Quark Bikes

http://www.quarkbikes.getmyip.com/quarkbikes.html

A few weeks ago, i got a phone call from a local couple.

Retired, in their 70's, living out in the country. They got interested in " Ebikes " and started out with 2 matching machines, 48v, SLA, hub motor, single speed type..

Some of you may know " Lesss " on this forum !!! :wink:

F.Y.I.. i'm not playing mean. and i'm not sugar coating it .. this is my personal opinion of this bike.. plain and simple.

After some discussion, they offered to drop it off for me to test them and compare to all the other setups i have at the moment..

- Crystalyte ( brushed and brushless )
- Ezee
- Red Hornet
- Cyclone
- WE ( brushless)

All the above, are kits and not complete ebikes, ( ezee makes a complete ebike, but i only have the kit, mounted to a Giant ATX mtb )

So.. since i'm officially on vacation, and caught up with my backlog of projects to a certain degree.. today i finally got to testing this bike !

Pictures.

This bike had a bit of a problem, on a full charge ( green light on charger ) all 4 " Battery charge level " lights would go away within 10 meters..

I opend the batt box up to find 4 x 12ah SLA's.. hooked it up to my trusty LBD ( Light Bulb Discharge ) and at 0.3ah one of the bricks droped to 8v.. toast..

Replaced it with a used, but in good condition SLA i have gathering dust on the shelf.. and also changed the Fuse from a glass type to an automotive blade type since i was in there . Put in a 30 amp fuse ..

Discharged 3ah at 4 amps ( C/3 ) charged back up, let trickle for a few hours..

Taped the GPS to the back of the fender..

Made an adapter for my " Doc Wattson " meter ( Thank you Jonathan !! )

I got my neighbor to hop onto the Chaos for support and to comparison ( He just likes to ride the bikes and was not hard to convince him at all ! lol)

[youtube]OhUqiQBVh3Q[/youtube]
First impressions:

Plastic.. alot of it.. when you hit bumps or pot holes it creakes and squeaks.. but holds together rather well.

Silent and smooth, as gearless brushless motors should be, no spokes on this bike, cast aluminum wheels.. the brakes work ok but not great.. a bit spongy but if you pull hard the bike will stop. I notice that braking with the front only ( while holding the camera with one hand ) will make the bike wobble quite a bit ( brake surface on the rim not perfectly true ) ..

At 48v the bike has sufficient acceleration to get going, nothing spectacular but it gets up to 18 miles per hour ( 28 km/h ) in a few seconds.

Pedals. ok.. this i have a serious gripe with.. this bike canot be pedaled by an adult, even one willing to do so. short cranks you would find on an 8 year old's bike, 12" apart.. don't lend themselves to a pleasant pedaling experience, sorry but this fact alone makes this NOT a bicycle in my view.

" Can you pedal it ? " .. yes.. :|
" Can you pedal it 10 kms ? " .. I'm not willing to try it.

[youtube]eNGKCpiq_fM[/youtube]

The loop ( as seen in both videos ) was fairly flat, windy on the way back with a slight grade uphill.

Average speed against this wind = 14 mph ( 22 km/h )

This video was at the 4 mile mark ( 6.5 km )

Total distance = 14 miles ( 23 km )
GPS Max speed = 20 mph ( 32 km/h Going downhill, no throttle effect )
Actual Top speed with motor on level ground = 18 mph on a full charge.


Sweat = None

Battery Stats:
- Max amps = 16.9 *( 15 amp controller )
- Amp Hour used = 6.1 ah
- Lowest Voltage = 44v
- Voltage at rest = 47.7v

V-min

Peukert effect at it's best, 6.1 ah delivered from a 12ah ( labeled as 10 on the green chinese bricks !! ) is not that bad.

6.1 ah at 48v for 23 km = 12.7 wh/km

To compare the Chaos driven by the neighbor scooting past me, pulling into driveways.. hopping curbs.. catching up.. zig zaggin around.. got

3.3ah at 72v for 24 km = 9.9 wh/km

[youtube]wiNyMu2Mryk[/youtube]

Video at the end of the ride, yeah.. that's me on there.

Bottom line:

Are they worth it ?

That entirely depends on your needs.

On fairly flat land ( as seen on the videos ) 20 km range is reasonable but this is as far as you want to take this SLA battery pack. 25 kms would drain it completely.

At the end of the ride, the motor was slightly warm, not hot, it could be " tweaked " to take a few more amps but would cost you range ..

The chaos runs 72v, so removing one pack and testing at 36v, the Chaos was slower, if it was at 48v like the Quark, it would have been very close !

Considering that this complete bike costs less than the charging setup ( Thunder Power charger, Ballancer, and 12v regulated power supply ) on my Chaos, it does provide a real 20 km range. With the big fat " Gel seat " the ride is fairly comfortable.

Tomorrow.. we strap on 48v 12ah of LiFePo4 !!!!

Hey Ypedal,

My neighbor has a bike that is the same type of dealio as the one your testing, His motor seem identical to yours 48v 5-700watts. He is running 72v of sla's on is with a modded s-controller .... the thing on a fresh charge is neck and neck with my x-lite on 66v of a123's at 50amps on a 26" rim..Not to shabby at all!!

I will admit the scooter you have seems more easier to pedal then his is .... He is doing some work at a scooter shop for the owner for fun. So he is building it up part by part atm ..

post a video on lipo .. lets see her rip

-steve

Yeah.. if it stays in my garage long enough..... i have a 48v 40 amp " Knuckles " type controller, and a few 72v 30 amp units... and a 4110 fet 50 amp clyte black box that would make this thing sing right along.. but it's not my scooter .. it's only on loan so i have to play " nice and careful !! lol"

hi ypedal , why do you mention less at the start of the thread is he selling those or what and what did the old couple ask you to do with that bike ?

Yes, the old couple purchased it from Lesss. ( He lives in NewBrunswick, about 1.5 hrs drive from me )

I think they found out about me from Lesss, but their original inquiry was regarding installing a kit on a Norco trike. The older gentleman is in his 80's if i remember correctly and 3 wheels would be better for him.. they found a complete trike at JVbike in BC and wanted my opinion on it.

A quick phone call, and then a visit.. then a walk thru my house quickly set the reality of how deep into all this i really am lol.. ( oh god. my house.... errr.. shop.. lab... whatever you want to call it at this point )

Along the conversation they told me about these Quark Bikes they had and the range they were getting.. not having the equipment of the know-how to test them properly they offered to bring me one so i can play with it !

And this thread was born.