Another Indiegogo Bike - Say Hello?

[J.R.]

I guess I'm not understanding people and I probably never will. I don't spend much time on crowd funding sites but while on Indiegogo I took a chance and searched "ebike". It turned up a few and one was the Hunter. The description for your $600.00 donation is this:
"A $600.00 contribution will get you a 36V 350W beach cruiser , fully upgraded with 5 level pedal assist, disks breaks and a led display. shipping not included but i have shipped from long beach Cal to New Hampshire for $80.00 so I cant see it costing any more then that unless its international."
(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wil-go-ebike-company-start-up
They've collected a total of $200.00 since Feb. 9, 2015 and I have no idea why! Did Sondors take all the money that was available for an inexpensive ebike? If anything the Hunter & Co. looks less risky. They even have more perk options.

Mind you, I haven't done the research on this bike or company but hopefully someone will shed some light on this.

 

[Gus]

Good lord, that is one hideous bike!

The Storm is outselling this hand over fist for these reasons IMO:

1.) Yahoo article
2.) D-Bags 2.0 clever marketing
3.) It doesnt look your grandpa's beach cruiser that Duck Dynasty puked all over

 

[George S.]

The Sondo had unbelievable buzz, even though it seems like a marginal bike. If you run an 'ebike' search on IGG there are some total fails.

 

[J.R.]

Interesting... I should have written Say Goodbye! Since this campaign is stuck at a fraction of one percent funded. @Gus love the Duck Dynasty reference, very funny. Aside from the color and it would have been a much better build with a little higher power hub motor, the build really doesn't look that bad when compared to the other 600.00 indie-bike. Very nice fenders, good battery placement and 5 level PAS! Not to mention a reasonable shipping cost estimate. If what you were after was an inexpensive, slightly slow ebike for a few miles up and down the boardwalk, this would have worked. No real outlandish claims to be attacked either. Like @George S. said, buzz! Needed better marketing! Maybe those guys from Duck Dynasty could have done a commercial, we'll never know.

Maybe they should have included a free water bottle cage, then it would have took off!

 

[Ann M.]

They needed a little help from the Agency 2.0 folks! Really, there is a bit of contradictory info. on the Wil-Go page. They're doing a tap dance to get contributions in exchange for a 350watt, 36V Beach Cruiser; however, John W really only wants to do the 48V system. No specs on what 36V battery is on the bike and I bet if he had branded it Duck Dynasty it would sell like crazy, just add a shotgun mount and a hunting bow carrier. Also don't think that freight price is doable. Unless someone is ordering by the pallet, its more like $100/bike with high volume shipping especially if that's a lithium pack. Gotta have all the special HazMat tags on the box.

 

[J.R.]

They've updated this campaign with additional pics. I think it's likely goodbye to this one with 11 days to raise 300g's. An indiegogo ebike campaign could never raise that kind of cash in 11 days..... could they

The company has actually made real bikes too. They offer a few different models and they even donated bikes to the Boston PD for last years marathon. Looking into this a little further, I don't think the failure of this campaign will make or break the company, they would just make it a little sooner.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wil-go-ebike-company-start-up
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/04/24/boston-police-electric-bikes/

 

[biknut]

The problem with this bike is it's ugly. It's not the specs, or the price. I've been saying all along the main driving force for the Strom is the great looks first, price second.

This is why no one is going to be able the just buy a bunch of cheap Chinese bikes on Alibaba and sell any of them, even for $500. Looks have a tremendous impact on whether a bike sells. When you combine blabla looks with a high price, that pretty much explains the general sluggishness of the industry.

The Storm's plastic lunch box is going to be a $4,000,000 plastic lunch box.

 

[J.R.]

@biknut you could very well be correct, very good chance you are. I just don't know... The PD bike looks good. These "Fat" bikes look good too.

 

[Ann M.]

@biknut you could very well be correct, very good chance you are. I just don't know... The PD bike looks good. These "Fat" bikes look good too.

Hey Now, don't hog the page; a thumbnail of this bike is enuf! Look, the camo cruiser bike is just a poorly chosen lure. This fellow made it clear that he really wants to import 100 48V bikes, not what he's showing as the investment item. And everything else pictured on the site are custom builds he's done; which appears to be the true direction of his ebike development.

 

[JoePah]

I guess I'm not understanding people and I probably never will. I don't spend much time on crowd funding sites but while on Indiegogo I took a chance and searched "ebike". It turned up a few and one was the Hunter. The description for your $600.00 donation is this:
"A $600.00 contribution will get you a 36V 350W beach cruiser , fully upgraded with 5 level pedal assist, disks breaks and a led display. shipping not included but i have shipped from long beach Cal to New Hampshire for $80.00 so I cant see it costing any more then that unless its international."
(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wil-go-ebike-company-start-up
They've collected a total of $200.00 since Feb. 9, 2015 and I have no idea why! Did Sondors take all the money that was available for an inexpensive ebike? If anything the Hunter & Co. looks less risky. They even have more perk options.

Mind you, I haven't done the research on this bike or company but hopefully someone will shed some light on this.

Wow.. that is one confusing and not so interesting web ad. Different models and looks. Can't even be sure what he wants to do. K.I.S.S.!

 

[J.R.]

Yes.... I do suppose the old saying "a fool and his money are soon parted" holds true in more ways than one. In this case a poorly planned crowd funding campaign was parted with the money they could have raised. I tend to give some credence to the idea that the disposable money available for such an idea is gone. In that way there are less fools than many think. It may be a Pollyannaish way of looking at it, but it's better than the alternative

I expect this brand (Wil-Go) will continue on in an understated way, with the owners being much happier and with better blood-pressure! Who knows, maybe one day they will be the largest supplier of police e-bikes in the world. Stranger things have happened.

 

[JoePah]

I don't know who is more foolish: People who plunk down $500 for a new product that looks good from a brand new startup, or people who pay $4000 for what is essentially a $700 bike with batteries! In reality most people could ride themselves into shape that would overwhelm any Bosch or DD motor.. Range no longer an issue.

Would be happy to take on anyone with these overpriced production ebikes with my road bike. They may get there first but I will get all the benefits. And I won't be getting neurotic about any of it.