E-S Stealth Electric Bike Owners

[Allex]

Lots of interesting posts latley
This weekend I serviced my old RST fork
I have 1500km on it.
The dust seals where nasty, stuffed with dirt even tho I never used the bike in the mud or wet. I had to scrape it of from the inside.
View attachment 2

The fork oil was ok, not to dirty, I was able to drain around 180cc, so thats how much you will need when putting in new.
View attachment 1

And here is the shiny stuff inside


I used MoS2 grease (NLGI2) to lube the tubes/spring and seals. The fork felt a bit smoother after the cleanup.
But I came to conclusion that no matter how much you grease up the fork, it has to much friction, even without spring and oil I felt the drag when compressing/decompressing. My 888s feels like butter in comparison.
When I put the spring in, well, it is just to hard. But I guess you need to have that when the fork has limited adjustments(like Spring Preload/Volume Adjust) and need to fit for all kind of people.

 

[biknut]

Lots of interesting posts latley
This weekend I serviced my old RST fork
I have 1500km on it.

And here is the shiny stuff inside


I used MoS2 grease (NLGI2) to lube the tubes/spring and seals. The fork felt a bit smoother after the cleanup.
But I came to conclusion that no matter how much you grease up the fork, it has to much friction, even without spring and oil I felt the drag when compressing/decompressing. My 888s feels like butter in comparison.
When I put the spring in, well, it is just to hard. But I guess you need to have that when the fork has limited adjustments(like Spring Preload/Volume Adjust) and need to fit for all kind of people.

Great Post Allex.

Could we discuss this fork assembly.

How do you get it apart? I assume you remove the 2 screws at the bottom of the lower legs to pull the lower legs off what they're calling the crown assembly. Do the top caps unscrew?

So one side has the spring, and the other side has the damping? Is there oil in both sides, or only the damping side? Can you put oil in both sides?

Is the spring side only for preload.

 

[Rix]

Thanks Allex for the pic post. So unless you are hiding the cartridge unit, there isn't one that I can see in the pic. So that's the RST Super TA that didn't have the cartridge unit that VC posted PDF's for. I wonder if running ATF fluid in the fork would smooth things out? That oil you drained out of the fork, what weight would you guess it at? 5w, 7.5w, 10w? Yah, the heavy spring is probably how RST is controlling the "anti bottoming". I should have taken mine apart before I donated it to a friends bike. Yah, with you on the forks, my 888 is leaps better than the RST, and as Quigley noted, the WP is leaps better than the 888. Should have, could have didn't get the WP.

Rick

 

[biknut]

It's been my experience that typically Asian manufacturers will used the lowest grade oil possible in low end suspensions. Something akin to putrefied fish oil. I wasn't sure if the fork oil could be changed, but since it can, one of my first changes to my bike will be to replacing the fork oil with a good synthetic. I like to use Red Line synthetic suspension fluid in all my bikes.

 

[Allex]

Theo,
I unscrewed everything on top(dial valves and caps), drained the oil, than unscrewed everything on the bottom, and separated the stanchions from the tubes. It is pretty basic and straight forward.
Yes, one side is spring only(preload), other is oil only, you cannot put oil on the spring side because it is not a tight seal.

Rix, no cartridge, the photo shows everything whats inside. I never worked with fork oil so I have no idea what viscosity it was, sorry. Think it was a tad thicker than my 2,5W Motorex I put in for the compensation of the stiffness.
No oil in the world will help this fork. It has to much stiction on the seals, I don't think the valving would help either. I red about this fork on the internet and no one have a good word about it I am surprised that it cost so much brand new.
Why have not any one recommend a White Brother for me before I bought my 888? Oh well it is probably much more expensive than my 750USD Marzocchi...

Anyone interested in buying my old RST?

 

[Rix]

Theo,
I unscrewed everything on top(dial valves and caps), drained the oil, than unscrewed everything on the bottom, and separated the stanchions from the tubes. It is pretty basic and straight forward.
Yes, one side is spring only(preload), other is oil only, you cannot put oil on the spring side because it is not a tight seal.

Rix, no cartridge, the photo shows everything whats inside. I never worked with fork oil so I have no idea what viscosity it was, sorry. Think it was a tad thicker than my 2,5W Motorex I put in for the compensation of the stiffness.
No oil in the world will help this fork. It has to much stiction on the seals, I don't think the valving would help either. I red about this fork on the internet and no one have a good word about it I am surprised that it cost so much brand new.
Why have not any one recommend a White Brother for me before I bought my 888? Oh well it is probably much more expensive than my 750USD Marzocchi...

Anyone interested in buying my old RST?

YAH QMS, why didn't you recommend WP forks before we bought the 888s? I wonder if some poly impregnated SKF Seals would be less sticky? Just the same, the 888s are a nice and better up grade. The 2.5w Motorex is good shit. I used that for my forks on my XCF 450. We will see how I like the Hippie Tech valving when I get it done. Probably will be a January project.

Theo, try the Redline when you get your Bomber. I am of the same opinion as Allex, wont help with the stiction issue. Could be wrong though. The RSTs have nothing, can't eve play musical Shim stacks with them. So let us know when you know.

Rick

 

[biknut]

I'm sure you guys are right about there being little chance for improvement on the stock forks. Even so I'd still order my bike with them, because whatever I buy to replace them, I want to be the one that decides what to use, and I'd just as well toss cheap ones on the pile than expensive ones. I'm sure they'll feel like Cadillac's compared to the Zoom suspension forks I had on my last motor bicycle. As time goes by there'll only be about 3 stock parts left on my bike anyway.

 

[proper159]

Tonight I tried to mess with both RST knob settings. ..hard for me to see a difference. What direction should I turn the bottom knob?

 

[Rix]

Tonight I tried to mess with both RST knob settings. ..hard for me to see a difference. What direction should I turn the bottom knob?

Turn the bottom knob all the way in (clockwise as you are looking at it with the bike upside down) until it stops the fork will feel marginally less springy and bouncy. Thats what I was saying about the RSTs a while back. I know how to set up suspension and I couldn't tell a difference from click to click or ever 5 click increments. On the DNM, I can tell one click on the compressiona and rebound immensely. On another note, I had some time today as I got off work on time for once and the kid and girlfriend were in Reno shopping, so I went through the entire Stealth thread. About page 60, I started reading some of my old comments. I was a fuqn retard with some of my questions and preconcieved notions in the beginning before my Bomber arrived. From hub motors to battery set ups, I have learned alot from owning and working on my Bomber along with the knowlegible ones on this thread enlighting me along the way. Kind of funny I guess. Kepler and Hyena have answered tons and tons of PMs and questions from me, Dlogic has been helpful, and others have also helped along the way as well). Yep this is great thread for people sharing knowledge with others about set ups and maintanance for the best production Ebikes on the market.

Rick

 

[proper159]

Tonight I tried to mess with both RST knob settings. ..hard for me to see a difference. What direction should I turn the bottom knob?

Turn the bottom knob all the way in (clockwise as you are looking at it with the bike upside down) until it stops the fork will feel marginally less springy and bouncy.

Rick

Thanks Rix.

 

[Rix]

You bet Proper, let me know what you think after some saddle time.

Rick

 

[Allex]

Guys, if I would change the grease in the vboxx, how do I drain the old? It is not oil inside so I assume it will not drop down when I remove the bittom screw like on regular engines! Do you use some kind of cleaning oil first, drain it out and then in with the new grease?

 

[Rix]

Guys, if I would change the grease in the vboxx, how do I drain the old? It is not oil inside so I assume it will not drop down when I remove the bittom screw like on regular engines! Do you use some kind of cleaning oil first, drain it out and then in with the new grease?

on the back side of the vboxx, there are 5 small screws. Ignore the one in the middle and focus on the two top and two down low. Remove one of the top screws and spray lots of degreaser in it. I use WD40 because its a detergent lube and degreases well. Anyway fill it up and pedal around the block. Then remove the screw on the very bottom and drain it out. It will be very dirty and takes a while so be patient. After, remove the 4 bolts on the back of the VBoxx and squirt about 50ml of grease into each hole. The Vboxx manual calls for 25ml per hole but I found going between 2x and 4x times as much makes the Vboxx much happier. I use Synthetic super lube. Do not use oil. The Vboxx isn't liquid tight and oil will leak out.

Rick

 

[ManxE]

Hey guys - quick question about trying to fix my seized Bomber motor hub:

What size gear-puller is ideal for opening the hub of the Crystalyte 5403? I don't want to resort to the shock-technique (dropping the wheel axle-down onto a plank of wood).

Thanks,

ManxE

 

[Rix]

Hey guys - quick question about trying to fix my seized Bomber motor hub:
What size gear-puller is ideal for opening the hub of the Crystalyte 5403? I don't want to resort to the shock-technique (dropping the wheel axle-down onto a plank of wood).
Thanks,
ManxE

Manxe, any medium size 3 prong puller will work, I got my for 11 bucks from Harbor Freight. The first time you crack your hub a apart, it may be hard and you may hear a noisy pop, both my 5404 and 5403 were. Probably from the seals on the flange lip being broken. Just make sure all the screws are removed and it will open. The 3 prong puller is super handy to have on hand during the reassembly process. When ever I have reassembled my hubs, I never get the screws holes to line up just perfect when the stator and disk side cover slam back into place. When this happens, use puller to push the axle and stator out just slightly and the side shell will spin freely and you can line up the screw holes and back the puller bolt out and keep things lined up. Light tap with a rubber mallet pushes the side cover on to the flange tight and life is good.

Rick

 

[GCinDC]

The first time you crack your hub a apart

i recommend you mark the sidecover and ring, so you can match 'em up when you put them back together. if you don't do this, your wheel may suddenly go out of true. don't ask me why...

 

[Allex]

That's what we call made in China. You get what you pay for.

 

[proper159]

To service the hub each month, where is the opening to place the oil?

 

[MAFIA]

wow i never do anithing on my bike never even check the fork i only check the front spoke once with a tensiometer and lube everywhere i can and thats its my bike have to be frock up jajajja loool

 

[Rix]

The first time you crack your hub a apart

i recommend you mark the sidecover and ring, so you can match 'em up when you put them back together. if you don't do this, your wheel may suddenly go out of true. don't ask me why...

Good point GC, I forgot to mention that.

[quoteTo service the hub each month, where is the opening to place the oil?][/quote]

Proper, these hubs don't hold oil. You can set them up for oil bath cooling, there are a bunch of threads that talk about it. But no, they don't come that way.

wow i never do anithing on my bike never even check the fork i only check the front spoke once with a tensiometer and lube everywhere i can and thats its my bike have to be frock up jajajja loool

Mafia, I am a maintenance fanatic. But I can tell that compared to a motorcycle, the Bombers are nothing. The only maintenance I have done over the 1.5 years has been adjusting my chain, replaced brake pads, and rewired my charging lead to the battery and serviced Vboxx with fresh grease. Yah, the first 4 months I owned my Bomber, I had my rear wheel off about 8-10 times a month because I kept flatting the rear tire. But after my MC conversion, never had a flat since. That's it for maintenance. Everything else I have done was for performance modifications and wasn't necessary for the basic operational function of my bike.

Rick

 

[Rix]

Hello everyone, over the last fewweek I got several PMs from folks wanting to know if a 19MC rim would be Okay to run with a 24MTB on the front or a 26MTB on the front. Here are couple of pics of the 2.75 x19 Shinko SR241 on a Prowheel racing yamaha Play bike 19x1.4 rim next to a 24 MTB with a 24x3 Duro Razorback. The naked eye can't tell the difference, it takes a tape meausre and a keen eye for level to know that the 2.75x19 SR241 is only 1/3" (8mm) smaller diameter than the Duro Razorback. In these pics, the tires are actually identical because I have about 1500 miles on the Razorback. Sorry for the low quality pics, its my cell phone. Cross posted on other threads.

Rick

 

[arcticfly]

Is the retail price the same in the US as in Australia? I´m looking at buying a Bomber as a "congratulation with a new job gift" to my self along with a Mercedes GL 420 as my old VW Touareg is getting a bit worn and my MAC/Merida conversion is less exiting than before...

 

[remf]

Pretty sure they're the same price worldwide. It's probably best to order from your nearest authorised dealer.

 

[MexicanBatman]

Hello everyone, over the last fewweek I got several PMs from folks wanting to know if a 19MC rim would be Okay to run with a 24MTB on the front or a 26MTB on the front. Here are couple of pics of the 2.75 x19 Shinko SR241 on a Prowheel racing yamaha Play bike 19x1.4 rim next to a 24 MTB with a 24x3 Duro Razorback. The naked eye can't tell the difference, it takes a tape meausre and a keen eye for level to know that the 2.75x19 SR241 is only 1/3" (8mm) smaller diameter than the Duro Razorback. In these pics, the tires are actually identical because I have about 1500 miles on the Razorback. Sorry for the low quality pics, its my cell phone. Cross posted on other threads.

Rick

Legend!

i was going to stick with my bike rim, but ive now just purchased a rim as you mentioned

now i just have to find someone to build it!

cant wait!

 

[biknut]

Hello everyone, over the last fewweek I got several PMs from folks wanting to know if a 19MC rim would be Okay to run with a 24MTB on the front or a 26MTB on the front. Here are couple of pics of the 2.75 x19 Shinko SR241 on a Prowheel racing yamaha Play bike 19x1.4 rim next to a 24 MTB with a 24x3 Duro Razorback. The naked eye can't tell the difference, it takes a tape meausre and a keen eye for level to know that the 2.75x19 SR241 is only 1/3" (8mm) smaller diameter than the Duro Razorback. In these pics, the tires are actually identical because I have about 1500 miles on the Razorback. Sorry for the low quality pics, its my cell phone. Cross posted on other threads.

Rick

How come you didn't use 2" rims? How much more do the 19" tires weigh? I'm guessing 2 or 3 lbs.