Qulbix Q140MD - any experience?

Got the footpeg kit today, solid stuff, nice size and grippy pegs! I've only had time for a short test ride but for someone like me who is used to motorbikes this is a huge improvement in handling ;) So nice to be able to lift one leg up for balance on technical sections without the pedal on the other side dropping down, and lovely with consistent foot placement and ground clearance. The bike also becomes much more silent as you don't get the free-wheel clicking like you do when you aren't pedaling :)

I'll hopefully get time for a longer trip this weekend, where I can get some video footage as well as see what the range/consumption figures look like :)



 
And here is a pic from my last ride with pedals, where I attempted to destroy my bike :p Out together with a friend on his regular Scott Strike 920 e-bike.

 
New video! First longer ride with the footpegs, very happy with the swap :) No more issues with ground clearance, and no more problems with one pedal dropping down when you step off the other side. Brilliant!

[youtube]1GuhauhTqcI[/youtube]
 
[youtube][/youtube]
benjamin84 said:
Rix said:
Nice video as usual Ben, even the animals like you Q140MD :p
Click to expand...

They like it much more than they like my KTM ;) Riding electric gets you closer to nature, no doubt!
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[youtube]6hOAXikyats[/youtube]

at the very end of this video, Hyena and I rode right up to a deer at Yosemite Park. Its amazing how close we can get to animals on ebikes.
 
Hey guys,


Hope your travels went well (Ben). So, the bike is fully together and besides a squeak coming from the front wheel, which I will hopefully fix today it seems to work good! I put 40miles on it yesterday. Battery was 95% charged when I left and maybe 10-15% upon returning. I was blasting all over the place and did eco mode on the way back (all of this was city riding) to make sure I could make it back! Doing this type of riding I figure you can get approx 45 miles out of a charge and it would. Not bad. If you are a bit more tame 55-60.

Engate/Ben: I looked at the manual and am a bit confused on how to adjust the eco mode top speed. Can you tell me how to do that in lamen terms?

Also, Ben, some posts back, you did something with the throttle to tame it out. What did you do? I may end up doing that. Its like getting shot out of a cannon. I wish it was a bit more gradual. Its not bad per say, but man, if you're not paying attention you'll either lose your grip or flip over. And that is with the middle sprocket, which by the way seems to peak right about 40mph. Not 43. It seems to get there in about 2 seconds lol.
 
You can adjust the throttle response and the eco mode in the kelly app. Ask qulbix to send the app to you.
BUT by adjusting the throttle response it will be smoother,but you won't have instant max power.I just simply ditched the stock throttle because I couldn't get used to it. It was simply a bad 10$ one with too low resistance what caused accidental dec/acceleration.I replaced it with a domino. Night & day difference :). But to install the domino you need to modify the CA as well what will also give you a lot of additional features.
 
Thanks Engate. Unfortunately I am not nearly as mechanically apt as you to install that. Sounds like a nightmare to me. It has been a long tiring three days just getting the bike together. Prob a 3-4 hours job for someone with the right stand, and know how, was a 8 to 10 hour job for me and one other person helping. It was not fun - at all. To anyone reading this thinking about buying this bike....pay to have it crated. I never got quoted for that option. For reference it was $350EU to have it sent in three boxes. Ben said his was $500.00EU crated within the EU. I am in the USA. I would venture to say it would have been $700-$800EU and really, it would have been worth it. Between my time, frustration, and spending $100.00 on tools I needed the additional $250 on top of that would have been fine. haha.

Engate, I have put 100 miles on the bike in the last two days. SO far so good. EXCEPT there is a squeak from what seems to be the motor. I thought it was the front brake, but I ruled that out. Any ideas? I have heard some light lube may help and I noticed my chain has been imo too tight, so loosened that. It is on the charger and will test ride it again today after doing those two things. Any other ideas? The sound is a light "squeak squeak squeak" usually at higher speeds as the temp rises. Its loud enough for me to hear and from what a friend said barely noticeable to not noticeable as I drive by. Hopefully that gives you an idea.

Thank you
 
Updating on life with the Q140MD!

Went for a forest ride on my KTM today (2019 690 Enduro R), and wow is that thing a heavy beast in the forest... now keep in mind I used to ride an R1200GS out on single track, but the last few months of only riding the Q140 has seriously ruined motorcycles for me :lol:

Suddenly having to shift gears, the clutch, the loud noise, the head from the exhaust, it all annoyed me so much! It just feels like such a workaround to an ancient technology. For gravel roads the KTM of course has a great advantage in power, range and even comfort, but as soon as the trails get more technical I can't think of any other vehicle I'd rather be on than the Qulbix.

Decided to spend half an hour with the Q140 when I got back, and I was impressed that despite not having ridden for a few weeks it hasn't lost any charge (left it just under 74 volts, read 73.8 when I started it up today). Spent 30 minutes practising wheelies and enjoying myself in my yard, without disturbing anyone, just fantastic...!

Sorry, no vids or pics today, just an owners thoughts on coming from motorcycles to e-bikes ;)
 
I know what you mean.
I loved motorbike, even the sound, but now I find it annoying...they are too heavy and thinking all the time in switching gears is tiring.

And my ebike is only a factory 250w Lapierre or a bbs02 powered specialized...
 
There's another guy on YouTube showing a full ride and I was shocked about the quick overheating.
He has the slowest gearing and even on street he reaches 120 degree.

Don't know why but if this is normal this md140 sucks hard for what I expected and compare to surron/lmx bikes.
 
Merlin said:
There's another guy on YouTube showing a full ride and I was shocked about the quick overheating.
He has the slowest gearing and even on street he reaches 120 degree.

Don't know why but if this is normal this md140 sucks hard for what I expected and compare to surron/lmx bikes.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth mine has never overheated, not even once. Never had reduced power even after an hour of slogging through muddy forest swamps and steep hill climbs :) That said, and as you can see from my previous video, I ride on pretty technical terrain with no open flowy tracks, so I'm not holding the throttle pinned for very long at all. Any e-bike without active liquid cooling (pump and a radiator like a KTM Freeride E) will overheat if you hold full throttle for any length of time. They are simply able to output more power and generate more heat than they can shed.

Not sure how powerful the Sur-Ron is, but comparison to the LMX bike is a bit moot as this thing has 6 times the peak power output. If limit the Q140MD to 2500 watts I can promise you it wouldn't overheat no matter how you are riding ;)

I think the lesson is - if you want an electric motorcycle, buy an electric motorcycle. They are designed to deliver high outputs for a LONG time, and have the active cooling systems to help with this. Things like the Q140MD or the Vector Vortex fill a different niche, smaller, lighter bikes designed for terrain that bigger machines would just not be suited for. Hell, I can lift my Q140MD and carry it if I have to, try doing that with 120kg of KTM Freeride or Alta Redshift ;)

Edit: Just checked out the video in question - his temps are seriously high! Mine has never shown over 100c, and he is riding along at 120-130 almost constantly! No idea what that is due to. Maybe his motor isn't filled properly with the cooling fluid? Maybe he is considerably heavier than me? I weigh 86kg without gear on, if he is 120-130kg I guess that would make a big difference.

Edit 2: Now I'm curious, I will see if I can get out for a ride tomorrow and film it, we have some proper steep hills around here so I can see if I can get it to overheat with faster riding.
 
Results from today's testing :)

Bike: Q140MD
Rider: 86kg
Ambient temp: 26 degrees C

So I headed out today to test how hot the motor would get while doing some full throttle riding. Started at roughly 20 meters AMSL, and ended the full throttle run at 377 meters AMSL, so over 350 meters higher. 8 minutes at full throttle, over 50kph even uphill according to the GPS, almost all the time except where cars or terrain prevented me from doing so.

Had a start temp of about 40c, had been doing some full speed runs on a flat road first to see what that did to the temps. I saw just over 82c at the top before the road flattened out again and the temps dropped to 76-77 despite still keeping the throttle pinned.

I then proceeded to head off onto some trails where I couldn't do any full throttle work but where the terrain was properly steep - to the point where if I failed a hill climb I could not get going again without getting off the bike or flipping it :p Ended up at 460 meters AMSL, and saw a final max temp of 107 degrees C.

So to conclude - I can't get this bike to overheat. On fairly hilly gravel roads / asfalt it would peak at 82, and get cooler again as soon as the ground leveled out. On serious off road terrain I was limited by my fitness level before the bike overheated ;) So for engate (I believe the video of the overheating was yours?) I would honestly suggest you see if the motor is actually properly filled with "Statorade", and if not, fill it. Alternatively it could be the weight difference between us?

Pic from the highest point of the ride - started all the way at the bottom of that valley :)
 
In regards to overheating....Engate (he is the guy you speak of on YouTube)did post his weight in a thread I started a while back. I believe he weighed in around 120kg. It came up when we were talking about overheating. I was worried too. I weigh in at 76kg. He thought I would be fine at my weight. I believe in his case, it comes down to that. Something to keep in mind.

I’ve gotten mine to 112c. I get it there by going full throttle up some moderate/steep hills. The temp does climb fairly quick, but before you know it you’ve created the hill and it cools down.

I’ve put 780 miles on my bike thus far and have never got it to actually overheat.
 
Long and boring video for those who are interested in the high speed run I did ;)
[youtube]QkfoyGiG15Q[/youtube]
 
Merlin said:
There's another guy on YouTube showing a full ride and I was shocked about the quick overheating.
He has the slowest gearing and even on street he reaches 120 degree.

Don't know why but if this is normal this md140 sucks hard for what I expected and compare to surron/lmx bikes.
Click to expand...

Compared to sur ron the heat dissipation of the qulbix is pretty bad.Or let's just say HUB motors in general.
I tortured the sur ron where the q140md overheated 4 times. After that the sur ron motor was just warm to the touch.Sur ron had the stock 42T chainring so max speed is ~75-80km/h meanwhile qulbix with the slowest 50km/h chainring
 
engate said:
Merlin said:
There's another guy on YouTube showing a full ride and I was shocked about the quick overheating.
He has the slowest gearing and even on street he reaches 120 degree.

Don't know why but if this is normal this md140 sucks hard for what I expected and compare to surron/lmx bikes.
Click to expand...

Compared to sur ron the heat dissipation of the qulbix is pretty bad.Or let's just say HUB motors in general.
I tortured the sur ron where the q140md overheated 4 times. After that the sur ron motor was just warm to the touch.Sur ron had the stock 42T chainring so max speed is ~75-80km/h meanwhile qulbix with the slowest 50km/h chainring
Click to expand...

Hi Guys,
Had to comment this a bit.

1) You cannot compare Qulbix MD and MX bikes to others which have 2-3 times less power. The torque and the power outputs of our bikes are huge (words from various MX riders that tested the bikes). If you choose the correct gearing there is no overheat issue - steep terrains and hard climbing need bigger rear chain-wheel.

2) Tech details ... we use sine-wave controllers with variable regen and lots of programmable functions (throttle response etc.); high current li-ion air cooled battery, with limited current at 180-190A (15kW). The motor is air (fins on the outside) + ferro-fluid cooled.

3) From practical point of view - we daily ride and rent MX and MD bikes on our private MX track and I can tell you that a typical rider cannot ride at full potential of the bike for more than 10-15min on this track and that the bike's performance surpasses the performance of an average rider.

You're welcome to come to our test track any workday afternoon where you can rent a Q140MX bike and try it. Contact us to book a ride few days in advance.

The Qulbix Team
 
hello ziva (or qulbix team),

maybe you missed the videos on youtube showing that it overheats (too) easy?
+ he has the shortest gearing allready.
not 100% sure but i think user engate has a surron AND your MD140 :D

btw ferrofluid evaporate over time. after a year theres nothing more left then brown coating. without FF inside motor the hubsinks get pretty useless because now theres the air gap between stator and shell.

how do you handle this to your customer bikes?



Qulbix said:
Hi Guys,
Had to comment this a bit.

1) You cannot compare Qulbix MD and MX bikes to others which have 2-3 times less power. The torque and the power outputs of our bikes are huge (words from various MX riders that tested the bikes). If you choose the correct gearing there is no overheat issue - steep terrains and hard climbing need bigger rear chain-wheel.

2) Tech details ... we use sine-wave controllers with variable regen and lots of programmable functions (throttle response etc.); high current li-ion air cooled battery, with limited current at 180-190A (15kW). The motor is air (fins on the outside) + ferro-fluid cooled.

3) From practical point of view - we daily ride and rent MX and MD bikes on our private MX track and I can tell you that a typical rider cannot ride at full potential of the bike for more than 10-15min on this track and that the bike's performance surpasses the performance of an average rider.
Click to expand...

1)
if i compare with my lmx mid that has 12kw i think iam in the same category. except of 15Kg less weight, more top speed and no overheating any time on any steepest hill you find.

2) we are on endless sphere. no need for noob advertisements. we like facts.
Just say you are using Kelly KLS controllers. 72xxx and what cells you are using for your battery.

stuff like high current lion air cooled blablabla is aliexpress slang.

3) 99% of md140 buyers never see a mx track. but what any typical rider can do is open the throttle on hilly areas. if it overheats even using the qs205 hub as a mid there should be something wrong. (here are alot IFs) just the youtube user who shows a whole ride on street with shortest gearing(max trq) can say something about it.

btw is "full potential" of a bike not power related. full potential in the same sentence with DNM suspension on a mx track tickles a bit the hair of my neck :lol:
 
Merlin, you are coming across as a bit of a spoiled brat with your reply. If you would have preferred the company rep to use more technical terms, ask him politely for it maybe? Hell they even invited you to come and try the bike, so you can see for yourself if it will overheat with you on it, or if that is reserved for 40 minutes of riding near the top speed of the bike with a 120kg rider.

With "customers" like you around I can understand if nobody would dare to produce anything for sale to the general public :shock:

Anyways, as previously stated, I could not get mine to overheat. Is that due to my lighter weight compared to engate? Or is there something wrong with the ferrofluid in his motor? I have no idea ;) It's all anecdotal evidence at this point anyway, and the QS205 motor should be a fairly well known entity on this forum with regards to performance and heat dissipation :)
 
benjamin there's a huge difference between what you rode and what I did. Your journey was a moderate LONG incline at full speed mostly where the motor is the most efficient.The motor had a lot of time to dissipate the heat.
Meanwhile mine was really really steep short one and a really SLOW (<10km/h) long one where the motor is the least efficient.
Unfortunately I can't ride the qulbix in these scenarios because it overheats.

Jesus qulbix.. please stop lying.And read the details first before you start your usual marketing bullshit.
I can limit the qulbix to 5kW if you'd like. It will overheat just as quick once I start climbing.
And don't compare this toy to a real dirt bike.
If you want to compare it then take it to a proper mx track and put the fastest chainwheel on it because the slowest one won't be enough to clear all the jumps.Whoops. we have a problem Houston. It will overheat quickly. :lol:

So put a proper inrunner in the middle,replace that shitty plastic throttle,design a new kickstand what doesn't look like a rod and
doesn't sink into the ground,get a proper chain what was actually designed to handle 15kW. (because chain tension must be adjusted after 1-3 rides atm).wider than 415 doesn't fit atm because of clearance issues. even the sur ron with third the power has a 420 chain.

After all these you can start comparing it to the sur ron what costs HALF.

Oh and yeah I have a couple of "ebikes" to compare it to.Vector typhoon as well what's collecting dust atm
wCm5hSA.jpg
 
spoiled brat...thats nice my little fanboy.

maybe i have just a bit more experience as the normal -cash on the table, i have no clue about the rest- guy.
yea iam not the comfortable customer like you with 0 to zero EV experience.

and i dont like such statements what doesnt say anything about facts (what parts usesd)
if you wanna use a forum to sell your stuff. be prepared about questions. qulbix grown up HERE on ES.
the DIY crowd helped to make them bigger.
they decide later to show the diy folks the cold shoulder. (thats another story)

iam not a qulbix hater in any way. just their company politics suck. the frames are the best quality you can get for a diy build.
about the md i cant say anything. i never rode one. and videos or infos are rare. just goon commercials for naps like you my friend =)


so you think i send an email to get the questions? not allowed to ask public? is it a secret?
if you have nothing to hide and using quality stuff you will announce every detail of your parts.
thats REAL ADVERTISEMENT when you use for example vtc6 cells for the battery and not: "SUPER HI POWER LION" (Ultrafire) ^^
experienced users want to know what they buy. and before sur-ron and lmx, it was the only Mid you could buy.

anyway. if you or any other think a bike with dnm suspension is state of the art its useless to talk further.
ask yourself why most "company-Ebikes" using dnm suspension? what do you think is behind this decision? mh? maybe you have an idea?


weight of course affects the heat uphill at first place. but if the shortest gearing cant handle this 120kg guy uphill on s t r e e t what should i think about the performance of the bike? its poor. creeping offroad slowly uphill is the worst case. not on street on 40kph+
i hope he comes back here to answer how the MD handles on technical offroad parts.

facts?

lmx never overheats in same conditions with same guy.
sur-ron never overheats in same conditions with same guy.
qulbix md overheats in same conditions with same guy.

we are here in a forum to discuss pro and contras. helping a company to sell wasnt ever the idea of a "free"forum.
if you are happy with your MD its fine. But if ppl like "the 120kg guy" isnt happy its not the time to jump out of the bush to defend the company while the facts exactly tell the truth.

we have pros:

- silent
- frame is well build
- good support

we have contras:

- heavy
- a bit pricey for my taste. not the price itself. because its still an illegal bike and qulbix could homologate their bikes if they wanted.
- slow on low gearing (looks like you have to chose lowest gearing to prevent overheating...not my words :p)
- cheap suspension.
- not legal, not possible to register

check your own topic name: MD140...any experience?

if all buyers would say nothing about their experience, new users or interessted buyers must buy pretty blind.
you can hate me all day long. and yes. maybe iam the nightmare of quick nifty sellers.
but i dont care.

you cant buy my voice :D
wanna more facts?

contras:
too expensive. with ~8k it hits OEM motorcycle territorium.
LMX is loudest bike ever you can buy
the stock Kelly controller is shit. always on regen. poor at smoothness. speed throttle only.
the stock dnm shock is good for basic offroad and street. but sucks on heavy offroad and jumps pretty hard.
plastics from the LMX are crap. they crack easy just by vibrations offroad.
Footpegs distance is way too small. you always tap on the kickstand and only the half of your foot stay on the pegs.
mirrors are 3$ ali crap.


pros:
lightest bike you can buy and its fully offroad usable.(43kg) and weight is most important.
(this wise enlightenment comes only if you could taste it) :D
size is just perfect for any male guy. if you are taller, you have a second way higher seat position.
Stock Power for a legal bike is crazy. unlocked it pulls literally like a train.
Brakes are superb (compared to magura, shimano, hope)
handling like a mtb.
rear wheel assembly with a single bolt. you can switch wheels in 1 minute.
stock fork is coil and fits perfect this bike.
domino throttle. best you can buy for EV.
Battery replaceble. you can charge inhouse when you have no juice in your garage.
(samsung 30q with bt bms)
climb everything without overheating
fully legal in europe with L1e license



Surron contras:

too small for men. its girls size. you can ride but any honest rider will say its too small.
stock tires are plastic from china.
stock (non X) Controller sucks on smoothness double the kelly crap :D + speed throttle.
dnm coil fork is for china guys weights or girls. way too weak.
dnm rear...same as lmx.
stock power...good for beginners....but tuning szene grows quicker as you can count =)
not real 6kw as promised. its more 4-5kw peak.

pros:

every penny worth in terms of what you paid for.... quality where it needs for a good base.
lets say cheap to it.
Battery has only PF Cells but Build Quality is outstanding. charger also pretty good.
(OEM Kicks in here)
Battery replaceable. Can charge inside when you dont have juice in your garage.
pretty fast on stock gearing (75kph)
climb everything without overheating
fully legal in europe with L1e license


my honest review =)
everybody can make his own opinion about these bikes.

thats what i would expect from a forum post when we talk about experience.

most stuff i wrote above can only compare ppl who had more then one ev.
if you are new to ev you would even say to an old infineon square wave suicide controller: wow, fantastic.

anyway. iam sure i wasted another hour writing this. but if this anyone helps for a decision iam happy.
btw happy: i offer also a test drive to anyone with my bikes. just let me know when you make the 1500km journey. i will be here waiting =)

about the ferrofluid evaporate you should email qulbix. not sure if we get an answer here.....
btw my little fanboy. if you make a deeper search about ferrofluid you will find abnormalities about hubmotors and magnets come lose.
ferrofluid is still experimental. me too had to replace magnets in a qs205 motor while they come lose. it may takes 1-2-3 years but if you search you will find ppl used FF and their magnets come lose. may also depends about when this motor was build. QS Vito is technical helpfull. maybe he knows something about or they take better glue for the magnets.
 
Merlin said:
ferrofluid is still experimental.
Click to expand...

This.

It's OK for DIY, but not for aftermarket use to last longer than some months, it won't.

I use my bikes for commuting, so I put a fairly amount of miles on it and ff won't last long.
It will fade quickly, the first miles are great but then the motor will heat up like a normal one.
I filled various types like statorade, ebay stuff and what not and various amounts in a mxus 3000 and a qs 205 and rode several thousands of miles.
I won't sell it as a company and advert a bike with the benefits of it, they will go away quick and you end with a hot brick that won't move if you use the advertised power levels.
Hubmotors need a water or heat pipe cooling, the design itself won't allow the heat to come out. FF is not the solution for aftermarket

Also the market evolves, these Qulbix bikes are still kind of DIY, and now pricey compared to others and others you can register.
That's the main benefit to not diy and if I diy, I can do it waaay cheaper than a complete qulbix bike.
It's not 2010 anymore, the components are cheaper now.

The performance compared to the other bikes available now is questionable, I used the Raptor 140 for around 25000km on road and loved it (mainly due to the adaptto) , but it sucks off road.
The hub motor ones (at least in the rear wheel) are pain in the ass for offraod use.

BTW:
Greetings to my little spoiled brat. :lol:
 
Merlin said:
spoiled brat...thats nice my little fanboy.
Click to expand...

I stand by my statement, your first reply sounded entitled and angry, which didn't seem necessary to me. But you are right, this is my first e-bike, and yes, I like it, although it is not perfect. That said I knew what I was getting when I bought it, all the specs including controller models are available on their site - it isn't a full on electric motorcycle, it is a hub motor equipped middrive that is silent and great for riding trails, which is what I wanted :) And again, even in the gnarliest of hills it has never overheated on me.

My point was simply that there are ways to discuss this without poking fun of (at least that's how I read it) a sales rep bothering to comment here. If my bike falls apart after a year, or starts overheating, I'll be happy to post about it here, but so far so good :) Anyways, not my fight, so I'll leave you to it.
 
@engate -
Sounds like your pretty frustrated with this bike, but in general whats your thought on the Qulbix vs Vector frames? I'm primarily deciding between a Qulbix 76 and Vector Typhoon (and their respective mid drives but they cost too much and might get me in trouble).
In particular:
1. Do you feel the swingarm wheel connection point is stronger on one vs the other (shooting for 20kw)?
2. What do you think of the suspension geometry of the two bikes?
4. Is the pedal height/position on the Typhoon annoying - does it make you feel 'balled up' while sitting - I'm 6' and usually ride a large frame.

The Qulbix 76 chain play seems worrisome (don't look like an issue on the MD though); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_64s2XZEXg

@benjamin - I see you removed the pedals and overdrive kit. How did you like the overdrive kit?
 
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