The moment gas bikes because obsolete

[biknut]

I'll admit it IS hard to imagine any kind of electric with the range and convenience of My Pig.
Power is NOT a problem for electrics....you can have BACKFLIP torque at your command, but not for long....

Most china girls aren't back flip capable though, so for comparison sake we can give up the back flip capability, and just have the range. Comparing an average china girl to an electric bike like my modified Storm, the comparison is valid. Both can have similar performance capability's.

My modified Storm has numerous advantages over a china girl for daily commuting. Probably the biggest being dependability. Well sorted electrics tend be rock dependable. It usually took me weeks of trial and error to make my china girls dependable, but vibration still takes it's toll.

You can take an electric on a commuter train, and in a lot of cases you can take inside your workplace. The last time I went to get a haircut I parked my bike inside the barber shop. I've ridden a lot of organized bicycle rides that end at bars where they allow us to bring our bikes inside. You can keep your electric inside your house at night.

Another big advantage especially for commuting is being able to ride under power on city bike trails, and sidewalks. I always felt like I needed to kill my engine on my china girls. We're talking about basic acceptability.

All I see are the same old complaints that I myself used to subscribe too.

No range
Too slow
Cost to much, and
Ugly

What I've learned is if you know what you're doing, none of these complaints are valid anymore, and this is only the beginning of the rise of the electric bikes. Very soon the advantages of electrics will be so overwhelming that not only will most of us avid motor bicyclers be moving on to them, but we're going to see thousands of currently non riders flooding into this market. As a matter of fact that's already happening. A common theme of the 4000 plus member Storm owners group is where people report they haven't ridden in years, but the idea of an affordable electric bicycle made them decide to throw caution to the wind, and now they're glad they did.

 

[Tyler6357]

Respectfully, the problem with electric is the same as it's always been: batteries. (1) They are insanely expensive for decent ones, they are the most expensive part of the bike, and (2) they burn out, especially if you don't use them often. Ironically, if you use them often (constantly burning them out and recharging them) they they will often times last longer than if you let them sit unused for 6-8 months but just like every battery ever made, they go dead over time. You probably should can keep a current running through them during storage especially if you are only a occasional rider.

 

[biknut]

Respectfully, the problem with electric is the same as it's always been: batteries. (1) They are insanely expensive for decent ones, they are the most expensive part of the bike, and (2) they burn out, especially if you don't use them often. Ironically, if you use them often (constantly burning them out and recharging them) they they will often times last longer than if you let them sit unused for 6-8 months but just like every battery ever made, they go dead over time. You probably should can keep a current running through them during storage especially if you are only a occasional rider.

Battery's can be very over priced, it's true, but now days they don't have to be. I would recommend staying away from production eBikes that are made in such a way that it would be difficult to replace the battery with anything except for the stock factory battery. Stock factory battery's that you have to buy from the eBike manufacturer are generally the most overpriced ones.

Home made kit bikes, and certain factory eBikes such as my Storm and Stealth Bomber don't have this limitation. Both of my eBikes just have a large battery box area that allow a lot of possibility's for battery replacement.

Long life lithium battery's are becoming quite reasonably priced, and prices are dropping fast. I'm now on my third year of my Stealth battery, and it's lost about 1ah of it's original 18ah. By the time I need a replacement, I'll be able to buy an aftermarket battery of much larger capacity than stock, for less then half the price.

Of course if you don't ride much there is danger of the battery becoming damaged if it's not maintained properly, but all battery's suffer from this kind of abuse.

 

[sbest]

I just spent the day in the city on my gas shifter bike, with a friend on an electric (with only 24v SLA).
The electric was awesome. Start away from stop signs on a hill with ease.

Out in the country advantage goes the other way. Long open distances and high speeds are the gas forte. There is a place for each, but those categories grow slimmer as batteries get better and cheaper.

Meanwhile, my whole bike, 48cc motor and shifter jackshaft is cheaper than a replacement battery.
There is a while to go.

Steve

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

I like electrics and can't wait for lithium or other lightweight batteries to be less expensive. Currently lithium and lifepo4 are about 4 times as expensive as equivalent capacity sealed lead acid which are quite heavy. Oh yeah and SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS!

 

[biknut]

I like electrics and can't wait for lithium or other lightweight batteries to be less expensive. Currently lithium and lifepo4 are about 4 times as expensive as equivalent capacity sealed lead acid which are quite heavy. Oh yeah and SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS SONDORS!

4 times more expensive, but they last 4 times as long, and the overall experience is a lot better.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

They do indeed outperform SLA and are worth the money if you can afford the upfront cost and have a solid BMS system to keep it safe. With the SLA at 48v there is the option of using audio super caps to squeeze every last bit of juice out of SLA batteries and keep the voltage up but that also adds weight and the SLA is about 3 times heavier than Li equivalents so I wouldn't recommend a lot of lead batteries on a bicycle; 36v 12ah would be about 22lb but more powerful packs get heavy. I hope the cost comes down so that a 60v pack of lifepo4 than can deliver 100a continuous would cost about $200 which would be about twice the cost of SLA. I'm bunny hopping my motard and it would be great to shave off about 25 lbs from the bike, lol Keeping it low power you can have a reasonably priced electric from many manufacturers of kits and bikes, most of the money is in the copper and neodymium in the motors and the batteries of course. Supposedly a large land cache of lithium has been discovered recently, but I doubt that it will affect the market cost of the mineral. Mainly due to speculation and market manipulation due to its inherent value for the electric vehicle market. Electrics can be louder than gas like my monster or silent and smooth like a sine wave hub at low power, I personally like the ruckus nature of a lot of electric power because the acceleration is like no other! Electric is excellent and affordability needs to be focused on so everyone can enjoy it. It will be great when someday a full motor, controller, and lightweight battery can be the cost of the engine kits. At which point you might consider a gas bike obsolete, not in functionality, but because of a social or political stigma assigned to it by learned association. I don't think this will ever happen as long as dirt bike and motorcycle road racing exist and people are out riding their Harley Davidsons and Nortons and the like, gas bikes will be welcome. If you don't like the smell and noise get a long poo catted pipe, run the bike stoich with sweet smelling synthetic 100:1 oil, use a gas tank that seals with a proper vent tube, and you are set. Of course you still can't ride any motorized bike on bike trails which are designated for no motorized vehicles, for the obvious reasons.