Hi everyone,
After an exhaustive review of ebikes and kits, I finally made a decision to purchase the new Dillenger/Arc 1000w direct drive rear hub kit.
(http://dillengerelectricbikes.com/featured-products/arc-offroad-560wh-electric-bike-kit-by-arc.html)
The kit is in transit now scheduled to arrive early next week.
Here are some initial thoughts on my buying experience to-date:
First, I could have saved around $100USD had I purchased the kit directly from Arc's website, instead of Dillenger's. At first I found this a bit odd, since the two companies seem to have a very close partnership. Nevertheless, Dillenger is the distributor, which explains the higher price. While their price was higher, I chose to purchase through Dillenger based on the excellent support and communication I received directly from Dillenger's founder, Sam Sewell. Sam continued to respond promptly, thoroughly, and courteously to all of my nagging and sometimes stupiduyh questions over a two-week period. For that, I was particularly impressed.
Dillenger by their own accounts has an operation setup in the U.S. In fact, they have both an Australian and a U.S. website. At first, I was on the Aussie website, and the information and specs I found there differed from what was listed on their U.S. site. That was confusing at first, since I didn't realize the distinction. But Sam cleared that up.
Later, as I continued to pepper Sam with questions, he updated the Dillenger website with quite a lot more detail on the specs of this and the other on-road Arc 350w kit. In fact, even as of today (9/16/15), the specs listed on Arc's website are far less thorough than what is listed on Dillenger's.
While they haven't yet posted an installation guide for the 1000w offroad kit, they do have one posted for the 350w onroad kit. For the most part, the installation is similar, so reviewing that guide helped me quite a bit to understand what I'll need to do. While I realize there are cheaper kits around, I found their guide so much more easy to understand than some of the other kit guides I've seen. And compared to other kits, such as Falco, Golden Motors, Bionx, etc., I think this one is actually pretty reasonable for the specs.
So, I finally made up my mind and placed my order very late on Saturday night last weekend. On Sunday morning, I received a shipment notice from Dillenger. But no tracking number. I waited anxiously all day Monday to receive the tracking number, but didn't actually get one until Tuesday. Now it is in transit for delivery next Monday.
Interestingly, their U.S. phone number has a 734 area code, which I am familiar with as an Ann Arbor, MI area code. I live in Ohio, so I was hoping perhaps the system would ship from there. Alas, it is shipping from Southern California, hence the 5 day transit time via UPS Ground.
This will be installed on my 2013 Surly Cross Check for commuting purposes. Once I receive the kit, I'll post some pics and provide additional feedback as I unbox and install the system.
Thanks to all those here in the community who helped answer my questions and provide feedback over the past 2 months. I've found the information and dialogue here to be invaluable. Cheers!
SQN
After an exhaustive review of ebikes and kits, I finally made a decision to purchase the new Dillenger/Arc 1000w direct drive rear hub kit.
(http://dillengerelectricbikes.com/featured-products/arc-offroad-560wh-electric-bike-kit-by-arc.html)
The kit is in transit now scheduled to arrive early next week.
Here are some initial thoughts on my buying experience to-date:
First, I could have saved around $100USD had I purchased the kit directly from Arc's website, instead of Dillenger's. At first I found this a bit odd, since the two companies seem to have a very close partnership. Nevertheless, Dillenger is the distributor, which explains the higher price. While their price was higher, I chose to purchase through Dillenger based on the excellent support and communication I received directly from Dillenger's founder, Sam Sewell. Sam continued to respond promptly, thoroughly, and courteously to all of my nagging and sometimes stupiduyh questions over a two-week period. For that, I was particularly impressed.
Dillenger by their own accounts has an operation setup in the U.S. In fact, they have both an Australian and a U.S. website. At first, I was on the Aussie website, and the information and specs I found there differed from what was listed on their U.S. site. That was confusing at first, since I didn't realize the distinction. But Sam cleared that up.
Later, as I continued to pepper Sam with questions, he updated the Dillenger website with quite a lot more detail on the specs of this and the other on-road Arc 350w kit. In fact, even as of today (9/16/15), the specs listed on Arc's website are far less thorough than what is listed on Dillenger's.
While they haven't yet posted an installation guide for the 1000w offroad kit, they do have one posted for the 350w onroad kit. For the most part, the installation is similar, so reviewing that guide helped me quite a bit to understand what I'll need to do. While I realize there are cheaper kits around, I found their guide so much more easy to understand than some of the other kit guides I've seen. And compared to other kits, such as Falco, Golden Motors, Bionx, etc., I think this one is actually pretty reasonable for the specs.
So, I finally made up my mind and placed my order very late on Saturday night last weekend. On Sunday morning, I received a shipment notice from Dillenger. But no tracking number. I waited anxiously all day Monday to receive the tracking number, but didn't actually get one until Tuesday. Now it is in transit for delivery next Monday.
Interestingly, their U.S. phone number has a 734 area code, which I am familiar with as an Ann Arbor, MI area code. I live in Ohio, so I was hoping perhaps the system would ship from there. Alas, it is shipping from Southern California, hence the 5 day transit time via UPS Ground.
This will be installed on my 2013 Surly Cross Check for commuting purposes. Once I receive the kit, I'll post some pics and provide additional feedback as I unbox and install the system.
Thanks to all those here in the community who helped answer my questions and provide feedback over the past 2 months. I've found the information and dialogue here to be invaluable. Cheers!
SQN
