Sur-Ron - New Mid drive Bike

[Aebrennan]

The most recent batch of bikes we have imported all have Fastace forks, but no longer with the air chambers.

The new Fastace fork is spring only, and the factory will no longer supply Fastace air forks.

They are now also offering DNM USD-8S as an option, alongside the RST Killah and Fastace ALX13RC spring.

To those unhappy with the RST fork, look into adding oil to the lowers, this will change the feel as they are grease lubricated only from the factory.

 

[RemoteRoad]

I also want to use this on some sidewalks to get to some trails, but am considering adding the pedals just to not get harassed to and from.

I would totally skip the pedal kit. I wanted it, until I realized that it's like being on the lowest of the lowest gear of a mtn bike...in other words you'll need to pedal like 3-4 revolutions to get the wheel to spin once...pointless.. The Sur Ron OEM pedal kit is basically the same thing, but they include a new chain and tiny rear sprocket...which kind of kills all your torque and will most likely overwork your motor, turning it into a bicycle basically I’m not a fan of the pedal kit, but that’s just me.

I ordered the pedal kit, which Luna indicated they'd install, but didn't. It's of very poor construction. Doesn't match with the bike's build quality at all. Very poorly cast metal. Want to find a better solution.

Rode the bike a bit with pegs but did go ahead and begin to mount the pedal kit to gain a bit broader riding access for the time being (original rear sprocket). Chain's a link or two short. I'm a total noob to bike work. Figuring I need to add a couple of links from the extra (shorter) chain that was included rather than moving the rear wheel too far forward.

 

[Bersekz]

The most recent batch of bikes we have imported all have Fastace forks, but no longer with the air chambers.

The new Fastace fork is spring only, and the factory will no longer supply Fastace air forks.

They are now also offering DNM USD-8S as an option, alongside the RST Killah and Fastace ALX13RC spring.

To those unhappy with the RST fork, look into adding oil to the lowers, this will change the feel as they are grease lubricated only from the factory.

Have you tryed the DNM USD-8S before? If yes, how does it compare to the spring Fastace ALX13RC? I'm really interested into another upside-down fork option.

 

[m3t]

The most recent batch of bikes we have imported all have Fastace forks, but no longer with the air chambers.

The new Fastace fork is spring only, and the factory will no longer supply Fastace air forks.

They are now also offering DNM USD-8S as an option, alongside the RST Killah and Fastace ALX13RC spring.

To those unhappy with the RST fork, look into adding oil to the lowers, this will change the feel as they are grease lubricated only from the factory.

Am I understanding this correctly? So basically the Fastaces don’t have damping settings anymore (Rebound and Comp)? Or is it they just simply removed the air chambers?

EDIT: They def have comp and rebound settings. Just no more air chambers.

 

[Raisedeyebrows]

Could a person put a Fox 40 or some other capable downhill fork on one of these bikes?

On the supermoto picture, I think the bike had fox forks (unless they were just stickers but I doubt it). I’m sure it can be done, just gotta make sure you get the proper triple clamp. The forks are a piece of cake with the right clamps.

Now that I think about it my idea there was likely not a good one, the state of the art MTB downhill forks are probably not designed for use with a 100 lb motorcycle, more suited for flying off cliffs while mounted on a 30 lb carbon bike. One second thought if a set of small WP forks like comes on KTM 125's could somehow be fitted it would be confidence inspiring and offer fantastic performance.

 

[m3t]

Could a person put a Fox 40 or some other capable downhill fork on one of these bikes?

On the supermoto picture, I think the bike had fox forks (unless they were just stickers but I doubt it). I’m sure it can be done, just gotta make sure you get the proper triple clamp. The forks are a piece of cake with the right clamps.

Now that I think about it my idea there was likely not a good one, the state of the art MTB downhill forks are probably not designed for use with a 100 lb motorcycle, more suited for flying off cliffs while mounted on a 30 lb carbon bike. One second thought if a set of small WP forks like comes on KTM 125's could somehow be fitted it would be confidence inspiring and offer fantastic performance.

True, but as far as I know, the RSTs are a mtn bike fork as is the Fastace. LC updated their website again to depict the differences, but I think they referenced the wrong Fastace fork. Not their fault, their website is not very informative or well organized. Just a bunch of forks all over the place with no categorization really.

I’ve done a lot of thinking and I’ll just stick with the RSTs. RSTs come with a two year warranty which is pretty awesome and pretty clear instructions. The Fastace instructions are kind of hard to follow and frankly don’t seem well put together. Also they only list a 6 month warranty which says a few things. Plus I’ve never heard about issues with the RST. The RSTs are also made of cast magnesium lowers and are fairly light, with 7050 Aluminum stanchions. I could have sworn they had oil in them already but the instructions also state they are grease lubed. Probably need a super light 2.5W oil or 0W even, but I’ll do some more research. Won’t be sticking anything in without some confirmation I won’t be blowing out my stacks since any kind of fluid is far more viscous than air.

That being said, WP forks are freakin awesome now, but you’ll pay a seriously hefty premium. Also, 125 forks are freaking heavy and huge. I have a YZ 125, and I’ve done my forks before. My friend just picked up a 2017 KTM 250 XC with the WPs, and he loves them.

 

[Blade59rt]

Hi all, new here but have been looking at the Sur-Ron for a while. I was originally going to mod my fat tire bike(electric motor etc) but decided against that after looking at the Sur-Ron. So far it looks to be a great bike. For those owners is this bike what you thought after you received it? Still deciding on getting the bike. Just not 100% yet. How is the power after say a few miles? Does it start loosing power? or stay pretty much the same until near empty?
I also want to use this on some sidewalks to get to some trails, but am considering adding the pedals just to not get harassed to and from.
Thanks for all the great info so far. Dave

Its an amazing piece of kit. I ride mainly unsealed country roads in full power mode and usually flat out. At 15% the battery monitor was flashing but full power was still available. I'm a crap rider so it flatters me even in loose gravel piled up on the side of the road. Also using it as a farm bike where it has a number of advantages, quiet round stock but with a horn that shifts stock when you need it, handles steep stuff easily (way past this riders level of confidence)
I have $2500 invested on a 1500W Dillenger kit plus a disk brake front end on a full suspension mongoose mountain bike frame plus I had to machine a few custom bits to get it all to fit. It's great but I'm not riding it now I'd rather be on the Light bee

That's awesome, nice to hear more happy reviews about it.
Thanks

 

[Raisedeyebrows]

Could a person put a Fox 40 or some other capable downhill fork on one of these bikes?

On the supermoto picture, I think the bike had fox forks (unless they were just stickers but I doubt it). I’m sure it can be done, just gotta make sure you get the proper triple clamp. The forks are a piece of cake with the right clamps.

Now that I think about it my idea there was likely not a good one, the state of the art MTB downhill forks are probably not designed for use with a 100 lb motorcycle, more suited for flying off cliffs while mounted on a 30 lb carbon bike. One second thought if a set of small WP forks like comes on KTM 125's could somehow be fitted it would be confidence inspiring and offer fantastic performance.

True, but as far as I know, the RSTs are a mtn bike fork as is the Fastace. LC updated their website again to depict the differences, but I think they referenced the wrong Fastace fork. Not their fault, their website is not very informative or well organized. Just a bunch of forks all over the place with no categorization really.

I’ve done a lot of thinking and I’ll just stick with the RSTs. RSTs come with a two year warranty which is pretty awesome and pretty clear instructions. The Fastace instructions are kind of hard to follow and frankly don’t seem well put together. Also they only list a 6 month warranty which says a few things. Plus I’ve never heard about issues with the RST. The RSTs are also made of cast magnesium lowers and are fairly light, with 7050 Aluminum stanchions. I could have sworn they had oil in them already but the instructions also state they are grease lubed. Probably need a super light 2.5W oil or 0W even, but I’ll do some more research. Won’t be sticking anything in without some confirmation I won’t be blowing out my stacks since any kind of fluid is far more viscous than air.

That being said, WP forks are freakin awesome now, but you’ll pay a seriously hefty premium. Also, 125 forks are freaking heavy and huge. I have a YZ 125, and I’ve done my forks before. My friend just picked up a 2017 KTM 250 XC with the WPs, and he loves them.

The reason I asked if a seriously nice fork could be used somehow is the bikes seem like a pretty darned nice machine deserving of a top notch fork. Of course good fork is not inexpensive and might end up costing half of what the bikes cost initially. I will say from watching Motomoto's video on the MX track it appears whatever is on there seems to be working very nicely for him, very impressive. I realize weight is a factor though and a full blown MX fork might be too much weight if people find the stock forks leaky or otherwise troublesome and want to upgrade them.

 

[m3t]

If I’m not mistaken, the forks in motomotos videos are with the RSTs. He considers them as the superior fork and he’s been riding for almost longer than I’ve been alive so I trust his opinion. I’ve gotten the chance to ride both his bikes and to be honest I was a little more impressed with the RSTs performance wise. Man I wish these were inverted. In either case, I have no issue spending half the cost of the bike on nice suspension down the line. The suspension is honestly most of a dirt bike. Doesn’t matter how much power you have if you can’t get it to the ground or stay on the ground with stability. Pro riders like Ricky Carmichael have ~$100,000 suspensions (labor, testing and material) and for good reason.

Also, 125s are still 200+ lbs wet so with a 170 lbs rider that’s 370 lbs vs our 280 lbs so that may prove to be too stiff even on the softest setting. Possibly. Depends on what you do, but MX forks in particular are pretty stiff compared to Enduro due to the huge jumps they see regularly.

 

[Gloert16]

Just unpacked my new Sur Ron and can't wait to get it out on some trails.

I also got the RST Killah fork and have to admit I was pretty disappointed. I swore I saw it posted somewhere in the forums or on Luna's site that all their bikes would be shipping with the FastAce forks. I'm about 6'2" and 215lbs, so worried I'm going not going to be happy with the RSTs - I also plan to use my Sur Ron up in the Rocky Mountains during Elk hunts, so I'll be on game trails, old rutted out logging roads, dense forest/rocky/steep, etc where the better turning radius and durability/MX spec of the FastAce was appealing.

There definitely wasn't an option when I ordered to specify the fork - which is why I also thought everything would be shipping with the same fork option. I guess I should have asked specifically prior to ordering as I may be stuck with what I got. Any advice?

On Luna's "documentation" site that they lead you to, it states that the Fastaces are production forks, so you're absolutely right. Honestly, I just touched base with them and although it's not set in stone, it's unlikely they'll be swapping them out for free. They are working to get Fastace forks in, and will be offered separately as an upgrade? I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I only have 4 miles on my bike and I'm itching to put more, but I really don't want to kill any opportunity to swap these out for Fastaces. I have a dark grey bike and the white forks are killing me. If they were black I honestly don't think I would mind that much, but the skinny stanchions on top look kinda weak compared to the rest of the bike. Even my roommate said that, which was

EDIT: The RSTs are the better forks. Please see below. I’m torn.

Yeah - I was also told by LC customer support that the RST's they received were sent to some of the pre-orders as a "thank you" and that " ..the RST fork cost hundreds more and is a much better fork..". This seems to contradict most peple's reviews on here when it comes to heavier riders or bigger hits which is why I'm struggling with that explanation. The better turning radius of the FastAce also really appealed to me for the areas I'll be riding this thing. At any rate, I still feeling like the response from customer service was a bit of a blow-off. If the fork "costs hundreds more", why offer it at $50 upgrade now on your site? If its truly a better fork, I guess I appreciate the sentiment in a "thank you", but why not communicate that up front with a customer rather than wait for them to be surprised/upset?

 

[Hyena]

The RST is a pretty budget fork and claiming they're a premium product is a bit rich. I looked into buying these to package with the FUTR frames a few years back but ended up going with DNM, even though they were a little bit more expensive. DNM aren't the bees knees of suspension, and for the price you couldn't expect they would be, but having built multiple bikes with them now and also ridden RST equipt bikes, I can tell you I much prefer the fastace for smashing over the rough stuff. If you're still pretending this is a bicycle or are happy to cruise around fire trails riding it like it's one then by all means go with the RST and swap out the front wheel for a 26" MTB wheel while you're at it. But for the sort of riding I do, even being on the lighter side at 70kg / 155lb I wouldn't want the lighter duty forks.

 

[efMX Trials Electric Freeride]

I have broken a few suspension forks with
lightweight magnesium lowers similar to the RST (manitou brand).. and that was just from mountain biking (not an ebike) and back when I was racing and probably only weighed ~130lbs.. granted it was on a pretty gnarly downhill with big hits and drops..

 

[m3t]

The RST is a pretty budget fork and claiming they're a premium product is a bit rich. I looked into buying these to package with the FUTR frames a few years back but ended up going with DNM, even though they were a little bit more expensive. DNM aren't the bees knees of suspension, and for the price you couldn't expect they would be, but having built multiple bikes with them now and also ridden RST equipt bikes, I can tell you I much prefer the fastace for smashing over the rough stuff. If you're still pretending this is a bicycle or are happy to cruise around fire trails riding it like it's one then by all means go with the RST and swap out the front wheel for a 26" MTB wheel while you're at it. But for the sort of riding I do, even being on the lighter side at 70kg / 155lb I wouldn't want the lighter duty forks.

I know RSTs arent the greatest and maybe I should just take a punt at the Fastace. I'm also feeling like they're kind of blowing me off...but I don't know, don't want to assume anything. Fastaces are much heavier at around 19 lbs vs the 7 lbs for the RSTs but that's probably a good thing. I'm kind of leaning more towards the Fastaces based of Hyena's response. I am taking it light but do want it to be able to handle most of the riding my YZ 125 can handle on the trails.

 

[stonezone]

Could a person put a Fox 40 or some other capable downhill fork on one of these bikes?

yup, got a set of 27.5 dorado pros on mine and there's no way i could go back to the FA....

 

[m3t]

Could a person put a Fox 40 or some other capable downhill fork on one of these bikes?

yup, got a set of 27.5 dorado pros on mine and there's no way i could go back to the FA....

What are your thoughts on the Fastace? How do they compare if you don't mind sharing?

 

[motomoto]

Now that I think about it my idea there was likely not a good one, the state of the art MTB downhill forks are probably not designed for use with a 100 lb motorcycle, more suited for flying off cliffs while mounted on a 30 lb carbon bike. One second thought if a set of small WP forks like comes on KTM 125's could somehow be fitted it would be confidence inspiring and offer fantastic performance.

I have been spending time on Ebay looking at KTM SX 85 forks to take the Sur-ron to the next level. I have an Agni i am
going to mount on the test bike. 11 inch travel suspension with a 20+ HP motor sounds like an upgrade.

 

[Rix]

Now that I think about it my idea there was likely not a good one, the state of the art MTB downhill forks are probably not designed for use with a 100 lb motorcycle, more suited for flying off cliffs while mounted on a 30 lb carbon bike. One second thought if a set of small WP forks like comes on KTM 125's could somehow be fitted it would be confidence inspiring and offer fantastic performance.

I have been spending time on Ebay looking at KTM SX 85 forks to take the Sur-ron to the next level. I have an Agni i am
going to mount on the test bike. 11 inch travel suspension with a 20+ HP motor sounds like an upgrade.

BRRAAAPPPP! without the noise

 

[Hyena]

hah funny you should say that, just before I bought the surron I was looking at big wheel SX85s or to convert to electric!

 

[johnrobholmes]

[...... I'm also feeling like they're kind of blowing me off...but I don't know, don't want to assume anything.

I got the same vibe when I opened a ticket for my bike being shipped with a totally dead battery and the air switch turned on, I figured it was smart to alert them after the bike went into limp mode 40km into an EP mode street ride. 0v on the terminal when I got the bike, BMS was tripped, charger wouldn't work, and I had to reset the BMS as the instructions indicate by pushing the red button on the charger. Took 20 minutes to get it back up to LVC, which means it was a few amp hours below "dead" SOC.

The response from luna was : your battery was not dead. That is impossible. Your air switch would not have been on. They are test ridden before shipped. There is no way the BMS was tripped. We will do nothing for you until YOU prove the battery capacity is low, and you will also pay to ship it back.

They refuted every thing I said and never once said they would take care of me. I understand they probably have a lot of bunk warranty claims, but I've lost respect for the owner and Gary with the way they tried to gaslight me on this. They didn't tell me what they wanted to see specifically from tests, and simultaneously criticized me for not having done whatever tests they want to see. I had to ask directly three times on what they wanted to see, and it was essentially an uncut video of me riding while having a wattmeter on the bike. At this point, I'm not expecting them to act favorably to my fork having the air leak.

In short, Luna has the "resting bitch face" of customer support. They either don't understand their extremely shitty and condescending tone, or they know what they are doing and don't care. Either way, worst customer support treatment I've ever had. I got frustrated enough to threaten a credit card chargeback.

 

[jph3]

The response from luna was : your battery was not dead. That is impossible. Your air switch would not have been on. They are test ridden before shipped. There is no way the BMS was tripped. We will do nothing for you until YOU prove the battery capacity is low, and you will also pay to ship it back.

What is the air switch? Or where is it?

As for the customer service I was super skeptical based on my pre-purchase experience... but Gary has responded late at night and favorable to helping out. My guess is he is overwhelmed and needs some additional help? I’ve owned a couple small businesses and if you have bad things popping up it’s typically from a growth spurt.

 

[jph3]

Sorry, double post?

 

[m3t]

The response from luna was : your battery was not dead. That is impossible. Your air switch would not have been on. They are test ridden before shipped. There is no way the BMS was tripped. We will do nothing for you until YOU prove the battery capacity is low, and you will also pay to ship it back.

What is the air switch? Or where is it?

As for the customer service I was super skeptical based on my pre-purchase experience... but Gary has responded late at night and favorable to helping out. My guess is he is overwhelmed and needs some additional help? I’ve owned a couple small businesses and if you have bad things popping up in that department it’s typically from a growth spurt or just a bad product. Their products overall seem to be well known as good...

I think he's referring to the circuit breaker underneath the battery door that a lot of people don't turn on and freak out about. To be honest it shouldn't have been left in the closed or "ON" state. That could potentially drain the battery although it shouldn't have with the key out. It does sound like you may have gotten a faulty bike/controller/battery. I really hope they do take care of you. Gary has been fairly reasonable with me so far, but when I inquired about the Fastaces, he said they no longer have any adjustment and are just a stock spring? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Fastace offers any fork without at the very least rebound and compression. Maybe he was mistaken, who knows. Again, I don't want to assume, but it does seem like they want me to just keep my RST which I found on eBay for $475.00 aka not really a high end fork, considering what I've seen on prices for other better forks. Not that they’re terrible or anything, just stating some facts. Heavily considering just ordering a set of DNM USD-8S and installing those and selling my RSTs that have 4 miles on them (street and maybe 200 ft of grass).

Anyone want to sell their Fastaces or trade? Can't seem to find those online. I did find a Fastace set with the forks and the guy wanted $1400.00, and that's a hell no sorry. The forks I can get for that money...don't even get me started.

 

[Hyena]

The response from luna was : We will do nothing for you until YOU prove the battery capacity is low, and you will also pay to ship it back.

Wow, those were their words ? That's a nice way to treat someone who's actually benefiting them with free product marketing from your youtube vids. I suspect your next vid may not be so favorable if they don't do the right thing...
But they should, surron has stood by their warranty for my issues in the early batch so it's not like Luna would be out of pocket for these claims.

I was wondering why I've had a number of people who bought from Luna contact ME for support. Once again ES members are picking up the slack while the vendors drop the ball and then shirk responsibiltiy

 

[Sebz]

Hey Hyena,

Of course that is not how we answered. He didn't seem happy with the range in cold weather.... So we offered a full refund (no restocking fee) on a lightly used bike.. but of course shipping back is not included since the bike was not defective.

I wont continue on the subject here on this thread because it's not the place to do it. But I will say this, there are 2 sides to every story.

Back on the FASTACE ALX13RC fork.. The model on the Sur-Ron is a fork for downhill pedal bikes just like the RST! It's not a motocross (or mini pitbike) fork at all it's only made for pedal bikes according to the 2018 FastAce catalog. It's too big to post but you can download it here: http://www.fastace.com/sup.php

 

[Rix]

Hey Hyena,

Of course that is not how we answered. He didn't seem happy with the range in cold weather.... So we offered a full refund (no restocking fee) on a lightly used bike.. but of course shipping back is not included since the bike was not defective.

I wont continue on the subject here because it's not the place to do it. But I will say this, there are 2 sides to every story.

Back on the FASTACE ALX13RC fork.. The model on the Sur-Ron is a fork for downhill pedal bikes just like the RST! It's not a motocross (or mini pitbike) fork at all it's only made for pedal bikes according to the 2018 FastAce catalog. It's too big to post but you can download it here: http://www.fastace.com/sup.php

JRH doesn't lie. If he said his bike arrived at his door with the battery completely discharged and the "air switch" on, then thats how it arrived. JRH would not make this up. Mistakes from the manufacture happen, and that may be the case here. Whether or not the battery was damaged long term wise is yet to be seen. For what its worth, my Sur-ron arrived and is in perfect working order. Thank you Luna!! As far as customer service goes, I have found when dealing with foreign non primary English speaking individuals, things get lost in translation, could this be the case?