Anyone else had issues with orders from Leaf Motors/Bikes?

Finally got in my mid-year bonus, and went to the bookmark I had for Leaf Motors where I ordered a 1000w rear hub system and 48v battery and charger. The tire and controller shipped a day later than promised, but I wasn't too worried about that. The battery which supposedly was shipped the same day as those does not show up in the shipper system at all even four days later (granted that includes Saturday and Sunday). Communications with the "owner" informed me that their support is through their new site at Leaf Bikes (probably clue number 1 something is up), and following up there I got all sorts of song and dance about how the supplier can't always ship the same day (but it should still show in their system, right?) and other reasons why it isn't their problem.

I figure I'll give it until tomorrow which is one full business day there for them to get it worked out. Just wondering if I really am just unlucky and they are generally a good group to work with, or if I need to plan to contact the various authorities, bank, and Paypal tomorrow to try and get my money back on the battery portion of the order ASAP.

Thanks in advance.

Some companies lie and say things were shipped to basically shut the customer up. Shipping delays from China is mostly the reason.

One order, it wasn't quick but didn't take so long.

Dauntless said:

One order, it wasn't quick but didn't take so long.

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Just curious, did you order a battery from there, or just a motor and other parts? I ask because I'm a little suspicious it's the 48v battery that is the issue. Of course given that it was nearly 2/3 of the overall price tag that is a big issue...

A battery from china could take up to 12 weeks to reach you overseas. Likely why you received everything but

r3volved said:

A battery from china could take up to 12 weeks to reach you overseas. Likely why you received everything but

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I could understand it taking a long time to get here, but the tracking number I was given doesn't show up in the shipper's site. So a somewhat different issue.

EwanG said:

Just curious, did you order a battery from there, or just a motor and other parts? I ask because I'm a little suspicious it's the 48v battery that is the issue. Of course given that it was nearly 2/3 of the overall price tag that is a big issue...

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20" rear drive kit, everything BUT the battery.

If you paid with Paypal, you're covered. You don't have to panic. You must register a dispute within 40 days of ordering, so if you don't get your stuff after 39 days, register a dispute even if you have a tracking number. You cam always cancel it later.

Batteries often go a different shipping route to the other stuff because of the shipping regulations. I don't think you've got anything to worry about.

I received few days ago my motor from leafbikes. The motor failed today. I'm checking what's wrong

They have gone silent since I mentioned I was probably going to have to contact the shipping agency and PayPal. Guess whether they used to be good or not they are now basically a scam. So it looks like I'll get to spend the next couple of days on paperwork to try and get a refund rather than preparing for my upgrade to my bike. Rats...

Don't dispair yet. Sometimes the stuff magically appears when you least expect it.

I'm also thinking about getting one of the Leafbike motors. The claimed 90.5% efficiency is one of the reasons.

However, now I'm starting to think there is something fishy about it. The reason is that just one measurement point has an efficiency above 90%, the others are well below:
http://www.leafbike.com/u_file/images/13_06_18/f415a5c455.jpg

As you see, 87.1% - 90.5% -86.9%. Why these sudden jumps? Maybe a glitch in the measurements, whether intentional or not...

Furthermore, they claim "This motor will go nearly 80 MPH on 72V". Maybe a typo that should be 80km/h, but that also sounds like a very high speed for a 1000W rated model.

87% is still not a bad efficiency, but their shipping is also very expensive so unless they have really fast service I'm instead leaning towards this motor:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1000W-48V-E-Bike-Spoke-Motor-Front-or-Rear-spoke-hub-motor-for-electric-bicycle/1892792510.html

Does anyone have experience with it? Apparently it is a "QS motor", which is somehow related to Cromotor if I understand correctly. Sorry, but I'm very noob...

sven_nilsson said:

I'm also thinking about getting one of the Leafbike motors. The claimed 90.5% efficiency is one of the reasons.

However, now I'm starting to think there is something fishy about it. The reason is that just one measurement point has an efficiency above 90%, the others are well below:
http://www.leafbike.com/u_file/images/13_06_18/f415a5c455.jpg

As you see, 87.1% - 90.5% -86.9%. Why these sudden jumps? Maybe a glitch in the measurements, whether intentional or not...

Furthermore, they claim "This motor will go nearly 80 MPH on 72V". Maybe a typo that should be 80km/h, but that also sounds like a very high speed for a 1000W rated model.

87% is still not a bad efficiency, but their shipping is also very expensive so unless they have really fast service I'm instead leaning towards this motor:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1000W-48V-E-Bike-Spoke-Motor-Front-or-Rear-spoke-hub-motor-for-electric-bicycle/1892792510.html

Does anyone have experience with it? Apparently it is a "QS motor", which is somehow related to Cromotor if I understand correctly. Sorry, but I'm very noob...

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I never trust those vendor specs. Who knows where those graphs came from. There is a good chance they just copy/pasted them from somewhere else to look all 'techy' and sell more motors. Unless you're buying from a well known supplier (methods, em3ev, ebikekit.com, electric rider, etc) then I never trust the vendor specs, especially on things they likely never tested themselves, like efficiency specs.

The motor works fine but the phase wires are way too thins.

At 20A on it, the wires get hot. I can imagine more than 20-25A constant with these wires.

Motor remains cool.

Because it's a very fast winding, it can be very hard on controllers. I've blown 2 of my 15Fets controllers on slopes.

CAUTION! Leafbikes sells 2 models of the 48V 1000W motors, The newest model is an extremely fast wind motor. This motor is not recommended for any terrain other than flat. If you plan on using it with hills, they better not be long or steep or you will burn it up. The new model is rated at 750 rpm compared to the standard model which is rated at ~470 rpm. Unless you're some place with extremely flat terrain, get the slower rpm motor.

cwah said:

The motor works fine but the phase wires are way too thins.

At 20A on it, the wires get hot. I can imagine more than 20-25A constant with these wires.

Motor remains cool.

Because it's a very fast winding, it can be very hard on controllers. I've blown 2 of my 15Fets controllers on slopes.

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Ouch... thanks for the info. So basically, this motor could be a good buy, but you have to replace the phase wires?
Is there room for bigger wires?

How long did you have to wait for delivery?