Wave E-bike 499$ (another Storm/Indiegogo)

[Kaldeem]

So I'm an e-bike stalker. Every morning, noon and night I'm on EBR, YouTube, FB, etc checking out "e-bikes" and mainly it's the same ole stuff. However today I found that a "New" e-bike is coming out tomorrow. Here are the specs listed and the price is pretty ridiculous.

Has anyone heard about this e-bike? Feels like Indigogo and Storm all over again

 

[Ann M.]

So I'm an e-bike stalker. Every morning, noon and night I'm on EBR, YouTube, FB,

Awww, geez! but you have to be one of the first 200 for that fantastic price. Of course with a 750watt motor and 48V battery some of the specs are a bit more believable than Sonders'. Already 909 Likes on their facebook page. That rack, its adjustable btw, so it gets me that the promo pics don't have it adjusted right. And the Camo version...Does anyone remember the sidebar conversation a few weeks ago from another Indiegogo ebike project called the 'Wil-go' ebike? It was a Camo Cruiser much like what is mentioned on the facebook page of the Wave!


Say, let's add on top of that another brand name conflict with the Easy Motion City Wave...see Court's review:
http://electricbikereview.com/easy-motion/bosch-city-wave/.
No rest for the weary!

 

[PowerMe]

Ohhh the downward sloping angle of that big battery pack on the back is a bad design decision (IMO).

 

[Brambor]

thank god it's camouflaged

 

[PoweredUp!]

So I'm an e-bike stalker. Every morning, noon and night I'm on EBR, YouTube, FB, etc checking out "e-bikes" and mainly it's the same ole stuff. However today I found that a "New" e-bike is coming out tomorrow. Here are the specs listed and the price is pretty ridiculous.

Has anyone heard about this e-bike? Feels like Indigogo and Storm all over again

Storm received around 7000 orders for eBikes... I don't think there's a lot of people left right now who want to order.... Must be hurting at the retail level as well.

If Storm is successful, we could see a lot of clones out there.. It's like the PC Clone Wars of the 1980s!

 

[J.R.]

This is driven by thoughts of easy money. The jails are full of people seeking easy money, unfortunately so are the worlds mansions. More in prison I expect.

We will see a lot of these cheap (not inexpensive) ebikes, we've noted several here on EBR-C. As @Ann M. noted above, we just had this conversation. We need a new forum: Cheap CF e-Bikes. That way we can throw them all in there so we don't have to repeat all the same answers.

 

[Brambor]

couldn't agree more.

 

[George S.]

A 399 bike...

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/world-s-best-value-electric-bike-from-only-399

They ran that bike on a CF at Kickstarter in January, and sold 400 bikes, give or take. This one has attracted nothing, not a dime.

There's another folder that has been listed on Kickstarter, but gets listed and delisted at IGG, the EZY bike.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...owest-priced-folding-ebike-599?ref=nav_search

This is driven by thoughts of easy money. The jails are full of people seeking easy money, unfortunately so are the worlds mansions. More in prison I expect.

We will see a lot of these cheap (not inexpensive) ebikes, we've noted several here on EBR-C. As @Ann M. noted above, we just had this conversation. We need a new forum: Cheap CF e-Bikes. That way we can throw them all in there so we don't have to repeat all the same answers.

Yes, just some kind of 'CF Watch' so people could go back and say what came out, when, and other details.

 

[PoweredUp!]

You can either buy a cheap eBike or a ridiculously overpriced eBike.

The one who buys the cheap eBike will learn a lesson about quality and design and make better choices going forward.. Wont cost a lot for that education.. And will either enjoy the eBike experience, or will realize that they prefer traditional bikes.

The one who buys an expensive eBike loses a lot more money at the end of the day.

 

[Ann M.]

That's a bit harsh, @PoweredUp! Each bike will serve a different purpose and have different caliber of components. Each rider will need to determine what style and price point of Ebike works best for themNo matter what, enjoy riding electric!

 

[George S.]

The Wave is up!

So far, they are taking the lessons of other campaigns to heart. They actually have a video of a 28 mile ride, to show the range. That's quite clever.

This is like a Pedego, with 2" tires, and a hefty 48v battery at 12AH. I would like to know more details on the battery.

This is a much more practical bike than the Sondo. It's the same deal on the shipping. They are already bending the truth about how, well, maybe, on a good day, you could just pick them up. But clearly it's a drop ship, and they will never touch them, never own them They will try to run from liability and warranty. I searched the web page for the word 'warranty' and it does not appear.

Really, this is something that might be worth owning if the the parts and the battery aren't bad. It's like a demonstrator bike, something to play with and see if it works, or what might work, if anything.

So far, it's completely Phil-free. Still, tell me more about the battery...

 

[Brambor]

Phil free? Who is PoweredUp then ? ;0) jk

 

[Admin]

Interesting bike... the campaign seems more authentic than the Storm/Sondors and I want to have empathy for these guys right. Between the two, the wave would be my choice but I agree the rack is a bit off. I think it's meant to continue the wave lines of the top tube but could be an issue when removing the battery if it were to slide out like this.

 

[JRA]

This appears to be just another Alibaba bike with a semi slick marketing ploy on a crowd funding vehicle. The one thing I noticed was that it is a fixed funding campaign which means that unless the $70k goal is reached no funds are released and am assuming that you will not be charged at all until the funding goal is met. This at least is a bit less of a gamble but still not a slam dunk.

One thing that intrigues me about the whole "most affordable e bike" rage that is going on here in the US is that in the EU where e bikes have grown immensely popular over the last 7+ years they shed the low cost models that had also been available to them in favor of higher priced e bikes that are backed by known bike brands and retailers that offer decent warranties and after point of sale parts and service. The name brand higher price point bicycles that are showing up here on dealers floors reflect that business model and unfortunately it looks like we need to go through the low cost phase first in order to establish that you truly get what you pay for.

 

[SLD]

The Wave is up!

So far, they are taking the lessons of other campaigns to heart. They actually have a video of a 28 mile ride, to show the range. That's quite clever.

This is like a Pedego, with 2" tires, and a hefty 48v battery at 12AH. I would like to know more details on the battery.

This is a much more practical bike than the Sondo. It's the same deal on the shipping. They are already bending the truth about how, well, maybe, on a good day, you could just pick them up. But clearly it's a drop ship, and they will never touch them, never own them They will try to run from liability and warranty. I searched the web page for the word 'warranty' and it does not appear.

Really, this is something that might be worth owning if the the parts and the battery aren't bad. It's like a demonstrator bike, something to play with and see if it works, or what might work, if anything.

So far, it's completely Phil-free. Still, tell me more about the battery...

FYI: I posted a question about the battery and pedal-assist yesterday and got a response today. Here's what they wrote:

Aaron B
3 hours ago
The battery is lithium-ion. The bike uses a cadence sensor for pedal assist and does have exactly three different levels (low, medium, high).
Thanks!​

I've been shopping around for my first electric bike. Any thoughts on how wise it would be to take the risk on this one?

 

[PowerMe]

I've been shopping around for my first electric bike. Any thoughts on how wise it would be to take the risk on this one?

What I would say is that if you can afford to potentially lose $499 then it's an acceptable risk. There is always risk involved in a crowdfunding campaign and it's unknown if what you'll get is exactly like what's being promised today. Would you be okay with getting a bike that potentially disappointed you? Are you okay with a bike you've not personally tried and ridden? If it takes much longer than promised to get the bike (say 6 months longer or more) would you be okay? You don't have to answer the questions here in the forum, but they are good ones to ask yourself so you can understand your tolerable level of risk.

 

[George S.]

FYI: I posted a question about the battery and pedal-assist yesterday and got a response today. Here's what they wrote:

Aaron B
3 hours ago
The battery is lithium-ion. The bike uses a cadence sensor for pedal assist and does have exactly three different levels (low, medium, high).
Thanks!​

I've been shopping around for my first electric bike. Any thoughts on how wise it would be to take the risk on this one?

If you are really interested, I would push a little on the chemistry of the cells and the manufacturer. It's actually a very large battery pack, a lot of watt hours, a lot of cells. We pretty much knew it was Lithium Ion, but that covers everything. Most helpful would be to identify the manufacturer and the chemistry, plus the mah (milliamp hour rating) rating on the cells.

You could point out that most ebikes and ebike kits have a $500-700 pack, just the battery, and their pack is actually very large. It is hard to compute. How do they pull this off?

You might ask who manufactures the motor. If nothing else, the more specific they get, the more they might deserve some trust.

 

[SLD]

If you are really interested, I would push a little on the chemistry of the cells and the manufacturer. It's actually a very large battery pack, a lot of watt hours, a lot of cells. We pretty much knew it was Lithium Ion, but that covers everything. Most helpful would be to identify the manufacturer and the chemistry, plus the mah (milliamp hour rating) rating on the cells.

You could point out that most ebikes and ebike kits have a $500-700 pack, just the battery, and their pack is actually very large. It is hard to compute. How do they pull this off?

You might ask who manufactures the motor. If nothing else, the more specific they get, the more they might deserve some trust.

Will do. I'll let you know if they reply. Thanks!

 

[SLD]

What I would say is that if you can afford to potentially lose $499 then it's an acceptable risk. There is always risk involved in a crowdfunding campaign and it's unknown if what you'll get is exactly like what's being promised today. Would you be okay with getting a bike that potentially disappointed you? Are you okay with a bike you've not personally tried and ridden? If it takes much longer than promised to get the bike (say 6 months longer or more) would you be okay? You don't have to answer the questions here in the forum, but they are good ones to ask yourself so you can understand your tolerable level of risk.

Actually a $650 risk, if you consider shipping and the bike is disappointing. Thanks!

 

[George S.]

Tweaks:

On the first day, I searched their web page for the word "warranty" and didn't find that word. Today they list a one year parts warranty. They had a second battery option on the first day, but that is not there now. They did not originally offer a 'donation' perk, one dollar or more to be a funder and have access to make public comment. Today they do. On the Sondo campaign this became a real issue.

They had some specific numbers for hill climbing and acceleration that were remarkable, but those seem to have been replaced. Now it is very general. They will have demos but you have to wonder how they will get people to show up, how they will get the word out.

It's a little weird to commit to something, if you contribute, and then come back and see things have changed. The warranty is a plus, especially if it covers the battery, but it's tough to say who is really backing the warranty.

The thing I wonder about both Sondo and Wave is why they don't go with a step-through. Especially in a cruiser bike, for older folks, and people out of shape, it is what seems to sell. (It's not a girl's bike, it's a step through.)