In September 2012 I bought a Stealth Bomber from a Stealth Dealer in Western Australia. This bicycle was a demonstration model, which had been built I believe towards the end of 2011.
Unfortunately, in July 2013, the bicycle stopped working. I had been riding, and was caught in a downpour; I stopped, and put the bike under shelter until it had stopped raining. When I tried to switch the bike back on, it wouldn't do so. I started to pedal home without any power; after about 5 minutes of pedalling, it started to work again, and I was able to power home.
When I tried to switch the bicycle on, approximately 1 week later, the Cycle Analyst computer (CA) wasn’t working. I contacted Stealth Electric Bicycles (SEB) via the website. During August I corresponded with SEB regarding how the bicycle could be fixed, including trying to diagnose if the CA was faulty, or if the controller was at fault. I was unable to get the bicycle to work.
The Dealer for Westen Australia had changed; the new Dealer diagnosed that the controller was faulty, and needed to be replaced. This work was carried out at a cost of $890.
The bicycle was collected towards the end of September 2013, once it was ready. On the first ride after collection, it worked for approximately 2km, and then again ceased to work. The bicycle was returned to the Dealer for further diagnosis. This time, the fault was determined as a faulty battery, which needed to be replaced. This cost $2,475. As the bike was more than a year old, SEB were unwilling to contribute financially.
As the bicycle was useless for its intended purpose without this further repair taking place, I told them to go ahead. I contacted SEB, first directly, and then under local consumer protection laws, pointing out that consumers are entitled to expect that things they buy be of merchantable Quality, which will last for a reasonable period of time, and be fit for the purpose for which they have been acquired. The Stealth Bomber electric bicycle could not be considered to be of reasonable quality; it is made for cycling outdoors, yet it was unable to survive a downpour of rain.
Their website quotes “800 charge and discharge cycles”. The bicycle had done approximately 1000 kilometres; with the quoted 80km range, this would imply approximately 13 charges!
SEB has stated that they cannot help, that the bike is out of the one year warranty. I would expect components on a $12k bike to last a fair bit longer than that. Other than going to court, which would be difficult, and potentially waste even more money, I sold the bike at quite a big loss.
I think the issue of water ingress is quite serious on this bike - my opinion, although it is just that, is that water gets into the controller from water sprayed up under the bike if roads are wet, and it affects the electronics. I hope this story helps others who might own the bike and hopefully the design will be improved over time so others aren't impacted like I was.
Unfortunately, in July 2013, the bicycle stopped working. I had been riding, and was caught in a downpour; I stopped, and put the bike under shelter until it had stopped raining. When I tried to switch the bike back on, it wouldn't do so. I started to pedal home without any power; after about 5 minutes of pedalling, it started to work again, and I was able to power home.
When I tried to switch the bicycle on, approximately 1 week later, the Cycle Analyst computer (CA) wasn’t working. I contacted Stealth Electric Bicycles (SEB) via the website. During August I corresponded with SEB regarding how the bicycle could be fixed, including trying to diagnose if the CA was faulty, or if the controller was at fault. I was unable to get the bicycle to work.
The Dealer for Westen Australia had changed; the new Dealer diagnosed that the controller was faulty, and needed to be replaced. This work was carried out at a cost of $890.
The bicycle was collected towards the end of September 2013, once it was ready. On the first ride after collection, it worked for approximately 2km, and then again ceased to work. The bicycle was returned to the Dealer for further diagnosis. This time, the fault was determined as a faulty battery, which needed to be replaced. This cost $2,475. As the bike was more than a year old, SEB were unwilling to contribute financially.
As the bicycle was useless for its intended purpose without this further repair taking place, I told them to go ahead. I contacted SEB, first directly, and then under local consumer protection laws, pointing out that consumers are entitled to expect that things they buy be of merchantable Quality, which will last for a reasonable period of time, and be fit for the purpose for which they have been acquired. The Stealth Bomber electric bicycle could not be considered to be of reasonable quality; it is made for cycling outdoors, yet it was unable to survive a downpour of rain.
Their website quotes “800 charge and discharge cycles”. The bicycle had done approximately 1000 kilometres; with the quoted 80km range, this would imply approximately 13 charges!
SEB has stated that they cannot help, that the bike is out of the one year warranty. I would expect components on a $12k bike to last a fair bit longer than that. Other than going to court, which would be difficult, and potentially waste even more money, I sold the bike at quite a big loss.
I think the issue of water ingress is quite serious on this bike - my opinion, although it is just that, is that water gets into the controller from water sprayed up under the bike if roads are wet, and it affects the electronics. I hope this story helps others who might own the bike and hopefully the design will be improved over time so others aren't impacted like I was.
Last edited:
