sunlova or alien??

[stormb22]

hi all storm here wonder if anyone has had any experience with the alien or sunlova e-bike kits i currently have one of the alien special bike (kind of pleased with it but motor really noisey : ) i want to convert a 700c cycle so i have a spare i have been waiting for the alien kits to come in to stock but he,s hiked the price up over £120.00 (bit of a steep increase for my liking !!) looking at the sunlova kits they seem to be using the same 8fun motor and what seems to be a better battery (panasonic cells)??

 

[Old Timer]

hi all storm here wonder if anyone has had any experience with the alien or sunlova e-bike kits i currently have one of the alien special bike (kind of pleased with it but motor really noisey : ) i want to convert a 700c cycle so i have a spare i have been waiting for the alien kits to come in to stock but he,s hiked the price up over £120.00 (bit of a steep increase for my liking !!) looking at the sunlova kits they seem to be using the same 8fun motor and what seems to be a better battery (panasonic cells)??

Alien have gone up in price but you do now get three levels of power and you get to deal with Jim if things go wrong and he`ll put it right. What cost after sales

 

[stormb22]

alien kits

had problem with battery on alien bike,took a week for them to answer e-mails and 4 weeks to replace battery not really had good back up service from them

 

[jayuk]

my sunlova kit is practically silent in operation 26" disk version, down side is only 6 month warranty. i would have no trouble recommending them though & on a plus side they do replacement batterys for around £200. the versions listed on ebay now have a upgraded battery, i purchased before the new type were listed.

jason

 

[stormb22]

alien or sunlova??

thanks for that info it has swayed me more towards the sunlova, kit i'm wondering if alien having now taken over another e-bike company and taking on golden motor uk dis have become to big for there own good ! the thing with alien is they did offer e-bikes and kits at realistic prices, the price hike of over £120 does not reflect having a power switch surely ?

 

[Old Timer]

thanks for that info it has swayed me more towards the sunlova, kit i'm wondering if alien having now taken over another e-bike company and taking on golden motor uk dis have become to big for there own good ! the thing with alien is they did offer e-bikes and kits at realistic prices, the price hike of over £120 does not reflect having a power switch surely ?

Well! if you don`t really need a power switch then I suppose the increase is quite a jump. BTW the new front wheel does come with a puncture resistant tyre now. Most of the increase in cost was exchange rates plus things do go up every year. We might have low inflation but some other parts of the world are still quite high.

I`m surprised at the long wait you had for the replacement battery(although they did run out at one time) and also surprised at no decent reply to your e mail, there is probably a good explanation. ( I`ll ask Jim next time we speak.)

They have now got a new good sized distribution centre and have had a number of container loads of bikes in of late and what with holidays were pushed a bit but all is now working well.

Don`t loose heart with Alien, they do try very hard to get it right.

Dave

 

[flecc]

I'm surprised to hear that Alien have taken on Goldenmotor. The latter has not had a good reputation on this side of the world due to faults with new kits, lack of adequate kit instructions and lack of customer support. I hope they've bucked their ideas up or that Alien can make good the shortcomings that Goldenmotor have shown previously.
.

 

[stormb22]

thanks for that maybe just a fluke that i got slow response from alien , shame because the bike is great value for money apart from a very noisy motor which was disappointing because stated this was a low noise motor .

 

[Andrew harvey]

I confess to having looked into importing the same kits that Alien supply a few years ago, at the time I was bringing in Crystalye motors. The Alien kits were much more complete and user friendly, I didn't bring them in because Alien started up selling them at a lower price than I intended, at the time they weren't charging VAT.
The current price is actually realistic for what you get, their original low price has worked well for them by keeping others out of the market due to the low margins, but I would suggest that it was always too low to give a sensible profit. Remember without them making a profit they would simply simply stop trading and be unable to provide any back up.
Compare their prices to the Ezee kits.

 

[flecc]

Completely agree with that Andrew, I always felt Synergie and Alien traded close to being non-viable, and Synergie's disappearance into Alien tends to support that. Their today's prices are still low

I'd say the eZee kit is as much mid as high priced, the high priced level being more that of BionX and Heinzmann.
.

 

[NRG]

Yes, I think their prices are set at the correct level, kits and bikes. I wouldn't like to see them any higher though, I don't consider them too low but correctly placed and many of the other kits and bikes priced unrealistically high.

 

[stormb22]

the sunlova kit uses the same motor as the alien kits and with what seems a better battery with panasonic cells (although 1 amp less cap) i can't see the extra you are paying for with the alien kit apart from the power switch.

 

[eddieo]

the sunlova kit uses the same motor as the alien kits and with what seems a better battery with panasonic cells (although 1 amp less cap) i can't see the extra you are paying for with the alien kit apart from the power switch.

UK support and a decent reputation?

 

[NRG]

.....an extra 6 months warranty and Pre-fitted tyre...

 

[jayuk]

sorry but i have to backup stormb22, whenever i sent a message to them i had a reply with a day. the kits from either sunlova or alien are the same amount of work to fit if you go for the diy kit & sunlova have been around since 2005 on ebay.

jason

 

[John L]

Hi guys

I thinking strongly about buying the sunlova kit (mainly because of the price versus the alien kit) but despite having read a number of previous posts I still have a couple of queries which maybe you can help me with.

The sunlova website talks about maximum speed being 15mph - does this mean that the motor cuts out over 15mph and that you're left entirely under your own steam above that speed? If this is the case am I right in thinking that it may be possible to override the restriction?

I'm also trying to get a handle on the range - I have a 32 mile round trip to work. I'm keen to use muscle power as well so I wonder if I'll make the journey on one charge. I'm planning to fit the kit to a Giant crs3 hybrid (28" wheels) which moves pretty well despite my 15 stone carcass

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

John

 

[NRG]

Hi guys

I thinking strongly about buying the sunlova kit (mainly because of the price versus the alien kit) but despite having read a number of previous posts I still have a couple of queries which maybe you can help me with.

The sunlova website talks about maximum speed being 15mph - does this mean that the motor cuts out over 15mph and that you're left entirely under your own steam above that speed?

Yes, this is the legal requirement and applies to all kits and bikes alike

If this is the case am I right in thinking that it may be possible to override the restriction?

Maybe depends on the kit. Overvolting a motor IE using a higher voltage battery within reason will make the motor exceed the limit also.

I'm also trying to get a handle on the range - I have a 32 mile round trip to work. I'm keen to use muscle power as well so I wonder if I'll make the journey on one charge. I'm planning to fit the kit to a Giant crs3 hybrid (28" wheels) which moves pretty well despite my 15 stone carcass

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

John

Range is always a tricky one, there are so many factors involved that its never definitive as to what range you will get. Terrain, weather (wind), fitness etc all play a part. However, at 32 miles round trip you should be able to do one half of that easily with most of the kits available today...you may fall short of 32 depending on the variables I listed above on one charge...if this turns out to be the casein practice then its solved by buying a larger battery or getting fitter!

 

[Hermit]

You might also consider charging the battery at work, John. Most, if not all, batteries are removable and lots of people follow this course of action.

 

[Old Timer]

Hi guys

I thinking strongly about buying the sunlova kit (mainly because of the price versus the alien kit) but despite having read a number of previous posts I still have a couple of queries which maybe you can help me with.

The sunlova website talks about maximum speed being 15mph - does this mean that the motor cuts out over 15mph and that you're left entirely under your own steam above that speed? If this is the case am I right in thinking that it may be possible to override the restriction?

I'm also trying to get a handle on the range - I have a 32 mile round trip to work. I'm keen to use muscle power as well so I wonder if I'll make the journey on one charge. I'm planning to fit the kit to a Giant crs3 hybrid (28" wheels) which moves pretty well despite my 15 stone carcass

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

John

John

As far as range goes on my previous(last years kit) Alien kit I would say that the 32 miles should be within the batteries range providing you don`t use the throttle only mode. As far as the latest kit goes I haven`t had a chance to fully condition the battery but was a bit worried on the first charge as far as power drop off was concerned. However on the second and current charge the power seems to have taken a decent lift and mileage seems to be going in the same direction as the older kit.

To be honest, if I were to be commuting 16 miles each way I certainly either obtain a second charger or take the supplied charger with me and top the battery up at work because you will notice the difference in power near the end of your run if not.
Actually (depending on how securely you can park up the bike) In my case I`d almost certainly just stick a second battery on the back. With the new alien kit they supply a new larger metal box to house the controller and there is so much room in it that fitting a chasis socket (maybe a kettle plug type) to give you plenty of choice for a second battery to attach.

 

[John L]

Hi guys - thanks for getting back so quickly

NRG - I was afraid that the 15 mph limit would cut the motor but I guess the motor is still available when its most useful - into wind or uphill. At the moment I'm averaging about 14.5 mph on the Giant but that definitely would go up if I didn't have to slow down so much on the hills.

Just so I understand - when I'm ready to take off - I can cycle or use the thumb throttle. Presumably if I use a combination of both I'm saving battery power. When I reach 15mph the motor automatically cuts out and I continue cycling at whatever speed I can - so the more I can cycle above 15mph the more battery power I save and the greater the range? (sorry if these are very basic questions but I haven't had an opportunity to ride an electric bike).

Hermit - if can get a second charger I would definitely think about charging at work

Hi Old Timer that gives me a better sense of the options. My journey into work follows the course of the Liffey into Dublin and usually has the prevailing wind behind me so that leg of the journey should go easily enough. But I would definitely need some power on the way home for all the opposite reasons. I can't see myself buying a second battery tho at the moment - I'm just about convincing my better half that this is a good idea! - but as I mentioned the second charger might be do the trick.

Thanks

John