Sonders Experience and modding

Wow its looking really great! Love that you replaced the red tape with the blue it really looks a lot better now.
 
Sondors.... NOT Sonders :) No offense meant for Mr. Sonders.... I mean Sondors ;)
That little blue tape just makes the bike pop.
More little mods coming: Ordered some custom gelly blue/gold handle grips.
Also ordered another thumb throttle for fr wheel.... so I'll have thumb throttles on both sides.
Going for another 22 mile ride in the wee hours of the AM..... hope to see some wild pigs, deer, etc..... there is this one patch where a BIG Owl lives...... he has buzzed me on occasion.
 
Put in another 22 mile ride this AM, and started getting a VERY loud creaking sound from the front wheel.
I was concerned it was cheapo bearings.... but further investigation found noise spokes.
Per direction of some mtn bike tech forums, I added a drop of wax based lube to each spoke, and noise gone.
Just a quick tech fyi. I"ll prob need my spokes adj eventually as this is a heavy beast, and I"m loading up the miles.
Now up to 550 miles on the Sondors since ownership.

Just rec'd my new 180mm front brake rotor. Waiting for the caliper adaptor and I"ll hopefully have improved leverage.
Also after 500 miles my stock brake pads were shot, and noisy.... installed new pads last night.... and big improvement.
Super easy to change.

I'll need a bigger AH battery for the front dir drive motor...... the little frog battery barely supports my 22 mile ride.... it's a 36v 10ah...... I've got a 36v 12.5 ah unit coming to test.
I'll eventually upgrade all of this to 48 volt 1000watt fr/rr and some custom batteries on a rear rack.
 
Put another 19 miles afterwork tonight. Avg 17.5 mph, 62mins.
Funny story.. I roll up to a major intersection, and spy a road-biker. I like to hang or pass them on the sondors.
This guy is different... he immediately clicks up to 26mph..... so I pull all she's got down..... and am pacing this guy..... 26.5 mph.... with full pedal assist and the dir drive front hub motor pinned........ it's on!
after about 1 mile I catch him....... he looks back in dis-belief.. the sondors fat bike is hot on his trail.... then I notice there is a big-azzz battery pack on his road bike on the rear fender mount!!!!! It's another EBIKE! hah. If it's any of you guys please post up. Cheers.

for safey just added 180mm front disc rotor, and front tq arm.
 
Put another 19 miles afterwork tonight. Avg 17.5 mph, 62mins.
Funny story.. I roll up to a major intersection, and spy a road-biker. I like to hang or pass them on the sondors.
This guy is different... he immediately clicks up to 26mph..... so I pull all she's got down..... and am pacing this guy..... 26.5 mph.... with full pedal assist and the dir drive front hub motor pinned........ it's on!
after about 1 mile I catch him....... he looks back in dis-belief.. the sondors fat bike is hot on his trail.... then I notice there is a big-azzz battery pack on his road bike on the rear fender mount!!!!! It's another EBIKE! hah. If it's any of you guys please post up. Cheers.

for safey just added 180mm front disc rotor, and front tq arm.
You need to start another thread...this is no longer a Sondors...it is a custom hybrid!
 
grench... fair enough man! I've been spying some 1500 dir drive fr/rr motors for this fat bike..... but I'm getting ahead of myself :)

Like they say in street racing.... "it's stock".... "stock sonders" ;)...

I'm sure he was shaking his head when he saw a sondors on his tail for 1 mile @ 26mph :)
 
9.29.15 Ride Update - WHY a 2WD????

So I've been riding this 2wd sondors all wrong!!! 20 miles on pavement/sidewalks is only part of the story and really now what it does well.

There is a new park/mtn bike trails being constructed near me...... so I was able to test the 2wd in the tracks made through the brush... the tracks are from a large crawler cat crane....... very rough and loose dirt...... and the 2wd really shines here. I was able to power up 30 deg inclines all ruttedup.
I put down 13.2 miles, in 66 mins, avg spd 11mph...... dir drive motor batt 38volts at end of ride, rear geared drive 34 volts at end of ride.

Also found dropping tire pressure from 20 to 15 made a world of diff in the rough stuff.
 
And yet another test: Let's see what a 48 Volt Luna Cycle pack does on the 350 watt 36 volt FWD motor:
1. 26mph @ 47.1 volts. Clearly the 36v controller has some overlap in function.

For reference I tested a freshly charged 36 v frog battery.... right off the charger it reads 41 volts.... and I get 24.5mph with a fresh battery.

So only 1.5mph for the add'l 6 volts....... however, I suspect my AH's will be much better with the luna-cycle power pack.

All in the name of science :)

>>>>>> I'll have to see what the 48 v pack voltage is FRESH off the charger. I suspect 51 volts may be too much for the 36 v controller. But it does beg the question.... can i simply short charge the 48 volt pack to keep the 36v controller happy? we'll see what further testing shows.
 
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Sounds like the 2wd is opening up a lot more fun with this bike :) Here is a little accessory to consider after all that fun riding around the other day lol
pubnub.jpg
 
Tara - having a brew now to celebrate! Cheers.
Wa5 - will do. I am afflicted with tinker-itus..... so more mods will follow.
I have no filter on my results, so you will get the full skinny, good/bad ;)

The blue sondors bling arrived in the mail tonight..... so the yellow bling will be avail if someone needs it for their yellow/black ride.
Cheers.Jeff
 
It doesn't look like a cheap bike. If you ever want to do videos on the bike, riding, you might try the Sony AS100 and a cheap chest mount. I had to experiment. I think the Sony will output to a smartphone, but I have the wrist monitor. YouTube definitely kills the quality, but the anti-shake in the Sony is good.

It's interesting, and you do a lot more adventurous stuff than I do:

 
thx for the pup compliments... VEE is appreciative :)

I just tested the luna-cycle 48volt 20AH battery on the sondor stock motor/controller, and good results. Nice tq increase.
This coupled with the front dir drive motor makes this bike pretty strong.
I'll try adjusting to speed once I ever get my LCD controller.
 
O4T, been following up on your 4wd Sondors build and I must say it's incredible! What you must have for your Sondors is an LCD display. This will allow you to have 5 level of PAS instead of the weak stock PAS which is only on level 1. In addition, the LCD will bypass the speed governor on the stock controller and allow your Sondors to go as fast as your battery and motor will allow. I've gain about 2 mph with the LCD. Also, they have aftermarket 20A & 25A controller that is plug and play specifically for the Sondors. This will also boost the power and torque and lots of Sondors owner have installed these 2 mods. I don't know if I'm allowed to post where I got the upgrades from on here since it seems like the admin monitor and edit everything I say. Anyways, keep up the great work!
 
Tested a 48v lunacycle battery on the stock sondors rear hub motor/controller, and resulted in a nice bump in tq..... but the gear set started to complain. I do have just over 1020 miles on the sondors, so perhaps a little tired too?.

I put the stock 36v battery back on the rear motor and all is good.

I just can't say enough about this bike....... great riding position, nice ride, build like a tank, (yes there are few issues here and there, but I am upgrading over time)....... and most of all.... I'm addicted to my 30 mile ride each day or everyother day...... there is something intangible about the total pkg that sondors put together.... perhaps it's a case of if you get it you get it.... if you don't get it... well get something else.

I especially like how it snubs a little nose at the high end stuff....... you don't have to be big $$ to be popular or good.

All IMHO. and trust me my O is very H :)
 
thx vincent..... my background is modifying auto's, auto-crossing/dragracing/roadracing.... recently 1/5 scale rc cars (which btw use the same tech to motivate)..... custom jetskiis... etc.... so this just fits for me.

LCD display should be here this weekend.... NEXT TEST:
Rear geared sondors / 36v 10ah batt / LCD adjustment
Front dir drive motor / 36v 15ah batt

current base-line: 30 mile range / 18mph avg / peak speed no PAS 26 (front motor only). Peak spead no PAS 19 (rear motor only)

More to come.
 
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