E-S Stealth Electric Bike Owners

[Allex]

If you need to pedal without motor than build a mid drive e-bike.
They have basically no drag like a DD hub.
Than its depending on how much batterie wight you want to carry and how trained your legs are to archive high speed without motor but having it

I'm not actually planning to do much solo pedaling. It's just that there will probably be certain instances where I might prefer to pedal a little bit, like on a heavily trafficked city bike trail. That's why I was wondering how noisy the transmission is. Other than that, the only time I would want to rely on pedal power alone is if I had to get the bike home without power. I do realize this bike isn't meant to be a pedal bike par se.

The vboxx is silent but not in every gear.
Gear 1,3,5,7,9 is super smooth, it is like a regular bike.
Gears 2.4.6.8, here you will hear AND feel the cogging sound. But it is not very loud at all(not more noise that comes from the motor). I heard(think it was Rix) that if you fill up the vboxx with grease you will not hear the cogging sound. Pedaling the bomber is not that hard on a flat, you can easy go up to 25-30km/h It is a heavy bike so it will take a while. But when a hill comes, oh boy, then you have to stand and pedal or use 2nd or first gear.
One thing annoys me, you can only change a gear when you dont pedal, Unlike the standard bikes where you Need to pedal. So on this one, you will loose momentum when you have to change to another one.

 

[dh-paule]

Rix, of course you are right... its a 19"rim
here is all the stuff that shows nearly the same size

 

[Rix]

Rix, of course you are right... its a 19"rim

Paule, glad you clarified. I have gotten 7 PMs over the last month from Ebikers all over asking me why I haven't tried a 21MC tire running a 80x100-21 or 90x90-21 trials tires yet. In one word, because they are heavy. The lightest 21"front trials tire I can find weighs a little more than 8 pounds. Add tube and you can easily hit 11 pounds just for one wheel. This wasn't an option for me. Thats to far outside of my weight criteria max allowances for Ebikes. Ezza posted a video on this thread quite awhile back and both of his buddies on home builts were running the 21 trials tires on 21"MC rims with 5404s on home builts. they worked, but damn those rears were HUGE. And they looked mean as shit. Dlogic builds great wheels. He has re drilled rims so the angles in of the rim holes line up better with the hub and spoke isn't depending on spoke tension to seat the nipple on the rim, and force bend the spoke to line up. You will no doubt have a top notch wheel. I see in the pics you have a bib mousse, how much does that weigh? I am thinking of using the NuTech Tubliss system if I go with the 18x1.85 rim. That will shave an easy 1 pound on rotational mass. Just don't know which way I will go yet.

Rick

 

[biknut]

The vboxx is silent but not in every gear.
Gear 1,3,5,7,9 is super smooth, it is like a regular bike.
Gears 2.4.6.8, here you will hear AND feel the cogging sound. But it is not very loud at all(not more noise that comes from the motor). I heard(think it was Rix) that if you fill up the vboxx with grease you will not hear the cogging sound. Pedaling the bomber is not that hard on a flat, you can easy go up to 25-30km/h It is a heavy bike so it will take a while. But when a hill comes, oh boy, then you have to stand and pedal or use 2nd or first gear.
One thing annoys me, you can only change a gear when you dont pedal, Unlike the standard bikes where you Need to pedal. So on this one, you will loose momentum when you have to change to another one.

Thanks Allex, that pretty much answers my question. I think that should be fine for me. I don't even pedal my regular bicycle much over 8 or 10 mph (16 km/h). Sounds easier to pedal than my China Girl motor bicycle, and I've had to pedal it 6 miles (9 km) twice. China Girls have a lot of clutch drag, and mine is just a single speed beach cruiser. Where I live there's not much in the way of hills until you have to pedal, then everywhere you look there's mountains LOL.

 

[Hyena]

about 300 cycles. Could have maybe got another 50 out of them but it was time for a change

I checked my stats on the weekend and funnily enough I'm showing almost exactly the same figures - 5000km and just shy of 300 cycles.
Like you I only ever bulk charge and all cells are still in perfect balance. I've balance charged maybe twice during the life of the pack and even then it didn't really need it. Out of curiosity what percentage of the packs capacity did you typically draw, and what did you charge to ?
I charged to 4.2v for the first 6 months then around 4.15 for the remainder of its use. Probably half of the cycles were to 80% DOD and majority of the rest were around 50% with around a dozen full capacity discharges.
And with an 18ah pack the majority of the time the cells were only pulling 2C with the occasinal burst up to 5C. So all in all not a very hard life.

I'm sure I could still get a fair few more cycles from the battery but if I was to retire it now I did some silly conversion calculations for fun:

My 18ah battery cost $700 to make (materials only) for a life of 5000km
Converted per 100km it works out $14
L/100km is commonly used for quoting fuel economy in cars and with regular unleaded around $1.40 at the moment that works out the equivalent of 10l/100km (~24 mpg for those using that currency)
This is shit aweful economy for any ICE bike and infact around what most medium to large cars use these days. Even if you doubled the range it's still bad. So that's an interesting data point when people go on about how much better electric is. I wouldn't argue to the contrary, but they're obviously not talking about these batteries!

I don't care of course, it's worth every cent for the enjoyment and entertainment I get from it

On an unrelated note, I went up to bunnings yesterday and accidently left my gopro recording. It was a quick in and out in 5 minute mission but the clip shows the reactions of some of the passers by. I'm sure we're all used to people reacting to our bikes like this!
I'll have to do this again and park the bike somewhere more noticable and leave it longer.

[youtube]VLGgnVWjT3s[/youtube]

 

[BiGH]

That's really cool. Gotta say i think more people should be aware of e-bikes... but the government has to change their views on the stupid power limits.

 

[Rix]

The vboxx is silent but not in every gear.
Gear 1,3,5,7,9 is super smooth, it is like a regular bike.
Gears 2.4.6.8, here you will hear AND feel the cogging sound. But it is not very loud at all(not more noise that comes from the motor). I heard(think it was Rix) that if you fill up the vboxx with grease you will not hear the cogging sound. Pedaling the bomber is not that hard on a flat, you can easy go up to 25-30km/h It is a heavy bike so it will take a while. But when a hill comes, oh boy, then you have to stand and pedal or use 2nd or first gear.
One thing annoys me, you can only change a gear when you dont pedal, Unlike the standard bikes where you Need to pedal. So on this one, you will loose momentum when you have to change to another one.

Thanks Allex, that pretty much answers my question. I think that should be fine for me. I don't even pedal my regular bicycle much over 8 or 10 mph (16 km/h). Sounds easier to pedal than my China Girl motor bicycle, and I've had to pedal it 6 miles (9 km) twice. China Girls have a lot of clutch drag, and mine is just a single speed beach cruiser. Where I live there's not much in the way of hills until you have to pedal, then everywhere you look there's mountains LOL.

I missed this earlier. Yes, putting in around 400cc of super lube smoothed things out more than using the 100cc recommended by Sun Tour. I think the key to a happy VBoxx is shifter cable tension. Dlogic outlines how to adjust cable tension in his 3rd video on his VBoxx disassembly and assembly videos. Anyway, the best way to adjust the Vboxx shifter cable play is as follows. Grab cable housing at the shifter, wiggle the cable housing up and down and there will be play. Take the barrel adjusters and turn this counter clockwise and keep checking cable tension. When you can only slide the cable housing up and down about 2-3mm, its perfect. You will notice less drag when in gears 2, 4, 6, 8, You can actually feel it in the pedal strokes.

Nice vid Jay, I commented on your page, attention gettin are they? Thanks for posting the vid.

Rick

 

[Kepler]

about 300 cycles. Could have maybe got another 50 out of them but it was time for a change

I checked my stats on the weekend and funnily enough I'm showing almost exactly the same figures - 5000km and just shy of 300 cycles.
Like you I only ever bulk charge and all cells are still in perfect balance. I've balance charged maybe twice during the life of the pack and even then it didn't really need it. Out of curiosity what percentage of the packs capacity did you typically draw, and what did you charge to ?
I charged to 4.2v for the first 6 months then around 4.15 for the remainder of its use. Probably half of the cycles were to 80% DOD and majority of the rest were around 50% with around a dozen full capacity discharges.
And with an 18ah pack the majority of the time the cells were only pulling 2C with the occasinal burst up to 5C. So all in all not a very hard life.

My pattern of usage is very similar Jay. Mostly charge to full 4.2V per cell, then backed off a little as the cells aged. Same goes for discharge, maybe a bit more like 90% DOD for the majority.

My 18ah battery cost $700 to make (materials only) for a life of 5000km
Converted per 100km it works out $14
L/100km is commonly used for quoting fuel economy in cars and with regular unleaded around $1.40 at the moment that works out the equivalent of 10l/100km (~24 mpg for those using that currency)
This is shit aweful economy for any ICE bike and infact around what most medium to large cars use these days. Even if you doubled the range it's still bad. So that's an interesting data point when people go on about how much better electric is. I wouldn't argue to the contrary, but they're obviously not talking about these batteries!

My pack being smaller was around $500 to build so I am at 10 Cents per km or $10 per 100km. My ride to work is a total of 50km, so $5 a day for the amortised battery cost. Way cheaper than taking the car in even without taking into consideration wear and tear plus city parking. Best we don't take the 2 smoked motors into consideration though I think we can put that down to the R&D budget

And of course, I actually take the Super Commuter most of the time which has a $150 battery pack (3 x 6S LiPo) so that's a massive $1.50 per day on batteries. 8)

While we are at it though, best we compare a real Bomber Battery, not this LiPo rubbish :lol: . So $2500 for the battery. Conservative 40km per charge and 800 cycles = 32000km. 2500 / 32000 = 8 cents per km or $8.00 per 100km amortised battery cost.

 

[MAFIA]

whaaaaat the stealth battery cost $2500???

 

[Kepler]

Kepler, your 20s Lipo set up is great. I though for sure you would have went with a H4065 by now. Should be interesting how your geared hubby holds up. I can't remember, are you running the 10 turn or 12 turn stator? I remember you smoked your 8 turn stator last year.

Rick

Thanks Rix. The motors I smoked were code 10 motors which I think designates the wind on Bafangs. I am running a code 12 now with temp monitoring and active power roll back through the CA3. Watt limit is still the same as I had with 18S but 20S still has more punch. I am liking the bit of extra speed too. Actively rolling back power with motor temp should keep the motor alive (I hope ). I have gone to 20S on the Super Commuter now also. Again the Watt limit has stayed the same so only top speed has been changed. Main reason was so I could use the same charger on both bikes and not risk a mix up with the 2 different voltage setups.

 

[Kepler]

whaaaaat the stealth battery cost $2500???

But it goes a long way and lasts a long time. Probably the life of the bike.

 

[MAFIA]

whaaaaat the stealth battery cost $2500???

But it goes a long way and lasts a long time. Probably the life of the bike.

what do you mean the life of the bike i was thinking my bike will last forever

 

[Kepler]

I think you will want the new model in 5 years time. Thats a lifetime for a bike IMO

 

[Jolly Jumper]

Yep Titaniumth Bomber fully titanium with titanium batteries. with 30 years guarantee on complete bike 8)

 

[biknut]

about 300 cycles. Could have maybe got another 50 out of them but it was time for a change

I checked my stats on the weekend and funnily enough I'm showing almost exactly the same figures - 5000km and just shy of 300 cycles.
Like you I only ever bulk charge and all cells are still in perfect balance. I've balance charged maybe twice during the life of the pack and even then it didn't really need it. Out of curiosity what percentage of the packs capacity did you typically draw, and what did you charge to ?
I charged to 4.2v for the first 6 months then around 4.15 for the remainder of its use. Probably half of the cycles were to 80% DOD and majority of the rest were around 50% with around a dozen full capacity discharges.
And with an 18ah pack the majority of the time the cells were only pulling 2C with the occasinal burst up to 5C. So all in all not a very hard life.

I'm sure I could still get a fair few more cycles from the battery but if I was to retire it now I did some silly conversion calculations for fun:

My 18ah battery cost $700 to make (materials only) for a life of 5000km
Converted per 100km it works out $14
L/100km is commonly used for quoting fuel economy in cars and with regular unleaded around $1.40 at the moment that works out the equivalent of 10l/100km (~24 mpg for those using that currency)
This is shit aweful economy for any ICE bike and infact around what most medium to large cars use these days. Even if you doubled the range it's still bad. So that's an interesting data point when people go on about how much better electric is. I wouldn't argue to the contrary, but they're obviously not talking about these batteries!

I don't care of course, it's worth every cent for the enjoyment and entertainment I get from it

5000 km??? That's about 7 months riding for me, and I have two bikes I ride. I bought my moped in march, and it has 2900 miles (4650 km) on it now. That was about 36 gallons @ $3.40 a gl. $123.00, plus $85.00 for synthetic 2 stroke oil = $208 total

 

[MAFIA]

about 300 cycles. Could have maybe got another 50 out of them but it was time for a change

I checked my stats on the weekend and funnily enough I'm showing almost exactly the same figures - 5000km and just shy of 300 cycles.
Like you I only ever bulk charge and all cells are still in perfect balance. I've balance charged maybe twice during the life of the pack and even then it didn't really need it. Out of curiosity what percentage of the packs capacity did you typically draw, and what did you charge to ?
I charged to 4.2v for the first 6 months then around 4.15 for the remainder of its use. Probably half of the cycles were to 80% DOD and majority of the rest were around 50% with around a dozen full capacity discharges.
And with an 18ah pack the majority of the time the cells were only pulling 2C with the occasinal burst up to 5C. So all in all not a very hard life.

I'm sure I could still get a fair few more cycles from the battery but if I was to retire it now I did some silly conversion calculations for fun:

My 18ah battery cost $700 to make (materials only) for a life of 5000km
Converted per 100km it works out $14
L/100km is commonly used for quoting fuel economy in cars and with regular unleaded around $1.40 at the moment that works out the equivalent of 10l/100km (~24 mpg for those using that currency)
This is shit aweful economy for any ICE bike and infact around what most medium to large cars use these days. Even if you doubled the range it's still bad. So that's an interesting data point when people go on about how much better electric is. I wouldn't argue to the contrary, but they're obviously not talking about these batteries!

I don't care of course, it's worth every cent for the enjoyment and entertainment I get from it

5000 km??? That's about 7 months riding for me, and I have two bikes I ride. I bought my moped in march, and it has 2900 miles (4650 km) on it now. That was about 36 gallons @ $3.40 a gl. $123.00, plus $85.00 for synthetic 2 stroke oil = $208 total

looool Theodore Voltaire that not the way it is they just joking, but with the true,i dont know to much but i think you will understand when you got your bike the stealth battery is huge you won't fully discharge your battery every day i think if you only consume about 50% of your battery in a day x 800 life battery charges you will get 1600 battery charge life or i am wrong kleper? also is there new stealth bike prototype? kleper? is there something you know that we don't looool jajajaja

 

[biknut]

This is my new Stealth Bomber. It may not look like a Stealth Bomber to you, but I promise you it is.

This is how Theodore Voltaire gets a Bomber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sed-uEoXqz0

 

[Cowardlyduck]

Wow, there's a lot of posters on this thread now...it's almost a page a day.

set your Regen Voltage to 76 or 77v
i have the same controller and wondered bout the same thing

Thanks for that. I had to set mine to 78.5V to get any action below 75V...bit weird, but ok.

Went for an awesome ride today up a local hill I recently discovered. Did a good amount of video, which I'll have to edit up in the coming days, but for now here's a teaser of a sort of a stack I had.
I was coming down an extremely steep section with loose gravel when the rear wheel lost traction and I could not pull up the front quickly enough or turn to avoid a massive ditch, so had to put my feet down to stop before it without going over the bars.
[youtube]GVElbIGn268[/youtube]
No damage to the bike...my hidden handle bar end button coped a big hit, but it still works fine...I just ended up with a graze to the back of my knee from stopping the bike with the pedal hitting it.
I'm glad it ended like it did and I didn't end up in that ditch, or sliding down the gravel.

Will post the full vid in the coming day's, time allowing.

Cheers

 

[biknut]

That's a pretty big hill alright. How high, 2000' (600 m)?

 

[Rix]

Kepler, your 20s Lipo set up is great. I though for sure you would have went with a H4065 by now. Should be interesting how your geared hubby holds up. I can't remember, are you running the 10 turn or 12 turn stator? I remember you smoked your 8 turn stator last year.

Rick

Thanks Rix. The motors I smoked were code 10 motors which I think designates the wind on Bafangs. I am running a code 12 now with temp monitoring and active power roll back through the CA3. Watt limit is still the same as I had with 18S but 20S still has more punch. I am liking the bit of extra speed too. Actively rolling back power with motor temp should keep the motor alive (I hope ). I have gone to 20S on the Super Commuter now also. Again the Watt limit has stayed the same so only top speed has been changed. Main reason was so I could use the same charger on both bikes and not risk a mix up with the 2 different voltage setups.

So they were code 10s, for some reason, I was thinking you had code 8s. Between the code 10 and code 12, what did you loos top speed wise?

CD, yah that was what I call a nice stack. Any stack you can ride away from is a good stack. :lol:

Rick

 

[mattrb]

Quick News Update on future alternatives for boeshield t9 and rustoleum neverwet, a new substance called Nano-Cone Textures. Here is a quote: "are highly relevant for a broad range of applications where water-resistance is important, including power generation and transportation." I will buy 2 please.

Here is the link.

Also, I got a gnat under my Cycle Analyst LCD cover, anyone else have this issue.

God bless all the Aussies homes, keep those bikes away from the flame, further combustion will occur.

Mattrb

 

[Allex]

So Bomber Gurus, I think I will be upgrading the crappy stock front fork to a 888 during my winter hibernation!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-In-Box-2013-Marzocchi-888-RC3-EVO-V-2-200mm-20mm-White-/141079682056?pt=US_Forks&hash=item20d9011c08

Is 888's "fit and go" or Do I have to buy a bunch of accessories to make it swing? I have stock MT2 brakes.

 

[Rix]

So Bomber Gurus, I think I will be upgrading the crappy stock front fork to a 888 during my winter hibernation!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-In-Box-2013-Marzocchi-888-RC3-EVO-V-2-200mm-20mm-White-/141079682056?pt=US_Forks&hash=item20d9011c08

Is 888's "fit and go" or Do I have to buy a bunch of accessories to make it swing? I have stock MT2 brakes.

Allex, the swap shouldn't be to hard, took me about 45 minutes to do mine, but I wasn't in a hurry either. If you are planning to use your stock head set just remember to carefully remove the bearing race seat off of your fork. A dull standard flat blade screw driver works best. Use a little WD40.

Rick

 

[proper159]

Greetings everyone,

I spent a good month reading every post since the beginning of this thread and finally found a dealer in Toronto with a Stealth Bomber in-stock. Picked it up last Wednesday and am blown away by the power of this bad boy. There are three of us in Toronto with this bike and I'm glad, because with great power comes great responsibility!

Since I have a fresh Bomber, I have the issues with the gears i.e. 8th, 6th etc. And based on my riding (about 70-100km a day), I'm wondering if I really need to charge it after every use since it's a bit difficult to find a charger where I tend to be parking the bike.

My only issue with the bike is that it gets a lot of attention...ambulances slow down and the paramedic in the passenger seat asks me questions (this has happened to me 4 times already) and random drivers match my speed to see how fast I'm going (which isn't very fast, but faster than a normal bike). I'm usually pedaling all of the time but I think my MTB DH helmet gets a lot of looks and then the bike.

Anyhow, stoked to be part of the club.

 

[remf]

Proper welcome to the world of Stealth, you read the whole thread??? Well it says a lot about the level of crowd support that *no* other production bike can approach.

What issues are you having with the gears? My VBoxx is over 3 years old, think I might have cleaned it once, still going strong.

Definitely the helmet has a lot to do with visibility. Full-face helmets reduce your visibility and situational awareness while seemingly making you more visible to others by an order of magnitude. Of course they offer a lot more protection and prevent the usual mouthful of bugs I get on some rides.

Also best to charge wherever you can. Obviously you cant charge sometimes and if you have enough remaining to get you home then no worries. Ideally, it is better to find a place to charge at your destination before you ride home, more power available & less stress on the pack.