First, the Lightning Rod kit started as a GNG kit... not a Cyclone. He replaced everything except the motor... You obviously don't commute yours in the snow with sleet and salty roads... that Lightning Rod kit is perfect for that, everything out exposed... hmmm... salt and water and exposed mechanical components... uff, what a great combo!!
I don't give a rats ass what a website thinks or claims, because I can put a great review on my website stating just the opposite, so, who is wrong? I might or might not take it into consideration, but it isn't absolute truth. Head over the Cyclone 3000W thread, lots of happy campers there...
Again, you don't have any first hand experience with this kit, so don't quote other people as your own opinion, I am not quoting anyone b/c I've installed this kit myself... you just have no clue which is obvious at this point, some Bafang fanboy vs Cyclone fanboy... oh boy.
I read these, and the comments in these sites are all overly dramatic... but let me point out that Luna doesn't make the same profit by selling one Cyclone vs selling a Bafang, so of course is going to be harder to install and try to get you to buy the more expensive (and supposedly easier to installed). They even warned me over that it was going to be a nightmare... well, apparently my experience turned out to be... just different, and so has been the experience of other people on the E-S thread...
But since you bring up those comments (that are NOT YOURS) let me reiterate some things AGAIN:
It didn't take a day to install it, again that's their opinion, NOT YOURS; and I have the kit running and running well. I can also tell you that the "No instructions. no support" is a fallacy; the C3000W kit has its own thread on E-S, Paco actually responds to emails... there are pictures on the Cyclone website explaining how to install it... etc; even a video on youtube how to get it installed. So, no information? Maybe you didn't care to use the thing called... ah yes... G O O G L E? C'mon dude, we are not in the 80s anymore... If you buy from Luna you get their support, although it might be spotty... to be upfront.
Wow, so the infamous quote of the zip-tie... thats another overly dramatic statement, period; and to prove that I am not using a single ziptie on my install (except to hold accelerator wiring to the frame), perhaps you have trouble visualizing that? You obviously seem like a shill of some sort for Bafang, so of course, no fair chance to anything else... The same can be said that if your plastic POS gear inside the Bafang gearbox snaps, then you'll SURELY be walking home, and you'll be grounded for days on top of that!! haha, talk about POS... but hey, its a stealth POS. And let me say that the chances of breaking a ziptie on a low stress part vs. stripping the POS plastic gear on a high stress part is rather slim... and my ziptie will take me 1 minute to replace and your POS plastic gear will take several days to fix, and not before you have another one at hand (pay more $$$) to replace it. Yup, it really make so much sense...
The tensioner on mine took 5 minutes to install, it wasn't particularly hard to to... maybe you're just believing everything you read, again? Actually the tensioner was the easiest part to do... for crying out loud, dude; its a spring attached to a bolt (I didn't use the ziptie, maybe I actually put the kit together so it would last and not just to say I've installed it? who knows...)
Those statements about chains are stating the FRICKING obvious, and overly dramatic, yet again; and even with the BBSxx you still have a chain running open, the bike chain; so what about that? Should we use a driveshaft instead?? Oh no, wait, maybe you've had thoughts to stick your fingers in there... and that is why its so dangerous... get a grip man. FYI, the chain hasn't come off a single time on my kit, and I run 30+ mph all day long and topping out at 49mph, something your POS BAFANG will never do without melting down or stripping gears, or destroying the drivetrain...
So, in regard to these reliability statement, speculation; so they ran the kit for a few dozen miles and they are already making statements about long term reliability?, that is utter BS, sorry there is no other way to say it... Now, when they have run the kit for 10k miles then they can emit a judgement on reliability, in the meantime these statements are as valid as me saying that there is intelligent life in the constellation of Virgo.
You obviously don't have the slightest clue about what the Cyclone kit can offer, and reliability is high in the list of things the Cyclone 3000W kit can offer; and all that without babing the stupid thing around... screw that... Imagine a car that you have to be on 1st gear before you can floor it... and if you forget to downshift to first gear then BRAAAAAGNNNNNG... there goes your transmission...?? I can assure you I wont be buying that car... even if the car was coated with F-117 stealth paint.
To sum it all up, learn about the Cyclone before you speak, and reading opinions on a couple of internet websites and posting them in here doesn't count as "knowing" about it. Install it and you might be tempted to ditch the LR kit...
G.
sather said:
No, I did not buy a Cyclone. I looked at the Cyclone and bought a Lightning Rods instead. A Lightning Rods is essentially a beefed up Cyclone without all the cheezy, marginal parts.
THE FOLLOWING ARE QUOTES FROM ELECTRIC-FATBIKE.COM ABOUT THE CYCLONE:
"This kit should not be the first mid drive ebike kit you buy as the installation is pretty tricky".
"This is not a beginner kit (NO INSTRUCTIONS, NO SUPPORT)"
"After spending a whole day slaving away installing this drive unit...,"
"The downsides are that the entire frame tends to flex when it’s powered up, the large (PLASTIC) ziptie that the kit ships with is a joke and when the motor torques under power it gets about 1 mm away from hitting the drive side pedal. The whole system is just a little on the sketchy side for me, and I haven’t even started testing it at more than 52v yet. Yikes"
"The tradeoff you have to make is in reliability, running 3000W though a bicycle drive train for any length of time and you’re going have issues. This can be a real bummer if it leaves you stranded in the middle of nowhere".
"The giant (PLASTIC) tie wrap broke on my first time out"
"Now comes the hard part, setting the tension of the tensioner correctly using nothing but a zip tie. This is the ultimate test to see how well you will survive in a Zombie Wasteland, Macgyver".
"This zip tie is very important and if it breaks and you don’t have another one then you’re going to be walking. Moral of the story? Carry extra zip ties everywhere you go because you never know when civilization is going to collapse."
"Once you think you have the motor tensioner adjusted right then it’s time to run the motor for a bit to see if the chain jumps off. Be aware that having an open running chain is incredibly fricking dangerous".