E+ Mountain Bike - nice or just a flash in the pan ?

[Meer123]

Anyone familiar with the "E+ Mountain Bike" by Electric Motion Systems ?

http://www.electricmotionsystems.com/

Aside from the price point that stands out (in a negative way) it looks like a great bike, I can only imagine the cost associated to getting 20 to 40 miles per charge on a new bike with all new components and a 30+ MPH top speed (w/1000 motor) ... is this for real ? Anyone have any experience with it who can chime in ? OR - can anyone give any input on how to acheive similar stats for less money and have an end result that's this clean - nearly invisible if you're bot "bike savvy" for the only evidence of it being anything other than a normal MTB is the gigantic hubs. The placement of the battery nice and low in the front hub really reflects their effort to lower the center of gravity (I dont think it could be much lower) even if it will increase rotational mass slightly affecting accelaration. Last but not least - with it's fancy controller - I dont suppose anyone knows how to mod this bike to run above 36V ? or more amps ?

 

[Snax]

Seems like $3500 is allot to pay for a hub mounted battery pack. There are certainly hub kits that match the performance of that bike for allot less, but you'll just have to find another place for the batteries. For that much money, you could afford a lithium pack that would match or even outperform it.

 

[SirJakesus]

Yeah you could build a monster Ebike for that price with way more battery capacity. I dont think having that much rolling mass is a great idea in the first place and it doesn't seem very upgradeable.

 

[Meer123]

not looking too NHRA or too much like a mad scientist isnt a bad thing - it got my attention because it had not one piece of visible electrical type - how novel ? But admitedly - you can get a **** of a lot of motor and some truly serious battery packs for $3500 ... you could probably get a bike way past 60mph and do it for more then 30 miles if you devoted that much money to motors and batteries ... but we're not all extra's from "Back to the future" are we ? hahaha - dont answer that - sometimes - I am ... lol

 

[Drunkskunk]

Looks like a Tidalforce. disapointingly uses NIMH batteries like the old Tidalforce did. The technology has moved far beyond Nickel now.

Very nice looking bike.

Do the math though, a 36V, 9 AH battery isn't going to have much range tied to a 1000 watt motor. Especialy one wound to give a top speed of 30. I'm betting the 20-40 mile range is with pedaling. Lots of pedaling. Infact, long stretches of no motor on at all pedaling.

 

[Meer123]

long stretches of no motor on at all pedaling ? that's likely - but I hope not - especially not at over $3500 ? I do know that some of their engineers worked on the tidal force bikes so the similarity does not shock me - the tidal force bike was not bad looking so this isnt a negative point - the main issue is price. Sure it looks sharp and has tons of features but if you can't get more then (let's say) 10 miles - it's not going to accomplish it's mission and expecting me (or anyone) to go without use of the motor that cost us so much to buy in the first place isn't reasonable.

 

[ZMX]

36 volts, 9AH. That's 324 watts. Running full power would last you less than 20 minutes. Maybe the 20-40 mile range is when cruising at 10mph. For 3500, just buy a used 200cc motorcycle and keep the rest of the cash.

This is a ripoff, plain and simple.

 

[Snax]

Well you don't get to 'keep' the rest of the cash, but it would take allot of miles for the cost of gas to eat up the difference. It's the extra insurance cost that sucks - as inexpensive as it would be.

 

[Meer123]

The EMS bike got my attention because of it's clever use of the front hub to carry the batteries - most of the bikes you see with batteries on the trunks handle worse because of the higher center of gravity. The fact that it looks "finished" and not like some home brewed experiement is also refreshing - now, is it expensive - YES - can it be outperformed by modifying a cheaper kit - YES ... no doubt. Have I seen an install this sanitary ? Maybe once (there was a Kestrel Carbon Racer on Ebay last week that was lovely) but it too was an arm and a leg ... there's a lot of nice ones owned/built/riden by members of these boards but more often than not, all the really "capable" ones look like low budget hotrods designed with absolute power in mind (and that alone) without regard to aesthetics - function is more important then looks for me but I dont think we're all in the "just add more electrical tape" frame of mind ... does that mean we're all buying $3500 bikes - NOT - I want to do a super "minimalist" looking bike myself - I hope it does not look like parts are falling of it and that I need to tape it up but I may just eat my words. Oh, and I do have a 2005 Ninja ... PS - this isnt a knock on the general membership - I'm still learning so much on these boards and I adequately can't say how impressed I am with so many of the folks here. I have seen some real awesome bikes here with more speed and range then I would ever need and conversely, there are many examples of "good builds" that I am sure are way above my own ability. Also, the 2 stoke boys (and girls) are also awesome so dont think I gave all my kudos points to the electric crew - I still have two 2 stroke mountain bikes that I love.

 

[ZMX]

Just an idea for a clean electric bike look: If you don't mind drilling, cutting, and welding, you could put batteries inside the tubes of a bicycle's frame.

I suppose a gas tank could be done similarly as well.