Riding my Stealth Bomber

[biknut]

When I built Stunner I removed these white tires right out of the box, because the idea of running white tires on a china girl didn't sound too appealing. China girls have a way of nastying up the rear of the bike with oil splatter. I didn't think they'd be white for very long.

An electric bike with a hub motor is a different animal though. There's nothing to make a mess, and I think that's part of the appeal of electrics over 2 strokes.

 

[biknut]

This thing is sure getting the views.

 

[biknut]

This video, which I spent very little time making is getting between 800, and 1000 hits a day now.

 

[snellemin]

Are you riding the critical mass today?

 

[biknut]

Are you riding the critical mass today?

As a matter of fact I am.

 

[snellemin]

How was the mass? I did the Houston one and it was a boring route this time around.

 

[biknut]

How was the mass? I did the Houston one and it was a boring route this time around.

I had a lot of fun. My friend Dal came on his electric bicycle so we rode together. We had 3 beers and a snow cone.

The actual ride was only about 10 miles, but my ride was 44 miles round trip. When I pulled back into my garage I still had 4ah of battery left. My top speed recorded was 48.8 mph.

<edit> sorry I should have said 3ah left.

 

[biknut]

So I arrived a few minutes before Dal. I rode into the park and stopped in the middle of a bunch of bicycles, and got off. It wasn't more than a minute before 2 cops came over to me. One was on a bicycle, and the other was riding a Segway. The one on the Segway ask me very business like, Sir, does that have a motor? I understood the implication to be, you can't ride a motorcycle in here.

Without any delay I looked at him and said, yes, it's an electric bicycle. As soon as he heard the words "electric bicycle", his whole attitude changed. It was like the magic words. He started to smile, and ask me questions about my bike. I ask if he was going on the ride, on his Segway lol? He said no, but he was going to block a couple of intersections for us. I thought that was very nice of him, considering the unofficial nature of this ride. There was only about 200 bikes.

 

[miked826]

You should have have said, Does your Segway have a motor?

 

[biknut]

You should have have said, Does your Segway have a motor?

Segway is one of the other magic works. It's equal to Electric bicycle.

 

[biknut]

I'm just reaching 3000 miles. So far trouble free except for a flat tire.
I decided to maintenance my brakes, and replace my white Thick Brick tires. These tires are the second set of tires I've tried. The first were super bad city chopper low profile tires from LuxLow. Their problem was, my rims aren't wide enough for their super low profile, so the tires profile was squeezed, and distorted. They felt weird to me when leaned over. I had a like new set of white thick bricks already in hand so that's what I went wth. These are what I just removed. I estimate I had about 2200 miles on them. The front didn't look to bad. I wouldn't have changed the front if it wasn't white. The rear still had some tread but on this bike even new tires are probably pushed to the limit. I don't need to take a chance.

My rear rotor was slightly warped, and made a tic tic tic sound that was annoying, so I planned a while back to replace the rotors.

The stock Magura rotors always seemed kind of noisy, so for replacements I bought, a pair of Ashima Airotor Mountain Bike Disc Brake Rotors, 203mm on eBay.

The new tires and brakes have been installed several days now, and feel like they're broken in. Since I also changed the pads it's hard to directly compare the rotors, but so far I'm very happy with the stopping power, and sound they make.

My new tires are the supposedly the same thick bricks, except in black. Although they look about the same they're not exactly the same. These are 1/16" narrower, and 9mm bigger circumference. The rubber compound seems softer too. I definitely like the black tires better.

 

[biknut]

 

[BarelyAWake]

I really like that rim/tire size combo you've chosen, it complements the Stealth's stance nicely! It's a struggle for sure to find just the right tire profile, not just matching rim & riding style, but availability as well.

...and replace my white Thick Brick tires. These tires are the second set of tires I've tried. The first were super bad city chopper low profile tires from LuxLow. Their problem was, my rims aren't wide enough for their super low profile, so the tires profile was squeezed, and distorted. They felt weird to me when leaned over. I had a like new set of white thick bricks already in hand so that's what I went with...

This got me to googling & I can see why you'd want to try the "bad city chopper" low profiles, if they weren't only available in 24" I'd be buying some myself lol

Jus' wonderin' what width rims do you have? It'd help me determine how far I can push low profile tire width without crowning too much...

 

[biknut]

Jus' wonderin' what width rims do you have? It'd help me determine how far I can push low profile tire width without crowning too much...

The rims on the Stealth are 29mm wide. Those Low profile tires from LuxLow fit best on rims that are 50mm wide, like on my Felt Deep 6.

Tires like the Thick Brick's are actually a little wider than the LuxLow tires, but they'll fit on narrower rims because the sidewall is so tall.

 

[BarelyAWake]

Thanks bikenut, my Alex DX32s are reportedly 39mm wide - wider then your Stealth's, not as wide as your Felt's so as usual, "not quite the same" lol

Nevertheless it helps me guesstimate & ballpark w/o as much buying & scrapping more tires due to "not quite right" so again, thanks for sharing. I do like the 'bricks, but I'm after low profiles specifically - but no worries, I've everything but 24"s like yours (well, 26 & 20"s anyway) so there's only so much we can aid one another in any case

I really do think you've found a good match for your Stealth Bomber, perhaps a hair tall in profile - but that only serves to help protect your rims from the rigors of such a beast

 

[biknut]

Someday I'll buy an extra motor and lace 24 x 2 rims to it. 24" rims are my favorite size for looks, I can't explain why. 26's look too big to me, and anything smaller than a 24 doesn't look bicycle enough for me, 20's excepted, but that's different.

Those low profile tires look great on any bike, but these thick brick's work very well with what a Bomber has going on.

On this bike you have to consider the forces the whole bike is subjected to at speed. Then it all gets applied to the tires. Don't tell anyone, but it's not uncommon for me to be going over 50. A pothole or just crack in the road could cause a bicycle tire to blow with these forces. The bike weighs 100 lbs. and I weigh 225 lb. but that's about 1050 at 50 mph lol.The low profile tires weren't as confidence inspiring as the brick's are. The brick's are definitely more heavy duty, especially the sidewalls. I feel pretty safe with the bricks as long as they're not showing much wear. I run Mr. Tuffy tire liners in them too.

This bike has made all my other bikes obsolete.

 

[biknut]

When I ride to school 3 days a week, and it's 13.2 miles each way. Since I have a charger at the school that means I don't have to be concerned with power consumption either way. I blast.

 

[biknut]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8oBed-LwI8

 

[Goat Herder]

Yeah that ride stance does not look very cramped? Must spring up tall when you are getting off of it? I am a big ape on my full sus Boxxer too. Our concept frame geometry are pretty Simalair. Me being pretty tall I still would suspect we still got some what simalair standing height problems. Crotch clearance. Still that frame has a V shape there gotta help a little? I gave up on mine for a perfect on it ride feel in the long run.

Was nice not having a peanut tank waiting to greet me on one of my bikes finally lol.

That peddle to ground clearance forgiving in a tight turn. I gotta always lift the right leg for the turn . ''Peddle Up''

You have 26'' tires on it in that Vid?

 

[biknut]

Yeah that ride stance does not look very cramped? Must spring up tall when you are getting off of it? I am a big ape on my full sus Boxxer too. Our concept frame geometry are pretty Simalair. Me being pretty tall I still would suspect we still got some what simalair standing height problems. Crotch clearance. Still that frame has a V shape there gotta help a little? I gave up on mine for a perfect on it ride feel in the long run.

Was nice not having a peanut tank waiting to greet me on one of my bikes finally lol.

That peddle to ground clearance forgiving in a tight turn. I gotta always lift the right leg for the turn . ''Peddle Up''

You have 26'' tires on it in that Vid?

It looks a lot smaller when I'm riding on it, than when I'm standing next to it. It is kind of tall. It has about a 32" seat height with my weight on the bike, and I have a 32" inseam, but at least I can get both feet on the ground at stops. This is with the forks lowered 1" in the trees. That's amazingly low when you consider the 10" of suspension travel on both ends. 24" wheels helps too. As you can see, my seat is about as low as it will go.

The tires are always 24", but the bricks are so tall profile they're almost as big as 26's. Even with the forks raised in the trees the pedals don't have a problem with striking the pavement. I don't think I could get away with any lower though.

It looks tall and short with me riding it, but the handling is vey stable at speed, which comes in handy when you're in heavy traffic moving at 45 mph. It's better than my Tomos, and there's no comparison with my china girls. I guess that's a tribute to the heavy duty chrome molly frame and swing arm. Stealth did a good job designing this bike.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it about a 7 in the looks department, but this bike isn't really about the looks. It's more about the stellar power delivery, and handling.