A letter to Currie Tech

my new letter 2008 to currie:

dear currie sales people and tech people,

i am waiting for a bike design where the motor drives a continuous variable gear or runs
a geared hub like a shimano 8 geared hub but the drive gearing would need to be accessed
from both sides -unless the bionic charger design is used - but i think its an outdated design; i would like to see more advanced drives. how long do i have to wait?
the other idea i had was to run a 450 watt earth magnet off a shimano hub from accessing the gears from the left side and adding a free wheeling sprocket to the right side with a derailleur for pedalling - this would be a cheap cost effective measure until more advanced drives are available. Is that possible now? does shimano make a hub gear that can be accessed from the left side? But a motor only needs 3 speeds.

Also you can add an electronic assist mode that will
allow users to switch it on or off - the main purpose being to limit the speed by cutting off the motor so that those who wish to travel under 20 mph may do so. with electronic monitoring off the
bike should be able to achieve speeds of 25+. I find above those speeds the wind drag is very great and makes the ride unpleasant. This will allow you and users to obey the law.

the geared hub you currently use the motor does not access the gearing- this is the main obstacle in mainstream e-bike sales - gearing is essential for hilly terrain. And we the people require a bike that can travel 20 -25 mph unassisted on the flats for any serious utility use like running errands
and commuting.

I appreciate your efforts and look forward to you knowledgeable replies.

thanks,
love and light,
jon


old letter 2007:
high i recently purchased a mongoose gb24v 450 and was very disappointed in the package:

1. the motor is a crappy 2-250 watt motor over amped and over watted.

2. the motor is too weak to be a workable ev bike

3. the new drive system is impossible to upgrade the motor to a more powerfull 600 - 1kw motor that are typically avaiable on the market.

given these serious flaws i would make the following sugestions:

a. use an engine mount drive sytem that can easily be upgraded acording to the users budget

b. sell the the triangle mounted battery pack as as add-on for incresed range.

c.use an upgradable controller box

d. sell ev bike frames that can be customised easily - for custom engine placement etc.

please feel free to contact me regarding this important matter

K,

Sadly, Currie does not care. They sell cheap, bad bikes and un-suspecting people buy them.

The best message you can send to Currie is to return the bike to your seller.

The only voice enterprise can hear sounds like $$$$$.

Sadly, Currie does not care. They sell cheap, bad bikes and un-suspecting people buy them.

Click to expand...

I like my cheap Currie. It just needed a little modding is all, a perfect platform for a penny pincher DIY'er like me. I did my product research and got from Currie just what I thought I'd get. With just passive wind cooling through its innards, the little 250 watt motor runs 750 watts indefinitely, and 1000 watts for at least a few minutes before getting hot. A couple extra SLA's and it's good for 20-25 miles full throttle. 8 extra volts boosts top speed from 16mph to 24mph.

oh yes, forgot to mention; i returned it promptly to Wallmart - so far every e-bike tech says it cant be upgraded - now what a stupid bike design it would not have cost them any more to offer an upgradeable engine mount i'll pay $5 more for the larger variable mounting bracket!
some cross between the uspd and the current bracket would have been perfect.

ok know that you have the bike and know the size and configuration of the motors available for uspd what could you do to mount a larger motor?

assumng you get rid of the planetary gearing- what kind mod would work

and does the uspd have a planetary gear reduction?

I have one as well. I upgrade mine to 36 volts, gives it a top speed of about 28 MPH and a little more range if you don't go full throttle everywhere (18 miles at 20MPH vs. 13 miles at full throttle everywhere)

We all know it's the cheap of the cheap. In stock form, it goes 15 MPH @ 11 miles range.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44

But, price per feature, it's as cheap as you can start with an e-bike. It's only $279, that includes the bike, motor, batteries, charger, etc. You can't build one for much cheaper that you can call an e-bike of the same performance.

I originally bought mine as a way to compare the cheapest to the much better, but it's actually held out very well for as much abuse as I put it through, so I have to give Wal-mart credit for that at least.

the issue is having the vision to allow for engine upgrades - the point is the cost would still be cheap! its basically the same drive sytem - they left out the ability to change the engine. its such an obvious detail - its like buying an electric watch and its cheap but they glued the back on so you cant change the battery - you say its cheap i say its still a design flaw that is totally unnecessary! ok that doesn't compare well but you get the point.

If the intent is to upgrade, wouldn't it make sense to buy what you want in the first place?

so why not offer what i want in the first place?

where can i get a febatts frame with components (i like the extra room) to customize for under $300?

i'm just looking for a drive system and engine i don't need a uspd package the motor sucks i just want the drive system.

if they would put it on a cheap fewbatts frame i'de buy it

other wise its tear down an existing fewbatts frame.

kisshu said:

the issue is having the vision to allow for engine upgrades - the point is the cost would still be cheap! its basically the same drive sytem - they left out the ability to change the engine. its such an obvious detail - its like buying an electric watch and its cheap but they glued the back on so you cant change the battery - you say its cheap i say its still a design flaw that is totally unnecessary! ok that doesn't compare well but you get the point.

Click to expand...

It's a good point, but the folks at Wal-mart know that if they sold something cheap, in which you could double the performance for only a $100 or more with a better motor; that's business you take away from them and the suppliers they use. Imagine e-bay full of "upgraded" wal-mart bikes selling for $500 in which they swap out a better motor and it gets better speed and range off the stock gear. Wal-mart would want in on that action, but why they don't now is anyone's guess.

no its not a wallmart issue or a vendor issue its purely a manufacturing issue they could have kept the old prodrive drive sytem or even made it beter by getting rid of the chain tensor - they did this on the new mount design -its just that old uspd was sold as an add on kit as well so they had to make it like that - now with the built in engine mount there is no need for a chain tensor because the bolt holes are slotted to allow for proper mounting.

in fact i'm getting so pissed about it i may just buy one so i can rip that piece of crap off and mail it back to them

xyster presented a wonderful step by step procedure he used on his Currie and provided us with pictures of efficient albeit ugly ebike. No doubt that despite his creative influence he has more than the original $279.00 in it. But this post reminds me of a comment the builder of the "insane a cycle" made (electric rider?) that if the Crystalyte motor were available three years ago he wouldn't have built it! Well, I don't really believe him and I doubt he does either but he demonstrates that sometimes you gotta build it yourself.

I don't think it's the fault of Walmart or Mongoose for the product they provide. It's designed for one purpose and meets that purpose satisfying they $279.00 purchase price. The normal consumer will never hear of Endless Sphere and if they would, wouldn't care.

Quite frankly and with NO disrespect intended, you get what you pay for. I paid about eleven hundred dollars for a 5304 with batteries, etc and another two hundred or so for a wire basket, connectors, a watts up, better mirror, better tires, etc and put it on a 12 y/o beach bike. I feel it's moderately safe, goes a little over 30 MPH for a reasonable distance but it was expensive compared to a Currie Mongoose.

If I thought for a minute my needs could have been satisfied with a Mongoose I would have bought two, one to ride and a spare and still saved over half my investment. At the moment I'm thinking of investing another thousand dollars or so in LIPO batteries. This stuff ain't cheap but neither are good pedal bikes. Any good LBS will probably have mountain and road bikes available for up to 5K and I've yet to see a ebike approach that! I paid nine hundred dollars for my Cannondale hybrid several years ago and it's worth every penny despite the fact that it's now sitting on the wall rack while the ebike has put my car in the other garage.

Liberator made a comment awhile back about the EVGRIN. I had a big evgrin with a Z.A.P. friction drive motor for several years. The quality of my grin however has changed with the 5304, now I have to watch for bugs splattering my teeth.

Check out xysters Currie converstion thread. Who knows you may learn to love yours. Of course if you follow his directions you have to love duct tape too.

Good luck. Mike

mvadventure said:

Any good LBS will probably have mountain and road bikes available for up to 5K and I've yet to see a ebike approach that!

Click to expand...

uh, you haven't heard of the 8 grand Optibike?

Kisshu, with ebikes moreso than with most things, it comes down to people's expectations. You have to do your homework & know what to expect going in. Not really the manufacturer's fault. The mongoose didn't meet your expectations, it's not your cup of tea. That's fair & you got your money back. It doesn't call for trashing it & for your own peace of mind, just move on.

There are people that have been disappointed with a three thousand dollar Tidalforce (yes it's true!) for much the same reason you have. It's totally computerized & there's nothing you can do to mod the motor. So it's got nothing to do with price really. Some products are 'canned' like that. Expect the situation to get worse, like with cars as they grow more cpu's with proprietory software.

That's deliberate as manufacturers generally take steps to inhibit modifying their product even prior to software. Along the lines of what fechter said, they view mods as a form of competing product & impact on revenue. Your letter probably only serves to give them a good chuckle & validation of a job well done.

yes i know you get what you pay for still currie has been "improving" their drive design over the years but this is clearly a step backward - given the fact that uspd is no longer in production that crapy unupgradable drive is their next generation - i suppose they thought they'd put there money into izip bike but i'm not buying it! they at least could have provided as useful a drive as they did in the past or an upgrade kit!

now i'm going with lashout drive system.

see my post:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18438#18438

so why not offer what i want in the first place?

where can i get a febatts frame with components (i like the extra room) to customize for under $300?

i'm just looking for a drive system and engine i don't need a uspd package the motor sucks i just want the drive system.

if they would put it on a cheap fewbatts frame i'de buy it

other wise its tear down an existing fewbatts frame.

Click to expand...

The original Currie USPD drives were upgradeable with a lot of various motors. Plug&play was the buzz at the time. Scott MacGregor was (and still is!) the Currie guru. Currie made their changes on these later bikes for price point only, and has been explained, don't care. For what it's worth, I briefly had one of the newer bikes, and like others here that have one, can't complain about what I got vs. what I paid. I sold mine to a co-worker who loves it! This is a non-bike riding co-worker, and I believe that's who Currie thinks they'll appeal to if they keep the prices down.

Charlie

My new letter to currie

dear currie sales people and tech people,

i am waiting for a bike design where the motor drives a continuous variable gear or runs
a geared hub like a shimano 8 geared hub but the drive gearing would need to be accessed
from both sides -unless the bionic charger design is used - but i think its an outdated design; i would like to see more advanced drives. how long do i have to wait?
the other idea i had was to run a 450 watt earth magnet off a shimano hub from accessing the gears from the left side and adding a free wheeling sprocket to the right side with a derailleur for pedalling - this would be a cheap cost effective measure until more advanced drives are available. Is that possible now? does shimano make a hub gear that can be accessed from the left side? But really the motor only requires 3 speeds.

Also you can add an electronic assist mode that will
allow users to switch it on or off - the main purpose being to limit the speed by cutting off the motor so that those who wish to travel under 20 mph may do so. with electronic monitoring off the
bike should be able to achieve speeds of 25+. I find above those speeds the wind drag is very great and makes the ride unpleasant. This will allow you and users to obey the law.

the geared hub you currently use the motor does not access the gearing- this is the main obstacle in mainstream e-bike sales - gearing is essential for hilly terrain. And we the people require a bike that can travel 20 -25 mph unassisted on the flats for any serious utility use like running errands
and commuting.

I appreciate your efforts and look forward to you knowledgeable replies.

thanks,
love and light,
jon

Don't need to bug Currie, ebikes that fits your requirements already exist. Here's a fixer upper for 350$:
http://hartford.craigslist.org/mcy/880850741.html

my 2 cents would be to mount the currie motor on the otherside
and simply reverse your power feeds...add second sprocket to internal hub
i have one of these currie motored bikes overvolted to 54-55v and have
put more than 4000km on it all overvolted and for the price...it rocks

I happen to really like my e-zip. I've got about 1000 miles on it and reply on it to get me to work. Ya, I've had some minor problems. I'm close enough to work, 9mi. I can take my Plan B pedal bike If I have too. Currie customer sevice has been very supportive. But once they didn't understand my problem and sent me a free motor. So I cant complain too much. For $350 (now $400) you get to know what your getting into.

I got this lil 24v BMX with the words currie tech and dyno written all over it. Ive overvolted it to 36v. I bought it from Kmart for $135 AU like the Ezip job above...

Ive never owned a bike that can cart 25 kgs of shopping on a saddle, basket and handle bars and hit a proper gutter straight on at 26kph and not even miss a breath until I owned this bike lil dyno Curry tech BMX thing, The brushes have done over 5000 kms. The only thing was it was too slow at 24v (18kph) and the mic plug charger socket was crap...

Im getting an adapter for the chain drive motor cog so I can get more teeth and speed, Ill get this baby up to 34 kph easy.

LES

My Schwinn Electric cooked itself after 90 days. I was so sad I nearly fainted then Amazon dot com had a special sale on your ezip mountain traiz the 2008 I watched the price drop twice and finally bit at 225 and free shipping overnight plus no sales tax
Wow the old e bike was a sorry ass kids bike overwweight at 100 pounds but cost me the same amount.
as for looks this ezip is magnificent. a work of perfection. I read the the founder once ran an aircraft company and an eletronic giant as well.
so as for ease of operation speed and stability I am much happier. I have the latest version of the cheapest bike and I am solid with the 24 volts for now I fried my last bike because it was so easy to add in an sla and punch the throttle and race up hills I killed it because I had not cooled it off on a shor run straight up a hill.
so here it sits in my room and so does my ezip I can rided it to downtown LA or Hollywood or the beach for pennies
our summer heat was unbearable so I never thought twice about riding a bike all night to cruise around.
I am the only guy in LA wjho has one and it is great. thanks currie

I built a 3 speed hub for my grandkids 20" Mongoose 450 a while back and it held up well in testing! (Testing on my trike ) It now gonna go on the rest of the Mongoose/ currie 24x/450 for Christmas I' start em with the original single speed hub that came with it, and if they like that I'll show the three speed! Easy to make! Bike still in box except for trailing arm!
otherDoc

yeah its a good price on a cheap bike but not what most are looking forward to
riding. Careful -that description on amazon.com is for the aluminum design - your getting heavy steel , sneaky and confusing marketing ploy.
i'm looking foward to aluminum chromoly carbon kevlar hybrid designs.