Juiced Bikes Rip Current

[Reid]

Most of my runs are well-under the standard CCS's 48V battery pack capacity. I am good with the standard size battery. Sure, it would be great and I would pay for the largest, highest-volt battery pack someday. But it is not needed at present.

If I had it to do over again I would still order the bike with the standard battery. It is cheaper and it is lighter and it is simpler and it is more robust (super-capacity upgraded cells may not last so long at 20A drain rates).

The point is that those who really need extra range can economically get it with a non-Juiced, external pack wired in parallel. And if I understand correctly, if you were to elect to get a higher voltage pack, like a 52 volt brick to put with a 48V stock CCS battery, use a diode in series so the 52V can't feed into the 48V pack. Not ideal, but it would work. EEs here, please correct me.

 

[NeilCruz]

Neil, I am firmly committed to the XL frame in Brushed Alum with the 19a at this point. It was quite clear to me that no RCS was available with that 19a battery until at the earliest May, so now that we are in May, I've been checking multiple times a day.

When I look at the XL in brush aluminum I see you are waiting until June 2018 shipment - which means if you are not in the first 20-30 orders for that shipment you might, (probably), be waiting until July.

Did you see that the bike you want with but with the standard battery is available to order now?

Of course then you will have to order a bigger battery but the 19aH seem to be a big bottleneck -- I think so many CCS owners started ordering them that it messed up inventory for RCS's with 19aH. This last is speculation based on the notices I received as a RCS March 19aH order holder.

@PCDoctorUSA thanks for the link to the "silver-ish" zip ties. I'll order some on the hope that they aren't to "dark grey".

 

[Barry S]

@PCDoctorUSA thanks for the link to the "silver-ish" zip ties. I'll order some on the hope that they aren't to "dark grey".

This merchant has chrome plated cable ties in various colors including silver.

 

[WalkinTarget]

Did you see that the bike you want with but with the standard battery is available to order now?

Nope, even the 13a battery is OOS currently on the Brushed Aluminum. The black is the only one still available in XL frame size with the 19a battery. I > COULD < hit 'Add to Cart' and make it mine, but I am sticking by my guns now. It's the principle of the thing at this point. Talk to me next week and I > MIGHT < just change my mind.

 

[Chuck E. Cheese]

When I look at the XL in brush aluminum I see you are waiting until June 2018 shipment - which means if you are not in the first 20-30 orders for that shipment you might, (probably), be waiting until July.

I actually opened a ticket last night to ask whether any kind of shipping update was available on the RCS I ordered on March 30th. I know I'm just another PITA for the sales team, but I think it's a reasonable request. The wait itself isn't as bad as not knowing how long the wait will be. Their website keeps pushing the delivery date back, and I don't know whether the current date (June) refers only to bikes being ordered now, or whether it reflects the state of the entire 2nd batch of RCS bikes. It's really frustrating being kept in the dark. I realize they don't have complete control over the delivery time of every single component, but I would bet that if Mozo is running late on a shipment of forks they at least let Juiced know. Juiced should provide the same courtesy to their customers.

 

[NeilCruz]

@Chuck E. Cheese I think the "June" is referring to a 3rd container shipment of bikes.


Based on what I have read and my own experiences you should set your expectations based on the following:

Remember the March shipment (1st container) of RCS bikes arrived, but issues with battery shipment caused them to have to airship batteries -- so that implies that the lithium batteries don't ship with the bikes.

Then there is the RCS fender-flap-fixing-doodad -- which had to be affixed to the March bikes in San Diego rather than at the factory.

And they still hadn't caught up with early march orders for the larger batteries as of last week...


So if you are part of "May" then you are looking at:

• Did the container with the bikes arrive and clear customs
• Do they have your battery size available or when will they arrive
• Do they have enough fender-doodads left (or was that fixed in the factory).

Now they need to QA the bike and the battery, then package them for shipment.
Oh and process orders for the CCS and CCS-Air

And it is just May 3rd.

Those poor gals and guys in shipping and QA must be working their fingers to the bone.

Hopefully the blog (or better yet Twitter - the juiced twitter feed is.. ... well it needs help) will get an update when the May battery and May bike container shipments clears customs in the next 7-10 days and they can start working on the late March-early May orders.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

The point is that those who really need extra range can economically get it with a non-Juiced, external pack wired in parallel. And if I understand correctly, if you were to elect to get a higher voltage pack, like a 52 volt brick to put with a 48V stock CCS battery, use a diode in series so the 52V can't feed into the 48V pack. Not ideal, but it would work. EEs here, please correct me.

Not an EE, but I think adding the diode so you can use both 52V and 48V packs is an unnecessary complication. Wiring a 48V battery in parallel with the stock battery is pretty much Murphy-proof.

 

[WalkinTarget]

So at this point, the Juiced RCS is my browser's home page, both at home and at work. The Medium frame ... heh ... funny how it remains in stock .. EVEN NOW .. heh ,.. my doctor has not gotten back to me on what is involved to remove several vertebrae from my spine so that I can shrink from my current 6'-3" height to a more fitting 5'-10" height.

I have hourly reminders on my phone to text wife and kids to check for availability of the XL frame - I think they are getting tired of this. Came home yesterday and found the locks to the house were changed ?@!? WTF is going on here ??

Even Tora has accidentally blocked me on Twitter after I posted a pic of my flight tix to China and asked for his phone # once I arrive there. I wasn't looking for a meet and greet, just a chance to be gainfully employed at the factory just long enough to crank out my own bike.

Obsession is not a bad thing, amirite guys ?? Guys ???

 

[WalkinTarget]

Guys, is it safe to admit that the RCS in an XL frame will not be showing up in stock until June, according to the website ? I just want to confirm what is painfully obvious to me at this point.

I've been so disappointed that I paid a visit to my LBS yesterday - holy crap, what a huge downer that was ! Two salesmen could give me no info at all on the one, single, solitary ebike they had on the floor, and it wasn't anything special - a Turbo Vado 2 that me and another customer took out for a short test ride. The other guy had a huge grin on his face. Having never ridden an ebike, but knowing what was available online (or NOT available in my case), I did not have a matching grin plastered on my face when I came back from my very short ride.

At some point, both salesmen gave up trying to answer my questions and retreated to the back to look up motor and battery ratings for the bike, and at this point I quickly educated the other shopper into what was available online - strengths and weaknesses of the drive systems, importance of the battery pack and cells, and other facets that the shop couldn't provide.

The shopper says "Well hell, why don't you open up a shop if you know what you're doing ?? I laughed, as I don't even have the ability to adjust my derailleur, but I completely immerse myself into whatever appeals to me, and right now I just love riding, and desperately want to add an ebike to my garage. I'd be glad to be a salesman in that shop just to pick their brains and learn how to repair my bike, and I can damn sure guarantee you I will know more about the ins and outs of that bike, and be able to answer a buyers questions on the spot.

The senior tech came back out to check in on us and I thanked him for his time and told him I was only interested in a fatty and I was on my way. It's abundantly clear to me at the shops I have visited that a hard core biker has absolutely no interest at all in an ebike, and they realize that they are getting a different customer in than they are used to, but they really do need to understand that to ignore a growing market segment is akin to the horse salesman telling others that these new fangled 'cars' are too expensive and will never amount to much.

I guess I can wait a few more weeks, but I have found a number of fatties that while not as stealthy and smooth as the RCS, still give you a similar setup with a rear hub and 750w motor, like the Bitrix Juggernaut and the All Terrain Kush, Voltbike Yukon 750. Even a non fatty like the Easymotion Evo Jumper 27.5 Pro found on CrazyLennys website is seriously turning me on ... that bike just looks so silky smooth sick, and the price is reduced to well over 60% of MSRP.

 

[Chris Hammond]

Unfortunately, Juiced is just building a better bike at a lower cost than most everyone else. That means their product demand is only going up. Especially right now at the start of biking season. The internet has allowed those of us willing to do a little research to get the knowledge we need to make an informed purchase.
I waited almost exactly 2 months on my CCS. I understand the frustration, I was close to cancelling my order a couple of times. Now that I have the bike, all I can say is it was absolutely worth the wait. None of the other bikes I test rode perform as well, none have the battery capacity, and most cost a lot more.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

I guess I can wait a few more weeks, but I have found a number of fatties that while not as stealthy and smooth as the RCS, still give you a similar setup with a rear hub and 750w motor, like the Bitrix Juggernaut and the All Terrain Kush, Voltbike Yukon 750. Even a non fatty like the Easymotion Evo Jumper 27.5 Pro found on CrazyLennys website is seriously turning me on ... that bike just looks so silky smooth sick, and the price is reduced to well over 60% of MSRP.

WT, I ordered my CCS in September and received it in mid-January.

OK, part of that was because I was out of town for the whole month of December and early January, so that's on me. It probably would have arrived in mid-December but I asked Juiced to hold it while I was gone, which they gladly did. One week to the day after I let them know I was home again, it arrived.

The original estimated delivery date for September orders was late Oct. - early Nov. But they decided at the last minute to hold deliveries while they re-spoked with the Sapim spokes. I am totally grateful for that delay, too, as much as I'd have liked to have had it sooner. Complaints of spoke breakage were common with the first run of CCS. None that I have seen since the switch to Sapim. (All CCS and RCS recipients after the 2nd run of CCS can thank those of us who had to wait because Juiced made such a good decision. You're welcome.)

So, I'm not blaming Juiced for any of this. Still, it was a long wait from Sept. to Jan. I was on pins and needles a lot of the time. But It was absolutely, positively worth it. I hope you will feel the same when your RCS shows up. I'm glad Chris Hammond held out and is so pleased that he did.

 

[WalkinTarget]

@Chris - I totally agree with you. Every single fatbike that I listed in my post has some downside when directly compared to the RCS, so I feel like if I cave and buy something else, I will always regret jumping rather than waiting it out. Had I been more confident of my financing, I would have ordered mid-April. I really wish I had taken advantage of the recently ended Paypal offer (Bill Me Later) where I pay 2 weeks after delivery of the item, but that ended on April 18. It would have been absolutely perfect for this order.

@BRUCE - I think if I had some feedback from guys getting theirs in the April order I could gut it out and convince myself its worth the wait. But there just isn't any more rider info cropping up here or anywhere on the web !! I'm somewhat surprised that we don't have any more videos or input from buyers at this point.

And the other reason its bugging me - I'm turning 50 next month and this is yet another mid-life crisis (like the one I had at 40). I hope you guys don't mind being my online bartender as I drown my worries and lament the fact that I am not very patient waiting for a new toy to cheer me up. I can't GET the bike by mid-June, but if I can ORDER it by then I think I would be fine with that.

 

[Barry S]

@WalkinTarget I can appreciate where you're coming from. I visited one of the few "ebike only" dealers on O'ahu and the shop owner couldn't even tell me the model names of what he had on his very small showroom floor. When it came to test riding a few, he fumbled his way through the LCD displays. I knew more about the bikes than he did. I really wanted to support the guy, but I wasn't convinced he was in the ebike business because he was passionate about ebikes.

Another LBS who sells primarily pedal bikes and a few Giant ebikes, at least took the time to try and find the motor specs at my request but couldn't find them and gave an uneducated guess, which was inaccurate. I liked the bike, but the LBS isn't listed on Giant's website as an authorized dealer, and if they can't find the specs on the bike they're probably not trained to do work on them either.

Since October of last year, I've been researching ebikes and have finally come full circle back to looking at the model I started with. As @John from Connecticut put it in another post, I'm suffering from "Analysis Paralysis" and it's time to pick the bike that fits my needs and buy it. Whatever you decide to buy, enjoy it and don't look back.

 

[TForan]

@Chris - I totally agree with you. Every single fatbike that I listed in my post has some downside when directly compared to the RCS, so I feel like if I cave and buy something else, I will always regret jumping rather than waiting it out. Had I been more confident of my financing, I would have ordered mid-April. I really wish I had taken advantage of the recently ended Paypal offer (Bill Me Later) where I pay 2 weeks after delivery of the item, but that ended on April 18. It would have been absolutely perfect for this order.

Just curious, what is the downside to the Biktrix Ultra ? Price ? Mid-drive ?

 

[Chuck E. Cheese]

Just curious, what is the downside to the Biktrix Ultra ? Price ? Mid-drive ?

I can't speak for WalkinTarget, but I actually like the mid-drive every it as much as the rear hub motor. The drawbacks for me were lack of torque-sensing assist, price, and (like juiced these days) lack of availability. I prefer the straight top tube look of the RCS as well. The whole bike feels like there was more attention to design aesthetic. When I learned that the RCS would be a long wait, I went to the Biktrix website with my credit card in hand, only to see that they were sold out of Juggernaut Classics. I was prepared to even spend more and get the Ultra. They were sold out as well. I figured if I was going to have have to wait regardless, I'd get the bike I liked best and spend less doing so. I hope my RCS shows up this summer!

 

[TForan]

I can't speak for WalkinTarget, but I actually like the mid-drive every it as much as the rear hub motor. The drawbacks for me were lack of torque-sensing assist, price, and (like juiced these days) lack of availability. I prefer the straight top tube look of the RCS as well. The whole bike feels like there was more attention to design aesthetic. When I learned that the RCS would be a long wait, I went to the Biktrix website with my credit card in hand, only to see that they were sold out of Juggernaut Classics. I was prepared to even spend more and get the Ultra. They were sold out as well. I figured if I was going to have have to wait regardless, I'd get the bike I liked best and spend less doing so. I hope my RCS shows up this summer!

Ultra has torque sensing and it works superbly. I'm sure you'll be happy with your RCS. I originally was looking at a Hyperfat but you know the story. Still would love to ride one.

 

[WalkinTarget]

Just curious, what is the downside to the Biktrix Ultra ? Price ? Mid-drive ?

Chuck already spoke for me and of course, the Juggy is sold out as well. I prefer a straight top tube, and the slightly larger battery on the RCS is always welcome. Is the Juggy (or any other bike) upgradable to 52v like the Juiced models are ? That to me is an important selling point.

I'm going to say price is also a sticking point, as I feel comfortable spending 2k on this, but had a Hyperfat been available for $2400 (it did in fact sell for this price as a pre-order) I MAY have been able to stretch things to buy it. The Ultra is just an absolute monster (hard to imagine that I would ever favor a bike over the Hyperfat, but it beats the HF in most categories) but it completely blows my budget at double what I want to spend. It's abundantly clear to anyone who is shopping for a 750w fatty right now that there is huge demand and not enough supply.

My problem is several expensive hobbies that compete to drain my wallet right now. If I sell my SxS, I could swing damn near any bike I want, but I still like to have an interest in riding in something other than a bike. But I enjoy taking friends along that can't afford the hobby - they get to go on these rides once a month without having to invest 10k+.

 

[TForan]

Chuck already spoke for me and of course, the Juggy is sold out as well. I prefer a straight top tube, and the slightly larger battery on the RCS is always welcome. Is the Juggy (or any other bike) upgradable to 52v like the Juiced models are ? That to me is an important selling point.

I'm going to say price is also a sticking point, as I feel comfortable spending 2k on this, but had a Hyperfat been available for $2400 (it did in fact sell for this price as a pre-order) I MAY have been able to stretch things to buy it. The Ultra is just an absolute monster (hard to imagine that I would ever favor a bike over the Hyperfat, but it beats the HF in most categories) but it completely blows my budget at double what I want to spend. It's abundantly clear to anyone who is shopping for a 750w fatty right now that there is huge demand and not enough supply.

My problem is several expensive hobbies that compete to drain my wallet right now. If I sell my SxS, I could swing damn near any bike I want, but I still like to have an interest in riding in something other than a bike. But I enjoy taking friends along that can't afford the hobby - they get to go on these rides once a month without having to invest 10k+.

I think you made a good choice. Just plan on getting better tires and I'm not sure about that front fork. My bike had a Mozo and I prefer a rigid fork.

 

[WalkinTarget]

I think you made a good choice. Just plan on getting better tires and I'm not sure about that front fork. My bike had a Mozo and I prefer a rigid fork.

I made a choice, I just have to stop reading all these forum posts that are introducing me to amazing bikes at amazing prices ! PCDoctor commented on his 'analysis paralysis' a few comments above, and altho I have been on the Juiced bandwagon from the very start, I am now doing the back and forth on the true need for a fatty if 90% of my riding will be a very flat rail trail near me. The 27.5 3" 'tweener' bikes are a very nice compromise, and to be honest, may be a better fit for my riding needs.

I'm glad you brought up the Biktrix as well. In my opinion, they are right there with the Juiced RCS, but they don't get nearly enough comments or recommendations in the forums. At the end of the day, I wouldn't fault anyone for buying a Juggy instead. And even if I had bought a Hyperfat, your Ultra would have made me jealous with its rear suspension (and it also arrived to buyers sooner than the HF).

 

[TForan]

I made a choice, I just have to stop reading all these forum posts that are introducing me to amazing bikes at amazing prices ! PCDoctor commented on his 'analysis paralysis' a few comments above, and altho I have been on the Juiced bandwagon from the very start, I am now doing the back and forth on the true need for a fatty if 90% of my riding will be a very flat rail trail near me. The 27.5 3" 'tweener' bikes are a very nice compromise, and to be honest, may be a better fit for my riding needs.

I'm glad you brought up the Biktrix as well. In my opinion, they are right there with the Juiced RCS, but they don't get nearly enough comments or recommendations in the forums. At the end of the day, I wouldn't fault anyone for buying a Juggy instead. And even if I had bought a Hyperfat, your Ultra would have made me jealous with its rear suspension (and it also arrived to buyers sooner than the HF).

I don't have the FS Ultra. I don't ride off road enough for that. I think this forum tends to be hub drive oriented, so less talk about mid drives. What ever suits you.