Sonders Experience and modding

LCD Controller arrived today from Shang-hai China. Paid +/-$50 several weeks ago... and it got here before the sondors LCD I ordered months ago :)

If you are on the fence about the controller, this might tip you to get one... observations on my 26mi ride today with the LCD on the rear sondors geared drive:
1. ACCELERATION BURNS AH's!! holy cow.... the rush of jack-rabbit starts was fun..... but boy does it burn watts..... as seen on the LCD controller...... I was able to milk my watts and pedal to accel to cruising speed, and then "sip" watts... with the adj pedal assist...... from 1-5. 1 was right at 50watts cruising, 2 - 78-100watts, 3 - 150 watts , 4 - 200, 5 - 250+watts.
2. REalize I have two thumb throttles to deal with..... with the adj PAS, I was able to just use the front dir drive thumb throttle for the entire ride... and just rely on the rear motor PAS with PAS adj levels.
3. Seeing your voltage real-time is fabulous... like watching your gas tank.
4. motor temps never got above ambient.... perhaps it's inop?
5. I was able to pedal assist up to 29mph with front motor pinned, and rear PAS @ 5....... my legs going as fast as possible.. not clown pedalling.

I will have a spare sondors LCD coming this weekend if someone wants it.... I"m not sure of forum rules...... so I can list it on fleabay if necessary. I don't plan to make money off of it.... just pay what I paid.

Cheers, all.... oh yeah.... here is my flight control panel:

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OH and a special tales-from-the-road section below from saturday's ride @ 5AM - I slow down to 4mph as I approach 3 joggers spread out across the entire 10' wide bike path...... I ding my wee little $2 bike bell one time @ 50' and closing.... then ding again @ 10' and closing @ 2mph...... far left guy moves in slightly and snarks "you didn't have to ding twice!"..... whilst I offered a cheery "Thank You! :)"...... such a friendly ebiker :) ..... this was brought to you from "TALES FROM THE ROAD"!!!! O4T !
 
one4torque said:
2. REalize I have two thumb throttles to deal with..... with the adj PAS, I was able to just use the front dir drive thumb throttle for the entire ride... and just rely on the rear motor PAS with PAS adj levels.
Click to expand...
"For the rare ebike builder that wants to use 2WD, I always recommend a geared hub for the front wheel, and this new motor is by far the most powerful geared hub available"

https://www.electricbike.com/interbike-2015/

I've heard this about 2wd, but I don't know why. You might ask him. It's an interesting motor, the one in the article.
 
Thanks for that GS - dep on how I like my stealth bikes... I'll play with upgraded custom hub motors. Until then it's the cheapo off the shelf stuff.
 
Stealth arrived today for Wife. 2013 266 miles on it used.
Beastly performance.... but I've got to say the sondors holds it's current spot as most comfortable cruiser.
The stealth is not a relaxing experience.... not a slam, just an understatement ;)

 
Has anyone tried a 48v lithium battery on the Sondors yet? Just curious of the gain performance and if there are any issues with a higher voltage.
 
That Stealth looks like it was made for racing off road, the opposite end of the spectrum from the Sondors. Where I live there are no hills so the stock Sondors is perfect for me. Of course there will always be a need for more speed. :)
 
Another round of mods for the venerable Gen 1 Sondors:

* Removed the heavy complicated 2wd.
* Installed a single rear hub dir drive 1500 Watt motor.
* 48 v battery
* front shock
* upgrade from 40t to 46t front gear.
* removed fenders
* removed rear rack

30 mph no pas.
40 mph with pas.

Next round of mods:
3 spd deraulur on order.

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Looking good. did the Efneo three speed crank ever happen? that might be another way to get the gear spread you are chasing
 
That looks totally badass! Are you still using the stock controller? May I ask where you got the 48v battery from? I like this setup better than your 2wd. As always you do some amazing stuff to your Sondors.
 
I'm going cheapo red-China rear 3speed freewheel, + deralur + shifter.
Thx vincent - this is so much more clean.... while the 2wd was cool and new, and better than stock, this duplicates the capability with much less gear, and cleaner lines... and yes .... looks do matter.
 
Thx Jack - when I researched this upgrade I had some difficulty finding a complete list of P/N's ..... and there is some mis-information out there from people claiming to know what to buy.....

A few things I did:
*8 speed twist shifter from ebay $15 shipped. You end up shifting 2 gears to 1 rear gear change. 2:1. I'm sure there is a fix for this, but I'm cool with this method.
* rear gear set is china made 3 speed with 16 speed high gear just like stock.
* front chain ring is 50T.... I changed the crank arm to affix this chain ring. You need to buy a square taper crank same l as stock, and you need a quality sq taper arm puller tool.
* cable set is from a road bike. No magic here.
* plan to fiddle with adj of the rear deraulur, and the spacing of the rear 3 spd cassette, and angle of the rear wheel, and the position of the front chainring (inside hub or outside hub) for optimium chain angle. I also installed some add'l shims behind the rear 3 spd cassette for opt chain angle.

** the last bit is key... if not comfortable, or have trouble see a bike shop... they can fix you up.

I'm about to make a run to test out my ability to pedal at 30mph...... without clown pedalling ;)
 
Nice job on that 3 speed, I believe you can adjust the derailleur using the hi low screws, you can adjust the angle without shifting over 2 gears. What is your top speed on this bike using throttle only?
 
Fresh battery from luna is right around 30mph.... dep on wind/slope, and my attitude..... I need a bigger battery as I eat up AH's.... in this condition :)

The big surprise for me is the low end grunt i was able to retain with this 1500watt dir drive hub motor..... is has the same bottom end as the geared drive sondors AND of course I get the mid/top.

I took the bike on some sloppy muddy single track today, and I can just barely coast/power through the muck with the fat tires...... and just ease the throttle @ 1mph with plenty of tq. I was worried I would give this up, and I didn't.

I'm prob going to add a 5 spd cassette out back as I have the room and the twist shifter is 8 speed.
 
I'll need to tweak/adj the rear derailleur or add a top front chain ring chain guide as I'm having a chain drop problem when I shift to the lowest gear.
More to come, as I fine tune.

thx for comps..... this thread is just small glimpse into my tinkering-madness et-uh.... hobby.
 
SONDORS STRESS TEST::::::
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Hit some muddy stuff today.... all was cool until I hit a shale washed out river bed....... nasty muck stuff...... overheated the controller, got stuck, chain fell off..... walked out of it...... let controller cool off....... took most chunks off with a stick and rode home............ then hosed the bike off........ vigorously..... still works fine..... lubed all up and battery on charge for next adventure.
 
thx Jack. I got the job done with the old water pipe.

I've got a 3KW Mxus setup coming from Kineye motorsports...... should be fun, and get me around the sloppy stuff.
 
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