Fully Modified ECR Ultra Bee

[Moto_JB]

Id love to see what you've got on this! Can you post it or direct us please?

Personal Message me your email and I'll send it over!

 

[byke]

Fair enough and good input...I concur for the most part.

Been into go fast bikes and cars for decades myself and I get it.

The electric bike thing is still pretty new and it's just exciting to be trying out the new higher-spec'd stuff that is hitting the market.

Definitely not convinced on the "frozen pussy", by any means ...and I know the money ($10k) would likely be better spent elsewhere. No illusions. Totally agree about the...cess. I deal with Chinese suppliers quite a bit.

With that said, I think I'm staying with building up my UB, and getting a stupidly modified/built LB. At least with Surron, there are considerably more aftermarket parts (comparitively speaking), better name recognition and a market to sell it, if/when that day comes.

I also plan to get another gas bike. I used to have a CRF450 and having both would be the best of both worlds. Life is short. Going to get some real seat time in again, while I still can. The street/tarmac is out, so dirt, here I come.

Thanks for your perspectives!

Frozen Pussy!

Your UB looks great, hope I didn't come off as disparaging towards it. To me, Surron has achieved at least the bare minimum to qualify as a legit mfr making a legit product. It's not Japanese quality, but it seems to be good enough that this company is going to be around for a while. I've seen some gnarly sends on the Youtubes with Light Bee's that, if they were junk, would not survive. I'm glad they exist, because they carve out a price point that other mfr's will have to reference their products by, which is an especially high bar when buyers have the Alibaba option to save even more.

Don't be afraid of an Alta!

I had a CRF450 as well, a first gen 2004. I'm getting lazier with certain things, like I'm super over tuning carbs, so I *need* fuel injection. I'll look more seriously at e-stuffs once that 450 void is filled. For now I'm just on the sidelines enjoying this period of new offerings.

 

[Moto_JB]

Frozen Pussy!

Your UB looks great, hope I didn't come off as disparaging towards it. To me, Surron has achieved at least the bare minimum to qualify as a legit mfr making a legit product. It's not Japanese quality, but it seems to be good enough that this company is going to be around for a while. I've seen some gnarly sends on the Youtubes with Light Bee's that, if they were junk, would not survive. I'm glad they exist, because they carve out a price point that other mfr's will have to reference their products by, which is an especially high bar when buyers have the Alibaba option to save even more.

Don't be afraid of an Alta!

I had a CRF450 as well, a first gen 2004. I'm getting lazier with certain things, like I'm super over tuning carbs, so I *need* fuel injection. I'll look more seriously at e-stuffs once that 450 void is filled. For now I'm just on the sidelines enjoying this period of new offerings.

Haha, not at all man...your words are wise Jedi. I couldn't agree more overall. I have no illusions of what I have with Surron...and that's why I'm throwing money at suspension (and some other key parts), to improve upon some of it's shortcomings. Even then, it's a Chinese bike. I get it.

Yeah, while a LB takes a lot of mods to become a more real contender...it can be done. I like taking the riskier (and often, more expensive and less sensible) paths, less traveled.

This kid rips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th9PnORxoWY&t=8s

If they can build something suitable for this 300lb dude...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=584I2p0UGCQ


Didn't Alta go out of business? I'd be more afraid of owning a bike with absolutely no chance of factory parts or support...

 

[SM610]

Way back when, I was a small shop in SF. We looked at all the opportunities these Chinese manufacturers brought to market, and despite our hopes they were ALL disappointing failures. One scooter company (Tank) actually had a 2 stroke expansion chamber on their 4 stroke scooter! So I guess the question is - has any of that changed? Have the Chinese learned anything about how to make decent products and give reasonable support?

I think the answer is...some, but real trust is certainly not deserved. Surron seems to be more of what Americans expect. But I think this electric bike thing gets them out of a lot of the trouble that ENGINES provide. The number of parts goes from Hundreds to dozens. Still, I highly doubt that Surron has a warehouse with spare parts or anything even close. Any of these other new companies will certainly be miles behind Surron, and that likely goes for (not Chinese) Stark too. It's very likely consumed by just trying to make as many bikes as the market is demanding currently. And they are likely not doing so.

My Ultra Bee has had what I think most Ebikes would consider "a good life". I ride 1 or 2 times a week. In the "yard", in the woods, at the MX track, at a flat track/TT track, etc. So far I haven't broken any bike parts, my expectations are that when I do it will be a very un-japanese parts experience. We will see.

We will see if ANY of these new companies can perform up to "Japanese" standards, but it seems unlikely. Hell, Ducati isn't, and ducati owners kinda wear it like a badge of honor while secretly hating it.

Edit - all this, but I still want the Frozen Pussy 9000 to be as good as a Surron, I'm still working on it.

 

[Moto_JB]

Way back when, I was a small shop in SF. We looked at all the opportunities these Chinese manufacturers brought to market, and despite our hopes they were ALL disappointing failures. One scooter company (Tank) actually had a 2 stroke expansion chamber on their 4 stroke scooter! So I guess the question is - has any of that changed? Have the Chinese learned anything about how to make decent products and give reasonable support?

I think the answer is...some, but real trust is certainly not deserved. Surron seems to be more of what Americans expect. But I think this electric bike thing gets them out of a lot of the trouble that ENGINES provide. The number of parts goes from Hundreds to dozens. Still, I highly doubt that Surron has a warehouse with spare parts or anything even close. Any of these other new companies will certainly be miles behind Surron, and that likely goes for (not Chinese) Stark too. It's very likely consumed by just trying to make as many bikes as the market is demanding currently. And they are likely not doing so.

My Ultra Bee has had what I think most Ebikes would consider "a good life". I ride 1 or 2 times a week. In the "yard", in the woods, at the MX track, at a flat track/TT track, etc. So far I haven't broken any bike parts, my expectations are that when I do it will be a very un-japanese parts experience. We will see.

We will see if ANY of these new companies can perform up to "Japanese" standards, but it seems unlikely. Hell, Ducati isn't, and ducati owners kinda wear it like a badge of honor while secretly hating it.

Edit - all this, but I still want the Frozen Pussy 9000 to be as good as a Surron, I'm still working on it.

Well put and agreed...seems I can currently get all of the parts one would need for the Surrons. I have parts diagrams and lists for both the Ultra Bee and Light Bee -- and a supplier who says they can source all of them apparently. $200 minimum Alibaba order and they air ship. I haven't tried to go to Surron directly for anything but some plastics. The question will be, for how long will they support their eventual, older model bike parts...possibly a crap shoot there.

Hey now, I didn't have any issues with my Ducati! It never broke, so there's that (and I never crashed it fortunately), so I didn't need parts.

Ha! You show me a bike truly named Frozen Pussy (with a suitable graphics scheme), and I'm buying it just for kicks and a conversation piece.

 

[byke]

Agree with all of that. I remember the old owner/operator Jeff at Davis Motorsports was in the same boat, because Davis/SF, scooters are bread and butter. He was pretty happy with Kymco, which isn't exactly Chinese, but not too far off either. The parts support thing just kills me with these companies. How hard is it to throw up a web page and shopping cart??

Didn't Alta go out of business? I'd be more afraid of owning a bike with absolutely no chance of factory parts or support...

They did and it's definitely understandable. If you like being resourceful and geeking out on stuff, it could be lots of fun. Absolutely must be a 2nd/3rd/etc. bike though.

 

[HadesOmega]

That is what is good about Sur Ron is they are now an established brand. You can buy parts from a number of websites. You can also order parts from Sur Ron Canada the importer. They've been doing this since 2018.

You can literally put a bike together from parts from their site:
https://surron.com/collections/all-parts-1?shpxid=89c5caa9-70b6-49ba-91ca-da9a543cad67