Got it yesterday!
I didn't have to paint it. I was looking at the brownish unisex one. Noticed the error just before ordering. WHEW! The mens one is a nice blue, very close to the color I was planning on painting it. I did de-sticker it. I left one sticker on one side of the forks and moved a small one that was on the chain-stays to the upper down-tube. I don't like bikes (or anything) looking like a billboards.
On the box it said endorsed by "Living with Ed"
(Ed Bagley Jr.
). If they are they are appealing to the "green movement". I believe an electric vehicle is somewhat deceiving in my opinion. After all 90% or so of electricity is produced by coal.
Coal is far from green. But I suppose its better than a Hummer. But I digress.
The quality of the bike was much higher than I expected. I thought it was a Huffy with a motor. But it comparable to a Mongoose or a decent Schwinn. The welds look good. The bike alone, not counting the motor, looks to me like a $175 - $200 bike. It came about 90% assembled, it wouldn't call it a kit.
The rear dérailleur is bass akwards. Its on the wrong side and numbered 1 as high and 7 as low
After about 2 min it goes to sleep mode or something. I had to stop and flip the switch in the back a couple of times. Now that think about it I have have panicked and hit the on/off button a bunch after it went to "sleep". That said, it provided a really fun ride!
It accelerates smoothly. It has the power to beat the infamous "Gully Hill"!
The motor was straining and so was I but it was handily beaten.
As for the mods I mentioned, there was a couple of hiccups.
A/ the drive-train came assembled so I could do any preliminary mock up and in general check things out before assembling it.
B/ the bike I was planning on using doesn't have suspension forks and I was goin to use the ones of this bike but they are not compatible.
C/ I think It will look much nicer on this platform.
D/ Judging by the way the thing doesn't like to back up. I think the set up will cause a lot of drag, so the motor will have to be on at least a little all the time. Maybe a RH freewheel off of a dirt bike can be adapted. Just a thought, it been so long since I've played around with them.
So, my plans in the near future. I have a mongoose XR 250 with much better parts I can use a a donor. Hopefully the all important 3 spd crank-set can be swapped. SirJakesus also has a XR 75. I believe the crank-sets are the same. Maybe he'll know. If not I'll haul them up to the bike shop. I have to buy tools to remove them anyhow. If they're not I'll look further into GhostO's crank freewheel.
After my initial run its believe its a very good buy!
