Hey kauaikit, it's nice to hear that you're able to breathe new life into these older bikes. They really were ahead of their time and I bet they perform great with the Lithium batteries! Would love to see a few pictures if you've got them.
Your tips are all great and I hope it helps other enthusiasts. I wish I could offer more upgrade suggestions to you here. I've only seen two of the EV Global Motors ebikes in person and they were both at ebike shops. I think they keep them around for fun and stories but they did let me try them out!
Next time I'm in the shop or speaking with the owners I'll ask them to hop on here and share their stories and upgrade ideas or things they've heard. Here's a short video interview I shot with Mike from
The Electric Bike Shop near Sacramento.
Around 1:40 in the video we talk about the charge controller being built into the bike (versus a separate brick connected to the wall outlet) and I recently learned that in order to do this an entire bike has to be UL certified vs. just the charger. For this reason, many newer bikes externalize the charger (along with video game consoles, laptops etc.). I suppose it also keeps the bike lighter and less complex.