E-S Stealth Electric Bike Owners

[Theodore Voltaire]

We've had outsiders come into this thread and make fun of the looks of our Monocoque frame, but if they knew the genius of this type of frame design they wouldn't be laughing. This type of frame is perfect for an electric bicycle because it not only provides a safe place to hide the battery, but it's one of the most lightweight, and ridged designs ever conceived.

Every time I ride my bike, I'm amazed at how a bike as fast, and lightweight as a Bomber, can be so sure footed going fast on bumpy streets with my 230 lbs of weight on it. I'm twice as much as the bike. I can't detect any flexing at all between the front, and rear wheels. Any bike this strong weighs more than twice as much. Lightweight, and strong makes for a very good bike every time, but isn't easy to achieve. Many large factory's with nearly unlimited resources have tried and failed to find the complete package that Stealth has found. Anyone can make a bike go fast, but making a fast bike that handles well is an entirely different story, and much more difficult. That's why when you look around at all the other bikes like a Stealth, there aren't any.

 

[Rix]

[

That's because Bomber's make better street bikes than dirt bikes. That's not a very popular concept here, I know, but it's the truth. The problem with that is most places won't allow it. Luckily for me, Texas isn't one of them.

You know TV, it just became apparent to me, that no matter how many times we go round and round about the Bomber's and Fighter's offroad capabilities, we will never agree. Doesn't matter how many offroad videos I make, us agreeing these machines being better offroad then on is not going to happen :lol: . I will leave it at that.

 

[remf]

My Bomber is greatest bike I've ever owned. Greater than my 1964 Honda S90. Greater than my 1969 Honda CL175K3. Greater than my 1974 Norton Commando 850. Greater than my 1977 Moto Guzzi Le Manns 850. Greater then my 1988 Harley Davidson XL Sportster 1200 (previous record holder). Greater than my 1997 Harley Davidson FLHRI Road King. And greater than my 2001 Harley Davidson XL Sportster 1200

Wow. That is some serious bike cred.

 

[Theodore Voltaire]

[

That's because Bomber's make better street bikes than dirt bikes. That's not a very popular concept here, I know, but it's the truth. The problem with that is most places won't allow it. Luckily for me, Texas isn't one of them.

You know TV, it just became apparent to me, that no matter how many times we go round and round about the Bomber's and Fighter's offroad capabilities, we will never agree. Doesn't matter how many offroad videos I make, us agreeing these machines being better offroad then on is not going to happen :lol: . I will leave it at that.

As long as we can all ride where we like to ride it matters little.

 

[Archer]

Hi TV,

Hey what bikes are those your parked with in your posted pic? I couldnt quite make out the name on em.

Have you ridden any of em by chance?

Thanks Tim.

 

[Ottodog]

Hi TV,

Hey what bikes are those your parked with in your posted pic? I couldnt quite make out the name on em.

Have you ridden any of em by chance?

Thanks Tim.

Those are the infamous Sondors e-bikes. Crowdfunded project that went viral. Google Sondors e-bike and you'll get all you'd ever want to know.

 

[Rix]

[
As long as we can all ride where we like to ride it matters little.

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As the French would say, Touche`

 

[Emmett]

Hyena, do you sell a replacement battery pack as a drop in replacement for a 2014 Fighter battery? I'm looking for an economical upgrade of my original battery which still works very well but only holds 950 Wh.

 

[Emmett]

Rix, What's your favorite 24x3" front MTB tire? For mixed terrain varying from sand to loam to clay hard pack to loose rocks. The Razorback seems OK. But I presume you know all the options out there.

Must be 2.75 or wider. Don't care about on-road performance. Online purchase option. Front only. My SR241 rear (thank you) with Tubliss has performed brilliantly since day one.

 

[Rix]

Rix, What's your favorite 24x3" front MTB tire? For mixed terrain varying from sand to loam to clay hard pack to loose rocks. The Razorback seems OK. But I presume you know all the options out there.

Must be 2.75 or wider. Don't care about on-road performance. Online purchase option. Front only. My SR241 rear (thank you) with Tubliss has performed brilliantly since day one.

We have limited options for front tires in the 24MTB size. Either they are really sucky and cheap like Walmart crap, or they are mostly sold out. The one tire I really liked was made by Arrow racing, it was the Arrow Prime Bite 2.75x24 in the harder compound. This tire hooked up better than the Razorback and lasted longer for me on the rear than the Razorback when I ran them on my Bomber before going to the moto wheel. Its a good all around tire. I would definitely run this on the front if I could get more of them. http://www.arrowracing.com/home.html Also the 24x3 Felt Bermaster is a good all arounder. It doesn't do anything great, but just about everything good. I don't ride in wet weather, because we don't get much, but I heard that they suck on wet pavement. Think it was CD that noted that. There are other tires that folks have tried, I think they are too small for what I need though.

 

[Emmett]

Thanks Rix.

I see some bad reviews on various Arrow brand tires (durability issues). Makes me feel safer going a Razorback again. The Duro Razorback wears quite fast on harsh ground, but it's performance is nicely predictable on most types of dirt. Extra $ for safety is usually a wise thing.

The BermMaster 24x3 is cheap at $25. What's the rubber compound like in terms of softness? Looks like it'd need to be a soft rubber with that style of tread pattern. If soft rubber then it might be good value for dry weather.

http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2015/Parts/Cruiser/Tires-Tubes/Berm-Master-Tire.aspx

 

[Allex]

That berm master look awfully slippery even for a little bit of off roading.

 

[Hyena]

I heard that they suck on wet pavement. Think it was CD that noted that

Yeah that pretty much goes without saying! Likewise wooden boardwalks and bridges if you ever find yourself on those and the painted lines / crossings on the roads too. I can't afford to come off any more so I'm overly cautious in these situations these days.
If you want to corner on wet pavement you'd be better off removing the rubber and using the rim as ice skate like blades

The berm masters are OK for general trail riding and their extra volume is good if you need to plow through some sandy stuff. I was running one on the rear when racing on a kart track too and they held on pretty well. Either way, sadly you won't get them in AU for $25.

As an aside, I've recently built up a bike with 241s front and rear and was surprised to find I had no more front end grip than the 24" and 26" mtb tyres I'd been running on previous bikes. When I threw the bike around on my local trails I found it washed out and slid in the same places my others did, which surprised me. Still, if nothing else they're more puncture resistant and look cool

 

[Emmett]

I think I'm quite sensitive to having a predictable front end on dirt. I love the SR241 on the rear. It's transformed my bike and given me far greater riding opportunities and confidence to push it. But I don't feel a need for something heavier like the SR241 on the front. The Razorback can do a lot, on the front. OK it's not so great on hard surfaces (knobs roll), but in most terrain types the big gains come from a good fork with suitable suspension adjustments to either end of the bike. The light weight MTB front wheel is also very useful for lofting the front over nasty things at speed with little time to react. But I had to ask Rix about other options besides the Razorback. As well all know, the 24" size aint very common, and a 26" wheel wont fit.

 

[Hyena]

As well all know, the 24" size aint very common, and a 26" wheel wont fit.

You can run a 26" wheel up front, with the expected minor changes to the geometry. I had one on my old fighter for a while and use them on my other bikes currently. As you said, the lighter front wheel is nice and you have to be riding like a real maniac to need the extra strength of a moto rim up front.

 

[Emmett]

You can run a 26" wheel up front, with the expected minor changes to the geometry.

Thanks for the insight Hyena. But my poor choice of words to say "won't fit". For my usage I still doubt I could make a 26 front MTB wheel work. I'm open to thoughts. This is my logic ...

Obviously the chosen tyre has to clear the frame and controller on a full compression stroke, else I'm going over the bars in a hurry. My forks can at present be slid down just 7mm in the triples. Even if that extra 7mm was enough for the tyre clearance, I'd have to raise the rear the same amount to retain chassis balance in corners. 7mm of sag is actually a very substantial change if riding fast corners.

My current shock has as much spring preload as I want to dial into it without giving up lots of rear traction and control over bumps. Rider sag lets the tyre stay in contact with the ground. So to raise the rear 7mm or more, I'd need a longer shock, which is also possible, but then the dropped down swingarm angle will probably have other side effects on rear suspension. So all up, I'm thinking I'm better off buying lots more Razorback front tires.

 

[Rix]

That berm master look awfully slippery even for a little bit of off roading.

Don't tell my dad that, he swears by Bermaster on the front and the 2.75-19 SR241 on the rear. He will never run any other combo. :lol:

 

[Rix]

I think I'm quite sensitive to having a predictable front end on dirt. I love the SR241 on the rear. It's transformed my bike and given me far greater riding opportunities and confidence to push it. But I don't feel a need for something heavier like the SR241 on the front. The Razorback can do a lot, on the front. OK it's not so great on hard surfaces (knobs roll), but in most terrain types the big gains come from a good fork with suitable suspension adjustments to either end of the bike. The light weight MTB front wheel is also very useful for lofting the front over nasty things at speed with little time to react. But I had to ask Rix about other options besides the Razorback. As well all know, the 24" size aint very common, and a 26" wheel wont fit.

I know you are, more so than most, including me. That writing is on the wall with your suspension setup. The best overall 24" MTB tire on currently made is the Duro Razorback. The Razorback is a harder tire with a 60A durometer rating. That said the Duro wild Life Leopard is identical to the Razorback, except its made with a softer compound 47A durometer . I tried this tire on the rear of my old Bomber, got 215 miles out of it. Got about 100 miles more out of the Razorbacks. So you may want to look at this tire if offroad traction is your primary concern. http://www.municycle.com.au/catalogue/UP-TYR-24-DURO3_item.html?ref_cat_id=Tyres

 

[Cowardlyduck]

I use the Wild Life Leopards for off-road use. They do wear fast on the rear, but I love it on the front. Not found anything that beats it yet IMO.

On another note, I finally got my Fighter up and running again on the weekend. I laced and trued up my new Leaf Motor using the rim/spokes from my old busted HS4065 (not the HS4080 posted about recently).

First thing I noticed about the Leaf Motor...it free-wheels insanely well compared to the HSxx motor's. When I get up to speed and let off the throttle on the flat, I just coast as if I were riding a normal bike.
Compare that to the HS40 which immediately starts noticeably slowing down once off the throttle. I can see one reason why this Leaf motor is so efficient.
It's also quieter which is a nice surprise...that is until I force air cool it with fans.

Second thing I noticed was the lower torque off the line...probably only about 10% less. I've limited my controller to 50A currently since I'm back to using my original stock Fighter battery which can't handle as much abuse these days, but I was running the same on my HS40 previously for comparison.
With 100A and some decent venting or forced air cooling, I don't think I will notice much of a torque difference TBH.

I've still got a bunch of little things I need to do on my Fighter...it never ends, but It's so great to finally be riding again.

Cheers

 

[1abv]

To quote O'Shea Jackson… "Today was a good day"…….

Cranked up the preload and compression and had a muddy jump fest….

 

[litespeed]

Front fender looks like it works well....what is it?

Tom

 

[Emmett]

... had a muddy jump fest….

This rear guard works very well for me, but I'm not sure how you'd easily fit it to a Bomber. Cost me about $5 on eBay. Cut away some plastic, put some rubber tape on the shock tower, and some zip ties to mount it.

 

[Rix]

I use the Wild Life Leopards for off-road use. They do wear fast on the rear, but I love it on the front. Not found anything that beats it yet IMO.

On another note, I finally got my Fighter up and running again on the weekend. I laced and trued up my new Leaf Motor using the rim/spokes from my old busted HS4065 (not the HS4080 posted about recently).

First thing I noticed about the Leaf Motor...it free-wheels insanely well compared to the HSxx motor's. When I get up to speed and let off the throttle on the flat, I just coast as if I were riding a normal bike.
Compare that to the HS40 which immediately starts noticeably slowing down once off the throttle. I can see one reason why this Leaf motor is so efficient.
It's also quieter which is a nice surprise...that is until I force air cool it with fans.

Second thing I noticed was the lower torque off the line...probably only about 10% less. I've limited my controller to 50A currently since I'm back to using my original stock Fighter battery which can't handle as much abuse these days, but I was running the same on my HS40 previously for comparison.
With 100A and some decent venting or forced air cooling, I don't think I will notice much of a torque difference TBH.

I've still got a bunch of little things I need to do on my Fighter...it never ends, but It's so great to finally be riding again.

Cheers

How about a picture CD, can't brag about $h!t and not snap a pic for the thread.

 

[1abv]

Front fender looks like it works well....what is it?

Tom

Topeak DeFender XC1. It has a good amount of adjustability and stays in place.

 

[fsmuggen]

yes I know, I feel those fenders make my bike look like I can't afford or are to stingy to get propper fenders. My xc1 is dusting somewhere on my property.
But that's my opinion.