Purchasing a bike from Alibaba (12kw, 15kw) Leili

cbr shadow

1 kW
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Feb 14, 2012
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Location
Daly City, CA -USA
I test rode an ebike this past weekend from someone on craigslist which I liked a lot, but found out that it is from Alibaba and he was charging twice what it's going for on Alibaba.

I'm considering buying this bike below from Changzhou Leili on Alibaba:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/12000-Watt-Electric-Bicycle-70-Mph_62384371574.html?spm=a2700.details.0.0.261073d2WV59kK

Has anyone here purchased from them in the past? What issues can I expect with bike quality, shipping, etc? I do understand that I can't expect good customer service. Luckily for me, there's a big electric bike community in my area and there are shops and ebike builders nearby that can service whatever I end up with.

What's your experience with the retailer above? It's very inexpensive from the looks of it. The other end of the spectrum is a company like CAB Motorworks that seems to have high quality ebikes, but they are literally 3x the price.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Literally no point getting these, get a sur ron from a local dealer, or if you want more power, the 4 speed dirt bikes with 96v 40ah battery.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Electric-dirt-bike-72v-84v-92v_1600145622823.html
 
This bike is a new model. Bigger and faster than a Sur-ron. Few buyers to collect feedback from. Seller might be unreliable.

At twice the cost that it is on alibaba, the one that you tried was asking a fair price IMO. That is because he had paid extra cost of shipping and customs, then solved the problems that the bike had as he was tuning and riding it.
 
MadRhino said:
This bike is a new model. Bigger and faster than a Sur-ron. Few buyers to collect feedback from. Seller might be unreliable.

At twice the cost that it is on alibaba, the one that you tried was asking a fair price IMO. That is because he had paid extra cost of shipping and customs, then solved the problems that the bike had as he was tuning and riding it.

You mean the one I linked? There is more discussion about it on facebook "electric motorcycle builds" group, there are some people who bought and have videos of it and have contact info of the manufacturer. I think searching for "4 speed" will bring it up.
 
Tommm said:
Literally no point getting these, get a sur ron from a local dealer, or if you want more power, the 4 speed dirt bikes with 96v 40ah battery.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Electric-dirt-bike-72v-84v-92v_1600145622823.html

I rode a Sur-Ron and didn't like it. It's loud. I also don't like the look of them (or the 4-speed that you linked) because of how much it looks like a dirt bike. Other posts have played out the "You're not fooling anyone into thinking you're on a mountain bike" argument so we can skip it here. I'm looking for a fast ebike with a bike seat and pedals, and generally having the shape of a diamond frame bicycle.

What battery cells are likely to come with the one I linked in the original post?
What brand controller/motor? If they're no-name, is that bad? Are these bikes generally someone reliable?
 
MadRhino said:
This bike is a new model. Bigger and faster than a Sur-ron. Few buyers to collect feedback from. Seller might be unreliable.

At twice the cost that it is on alibaba, the one that you tried was asking a fair price IMO. That is because he had paid extra cost of shipping and customs, then solved the problems that the bike had as he was tuning and riding it.

I hear you, but the one he was selling was a demo unit that has been sitting mostly idle for the last 18 months. He mentioned "I keep the battery charged above 80% at all times when in storage", didn't know the type of battery cells, and was charging $5,000 for the above 8kw bike.
 
cbr shadow said:
Tommm said:
Literally no point getting these, get a sur ron from a local dealer, or if you want more power, the 4 speed dirt bikes with 96v 40ah battery.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Electric-dirt-bike-72v-84v-92v_1600145622823.html

I rode a Sur-Ron and didn't like it. It's loud. I also don't like the look of them (or the 4-speed that you linked) because of how much it looks like a dirt bike. Other posts have played out the "You're not fooling anyone into thinking you're on a mountain bike" argument so we can skip it here. I'm looking for a fast ebike with a bike seat and pedals, and generally having the shape of a diamond frame bicycle.

What battery cells are likely to come with the one I linked in the original post?
What brand controller/motor? If they're no-name, is that bad? Are these bikes generally someone reliable?

Are you willing to sacrifice everything for a set of pedals? They are likely to come with the cheapest and worst capacity to weight ratio cells possible. Those bikes are e-waste category. The biggest problem is that they aren't even cheap either. Door to door it would cost 30-40% more than building that bike, and building it with way higher grade components would cost the same.

If you really want a hub bike with pedals, put it together yourself, and start with a proper frame like vector or eleek, I am sure there are some frame builders in US too.
That way you will get a reputable frame and battery too.
 
Tommm said:
cbr shadow said:
Tommm said:
Literally no point getting these, get a sur ron from a local dealer, or if you want more power, the 4 speed dirt bikes with 96v 40ah battery.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Electric-dirt-bike-72v-84v-92v_1600145622823.html

I rode a Sur-Ron and didn't like it. It's loud. I also don't like the look of them (or the 4-speed that you linked) because of how much it looks like a dirt bike. Other posts have played out the "You're not fooling anyone into thinking you're on a mountain bike" argument so we can skip it here. I'm looking for a fast ebike with a bike seat and pedals, and generally having the shape of a diamond frame bicycle.

What battery cells are likely to come with the one I linked in the original post?
What brand controller/motor? If they're no-name, is that bad? Are these bikes generally someone reliable?

Are you willing to sacrifice everything for a set of pedals? They are likely to come with the cheapest and worst capacity to weight ratio cells possible. Those bikes are e-waste category. The biggest problem is that they aren't even cheap either. Door to door it would cost 30-40% more than building that bike, and building it with way higher grade components would cost the same.

If you really want a hub bike with pedals, put it together yourself, and start with a proper frame like vector or eleek, I am sure there are some frame builders in US too.
That way you will get a reputable frame and battery too.


I looked into Vector and see nothing but harsh reviews of their bikes. The local (very reputable) shop told me to stay away from Vector as well.
What about buying a frame from Alibaba and having a builder locally put it together? I imagine the cost would start to get near the cost of CAB Motorworks assembled bike.

I find it odd that on this forum when I post about reputable (but expensive) US-based ebikes I get lots of comments saying "These are very similar to Alibaba/Aliexpress bikes" and tell me the local guys are overpriced. Then I post an Alibaba ebike and I get comments about those bikes are crap lol. What gives?
 
cbr shadow said:
What battery cells are likely to come with the one I linked in the original post?
What brand controller/motor? If they're no-name, is that bad? Are these bikes generally someone reliable?
Only the vendor can answer those questions. Have you asked them? If the answers are evasive, ambiguous, or otherwise unsatisfactory, well.............., then those answers are also valuable to your decision making. Don't try to rationalize around it just to keep the dream alive.

A vendor of quality gear will brag about the quality components by prominently listing them in the specs.

It's too easy to get hyped up on an attractive sales pitch and make a mistake. Even as others are warning you. The key is to maintain your objective judgement.
 
The issue is that the turnkey bikes like that from China will use the cheapest of the cheap parts throughout, and charge top dollar for the privilege. Literally every component will be substandard.

CAB is nothing to write home about as best as I can tell. The only name brand component they even mention is the brakes. They give literally zero information about the rest of the bike parts, controller, battery, etc and they charge through the nose. As PT Barnum purportedly said...

At the end of the day if you value getting your money's worth and don't wish to replace every part on your new expensive bike, you'll probably avoid both of the aforementioned.
 
It is true that Chinese frames quality is poor and subjected to almost no quality control. True also that most local ebike builders/sellers are offering Chinese crap at western prices.

Someone who is not familiar with bike frames and components can be fooled easily into buying crap, when shopping for a price especially. The fact is, quality frames and components are so expansive that literally no commercial builder is using them. Only the bicycle major brands are, and they are selling their bikes very expansive. It is understandable when you know that a top quality full suspension frame does cost above 2000$ new, a DH racing fork is well above 1000$, it is not uncommon to spend 600$ on brakes alone, and 1000$ for a set of wheels is entry level when you plan to speed the mountain trails.

When you are building for yourself, you can find quality frame and components on the used market, and build a quality bike at reasonable cost. Yet you need some fabrication skills and some bike mechanics knowledge to do so.
 
cbr shadow said:
I looked into Vector and see nothing but harsh reviews of their bikes. The local (very reputable) shop told me to stay away from Vector as well.
What about buying a frame from Alibaba and having a builder locally put it together? I imagine the cost would start to get near the cost of CAB Motorworks assembled bike.

I find it odd that on this forum when I post about reputable (but expensive) US-based ebikes I get lots of comments saying "These are very similar to Alibaba/Aliexpress bikes" and tell me the local guys are overpriced. Then I post an Alibaba ebike and I get comments about those bikes are crap lol. What gives?

Because one is hot garbage and the other is imported and resold hot garbage. The solution is to up the quality, hence my suggestion of looking at completely different bikes/frames.

A tip for free: don't bother asking a shop about a product they do not sell and/or compete with.

If you are hellbent on an eeb frame, get it from em3ev, its the same product. Usually business 2 consumer (em3ev webshop) shipping and taxes are cheaper than business 2 business (alibaba) costs.
 
Tommm said:
cbr shadow said:
I looked into Vector and see nothing but harsh reviews of their bikes. The local (very reputable) shop told me to stay away from Vector as well.
What about buying a frame from Alibaba and having a builder locally put it together? I imagine the cost would start to get near the cost of CAB Motorworks assembled bike.

I find it odd that on this forum when I post about reputable (but expensive) US-based ebikes I get lots of comments saying "These are very similar to Alibaba/Aliexpress bikes" and tell me the local guys are overpriced. Then I post an Alibaba ebike and I get comments about those bikes are crap lol. What gives?

Because one is hot garbage and the other is imported and resold hot garbage. The solution is to up the quality, hence my suggestion of looking at completely different bikes/frames.

A tip for free: don't bother asking a shop about a product they do not sell and/or compete with.

If you are hellbent on an eeb frame, get it from em3ev, its the same product. Usually business 2 consumer (em3ev webshop) shipping and taxes are cheaper than business 2 business (alibaba) costs.

It sounds like you know where good quality ebike frames can be purchased - could you link me to some? You mentioned Vector despite their poor customer service reputation (based on posts on endless-sphere anyway) - Do you know their frames to be better quality than other places? To me their frame looks exactly like what's on alibaba, but I could be wrong.
I appreciate the tip on EM3ev, but they don't have ebike frames for sale. They have a section under 'shop' for ebikes, but have other bike parts in that section.
 
cell man no longer sells eeb frames.. due to poor quality, issues??

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=110143&p=1660571#p1660571

have you considered qulbix or stealth futr ??
 
I've got one It's 4 or 5 years old now and I'm still waiting for it to flat pack itself :lol:
I've covered over 15000 miles on it and apart from welding in a custom battery box and changing the shock mounts for a bigger shock it's the best one I've got

Motor: QS273 3.5T
Controller Nucular 24F
Battery 22s
Power 20kw+
PWM fan cooling.

I also have another EEB with a QS205 in it , again no problems.


Jonno
 
cbr shadow said:
I appreciate the tip on EM3ev, but they don't have ebike frames for sale. They have a section under 'shop' for ebikes, but have other bike parts in that section.

Yea it says em3ev are out of stock, I have eleek frame, it is alright, the qulbix mentioned above is supposed to be great.
I haven't done research for frames made in america, depending on the cost of ship it would be better to look for something there.
 
I’d say buy the complete bike first linked to, instead of an Chinese frame alone. Those new frames are much better than the usual Chinese box frames. The Sur-ron was a major improvement, only too small. Now that they make a bigger one, it sure does better and most if all faster. At least you will start with a bike that is ready to ride and does OK as it comes. If you are riding dirt, you will upgrade the components over the years and end up with a good ride.
 
The fact they say it's capable of 70 mph would be a clue (to me) it's not a viable product. Stealth sells frames in the US (AFAIK), and have an office in socal. You might check to see if it's still there. Also, Amazon has a "Stealth-like" frame for $600 that has good reviews. If you don't like it, return it.
 
Fwiw I have a Qulbix Raptor 140 based bike and I absolutely love the frameset.
 
2old said:
The fact they say it's capable of 70 mph would be a clue (to me) it's not a viable product. Stealth sells frames in the US (AFAIK), and have an office in socal. You might check to see if it's still there. Also, Amazon has a "Stealth-like" frame for $600 that has good reviews. If you don't like it, return it.

I'm genuinely curious about the 70mph comment. Are you saying there's no way it can go that fast?
 
JMO, but ask the individual(s) here who can make that possible what they think. Don't want to put him (them) on the spot, but it should be evident. BTW, if you look on ebay there is a frame kit for <$300 that one individual reportedly had success with constructing a 40 mph or so bike (on another forum). IMO, anything faster needs at least moped parts (wheels/tires at least).
 
2old said:
JMO, but ask the individual(s) here who can make that possible what they think. Don't want to put him (them) on the spot, but it should be evident. BTW, if you look on ebay there is a frame kit for <$300 that one individual reportedly had success with constructing a 40 mph or so bike (on another forum). IMO, anything faster needs at least moped parts (wheels/tires at least).

I'm having a hard time understanding what your first sentence means. Not being a jerk, just genuinely not sure what you're saying.

The bike I linked above does have a motorcycle wheel and tire.
I'm not looking for a frame only, since that would be a big DIY project which I'm not looking for. I'm hoping to get a fully assembled bike.
 
Sorry if my statement was difficult. What I mean is there are individuals who have made fast bikes here and their opinion would be much better than mine (my max is 35 mph and I was happy to stop there). The subject bike's web site says the bike is 72V and 12,000 - 15,000w, which translates to a 150 - 200 amp controller AFAICT. Go to ebikesca site and plug those numbers into their system which shows motor function (obviously select a large motor). Don't think it equates to 70 mph, but I could be wrong.
 
Tommm said:
cbr shadow said:
Tommm said:
Literally no point getting these, get a sur ron from a local dealer, or if you want more power, the 4 speed dirt bikes with 96v 40ah battery.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Electric-dirt-bike-72v-84v-92v_1600145622823.html

I rode a Sur-Ron and didn't like it. It's loud. I also don't like the look of them (or the 4-speed that you linked) because of how much it looks like a dirt bike. Other posts have played out the "You're not fooling anyone into thinking you're on a mountain bike" argument so we can skip it here. I'm looking for a fast ebike with a bike seat and pedals, and generally having the shape of a diamond frame bicycle.

What battery cells are likely to come with the one I linked in the original post?
What brand controller/motor? If they're no-name, is that bad? Are these bikes generally someone reliable?

Are you willing to sacrifice everything for a set of pedals? They are likely to come with the cheapest and worst capacity to weight ratio cells possible. Those bikes are e-waste category. The biggest problem is that they aren't even cheap either. Door to door it would cost 30-40% more than building that bike, and building it with way higher grade components would cost the same.

If you really want a hub bike with pedals, put it together yourself, and start with a proper frame like vector or eleek, I am sure there are some frame builders in US too.
That way you will get a reputable frame and battery too.

I paid $3,900 (shipped to my door) for the above linked bike this morning. Please show me a list of parts that are higher grade, but still come out to be 30-40% less money. I'm going to say that's not even remotely possible. Not even close.
The frames that you've listed would take up more than 1/4 of that budget. Statements like this throw off new members who want to learn.
 
cbr shadow said:
I paid $3,900 (shipped to my door) for the above linked bike this morning. Please show me a list of parts that are higher grade, but still come out to be 30-40% less money. I'm going to say that's not even remotely possible. Not even close.
The frames that you've listed would take up more than 1/4 of that budget. Statements like this throw off new members who want to learn.

You already bought it, no point me writing anything. I know that what I have built and for how much. :lol:
 
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