Say Hello to Storm

[biknut]

I might be cheerleading, but I'm not alone. There's hundreds of owners that actually have the bike in hand all doing the same thing. Try and find an owner that said he didn't like his, of thinks it's not a great buy.

It could just be that I can recognize great bikes better then most people. I do have a very good track record in my lifetime. There's a lot more to a good bike than just how much power it has. I don't expect this bike to be powerful, or fast. I expect it to be outrageously fun to ride in my flat Dallas cement jungle.

This is a typical owners review.

"Got home from work and my honey Craig had her put together and waiting for me!!! She is AWESOME!!! Thank you Storm for creating such a high quality ebike! Craig had gotten delivery of a Radrover a couple days ago and the motor broke within the first 2 miles, not to mention it was shipped shoddy with torn shipping box and gouges and scrapes in the frame/paint ... My Sondors bike was packaged like an Apple product and in perfect condition!!! I rode her 8 miles on a not quite full charge, pedal assist on gentle inclines and she just purred the whole way!!! Started green and ended yellow on battery indicator. Craig is so looking forward to his yellow/ black Sondors delivery and is waaaay impressed with Storm's ebike quality/ packaging as compared with the more expensive Radrover disappointment. Way to gogogo Storm!!!"

 

[Barnfresh]

That's cool that people are getting their bikes together and starting to ride. I'm glad to hear the positive reports. Can you post a link to the Storm Owners Group on Facebook. I'd like to see more! Tia

 

[Tyler6357]

It's all good, there's a large market for pedelec bikes and its been around for a long time. I just wanted to offer perspective, my mistake for joining a thread which was intended as an infomercial from the onset. lol

I'd like to build something in the 750-1000W range with gears (mid drive) to be able to tackle the long steep hills around here and pull less amps. The amount of power required for a flowing ride depends a lot on the terrain you plan to ride, because when you are underpowered uphill the weight of the battery and anything else heavy (fatbike) come into play. The idea of a fatbike is great not only for snow and sand, but it should be kind to trails because it distributes load at the contact patch, I think a well equipped electric fatbike would make a good machine for long distance trail riding, but from my experience with electric so far, it would really need 750w to be able to get out of its own way and tackle the hardest trails in the mountains here. Most people wouldn't need that if just using the bike to cruise and hit slight hills, so the Storm will have enough power for those folks.

To declare the sale of one type of mountain bike in limited quantities to prepayers a "takeover" and all this stuff, just reeks to me of marketing hype. To call people who point out said hype as "trolls" is just a verification of this. When you present a new product in such a one-sided fashion on a forum it automatically comes off as a paid advertisement, and on a public forum, is subject to scrutiny. I'm glad everything worked out and the orders will be met, and I hope that they make newer ones which have elevated specs which are competitive with the kit prices. I have no doubt that the current version are fun to ride! lol

I kinda agree with you. This thread reads like an infomercial. Here are just some of the things written in this thread:
"The invasion has begun"
"the china girl of e-bikes"
"this will start a fire that cannot die. No one thought this was possible."
"At this rate, everyone in America will own one before the Sun comes up tomorrow!"
"This is electric bike history in the making." there's never been anything like this in eBike history."
"The industry tried to play hardball, and Storm Sondors knocked their balls out of the ballpark."
"There's something special about the Storm that no one seems to be able to put their finger on."
"Storm is just killing them. This just sucked the life out his critics."
"this bike has pizazz. It has a kind of "it" factor that you can't easily copy."
"the model T of e-bikes!"

They should pay motorbicycling.com advertising fees.

 

[Mike B]

biknut is a bit crazed. But hey he's "excited" and that's better than bored.

I'm gonna build me 1 more ebike, the one I really want.

Bike - Republic Socrates
http://www.republicbike.com/cargo_bikes.asp

Motor - Golden Motor Smart Pie 4, 20 inch, front wheel.
http://www.goldenmotor.com/

Battery - Golden Motor 48 volt 10 AH LiFePO4

Put it right in the "sign frame"

No throttle, going with straight pedelec sensor and the smart pie display/controller to adjust assist w/o computer.

Speed - 20 MPH max
Range 20-30 miles
Cost - 2 grand

But I'll be able to go to the grocery store and just fill up the cart with no worries. 50 lbs in the "cargo box", just dump it right in, no need to lash anything down. Load carried by frame, not the front fork.

But first I need to finish the Motoped and the MadAss -

 

[biknut]

I kinda agree with you. This thread reads like an infomercial. Here are just some of the things written in this thread:
"The invasion has begun"
"the china girl of e-bikes"
"this will start a fire that cannot die. No one thought this was possible."
"At this rate, everyone in America will own one before the Sun comes up tomorrow!"
"This is electric bike history in the making." there's never been anything like this in eBike history."
"The industry tried to play hardball, and Storm Sondors knocked their balls out of the ballpark."
"There's something special about the Storm that no one seems to be able to put their finger on."
"Storm is just killing them. This just sucked the life out his critics."
"this bike has pizazz. It has a kind of "it" factor that you can't easily copy."
"the model T of e-bikes!"

They should pay motorbicycling.com advertising fees.

Hey Tyler if you don't like my post I have a suggestion for you, don't read them. I have over 6000 posts in this forum to your 200 measly smeasly posts so go troll some other thread if you don't like it.

 

[Tyler6357]

biknut I didn't mean to make you mad, I'm sorry.. You certainly do have 6087 posts here and I only have a measle smeasly 271, so there is that.

 

[paul]

mike i would think real serous on a front wheel powered ebike. my first one had no power only would do about 10mph and was front wheel powered, it takes next to nothing for that front wheel to loose traction and throw you to the cement. Happened to me with that old ebike

 

[Mike B]

Thanks Paul, I remember you said something re that before.

I dunno, still leaning that way. Socrates has a 3 speed rear hub (my fav) and it would just go so much cleaner. According to the GM site smart pie 4 20 inch now comes with a cast wheel too, should be plenty strong. The stuff I read re traction on a few sites said no problem with under 500 watts on pavement. And the pedalec means if I don't pedal there is no assist so I should be able to just coast when turning.

Put a good hookworm on the front and hope for the best?

I like the smaller sine wave motor and I can still use the disk brake in front. And I just love a 3 speed rear hub. I really don't like deraileurs, they just don't look "clean" and with 50 lbs of groceries over the front wheel I think it would be more stable with front drive than rear drive.

I'm kinda excited re this project. Everytime I go to the store I have to consider my vechicle choice around how much "stuff" I need to get. With the truck bike and that big plastic bin I won't need to think about it just go.

 

[kevyleven007]

That's kind of like this worksman http://www.worksmancycles.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/lgb.html . sounds like a good plan to me

 

[agcat111]

I have owned one ebike. Ok, in going to their web site there is no video of the bike in action, There is the pitch to sign up for preorder. If they have something, why is there no bike available? Very suspicious, no actual price quote. no real proof that they are seriously in business. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

 

[paul]

as i said mike the bike i had had no power at all. it would do 12 mph max usually around 8 mph, it was fine till you went to turn if their was just a couple pieces of gravel. careful if you do go with a front wheel drive, The bike had no where near 500 watts. i was warned to be careful which i was but it all happens way to quick.. now back to the storm, the temptation is getting way to strong. I may have to get one just to play around with

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

I know I said my last post on here would be my last, lol, but I figured this might be of interest. Here's a video a guy made of a fat ebike with specs nearly identical to the Storm, to get an idea of what to expect. The comments section has some interesting insights. I hope you find it informative and enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJoU45wC4Rw

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

The first trike I built had a hub motor on the front wheel. The second trike I built had a hub motor on the right rear wheel. My second trike was better in every way.

 

[biknut]

Storm's are now being delivered in all states. Still only the first batch of Black with Yellow Wheels. We guess about 20 containers of them. By the end of the week they're supposed to move on to the Black with Black wheels. We figure about 13 containers.

So far hundreds of owners have posted on our owners Face Book group. Every single person is pleased out of their minds. typical comments are, It's way better than expected, higher quality than expected, It looks great, I get stopped at every intersection by someone wanting ask where I got it, ect.

Very few problems have been reported. Mostly user error. One person had an issue with loose battery cables where they connected to the cradle, which caused a terminal to overheat, and partially melt the cradle. He fixed it in about an hour. The gosondors team recommended the entire funder list, join our group for technical support, and they're in close contact with us. We report all problems to them, and they arrange for warranty replacement parts. Out of hundreds so far there's really only been a hand full of issues.

Owners that have had a little longer to get used to their bikes are starting to go even further by declaring they love their bikes so much they think they're going to change the world. Where have we heard that before?

 

[biknut]

http://thebikethatchangedmylife.blogspot.com/

 

[biknut]

The most common, and first issue reported by a new owner was that the bike is fully assembled, and ready to go, the indicator lights are on, but there's no power to the rear wheel.

We quickly traced that problem to a brake cable not being completely installed in it's bolder, causing the brake lever power cutoff to trigger. The fix takes about 2 seconds after you know what to look for. Now every time someone reports no power to the rear wheel we just tell them to check the brake the brake cables, and the next thing we hear is woopie.

 

[paul]

did you order one bikenut? really wish i had

 

[biknut]

did you order one bikenut? really wish i had

I initially ordered 1 for the $500 deal with additional $194 shipping. Then a few weeks ago a funder was asking for a refund, and I bought his $500 order out, and got support to change the shipping address to mine, so I'm waiting on 2 yellow bikes.

Yesterday black bikes with yellow wheels started hitting Texas. 2 of them came to Dallas, and several others were reported by owners in other parts of the state.

The yellow bikes should start coming in by next week, so it shouldn't be much longer.

I talked online to one of the Dallas owners yesterday. He's a big time classic bicycle collector with a large bicycle presence in the Dallas area. He told me the build quality, and componentry are amazing, and top shelf. He's extremely satisfied with it, as are every single person so far.

 

[biknut]

So far this bike is in the top spot for best looking owner modified Storm. This just shows a little of the potential this bike has.

 

[biknut]

This Black with black wheels has just started hitting the streets too. We call these Double Black. This was second most popular color, after the Black with yellow wheels. Storm is shipping by color. The Yellow was third most popular, and they'll be next.