After repeated controller failure on my normal bike I bought this as a backup. Paid on July 3 2013, box came in around July 12. When I saw the 73 lbs package I expected some trouble, UPS did throw it around a bit. On opening I found a single wall box, inadequate for that weight. Parts were separated a little bit by some foam blocks and carton. There was some mechanical damage, for example in the folding area. I fixed these mechanical problems but a broken throttle on the handle bar could not be fixed. So I did contact the ebay seller top lighting. They requested pictures which I supplied. But they did never send me a replacement throttle in spite of some reminders..
I found the hall element was the variety with no magnetic flux on full throttle. So I used initially the on-off key to control the motor. The #25 chain for the motor had to be very tight, otherwise the chain came off a lot, sometimes with additional complications. On checking alignment between motor and rear wheel sprocket I found some 0.8" offset. To fix that I had to create new mounting holes for the motor.
The electric motor allowed some 7 m/hour only, has just 130W output. Support by pedaling is not possible, gearing with 32 teeth crank wheel to 16 teeth freewheel allows that only on slight uphill areas, otherwise to slow. I did install a 58 teeth crank wheel but this creates a new problem since the chain will collide with the frame. To solve that I used a Shimano derailleur set from another bike, routing this way the chain below the frame, very tight to install, also the rear standoff had to go.
After only 90 miles the rear tire did burst with a big bang. On disassembly I found an unbelievable shoddy tire, the fabric layer normally vulcanized to the inside of the tire, was just loosely in there and didn't supply any support, the result with the rough street surface here was unavoidable. So I bought some new tires and tubes, the front tire didn't look quite as bad but was replaced anyway.
There were many other problems. The seat post has to be adjusted quite high with this small bike but came always down after 2 or days. I found the quick adjustment fixture had some real shoddy threading with some threads entirely missing, so I did replace it with a screw. But that was not the end of that, the clamp is stamped out of quite thin metal and the screw head was digging into it, result as before. So I did add a larger nut as a washer, eventually I will need to find a new clamp. The quick connect clamp for the folding frame fell off one day somewhere, replaced with a standard screw with counter nut. Then I noticed a crack developing on the frame in the folding area so I switched to two bolts.
Another problem is the very low crank center. The pedals and your shoes touch the rough street surface very often, resulting in extreme wear, I had to replace both pedals already, worn away. I might move to 20" wheels to create more ground clearance.
Recently I noticed some smell like the motor was burning up internally as experienced several times on the other bike. Sure enough the small motor died yesterday after only 745 miles. So I turned around and ordered a replacement with 280 W output instead of the insufficient original 130 Watts. A 36 V Lithium battery fitting the installation bay is sitting around. Some controllers are on order, but not any more from US vendors after buying 5 over the last half year, 3 of them non functional, 2 of them failing after 2 and 10 days, no more potted junk, doesn't last at higher temperatures.. The first controller came in today, is not potted and tested ok, more to follow directly from China.
Will go on the original bike since I am getting tired off the time wasting slow speed of this small bike.
and be able to carry it up stairs
