rest of the way. This is real world ebike range. You will be lucky to get 20 miles out of a small battery pack like this, if you want to run in the “turbo” mode.

If you really milk it, you could maybe get a 30-mile range using a very moderate electric assist and pedaling a lot.

Always remember when it comes to electric bikes and company claimed ranges, you can just turn the motor off and get a “200 mile range”. Range numbers are often exaggerated, because so much depends on rider input and riding conditions when it comes to ebikes.

Fit and finish

Glossy red with really nice-looking CNC elements. It is a very beautiful and fancy-looking bike whose fit and finish is second to no electric bike I can think of.  Barely any visible wires, with any needed wires running through the frame.

Worth $6,000?

Of course, every high-end electric bike is nice but it all comes down to…is it worth the asking price?  $6000 is the biggest negative this bike has, and unfortunately it will be insurmountable for most buyers.

Many people will be willing to spend this kind of money because of the quality of this bike and that it has the Specialized name behind it.  Many Specialized bikes already cost $6000 and are pedal power only and plenty of people buy them. There is no bigger, better established name than Specialized offering an electric bike in the USA. The idea that you can potentially go to any Specialized dealer and have your bike warranty supported will be a relief to many potential customers.

To me, a lot will depend on what warranty is offered with this bike, what a replacement (or extra) battery pack will cost, and where will you be able to get this bike repaired?

As an electric bike geek, in my opinion this bike is not worth the $6000 asking price. It simply does not have any features that blow me away, and it is not powerful enough (250 watt motor) or have far enough of a range (350 watt hour battery)  for me to fathom buying  this bike at even half the asking price.

But I am an electric bike guy, and know what the options are:

Competition Comparison

Is the Specialized Turbo a big upgrade to the Stromer St1 Platinum or the Neo Jumper full suspension both of which retail for $4,000, a full $2,000 cheaper than the Turbo? I do not believe it is…since both those bikes offer sizable advantages over the Specialized Turbo. The Stromer Platinum comes with a battery pack that is 522 watt hours compared to the Turbo’s  342 (40% more range). And, the Neo Jumper offers a quality full-suspension frame.

The Turbo does have its advantages. It is a high quality bike with a solid company behind it, and it does have a lot of little features such as ultra high-end components, integrated lights, which the Neo-Jumper and Stromer do not have. For bicycle weight weenie types its hard to beat the Specialized Turbos 47 pound weight, a full 15 pounds lighter than the Stromer ST1.

The morning of the test ride I took  a Stromer  ST1 I have been testing  to the San Francisco meeting place.  Ironically, I ended up taking the same route along the Embarcadero as we would on our Specialized Turbo  group test ride, and I took the same ride home on the Stromer. My opinion is there is little difference between the way these two bikes perform and handle. In fact the ST1 is a little faster (so much for Specialized being the worlds fastest ebike) and has significantly more range with its battery pack that is 40% larger. The Stromer comes with a 3 year warranty.

The ST1 beats the Turbo in both top speed and range, which are the key attributes of an electric bike to USA buyers. Both are high quality bikes.  The big plus the Turbo has is it is somehow a full 15 pounds lighter than the Stromer.

Specialized spent 5 years developing this bike and it has been available in Europe for about a year, and it  would have been better if they would have beat the Stromer St1 to  the USA market but they did not. Between these 2 bikes I feel the Stromer will be an easy pick for most buyers.

Also, for a fraction of what the Specialized Turbo costs you could build a helluva home build bike if you have those kind of skills. Heck for this price you could pay an expert builder to build the bike for you. (see our  Super Commuter story)

Pros and Cons of the Specialized Turbo

Pros

• Super elegant bike with nice fit and finish
• Good company name behind it
• top notch components all the way around
• excellent battery indicator
• Decent speed with hard pedaling

Cons

• $6000 price point is very high
• 350 watt hour battery pack is small and offers limited range
• Not good for any off road riding
• slick tires can be slippery
• Bike has agressive road bike feel that can be uncomfortable

Conclusion

A great electric bike, but I feel not worth the money…especially considering recent competition in the Stromer St1 and the Neo Jumper. I hope Specialized either lowers their prices or upgrades the ebike to make it a better USA competitor (bigger battery pack and more powerful geared hub motor). I really believe that Specialized should step back, take another look, and come to market with what they initially intended….the worlds fastest production electric bike.

Specialized should take a look at the Audi electric bike for inspiration. You simply don’t get very fast using a 250-watt hub motor and a puny 350 watt hour battery, and the marketing hype with a slick-looking bike do not make up for it.  A $2,000 run of the mill 48V Pedego or Currie bike would smoke this thing in both top-speed and range, and that’s pretty pathetic. Specialized could have done way better and released a real game-changer. As is, I bet this bike makes barely a ripple in the USA ebike market.

There are four  major attributes most people want in an electric bike (in order of importance): they want it fast, they  want it to have long range, they want it to be lightweight, and  they also want it to be affordable. You can sometimes have 3 of these things in a store-bought bike, but its impossible (as of this writing) to get all 4. The $6,000 Specialized somehow misses the mark on 3 0f the 4. It is lightweight…and it is super pretty to look at if you want to add that to the list.

Also because this ebike is expensive, and expensive looking, do not expect to lock it outside and go into a building for an hour with a free heart…not in the USA at least. This bike will be a bike thief’s jackpot…a big downside for a bike being labeled as a commuting “game changer”.

Specialized Turbo Specifications

• Frame: Turbo alloy, integrated down tube battery, internal cable routing, tapered head tube, X12 through-axle rear dropouts, full mudguard/rack mounts
• Fork: Turbo custom alloy fork, tapered steerer, Q15 dropouts, mudguard eyelets and lowrider mounts
• Headset: 1-1/8 inch Campagnolo-style upper cartridge bearing, 1-1/2 inch lower integrated
• Stem: CrankBrothers Cobalt, alloy, custom polished anodised black
• Handlebar: Flat top riser bar, alloy, 680mm wide, 31.8mm, polished black finish
• Grips: Specialized BG XCT lock-on, integrated right-hand side remote
• Front brake: Magura MT Carbon hydraulic disc, one-piece forged caliper, 180mm Storm rotor
• Rear brake: Magura MT Carbon hydraulic disc, one-piece forged caliper, 180mm Storm rotor, integrated switch to activate regenerative braking
• Brake levers: Magura MT Carbon
• Rear derailleur: SRAM X0, 10-speed, long cage
• Shift lever: SRAM DoubleTap flat bar trigger, 10-speed (right side only)
• Cassette: SRAM PG 1030, 10-speed, 11-36t, black finish
• Chain: KMC X10 NP, black
• Crankset: FSA Gossamer Turbo BB30, alloy, 1×10, 4mm carbon guard
• Chainring: FSA 48t alloy, 110mm BCD, five-arm
• Bottom bracket: FSA 386 Mega Evo outer-style, includes BB tool
• Pedals: SBC-10 platform
• Rims: Custom Specialized 700c extra strong
• Front hub: Formula SP9177, alloy bolt-on disc, 15mm through-axle, 36-hole
• Spokes: DT Champion stainless steel, 2mm (front); DT Alpine, stainless steel, 2.34/2mm (rear)
• Front tyre: Specialized Electrak, 700x45c, wire bead, Armadillo protection, 60tpi
• Front tyre: Specialized Electrak, 700x45c, wire bead, Armadillo protection, 60tpi
• Inner tubes: Kenda PV 32, presta valves
• Saddle: Specialized Body Geometry Targa Pro, 155mm, carbon rails
• Seatpost: Specialized Turbo, carbon, 30,9mm, 400mm
• Seat clamp: JD, anodised black
• Motor: Specialized Turbo Direct Drive rear hub motor, 250 watt, waterproof connector
• User Interface: Illuminated display, wireless remote thumb control, integrated grip mount
• Battery: Turbo Integrated down tube battery, self-locking key release, on-board or outside bike charge capable, LED power indicators, start-up diagnostic feature, magnetic connectors, 342Wh capacity
• Charger: SBC Turbo quick-charge, magnetic connectors, top-view LED indicator, custom fanless design for total silence, two hours for full charge

owners manual: http://turbo.specialized.com/media/assets/locale/en_us/en-turbo-manual.pdf

May 1, 2013, written by Ron/Spinningmagnets

I haven’t written about the GNG Gen2 drive yet (It’s been out for about a year), because I was waiting to hear about which parts needed upgrading, what the actual performance was, and also because…very few people had bought this kit (so the available info was scarce). Quite a few buyers who have heard about the GNG kits opted for the 1,000W-2,100W  big-brother kit (article about the GNG 1,000W here), that has proven itself to be a very capable and versatile off-roader.

The GNG-Gen2 kit featured here is listed as the 350W/400W brushless kit depending on which voltage you choose.

The GNG 1,000W kit has gotten most of the recent attention (listed on their site as the brushless 450W), because most of the experimenters at endless-sphere.com really love the feel of higher powered systems, but…if you are someone who actually wants a street-legal system at 36V X 20A = 720W, then this kit has a lot going for it (when the battery is full, the slightly higher voltage will provide the full USA-legal 750W)

The kit + shipping price is listed as $402 for the 8-week sea+truck shipment, and $446 for the one-week air-freight. Price does not include the bicycle or battery/charger.

Two Gen2 choices, which to buy?

There are two Kv’s of motor available. The 36V version, and the 48V version. Both provide the same RPMs to the crank. This is because the 48V version was wound with more turns of thinner wire, so it will spin slower per each volt that is applied (it’s “Kv”). If you took the 36V version and applied 48V to it, the motor would spin roughly 30% faster. However, the controller in the 36V kit has its Low-Voltage-Cutoff (LVC) set for for a 36V battery, so using a 48V battery on the 36V motor would still need a 48V controller (or the battery would be allowed to run down way too low to about 33V or so, causing damage to the 48V battery).

Since the 48V motor-winding and controller are the same price as the 36V motor and controller, why would anyone choose the lower-powered 36V kit? Well, the battery pack on a 36V kit will be cheaper and smaller for the same Ah-size of pack (same Ah size = roughly the same amount of miles for both). And if you buy the same size 36V pack as a similarly-sized 48V pack, it will provide about 25% more miles worth of Ah’s. But if you live where the hills are unusually steep…I would definitely choose the higher volts on the 48V system. For mild hills, the less expensive (and smaller) 36V battery pack would be my choice (if both 48V and 36V packs were the same Ah size), with both systems being limited to 25A (The factory controller has a 20A limit).

This motor runs well at 25A, but if you want to run more amps than this, we recommend a temp sensor to save the motor and controller from overheating on an unusually steep and long uphill, although it should actually be fine at even 35A if it was run on flat land. More amps will equal more torque and acceleration, but more amps also results in more motor/controller heat…so exercise caution.

Because of it’s poor heat-shedding being this motor’s common-sense amp-limit, I haven’t been able to find the saturation limit of amps for this mass of copper, but I can guess that anything over 30A will have a lot of its energy converted into waste-heat, rather than work. By that I mean that if you raise the amp-limit from 20A to 25A, you will feel a noticeable increase in the acceleration, but not much extra motor-heat. If you then raise the amp-limit to 35A, this kit will definitely feel more powerful, but it will get very hot….very fast. Perhaps this is acceptable on flat land where hard acceleration only lasts a few seconds…and the motor has time to cool off during the cruising phase of the ride. But if you have a long and steep uphill? Get a temp probe and limit the amps to 25A or less.

It’s too bad this handy kit is not getting as much attention as it deserves. It’s just a hair too small to interest the hot-rodders, but it is perfect for someone who wants to comply with the USA federal power limit of 750W (one-horse-power). If there is another kit that catches your eye, and is using a common 1,000W hub-motor, you may wonder why someone would want 25% less power by selecting this kit. The key feature is that…this kit allows the motor to use the bikes gears, and comparable rear-wheel hub motors are in effect a “one-speed” motor system.

Another secondary feature of this kit over a common 1,000W rear hub is…this kit is lighter, and whatever weight it does have is more centrally located.

There has been a recent emergence of popularity for bottom-bracket (BB) kits that hook up the motor to the pedal-axle chainrings. By having a freewheeling BB with two chainrings, the motor can drive one chainring while the other chainring drives the rear wheel.

I am not selling these kits, so I have nothing to gain by trying to “sell” you on a particular feature. It’s up to you to decide if I have made a persuasive argument, and if this kit suits your user-profile. The freewheeling 2-chainring BB means that the motor can drive the bikes gears, while your pedals are not moving. Pedelec-style systems and the Stokemonkey kit require the rider to pedal when using E-power, but some riders prefer to occasionally just power along with a throttle, while resting their legs. Or, they might pedal on the flats, while resting their legs when E-powering up a hill.

Compared to GNG’s more popular 450W kit (actually 1,000W in stock form), this Gen2 kit cannot be over-volted anywhere near as much. The so-called 450W kit has been run at up to 72V X 30A = 2,100W successfully, and I would recommend limiting this Gen2 kit to 48V X 25A = 1,200W (perhaps 30A on flattish terrain). I would list this kit as a 750W-1,200W system…and when you can put that kind of power very efficiently through the bikes gears, it can be a lot of fun!

Where this Gen2 kit really shines over the other GNG kit (the one that has been more popular), is that this one has proven to be fairly trouble-free. You can buy this easy-to-mount kit, and...it simply works! The higher power potential of the other kit has drawn many experimenters to embrace that one instead…in spite of its need for various upgrades to make it reasonably reliable.

One of the big features of the other GNG kit is its ability to upgrade later to 72V without eddy-current losses due to its low pole-count, and a higher volume of copper-mass that allows it to use a high continuous 30A limit (with 45A peaks if you exercise caution and have a temp sensor), and that motor has excellent heat-shedding characteristics (when on an uphill). The featured Gen2 kit here has a lower copper mass, and since it is a converted geared-hub, it has weak heat-shedding since the stator is not connected directly to the aluminum housing in the same way as the so-called 450W kit.

How many gears to use with the Gen2?

When interested people are first introduced to E-bikes, they often have a hard time shifting mental gears to understand what real-world experience has proven to work well on non-hub E-bikes. For pedal-bikes…having more gears is almost always better, because having a lot of gear choices allows you to find the best gear to get the maximum effect when using a weak human 200W motor (your legs). A Tour de France competitor can put out 400W, but sadly, I am more of a 50W pedaler.

The freewheeling BB pretty much limits you to having one driving chainring, and occasionally someone asks if its possible to mount a 3-chainring set and derailleur to a bike with a BB-drive system. Well…yes, it’s “possible”. A three chainring set would mean the rider can select either one of the two undriven chainrings with a derailleur. For a non-powered pedal-bike, I highly recommend having two or three chainrings to choose from in order to provide a wide array of gear choices, but…everyone I have talked to who has had an E-bike for any length of time has ended up taking off the front derailleur and extra chainrings as an unnecessary complexity.

Do as you wish, but…if you are still reading, lets move on the the rear wheel gears. The fewest gears I would recommend is the Nexus heavy-duty version of their common 3-speed internally-geared-hub (IGH). Then select a front chainring tooth-count  that makes the 2nd gear the everyday starting gear. 3rd gear would be for high speed, and first-gear would be reserved for steep hills. The common gear spacing of 30% on the 3-speed IGH would mean that: although the 1:1 second gear would provide roughly the same performance as this size of motor if it was mounted as a hub in the rear-wheel axle, the 30% under-drive first gear would provide 30% higher RPMs on a steep uphill when in first gear.

So, if I have convinced you to have just one chainring upfront, let’s imagine that you have now decided you want to be clever and buy a money-is-no-object German Rohloff 14-speed IGH in the rear.  This is an AWEsome product for pedal-bikes, especially in the steep Swiss Alps with their constantly changing hill-grades, and it provides the perfect gear just a few clicks away at any given moment. But…shifting up and down through the gears while using a motor means that you will be shifting quite a bit, since the gears are closely spaced to each other. This isn’t a “problem”, but you need to understand this so you can make the right choice for you.

What do I recommend? the common, cheap, and available 7-speed external gear cluster. The external gears can actually take more power than most IGH gear-teeth. And 7-speed chain is stronger than 9-speed chain. Having 9-speeds sounds like it would be a great option, but the way that 9 speeds were squeezed into the space that would normally hold 7, is that they use a narrower chain (with more closely-spaced sprockets), and 9-speed chains are usually made to be as light as possible.

Many E-bikers would like to add pedaling, in order to make life easier on their battery (more pedaling=lower amp-draw = lower heat), and also extend the range of their battery. The most popular cadence seems to be between 70-80 RPMs at the pedals. To achieve this easily and cheaply, you need to look at the tooth-counts on the front chainring and the smallest gear at the rear wheel gear cluster.

Here it is upside down, and this is a good pic of the tiny 9T drive sprocket. You can also see how one chainring is driven by the motor, and the other drives the rear wheel.

What gears to choose?

First lets look at the motor-to-BB sprockets. Start by choosing the largest chainring that will fit your frame, and will still give you adequate ground clearance. This large chainring will be positioned so it is driven by the motor. A 48T-54T chainring will likely become a popular upgrade from the 38T stock chainring found on this kit. The stock 38T:9T on the motor provides a 4.2:1 reduction. A 54T:13T reduction would be about the same ratio (4.2:1), but will run quieter and will not put as much stress on each sprocket tooth, so these parts will last much longer.

Second, lets look at the rear wheel gears. If you get the absolute lowest tooth-count on the rear wheel, that means that the amount of power you are using is spread across fewer teeth, so each tooth becomes heavily loaded. A low tooth-count rear sprocket will wear out faster, and is more likely to break if you use higher power. It is possible to find a rear gear cluster that has an 11T as their smallest sprocket. I recommend you choose a cluster that has a 13T at a minimum, and a 15T is even better.

Once you have settled on the rear wheel gear-ratios, then you can choose a chainring that will put the bike’s top-speed where you want it. Remember, the lower the top speed you select, the better the hill-climbing will be.

Downsides:

This kit comes with tiny 18-Ga motor-phase wires. I have bought wire from China, and at most they might have saved about a dollar per kit by not using thicker 14-Ga wire (I would have used even larger 12-Ga). To be fair, the stock controller is limited to 20A, which would get 18-Ga wire very warm, but not dangerously hot. If you are handy with a soldering iron, swapping-in some 12-Ga motor phase wires would be a cheap way to allow you to use up to 30A without the wires being the limiting factor.

This kit does not have an E-brake switch, so that when applying brakes, the motor-power should also automatically get cut. This is an important safety feature for when a faulty throttle or controller gets stuck in the “ON” position. The natural reaction is to apply the brakes.

The 9-tooth drive sprocket is too small because it only has 4 teeth engaged with the chain at any given moment. I am certain that this is so the manufacturer can use a small enough chainring to ensure that this kit will fit on a wide variety of frames and still have adequate reduction (larger than average chainrings might rub against the front of the chainstay on some frames) .

I recommend to any buyers, that they immediately install the largest chainring on the motor-drive that will fit the frame and still provide adequate ground clearance. Having a larger chainring will then allow you to install a 13T drive-sprocket while still keeping a useful reduction ratio, which would have six teeth engaged instead of four. Also, a 13T would run quieter due to the shallower angle of mesh between the sprocket and chain. The factory could have specified a slower motor-winding to compensate for a better sprocket ratio, but…they used available motors rather than special-order.

The stock chain idler is very low quality and weak. I would elongate the two lower mounting holes of the mounting bracket in a way that turns them into pivot-adjustment slots, which would eliminate the need for the idler.

DIY mods for the adventurous

If you want to be a pioneer with the GNG Gen2 kit, nobody has tried the oil-cooling mod on this motor yet, and you can be the first. It involves dis-assembling the motor (please take lots of pics!), and drilling a fill-hole/vent-hole into the housing side-plate, near the central motor shaft. Then, when re-assembling the motor-housing, use high-temp silicone to prevent any leaks at the joints. You then fill 1/3rd of the interior of the motor with synthetic automatic-transmission-fluid (ATF). The stock heat shedding ability is the biggest weak point of this design. The restricted reduction limits this kit to 48V and the weak heat-shedding limits the amps to 25A. Beware, oil-cooling on this motor might be a disaster…nobody has tried it and written about it yet.

The ATF will absorb the heat from the stator, and spread it to the aluminum housing to be shed much faster than the stock arrangement. The bearings will be lubricated more than they would ever need, and the motor will run smoother and quieter than stock.

Here’s two discussion-threads on the theory and application of oil-filled E-bike motors.

“Someone finally oil cooled a hubbie!”  HS3540, 9 pages

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=34369hub

“Oil cooling your hub- NOT snake oil!” 25 pages

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37972

Here’s another DIY mod: For a relatively flat street commute, I would be tempted to try a slow 48V-wound motor with 36V. Then the motor would spin about 25% slower than what the system was designed to spin at. Doing that would allow a larger drive sprocket by using existing kit parts that are available right now, and the rest of the gearing could be compensated for by selecting complementary rear sprockets.

From an engineering design standpoint, the ideal factory upgrade would have been a special-order winding that was so slow that you could use 48V battery together with a 13T drive sprocket. Some motors are wound with a coil-set termination in the “Delta” arrangement, or sometimes they use “Wye”. Most are Delta so that the motor will provide faster RPMs from lower volts.

If you take a Delta-terminated motor (and I am not yet certain that this one is Delta) and re-terminate it in Wye, it will cut the RPMs in half. It might be a worthwhile experiment to take a fast-winding 36V motor, re-terminate it in Wye, and then run it at 48V. I calculate that the resulting motor would spin at 65% of the factory-designed RPMs. That would require roughly 50% more teeth on the drive sprocket to maintain the same pedal-cadence, so the 9T sprocket could be replaced by a 13T without needing to increase the size of the motor-drive chainring. This would also allow you to try around 60V as an option if you still used a bigger chainring (who knows? it might be better).

This design is a modified geared hub-motor. That means that in stock form, it has no good path to shed heat. The stator coils get hot under normal conditions, and the center of the stator is connected to a small-diameter steel motor shaft as its only connection to the aluminum shell through a set of bearings that also do not conduct heat well. Its almost as if the motor layout was designed to insulate the heat, instead of shedding it.

There is no word yet on how thick the laminations are, or how many pole-pairs this motor has. Inductance has not been measured and posted yet. We don’t yet know the permanent-magnet strength.

Sadly, the build quality is poor, which is disappointing in a kit with as much basic design promise as this one. Although…it is very affordable. So, when we realize that some of the corners are being cut,  it’s to be expected…so they can keep the price easy.

To be honest, if I owned an electric bike business, I would actually keep a few of these in the shop for sale, but…ONLY after I had upgraded the issues I mentioned, and polished up the rough edges.

Whats the verdict?

My “go to” suggestion for the average builder who has mild hills, is to buy a MAC-10T rear-wheel kit from em3ev.com, and run it at 48V / 30A with a 6-FET. It’s  pretty much a plug and play system that suits the majority of new E-bike riders. It will provide a top speed of approximately 26-MPH, with better-than-average hill-climbing. It is roughly the same price as the featured Gen2 kit.

But…if your hills are super-steep and extra long, the MAC-10T kit might overheat, and like all hub-kits…the motor is a one-speed. Its obvious you can vary the throttle to change the speed of the bike, but by calling it a one-speed I mean that when you slow down, the hub-motor is spinning slower. With a system that gives the motor some gears, you can downshift, so that…even as you are forced to slow down on a hill, the motor is still spinning away at its max RPMs.

This is not an off-road kit. It simply doesn’t have the copper mass or heat-shedding that its big brother has (the GNG 450W brushless). The benefits are that; this kit has better hill-climbing than the well-regarded MAC 10T hub-motor, and its weight is centralized instead of located in the rear wheel for better overall balance.

Also, if you ever get a flat on the rear tire, a rear hubs is somewhat awkward to fix a flat on it, but the Gen2 is as easy to fix a flat on, as any non-electric bike.

Here is the discussion thread on this kit:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45740

Three recent college graduates with a shop in Fletcher  North Carolina have taken on the task of offering one of the most exciting and expensive electric bikes on the market. But instead of just building an electric bike, these guys have chosen a platform that few companies are willing to try…the tadpole recumbent trike.

Recently, these 3 guys (Jesse, Tommy, and Daniel) built a custom trailer and headed out west to California, where I got a chance to meet with them and test ride their creation…the 422 Trike. We met in Fairfax California, a town known for its bicycle culture, and rode from noon until sunset (a total of 40 miles),  and climbed to the top of Mount Tamalpais (2600 feet).  This ride was very close to the companies target “adventure ride” which they are huge advocates of. After the ride I had a really good idea of what this trike was all about.

The 422 Alpha

The “4″ in 422 stands for 4000 watts. That is 5.3 horsepower. The motor is a highly efficient Astro 3220 mid drive (read our story on Astros: Terrifying Speed). The 422 is an ultra-clean all-belt drive, but with a single speed. It can climb anything, and has a top speed of about 45-MPH.

The 22 stands for 2200 watt hours. (read our story on watt hours and calculating range) That is the most massive pack offered on any production electric bike. 2200 watt hours is enough to get you an honest 100 mile range, if you’re riding at a reasonable 20-MPH.

The Alpha stands for Astro….the mack daddy of lightweight ebike drive systems.

The 422 Alpha costs $12,000 and has earned its spot on our list of  10 most expensive electric bikes.

This is a hard bike to describe, because it isn’t really an electric bike…this is definitely a tadpole trike.  The 422, like all Outrider trikes, is based on a KMX recumbent trike. It is basically a conversion (the frame is not built custom) but a very involved conversion, with lots of custom CNC parts and machine work, and one of the most elegant drive systems ever put on an electric bike…..errr electric trike.

The Astro Drive System

That 5 horse power is being cranked out of an RC motor that weighs only 5 pounds, and fits in the palm of your hand. To do this requires an elaborate gear reduction system made up of belts and pulleys, and a lot of custom configuration to both hardware and software, to make sure that little motor does not fry at 4,000 watts. The guys at Outrider USA have successfully made a reliable vehicle out of this sexy piece of ebike porn. See our list of 10 pieces of ebike porn.

Read Astr0 Motor on ebike, terrifying speed

Pikes Peak Proven

If you are wondering if the Outrider Trike is reliable, two of these things crushed the Pikes Peak bicycle race in 2012, Conquering a grueling 10-mile climb while averaging over 30-MPH, and finishing 7 minutes ahead of a team of Optibikes who until that year dominated this race.  It is an impressive feat to climb a mountain on an ebike, but to do it at high speed is pretty incredible to see.

This achievement really impressed the members of Endless Sphere who thought RC motor set ups were finicky and not a good set up for climbing mountains…especially at high speed. Remember the motor of the Outrider Trike only weighs 5 pounds and fits in the palm of your hand. The Outrider trike guys made believers out of the doubters.

Read our story about the Outrider trike victory on Pikes Peak.

During my test ride, I rode the trike up some fairly steep hills, and the motor and controller only got warm to the touch. In case you do happen to get your drive system too hot (a killer for ebikes) there  are auto shut down features in the Outrider system. It seems very difficult to set those off however (maybe riding with the brake on?)

Service and Warranty

The 422 Alpha indeed seems like a reliable machine that is unlikely to break down on you, even riding in grueling hilly conditions. It has a 2 year warranty, although…unless you buy in North Carolina it is going to be hard to get full warranty support.

Reliability is extremely important on a ride like this, because it is going to be hard to service if something does break on it. Accessing the battery pack is a real pain, and if you have to send the trike to North Carolina expect  super high shipping fees both ways. More realistically you will have to do your own service on this vehicle with Outrider’s phone support, or find someone mechanically skilled in your area (preferably an ebike expert) to help.

The 422 Alpha is a complicated machine, far more complicated than a hub motor ebike, and honestly things are bound to go wrong with it eventually through the years.

Inevitably this trike will need service and you should think in advance how you will deal with that. The Outrider trike is only sold direct from North Carolina.

Why a trike?

Outrider USA has been specialized in building electric trikes for 3 years now. The  company founders agree that they want to focus on building  trikes, even though building and offering an electric bike would be relatively easy for them since they have figured out and dialed in one of the lightest, sexiest, and  most efficient power systems available (the Astro motor drive). They are convinced that a trike is the right platform for this kind of high performance build. After building and riding a trike they are not interested in offering an electric bicycle because they feel that the recumbent trike is the perfect platform  to carry such a  large battery packs at high speed.

With this much power, they feel the E-trike is safer than a ebike. Better balanced, more comfortable, more fun and more capable. They are true believers in what they are offering as the ultimate electric machine.

Read Outriders comparison between recumbent vs upright bike 

It seems that they made a believer out of one reknowned  ebike builder, Matt Shumaker (ES member recumpence) who helped them develop  their Astro drive system. After helping with the Outrider Trike, Matt decided to focus on trikes in his own builds, and built this 50mph trike also based on the KMX platform.

A learning curve

An Outrider Trike takes a little time to get use to when riding. It is totally different from riding a bicycle.  Because of its immense power, a first time ride can be an intimidating experience.

According to Jesse, he spends a good deal of his time educating new riders on how to ride the trike. I watched this first hand when a local Marin man asked for a test ride while we were there. It took a good half hour of patient guidance to get the man acquainted with the bike. Nothing at all like a test ride on an ebike, where you show them the throttle and they go. Even watching this man ride for the first time on a electrified trike  was a frightening experience. But once he got through the initial uncomfortable stages he seemed  happy and cozy on that bad ass 422 Alpha trike.

When you are learning to ride the trike you set it to 750 watt mode which makes it a much more docile machine that is much easier to handle.

According to the Outrider Trike guys, they have a one in four conversion rate…meaning out of 4 people who seek out a test ride with the trike, one buys. Pretty good considering the high buy-in price of this vehicle.

The E-bike Grin in 3 levels

The Outrider Trikes utilizes a V3 CycleAnalyst (read review) with 3 different programmed  modes to ride in. 750 watts (street legal), 2000 watts (safe and sane) and 4000 watts (racing).

When you get into 2000W and 4000W modes, the Outrider USA trikes are definitely a thrill ride…a rare feature in todays production ebike market. The only ebike on the market that compares to the Outrider trike in terms of performance would be the Stealth Bomber (read review). The Outrider Trike obviously made our list of 10 fastest production electric bikes. The acceleration on the Outrider Trike (even in 750 watt / one-HP) mode is pretty good compared to most production ebikes, and at the 4000W watt mode  (5+ horsepower) it is practically obscene! The power on the trike comes on nice and smooth, so it is very controllable. I actually found the 2000W level to be the “sweet spot” with just the right combination of power and efficiency. If it were mine I would ride in 2000W-mode about 80 percent of the time.

The 422 Alpha actually has enough power and range to make it a serious candidate for a car replacement.

Is it possible that this $12,000 could actually pay for itself? It definitely could if you used it instead of a car….and be much more of a thrill ride.

Part of the ebike grin effect is getting away with riding fast and saving money at the same time.

Read our story on how an ebike can save you money

A legal go-kart  getting away with it

Riding through the hills of Mount Tamalpis on this wonderfully powerful machine, leaning into and powering through the corners, I really felt like I was on a go-kart…something you could never get away with riding on the street if it were gas powered. When you ride  these high power trikes on the street, they are silent and unassuming (they look like a recumbent bike) and you can easily get away with riding at 30-MPH speeds without being hassled.  Its really a sensation that’s hard to describe, except imagine being able to take out a 5-HP Go-kart out on the street for ride any morning you feel like…so much fun!

But wait…is the Outrider Trike Legal? Outrider made out list of Illegal Electric Bikes, and technically it can be illegal if you ride it in the higher power settings. You do have the choice to ride it in 750 watt mode which is totally legal in the US.  Wink Wink.

When heavy weight is a good thing

The 422 Alpha weighs in at about 100 pounds, which is not bad considering how much battery (2,200-WH) and power that this thing is packing. See weight comparison chart

The key feature to a recumbent electric trike is that the battery weight is as low as possible, under the rider, and it actually serves as a ballast. According to Tommy, the Outrider trike handles better at high speed than a stock KMX trike (pedal drive only) which is 50 pounds lighter. The added weight makes the trike much more stable.

This is not the case with electric bikes, where adding weight is always bad for the handling of the bike, because of the weight being up high trying to tip the rider over. With the Outrider trike you can go with a battery pack as big as you can afford with little consideration for having to carry a heavier battery. The 422 Alpha, since you sit on top of all the weight, feels light and nimble. Again think riding on a go-kart to imagine what the trike feels like.

Having a big battery pack is a real luxury. Not only do you have the capacity to do some exquisitely long rides.  Even if you don’t use all these watt hours, having such a large pack really improves the longevity of the battery when you only discharge it partially on most rides.

No Suspension

The only suspension you have when riding the 422 Alpha is the air in the tires. This is different from an electric bike which often comes with some kind of active suspension, plus you can always stand on the pedals to minimize the effect of heavy bumps. While riding the trike you have all your weight on the seat which you cannot wiggle out of, and feel the bumps through out your body when you hit them. I really felt the road when riding the 422 Alpha and some bumps were downright scary at high speed.

Off-road riding would be a bumpy ordeal that is not recommended on a recumbent trike.

Pedal Cadence

Outrider trikes has installed a very expensive and elegant Swiss-made Schlumpf Planetary crankset on the front of the trike to ensure the right pedal cadences. One key to the Outrider Trike is the motor will not kick in until you get the trike up to 5 -MPH. This is for safety, and to prevent stuttering in the motor, which uses a sensorless controller so it will sputter if you try to power-up from a stop. Sometimes it is a pain to get to 5-MPH, and you need low gearing to accomplish this especially when starting on an up hill. At the same time you need high gearing to have pedal cadence at high speeds.

The Schlumpf accomplishes this by offering a 2.5 to 1 reduction. When in its low mode, you have in effect a 40-tooth front chain ring to help you pedal to 5-MPH…when you kick the button on the center of the Schlumpf with your foot, you have in effect transformed it into a massive 100-tooth chain ring…giving you a sweet pedal cadence even at speeds as high as 45-MPH. With the 422 Alpha I was able to get exercise at my choosing…no matter how fast or how slow I was travelling.

In the picture above you can see the silver button shifter at the base of the crank. You kick it with your foot to shift. Such a sweet piece of ebike porn.

Lovingly Built in the USA

Each Outrider Trike is built by hand, by the 3 company founders in their North Carolina shop. It takes a week of full time work to build a single trike, most of this going into the assembly of the battery pack. You can tell these guys really love their creations, and each of them have their own trike for their own adventure. Each time they build a Trike they improve slightly on the Trike built the last time. When you buy an Outrider Trike you are definitely buying into a rare piece of American craftsmanship, and you will own something really special. This is a refreshing change to most imported from China production bikes. Of course this US craftsmanship does not come cheap.

Very nice wheels

Speaking of American made craftsmanship, Outrider USA had custom trike wheels built for them by Industry 9 in North Carolina. These are expensive wheels with thick burly spokes and top grade everything.  Industry 9 wheels utilize an innovative design that minimizes spokes coming loose etc.

On a wheel carrying a 100-pound trike at high speed, you want the highest grade bicycle tire as possible. Industry 9 wheels are as rugged as bicycle wheels get, and the fact that Outrider has outfitted them on their trikes shows their commitment to excellence, safety and performance…no matter what the cost.

Built for adventure

The Trike is named Outrider because it is meant to get you outside and into an adventure. This is the adventurer’s dream machine, with a huge battery pack capable of incredible range, a powerful motor for adrenaline-packed top speed, and the capacity to carry significant cargo, camping supplies, etc. This is a serious transportation and recreation machine, that can take you places and transform your life and mindset into a dream-like state. Very few store-bought electric bikes have the capacity to transform your life to the extent that this vehicle can.

Riding Impressions

What can I say…these trikes are totally awesome. This counts as my favorite test ride of any production electric bike ever. This is also my longest and farthest test ride. I rode the 422 trike a whopping 40 miles, and we were out for 7 hours and still had battery to spare at the end of the ride. Having a massive battery pack is a great luxury, even if you don’t use it all.

Outrider Trikes are so much fun to ride, that anyone spending a day on one in the right terrain on a good day  will probably not forget that day for the rest of their life. Everyone should have one…and then a second one for when friends visit….if only they were not so damn expensive.

The Outrider Trikes  are not silent, but are also not too loud (unlike the annoyingly loud noise of an Optibike). The Astro motor has an awesome electric roar to it, and the all belt drives minimizes clatter noise so all you hear is that sweet Astro singing….

The Outrider Trike is single speed but has ample power for acceleration and climbing. I can honestly say this Trike has as much power to go as fast as I could ever want and all the torque I would ever need.

Riding a high powered electric recumbent is an entirely new experience, and  its hard to describe all the sensations in words. You are in a completely comfortable riding position, nearly lying down. You feel safe when you are cornering hard because you are  so close to the ground. If you forget to lean into a corner you can tip over, but once you are accustomed to riding the trike, leaning into the turns becomes second nature.

Because of the nature of the trike, it is not a ride-anywhere vehicle such as a bicycle.  It is not a very practical offroad vehicle and is not as maneuverable as an electric bike for example riding on single track or just getting around obstacles on a tight bike path. The Outrider trike seems best suited for road riding….especially when void of traffic.

Are trikes safe?

Recumbent riders all have the same problem of not being as visible in traffic as a bicycle, and being in a more vulnerable riding position in the event of an unfortunate run-in with a car.

I do not like the feeling of riding in traffic in a recumbent trike, because of the fear of getting run over (on a bicycle I would get hit, which seems better). Because the trike is so strange looking, you will get a motorists attention faster than if riding on an ebike, and may even get a motorists respect if you take the full lane. Because of the trikes 40-MPH top speed you can safely take the lane in most road riding conditions.

I really like the lighted LED whip light that the Outrider trike uses…it is  proof that the designers of this vehicle put serious thought on what would make this vehicle ride-able and safe. I would estimate that the LED-lit flag pole doubles the visibility of the 422 Alpha  trike.

However I do feel safer on the trike than a bicycle, in that I am closer to the ground and have more control when cornering even on slick surfaces.

A full-faced helmet is advised when riding this machine.

Why so expensive?

The Outrider models start in price at $6,000 with a smaller battery pack, a smaller motor, and less fancy components. The top of the line 422 Alpha Outrider trike which I tested will cost you $12,000. This may seem like a lot of money but its on par with what other top performance electric bikes cost such as the M55,  Optibike, Stealth Bomber, and Hanebrink.

In my mind this trike is a better value than the other bikes I just mentioned.

Why so expensive? For one thing this trike  is hand-built in the United States, and it takes many hours of skilled labor  to build.

In addition, the 422 Alpha  has some very expensive components, and these costs add up quickly…more expensive components in fact,  than I have seen on any other production ebike. Here are some of the expensive components I noticed:

Industry 9 custom Trike wheels (made in North Carolina) – $1200

Astro 3220 Motor Custom built (made in California) – $800

2-Kw high output lithium battery (assembled in North Carolina) – $2000

Castle HV-160 controller (USA company)  - $300

High output lithium charger and balancer units – $900

Cycle Analyst and  Cycle Luminator light (made in Canada) – $320

Not an idiot-proof BMS

BMS stands for battery managment system and is a circuit board built into the battery, which makes sure the battery is never over-charged, or discharged too much. Lithium batteries can be ruined or even become a fire risk if over or under charged.

A BMS can serve as a redundant protection system, since all lithium electric bikes are charged with a smart charger designed specifically for lithium.

The Outrider is the only commercially available electric bike I know of without an idiot proof BMS built into the battery. This means if you hook the wrong charger to the trike or accidentally change your charger settings,  or your charger malfunctions, you could feasibly set your Trike on fire. The Outrider charges at 1,000 watts, which is no joke. The battery is enshrouded in a metal case so even if the pack does catch fire it should be contained. Low battery level shut-down is controlled by the V3 Cycle Analyst, but if you happen to reset your setting, and do not keep an eye on your voltage…you could ruin our battery pack by discharging it too low.

Basically you would have to do something very idiotic to set fire to your trike or ruin your battery pack, but because the pack does not have its own BMS, it is possible.

When you charge the pack you also have to hook up a separate unit which handles the cell balancing….another spot for possible user error.

DIY’ers have been running electric bikes in this manner for years with few problems, and the Outrider Trike is using some really cool charging technologies to ensure safe charging. It is still something a new owner should be aware of…that a 2,000 watt-hour lithium pack is nothing that should be taken lightly, and if you were to own this trike, you would really want to understand what is going on with your lithium pack. This is not as much of a plug and play system as all the other ebikes on the market, which you can just plug in and forget about…

Pros and Cons

This trike has some magnificent “pros” and then on the other hand  some pretty awful “cons”. This is an extreme vehicle and has extreme benefits and drawbacks. If you are weighing on whether to buy or not…if you can afford one buy one…you won’t regret it, and it will probably end up being one of your most prized possessions.

Pros

Fun as hell

Fast…VERY fast

Long Range

Super Stable

Reliable

Comfortable

Unique and special

Belt Drive

One of the coolest ebikes available

2 year warranty

Cons

Expensive! These things are too sweet to be cheap.

Bike will have to be shipped to North Carolina in the event of a break down

More dangerous than a bicycle in traffic

Jarring going over bumps with no suspension

Much harder to park and store than an ebike

Not as maneuverable as an ebike

Mechanical disc brakes (Avid BB7′s), not hydraulic.

Not a plug and play battery with a BMS

Technically illegal in the higher power settings

Written by Ron / Spinningmagnets, September 2013

I own a Thudbuster, and I paid full retail price for it…long before I began writing about E-bikes. If you ride a hardtail bike (whether electric or “pedal-only”), I think a serious suspension seat-post is the best single purchase you can make to improve the bicycling experience.

At that time, there were really no other options. I had ridden a bike with a fairly common and cheap “tube within a tube” style that is frequently found on the less-expensive bikes sold at big box stores. This style definitely helped, but it’s feel was very disappointing for me, and I actually added a large cruiser seat that had two large springs built into it to help the inadequate performance.

There is nothing wrong with this common and cheap style, but if you buy one, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Fast forward to now, and I have seen several new models with a variety of clever suspension designs that expand on the concept, providing more options.

Moxey

First up is a seatpost that is sadly not in production any more. It had FOUR INCHES of travel! and riders who liked it said it not only had the longest travel ever put on a seatpost, its compression was very progressive (softer at the top of the stroke, firmer near the bottom). Because of the shape and orientation of the parallel links, the seat travel direction swings down and to the rear.

I occasionally see one sold as a used unit, but don’t hold your breath…they are rare.

xxx

Tamer Pivot-Plus XC

The Tamer Pivot-Plus XC is available for purchase for about $120 retail (a price that’s similar to the Thudbuster), and in this picture you can see it also has a parallel-linkage to swing the seat movement down and to the rear. One of the links has a connecting rod, which transfers the downward-curving seat mount movement onto a coil-spring that is vertically positioned inside the seat-post.

I like the looks of this product, but I have not had a chance to try one of these. The pre-load can be adjusted and a different spring can be swapped-in to change the tension and rate, depending on the weight of the rider and the feel you desire.

The stroke length is 65mm / 2.6-inches

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SR Suntour SP12 NCX

This suspension seatpost functions in a very similar fashion to the Pivot-Plus above. But, instead of a connecting rod, the forward link has a roller that presses against the top of the piston which asts as a spring-cap and a bushing. This piston covers the top of the coil spring, which is vertically mounted inside the seat-post. The trailing link has a rubber bumper to dampen the return to its top position.

The stroke is 2-inches / 50mm. They seem to be readily available at dealers in Europe right now, but I have found them in North America on Ebay for roughly $120.

xxx

Cirrus BodyFloat 3.1

This is the most recent product in this category to become available. It was launched with a kickstarter campaign last year by Cirrus Cycles in Washington, and they are now available for approximately $349. It only has 1.5 inches of travel (38mm), but one of the issues it addresses is that long-stroke seatposts like the Thudbuster-LT sometimes position the seat too high for some riders to be able to set their feet on the ground at a stop.

It also uses two parallel linkages, but it uses two exposed coil-springs that are roughly horizontal. It’s very pricey, and we have not met anyone who has used one of these to get a feel for whether or not it is worth the premium.

xxx

 Cane Creek Thudbuster

Finally, we arrive at the well-known Thudbuster. They can be purchased in a Long Travel (LT, 3-inches/76mm of travel) and Short Travel versions (ST, 1.3-inches/33mm). The retail price is $159, but they can be often be found on Ebay for approximately $130.

I have several bikes, and this was purchased for a hardtail that I own after friends recommended it to me. If I ever sold the bike, I would keep the Thudbuster. If I had the opportunity to try out some of these other new options, I might change my mind, but…until then this remains the single most important purchase I have added to this bike (other than helmet, gloves, and sport-glasses). If you have back problems, you might consider a full-suspension frame, or even a recumbent. But, even young adults with healthy spines should seriously consider how an unexpected hit on a large pothole would affect their lives.

The LT uses two rubber plugs, called “elastomers”. These elastomers can be swapped out for different ones that are firmer or softer. The ST version has an X-shaped elastomer, and during the seats downward stroke, it stretches in one direction, while it compresses in the other.

xxx

While looking at pictures from the recent Eurobike 2013 convention in Germany, I finally saw a pic which reassured me that some of my personal preferences were not crazy. There was a pic of a hardtail E-bike with a hardcase that was shaped to perfectly fit the frame triangle, and I had been hoping for quite some time that someone would start making these. Customer response may nudge other retailers to start carrying a similar product.

Since the battery might not necessarily be shaped exactly like a triangle, that also means that there is some unused space inside this case that might be used for a pair of gloves and safety glasses. Even if this model of case doesn’t allow that, perhaps someone down the line might do that, so we have our fingers crossed.

This particular case is on a Conway EMR 627, and I hope it is a hint of more things to come. I can’t help but to wonder if it might be possible to purchase just the case alone as a repair part (since I believe it can be adapted to other frames). Although…even if that’s possible, it might only be available if ordered by a retail outlet that is a registered dealer for Conway Bikes in Europe (rather than an international direct web-store purchase).

Here’s the Conway triangle hardcase that I really like.

The next one that I just stumbled across is from the Riese & Muller company, and it is an accessory for their cruiser models in their blueLABEL line. It looks like leather, but it is a synthetic material that is waterproof. I first saw it here on their Facebook page

Riese & Muller

Here is a DIY triangle case from ES member Nicobie, and here’s the build-thread that shows how he built it. Cruiser frames like this Electra Townie, the Trek Pure, and the Giant Suede have lots of room in the frame triangle for a large battery. A bigger than average battery pack may be needed if you want high volts or extra-long range.

Nicobie’s Electra E-Townie. The side-plates are aluminum sheetmetal, but he covered them with some peel-and-stick that looks like carbon-fiber.

Here’s the biggest reason for a triangle case on an E-bike. Nick was able to fill this roomy case with a large 24S pack of LiPo (24 cells in Series, times 4.1V when full = 98V!). If you hung this large pack on the back of a bike on a cargo rack, it would have a very negative effect on the bikes handling, especially if your bike already had a heavy hub-motor on the rear wheel.

Here is a pic when Nick was “only” using 18S. Later he packed it full to 24S, and 98-Volts of LiPo is a VERY big battery pack.

Here is a thread from Endless-Sphere where builders post their home-made battery cases, and a quick scan for triangle cases did not disappoint me. The first example is from ES member e-cannon, and its really hard to believe that this is home-made, but…he documents the entire process to prove it truly was made on the kitchen table of his home with his own hands. First he shaped a solid foam core, and then overlaid it with some fiberglass from a boat-hull repair kit:

This Cannondale road-bike was electrified by ES member e-cannon.

Here’s one more DIY from ES builder dannyboyohyeah. I don’t have enough room in this article to show all of the great triangle cases, but I especially wanted to include this one because he shows how he used common tools and easy-to-source materials to get an incredibly professional result.

Danny’s Diamondback hardtail, with an awesome DIY triangle case.

I’m glad Danny took this pic before it was painted, because it clearly shows how he simply used thin plywood, PVC pipe, and some glue to make the body. It just doesn’t get any easier than this.

After the parts are all assembled and glued, you add a little Bondo plastic filler to the joints, sand it smooth, and primer it in prep for a paint job. One option is to use automobile “touch up” paint, which can provide some awesome results.

I really think that this is one area where factory E-bike manufacturers are really dropping the ball. Injection-molded plastic cases (like those small suitcases that store cordless tools) are very inexpensive to make, and one of the most profitable sectors of any consumer industry is upselling accessories once the customer has selected their main purchase.

Mass-produced injection-molded plastic hard-cases are very cheap to make, and can be made any color or shape. Whats the hold-up from E-bike manufacturers?

One of the biggest sellers of E-bikes in the USA is Pedego. Their most popular sellers are mid-range cruisers with a rear hub and the battery pack in the rear cargo rack. This is the one complaint I have about Pedego’s current product line.

With their large sales volume, they could easily specify a triangle battery pack in a hard-case that is form-fitted to a common cruiser frame triangle. If they did this, I think they would be shocked at how many they sold to riders who don’t even own a Pedego. No large retailer is doing this in North America, and they could be the first to take the lions share of that market.

There is a trusted vendor at Endless-Sphere called cell_man (Paul), and his website is em3ev.com. He is the only retailer I know of right now that stocks triangle battery packs. Unfortunately, he does not sell hard cases for them, but he does carry an affordable soft-sided triangle bag that uses Velcro wrap-around straps  to hold the bag onto the frame.

He has two triangle-pack models, and they are both configured to provide 50V (prices include a BMS and a charger, but do not include shipping). One choice is an 18-Ah model for $725, and for smaller triangles (or someone who only needs a shorter range) they have a 12-Ah model for $510 (dimensions of the 12-Ah shown in the pic below).

em3ev.com uses only quality name-brand Samsung 18650 cells in their triangle packs. This handy 12-Ah size is only 10.8-inches long by 6.7-inches tall (275mm X 170mm)

The triangle bag from em3ev.com. It is 17-inches long by 10.2 inches tall (432mm X 260mm)

Another triangle battery holder that I have seen frequently is the $47 soft-sided triangle bag from Falcon-EV. If you are curious about this bag (whether for batteries or cargo), here is a discussion about them from owners. Here is the purchase link. The link is the battery selection page, and you must scroll down to near the bottom to find the battery bag.

It is listed as 17-inches long X 11 tall, and 3-inches wide (432mm  X  280mm, and 76mm wide)

Frame triangle bag from Falcon-EV. It is made from a tough woven synthetic fabric and is well-regarded in the E-bike community.

Here’s a late addition to this article. Once published, a friend sent me a link to the $20 Ibera triangle soft-side triangle bag, which is available for purchase on Amazon. It is listed as 16-inches long X 11-inches tall (406mm X 280mm).

The Ibera triangle bag. This is a smaller bag, and and may be useful for downhill (DH) frames.  (notice the low top-bar)

In conclusion, I think triangle cases/bags are great. Even if you don’t have an electric bike, they can hold your bicycle helmet along with your sport-glasses and gloves (I have lots of scars due to my care-free attitude, but when it comes to my brain, eyes, and hands…I’m very cautious). There’s even room for a small tool-kit, a spare tube, and an air-pump.

Of course, the best use of any kind of frame-triangle storage is the heavy battery pack. Then, any other light-weight accessories you carry can be stored on the rear cargo rack, where they wouldn’t hurt the weight balance of the E-bike. I am hopeful that someone will wise up and start producing these. You’d only need three or four sizes of triangle case to start, and I think the E-bike community will immediately respond in a very decisive manner.

Here’s a late edit: This triangle battery case in the pic below has been for sale with the Izip Express E-bike, but not available alone without the bike.

The Izip Express and its stock factory triangle case.

Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, October 2013

AstroFlight is a maker of high-end RC motors and components for RC-helicopters and model planes. Their headquarters are located in Irvine, Southern California. This month they have announced the release of their largest motor yet, the 4535. But before you start considering some project to fit this large RC motor to, be aware that getting this level of quality…and this much power…in this small of a package…will cost you $3,000 for the motor alone!

So…what are some of the reasons anyone would pay extra for this motor? The magnets are made from Samarium-Cobalt, so they retain their full magnetic flux even when they are subjected to unusually high temperatures of up to 200C / 390F. Also, the stator laminations are made from a very pure and high-grade silicon-steel, and are also unusually thin, to allow for very high RPMs without significant eddy-current waste-heat losses.

This motor is not only built to survive extreme heat, it comes with a built-in temperature sensor, and a centrifugal fan to pull air through the center and fling it outwards.

The motor tips the scales at 12-lbs (5.4-kg), and the outer case is 4.5 inches in diameter by 7-inches long (114mm X 177mm). That is only one inch longer than a dollar bill! It comes with a standard shaft diameter of 1/2-inch (12.7mm), but a 12mm shaft is available upon request. The shaft is hardened stainless steel.

From the other end, you can see the integrated centrifugal air-fan.

Once you get past the shock of the motor price, it is no small consideration that you should not power-up this motor with just any controller. AstroFlight of course provides a perfect controller for this beast, and it can be had in four different versions.

The Electronic-Speed-Controller (ESC) can be purchased as an:

80V-max by 75-amp max =  6,000W / 8-HP for $1,200…or…up to:

100V max by 150-amp max = 15,000W / 20-HP for $1,500, and there are two other versions inbetween these two extremes.

The ESC-2413 controller from AstroFlight.

You can get the same power for less, but it will probably not be with a motor and controller this small. All of AstroFlights motors are hand-assembled in the US, and they are dyno-tested after final assembly to ensure the quality of every product they make.

The Astro motor nomenclature refers to the diameter of the motor-case and length of the stator (both in inches), which defines its size and amp-capability. The 3220 is 3.2-inches in diameter, with a stator that is 2.0-inches long. In keeping with their established pattern, the 4535 is 4.5-inches in diameter with a stator that is 3.5-inches long.

Here are AstroFlight’s three most popular motors, the ones that built their reputation.

Matt Shumaker is well-known on endless-sphere.com as a builder of high-end E-bikes. Below are two examples of the type of high-quality work he does. These reductions lower the high-RPMs of these Astro motors down to a usable wheel-speed.

The DaVinci drive and the V4 drive.

You can read about Matts insane Astro-powered hot-rod yellow trike here.

Matt Shumakers Astro-powered yellow Trike.

Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, October 2013

Zvonimir is an engineer who lives in Croatia, between Italy and Greece on the beautiful Adriatic Sea (ES member HAL9000V2.0). In a recent story, we told our readers how he developed the Greyborg Warp frame, so builders could have the option of an electric bike that was heavy-duty, and could also hold the largest possible battery volume. It is a big success with over 200 frames sold worldwide to date.

But Zvonimir doesn’t just design things by using computers, he and his friends love to actually ride high powered E-bikes. The Greyborg frame used a rear hub-motor, so they could leave as much frame space as possible for the battery, and the most powerful rear hub available was the Crystalyte 5-series. Specifically the 5404, 5405, and 5406, which have large 40mm wide stators and magnets.

The 5-series motors are very large, and they are also very heavy. Zvonimir wondered if he couldn’t design a better motor. Just like any other engineering problem, he studied why hub-motors were designed the way they are, so he could understand all of the options that were possible. Using computer modeling and analysis, he calculated the diameter that would provide the optimum balance between power and weight. He knew he was onto something good when the analysis showed he could make more power than the Crystalyte 5-series with a smaller diameter, which would save a great deal of weight.

the Cromotor next to a large-diameter Crystalyte 5406. Pic courtesy of ES member zombiess, who is also the North American dealer of Greyborg frames and Cromotors.

For the first version of the motor he wanted to design, he initially found an existing lamination that fit his needs. Laminations are thin steel plates that are stacked together to form the steel cores of the electromagnets that make-up the stator. These electromagnets are turned on and off at just the right moment to make the motor work. Zvonimir already knew…he wanted this stator to be as wide as possible. This would allow for a lot of copper mass in the windings, and that meant that this motor could take a LOT of amps without overheating.

Here is a common 9-Continents (9C)  hubmotor on the left, with plenty of room for 7 sprockets. The V1 Cromotor used as many existing parts as possible to keep the price affordable, but it puts its money in the places that count, for generating the best power possible. Notice the 9C wires exit the motor through a hollow axle. The Cromotor axle is larger, and it is NOT hollow! Pic courtesy of ES member zombiess.

Zvonimir and his friends were very experienced with riding powerful E-bikes, and the more you know about the user-profile of a product, the easier it is to produce a good design. The optimum design voltage for this motor was going to be 72V, and everything that limited the amps to the motor would be maximised to provide for the highest possible amps.

The Cromotor

Zvonimir is quite proud of the fact that the electrical genius Nicola Tesla is from Croatia, and he decided to name this new powerful beast the Cromotor. There is only so much space between the drop-outs on the rear of a bicycle frame, and some of the early Greyborg Warp builders used a rear hub-motor that had a 7-speed gear cluster. however, many would be happy with only a single speed…if that meant that they could have a wider motor, which could use more amps.

Here’s a Cromotor with the normal single-speed freewheel, and the common fat moped tire. Pic courtesy of ES member gensem in Brazil.

The first Grayborg frames used a common bicycle 135mm spacing between the drop-outs, and the motor did not have the mounting flange for a disc brake on the left. The possibility of using regeneration as a brake was an option, but he also designed a very large diameter disc brake that was mounted completely outside the hub, as an experiment to see if that was a workable option. This would allow for a rear disc brake, while still keeping the 50mm wide magnets.

Here is a prototype of the extra-large diameter rear brake disc, but Zvonimir eventually decided against using this.

Although this worked, he understood the value of being able to use existing brake components, so he tried widening the drop-outs of the Greyborg frame to 155mm. This allowed the 50mm wide stator and magnets he wanted, and also room for a conventional disc brake on the left.

There are many factors that must be taken into consideration when designing a motor. There are benefits to making the diameter larger, but that would also make the spokes shorter, which would reduce the spokes ability to flex in order to absorb shocks. Fans of the Crystalyte 5-series are experienced with broken spokes. Reducing the motor weight helps, and using a smaller diameter to allow longer spokes also helps.

Pic courtesy of ES member zombiess in California. The wires exit the left side of the motor through an extra-large diameter bearing so the axle can be solid. NO HOLLOW AXLES!

The initial production run of Cromotors proved that their design criteria was solid. But now that they had a proven product, they began using computer modeling to tinker with minor variations to see where they could improve the motor for the next batch. The most noticeable difference in the V2 Cromotor is the cast aluminum core, instead of the first versions stamped steel core. The aluminum mass acts as a heat sponge, to soak up the temporary heat spikes of acceleration, and then to dissipate the heat over time during the lower-amp cruise phase .

Also, now that they knew they had enough customers who understood the benefits of this type of motor, they could invest in a custom stator lamination of their own design. The first version used a common 0.50mm thick laminations, but the V2 uses a thinner 0.35mm lamination that is also made from a higher quality of high-silicon steel. Higher volts would equal higher RPM’s, and some customers wanted to use 125V instead of 72V. Thinner laminations now allow that, without having excessive eddy-current losses, which would convert too much of the batteries watts into waste-heat instead of work.

This new stator also improved the width of the flux channel, while also improving the inductance. Hubmotor inductance should be between 50-uH and 150-uH, and the higher it is, the better. The new stator took the Cromotor inductance from 120-uH to 145-uH, and this makes life much easier on the controllers.

The original steel stamped core is on the right, and the cast aluminum V2 core is on the left. The aluminum core is actually heavier, but it provided a dramatic improvement in the motors heat-management. Pic courtesy of ES member accountant, in Croatia.

Dual spoke hole patterns allow you to choose fat 8/10-Ga motorcycle spokes, or  heavy-duty 12/14-Ga bicycle spokes.

The home-page of the Cromotor (and also the Greyborg frame) is on the Zelena Vozila website (“Green Machines” in Croatian)

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Motor Specs

9.3 Kv, 9.3 RPM’s per volt applied.

48V-125V

Dual hall-sensors, and factory thermistor temperature sensor.

Side covers are marked 3,000W but they have been most often used at 4,000W continuous and 6,000 peak (at the designed voltage of 72V, this equals 50A continuous and 80A peak).

Maximum recommended power is 6,000W continuous, and 10,000W peak. At 125V that is 50A continuous and 80A peak. (do not exceed 150A phase current)

Designed to survive 125C /250F internal temps.

26″ wheel = 45mph (72 k/h) @ 75V / 60A

Dual spoke holes pattern, two freewheel thread options. Axle thread is 16mm X 1.5

51 stator-teeth (3-phase, 17 stator-teeth per phase), and 46 poles (23 pole-pairs)

Axle bearings: The larger bearing is a 6205RZ. The other is a 6004RZ

18-FET controller is the minimum, 24-FET is recommend, set for maximum of 150A phase current.

Cromotor owners unofficial tech tips thread can be found here. 

This is the optimum wheel option. A V2 Cromotor laced to a 21-inch motorcycle rim, using 4mm spokes (8-Ga). Pic is courtesy of ES member accountant in Croatia.

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 Drop-Outs

The standard width between the two sides of a bicycle frame where the rear wheel axle is attached is 135mm, and this is called the “Drop-Out” width. The Greyborg drop-outs are 155mm to allow a single-speed freewheel, a common bicycle disc brake, and a 50mm-wide stator.

The Greyborg Warp [STEEL] frame and the Cromotor are designed to work perfectly with each other, but Zvonimir is aware that some customers want to use the Cromotor with other bicycle frames. North American Cromotor dealer zombiess carries special-order Cromotors with the axle shoulders cut to 145mm wide, to make it easier to fit the Cro to a wider choice of frames without needing custom-made drop-out adapters.

Here’s a close-up of the clamping drop-outs on the new Greyborg Warp swingarm.

However, several Cromotor owners have gone to the extra effort and expense to source custom-made drop-out adapters. This allowed them to use the Cro in a frame of their choice.

These professional-looking units were ordered to be CNC-machined by ES member madin88, from Austria

These custom drop-outs were needed to fit the Cromotor onto a Votec VR150 frame.

There are many off-road enthusiasts who like the Giant DH Comp frame, and many of them wanted to add a rear hubmotor, but the stock drop-outs used a “through axle”. ES member kiwi (from New Zealand) designed and ordered a batch of custom drop-outs that are laser-cut. It uses several layers of stainless-steel plate that are TIG-welded together, and feature a clamping bolt so that it also acts as a very strong torque-arm.

Keep an eye out for an article we will do on Computer Aided Design (CAD)

Here’s a Cromotor in a Giant DH Comp frame (ES member “binlagin“), using custom drop-outs adapters made by ES member “kiwi”

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With over 500 Cromotors sold worldwide so far, there are plenty of E-bikes to feature with a Cromotor on them. In fact, keep an eye out for the custom build we will feature this month, but until then…here are two great examples of a Cromotor E-bike. The first one is a daily-commuter owned by Alan B from hilly San Francisco. He chose the bullet-proof “plug and play” Greyborg Warp frame that the Cro was designed for. The second E-bike here is a Cromotor in a Torque Raptor frame by ES member snellemin in Texas.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34929

ES member Alan B has his Cromotor in the Greyborg Warp frame that was designed for them to go together.

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http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=54481

This Cromotor is mounted in a Torque Raptor frame by ES member snellemin in Texas.

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Cromotor Speed

One of the first questions builders ask about the Cro is “How fast will it go?” The following list is provided by the North American Cromotor dealer, Jeremy / zombiess:

All speeds and amperages listed assume you are on level ground, and the combined weight of the rider and E-bike weighing 275-lbs / 125-kg. The “wheel” number is the outside diameter of the tire in inches.

50V 
16″ wheel = 20mph / 32kph @ 17A
20″ wheel = 25mph / 40kph @ 23A
22″ wheel = 27mph / 43kph @ 27A
24″ wheel = 29mph / 46kph @ 32A
26″ wheel = 30mph / 48kph @ 36A
29″ wheel = 33mph / 52kph @ 44A

75V
16″ wheel = 31mph / 49kph @ 24A
20″ wheel = 36mph / 57kph @ 37A
22″ wheel = 40mph / 64kph @ 44A
24″ wheel = 42mph / 67kph @ 52A
26″ wheel = 45mph / 72kph @ 60A
29″ wheel = 48mph / 76kph @ 74A

100V
16″ wheel = 41mph / 65kph @ 34A
20″ wheel = 49mph / 73kph @ 54A
22″ wheel = 52mph / 83kph @ 65A
24″ wheel = 55mph / 88kph @ 78A
26″ wheel = 58mph / 92kph @ 91A
29″ wheel = 61mph / 97kph @ 111A

125V
16″ wheel = 51mph / 81kph @ 46A
20″ wheel = 60mph / 96kph @ 75A
22″ wheel = 64mph / 102kph @ 91A
24″ wheel = 68mph / 108kph @ 109A
26″ wheel = 71mph / 113kph @ 127A
29″ wheel = 74mph / 118kph @ 155A

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If you don’t have a local shop that you feel confident with them building up a wheel for you using a Cromotor, consider using John Rob Holmes from “Holmes Hobbies” in Columbia, Missouri.

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Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, January 2014

Some of the most refined electric bikes on the market are mid drives. And until recently, if you wanted a mid drive electric bike you were stuck buying an under-powered and overly-priced 250-watt Euro electric bike. Or…if you wanted a powerful bike, your only choices then were a $10,000 plus USA bike (either the Optibike or the Hanebrink). Recently, several notable mid drive kits have come onto the market which allows someone on a budget to build a mid drive electric conversion that’s even more powerful than the factory mid drives.

Suddenly electric bike builders have a lot of choices between putting together a hub motor E-bike, or a mid drive…which to choose?

Heavy hub in the rear?…or lighter mid-drive in the middle?

Benefits of a mid drive over a hub motor

1. Climbs steep hills MUCH better than a hub motor.  There are videos of mid drives climbing stairs…(a feat nearly impossible to do on a hub motor electric bike).

2. Places the weight of the motor low and centralized in the frame (instead of a heavy hub in the rear wheel) which means a better balanced feel.

3. The motor can use the bikes gears, so the RPMs stay up in it’s efficient range = More range per battery-Ah.

4. Keeping the motor in it’s best RPM range means lower peak-amps drawn from the battery.

5. Giving the motor some gears to use, also means you can get a broader range of performance from a smaller and lighter motor.

6. Easy to change a flat tire with no hub motor.

7. No more broken spokes from hitting a pothole with a heavy hub motor in the wheel.

Drawbacks of a mid drive:

1. Often more expensive than a simple hub-motor.

2. Some mid-drives are noisier than a hub, a direct-drive hub with a sinewave controller is especially quiet.

3. Mid-drive kits are  more complex to install than a simple hub.

4. Shifting a mid drive electric bike can be a real pain. With a hub motor bike, the only reason to use gears is to get the right pedal cadence which usually means just staying in high gear.

5. Mid drives are generally not as well suited for flat land street commuting as hub motor bikes.

6. Mid drives are not as stealthy as most hub motor bikes.

7. If you want a super powerful electric bike (over 2000 watts) you have better and more reliable options from hub motor kits.

8. Mid drives have more moving parts and  therefore tend to be less reliable than most hub motor kits.

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1. Bafang BBS02 750W

Our number one pick for a mid drive right now is the Bafang BBS02, and for all the details, see our article, here. First of all, it can easily be installed on over 90% of the common frames available. The installation is simple enough that any average cyclist who is capable of fixing a bicycles flat tire…can install this drive by themselves. Second, the 1,000W power range (when controller is unrestricted), and small size are fantastic for most potential E-bikers. Lastly, the big surprise about this drive is that it is so quiet! Also, the 500W/25A unit runs on a more affordable 36V battery for E-bikers who don’t have extreme hills.

The Bafang BBS02 750W mid drive.

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2. GNG 1,000W

The GNG catalog lists this kit as the “450W brushless“. The second mid-drive on our list, is also a kit that can be added to just about any bicycle frame that you like (maybe 90% of them?). See our article on this awesome drive, here.

I feel this motor is a better pick for off-road compared to the BBS02 (even if you are happy with only 750W). This is because the GNG has more copper mass, and it sheds heat well, so it can take more power for longer. We will be getting our hands on a third-party upgrade kit that fixes all of the weaknesses of the GNG next month (look for our review soon). This kit has also been run at 72V X 30A = 2160W/3-HP (with a different controller), but be aware that this level of power requires a swap to a chain primary reduction, or a wider belt. Also, the GNG allows for a stronger crankset for riders who like radical jumps (without bending the spindle).

The GNG 1,000W mid drive (battery not shown)

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3. GNG Gen-2 

This kit is a converted geared hub-motor that is listed in the GNG catalog as a 36V/350W, or a 48V/400W. Its a great choice for a street commuter, see the details in our article about this drive, here. It’s just as easy to install as the BBS02, and..although it has less power capability than the BBS02, it also costs less.

The GNG Gen-2 750W drive.

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4. Cyclone

One of the earliest producers of mid-drives, they are from hilly Taiwan. Although this looks like a simple drive set up, the Cyclone mid drive is actually a cylindrical Headway motor attached to a planetary gear-box, providing 10:1 reduction, attached to a double freewheel. although the steel gears of the reduction are noisier than the GNG or BBS02, they are fully enclosed.

If you buy one of these kits I strongly suggest you spend the extra money and select a kit that’s big enough (650W-1200W) that it uses an external controller. Even if you only need a lower power level, the high powered motor will be more reliable than its smaller Cyclone counterparts. Read this entire ES forum thread before buying…it’s a great buyers guide to the Cyclone.

The Cyclone mid drive, one of the early producers of mid-drives.

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5. AFT

These guys (Applied Future Techmologies) are in Australia, and although they use the same motor and geared reduction as Cyclone, the rest of the kit parts are heavy duty and this fixes many of the complaints from Cyclone users.

The AFT mid drive, with a very beefy and well-designed mounting bracket.

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6. EGO

The EGO kit is from Germany, and even though the European Union (EU) has a 250W street E-bike power limit, the German off-road E-bike scene is very dynamic, with lots of exciting developments. Read the details of this kit in our article, here. It uses the same motor and geared reduction that made Cyclone famous.

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7. Ecospeed

The Ecospeed drive has brackets available to mount the motor in front of the bottom-bracket (shown), or also behind the seat-tube of a cargobike, as an option.

The Ecospeed mid-drive.

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8. Vivax

Formerly known as the “Gruber Assist“, it is the ultra-stealthy drive that has the motor hidden inside the seat-tube of your bike. You can read our article about the Vivax Assist here.  This system provided a mild 100-200 watt boost and its only visible feature is a red button that is mounted somewhere on the handlebars.  The power assist is smooth and quiet. The Vivax kit is not available in the United States as of yet, and it can only be added to a limited number of frames, so do your homework before ordering it.

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9. Stokemonkey

The stokemonkey is only for long cargobikes like the Yuba Mundo, Xtracycle Edgerunner, and Surly Big Dummy, but…if you actually haul cargo, this drive absolutely conquers hills when you are fully loaded. They are still available in the classic edition (where the pedals turn when the motor is running) but now…they also have a freewheeling crank option. This system was upgraded and now sold by ebikes.ca.

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10. Urban Commuter M-Drive

This awesome drive is also designed for the Yuba Mundo, Xtracycle Edgerunner, and Surly Big Dummy. It performs exceptionally well on steep hills while pulling heavy cargo.

The Urbancommuterstore.com’s M-drive, mounted here on the Yuba Mundo cargobike.

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11. Sunstar SO3+

I haven’t been able to find a picture of the inside of the Sunstar SO3+ drive, but it appears to have only a single reduction (compared to the similarly-sized BBS02, which has a dual reduction, allowing higher motor-RPMs). This may have been adequate for the 250W power-limited EU market but the design ignores a large 500W/750W market in North America.

The Sunstar SO3+

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12. TCM

The TCM drive is hard to find any information about it. I finally found it as the optional mid drive system on “Whoosh Sport CD” in the United Kingdom. It also appears to have a single reduction.

The TCM mid drive.

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Cycloboost

This kit is from France and is available in the European Union. (Thanks to Carva from pedelecforum.de for the link)

The Cycloboost, from France.

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Written by Eric and Ron, originally published July 2012, updated January 2014

High performance requires high amps, but LiPo batteries can be dangerous for someone who is inexperienced with them. LiPo is capable of putting out VERY high current (the C-rate), and if you are building a racing E-bike, they are simply the best choice.

A LiPo pack will be smaller, lighter, and will put out more peak and continuous amps than any other pack you can buy. The problem is that…for E-bikers who want something that is much safer, but has better performance than the average common battery pack, the options are not well known.

It is possible for LiPo to be handled safely, but Hobby King sells LiPo in their bare form, with no protective circuitry for charging or discharging, and each builder is the one responsible for adding a BMS and making a protective case, so…sometimes they become damaged and catch on fire!

If you have built a race E-bike, you already know what this is. The infamous LiPo. They are sold without any protective circuitry, and only have one layer of shrink-wrap over the cells’ foil skins.

First, I want to establish what I mean by “better performance”. For several years, the go to choice for a direct drive hubmotor has been the Nine Continents (9C). They were frequently sold with a 20A controller, and at 48V it would provide about 960W of performance. The hub would accelerate as fast as it could with only 960W available to it, but after reaching cruising speed, the amount of watts that it draws would slide back down to just a few hundred watts for the majority of the ride.

Several builders mentioned that when they raised the amp-limit to 25A (48V X 25A = 1200W), the acceleration was much more powerful and quick. Of course after reaching cruising speed, the amps settled back down to the normal amount. This low amp ”cruise phase” is vital to allow the motor to cool back down to being just warm.

Then (of course!), many builders raised their amp-limit to 40A (48V X 40A = 1920W). They reported that the acceleration was wonderful now, but…several builders also reported that…if you put a heavy load on a 9C that can draw 40A, and then ride up a long and steep uphill (with no cooling-down phase), sometimes the motor would overheat. This means that 40A is a practical limit to aspire to for high performance using a common E-bike kit.

This is what this article is about. How do we reliably get a SAFE 40A peak from the smallest possible battery…without using LiPo? Just to remind our readers, if you only need 20A-25A for your E-bike, then there’s no reason to pay extra for high-current cells, but if a safe 30A-40A sounds good…read on!

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The short story here is…buy (or build) a 40A battery pack made from from any one of three cell selections: the Headway 38120, the Samsung 20R cell, or the Sony VTC4 cell. I will do my best to describe these cells here, so our readers can decide if one of these might be right for them.

Before we start, in order to understand the numbered names of these cells, they are the dimensions of the cylinders. The 18650 format is a cylinder that is 18mm in diameter, and 65mm long (the size of an adult thumb), and the much larger 38120 Headway cells are 38mm diameter, and 120mm long (roughly the size of two “D” flashlight batteries).

All of the top three cells on this list are cylindrical in shape, and they are made by using the same material as the flat foil pouches, except that a ribbon of that material is rolled up, and inserted inside a protective metal shell.

Here’s a generic 18650 cell being cut open and unrolled. 18650 = 18mm X 65mm

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Headway

First up is Headway from China. They were developed for EV’s, and they use the well-known LiFePO4 chemistry. This means that not only can you charge these up without worrying that your house will catch on fire while you are sleeping…it also means that a pack made from these will last years!

Here’s a battery pack made with Headway cells and their pack assembly kit. Pic is courtesy of endless-sphere member Teklektik.

Another benefit of these Headway cells is that they come from the factory with threaded attachment points at both ends of the cylinder. This means that assembling a pack from these does not require a spot-welder, or a serious soldering operation. Our friend Alan is happy with the pack that he made from Headway cells, but their large size may prove to be difficult to fit in a common bike frame. Alan built up a longtail cargobike, so he had plenty of room to use these large cells. Their smallest cell is the 38120S, which has 10-Ah in just one cell! The slightly longer 38140 cell has 12-Ah per cell, and there are also larger sizes of Headways to choose from.

Here’s a large Headway 38120 next to two common flashlight D-cells for scale. Thanks to ES member Alan/Teklektik for the pic.

Here’s a Greyborg frame filled with 72V of Headway cells.

Alan was able to consider the large-cell Headways as an option because longtail cargobikes have plenty of room on the back half of their frames.

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Sony VTC4

We have the cordless tool industry to thank for high-current cells in the 18650 format. Laptop computers also use the 18650 size, but they do not draw the anywhere near the amount of current that industrial cordless tools do.

Sony (from Japan) makes the high quality IMR-18650-VTC4 cell. The capacity is 2100-mAh (be careful, the similar VTC3 cell is only 1600-mAh), and this incredible cell puts out 30A per cell in the paralleled group. For every cell that you add in parallel, you will also be adding another 30A of current capability to the pack. This means that a 12S / 5P pack that would provide 44V / 10.5-Ah…can also provide 150A of temporary peak current!

The high Current capability of this quality cell is why our friend Martin used them when he built up a Cromotor street commuter. If fact, this cell provides much more current than necessary, so you can save a few dollars by considering a cell that puts out only15A per cell (in a common 5P configuration using 15A cells, each parallel string could provide 75 peak amps, so the 40A I am looking for would not stress the pack at all).

The cells shown here are actually from Panasonic. This pic shows the size of an 18650 cell, and this group is 8 cells connected in parallel (8P). This string would provide very high amps at 3.7 volts. You have to connect several parallel strings in series to raise the voltage.

Of course a pack of VTC4 cells will run cooler if you use less current than 150A, and you will also get more range if you draw only the 40A that I recommend as the practical limit. The IMR prefix in it’s part number means that it uses the ultra-safe Lithium-Manganese-Oxide chemistry (LiMn).

One of the beneficial quirks of these cells (sometimes branded as Konion cells) is that the factory claims that they don’t need to have the parallel strings balance-charged. In theory, the entire pack can be bulk-charged, and each individual cell will stop taking a charge when it’s full, even though the charger will continue charging up the other cells…the ones that need  just a little but more to be full.

A word of caution: the similar Sony VTC3 is only 1600-mAh, so make sure you are researching the VTC4, which is the more desirable 2100-mAh.

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Samsung 20R

This is my new favorite E-bike battery pack cell (Samsung is from South Korea). Since it is an 18650 format, it is small and configurable like the Sony VTC4, but it is less expensive per Watt-Hour (WH), like the Headway cells. The price/performance is good, but there is another reason I like them. The Sony VTC4 cells would require a serious soldering operation, or possibly a spot-welder…in order to assemble a pack. However, the 20R cell is available in a pre-made pack.

As time goes on, more and more vendors will provide a variety of choices, but right now there is only one battery provider that will make you a pack with the 20R cell. And…as luck would have it, this vendor already has a well-known reputation for quality products and good customer service. It is Paul at em3ev.com, and his endless-sphere username is cell_man.

However, the good news doesn’t stop there…just like other battery vendors, he has several rectangular packs shapes to choose from, but he also is the only vendor I know of that makes and sells triangular packs. Having a pack that is shaped like a triangle allows you to mount it in the center of most bicycle frames. Not only that, he sells TWO different sizes of triangle packs (can you tell I’m a fan?).

The INR prefix on its part number means that the chemistry is Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA). The smallest triangle pack available with 20R cells is capable of 50A of peak current, but Paul limits them to 40A with a Battery Management System (BMS) that is designed to make the pack last as long as possible.

em3ev.com will build one of these triangle packs with a choice of three cell options. You can choose either the best value, longest range, or extra high current.

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 Prismatic pouch cells

I recently asked respected ES member Luke /LFP about non-LiPo cells that provide high current and he mentioned there were some large prismatic cells that could fit on a bike frame. One of the companies he mentioned was Energy Innovation Group (EIG, from South Korea).

Here are four flat foil-covered cells, sometimes called “pouches” or “prismatic” cells.

EIG makes foil packs in the large format, and they are designed to serve the EV market, such as electric cars, motorcycles, and scooters. They use the well-known LiFePO4 chemistry, and their F-series cells are designed to put out high current. Since each cell has quite a bit of amp-hours in it, you wouldn’t need to connect them in parallel to get a high-amp pack. Their F007 cell has 7-Ah per pouch, and provides an awesome 30C worth of current (200A?), so they could make a small and short range pack.

The EIG F014 cell is a useful 14-Ah per pouch size, and provides 20C of peak current, with 10C of continuous current, which would be 280A and 140A…much more than enough for us, so this pack would stay very cool when drawing only a 40A peak.

If you wanted a pack in the popular 16S configuration (16 cells in Series for approximately 50V), you only need to buy 16 pouches. However, I’m sure it’s obvious that these large format pouches are not very configurable. Pre-made packs are all going to be a large rectangular block.

Here’s an 14-Ah pouch of LiFePO4 from EIG. The long edge is 222mm (8.7-inches)

Why don’t we see more pouch packs?

These flat foil pouch packs (made from several different chemistries) are popular with electric cars, motorcycles, and scooters. The main reason is that there is no wasted air-space between cells (as there would be with cylinders), so you can have a very dense pack.

That may sound good for an E-bike pack too, but there are downsides. First, they are more expensive than readily available packs made from common 18650 cells. Second, they are not very configurable, so you are limited to a large rectangle. em3ev also sells foil packs for scooters that are made from the excellent A123 company, but his 20-Ah pouches are even larger than the EIG cell shown in the pic above. Chinese battery manufacturer Farasis also makes high-current LiFePO4 foil packs that are the large 20-Ah size.

18650 cells in a common “cargo rack” pack, mounted horizontally above the rear wheel. This shape of pack is also sometimes located vertically just behind the seat-tube.

Here are 18650 cells in a round “water bottle” configuration that we are starting to see more of recently.

18650 cells are very configurable (like Lego’s), and since they are cost-effective compared to the other options, I believe that they will become very established this year as the premier cell type and size for E-bike battery packs. While studying for this article, I came across other high-current 18650 cell options.

Interestingly, the most readily available technical information about the various cells were from website forums that discussed flashlights, and also E-cigarettes/Vaporizers. The flashlight connection is self-explanatory, but a vaporizer is less well-known. With the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington (and the de-criminalization of medical marijuana in over a dozen states), a vaporizer is a device that heats the leafy material so the vapors can be inhaled without emitting smoke. Their heating element requires a small, high-current battery.

Plastic cell-holders allow DIY builders to assemble a pack into a custom shape, from whatever 18650 cell they choose.

But regardless of who is using these cells, high-current 18650′s have been developed for the huge global market for cordless tools. The prices per cell should come down over time, but fortunately for us…we can have any characteristic you want right now. The “best value” cell from em3ev.com is the Samsung 22P, and his small triangle pack made from those easily delivers 30A (the larger packs made from the 22P would provide more amps), the extreme range cell is the Panasonic 29E with 2900-mAh per cell. A small pack of 29E’s will still have a lot of Amp-hours (Ah) of range.

His high-current cell is the Samsung 20R (and soon the 25R). His smallest triangle pack of 20R’s is limited to 40A for long life (it is capable of more amps than 40A), but if you can fit the large triangle pack, you can also get 40A from the more affordable 22P cell. I actually tried to find a better selection of cells to see if there were any other options to add to this list.

Here is a list of seven high-current 18650 cells that I collected (all with a minimum capacity of at least 2000-mAh), and after considering their characteristics and cost, I realized that cell_man has really done his homework. The other high-current cell options either don’t have as much capacity as the 29E, they cost much more than the 22P, or they provide less current than the 20R. When the Samsung 25R becomes available this spring (a high-current 2500-mAh cell that costs less than the Sony VTC4), it will then become my newest favorite cell for a small high-amp pack.

Samsung 22P

Samsung 20Q

Samsung 20R

Sanyo 20EX

Samsung 25R

Sony 21VTC4

Panasonic 29PD

A quick note, there are many high-current 18650′s that have a capacity of 1000-1600 mAh, but that capacity is so small I did not consider them because I would have to add many extra cells just to get to a minimum 10-Ah.

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Here are two high-current cells in the 26650 size (26mm diameter, 65mm long, high current, non-LiPo chemistry) that are worth considering:

A123 26650M1B 2500-mAh

Sony 26650VT 2600-mAh

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Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, February 2014

A friend just sent me a link to this new E-bike, from Surain in Belgium (near the northern border of France). Sooner or later, this interesting off-road E-bike will be compared to a Stealth Fighter, and we will be looking for information about the details to see how it stacks up. These guys are familiar with the level of performance needed to make an E-bike significant, because they also make an electric motorcycle.

They are off to a good start by using 72V. It is the amps that generates the most heat in the motor and controller, so engineering-wise, it is always good to start out with the most volts that will work for your design. The controller is a significant 18-FET, so although Surain is claiming it can handle 60A peaks, the majority of the time you will be using fewer amps than that, so a large 18-FET should run fairly cool enough to avoid overheating in most conditions.

They are drawing 60A peaks from a 15-Ah battery, and this is the only thing that might cause me some concern. They don’t list the battery chemistry or cell type…only that the cells are from Panasonic (which is at least one good sign). It might be using high current NON-LiPo chemistries and cells, and I hope that their battery uses one of those.

An interesting feature that I noticed is that they list their frame as being made from a very strong 7075-T6 Aluminum alloy, But a close inspection of the pictures show that there seems to be very few welds. The separate pieces that make up the custom frame appear to be made from water-jetted aluminum plates, and then bolted or riveted together.

The Surain Ezekiel from Belgium with Benjamin Surain, the president of this company.

Crystalyte Rear hub 2.5-Kw,

Battery: 72V / 15-Ah, Panasonic cells

Controller: 18-FET, 60A

Fork: Rock Shox Boxxer

Rear shock: RockShox Kage 240mm

Brakes: Hope dual piston discs, 203 mm front, 203 mm rear

Front tire: 26″/ Rear tire: 24″

Speed: 60 km/h, (37-MPH)

Frame: 7075 T6 Aluminum

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The pic below is also from Surain. It claims to be a pic of their “Baron” model, but I’m having a difficult time seeing any bike (*wink).

The Surain Baron.

The Baron uses a 36V / 15A battery (using Panasonic cells), and the controller is a 350W, 6-FET, 20A unit. Its top speed is 25 km/h (15-MPH)

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Sulain also makes an electric motorcycle. The street-legal model is the “RVs“, and the same E-moto as an off-road version is the “VRX“.

Both models use the same power system: the battery is a KOKAM 48V / 40-Ah, and the controller is an Alltrax 400A, and it has a top-spedd of  85 km/h (52-MPH).

The street-legal Surain RVs.

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Here is a pic of a high-concept show EV from Surain, named the “Eol“. The drop-outs are steel, and the rest of the frame is aluminum, using a water-jetted plates and bolts construction. This might be the “scooter” that their website states they will have in production soon?…

Here is an interview with Benjamin Surain (for those readers who can speak French!)

A mystery EV from Surain that is called the “Eol”.

The Surain company logo. I couldn’t help but notice that the capital “S” has an angels halo and also a devils tail…

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Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, February 2014

If you are ever in south west Belgium, here is their address:

Rue de l’Innovation, 7-3
Froyennes 7503
Tournai, Belgium

The Qulbix Raptor is a high-performance E-bike frame that is made to allow a very large battery pack, and a very high-powered rear hub-motor. We’ve been wanting to write about the Raptor for some time, and since they just recently changed their company name Torque to Qulbix, that makes this month a good time to finally delve into the details.

Note: the “Qulbix” name was developed to have something that is very different than any other name out there. Many companies have “Torque” in their name, and customer internet searches were cluttered with links that have nothing to do with this awesome E-bike. The proper pronunciation is “Cool Bikes“.

Several of our featured custom builds have shown that in order to get high power from a hub motor you need two things. First, you definitely want the highest volts you can fit into the frame, and second…you need the biggest hub you can fit into the frame because a smaller hub cannot accept as many amps as a larger one.

The majority of the heat that can kill a motor is from high amps, so…the bigger the hub, the bigger the amps you can use without a motor meltdown. And when you manage to acquire an extra big hub…it reveals another problem for anyone who wants a high-powered E-bike. A large hub motor using high amps might not fit on some bicycle frames, and even if it does fit…a high-powered hub can break a stock bicycle swingarm. If you add dual or quad torque-arms to make the connection stronger, it might not allow a large hub to fit onto the dropouts on a common bicycle swingarms with a 135mm wide drop-out width.

The Qulbix Raptor answers all of these concerns, so…if this sounds like something that you might like, read on.

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This company was started by an engineer who developed products for motorcycles. Then, in 2006 he formed the Torque company, and in the beginning of 2013, they produced the Torque FR1 electric off-road motorcycle. Almost immediately, some customers asked if they would ever consider making an electric bicycle with pedals for off-road.

The FR1

The Qulbix company already had a lot of experience with motorcycles, and this is why their first electric off-road “Raptor” E-bike has gotten so many things right their first time out. One of the first questions that often come up in conversation is “how much does it weigh?”. If you want your Raptor to be as nimble as possible, you can use a smaller battery, bicycle tires, and the HT3525 hub motor to get the weight down below 80-lbs (36 kg), and…if you use an extra long-range battery with motorcycle tires and a powerful cromotor, the raptor can be heavier than 120-lbs (55 kg).

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BATTERIES

The most important feature of the Qulbix Raptor that I want to talk about first is the incredible battery volume in the central part of the frame. This is the outstanding characteristic that sets this E-bike apart from other similar competitors. The interior width of the frame compartment is 160mm, and this is enough to set the common Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery packs sideways in the compartment.

No matter what battery chemistry you choose, the Raptor allows the highest volts and Amp-Hours due to its incredibly large battery compartment.

The hollow frame of the Stealth Bomber is 125mm wide, the Greyborg is 110mm, and the Phasor is 100mm. So those E-bikes might be easier to pedal, but when you want the absolute highest volts along with the longest possible range (by adding amp-hours of battery volume), the Raptor has the biggest battery volume by a large margin. In this rider quote below he’s recommending a lithium polymer (LiPo) pack of 74V / 25-Ah.

“…I discovered that ideally you should have 18S / 5P. Or fifteen of the 6S / 5000-mAh packs. If you are off-roading this will give you enough power to the point you are exhausted. 18S / 3P is simply not enough range. At 18S / 4P I was still wishing for more range. 18S / 5P seems pretty perfect [and more would be un-necessarily heavy]…”

carsonwen: ”…I am using 5S / 4000-mAh cells. I can fit up to 42 packs, Potentially 30S / 28-Ah [124V]…”

Although the frame is noticeably wide, it can still be pedaled.

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MOTORS

The Raptors swingarm has a 150mm wide drop-out width, and spacers are included if you are using a standard motor with the common bicycle 135mm axle-shoulder width. All four of the motors listed below allow for you to use a disc brake on the rear.

The Crystalyte HT3525 is the smallest hub I’d consider on this excellent frame, anything smaller and you’d be wasting the capabilities of this well-engineered high-performance E-bike. This would be the hub you’d want if you’d like to keep a 7-speed gear-cluster, and you also want your Raptor to be as light as possible. The HT3525 has been used at 100V X 40A = 4,000W, with the side-plates ventilated to let excess heat out, and of course, adding a temperature sensor.

The next bigger motor that looks like it would work well is the Crystalyte 4080, which can accept a 5-speed gear cluster. The 40mm wide stator (5mm wider) allows it to take a few more amps than the HT3525. The H4080 also has a common 135mm drop-out width.

Next up is another motor from Crystalyte, “The Crown” motor (TC80), it uses the same 40mm stator width as the H4080, but it can take more amps due to two improvements. The Crown has a thick aluminum core (as opposed to the H4080 steel stamped core) that will absorb temporary  amp heat-spikes to help stabilize the internal temperatures. And second, the stator teeth have deeper slots to allow for a slightly higher copper fill. More copper = more amps. The one drawback of the Crown over the H4080 is that the Crown only allows a single-speed freewheel. The Crown has a 140mm drop-out width.

The most popular motor for the Raptor is the Cromotor from Zelena Vozila, (right next door in Croatia). Be aware that he drop-out width of the North-American spec Cromotor is 145mm, and the Euro-spec Cromotor has a 155mm drop-out width. And you will definitely only fit a single-speed freewheel on the Cromotor. All of these concessions are so the builder can have the Cro’s massive 50mm wide stator. This wide copper mass means you can feed your Raptor the maximum possible amps for brutal acceleration.

offroader: “…The Cromotor V2 is amazingly smooth and quiet..”

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CONTROLLERS

So far, the two most popular controllers have been the Lyen 18-FET, and the Kelley KHB.

The 18-FET may not seem big enough, but if you are running your Raptor at 24S / 100V, then 60A from an 18-FET should be more than enough. The standard mounting location for the controller is the front of the down-tube, and the 24-FET size will fit if you want more than 60A

The original Raptors’ protective cover for the controller was not wide enough for the Kelly KHB controller (204 X 162 X 84mm), but the most recent version has been widened slightly to allow for this well-regarded option.

“…I adjusted the power on my Lyen 18-FET to 130 phase amps, 60 battery amps at 72V and WOW, amazing power. This bike is the ultimate urban assault bike and it makes beating it around an urban environment a whole new fun thing to do with an ebike….”

Here is the (red) 253mm-long vented steel bash-guard for the front-mounted controller.

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SUSPENSION

I haven’t had the opportunity to ride a Raptor yet, so the following advice is from the very experienced ES members “Rix”, offroader”, and “moonshine”:

The rear shock has a movable mount (with three possible positions) to allow you to choose from a variety of options. It can accept a shock length from 8.5-inches to 10.5 inches long (216mm-267mm)

1. For serious off-road riding I would recommend 267 X 89mm (10,5 X 3,5”) rear shock, mounted on the top bracket holes (wheel travel: 260mm, BB height: 360 mm, seat height: 910 mm).

2. Second option for milder off-road is to use 240 X 76mm (9,5 X 3”) shock (wheel travel: 230mm, BB height: 330 mm, seat height: 880 mm) – this one should be mounted on the middle holes.

3. The lowest holes are suitable for 216 X 63mm or 222 X 70mm shock, This one is suitable mainly for city and street cruises (wheel travel: 190mm, BB height: 290 mm, seat height: 840 mm).

“…If you go with a Fox DHX RC4 10.5 X 3.5 then I recommend a 400lbs spring weight if you weigh 130lbs to 180lbs. I bottom out often with a 350lbs spring and I weigh 135lbs, although the 350lbs does work well. A 450lbs spring was way too stiff and I could never use all the travel or even close to it, so I think a 400lbs spring would be perfect for the average weight rider…”

“…I would get the bike with a 10.5 X 3.5 rear shock and not the 9.5 X 3.00. The bike can handle the longer travel so, why not use it? You may however want to consider a 9.5 X 3.00 if you are really short (or using a 24″ tire up front) as you can’t adjust this shock using the bikes bolt holes to lower the height. The 10.5 X 3.5 and 26″ tire up front will give you a 14″ bottom bracket height [for great ground clearance], which is optimal…”

Forks

If you don’t have a preference, here are two proven options: “…I personally went with a Marzocchi 888 RC3 EVO V2 because it uses an oil bath and I heard it would require a lot less maintainence than a Fox 40 Float 26. Since I am not big into doing maintenance, I went with something that I wouldn’t have to service very often. However, the head tube on the raptor is just slightly too long to fit the Marzocchi upper crown flush (sticks up about 10% over stanchions), but it is workable and fixable…”

“…[I use an] Rockshox RS Boxxer with 200mm of travel…”

This Raptor is from ES member “moonshine“

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TIRES

The swingarm is designed to accept tires as fat as 3-inches, and although some riders will use fat bicycle tires, there are several motorcycle tires that work well with the Raptor because of this extra tire space.

“…I have now tested 16 different tires. I keep going back to the Shinko SR 241 because they are the best on both the road and dirt. A knobbie works better on the dirt, and the M62 Michelin works better on pavement. But no tire works better than the SR241 on all types of terrain….That is the best tire I have tested to date in sizes 2.75 X 19, 3.00 X 17, and 2.75 X 17…”

“…I went with the Prowheel rim and Shinko 241 tires. The Raptor needs a 26″ front wheel to maintain the 14″ bottom bracket height, the rear can use a smaller diameter tire and be adjusted for higher height with the movable shock mount. If you had a 10.5″ shock and a 26″ rear wheel it would probably raise the rear too high (and couldn’t adjust it anymore to lower the height), so a 10.5 shock and 19″ Prowheel is perfect setup. Plus you get over 10 inches of rear travel with a nice long 10.5 X 3.5 shock…”

The Cromotor with Shinko SR 241 tires.

“…I also feel that putting a dirtbike tire in the front is questionable. Maybe it could be better but I have my doubts. For one, the downhill biking community does not like big fat 3″ tires out front. With the better suspension, there is no need to use such fat tires. Supposedly you want the front tire to not be so fat so that it can dig in better in off-road conditions…”

“…There is also no reason to use a heavy dirtbike tire and wheel on the front when a bicycle tires will give you far better selection, and weigh much less. Bicycle tires I find work well on the front, and never pinch flat and also wear very slowly. I would think a bicycle tire also has softer compound and will be better suited for a much lighter ebike than a motorcycle. This is only for front tires, for the rear…a dirt-bike tire is a must! You should really only use a 19″ prowheel rim in the rear…”

“…After the big problems with bicycle rear tires pinch-flatting all the time and wearing away too quickly, the Shinko 241 is a dream tire. Both the 241 Shinko 19 X 2.75 (and Duro Razorback 26 X 2.6 front tire) have held up really well to constant abuse. I am talking about hitting curbs and steps at high speeds, and doing high jumps! If you insist on using small spokes, go 12-Ga minimum. High quality 12-Ga will be adequate, but 8-Ga to 10-Ga is better, though…”

“…The reason I recommend a 26″ mountain bike up front is first it seems to be accepted amongst downhillers that 26″ wheels roll better through obstacles than 24″ wheels. You will also have many more tire options in a 26″ size. Other reasons are that a motorcycle tire up front will probably have too stiff of a tread for optimal traction. You will also have added weight which is not needed, and the fact is the front tire on an ebike doesn’t wear away quickly and doesn’t have any problems with pinch flats. There is no reason to use a heavier tire and rim which may throw off the fork performance with the extra weight that it was never designed for. I know a Stealth uses 24″ tires up front, but that doesn’t really seem to make sense why they choose that…”

Here is a Raptor with a Cromotor, sold in Europe by eRIDE Horizon from Austria. The tires are Maxxis Creepy Crawler’s

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BRAKES

“…The Shimano Zee hydraulic brakes are highly recommended, they simply have amazing power and only need one finger to stop the bike. They also received great reviews for the price, and are pretty much the same as the Shimano Saints (which cost much more).

If using Shimano rotors make sure to get a SM-RT66 203mm in the rear, since ice tech’s or xt’s will not sit flush with the Cromotor-V2 and the spacing will be off. For the front disc, you can use whatever one you want…”

Uschi K: “…[I use the] Gatorbrake 8 piston…”

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Motocross style seat, or bicycle seat?

There are two seat options, and if you buy both, they are easy to swap between them. If you choose a bicycle seat, the diameter of the seat-tube will accept a 30.9mm post.

The common bicycle seat post is self-explanatory, but the highly recommended option is the motocross-style seat. It sits low, so shorter riders may end up needing this, regardless of preference. And even if you are tall enough to use the bicycle seat, the MX style can be squeezed between a riders thighs at high speed to more firmly anchor the rider to the bike.

One rider is quoted as saying: “I actually sat on my old cross-country E-bike today and can’t believe I used that bike for so long with that uncomfortable hard bicycle seat. It brought back memories of it constantly whacking my ass as I drove that bike hard off-road over bumps”

Here is the optional motocross-style seat. The tires here are the Scwalbe “Crazy Bob” model, for cornering well on the street.

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Conclusion

Most North American riders may not realize it, but motocross (MOTOrcycle-CROSS country), started in Europe many decades ago. So, European countries have a long history of expertise in this style of off-roader…and the Slovenian-based Qulbix company (between Italy and Greece) is no exception.

Here’s a video of a Raptor climbing stairs.

The following quotes from ES members “Rix”, “snellemin”, and “offroader”:

“…The Raptor is ridiculously stable at high speed…”

“…My bike accelerates really quickly to 40-MPH and I’m liking the longer wheelbase vs my other bikes, I had 40-MPH max in my head when I decided to build a Raptor. But was quite surprised that I can hit 50-MPH on only 21S LiPo [86V]. It’s nice to commute with to work. I have enough power/torque to stay up with traffic, and avoid road rage…”

“…It is a dream having the batteries weight enclosed in the center, and not worrying about damaging them. I’m using fifteen 6S / 5000-mAh Turnigy packs, and will increase it to 24 packs (and possibly 28 packs) to get more range. The Raptor really shines in that it can be used with a lot of batteries, so make sure that you take advantage of that. You can probably fit about 3-times the amount of batteries in a Raptor vs a Stealth bike…”

“…The geometry is exactly how I wanted it with a 26″ front bicycle tire and 19″ dirt bike tire in the rear, when using a 10.5″ stroke shock. The bike just handles amazing….”

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From Ziva: “I can say that we have sold Raptor frame kits to Australia, Germany, UK, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, USA, Russia, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, United Arab Emirates, France, Israel, and Spain!…we think this industry has a great potential to evolve. And it will evolve to incredible proportions, I am sure. Electric bikes simply have it all: they are fun, useful, and they fit right into our vision of sustainable society…”

Ziva: “…And another thing: we are preparing a new Rator Complete eBike, I will let you know as soon as it’s set to go….”

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Here is the Qulbix website homepage.

Here is the Qulbix Facebook page.

And finally, here is the 36-page endless-sphere forum discussion.

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Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, March 2014

BMW produced 200 small folding electric bikes in 2012 as part of a public relations campaign about their new electric concept car, the i3. You could fit two of the folding i-Pedelecs in the back of the i3, with the idea that you could drive the i3 from your home to a car-park, and then ride the i-Pedelecs the final few miles to work, to the train station, or to a weekend picnic.

The BMW i-Pedelec folding E-bike, and the i3 electric concept car.

The i-Pedelec was well-designed, but it has never gone into mass-production. It had achieved its goal of green advertising, and served as an example of BMW’s design skill.

Last year, in 2013, they decided to brand a full-sized E-bike, but…in my opinion they chose a very generic looking frame, even though they did make the wise choice to use the well-designed Bosch mid-drive (which makes the most of the EUs 250W street E-bike power limit). The BMW 2013 “Cruise” E-bike was certainly made with quality components, but it was not distinctive in any way.

BMW’s 2013 “Cruise” E-bike.

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BMW History

I’d like to take a minute and talk a little about BMW’s incredible history. Their name is Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), and their blue-and white symbol holds a clue to their origin. The famous BMW “Roundel” is is a graphic of an airplane propeller spinning. In 1917 they had been making aircraft engines, but in the post-war economy, they began making motorcycle engines to survive the European economic depression.

The flat air-cooled twin shown below is from 1980, but it is an excellent example of the classic engine that made BMW world famous. This engine family started in 1923 and it was the one product that most helped them survive the economic ups and downs of the next few decades until the next big product diversification…

The famous “spinning propeller” logo, and a 1980 R80/7.

Now, I’d like to show you the next two milestones in their history:  In 1955, BMW licensed the rights to manufacture the Brazilian “Isetta” microcar, which uses a motorcycle engine in the rear. Although it wasn’t impressive, the BMW Isetta was their first commitment to becoming a car manufacturer. Then, in 1962…The struggling company introduced a sport-coupe model that would evolve into the car that would catapult them into profitability, and also into the sport-luxury market that has become the core of their modern identity…the 2002 from 1968 (two thousand cc engine displacement, two doors).

The BMW Isetta microcar, and a 1968 sport coupe, model 2002.

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And now…to their new Ebike!

Dozens of bicycle manufacturers have contracted with Bosch to supply a mid drive motor to add an electric bicycle to their line-up. I think the full-sized E-bike that BMW produced last year was an experiment. However, I believe that their new E-bike this year is evidence that they are serious about keeping an E-bike as part of their catalog.

Their history has shown that they are a company of engineers that carefully considers their next move, and they then commit themselves to establishing themselves in that new market. Our article on car companies that branded an E-bike has shown that auto company branded E-bikes have come and gone. The 2013 BMW Cruise E-bike was well-designed and performs fantastic (in part to the excellent high-quality Bosch drive), however…the big difference this year is BMWs effort and expense that went into improving its style.

The Stromer hides it battery inside the downtube. However the Bosch drive unit is unmistakable, so the BMW chose a detachable battery case. I think this is good, because riders can upgrade to a larger battery for more range whenever they want. Also, replacing an old battery does not require returning the bike to the dealer. Notice all the cables are sleekly routed through the inside of the frame.

The Bosch mid drive is the focal point of this elegant frame.

The 2014 BMW Cruise uses Shimano hydraulic discs front and rear.

The plus and minus buttons change the power-assist settings on the user-friendly computer.

The hydroformed aluminum tubing and smoothly blended welds add distinctive touches to this understated but very upscale E-bike

Here is a reason I believe BMW is serious about continuing to design and produce electric bikes…they have invested a serious amount of time, money, and effort into producing a very well-designed electric scooter. The easy method to making a scooter is to use a hub-motor, but BMW used a non-hub, which allows the motor to spin much faster than the wheel. It also simplifies their choice to liquid-cool the motor, so this design can absorb large temporary heat spikes. This design really cares about performance.

These things convince me that BMW is not just using a few E-bikes for their advertising, they are quite serious about this.

The BMW “C Evolution” electric scooter.

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Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, March 2014

Qoros has revealed a new high-performance electric bike, and if it looks vaguely similar to the GreyP G-12, there is a reason for that. We haven’t had a chance to write about the GreyP E-bike yet, but the eBIQE is breaking news right now (that is related to the GreyP), so we will tell you about the eBIQE first.

We wrote about the Greyborg Warp Builder’s frame kit a few months ago, and during that research, we became familiar with the new electric car company Rimac Automobili. It was started by a brilliant young man from Croatia named Mate Rimac. At one point, they hired a mechanical engineer who was a passionate enthusiast about electric bikes…Zvonimir Sučić.

Zvonimir’s enthusiasm is infectious, and soon Mate became interested in developing a complete “turn key” electric bicycle with similarities to the Greyborg, but with some features that Mate felt would make the resulting E-bike a complimentary partner to Rimac Automobili’s main project, a very exciting electric sports car called the Concept-One. The new electric bike from Rimac is the GreyP G-12.

The many similarities between the GreyP and the Qoros eBIQE are fairly easy to see.

Qoros is a joint business venture between two companies, with one in China and the other from Israel. The first Foreign sales for their Qoros-3 gasoline-powered car last year were through their new European dealer, in Slovakia…which is right next to Croatia.

Once Qoros announced that they would develop an all-electric version of their car, it was almost inevitable that the main people from Qoros and Rimac would meet. At some point, Qoros decided to hire Rimac (with their chief engineer Zvonimir) to develop an E-bike for Qoros. If you look at the two bikes side-by-side, their shared DNA is unmistakable, but the details of the eBIQE clearly set it apart as its own product.

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The CAR

Qoros is a new car company, but it is a spin-off from the well-established Chinese automobile firm Chery, and the Qoros factory is located in Changshu (very close to Shanghai, where Qoros has their engineering center).

This attractive 4-door hatchback was designed by Gert Hildebrand, the Executive Director of Design for BMW’s Mini. The hybrid drivetrain and also the all-electric drivetrain that will both be options on the Qoros 3 were designed by the Detroit firm American Axle & Manufacturing, which formed their new electrical drives division in 2010, named e-AAM.

e-AAM was formed as a partnership between AAM and the Swedish firm Svenska Aeroplan Aktie Bolaget, better known as Saab. This was due to Saab’s expertise in AWD electronic management systems. These drivetrains are designed around a family of motors that have differing lengths, but share the same diameter and laminations, which simplifies its adoption across several models with varied power requirements.

Here is the eBIQE and the Qoros 3

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Now…back to the bike! 

This pic of a white eBIQE is from the Geneva Auto show, March 6, 2014. The disc behind it is one of the optional wheel designs for the Qoros 3 automobile. I don’t know how serious Qoros is about making and selling the eBIQE to the public, or…if it is just a handful being branded to help create advertising for their hybrid and electric cars.

The eBIQE, in white with black trim.

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The eBIQE’s touch-screen has several read-outs and menus. This is the standard speed and power consumption display. Among the options is a GPS map guiding system, and it can also monitor your heart-rate if you want.

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The two most distinct features on the eBIQE that identify it apart from the GreyP are the very sleek and stylish side-panels, and the LED tail-light framework, which is also very attractive. They both share the sculpted swingarm that exposes the connecting strand of DNA that they share.

The eBIQE, in maroon and charcoal grey.

The nominal voltage is 64V, and the Lithium Nanophosphate battery has 20-Ah, which adds up to 1300-WH’s. The companies’ press release claims a power level of 12-kW (16-HP), and the motor provides a whopping 60-Nm (44lb-ft) of torque. This significant E-bike weighs-in at 49-kg (108-lbs). The power modes are adjustable, and the claimed top speed is 65-kph (40-MPH).

Some commentators have repeated a common theme by saying that this is just one more electric motorcycle with pedals, but…A company spokesman was quoted as stating “There are over 130 million e-bikes in China, where several major cities have already restricted the use of gasoline motorbikes or have banned them completely”, so Qoros is hopeful that early sales will justify an expansion of production.

The large direct-drive hub motor uses regenerative braking (“regen“), where the act of slowing down returns some power to the battery. In an E-bike of this weight class, regen should work well, and it will reduce the heat load on the stock 3-disc braking system.

The dual front disc brakes are units adapted from mountain bikes in order to save some weight, rather than a heavier single motorcycle disc system. The efforts towards weight-savings are further shown by their selection of hand-laminated carbon fiber for the body panels.

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Written by Ron/Spinningmagnets, March 2014