My Bafang Ultra Mountain Bike! Frey AM1000

[Mountgreenwood]

Please be very wary of Frey. I had ordered a CC and was recently asked to change ground shipping to Europe for an additional cost of $100 to $200 toward taxes. I agreed. When it arrived in customs in a very large box labeled “Bicycle Frame” with a declared value of $500 customs opened the box. They were unimpressed.

My contract listed DDP but the fact that I agreed to air freight is the reason Ivy and Cecelia used for claiming I was now liable for all the fees.

Customs wants €572. I had already paid $550 for shipping. A Haibike would have been ridden all summer for the cost of the CC plus the shipping and taxes.

 

[JohnnyEppelseed]

Please be very wary of Frey. I had ordered a CC and was recently asked to change ground shipping to Europe for an additional cost of $100 to $200 toward taxes. I agreed. When it arrived in customs in a very large box labeled “Bicycle Frame” with a declared value of $500 customs opened the box. They were unimpressed.

My contract listed DDP but the fact that I agreed to air freight is the reason Ivy and Cecelia used for claiming I was now liable for all the fees.

Customs wants €572. I had already paid $550 for shipping. A Haibike would have been ridden all summer for the cost of the CC plus the shipping and taxes.

That sucks. I suppose you could try to recoup the difference from Frey...good luck with that. In which country do you reside?

 

[Mountgreenwood]

Ireland, 21% vat at the moment. If they hadn’t stated $100-200 I could have made an informed decision. Yes, I am in the “good luck with that” territory. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up so you could make an actual informed decision.

 

[stevieman]

Hi guys,

I’m in Scotland, and received my AM1000 a couple of weeks ago, but I’m still waiting on my battery, which the tracking says it is still in Hungary and the label is printed but not shipped yet.

Has anyone else has the same in the UK. I accepted the potential additional costs of the bike to ship via air as others have, but I didn’t figure on getting the bike so quickly that I’d have to wait 2-3 weeks on the battery .

 

[Mountgreenwood]

I’m in the same boat, label created in Poland on 08 Sep then nothing.

 

[craigiet]

Hi guys, I just received the message about shipping by air and not sure what to decide (Air or just stick with train) I'm in Scotland uk and was wondering if there is anyone that has received bike and battery, how long did delivery take in total? What did it end up costing extra in taxes for air?
Also why has train all of a sudden become unreliable? Is that not been freys choice of shipping for a while now or am I mistaken. Please give your thoughts. Cheers

 

[JohnnyEppelseed]

Hi guys, I just received the message about shipping by air and not sure what to decide (Air or just stick with train) I'm in Scotland uk and was wondering if there is anyone that has received bike and battery, how long did delivery take in total? What did it end up costing extra in taxes for air?
Also why has train all of a sudden become unreliable? Is that not been freys choice of shipping for a while now or am I mistaken. Please give your thoughts. Cheers

I hate to think devious thoughts but...perhaps the various customs services have gotten hip to, or decide to crack down on, undervaluation of bicycles by Chinese vendors. Said vendors, after having contracted to provide DDP are attempting to mitigate that risk. I guess confirmation of this supposition is for someone to report another EUR 572 customs incident on a bike shipped by rail. I would like to hear the Frey response to my wild ravings.

 

[stevieman]

Hi guys, I just received the message about shipping by air and not sure what to decide (Air or just stick with train) I'm in Scotland uk and was wondering if there is anyone that has received bike and battery, how long did delivery take in total? What did it end up costing extra in taxes for air?
Also why has train all of a sudden become unreliable? Is that not been freys choice of shipping for a while now or am I mistaken. Please give your thoughts. Cheers

I’m in Scotland too and decided to get the bike shipped by air, the bike arrived with in about 4 days which was great, and I didn’t get hit with any additional charges, although I was really worried I might, as I did ask a lot of questions about it with the anti dumping tariff etc.
The battery though Is still in transit, as mentioned above. Label created on the 9th and nothing since.
It’s a real pain having the bike delivered, but its useless with out the battery, which can take up to 16 working days to arrive. So might be waiting another 2 weeks

 

[Mountgreenwood]

After further negotiations Frey has made an effort to resolve our shipping dispute. When that happens I will update. Until then I remain in “good luck with that” status.

 

[Lewis1]

I am in process of thinking about ordering AM1000 but still looking into best process as lots of talk of options and problems. I know you can't take lithium battery on planes as highly dangerous. UK

 

[FlyingFinn]

Here is the manufacturer's page http://www.salto-bike.com/eindex.asp. Prices and geometry can be found there. Does anyone have firsthand experience with this frame?

Not the same frame. I believe the one I posted is made by https://www.txedbike.com/index.html.

Let us know what it's like when you buy one, or at least provide more details of seller.

TXED is a big manufacturer, so they don't deal with private customers. I had to find a reseller on Alibaba. Unfortunately, the reseller has quoted me 500 USD for the shipping (DDP), so I am no longer considering that route.

Yes it does. Shipping to Europe is/was $550. Air freight was the same price than train shipping. Air is alot faster 1-2 weeks from sending but you need to pay around $100 of charges upon receiving the bike. Train was 1-3 months but no extra charges.

No way 550 USD includes import duties. When importing fully assembled e-bikes from China to the EU, the anti-dumping and countervailing duty is usually 79.3%. Frey isn't on the list of companies that enjoy reduced duty rate https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02019R0073-20190118

They are either transshipping (illegal), assembling in the EU (doubt) or use some third method (legal or illegal way to avoid anti-dumping and countervailing duty). I assume their 3500 USD price might include duties since Sondors Rockstar will sell in the USA for 2500 USD and is a very similar e-bike.

An excerpt from my contract -

"DDP:You can receive the goods at the destination place, your supplier will do the import customs clearance at the destination port and also afford all the fees including import duty."

I expect no extra charges. I will let you know how it all plays out after I receive my bike.

Are you ordering from Frey or SEROXAT?

You are wrong. Back in 2019 land freight to Europe (Finland) was $550 including EVERYTHING. The bike arrived directly to my home door. No import duties or customs forms.

Now the same service is $580 although not recommended by Frey due to prolongued shipping time. I’m in the process of ordering a CC to my father and will choose this land freight. It doesn’t matter if it takes longer because he won’t ride the bike on icy and snowy roads anyway.

 

[jeron]

Hi Guys,

A couple questions about the innotrace controller.
What about the display when you send the motor to replace the controller. Do you need a new one? Is the original still working? And what about the eggrider?
If you need a new one, how is it? Size? Options?

I really like my eggrider. And this is holding me back.

How far can you push the 52v 17.5ah frey battery? (30 amp fuse).

Can you stil limit the current drawn from the innotrace? I am planning to make a better battery but i still want to use my original frey battery.

Any cons?

 

[Tom]

You can't use eggrider. I believe they are coming out with a display pretty much identical to the eggrider which you can program the controller on the fly.

The only cons are integrated lights don't work due to step down voltage issues. I replaced my rear light with a manual rechargeable light that is significantly brighter than the one that came with my Frey CC. I actually feel much safer now riding in the dark. Will do the same for the front light.

 

[barbarossa]

You can't use eggrider. I believe they are coming out with a display pretty much identical to the eggrider which you can program the controller on the fly.

The only cons are integrated lights don't work due to step down voltage issues. I replaced my rear light with a manual rechargeable light that is significantly brighter than the one that came with my Frey CC. I actually feel much safer now riding in the dark. Will do the same for the front light.

any Bafang display with original firmware will work (e.g. Bafang SW102 which is the EggRider base but of course with original firmware. I got it for 46 USD shipped).

yep, Innotrace controller has no step down converter to 6v or 12v.
but I could reactivate integrated lights or better said: I can switch on/off my lights with my Bafang display again. with activated light Innotrace controller switches light plug output to ground. so I finally made it simple with a 12v DC-DC buck converter (max 80v input) and a P-mosfet - all parts together were under 5 Euro I think. and yep, it works - brighter than before = using 12v now.
Innotrace is developping a 12v/3a converter (also external) - my Ebay 12v converter is weaker but smaller...
it looks not nice but it works and there is enough space under the Bafang motor plastic protection for it (black JST-plugs = full voltage, JWPF plug on the left side = connected with original front light plug, 2x JWPF plugs at the right side = 'new' 12v front and rear light plugs):


anyways. Using a better battery and the old original battery depends on the Innotrace power settings of controller that are not changeable by the customer at the moment. Using a 30a battery and low phase amp setting you can use both - using a max 80a battery/100a phase amp setting of course only the better new battery (if high current cells are used) should be used.

 

[HughF]

To everyone in the UK/Ireland, why not order from Simon? I believe he has stock in the UK, duty paid, ready to deliver...

 

[Mountgreenwood]

To everyone in the UK/Ireland, why not order from Simon? I believe he has stock in the UK, duty paid, ready to deliver...

I talked to Simon but the U.K.is in the worlds longest divorce from the EU so U.K. Ireland trade was/is up in the air. Now the question is which will happen first, Brexit or me getting the product.

 

[HughF]

To everyone in the UK/Ireland, why not order from Simon? I believe he has stock in the UK, duty paid, ready to deliver...

I talked to Simon but the U.K.is in the worlds longest divorce from the EU so U.K. Ireland trade was/is up in the air. Now the question is which will happen first, Brexit or me getting the product.

Everything is same as usual until 2021 surely? We haven't divorced yet... and you could also come over in the car and collect it?

 

[Mountgreenwood]

To everyone in the UK/Ireland, why not order from Simon? I believe he has stock in the UK, duty paid, ready to deliver...

I talked to Simon but the U.K.is in the worlds longest divorce from the EU so U.K. Ireland trade was/is up in the air. Now the question is which will happen first, Brexit or me getting the product.

Everything is same as usual until 2021 surely? We haven't divorced yet... and you could also come over in the car and collect it?

Yeah, I foolishly believed what I was told by Frey. Shame on me.

 

[HughF]

I’m in the same boat, label created in Poland on 08 Sep then nothing.

This is the norm - labels created in Poland or wherever (germany is another popular one) many weeks before the goods are cleared into that country and the label is applied...

 

[Mountgreenwood]

I’m in the same boat, label created in Poland on 08 Sep then nothing.

This is the norm - labels created in Poland or wherever (germany is another popular one) many weeks before the goods are cleared into that country and the label is applied...

The first tracking # was Poland, now I have one from Hungary. My only other experience with a Chinese supplier was Em3ev and that was perfect. I foolishly took the switch to air at Cecilas request as she related that I would be on the hook for $100-$200. Customs had other ideas.

 

[stevieman]

I’m the same with Hungary on mine, label printed on the 12th. At least my customs bill came through as £120 today from FedEx as they didn’t double check the paper work or open it like they did with yours..

 

[E-bike lover]

Modified.

 

[E-bike lover]

Around 1100€ for the frame, battery (48V, 14.5Ah) and motor kit (includes a display, throttle, cables, chainring and crank arms).


Good eye. The frame on the photos I have provided is for Bafang M600, but the seller says they make the same one for the M620.

Let us know what it's like when you buy one, or at least provide more details of seller.

Here is the manufacturer's page http://www.salto-bike.com/eindex.asp. Prices and geometry can be found there. Does anyone have firsthand experience with this frame?

Hi guys. Did any of you recieve your bike frame and bafang m600 from this seller? How was it? Is there anyway to buy except from this store? I've seen that the tube in this store is higher which lower tube is prefer when riding mountain. This frame is better https://www.txedbike.com/e-tough-power-tech-m-482.html
Did anyone bought this frame?

 

[HerrDoktor]

So, my EX has arrived. First impressions?
WOW IT'S HEAVY

I opted for size medium, the dropper post, front/ rear mudguards, front/ rear lights. RockShock Lyrik upgrade and the rack. This monster [without the battery] tops the scale at a monster 34.74KG or 76.b Lbs. There's no way my Mrs will be lugging this thing onto the cycle carrier.

I had an idea about the weight before purchasing it but without actually picking it up I had no appreciation of what to expect. I'd struggle to lift this thing over a locked gate/ path stile if I encountered one. I'll need the 1600W provided by the Bafang Ultra just to be able to move forward!!

QA at the factory hasn't been too great.

• The seat is loose on the rails.
  The front disc rubs like crazy when placed into the disc brake such that it fails to roll freely. If I crank the front skewer tight, the wheel won't rotate at all.

Like others, my battery is showing as:
"Label Created 19/09/2020 12:28 Hungary"

Activating the UPS tracking virtual assistant I receive the following message
"If it has been several days since the label was created, contact the sender to confirm the parcel was picked up. If you have the label and the parcel is ready to be shipped, schedule a collection or find a convenient drop off location."

I raised this with Cecilia whe seemed surprised I've not received the barreries.

My instant gut reaction is to sell it immediately and get something significantly lighter before I give myself a hernia!!!

EDIT 30/10/20
Not being happy with the 34.74KG weight previously recorded, I decided to re-weight it. This time it came in at 30KG with no batteries. When I questioned my mate that helped me weigh it first time around he confessed to presing his toe on the scales to add weight!!!
SO, IT DOES NOT WEIGH 34.74KG AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED
IT WEIGHS 30KG WITH NO BATTERIES
BATTERY WEIGHS 3584g
SO 33.58KG TOTAL

 

[litespeed]

That is crazy heavy. My guess was that weight with both batteries and an extra large.

Bummer.

Tom