Stromer St1 30mph review

[Green Machine]

I just finished riding the st1 stromer review and i was fairly impressed. In the last few years production electric bikes are taking a big step up.

Right out the door on my test ride I got questioned by the police...lucky it was the good kind of questions. "Where did you buy it?"



The bike has a sticker on it that says "for off road use only" cuz of its 30mph top speed.

Pros:
The Stromer St1 ( Platinum or Elite) is probably the best electric bike I have reviewed so far under $5000. It is simply a super sweet package and leaves little to be desired. I will list its stand out features, many of which are not offered in any other electric bike:
Purpose built frame offered in 4 different sizes, and 2 styles (standard and step through)
Ultra clean looking bike
Proprietary battery pack consisting of quality Samsung cells.
Industry leading braking system which includes regenerative braking and Magura hydraulic brakes
Slick looking carbon fork
Schwalbe big ben tires, the nicest tires I have seen on a production bike
30mph top seed on the platinum
torque sensor with improved software programming that makes a smooth power delivery
Industry leading 3 year warranty
Obvoius quality components all the way around on this bike.

Now let me struggle to come up with a list of cons:

Cons:
High Sticker Price ($3500-$4000)
Relatively heavy at 62/65 pounds, especially considering its relatively small battery size
No throttle will be a big turn off for some buyers.
Proprietary battery will be hard to replace if company goes under
Direct drive hub motor is larger and less stealth than a geared hub motor
No suspension on base models

For the complete review go here: http://www.electricbike.com/stromer-st1/

 

[spinningmagnets]

Also, "Bicycling" magazine actually did a half-page review of the Stromer ST1. I got the impression that the reviewer wasn't a frequent E-bike user, so its written from the perspective of a pedal-biker being forced to write "something" about a product the majority of their magazines readers don't like, even though the tone of the article was fairly positive...

http://www.electricbike.com/bicycle-media/

 

[50yearoldebiker]

I saw an official Stromer video on Youtube where they state the throttles are available as accessories,
Oh & decals come right off, I recently removed mine, incognito's baby

 

[miro13car]

Finally review of quality ebike
STROMER must be real wonderful exercise machine without throttle and 30mph capability.
But you miss out two things:
how quiet it is
most important: what motor
Ultra Motor from Taiwan?

 

[Green Machine]

Yes i do believe it is the ultra motor from taiwan...same motor as used on the a2b correct?

What are your guys feeling on the motor?

I have heard that the controller built into the hub motor makes this much more less reliable than a traditional hub motor.

 

[miro13car]

I belive Ypedal has big experience with Ultra Motor,
because he owns A2B ebike.
Motor/build in controller systems can be very, very reliable .
Exactely opposite what you say.
Ask me or Ambroselio we can tell you how do we know!!!

 

[Green Machine]

I have a friend who is the lead ebike mechanic at blazing saddles with a fleet of stromers and a2bs. According to him they send failed motors back on a regular basis for replacement.

I always get his opinion on how reliable these systems are since they are putting many miles on many bikes every day. This is in SF hilly conditions.

And what is the purpose of having controller and hub built into the wheel when you have such a nice big hollow downtube you can fit both battery and controller in?

 

[miro13car]

I dont believe they send back Ultra Motors "on regular basis", maybe occasionally.
Ultra Motor is just ONE of more than 4 popular motor/controller-build-ins in use right now.
Motors/controller-build-in are used by one of the best if not THE BEST ebikes in the world for the reason.
they are :
-Tidal Force - legendary for reliability /ask Ambroselio member here/
-Eplus - 9000miles and going strong here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/714452-My-E-review
-FALCO manufactured in India right now.
all of them designed in USA by STGroup.
Generalizaing that controller in hub is bad it just doesn't make sense.
Like with all technical there are excelent examples and failures.
Everthing is in design and quality of materials.
MagicPie 3 has internal controller also and it is complete failure which looks like crap inside, sort of amatourish shoddy exercise.

 

[Green Machine]

I dont believe they send back Ultra Motors "on regular basis", maybe occasionally.
Ultra Motor is just ONE of more than 4 popular motor/controller-build-ins in use right now.
Motors/controller-build-in are used by one of the best if not THE BEST ebikes in the world for the reason.
they are :
-Tidal Force - legendary for reliability /ask Ambroselio member here/
-Eplus - 9000miles and going strong here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/714452-My-E-review
-FALCO manufactured in India right now.
all of them designed in USA by STGroup.
Generalizaing that controller in hub is bad it just doesn't make sense.
Like with all technical there are excelent examples and failures.
Everthing is in design and quality of materials.
MagicPie 3 has internal controller also and it is complete failure which looks like crap inside, sort of amatourish shoddy exercise.

I disagree with almost all of this.

What facts do you have that Ultra Motors are "Ultra reliable"?

Blazing Saddles has Ultramotors fail often in the rigorous hilly conditions of san francisco.

You mentioned ypedal as a source on why these motors are so good. Here is what Ypedal said about the motor in one of his posts:

"BionX ( Ultra Motor )

BionX has been around for a while as well, Direct Drive and they are have the controller built into the hub motor itself, this is good because it makes for simpler install, but bad because the motor and controller heat eachother up and this can cause problems with over-abuse and over heating.. Expensive, but well done, the same motrs are used on Ultra Motor bikes like the A2B metro etc."

I wasnt aware that bionx and ultramotor are related ...so that's news for me.

Ypedal said the benefit of having controller and motor built into one was an easy install. The draw back was less reliable. Now i ask you what good does a simple install do you on a production bike assembled in asia? And why do you think having controller and motor in one unit is inherently better?

Currently the Dapu geared hub motor is a much nicer motor IMO for these lower power levels. It is smaller, lighter weight, and powerful....and has a tiny quick release controller separate from the motor that's easy to swap out in the event of a break down.

 

[friendly1uk]

About controller location..
How many wires run between battery and controller.
Now how many wires run between controller and motor.
How much wire do you want on you bike. Think cost, weight and aesthetics. You want the controller at the motor.
If you make a bike, you expect the battery not to last, but the rest should. So the battery is all you expect a customer to change. If something else busts under warranty, you know full well it's part of the wheel assembly, and the LBS can surely swap a wheel. Start separating controllers from motors and many shops won't have a clue. We have a specialist electric bike shop in my city. No normal bikes, just electric. He can barely change a battery. You have to keep it simple to offer a good service for the masses

 

[friendly1uk]

Bargh. that was the quote button... not edit

 

[miro13car]

at first look you might think, circut boards with capacitors and components inside motor?
What this electronics going to be subjected to!!!
But no ,
it can last for close to 24,000km on my Tidal Force
Exactely 23,854 km as of today.
If designed and manufacture with quality can last thousands and thousands of miles.

 

[miro13car]

friendly1uk,
yes, keep it simple
less wires
controller outside you must run wires to throttle, temp. probe, power to controller.
FALCO design by STGroup is even better it uses wireless console, wireless PAS, wireless throttle.
I want so much to try this American design one day.

 

[50yearoldebiker]

I was into a sandy trail couple days ago for about 1/2 mile real fine beach sand & hosed down my Ultra Motor with a serious high pressure spray when i got home { bet you couldnt do that with many other brand hub motors } , I love this hub motor, 3300 miles on it on my MiPower, had a controller fail first week as I know of others who had controllers fail, the new one sent out looks a little different ,I didn't open it up I believe it's an upgraded model, been perfect 3k plus miles. I think it's more of some controllers being the problem not the motor itself.http://www.tdcm-motor.com/products/
Check out the " customers " tab for the e-bike companies that use this motor, all high end bikes

 

[miro13car]

So yours Ultra motor has external controller?
Stromer as you can read in this thread has controller inside Ultra Motor.
also A2B's Ultra Motor has controller inside.

 

[50yearoldebiker]

Micro13car- Yes the controller's external, the link to the companies website shows the different models they make, For my model changing the controller takes 5 minutes without removing the wheel.
Stromer, Grace , A2B sell a well respected product, if the problem was that bad I'm sure they would re-design to an external controller model they must be confident in their built in controller/hub motor models. Much more of a PIA to repair when only it's the controller that fails which seems to be the issue more times then not when these things stop working

 

[Mark H]

Removed and started a new thread

 

[Mark H]

Forgot to say that by liking our facebook page this will keep you updated on all the latest news. It is the easiest and quickest method of getting news out there.
https://www.facebook.com/teamhybridebikes

 

[Mark H]

A few data sheets attached

 

[spinningmagnets]

That's interesting, Mark. The controller is embedded in the stator core and can provide 50-amps of phase current.

Is the Falco 5-phase the motor that is being used by the stromer ST1?

 

[Mark H]

We have OEM's using our systems at the moment, one of them a UK trike manufacturer will be launching a Falco powered trike within the next couple of weeks. We also have KMX Karts using our systems and other manufacturers testing them.

 

[Samd]

Sounds like the Falco might be better moved to a new thread lest we have a threadjacking...

 

[cal3thousand]

at first look you might think, circut boards with capacitors and components inside motor?
What this electronics going to be subjected to!!!
But no ,
it can last for close to 24,000km on my Tidal Force
Exactely 23,854 km as of today.
If designed and manufacture with quality can last thousands and thousands of miles.

You are basing your arguments on anecdotal evidence. Your sample size of 1 bike is ridiculously low for you to be able to speak about the motors' general reliability.

Green machine, OTOH, is giving us "inside" information from a person that works with these e-bikes on a regular basis. I'm not saying that the bike cannot "last thousands and thousands of miles", but product reliability has to take more than just 1 example into consideration.

 

[e-biker]

I dont believe they send back Ultra Motors "on regular basis", maybe occasionally.
Ultra Motor is just ONE of more than 4 popular motor/controller-build-ins in use right now.
Motors/controller-build-in are used by one of the best if not THE BEST ebikes in the world for the reason.
they are :
-Tidal Force - legendary for reliability /ask Ambroselio member here/
-Eplus - 9000miles and going strong here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/714452-My-E-review
-FALCO manufactured in India right now.
all of them designed in USA by STGroup.
Generalizaing that controller in hub is bad it just doesn't make sense.
Like with all technical there are excelent examples and failures.
Everthing is in design and quality of materials.
MagicPie 3 has internal controller also and it is complete failure which looks like crap inside, sort of amatourish shoddy exercise.

WOW harsh words on Magicpie I have tried most of the name brand motors out there and with my lyen 18 fet modded for 24s I have smoked all of them! The only motor to stand up is my magicpie 2, I did remove the internal controller but the motor it self is a hoss! over 50mph for miles at a time. I have yet to find any other motor that stands up to that punishment, I will buy any of your m/p motors you have.

 

[geckocycles]

I thought the bike had good power, no noise, great brakes and handled well in a straight line. As soon as I hit the corners it felt weird. Too much weight in the gyro if you know what I mean.