Storm, Worlds First Electric China Girl

[biknut]

This build is going to be a little different than the standard fare china girl. Upon first laying eyes on this bike I instantly proclaimed it an electric china girl, and so here we are.

It's based on a Sondors eBike (Pacific Storm inc). When this bike first came on the scene last year, it was billed as the worlds most affordable eBike. The total cost for a complete Storm eBike was so amazingly low compared to the competition, it caused a massive disturbance in the force, and instantly became a sensation in the eBike world which is still ongoing. I paid $693 shipped to my door direct from China. This price is comparable to my first china girl build.

This is the basic bike as it comes out of the box. Perfect for a beginner, and also perfect for advanced builders like myself.



The object here is to personalize the bike to my liking, and gain performance, and range comparable to a 50cc china girl.

This is a list of parts needed to duplicate this build,

A set of Maxxis Hook Worm tires, and tubes
Half grip twist throttle, I don't like the stock paddle throttle
48 volt, 30 amp hour triangle battery pack. Stock is a 36v 8.8 ah bottle pack
20 amp controller relocated outside the battery box. Stock is 15 amp
LED eBike headlight, and taillight. Bike comes with no lights.
Frame mounted on/off switch for lights.
KT3 LCD computer display. Bike only comes with a LED idiot light power meter
Planet Bike fenders. Bike comes with no fenders.
3 speed freewheel 16/19/22T. Bike comes with single speed 16T freewheel.
170mm crank set for square taper spindle w/50T sprocket. Stock is 40T
6/7 speed hanger mount derailleur
7 speed Grip Shift
3/32 bicycle chain
Shifter cable housing

Plus assorted raw stock for bracket fabrication, electrical connectors, and shop supplies.

In order to mount the big triangle battery it was necessary to fabricate a frame mounted platform to keep the weight of the 15lb battery off the plastic box. This battery used all the available space in the box so it became necessary to relocate the controller to the seat post tube on the outside of the box. I used a pair of china girl rear motor mounts for this purpose. The lights came with no mounts so it was necessary to fabricate a custom headlight mount. The taillight was easier, I just wire tied it under the seat. I custom mounted and wired an illuminated button switch, drilled into the plastic box to control the lighting. Converting to a 3 speed was actually pretty easy. I only needed to spread the drop outs 1/8", and add a thick washer to accommodate the 3 speed freewheel. Although you can buy special hand grips for Grip Shifters I customized the stock grips with a hacksaw, and sharp knife to fit. I also had to custom fit the fenders, but about all that involved was fabricating custom stays, and a couple of brackets.

Stock the bike was limited to 20 mph, and 350w. Range was 20 to 30 miles. Pedal assist was only useful up to about 16 mph. After that the cadence was too fast for old people like me.

Now I have 850w and can pedal assist to 28 mph which is top speed with assist. Range is now greatly improved with a full throttle no assist range of 35 miles estimated, a 20 mph cruising speed range of about 80 miles. Cruising at normal bicycle speeds, range is estimated over 100 miles. I use a 5 amp charger which charges a fully discharged battery in 6 hours, but this huge battery seldom takes more than 3 hours to charge.

The bike now has throttle, 5 level pedal assist, and electronic cruise control. The throttle is always active, and overrides the other modes. There's zero vibration, and relatively quiet operation. In over a 1000 miles I haven't experienced one single mechanical, or electrical failure. Total cost to date is a little less than $2000, which is a few hundred less than my most expensive china girl build, which was Stunner.

I named this bike Fatty

 

[biknut]

And so it begins



In this picture you see the platform I made to support the battery. It's important to keep the weight of the battery off the plastic box. It mounts to the fame down tube through openings in the bottom of the box. You'll also recognize the china girl motor mounts I used to mount the controller to the seat post tube.



48v 30ah triangle pack



This is the button switch I installed to operate the lighting which is hard wired to the main system power. A big advantage over a typical china girl, because it allows very powerful lighting.



This is how I custom mounted the headlight. It's aimed low, and it's not adjustable, but that's ok, because it's so bright it has to aim low to not blind oncoming traffic. I still get flashed on occasion.

 

[biknut]

This is a view of the handle bar controls. See my custom modified hand grips cut down for a Grip Shift, and half grip twist throttle. I had to use a 7 speed Grip Shift which is designed for the right side. It had to be mounted on the left so the numbers are upside down. Since I only have 3 gears the derailleur is adjusted so that twisting the shifter past 3rd gear causes no further movement to the derailleur, so there's no problem with the chain jumping the sprocket. The red button turns the controller on, and off. The KT3 LCD display offers a lot on useful information about battery level, road speed, trip meter, hours of operation, real time watts usage, ambient air temperature, and level of pedal assist. The 3 button switch on the left adjusts the pedal assist on the fly.



I stretched the drop outs 1/8" farther apart to accommodate the wider freewheel. This is an easy way to stretch the drop outs if you ever find the need.




This is a view down the chain line.



Here's a comparison of the stock crank set, versus the new 50T. Believe it of not the entire crank set was only about $70. That price included a 40T sprocket, and sealed bearing BB that I didn't even use.



The crank arms, 50T sprocket, and guard were purchased separately.

 

[sbest]

Sweet bike!
I like the simple lines, clean, stylish and stealthy.

I have a couple electrics as well. I am trying to marry the two in a hybrid.
Lightweight is important, and I see electric as the answer for urban, slow speeds and quiet. For long open road a gas motor is still king. If the gas can supply charge, we only need 5-10km of battery power, lightening the need for battery weight. This is my goal, a hybrid that can still be lifted over a fence. Possible?

Steve

 

[biknut]

I took my rear fender off temporarily, because I'm going to shorten it's length a little for looks. I never ride in the rain anyway.

 

[biknut]

Sweet bike!
I like the simple lines, clean, stylish and stealthy.

I have a couple electrics as well. I am trying to marry the two in a hybrid.
Lightweight is important, and I see electric as the answer for urban, slow speeds and quiet. For long open road a gas motor is still king. If the gas can supply charge, we only need 5-10km of battery power, lightening the need for battery weight. This is my goal, a hybrid that can still be lifted over a fence. Possible?

Steve

Thank you.

The time is fast approaching when electrics will completely take over. In a few more years the only gas bikes left will be owned my collectors, and a few die hard old geezers resisting change. It's not going to be a matter of forced change, but rather no one will be wanting a old fashion gas powered bike. As far as bicycles are concerned we're already there, but other vehicles will take a little more time. Not much though.

 

[racie35]

Bicycles are far from " there" yet. Batteries are the deal breaker right now. The bikes they do have now are costly, heavy and struggle to provide consistent power for very long.
Before you bite my head off, I do like electrics...but I also know how far I can go and how fast on a gallon of gas quite effortlessly . And I won't be recharging for more than one minute.

 

[cannonball2]

Bicycles are far from " there" yet. Batteries are the deal breaker right now. The bikes they do have now are costly, heavy and struggle to provide consistent power for very long.
Before you bite my head off, I do like electrics...but I also know how far I can go and how fast on a gallon of gas quite effortlessly . And I won't be recharging for more than one minute.

I have several ICE and E bikes and I am finding I'm defaulting to the E bikes more and more.
Rarely do I ride more than 10mi at a time running to town and back. This is a perfect scenario for electrics. I am able to do this if I push the packs a bit on $50 worth of batteries that I can hold in one hand. If I need to go further just add a few more packs. The silent vibration free operation has become more appealing making the ride more enjoyable overall. Nothing gets numb except maybe my butt. Even my least powerful E bike is capable of cruising 20mph, and weighs much less than its CG powered counterpart. I will always have and ride ICE bikes, but it is becoming more of a nostalgic thing rather than a practical one. I am also building a solar charging station now which so far has been easier than constructing a refinery.

Great Build by the way Biknut! I have the makings of a Fatty build just waiting until the zillion other projects ahead of it are completed.

 

[biknut]

Bicycles are far from " there" yet. Batteries are the deal breaker right now. The bikes they do have now are costly, heavy and struggle to provide consistent power for very long.
Before you bite my head off, I do like electrics...but I also know how far I can go and how fast on a gallon of gas quite effortlessly . And I won't be recharging for more than one minute.

I hear what you're saying, believe me I've been there for a while now.

I don't think you're realizing this bikes capability though. Fatty will out ride any eBike I know of right now. With it's 30ah battery it doesn't know the meaning of range anxiety.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Impressive build, biknut.

A good looking, capable looking bike.

I'm afraid that I do still suffer from range anxiety. My experience has been that even good batteries will simply seem to take a better charge on some days than on others. And those 'other' days can be a problem.

But I am willing to consider the possibility that I simply lack understanding of proper charging and have made errors.

And even if the blame does not lie with me, I'm also willing to believe that the state of the art is improving with time.

And this bike as you've described it at that cost would seem to be evidence in favor of this. I'll continue to look hopefully at the future.

I"m not an e-biker at the moment. But I could be one again some day.

 

[biknut]

Impressive build, biknut.

A good looking, capable looking bike.

I'm afraid that I do still suffer from range anxiety. My experience has been that even good batteries will simply seem to take a better charge on some days than on others. And those 'other' days can be a problem.

But I am willing to consider the possibility that I simply lack understanding of proper charging and have made errors.

And even if the blame does not lie with me, I'm also willing to believe that the state of the art is improving with time.

And this bike as you've described it at that cost would seem to be evidence in favor of this. I'll continue to look hopefully at the future.

I"m not an e-biker at the moment. But I could be one again some day.

Thank you bgw, it's good to hear you guys acceptance of eBikes, but not unexpected to me. After all, we're all riders here, and a great bike is a great bike, and good riders know how to spot them.

I believe within 10 years 50% of this forum will have at least one eBike, and not long after that all they'll ever ride is an eBike. Not because they have to, because they prefer to.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

The laws let sub 20 mph ebikes on paths here so I think it will be popular for those who have access to useful bike paths. If you gotta ride on the open road it's nice to have a faster bike so the car-bike speed difference isn't a safety issue. You can slap together a 35 mph gas bike for a couple hundred dollars so I think electric will become much more popular once the kits and compete bikes with around 750w are a couple hundred bucks. I really want to build a new ebike, but the motor kit I want to use is $900, plus batteries, plus bike, plus charger and extra stuff.

I like ebikes but I think that it would be nice if they were on a price level on par with the China girl kits. A good kit is about $130 plus a suitable bike, that is the charm of the China girl engine kit, it doesn't cost $2000 to go fast, it makes cool noises, and it smells great if you use good oil. If I could ride a HT bike on bicycle trails and paths, I wouldn't bother with an electric unless they were cheaper. It's understandable why people don't want gas motorcycles on bike paths, and I hope ebikes show respect to pedestrians and don't spoil it for everybody.

 

[biknut]

The laws let sub 20 mph ebikes on paths here so I think it will be popular for those who have access to useful bike paths. If you gotta ride on the open road it's nice to have a faster bike so the car-bike speed difference isn't a safety issue. You can slap together a 35 mph gas bike for a couple hundred dollars so I think electric will become much more popular once the kits and compete bikes with around 750w are a couple hundred bucks. I really want to build a new ebike, but the motor kit I want to use is $900, plus batteries, plus bike, plus charger and extra stuff.

.

I think you make a good point about the city trails. I bought the Tomos to replace a china girl, but ended up selling it, because it's not allowed on the trails, even just pedaling. I didn't realize how much riding on the trails meant to me.

Slapping together a 35 mph china girl is pretty easy. Making it across town and back without breaking down is a different story lol. By the time I get a china girl to be able to do that I've spent a lot more money on it, and a lot of time wrenching on it. If I can ride there, and back at 26 to 28 mph, with no vibration, very little noise, and near 100% dependability for penny's, that starts sounding very appealing.

Did you read my op where I mentioned Fatty was now running 850w continuous? Plus now I can add meaningful pedal assist at higher speeds with my taller gearing.

 

[racie35]

You mention pennies and not the huge upfront cost of one of these that's more capable then china girl. Really, anything outperforms most of those.
How bout we apply the math to what everyone can buy for maybe 450-500 nearly anywhere... A 50cc Chinese scooter, which are 4 stroke now. Try doing what one of them does for as long as most last with little maintaining.
They're not my gig, but for pennies, they get the job done.. Electrics have their work cut out for them. Carrying lipos around doesn't lower your cost, it increases it with every spare you buy.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

From the threads regarding the newer HT kits, it sounds like they are more reliable than they used to be. It really depends on if you have a good initial setup that won't tend to self destruct. That just means some components to keep the engine sealed and the chain line and sprocket safe. I'm actually still planning on doing another HT build because they are cheap and fun and work well for the money. I have a bunch of parts laying around and think a HT build would be a fun way to build something without spending a lot more like on my other bikes.

I think the charm of the HT kit is that it is very affordable, and if you get a good one and take care of it, the engine should last long enough to warrant its $130 kit price, then you can replace the long block if needed in 30 minutes and for less than $100.

Electric bikes are great and all, but a lot of people are waiting for the price to be lower so that the financial outlay is worth it. Since you're basically paying for the price of gas upfront with the batteries and motor, the more that you ride the more economical it becomes. The large initial investment can be hard to justify even if you can afford it, especially if you can't ride as much as you would like.

I would like to make a new electric bike, but can't justify the cost of it right now. If I lived somewhere warmer maybe using one every day would pay for itself in gas savings vs a car.

 

[racie35]

Honda...has a few neat electrics in the works. A scooter and the EV cub. Should be interesting.

 

[biknut]

Honda...has a few neat electrics in the works. A scooter and the EV cub. Should be interesting.

Yes, it's an exciting time right now for electrics. When the smoke clears though, I think some things will be a lot different with new electric bikes than last century's gas bikes. As battery's are now improving as fast as cell phones, the eBikes of the future won't need to be as big and heavy as they were in the past.

I think pedals will be more useful now. Some of the styles we're used to seeing will become obsolete. I think motor eBicycles will play a larger role. I don't think the manufacturers have figured that out yet. They're still thinking like the only difference is no gas. There's a lot more to it than that.

 

[biknut]

Electric bikes are great and all, but a lot of people are waiting for the price to be lower so that the financial outlay is worth it. Since you're basically paying for the price of gas upfront with the batteries and motor, the more that you ride the more economical it becomes. The large initial investment can be hard to justify even if you can afford it, especially if you can't ride as much as you would like.

I would like to make a new electric bike, but can't justify the cost of it right now. If I lived somewhere warmer maybe using one every day would pay for itself in gas savings vs a car.

Storm is taking care of that. Cost is not the only consideration. All of my china girls ended up costing between one an two thousand. Anything less than that is not going to last long if ridden hard. Vibration is the killer. Of course I didn't spend all of that at once. It took a year of modifying to get there. This bike was pretty much the same. I have less than $2000 in this one.

This bike isn't as fast as some china girls, but it makes up for that in a lot of other areas. All my china girls ended up well made, but by then they got pricey, and none of them ended up as nice as this bike. Not even close.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

I don't see why it would be that expensive to keep a kit engine from breaking under normal use. Just because you happen to spend a lot solving problems on your builds does not mean that this is the only way to go about sorting a new motorbicycle. In reality one of the newer balanced crank kits on an old disc brake mountain bike is very inexpensive. A solution to vibration related failures is to simply use loctite on your hardware.

Not everybody has hundreds of dollars to build a bike. While you write these threads from the standpoint of an ebike industry lobbyist or Sondors marketing troll, proclaiming that spending $1-2k on a bicycle isn't a lot of money, there are a majority of Americans and people worldwide who simply cannot afford things like this. In today's economic environment, $1-2k buys a lot of vehicle, like a good running car or full sized motorcycle. Electric bikes will be the equivalent of the HT kit when they are $130 per kit including battery and charger, and everybody can afford to enjoy one. That is the essence of what makes th HT kits worthwhile and fun, they are cheap and generally work well if installed and maintained by an informed user.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

Another fun part about HT kits is that they require assembly and some learning to make work well. The kit DIY aspect makes them a personalized thing, rather than just buying a pre-made item. The Sondors is like every other ebike on the market like at Walmart or Target, but it's a fat bike, which is a current fad due to its infancy and ride. I guess you could say that a cheap eBay hub motor kit is more akin to the China girl kits in sprit, and these kits have been around for at least a decade. I have thought about getting a hub motor wheel kit, but mid drives are the way to go for power, speed, and efficiency all in one. The motors don't break hall magnets like on hub motors which get shocked by impacts. Running the motor at its efficient upper rev range through the gears makes the battery last longer and maintain higher loaded voltage (torque and max speed potential). I would like to try one of the new mid drive kits that fit a fat bike, since it should be relatively easy to get working and offer a lot of performance if geared right at the derailleur.

I would like to motorized a fat bike with a mid-drive kit, because it would be fun on sand, mud, and be kind to trails due to the larger contact patches of the tires. I'm having trouble justifying it currently because it would take a long time and many rides to justify the initial investment of around $1500 to put it together. If it were my only bike then yeah, but I have others which I enjoy and spend time on. I'm actually thinking about using my electric motard to ride to work on bike paths, and maybe splurging on a Lifepo4 battery if one that can supply 100A can be bought or made for under $400. This is a challenge though, since Lifepo4 is expensive. Lipo batteries for RC can work for a lot less money, but they can also catch on fire. I currently use SLA batteries because the pack costs $100, can deep cycle at 100A discharge, and won't catch fire.