7 months ago I aquired a Ninja Electric Bike/scooter with 36 volt Lithium battery. It is the first bike I've owned from new.
The first thing is there was no manual supplied with the bike. I don't know if this is a common thing as I suspect the bike is made in China. The first problem is the range stated was 25-29 miles, and I couldn't get more than 15 miles, I will get to the point about the batterey later.
The chain would also keep sliding off, I took it to a shop and they adjusted the back wheel 3 times but the problem still happens sometimes. I thought the chain needed links taking out but they didn't. The rear box supplied on the bike would rattle like hell, and one day, just as I thought, I hit a small pothole and it came off completely. There was nothing in it and nobody following me, so it could have been worse. The box was just bolted down to the bike, and the screw holes in the base of the topbox fractured. I reckon if they used washers between the screw head and the box it wouldn't have happened. However, I can now carry larger items on my bike without the box.
I'm not sure about the overall quality of it. The bike was relatively cheap, at just under £900. One of the panels hasn't slotted in well to where it is supposed to connect to the footrest. I also found a loose screw underneath. But generally it seems to be ok.
As for the battery, it can get the bike up steep hills well, with a bit of pedalling I'm surprised at some of the uphill speeds I can achieve. The range is much less than expected, as I mostly ride on the flat and am a light person. After about 3 months I was riding along and the power kept cutting. I tried to charge it but it wouldn't charge. As the tamper seal on the battery was already broken when I took delivery, I opened it and found a loose connection, which I rectified. Unfortunately this became a recurring issue, and I eventually realised that the battery packs inside had become unstuck and were wobbling around. They are stuck in on one side with some sort of double-sided adhesive tape. Since I had a roll of the exact same tape lying around, I decided to remove the old tape and put my own in. I also put insulation tape around the offending connector (interestingly, some connectors were already taped, but others weren't) I reassembled the battery and the battery was OK for another month. One day I hit an unexpected pothole on a cycle track and the power went immediately. I continued to pedal to my destination and got a screwdriver and opened the battery. The top battery had unstuck, wobbled around and broke a connection where the wire joins the battery. I wedged it in, got the bike home, and tried to solder it. Although my soldering skills weren't so good, there seemed an issue that the solder wouldn't join the battery. SO I blu-tacked the battery to the wire, and also used blu-tack to hold the batteries in, this seemed to work much better, although the top battery would still wobble sometimes. I got a friend to try and solder it again but even he couldn't.
Recently, another wire came undone, because I opened and closed the case so much the wire that joins to the external fuse disconnected. I panicked, as the bike is my only transport, and decided that because there was another car type fuse in the battery, to disconnect the other wire from the outside fuse, and join them together. I've had no more issues.
I've taken the bike to a local electric bike dealer, they say it was illegal for the bike to supplied without a manual, and that they could attempt to fix the battery for me, at £45 per hour. They also said they wouldn't sell those sorts of bikes because the quality was too low, but that my bike does look good. Indeed, I think it does and it attracts a lot of attention. The speed and power is also impressive, it can take a passenger (not sure if that is illegal, however the police didn't stop me when I had a passenger, but they did check to see if it was electric, as one of us didn't have a helmet, then they left us alone. Also one copper wanted to have a go on it one night so I let him! If normal bicycles can have a passenger or a kid on the back, then I see no issue with mine!)
If I can solve the issue with the chain, and the battery then I would like to carry on using it. If not, then I would rather have a Vespa.
P.S. I did a search on this forum as I waited so many days for my account to be activated, and discovered the battery is a Phylion Hi-energy lithium battery, XH370-10J DC37.0V S/N:JGJHAE100156 which means it was just about 2.5 years old when I bought the bike. I think it would have lost a bit of capacity in that time, and to be honest, many other things, and the tamper seal was already broken. This may account for the range and problems. It has done 91 charges so far, and I think it has a lot of life left in it. It looks completely different to the other batteries with the same model number that go on other bikes, it is a lot wider, and doesn't have a key or meter, as my scooter has them instead. Cannot find a suitable replacement, and the price is shocking in comparison to what I paid for the bike.
The company that sold it have been unhelpful and don't respond at all. I phoned them for a manual and they said they would email it and it never came. I emailed them with no reply, I did write a letter and eventually got an unsatisfactory email and there has been no correspondence since. Unfortunately they took so long to initially respond that the 6 month warranty expired by then. However, they said they'd look at it free of charge if I get the bike to them, which is impossible as I have no transport and the bike can't go that distance!
The first thing is there was no manual supplied with the bike. I don't know if this is a common thing as I suspect the bike is made in China. The first problem is the range stated was 25-29 miles, and I couldn't get more than 15 miles, I will get to the point about the batterey later.
The chain would also keep sliding off, I took it to a shop and they adjusted the back wheel 3 times but the problem still happens sometimes. I thought the chain needed links taking out but they didn't. The rear box supplied on the bike would rattle like hell, and one day, just as I thought, I hit a small pothole and it came off completely. There was nothing in it and nobody following me, so it could have been worse. The box was just bolted down to the bike, and the screw holes in the base of the topbox fractured. I reckon if they used washers between the screw head and the box it wouldn't have happened. However, I can now carry larger items on my bike without the box.
I'm not sure about the overall quality of it. The bike was relatively cheap, at just under £900. One of the panels hasn't slotted in well to where it is supposed to connect to the footrest. I also found a loose screw underneath. But generally it seems to be ok.
As for the battery, it can get the bike up steep hills well, with a bit of pedalling I'm surprised at some of the uphill speeds I can achieve. The range is much less than expected, as I mostly ride on the flat and am a light person. After about 3 months I was riding along and the power kept cutting. I tried to charge it but it wouldn't charge. As the tamper seal on the battery was already broken when I took delivery, I opened it and found a loose connection, which I rectified. Unfortunately this became a recurring issue, and I eventually realised that the battery packs inside had become unstuck and were wobbling around. They are stuck in on one side with some sort of double-sided adhesive tape. Since I had a roll of the exact same tape lying around, I decided to remove the old tape and put my own in. I also put insulation tape around the offending connector (interestingly, some connectors were already taped, but others weren't) I reassembled the battery and the battery was OK for another month. One day I hit an unexpected pothole on a cycle track and the power went immediately. I continued to pedal to my destination and got a screwdriver and opened the battery. The top battery had unstuck, wobbled around and broke a connection where the wire joins the battery. I wedged it in, got the bike home, and tried to solder it. Although my soldering skills weren't so good, there seemed an issue that the solder wouldn't join the battery. SO I blu-tacked the battery to the wire, and also used blu-tack to hold the batteries in, this seemed to work much better, although the top battery would still wobble sometimes. I got a friend to try and solder it again but even he couldn't.
Recently, another wire came undone, because I opened and closed the case so much the wire that joins to the external fuse disconnected. I panicked, as the bike is my only transport, and decided that because there was another car type fuse in the battery, to disconnect the other wire from the outside fuse, and join them together. I've had no more issues.
I've taken the bike to a local electric bike dealer, they say it was illegal for the bike to supplied without a manual, and that they could attempt to fix the battery for me, at £45 per hour. They also said they wouldn't sell those sorts of bikes because the quality was too low, but that my bike does look good. Indeed, I think it does and it attracts a lot of attention. The speed and power is also impressive, it can take a passenger (not sure if that is illegal, however the police didn't stop me when I had a passenger, but they did check to see if it was electric, as one of us didn't have a helmet, then they left us alone. Also one copper wanted to have a go on it one night so I let him! If normal bicycles can have a passenger or a kid on the back, then I see no issue with mine!)
If I can solve the issue with the chain, and the battery then I would like to carry on using it. If not, then I would rather have a Vespa.
P.S. I did a search on this forum as I waited so many days for my account to be activated, and discovered the battery is a Phylion Hi-energy lithium battery, XH370-10J DC37.0V S/N:JGJHAE100156 which means it was just about 2.5 years old when I bought the bike. I think it would have lost a bit of capacity in that time, and to be honest, many other things, and the tamper seal was already broken. This may account for the range and problems. It has done 91 charges so far, and I think it has a lot of life left in it. It looks completely different to the other batteries with the same model number that go on other bikes, it is a lot wider, and doesn't have a key or meter, as my scooter has them instead. Cannot find a suitable replacement, and the price is shocking in comparison to what I paid for the bike.
The company that sold it have been unhelpful and don't respond at all. I phoned them for a manual and they said they would email it and it never came. I emailed them with no reply, I did write a letter and eventually got an unsatisfactory email and there has been no correspondence since. Unfortunately they took so long to initially respond that the 6 month warranty expired by then. However, they said they'd look at it free of charge if I get the bike to them, which is impossible as I have no transport and the bike can't go that distance!
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