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  1. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    There are some good battery chargers out there that will charge to a certain level, are fast chargers, or even programmable. In general you may get what you pay for, but no point in paying for what you will never use. They are good for their purpose, but not what you would choose for an...
  2. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    @Hurley Any of us can buy a 36V2.5A charger for under $17 (or cheaper if you get 10,000 of them). There is no point in using an $79 charger for this bike.
  3. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    I agree. I thought he was going to save money on batteries too, but looks like he is going quality. They are not cheap though. The Samsung or Panasonic is going to cost close to twice that of the cheap $2 batteries: $4.30 for Panasonic (same price category as Samsung)...
  4. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    I gotta say, changing the motor and batteries does a lot to improve the capabilities of this bike. There is a big difference between a cheap battery that can only put out 9 amps max vs a higher density battery that can do 20amps (although running any battery at max shortens life, I think the...
  5. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Could be true. Battery density has been going up, so many bottle batteries have more amp hours than they did a a year or two ago. Originally he was probably thinking of the typical 2.2mAh battery. 10s4p gives (2.2*4) 8.8 Amp hours. Although he was claiming 36v10Ah for a while there, he...
  6. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Storm and Faraday are all about looks and style. The hipster generation responds well to this, and enough of them have disposable money to fund this kind of thing. (see sites like http://www.supercompressor.com that had articles on Storm...
  7. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Yep, for the most part I think that is correct. Its nice to see the specs come into better focus now that he has a better idea of what he is building.
  8. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Why is that, speed? As I recall, US federal law is 20mph max (although as mentioned above, Specialized Turbo apparently found a way to stretch that). Most states that I'm aware of don't have clear laws on electric bikes (several states do of course). But, any bike that can power itself above...
  9. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Looks like he changed from a $50 integrated controller with the battery, to one of those little 6FET $18 external controllers. There is no external controller box on the yellow demo bike, and the 6FET external controller on the production bike. Nothin particularly wrong with that – may make it...
  10. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    >>Ivars "Storm" Sondors----Charged with fraud, breach of Contract. >>Jon Hopp is the real maker of the Storm/Sondors Bike. >>Jon Hopp, what happened to him, another breach by IVARS? >>Sondor's e-bike and it's fictional SPEC's >>Agency 2.0 case against Sondors---Fraud and breach of Contract...
  11. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Hey Ronny. I’m sad to hear of your frustrations. It looks to me that this will be a decent $7-800 bike. (Assuming you don’t ever need to go over about 12 miles). The original specs were greatly exaggerated, but dollar for dollar it is a decent buy - if he delivers. That is really the big...
  12. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Good info. What is the difference between class 2 and class 3? Is the specialized Turbo (20 non assisted, 28 assisted) a class 3? I am not that familiar with the European laws outside of Germany, but yeah e-bikes sell well in Germany (it’s growing where traditional bike sales are shrinking)...
  13. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    The design flaw: Sondor's bikes are remarkably similar to my early mountain bike designs. And, they both share one significant design flaw. I love single speed bikes for their light weight and simplicity. Unfortunately with an e-bike, you have to choose your gearing for either pedaling under...
  14. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Ausgezeichnet, ich brauche keine Mofa-Prüfbescheinigung in Deutschland. How cool is that. I just barely squeeked by that one. Apparently I do need one for Greece though. Bummer. Why is sondor's not a Schnelle ebike? If it is rated over 25km/hr it is a S-pedelec, right? Sondors is rated at...
  15. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Yeah, the specs have changed. Ivars was a guy who didn’t know much about bikes or e-bikes, and put together a campaign based on best case scenario of what is “theoretically” possible in the eyes of someone who had never build a bike before. Theoretically, all of the individual original claims...
  16. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    I'm not sure why the fuss over the battery shipping. Larger lithium batteries are shipped from china all the time. Yes, they need special handling and have a higher shipping price tag. As for Sondor's specs, He is pretty clear: It is a 8.8AH 36volt battery with 10 amp hours and Samsung cells...
  17. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    Yeah, I saw that too. Occasionally I see articles that reference this thread or the Endless Sphere (ES) discussion. Although it was mentioned that we are not changing the world, discussions like this and references to it in news articles have done a lot to dampen the optimistic enthusiasm of...
  18. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    FYI, the stuff I have bought from China had no warranty, no directions (other than a wiring diagram), no product support, no liability, no nothin. I am an Engineer and tinkerer, and with help of an online community I was able to figure it out. I really don’t see Sondors providing more product...
  19. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    You have hit on one of the key problems that snagged so many people, and so many web sites like Yahoo. The web page makes it look like you are “purchasing” a bike, when in fact you are “funding” a campaign. Very different usages of your money. Yahoo later had several retractions, one of which...
  20. Chas

    Sondors Fact Finding. Due Diligence. Scrutiny.

    One of my biggest educations is learning the low level of journalism in the internet age. This is like seeing behind the curtain; rarely have I know the back story in such detail while reading articles like these Here is an article from last week...
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