oatnet said:
Yeah, I think you overpaid at 4k: 2k for the motor kit, and 2k for the frame and special badging. The frame can be had for a few hundred (marketed as the jeep frame among others), and the old M bikes can be had for under a grand. You may remember me as the Tidalforce guy - I have a huge collection of TF, including M-750X, S-750X, IO-X, (all with the rear battery) and a whole mess of non-x bikes and parts, minus the (135) S-750 frames I sold here.
Your speeds on flats don't match up with what I am seeing on TF-X or my 1000w E+, which I only use on '9'. I have to be on a steep downhill/tailwind to see 35mph, 28mph with heavy pedaling, 24mph not pedaling. Body position/resistance might account for some
it, but our numbers are far enough apart to make me wonder if you are seeing km instead of miles? Or am I confused, is the X2 still a 1000w/36v system? 35mph on 1000w is pretty good, only 28.5 wh/m to overcome 35mph drag.
The 36v9ah pack has 324wh, 260 usable at an 80% DOD, which would cover (9) miles at the 28.5wh/m rate from your 35mph estimate.
-JD
Well, first off the Montague Paratrooper Frame is not really sold by itself often -- I haven't seen one -- in my local bikeshop, the Paratrooper with a barebones system is going for $900 -- are you talking about the same bike? Jeep Frame and Paratrooper Frame from Montague are not the same...
Please send me a link, but I don't think it's the same thing. If you have the Original M-750X From Tidalforce, then you have the Paratrooper frame -- not jeep I don't think. Maybe I'm wrong. The montague frames are pretty nifty and also the original design. The X2.0 is not TF, it's E+, but just called Tidalforce M-750 X2.0 as a tribute to the original etc after the company went out of business. The parts on the bike are upgraded throughout, I took it to my bikeshop and the numbers I quoted you on how much the parts were worth are from the guys I talked to there. Sure it's not cheap, but the bike itself is very high quality and built like a tank -- it is also heavy.
http://epluselectricbike.com/buy-bikes-online/signature-electric-bikes/tidalforce-bike-m-750
That is the bike I bought -- I overpaid a little based on that it's limited edition, but that is just the choice of if you want limited edition or not. I guess I wanted one of only 240 X2's out there. But from parts+ system, it's still not that serious of a markup.
In regards to speed, it is the E+ 1000W system. Let me first say, there is a variance between a windy day and a sunny little/no wind day. When I talk about my speeds, I talk about the sunny/ little wind days on relatively flat roads around my place. When measuring, I use E+ meter but have compared with TomTom GPS, an iphone and a bikemate speed reader. Like talking to Miro above, I at first also had a variance, but after bringing my bike into general servicing at E+, my mileage is now almost dead-on with the GPS unit. As for speeds, I get to about 26-28mph on level 5, it takes a little longer than if I was using 7-9, but I have a 4 mile stretch around where I live which is mostly flat, sometimes a slight decline, and I am usually going 27-28 the entire time, speeding up a little with some pedalling and then coming back to that speed or slowing down slightly on slight inclines. If it is windy out, then my speeds drop 6-7miles lower depending on whether I am just using battery or assisting and how strong the wind is.
With level 9 on that same road during sunny days, on high levels 7-9, I am easily levelling out around 34mph with a variance of +-2 depending on whether the road inclines or declines slightly. I drive behind cars doing 30-35mph on the local road all the time, in fact I have had a friend cruise next to me in a subaru doing 33=36mph and I have been cruising next to him on that road without pedalling.
I do want to make a note that sometimes the bike will not push from 29 onwards (especially on setting 7), but if I pedal a few times up to 34-35, the motor will easily keep me there. The X2 also comes with a bigger crankset, which I did notice a difference when riding my friends TF. I don't know where the difference comes in, but I can assure you I get these speeds. Cruising home from work last week I did 13.6 miles at an average of 27mph and that was 8 miles of uphill.
I don't know how you calculate, but in terms of riding style -- yes, if you are doing 33-35mph, you are burning up that battery. Like I said in my previous post, driving full speed on highest setting without pedalling, I can't imagine getting more than 9-12 miles out of the bike. When I rode the bike pedalling very hard and going as fast as I could, I got about 13miles out of it at top speed. I had a lot of uphills, but also a lot of very fast stretches and 40MPH+ top speeds on the downhills. I also pedalled intensely. But that is not how I really ride on a daily basis.
I do not drive on power 9, in fact the bike does not need it. It easily pulls me up any hill on level 5 with just minor user effort, and if I get tired I put it up to 6-7. Level 9 is reserved for the last 1-2 miles of fast cruising home if I choose, and I don't see the point as 7 is basically as powerful and drains less charge.
I have been getting closer to 20 miles per charge, averaging around the 23-25 average speed mark with constant assist of some kind, ranging from 4-7. Long range is 35 miles +, I would guess optimal road conditions, pedalling hard and low power output -- I can't say, because I haven't pushed it to see how long I could go -- but I have done 28.6 miles with battery to spare driving economically at a 20mph pace with solid pedalling throughout.
