I keep trying to talk myself into buying a Stealth Fighter, which is $2000 less than a Bomber. Aside from the price, there's several things I like better about the Fighter.
Number one, it's smaller, and a lot lighter than a Bomber. Because of it's slightly smaller size it looks a little more like a regular bicycle so it's more stealthy, and more under the radar. The only reason either of these bikes are legal on the street is because they come equipped with a electric governor limiting power and top speed to the federal standard of 750w and 20 mph. Un corking the governor is just a matter of pulling a wire on the controller which turns it into a 3kW monster.
An number two, another feature I consider an advantage on the Fighter is it's 2 speed gearbox on the pedal drive line, instead of the Bombers 9 speed. 9 speeds sound great until you realize that you really only use top gear 90% of the time, and only need the lower gears if you run out of juice, and have to pedal home. I feel this would be the case with myself, because when I had a motorized bicycle with multi speeds, I found that I only used one gear most of the time just to ride away for a stop. Even my top 21st gear wasn't tall enough to pedal assist at speed. On the Fighter what they're saying is top gear is tall enough you can pedal assist up to about 30 mph, and first gear is low enough to ride home with a dead battery. it seems like that's all you need. There's no need to pedal assist from a stop, because this thing has so much power off the line. Pedaling a 120 lb Bomber will probably be unrealistic for any distance more than about 1 mile, while pedaling a 75 lb Fighter with a dead battery might be feasible with a low enough first gear.
Those are the things I like, but this is where my problem lies.
It's two fold. The range of a claimed 35 miles is going to come up a little short for riding in Dallas. I really will need a solid 40 to 45 miles because every place I like to ride to is about 20 miles from my home.
The second thing isn't as worrisome, but it's the top speed. Tester claim 34 mph is possible. I could probably live with that, but I would be running at max output to do it. That will probably end up being a problem that shortens the range. With the Bombers greater top speed of 50 mph, you could cruise at 35 mph only using 80% power.
Being that I'm a nub about Ebikes I ask these questions to the electric brain trust.
What do you think would be the possibility that in time I could figure out a way to improve both the range, and top speed of a Fighter, considering I have good mechanical skill, and access to very skilled electrical engineers? I'm only asking for about 40 mile range, and 40 mph top speed. I could get that right out of the box with a Bomber, but if I can do that with a Fighter I would enjoy the challenge.
I'm thinking at the worst, more battery, different hub motor, and different controller would be the most I would need, but my question is would it even be that difficult?
