Manufacturers/Dealers to Gravitate Towards

[neptronix]

Not sure if i ever posted here. I do regularly talk crap about certain vendors in the past. Now it's time to give props.

1) Cell man / emissions-free - put up with my endless questions via email, always had my back with support issues & replacement parts, knows his products in and out ( he's the engineering type ), offers great prices & good stuff, and is very flexible with shipping types/costs as well. >5 orders with this guy now.

2) Ken / itselectric.ca - always willing to chat a little pre-sale and make sure you're getting the right thing. Real helpful to the community, and decent prices too.

3) Gary / Golden Motor Canada - was straight up with me when i called him and said i was from ES and quizzed him on the phone about the new Magic pie 3 and other stuff before he had even announced it. Even answered the phone on a hockey day - that's dedication. I know he had some dirt dumped on him, so did Golden Motor China, but i wanted to particularly throw him props for selling the external magic pie motor, which is very underrated.

4) ( i forget his name ) / FalconEV - though i read a bunch of mud slinging on ES about this guy, he was an interesting guy to talk on the phone with, like Ken, interested in making sure you get the best thing possible. The FalconEV bag he sells is my favorite eBike purchase of all time. He also sells a motor that is supposedly quicker than the Crystalyte 5xxx but never got any airtime on here. The guy needs to get his web site in order, but i give him the thumbs up for our dealings over the phone.

5) Lyen / Lyen.com - Very helpful & extremely fast to ship things out. Even covered a DC-DC under warranty and paid the shipping.

6) Hobbyking - Holy crap, according to their system i have had 15 orders with them. They seriously haven ever let me down, other than the very typical RC lipo dud rate ( about 10% of the packs will have a funky cell ).

7) ProgressiveRC - my favorite local alternative to hobbyking. Fast shipment, and great stuff for sale.

8) Sureelectronics - for selling legit meanwells on eBay at a good price.. quick shipping too.

 

[sn0wchyld]

I'd also add Hyena, chain reaction cycles, sickbikeparts.com and leaderhobby.com if they arn't already here.

1 (almost 2) dealings with hyena, but he's an open honest bloke, even having been pretty sick recently he still managed to hold the Australian end of the 540x group buy together, and when I opted to pull out (chose to go with mid drive for my next build) refunded my money promptly, particually since he had another late comer that wanted to take my place. The HT35 I got off him was well packaged too. has answered all my dumb noob q's along the way.

2 orders from CRC so far, both arrived fast to AUS (about 1 week) with their free shipping option. all well packaged.

1 order with sickbikes... but quick and great prices.

Same goes for leaders. they seem to be one of the few online retailers still stocking the 8085 and 80100's. contact them before ordering though, as I ordered a 8085 and a 80100, expecting them to ship them separately given the 80100 was listed as out of stock, when they weren't. I'd have just ordered 2 80100's had I known.

I've also had good dealings with lyen (2) and hobbyking (12 ). lyen made a mistake with my first order (shipped with the wrong connectors) and when I emailed him to ask what could be done his reply was basically sorry about that, the correct stuff has been posted today!

Hobby king has been great. the usual 10% funky rate (1 completely stuffed pack that was refunded, and 2 others that have cells that dont hold charge well, loose about 10mv a week or so). Cant argue with the price. ever.

 

[Lessss]

After 11 pages and 28000 views perhaps a mod should collect each M/D here and create a poll. Yes/ no should this m/D be added to the Sphere recommended list yet, and then make a sticky with a recommended list

 

[The Stig]

After 11 pages and 28000 views perhaps a mod should collect each M/D here and create a poll. Yes/ no should this m/D be added to the Sphere recommended list yet, and then make a sticky with a recommended list

x2

 

[parabellum]

After 11 pages and 28000 views perhaps a mod should collect each M/D here and create a poll. Yes/ no should this m/D be added to the Sphere recommended list yet, and then make a sticky with a recommended list

Good idea

 

[auto_bike]

Ampedbikes is good. I have 2 of their kits and have done 3 builds. The kit itself is reliable and shipping is quick. The sla pack lasted about a year before I had to replace a couple. The motor and controller seem reliable. Their tube batteries are a mess though. Great concept and appearance/performance, but they had bms issues for a while, are always backordered and can't keep.up with demand. Took months to get mine. And now it tends to cut out randomly so I'm unsure about it right now.

 

[The fingers]

I also like Amped's front DD SLA kit. I also recommend getting a Save A Battery 36 volt charger/maintainer and a Sunlite double kickstand.

 

[tofuuu]

I can reccomend emissionsfree/cell man. Took a little longer for parts to dispatch but everything looks properly packaged and checked.

 

[Kelp]

I recommend AVOIDING MXUS from Changzhou Hua Yu Xin Feng Motor Co. I tried to buy a kit directly and was initially impressed by very helpful Flora- sales consultant, but when it came to purchasing via the AliExpress portal Mr Jin Pan,[ Flora's boss it turned out] wanted to hike the price from $450 to $700! No explanation offered. Welcome to Chinese commerce I guess!

 

[teklektik]

Another vote for Ilia at ebikessf.com .

Truly great customer service, almost instant cross-ship of warranteed controllers, etc. Good telephone advice - and really good prices on BMCs and controllers. Wheel builds are great quality and warranteed for life.

Ilia is in the middle of opening a new store, but he still manages to juggle all that with great service.

 

[Kuzumoto]

After 11 pages and 28000 views perhaps a mod should collect each M/D here and create a poll. Yes/ no should this m/D be added to the Sphere recommended list yet, and then make a sticky with a recommended list

x2

x3

 

[amberwolf]

Anybody that has time to make such a list and post it is welcome to, and then any mod can sticky it real quick once the long hard work is done.


I highly recommend the list format to include links to the actual posts that recommended any particular source, so people can see why without having to read thru this whole thread to find it.

 

[Kuzumoto]

Anybody that has time to make such a list and post it is welcome to, and then any mod can sticky it real quick once the long hard work is done.


I highly recommend the list format to include links to the actual posts that recommended any particular source, so people can see why without having to read thru this whole thread to find it.

+1

 

[The Stig]

Anybody that has time to make such a list and post it is welcome to, and then any mod can sticky it real quick once the long hard work is done.


I highly recommend the list format to include links to the actual posts that recommended any particular source, so people can see why without having to read thru this whole thread to find it.

+1

x10^6

 

[farshidjh]

Long time reader here. Made my commuter booster thanks to Adrian's directions http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=22187

Now I'd like to switch to a direct drive hub motor (perhaps a 9C). Due to weather I get to use the bike few times a week and that only in summer.

Can one from europe (preferably Sweden) recommend where you get a cheap setup that works as cheap as it gets (<300)?
I don't want high speed, have my own HK battery pack. A throttle and ESC and an already 'put into a rim motor hub' 500w will do.

 

[puddleglum]

anyone know anything good or bad about Evassemble? Are they reputable or not?

 

[amberwolf]

Try searching for the name on ES, and read up on the many posts and threads, then make your own decision about it.

Personally, I don't trust them, based on what I've read, but never done business with them myself.

 

[The Stig]

anyone know anything good or bad about Evassemble? Are they reputable or not?

it took ages to receive a sensorless controller from them and then I didn't end up using it.

 

[Recumbent Bicycle Source]

Would be nice if you could buy kits without wheels, because all the Chinese Wheel builds are crap. Venting? Rant? No just fact. I've yet to see a good Chinese Wheel build.

 

[hardym]

With regard to Ev-assemble (or evassemble): I ordered a 16S headways 12 AHpack from michael, and it arrived a bit later than expected. I was able to call and confirm that the delay was due to chinese new year. The pack is still new with only 300 miles, but it still delivers 40A to get me comfortably up my hills. Note that most packs including ping can't produce a 3.5C rating for steep hills or wicked abusive acceleration.

 

[ElliottE]

This is a good thread, but many of the links and references are quite old now, and I'm thinking it might be good to do an update of the best vendors who are currently operating, and their current status as far as being good... or perhaps not so good?

In particular, I'm personally interested in the best vendors for various kinds of motors. I'm currently looking into designing a mid-drive mountain bike, and have been researching multiple vendors, and considering the pros and cons of mounting a hub motor in a mid-drive configuration, as compared to using something like a BMC scooter motor, or an "R/C" style motor such as Turnigy or Scorpion. Any and all real-world info and experience with different motors and vendors would be very helpful.

Reliability is my #1 concern, and one thing that has me worried is that the level of quality control appears to vary considerably from manufacturer to manufacturer. It would be nice to have a short list of the best, high-quality vendors who make motors that are built to last.

 

[amberwolf]

There is no one list. Vendors change frequently; some get better and some get worse, some oscillate back and forth, and manufacturers do sometimes too. Some like Crystalyte are very hit-and-miss, sometimes with a super product design that gets built shoddily, or at least some batches are, and sometimes with well-built badly-designed products.

Best you can do is read the experiences of people (in this thread amongst others) who have gone the route you are thinking of going, and see if you still wanna go there.

As for a shortlist of good vendors to buy from once you figure out what you want, there've been a few threads discussing that but it may take some digging to locate them.

 

[Confab]

Are there any reliable European kit/battery sellers? I'd prefer not to risk the Customs charges.

 

[docnjoj]

This is a good thread, but many of the links and references are quite old now, and I'm thinking it might be good to do an update of the best vendors who are currently operating, and their current status as far as being good... or perhaps not so good?

In particular, I'm personally interested in the best vendors for various kinds of motors. I'm currently looking into designing a mid-drive mountain bike, and have been researching multiple vendors, and considering the pros and cons of mounting a hub motor in a mid-drive configuration, as compared to using something like a BMC scooter motor, or an "R/C" style motor such as Turnigy or Scorpion. Any and all real-world info and experience with different motors and vendors would be very helpful.

Reliability is my #1 concern, and one thing that has me worried is that the level of quality control appears to vary considerably from manufacturer to manufacturer. It would be nice to have a short list of the best, high-quality vendors who make motors that are built to last.

Astroflight makes great motors and has our recumpense (Matt) to build and sell them. Truly a can't go wrong experience for RC motors. All made in the USA. Can't beat that with a stick!
otherDoc

 

[ohzee]

I had mentioned I have been trying to buy a BMS from evassemble. 23 days ago I paid and was told it's a custom item so +10 days.
At about 2 week mark i was told it's done Ill get a DHL tracking # and will see it in 3-6 days.. So a week later I send emails but get
no responses.. I am able to get them via the chat on their web page , but it's all broken promises and excuses.. Today I tell them
to cancel if they cant get me a tracking # in 24 hrs and I get this message below.

I look up the weather where evassemble is in GuangZhou China.. Raining hot , but the worse weather seems to be Beijing 8+ hours north of them.

I am soo close to just washing my hands. I need a 24s BMS for my newly built battery so I can try it out. Luckily I have another 20s
that's 100% so I am not hurting to bad , but it's a new toy and I want to play..

Anyway any thoughts on the comments below ? Is the statement just BS or could there be some truth to it ?Thanks

Hello Ohzee,
I just call you to explain the issue. It's a typhoon in our destination and have heavy rain in the last five days so we can not issue any order cause we are afraid that goods may get wet which is big trouble for electronic products. According to the weather report, it will be sunny again with effection of the typhoon for heavy rain. So we will be office on even weekend of this week and try to issue all orders include your parcel. It's really a bad sitution for the weather issue. But since it's out of our control and we concern more about safety arrival then any products which will suffer wet trouble so we have to send them after the heavy weather.
We aplogize for the inconvenience but it's really important we can make sure our products will arrive to our clients without demage.

Please confirm if we can issue out the shipment on next two days and we will make operation as per your will.
We are aplogize for the inconvenience of the local weather in the recent few days.

Best regards,
Michael Cheung

skyp:evassemble
http://www.evassemble.com <http://www.evassemble.com>