My Bafang Ultra Mountain Bike! Frey AM1000

I don't think that Ivy is bad at their job or anything like that. It just seems like Frey is maybe not prepared for a big influx of orders/inquiries right now, I've been contacting her through Alibaba and my messages are just kind of going dead right now after multiple days of waiting between messages.

I'd still be interested in an HT1000 as an alternative to the Juiced CCX/HF1100, Juiced is dead to me as a company with their utter lack of interest in quality control and customer service but for the near term I went with another company.

Hi everyone,

I found I missed to get some emails come from gmail, that's because some unproper setting in server, some emails blocked in middle, that's why I have not answered emails promptly. that you think we don't answer you.

At the same time, we will have some more colleague to serve customers following.

Regards,
Ivy

garyal1 said:

I see lots of comments about "slow responses" from Frey on this thread:

1) I have purchased from Frey 5 or 6 times between buying bikes, buying frames and buying parts.

2) The only time I did not get a rapid and timely response is when I just emailed them direct.

3) After I joined and registered with Alibaba, I now contact Ivy thru Alibaba and I get a quick response every time!

4) On my last order there was some confusion, (mostly my fault) Frey came back and made it right for me without any hassle. I am very happy with the response, response time, value and quality from this company. 2 bikes, one frame one Bafang Ultra drive and numerous parts orders give me a legit track record to say this company responds and is all about service.

5) JOIN ALIBABA

6) A certain Ebike company in southern Calif. who offers online bikes and parts could take lessons from Ivy at Frey about customer service, value and quality...…..timely responses Etc. Etc. Etc.

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I have not had any slow response besides during the Chinese holidays, on the contrary, I am pleasantly surprised by the quickness of Frey/Ivy in resolving any after-purchase support. I feel at ease knowing that I bought a bike from China directly and can deal with them directly.

I placed and order for a HT1000 on 2/16 and didn't have any problem with response times. I asked for an extra battery, charger, and a few other miscellaneous things. I did all of this communication thru the Alibaba app. Ivy set up the purchase, and I confirmed the order and paid. So far everything seems to be going smoothly. This is my first purchase thru Alibaba. I'll update with some more info when the bike arrives.

I just ordered an AM1000 from Frey on Alibaba. I communicated with Frey (Grace) through Alibaba and response time was within minutes during their business hours.

Amazing. Two new members join and their first posts are glowing "reviews" of chats with Frey.

Perhaps some real reviews once the bikes arrive with photos with a local newspaper to prove they are real reviews.

NoFanBoiz said:

Amazing. Two new members join and their first posts are glowing "reviews" of chats with Frey.

Perhaps some real reviews once the bikes arrive with photos with a local newspaper to prove they are real reviews.

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Aha! You've pierced the conspiracy. Hang a sheet from your bedroom window and our organization will contact you.

Hey Lee,

welcome to the site! We have had our Frey AM 1000 full suspension for about a year now. Stills rides like new and is a great handling bike. I am sure you will be happy with it.

garyal1 said:

Hey Lee,

welcome to the site! We have had our Frey AM 1000 full suspension for about a year now. Stills rides like new and is a great handling bike. I am sure you will be happy with it.

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Good to hear. Though I can comment favorably about the price, order process and communication with Frey through Alibaba, that doesn't mean I know much about eMTB. It's new to me though I'm excited to get started!

Yes Lee, I have gotten back into bikes in the past year or so. After 50+ years without a bike, I was a little surprised on my first bike order, when it arrived there was more to set up than I expected! The second and third bikes we bought, I had my local bike shop do a set up and inspection as I was worried about bikes assembled in China. Turns out the bikes were well built and well assembled according to my local bike guy.

By now I have reacquired" enough knowledge to set up the 4th one myself ( Frey HT 1000) and I even ordered an additional frame so I can build a hardtail with 3500 watt controller (72 volts x 50 amps) using a grin Phase Runner instead of stock Bafang controller on the Ultra.

If doing setup yourself on full suspension, make sure you put air into the shock and fork to match your weight before test riding!

garyal1 said:

If doing setup yourself on full suspension, make sure you put air into the shock and fork to match your weight before test riding!

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Thanks for the tip. I'm coming at eMTB from street and dirt motorcycles where quality suspension components, properly adjusted make all the difference. What attracted me to try eMTB is that many trails where I live in the North Carolina Appalachians are closed to motorcycles but open to bicycles.

The Frey AM1000 appears to have good suspension at a price that doesn't scare 1st time buyers who aren't sure about all this, like me.

Hi friends,

Grace is my colleague accept order and offer prompt service.
Now we are having an order tracking system get online, after we accept your order and as soon as we arrange the order, you will get update info by email. in this way, you will learn your order process immediately.

Regards,
Ivy

After months of researching and hemming and hawing I just purchased the AM1000. Next I will be researching best way to keep the battery in peak condition. So if anyone has advice on maintaining batteries, advise would be appreciated.

I ordered my AM1000 mid-December and received the bike on January 31st. I just hit 300 miles and so far so good. It's a fun bike, lots of torque and speed when you need it and the ride is nice. I'm running tubeless on the stock rims which is nice. I ordered the bike with 2-52v batteries, SRAM ex1, gear sensor, Maxxis Rekon 2.8 TR tires, and Lyrik front forks.

bugnut said:

After months of researching and hemming and hawing I just purchased the AM1000. Next I will be researching best way to keep the battery in peak condition. So if anyone has advice on maintaining batteries, advise would be appreciated.

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best thing I did (as per Ivans posts) was to ditch the internal BMS and put in a Neptune controller. Charge/discharge is adjustable via your android phone over bluetooth and has many other nice things too. Will help save your batteries over the standard charger & bms combo.

anybody tried running the am1000 as a single speed? It seems to have plenty of torque. My ride buddy never changes the gears and it make me wonder.

For those interested, I have had the Frey for several months and quite a few rides. I would suggest ordering an extra few dropouts (as others have suggested). Both myself and my friend have damaged one each. also know that the xt rear derailleur has a dropout linkage that is replaceable. We both have damaged one of these also. part is "Shimano XT RD-M8000 Rear Derailleur Bracket Axle Unit, "B" for SLX RD-M7000-11". $16 and worth having an extra one. The bike has so much torque that if you get a stick into your spokes, you are bending that derailleur bracket or the dropout. Also order the gear sensor with the bike. I think it is worth it for sure. I programmed mine with full throttle in any setting which is definitely the way to go.

Put on a dropper post, get a left under bar throttle (see my previous post). I put a 3.0 bridger on the front. when I put it on the back, the chain rubs in the granny gear, so I keep the 2.8 in the back. Tubeless is super easy, as other posts have mentioned. Gorilla 1" tape, 3-4 oz of stans, and hit it with a compressor. done.

The bike is tons of fun, and I ride pretty hard, single track. handles great, but if you high center, it is a monster to keep up at 65 lbs. running at power 5 and heavy throttle, i get 20 miles. actually using assist, it can be much more than that, but you will end up heavy on the throttle due to the fun factor. It is awesome riding uphill at 20 mph and doing jumps while going uphill!

Frey has been receptive to our issues. We had a dropout broken upon delivery. they sent new ones. had a rear skewer strip. they sent a new one. Had a tail light break. They sent a new one. we ordered extra 52v batteries for long rides. they sent them with a good rate.

I have had a few heavy crashes. the bike got scratched up, but no damage, so can say it is a durable bike.
I will attach a chart i found for the 52 v battery (since the readout will be off for 52v).

Hey all,

I'm looking to buy one of the Frey bikes with the g510/bafang ultra but can't decide which one. I noticed their alibaba page has a ton of different models/years with prices varying quite far apart. Do the cheaper models differ greatly from the more expensive ones? Ideally I want a full suspension (hard tail is okay too if the prices are too far apart) but price is the limiting factor for me. I'm looking for something around 2k usd and can possibly stretch to 3k after shipping. I looked at all their bikes and the most obvious difference was the battery size. I guess what I'm really asking is, does the price increase correlate proportionately with the quality or should I just aim for their cheapest model? I don't need really crazy expensive forks as I mostly ride bike trails but I assume that the more expensive models are lighter (which I'm interested in). Am I talking in circles? :lol: it's 4am and I've been looking through Frey and alibaba for the past few hours. Thanks all.

Edit: Also does anyone have any information on the leili bikes?
https://m.alibaba.com/product/60843296125/2019-china-cheap-full-suspension-ebike.html?tracelog=null

Edit2: I noticed the juggernaut ultra by biktrix has similar specs but with free shipping/no tax (and they offer financing!) Downside is that the default battery is only 11ah

You can talk directly to them about your wishes, but don't make your decision overnight. Make sure that what you invest will satisfy you. Regarding price/quality, every price increase is due to quality increase as far as I have experienced with Frey. No personal experience with the cheaper 2k models though. If alibaba offers many different options/older posts, have a look at their website, http://www.frey.bike/ , showing 4 main models and their specs.

Weight does not change much depending on the components/price, it will be a heavy bike. The only difference I have seen so far is the size of the battery that could have some effect. Most models come with either 1000Wh 48v or 910Wh 52v version but I have seen smaller batteries.

My advise would be to get a good frame+motor+battery first and start from there on with the parts. This will determine if an FS or HT is more within your budget. Only hardtails start below 2k, while full suspension starts around 2.3k but most models are nearly 3k.

Hardcore has it right. I would add, get the largest battery available. Otherwise stay with the base components.

HT or FS is a personal choice. My wife ride the AM1000, I ride the HT 1000.

I can tell you the HT 1000 frame is very strong. I am running 3000 watts thru it with 60 volt batt at 50 amps. Rock solid at 43mph...…

Thanks for the replies Hardcore & garyal1. I ended up opting for the Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra 1000 48v 21ah. Going with Frey would've saved me $600 landed (2800 vs 3400) but the customer service from Roshan at Biktrix gave me peace of mind. I also ended up with a hardtail instead because of the cheaper cost and lighter weight. I have to say though, I almost went with a Luna bike since the price point was much lower and the luna ludicrous 2500 watt on a mid drive was very enticing but the Bafang Ultra was a requirement I wasn't willing to compromise on and I believe that the only ultra they have is the apex/apollo.

Hey Lefre,

You will not go wrong with Roshan / Biktrix. I do not have a Biktrix model, because I was not educated enough when I first bought my two "Addmotor" bikes off Amazon. If I had been, they would have been Biktrix models with better features, I did buy a 21AH battery and some other accessories thru Roshan and was very happy. They also get great reviews by customer here and elsewhere.

As for the Apex, you can search this site for my experiences with that company.

That Juggernaut is really going to amaze you. I think they ship with 30 amps enabled, but I would highly recommend buying the programing cable so you can fine tune it and make it your own.

What size wheels did you choose as they have options...

One other benefit you forgot to mention is the almost instant delivery thru Biktrix.......I am sure this helped sway your decision!

Garyal1, I'm glad Roshan is talked about in such high regard by many. I emailed him asking if he could help me out a little more with the pre-order for ultra fs and he humored my request. I thought it really said something about his customer service for even considering it. Understandably he couldn't do it for the hardtail but my faith in him and his company was set in stone after that.

I went with the 27.5 x 3 tires because I'm not a big fan of the fat tire look, I may end up switching them to something smaller after I receive the bike. I've never ridden a fat bike though and hear it's a different beast on the trails/sand.

Haha yes, one of the things that definitely solidified my choice was that he has stock in NA and it wouldn't take 30 days+ to receive it. I'm also glad that he partnered with a financing company. I can ride my new bike while trying to sell my "old" ones.One is a 2 year old 250 watt generic road bike and the other is a fairly new one that I bought roughly in February. Unfortunately the latest bike (EEB frame) is too big and heavy for me and it doesn't fit in the trunk of my suv. It's a hell of a monster that clocks in at 50 mph though! Wish I could take it places farther than a 20 mile radius from home but pedaling a 120lb bike on hills doesn't sound too appealing.

I'm afraid I'll miss having all that speed and power but I'd much rather have a lighter bike with better weight distribution and range. The hub motor on the eeb gives me massive anxiety when I'm going up steep hills in fear that I'll burn it out :lol:

I'm excited to get on my new bike! I have a Luna bbs02 on a kona splice (that I gave to my friend when I got my eeb) and I imagine the juggernaut will feel similar to that but with more torque (correct me if I'm wrong lol).

What's your current set up?

Edit: I forgot where I read this but I think it said something along the lines of, "throttle only works on pas 5 and does not work at all at 0" if this is the case, can it be bypassed with a programming cable?

Yesterday Luna came out with Apollo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m2OFAbOPBU
Check it out.

Just wanted to see if anybody had any suggestions. The motor on my AM1000 quit while I was riding it on fairly level ground and on a fairly cool day. The display powers on and shows no error messages and the battery is fully charged. The display shows it is putting out about 500 watts but no power to the crank. There are about 200 miles on the odometer. It could be an internal gear issue but unable to determine without taking the cover off and It appears that the mounting bolts were over-torqued at the factory. The LBS was unable to loosen the mounting bolts as well.

can you indicate which bolts were over-torqued?