This is the bike that made me give up on gas bikes forever.
- Thread starter biknut
- Start date
C’mon!. You know you miss gas bike stuff like mixing fuel and oil, clutch adjustments, wobbly rag joints, loose bolts from engine vibration, broken rear wheel spokes, exhaust burns, smelling like a landscaper, ......
I love the heck out of my e-bike, but until battery prices fall in line, prepare to pay through the exit-hole for decent range.
So you get an hour of ride time at 50 mph. Prices on electrics are still to high, ride time/range too short and recharge time too long for me; if it's good for you though I'm happy for you.
Back in 2013 when this bike was new, I agree with you. Range, and ride time was too short because of the limited battery technology at that time. But that was then, and this is now. In 2021 it's no longer an issue. My butt can't out ride this battery. A fast 50 mile ride in the city takes hours, but typically when I ride off with nowhere to go I don't come back for over 6 hours. By the time I need to recharge, I'm ready to get off it. It's probably true though that for most eBikes lack of range is the biggest issue. This isn't most eBikes though.
Uh, that would be nope.
I used to spend a fortune on expensive synthetic 2 stroke oil. I built about 6 china girls, and by the time I was satisfied, I had between $1500, and $2000 in each one of them. I put a lot of effort into making them dependable, and fast enough that I could ride them all over town, but no matter how good they were, vibration took it's toll, and none of them lasted very long the way I ride.
After 8 years the Stealth at $10,000 new, and even considering all the upgrades isn't out of line with what I was spending back then, but that's as close as the comparison gets. The Stealth is light years ahead of them in every other way. All things considered even if the costs were twice as much, which they're not, it would still be be worth it, because of the superior performance, ride quality, and dependability.
Remember Stunner?
I still remember back when I joined this forum, I was such a eBike hater. I was so self righteous, because even though I didn't really know anything about eBikes except they were slow, cost too much, and didn't have any range, I just knew gas bikes were better. Somewhere along the way that argument ran out of gas. I hope the archives don't go back far enough for anyone to find out what a gashole I was lol.
Once you feel high power electric smooth, it's hard to go back. That applies to both the lack of vibration smooth, and the right now power delivery smooth. Silent running at the same time seals the deal.
My bike is more of a work horse than a pleasure pony. Can ride on a gallon or less of gas for a month.
My battery holds about 2 KwH. I'm paying 10 cents a KwH, so a full charge theoretically costs about 20 cents. In reality I rarely run it more than halfway down. The charge port is on the side of the bike. The battery is just something that I know is in there, but I never really need to touch, or see it. My motor has a little over 6 hp. In 8 years, and 17.000 miles it's required zero maintenance. The only regular maintenance I have is tires, and brakes. I'm supposed to squirt some grease into pedal transmission once a year. I don't pedal much though.
I just got back from a ride around town a little while ago. I was riding for over 2 hours. 44.5 miles total. I did a lot of fast riding between neighborhoods, and and a lot of slow riding in neighborhoods. Max speed was 51 mph. Avg speed was 20.6 mph. I used 26.5 of my 32 usable ah, 34 total. It's going to take about 4 1/2 hours to charge back up, but I won't be riding again for probably 15 or 16 hours anyway. Earlier in the day I rode about 25 miles, and took a little over 2 hours to charge.
I'm 68, and I've been riding motorcycles all my life. I got into motor bicycles late, and it was several years after that when I bought the Stealth. I didn't really know what I was buying at the time. I think it's probably the best bike I've ever owned.
I just got back from a ride around town a little while ago. I was riding for over 2 hours. 44.5 miles total. I did a lot of fast riding between neighborhoods, and and a lot of slow riding in neighborhoods. Max speed was 51 mph. Avg speed was 20.6 mph. I used 26.5 of my 32 usable ah, 34 total. It's going to take about 4 1/2 hours to charge back up, but I won't be riding again for probably 15 or 16 hours anyway. Earlier in the day I rode about 25 miles, and took a little over 2 hours to charge.
I'm 68, and I've been riding motorcycles all my life. I got into motor bicycles late, and it was several years after that when I bought the Stealth. I didn't really know what I was buying at the time. I think it's probably the best bike I've ever owned.
Electrics will be the Way To Go once their 18650 battery prices fall in line.
The 1000w hub-motor kits themselves, (what I purchased and LOVE), are reasonable and competitive in both $$ and speed with the gas-motor kits. I love how they can be bolted, no-muss-no-fuss, to almost any 26" bike out there.
The Battery Packs CAN be built to provide decent range and package-ability for bicycle use, recharged in a reasonable amount of time, etc.
BUT, the initial purchase price of a decent pack is off-putting to say the least. Me suspects that like most anything else in these modern times, their prices are being held artificially high because of the anticipated wave of demand for them. (Priced any PC video cards, or even 26" bicycle tires lately?)
The attitude of retailers and manufacturers lately echo a quote from the South Park Episode, "You're Getting Old", in which everything is being perceived as "going to Sh#t"......
"F_CK YOU! You're going to buy it ANYWAY!"
...maybe, but only if one can afford to.
The 1000w hub-motor kits themselves, (what I purchased and LOVE), are reasonable and competitive in both $$ and speed with the gas-motor kits. I love how they can be bolted, no-muss-no-fuss, to almost any 26" bike out there.
The Battery Packs CAN be built to provide decent range and package-ability for bicycle use, recharged in a reasonable amount of time, etc.
BUT, the initial purchase price of a decent pack is off-putting to say the least. Me suspects that like most anything else in these modern times, their prices are being held artificially high because of the anticipated wave of demand for them. (Priced any PC video cards, or even 26" bicycle tires lately?)
The attitude of retailers and manufacturers lately echo a quote from the South Park Episode, "You're Getting Old", in which everything is being perceived as "going to Sh#t"......
"F_CK YOU! You're going to buy it ANYWAY!"
...maybe, but only if one can afford to.
If recharge time can be dramatically shorten a self charging bike could be made. You'll have 2 batteries and 2 hub motors. One hub only acts like a generator it charges the battery that isn't in use. The controller will switch batteries once the drive battery charge drops to a certain point.
The Cool Thing is, technology-wise, I'm satisfied with what's out there- but now it's gotta be affordable. My cheapie HubMotor Kit on my equally cheap Magna MTB would be perfect if it I could afford better range batteries for it. Right now, it goes great for the first 5 or 6 miles, and then it starts to get lethargic. Sad- because we're this close to perfection.
Of all electric vehicles available at this time, as far as I'm concerned eBikes are the ones that seem the most competitive with their gas competition. Cars, and motorcycles are getting closer, but not there yet. eBikes are there now, although some might argue the Stealth is more like a small motorcycle.
I have another eBike that I built to replace a typical china girl. I have about $2000 total in this bike including the bike. Roughly the same as my china girls. It's tops out 28 mph, and has more than 50 mile range. It started life as a factory eBike, but I went though another $1300 tossing almost every part in it, to make it competitive. It's 6 years old, and still going strong long after most china girls would be dust. The battery is 5 years old and cost $525. Now they're $625. It's 48v 30ah, with a 35 amp controller. That's expensive, but hardly more than $100 a year. Subtracting gasoline, and expensive synthetic 2 stroke oil, the difference isn't astronomical, especially considering I'll get at least another year out of this battery. The motor is 750w, and this one does require some maintenance. This motor is a geared motor that you're supposed to open up and grease the planetary gears every 5000 miles. This bike is more versatile than a china girl, because not only can you ride it across town, you can ride it on city bike trails, and it fits in well riding with regular bicycle groups too.
I have another eBike that I built to replace a typical china girl. I have about $2000 total in this bike including the bike. Roughly the same as my china girls. It's tops out 28 mph, and has more than 50 mile range. It started life as a factory eBike, but I went though another $1300 tossing almost every part in it, to make it competitive. It's 6 years old, and still going strong long after most china girls would be dust. The battery is 5 years old and cost $525. Now they're $625. It's 48v 30ah, with a 35 amp controller. That's expensive, but hardly more than $100 a year. Subtracting gasoline, and expensive synthetic 2 stroke oil, the difference isn't astronomical, especially considering I'll get at least another year out of this battery. The motor is 750w, and this one does require some maintenance. This motor is a geared motor that you're supposed to open up and grease the planetary gears every 5000 miles. This bike is more versatile than a china girl, because not only can you ride it across town, you can ride it on city bike trails, and it fits in well riding with regular bicycle groups too.
Attachments
I've often wanted to build an electric trail bike. One that has a high watt motor, a large AH battery but won't go any faster than 10 mph on level ground. This would be the ideal bike for disabled and older people who have issues hiking public trails.
The Sondors speedometer resets after 6000 miles (10,000 km). It's been around twice heading for the third time. There's electrics, and there's electrics. A lot of the cheep factory eBikes made today come with minimal electronics that can fail if they get stressed. Like with a 300 lb fat ass throttling up a hill. I always over build my bikes, and all of them them are super dependable. They're fat ass tested by me.
One thing we all have in common on this forum whether we ride gas or electric, is we all like bikes. Even though eBikes have been around for a long time, there's a new kid in town, and eBikes are now in danger of becoming also rans. In less than 5 years these other things are taking over.
