MiPower E-Maxi Ideation Rmartin E-Bike review

I've got 3100 miles clocked since purchase last July 4th weekend 2012. so I figured now I can review it with a better sense of the bikes' quality & performance.
This bike is built in Taiwan by a company named Ideation that's been in business since 1977, Their E-bike line is named E-Maxi & the model is MiPower & they are imported & sold in the United States by R.Martin of Texas.
I paid $ 2000.00 for it from R.Martins website included free delivery {now the price is $ 2199-} Edit-price back to $1999 I noticed today 5/4/13 ,
Specs are as follows.
Rigid aluminum MTB style frame.
36 Volt, 14 AH battery { Samsung cells }
500 watt that peaks over 1000 { Ultra Motor TDCM rear hub motor.}
Omega RST TNL forks.
Avid BB7 brakes { mechanical }
Upgrades I couldnt live without include.
Wider tires, bike came with 26x 175's I installed Kenda's 195's, much better ride
Brooks saddle Professional model { I flattened the rails on the original & 2 others before springing for the Brooks, holding up well.
Tamer pivot plus suspension seatpost. Works well .
Air-horn rechargable AirZound
Mirror.
Brings total cost of bike to close to $ 2500.00.
What has gone wrong ?
First week the controller failed, a newer upgraded model was promptly sent out & has been perfect last 3 k miles. { there seems to be in issue with a batch of controller installed @ the factory i'm guessing as I know of 2 others who had this same problem. But replaced under warranty.
I broke spokes twice, they are thin @ 15 gauge, I've learned to keep them properly tightened & go a little easier on bumps & havent had any spoke issues the last 2000 miles.
Kick stand broke, replaced with a Prodeco center stand worked well for 3 months but broke as well { hard to find a good kick stand for an e-bike }. The nicer touches & higher quality components that make this bike a nice value for your $ include.b]
There's no squeaky brakes, no creaky headsets.
No rattly battery back rack design, bike has a tight, balanced feel to it , battery mounts on the frame neatly designed. { I owned a Prodeco Storm & I built a Schwinn Protocol with a Yescom kit so I can compare it to those .
The connectors are high quality screw in connectors { from my research these are used for audio components often for outdoor concerts.
The thumb throttle has a smooth easy feel is embossed E-maxi & is a nice waterproof high quality part.
The charger charges the bike in 2.5 hours , has a fan & different settings , shuts off automaticly when charged as most do but this one never gets hot & i feel it's less of a fire hazard then those 10 dollar specials I had before.
The finish on the bike I believe is powdercoated, it's held up really well to my constant wipe downs, washings & silicone wipes as I keep the bike pretty much detailed @ all times ( I was seeing slight paint bubbling on boyh my other e-bikes about a month after this same maintenence treatment.
Bike has Pedelec system as well as thumb throttle, I unscrewed the Pedal assist & capped it off & have the battery set for max output & thumb throttle mode, I prefer it this way & did this first week of ownership.
Range
The one & only time I rode the bike till the battery went flat I did 40.5 miles, I weigh 195 lbs. Company advertises 60 miles possible with low assist mode I bet it's possible for the right person & conditions.
The forks are great but heavy, bike has a heavy feel to it, I bet the way I have it rigged over 65 lbs. so pedaling without power is a little tough for long distances.

The need for a truly waterproof bike in a word is Crap !
Dog Crap & goose crap that is, the only way to get an e-bike properly cleaned after running through poop is hosing it off thourghley, this bike can take it, the Aluminum Ultra Motor is tightly sealed & the controller is a nicely waterproofed unit.

There's no such thing as a perfect E_Bike but the meat & Potatoes of this thing has me impressed, a great value I believe, I dont work for the company I did consider selling them I was so impressed but it's a hassle selling e-Bikes to the average person, even good ones like the Mipower.
I'll link some pictures of the bike from my Photobucket as well as company website in Taiwan
Cheers, Alan .
I forgot to add this fact- These bikes just come in one size a 17" frame, known as a medium frame, I'm barely 5'9 & it fits me well but wouldve gotten a bigger frame if had the choice. thats important info I left out, so i's like tall guys need not apply !

http://www.ideation.com.tw
http://s264.photobucket.com/user/Scalihoo/library/E-Maxi MiPower RMartin E-Bike?page=1

50yearoldbiker
good that you waited before you get any millage on Rmartin.
It makes your review much more valuable.
This ebike stands out for two reasons:
- NO rear rack battery
- UltraMotor hub much better than run off the mill China cheap hub.
It would be nice if you keep resurrecting this thread from time to time while you get more and more miles on the bike.
Sort of long term review, but you would have to post into this thread /no new thread/.
I do like this with my EPLUS bike.

Thanks Man,
Also the fact for 2 grand you get a 14 AH battery, the Omega RST TNL forks are well respected & sell for minium $ 130.00 bucks retail.
The Avid BB7's are front & rear stop this bike on a dime & give change { Ok corny but true } .
A somewhat weaker component I forgot to mention it's Atlus Derailleur is an entry level component & most likely will one day be upgraded but needed only 2 adjustments in 3100 miles, yes a little clunky shift changes sometimes but I havent felt the need to upgrade just yet.
Also the BB7 brake pads are still original & going strong & I'm into a lot of technical front wheel braking first in most cases unless emergancy lay downs
Also the bikes a 7 speed which includes a " super Low cog " , love it steep inclines it works wonders & i use it almost every day where I ride.
The reason why i seem really high on this bike is to get the word out, spend a little more & you get a lot more in the E-Biking world ..I really believe that.
But entry level bikes do get you ass in the seat & are a good way to start i guess..
Thanks for chiming in Micro13car, I will update my review :wink:

tell me,
does Rmartin has regen breaking enabled?
when you apply breaks do you feel drag from motor?

No, not a Regen, it's got the common electric brake shut down feature/ wire that goes into the brake levers.
Let me edit, no drag what so ever when braking, motor is whisper quiet as well gearless only dogs hear it i've noticed LOL

I thought I would spend a moment to update my review now I've passed the 4100 mile mark.
I removed the decals off the frame & stickers on the battery for a lower key look, why advertise it's an E-Bike to the police as the laws in my area regarding E-bikes are unclear { to me @ least }.
I was emphatic to say one can hose the motor down & I have been doing so 3 times a month I bet but I wont be doing it quite the same way again.
last time some moisture found its way into the hub motor & bike was chugging along & not working properly after my hose off/detail job. It felt like the Hall sensors were fighting one another. Anyways I removed the battery & placed a drop of CRC silicone in each connecter but it still was not right, took battery out again turned the bike upside down & soaked the hub motor in silicone spray. I think the moisture entered where the wire enters by the axel.
I spun the crap out of the hub motor whit the bike upside down & slowly it started to dry out more & after 2 hours total I got it working properly & has been fine for many miles since as this happened last week.
Moral of the story , dont overly hose down hub motor on these things, I'm glad I didnt break it ..
Bike still continues to impress, front brake pads lasted 3200 miles or so { Avid BB7's } they were easy to replace I used their " juicy" model.
I went down last week for the first time, I was making a left turn in an intersection @ a light sort of a busy single lane 30 MPH roadway & rear wheel kicked out on tranny fluid it looked like & I landed on my left knee hard, blood & swelling but not too bad bike made it without a scratch the pedal too the brunt of it.
I've laid down Motorbikes a few times & I know if you ride sht happens it was a low speed thing @ 5 MPH's & I landed good.
I'll try to post picture of bike with the decals removed, looks cooler I think like a semi custom.
God Bless all & keep the rubber on the road !
EDIT- I forgot to update battery performance- although I havent ran the bike to flat battery since doing it once to test range I get the sense from the LED meter when I come in to recharge I'm dealing with a 1/4-1/3 loss in total range on the original battert as mentioned 4150 miles 11 months old or so. I think 30 is no problem now & I got 40 miles per charge when new. The idea of getting a bike with higher AH's like the 14 AH's my bike has is a year & over 4000 miles when later the battery loses 1/4 of it's strength you still have the range of a 9 AH bike even better , just figured I'd throw that in there. 8)
I lately have been taking multiple trips a day so she gets a couple charges a day but battery is holding up well it seems to me.
signing off !
Back again Edit # 2- Forgot to mention my Brooks saddle { Brooks Professional } snapped it's rails on a speed bump. I'm on my 5th saddle now ! The Brooks lasted the longest to be fair maybe 1000 miles somewhere around there but I wont be riding with Brooks again @ least not this model. The company sent me a replacement under warranty, it took some wrangling they weren't to eager to send one out promptly it seemed although I registered the serial # when new & took pictures of broken saddle as requested. They ended up honoring the warranty & I was sent another . Riding elcheapo Viscount vintage { made in Taiwan saddle now, holding up real well..
Oh & the replacement saddle Brooks sent me, EBay of course ! I might try a different model one day.
Oh & the Tamer Pivot plus suspension seatpost broke one time bike blew off the kickstand { it was a center stand set high }. The bushings knocked loose from the impact, I sent that back for repair, they charged me & EBayed that as well, dont miss it, bike is better without it, lighter, faster & I work the bumps in a way that gives me more exercise lifting my butt off the seat etc.. Dont miss that thing one bit.

such long term reviews are so valueable, because they show real life reliability of ebike.
I woud never hose my any ebike with water.
Just backet and rugs.
I presume you rode it in heavy rain?

miro13car said:

such long term reviews are so valueable, because they show real life reliability of ebike.
I woud never hose my any ebike with water.
Just backet and rugs.
I presume you rode it in heavy rain?

Click to expand...

Hi Micro13car, thanks for chiming in.
No rain, I hose the bike down well I dont soak the battery,motor or controller but direct the stream mostly towards the brake calipers & areas that get dirty often by the kickstand etc. I use a foaming cleaner & then rinse it with the garden hose.
There's a video Ypedal made of him doing the same with his A2B metro thats been viewed a lot , we have the same hub motor.
I bet I've done it 10 times but the last time somehow moisture got into the damn thing, but I got it going 2 hours later.
Funny thing is I don't remember over spraying it, I guess just hit the right spot where the cable feeds into the motor, I don't think the moisture entered the seam in the hub but who knows.
I think I will be more careful with the hose from now on.
I ride through a lot of parks & trails where theres goose poop & I keep the bike in my porch which is a sun porch kinda deal, dont need goose poop tires in the house ! The hose gets the tire treads clean the best, I just have to be more careful.
My spokes have been fine last 1000 miles or so I havent had to tighten them , bikes doing really well in a nice groove.
thanks again for chiming in

now I see why you hose down with water.
sAME problem here where I live , in the spring goose come from the river to feed on green grass.
But I have patience and try to understand nature - goose were here for hundreds years before white people came and cut streaches of grass with asphalt.
I love nature and simply slow down to watch them - marvels of enginnering of nature.

Thanks very much for posting. I bought a Mipower today after reading your reviews and a whole bunch of other stuff about ebikes. I narrowed it down after a lot of research to the Volton Alation 500, the Motiv Shadow, and the Mipower. Of these, the Mipower seemed to offer the best combination of power, range, quality, and price ($1750, great deal at Pacific e-bikes in Berkeley). On its maiden voyage today, I rode it 25 miles from the flats into some pretty serious hills and fighting a stiff headwind at times, averaging 15-20 mph, using mostly the pedal assist mode without breaking a sweat - and the battery still had charge on it. I'm impressed. The build quality seems good, too. The dealer threw in a nice custom made rack (very wide, to accommodate that big hub motor) for $50, and I strapped my Topeak bag and panniers on for hauling groceries, laptop, etc. It's a nice rig that I think will serve me well for commuting and recreational riding.