Your thoughts?

[Addicted]

What do you guys think about this bike,i would like to get one but 20Mph is far too slow.What do you think it would take to bring it to 40-45?would the same batteries in it be alright,could i just upgrade the controler?

http://www.x-tremescooters.com/electric_bicycles/xb700li/xb700li.html
Jason.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Addicted]

Cool,Thanks.Even if i did get pulled over It's still an electric bike,Pedals are there.

Jason.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Addicted]

How could a police officer possibly check how many Watts an E bike is?

Jason.

 

[Anonymous]

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[DahonElectric]

What do you guys think about this bike,i would like to get one but 20Mph is far too slow.What do you think it would take to bring it to 40-45?would the same batteries in it be alright,could i just upgrade the controler?

http://www.x-tremescooters.com/electric_bicycles/xb700li/xb700li.html
Jason.

20mph, which is 32km/h is not slow at all, but is slow if you're coming from a car culture. You can upgrade the controller and batteries to make it go faster I suppose, but what about safety?!? Yes, you are still riding a bike, but you don't ride with a motorbike outfit either. I take it that you had never crashed big time have you and suffer major road rash. I don't think a typical styrofoam helmet is going to save your skull at 40-45mph either. Mine split when I crashed at 40km/h last year after being side swiped by a car and I suffer a major head concussion, broke the collar bone, dislocated shoulder, major road rashes (major bleeding from the neck down), 2 broken fingers (one of them till today is not restored to 100% full functionality) and I was out of work for 3 months and couldn't sleep in bed without major dosage of Tylenol 3. 9 months of shoulder rehab most of it out of my pocket -- almost went broke because of major hospital expenses (other Canadian healthcare only cover so much in physio) and had to fight ICBC for the hit & run case. Let me give you a hint. An insurance company treats a cyclist, especially one that's not insured, with the lowest priority of all. The most humiliating point of my life was when I had to sign the hospital paperwork with my mouth.

I see people here enthused about overvolting their ebikes to go faster. Speed is great. Just wait when you get into a crash.. There is a reason why ebikes are unpowered in the first place..

 

[vanilla ice]

OP have you ever gone 20mph on a bicycle before? Its not so bad.

Oh dude, thats one of those pseudo-scooto things..

 

[Link]

I'd be dying on only 20mph. I don't know how you people can stand sticking to the legal limit. I can respect the crash thing, but I can still do faster than that without a motor. Not much point in me having an ebike if I can't go faster than that, TBH.

In relation to the OP, more batteries would do the trick. Doubling the voltage should about double the speed, assuming it's not limited, so you'd need about twice as much battery. A new controller would also be in order, since it's highly unlikely that it can handle double it's rated voltage. If it is limited, doing whatever you need to would obviously achieve higher speeds. You may still need more voltage to get it up to 40, though.

 

[DahonElectric]

I'd be dying on only 20mph. I don't know how you people can stand sticking to the legal limit. I can respect the crash thing, but I can still do faster than that without a motor. Not much point in me having an ebike if I can't go faster than that, TBH.

In relation to the OP, more batteries would do the trick. Doubling the voltage should about double the speed, assuming it's not limited, so you'd need about twice as much battery. A new controller would also be in order, since it's highly unlikely that it can handle double it's rated voltage. If it is limited, doing whatever you need to would obviously achieve higher speeds. You may still need more voltage to get it up to 40, though.

Yes, a normal and fit human being can ride a bike faster than 20mph, but for the entire ride, the entire 7 day week, the entire month and the whole 365 days year without any recovery days in between and having to deal with lactic acid build up, muscle tear and major rest and also have enough energy and mental alertness to work an 8hr shift. Unless you're training for a Tour De France or any major road races, it is difficult for a human being to push to the maximal limit day in and day out without recovery days scheduled in. Even the best TDF pros take months to recover after the race. But people seemed to neglect this point and that is, you don't need recovery days with an electric bike. You can bike at 20mph and not develop lactic acid build up and stay in your aerobic zone, rather than going anaerobic sometimes. And you're burning mostly fat as your fuel source rather than more carbohydrates, which you need sometimes to sustain your energy for your 8hr shift. With a scooter, you don't need to do anything other than engaging the throttle. I bought the ebike simply because, it allows me to ride in my recovery days (I train for races) and flush out the lactic acid build up on the legs and at aerobic level while spinning easy. There's no way I can spin easy at zone 2 and ride 20mph or faster, unless I've got a motor helping me which I do.
Unfortunately, I see too many people ride so hard every day at around 20 to 25mph as though they're racing. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just a matter of time when they will break..

Being fitter is not on the effort itself, but rather what's being achieved on the recovery.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Pedals on a motored bike make it a moped. MO(tor)-PED(al). There is legal precidence for pedals on an electricly assisted bike being clasified as a bike instead of a moped, and the fact that it needs legal designation makes that significant. excede those limits, and its a moped. it will need registration/insurance/license to be road legal.

On a true bicycle, its easy to fake your way through, by going unnoticed, but on that thing, I imagine you'd be pulled over even if it was unmodified and still legal.

As far as making it do 40, its hard to say for sure untill you found out how the top speed was limited. If its electronicly limited to 20, it could be capable of 40 without the limit. Not likely, but impossable to say. If its limited to 20 by that being the maximum speed of the motor at 48 volts, then it might need a new motor/battery/controller to hit 40.

 

[snowcrow]

It really doesn't say what amp-hours the batteries are, and at 150lbs empty weight (without rider), pushing it home would really suck :? and I think you would be more often than not That 700 watts motor is about right for a 80 pound bike, and even then you would be lucky to see 20 mph* with a range of 25-35 Miles* per Charge. That little (*) says it all!! Blessings, Snow Crow

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

How could a police officer possibly check how many Watts an E bike is?

Jason.

ya kno, everyone keeps saying this, thinking that they can freely exceed the power limit cuz it's not something that can be accurately measured even under the best of circumstances.
Fact of the matter is people gots their thinking backwards on how the law works.
A cop, or especially a judge is gonna put the onus on the ebike rider/owner to prove compliance with the regulation.
IOW, if there's any doubt, they'll order you off the road first & ask questions later.
Forcing you to jumps thru hoops until the justice system is satisfied you're literally not pulling a fast one b4 they'll let your ebike back on the road.

 

[vanilla ice]

Yep. Those pseudo scooto things are a bad idea. Drivers will expect you to be doing 30+ mph because of the appearance. So stay legal and you are in mortal danger. Break the law and go the expected speeds and you may as well buy a legit scooter cuz you is gonna git pulled. Only thing I'd maybe buy one for is private property use.

 

[dogman dan]

We are seeing a lot of these posts, asking how can I have a motorcycle on a bicycle budget, and go as fast as a motorcycle while thinking " I'm still a bicycle and don't need insurance and registration" You may get away with it for a season or so, but the cops are going to wise up soon and start ticketing bicycles that go faster than 25 and mopeds that go 40. Just buy an old motorcycle and an etek and go for it if you want to go that fast. You'll wish you were insured when you crack up on a 40 mph mountain bike. On a real bike, you can lay it down and ride the frame till you slow down some, not on a bicycle.

 

[Addicted]

I have crashed bad many times,I had my first dirt bike at 4,I'm 30 now.Months in the hospital,the whole bit...I know crashing.The reason i like these thing is i lost my license and need transportation.I have a 50cc scooter now and i fly under the radar but something a little more legal would not hurt.It would be nice to cruise at 35-40 on the backroads while running errands,20Mph would take forever to criss cross a few towns.

Jason.

 

[I AM 0Z]

in florida there is condition in the legal definition of a bicycle of the seat not being less than 25 inches from the ground at it's highest adjustment so i looked and this gadget didn't list that particular dimension

 

[gasfree]

I like the look but like others have said is you have a low profile it is so much better. I was in a crash with my bike recently and I haven't fully recovered. I am glad other stopped to help out cause I had no clue what happened till a few moments after. I even rethought of the idea of riding again. Just too much at stake we you go too fast and driver aren't looking if there is anyone riding the bike lanes. Oh yeah road rash is no fun. I don't whats worse getting it or picking it out.

 

[Addicted]

Picking it out,That's my vote.

Jason.