Well, maybe just a little nonsense when assigning "watts" to a motor output, when it is the Controller that is rated for watts produced. If people are going to pretend that they understand basic electricity, they should not expose this lack of understanding in public.

Pretty much... most of these ebikes are built up from a stock supply of frames and parts. So the performance across brands are identical, so your choice comes down to price and after sales service if you are lucky.

It's been over a year, so there may be other options available nowadays

I've only ever seen the AA sized batteries, so all standard.

Yeah, still playing around with it.. could be inside I'm surrounded by hard surfaces, or I need a better mic inside that old casing I'm using.

Horses for courses (so to speak). I ride along gravel trails (rail trails) so the fat tyres do well there, and there's no hills on rail trails, just very gradual slopes. If I was riding along roads, then that would be different. Personally I wouldn't do my commute to work along roads, I don't find it safe at all.

Much softer ride with 4 inch tyre's

Totally without doubt, true. I put a small 250-watt friction drive on a Giant road bike . So I know for sure.

It’s a 1000w powered bike… stops better the more resistance u have

With hills, it pays to get the largest amp battery you can afford. It will give you that extra grunt.

It's a work-out. These ebikes are at least three times the weight of an ordinary bike. I've ridden this one with a flat battery, and I was in a low gear on the flat and only doing about 5kmh.

I could tell customs had openend the box, had a look and resealed it. But, it still got through withoiut issues.

@@GregCarrick was it airfreight as I thought they were strict with batteries?

@@johngreydanus2033 It came by boat as far as I could tell. Took about 6 weeks and ended up in Port Melbourne before it got delivered to me.

That's interesting, they should sell well for christmas... The downside of buying like I did is the long delivery wait.

JB were selling the 250W for $999. They sold out eventually. JB had to replace the 500 watt versions with 250W motors, as the 500W motors are illegal on public roads. So the 1,000 watt Greg uses on his bike (thanks for the review Greg) is illegal on our roads. NSW in March I think, upgraded the limit from 250 watts to 500 watts. All being a maximum of 25 KMH. I don't know where the speedo is operated from - there are kits or fiddles to upgrade the speed where the motor cuts out. Personally I think a limit of 25 KMH is dangerous in traffic. One should be able to keep close to the pace of cars. However - these E-Bikes are not viewed by the authorities as being bikes. Technically, they are scooters. And a scooter at over 25 KMH is deadly. Well, they are deadly at 20KMH if one falls off, which is easy to do with a scooter. By the way, the Fiido 500 Watt sells for around $2,300 at JB. No doubt in time such prices will come down a lot. The good news for Greg is that he can easily get a replacement battery. It will cost him $600 to $700 for one. But such bikes are useless IMO when the battery wears out. I presume the 1000 watt will wear out the battery quicker too. But not by much IMO. It also puts more amperage through the controller. It really depends on the quality of the motor I guess ... which means, how good its rare earth magnets might be ... And also, the big question besides amp hours in the batteries, is the quality of the batteries. They do vary quite a lot. Some have 300 cycle lives. Some have 3,000 cycle lives. As a major issue with an E-Bike, it seems there is very little focus on the batteries with most sellers. Good luck with your fun bike Greg. They look great to me, but I want to fit two into the back of my Land Rover Discovery. Which also has other stuff in it, and a caravan behind. Plus a dog and a fridge in the Disco. I reckon the fat bikes will be too big for me ... otherwise I'd have bought two from JB for $999 each. Which gives us an idea of how much these bikes really can be bought for, if one has some retail muscle behind you. Which small bike shops cannot have. Besides their fellow partners in bike shops, they have to handle a huge range of different bikes. Alarmingly too, it costs more per hour to have a pushbike service, than it does to have a Porsche serviced. That is where I reckon the bike shops are hanging their survival on. Not all of us are handy with tools, and many of use these days don't have a garage or a shed to work on a bike.

@@douglaslin5469 Here is your PHD. COngrats.

Just researching ebikes and came across this. Maybe a bit late, but Dr Douglas has some good input and I accept his evaluation. I am thinking of a ridstar q20 2000w. Gregcarrik if you are still online and if so I would love your opinion. Also I would love comments or recommendations from anyone who has knowledge of what to buy if you are looking for a sudo motorcycle that is like the q20?

www.bicyclestore.com.au Savara full face helmet A$89.99

Thanks. I think most of the clunking is coming from my front shocks. They are pretty basic.

@@GregCarrick it was the battery rattling on me Fiido M1- regonised the noise on your video 🙄 I'll send you some more hard earned tricks - re 20x4 fat tyre puncture elimination & 20x4 motor failure in rain & wheel collapse off road ..... hopefully save you bit of hassle 🤞had 2 Fiido M1s- & a Mate X last 3. Years....... Now using a Engwe X26 👍

@@fenflyer What do you think of the Engwe?

@@GregCarrick lot more robust than MateX or Fiido M1s which rated @ 90 kg Engwe X26 rated 150kg + 👍

The Engwe use magnisum alloy wheels 💪

You can adjust the screen brightness (that's the first setting that comes up you can change). Most spares are things that just attach to the frame, so I'd just source what you wanted from Amazon....

I haven't purchased through Aliexpress. I see no reason for it to get stuck in customs though.

I had no trouble. I know mine was opened by customs on arrival in Australia, but it was packaged back up and delivered.

My issue was I'd sliced some wires while unpacking the box. I had to find which wires I'd cut and fix them up again.

@@GregCarrick I carnt get any help from the seller yas they do not respond to my messages. No customer service.

That doesn't need a video... you just order from the supplier, payment covers shipping, and the supplier ships it. All you do is purchase, everything else is looked after by the supplier.

I would have no idea, I have never even seen a Rundeer to make an assessment of.

The law is 250w max. If you want to stay legal, stick with that. That's plenty of power for flat conditions.

I think 750W is the sweet spot.... More important is the battery. I would suggest a 48V with 17Amps or above. Mine is 14Amps and is a bit too short on range.

@@GregCarrick Thanks Greg, I'll start searching with that criteria in mind. You are also swaying me towards a foldy too. Cheers mate.

Really, if the places you ride on are fairly flat, 250W is fine. I wanted to experiment with a bigger motor, a throttle, and full suspension. There's no perfect ebike :) This one needs the handelbars raised, a better seat, and these things add to the cost. It's not streets ahead of the Fortis, just has a few nice extras. Cheers

That's not strictly true; you must be specific as that law doesn't apply to private property

@@GregCarrick Hey Greg, how hard would it be to raise the handlebars on this bike? Did you end up doing yours?

@@petermac8094 I thought I could attach a photo here, but I can't... I have installed some extenders that bring the bar up about 200mm. You can see it around the 3:30 mark in this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/raiHps2c1baXp2Q.html

@@GregCarrick Thats great cheers Gregg. Wow what an amazing transformation .

I know of no official service centres for the Fortis. An ordinary bike shop can look after all the normal bike parts - brakes, tyres etc. The electronics may be able to be looked after by a shop that does sell ebikes. nI did all the brake and tyre servicing myself, as they are pretty basic.

@@GregCarrick thanks 👍🏼

Mine did come with the battery seperate. My battery turned up before the ebike. Mine also came with a quick release front axle, so I have no issues with the bolts.

@@GregCarrick Thanks for the response Greg. In my case the bike arrived first but I'm happy you were able to confirm QIYOU do in fact ship the batteries seperately to Australia. fingers crossed it's still in the mail. Mine also has a quick release front axle but the mechanism came seperately in the box & has to be installed through the axle which is hollow. Anyway, hopefully the battery arrives soon & I can work out the axle situation.

And a pizza

No, I didn't say brand of motor.

Disregard I found the same thing, different listing, bought one!

I just did short runs for this video. I'm doing a range test tomorrow, to work and back. I shall report :)

OK, with highest PAS setting and using throttle only for 75% of the trip, (in other words, flat out the whole way) it covered 30k's. So that left me the last 2 k's to pedal without a battery to get home. If I backed off just a bit I could make it the 32 k's to work and back.

@@GregCarrick Cheers Greg, much appreciated.

@@GregCarrick hi Greg great review mate very helpful. Whats the charge time from dead to full please

@@luke_campbell7528 About six hours.

I think in America the bike needs a label on it for class 1, 2 or 3. In Australia, most states are 250W and PAS only for legal riding.

@@GregCarrick Yes there are restrictions for road and use in public spaces in Australia. I was more wondering about importing a bike with a motor over 250w without a vehicle permit. I'm guessing these bikes fly under the radar because they don't look like a motorcycle.

@@ivana6141 Importing was no issue. Customs even opened up the box and resealed it.

I got the 20" fat tyre.

There was no extra shipping cost.

That's good to know. They seem to only have 250W versions at the moment.

@@GregCarrick Not strictly true, its branded as 250w to comply with the regulations here. its well and truly a 750w motor. in fact any ebike motor uses 48v battery cannot be 250w.

Minor - put on the front wheel, seat, pedals... Battery will be sent separately by post.

150kgs. You can find all the info here: ridstar-ebike.com/product/foldable-ridstar-electric-bike-h20/

Get onto their customer service.

Did you get it running ?

@@deedyau12 oh yes, once I'd fixed the cuts it was fine.

Not out of the box, but the new owner has made that happen.

Best way to do that is not draw atention to yourself.

From what I can see it peaks at 500w. Even so that's a good price.Well done.

@@GregCarrick the Motor's 750w, but the actual wattage is determined by the battery+controller. It can go up to 40k/h when unlocked, What more could you ask for? the best thing is the torque sensor it comes with, which is only seen in 2k+ bikes.

@@DM-sc4zy A torque sensor would be awesome :)

​@@DM-sc4zywhats a torque sensor for, if i may ask

Nice bikes, although more than $1000 more expensive, and with a 250w motor for that price. That's one of my arguments, basic bikes in Australia nare very expensive.

@@GregCarrick Yes ....I agree with that . Yet it is ok to sell e- scooters here in nanny state Australia that can travel up too 100 kmh.

Here are the current laws: www.dirodi.com.au/blog/electric-bike-laws-road-rules-australia/

I haven't *yet... I believe the police will only bother ebike riders if 1) The riders are being stupid in public 2) The Police are bored and you drop into their lap or 3) If there's a push from higher up to 'clean up the trails of dangerous bikes'. I'm just going about my business, being polite to people I meet on trails, slowing down or even stopping for horse riders etc... So at the moment, so long as I don't upset people, I don't think I'll be a target. But yes, our laws are way behind what's happening, and I expect some changes will be made. Cheers

@@GregCarrick Sweet bike mate! I've got a Kristall KS26 on the way with a 750W motor. Here's hoping they get rid of the 250W law, change it to 1000W or so and just keep the 25kph speed limit for public roads. If this were the equivalent of a law for motorcycles it's like saying you can only ever ride a 125cc despite being able to ride a 1000cc at the speed limit as a sensible human being. I wish common sense applied to Australian laws 😔

@@sandbag7846 Our laws are way behind what is happening on the streets.

@@GregCarrick The Sturt piggies stopped me on a 1000w bullet stealth scooter, I was riging on econo mode and the bastards still pinched me, that was 4 years ago, the crappy TEBCO bike I got off dad crapped out, loose spoke pierced the tube and diecast rim cracked up a day beforehand. that TEB bike started playing dead at random, repeatedly shitting me off, I looked at ebikes on YT, ebay then found the Fortis, mine has done 7000km fairy reliably, only minor elec trouble, the speedo pad isn't IP65 rated and gets dew inside if rained on, upon returning to Adelaide the bike wouldn't switch on, so opened up the display pad, bridged a screwdriver across the solder joints on the power switch and it turned on. some WD40 got the switch working again. After looking into the controller box, the 3 thick motor wires developed a bad connection and got error 21 after climbing Kensington Rd East of Adelaide. I got on YT to research the fix, I pulled the 3 bullet connectors apart and push back together, no further trouble

That's my goal

They aren't bad, they come with the 750X motor, and are between $150 to $500 more expensive. But you'll probably get one delivered quicker :)

Interesting. At nearly three times the price ($4390 and up) I would hope it did something special. But that was one of my points - importing American ebikes is very expensive. benbucklerboards.com.au/collections/super73

Obviously haven't researched AMPD BROS bikes

Then buy it :)

@@GregCarrick negative no thank you

The only one remotely similar is the Fiido, and it's only 250w. The 500w version is over $600 more.

2 points for 'Avast'

@@GregCarrick Ah, yes, avoiding the issue of controller as dispenser of electrical energy. Motors produce "watts"? NO. Motors Consume watts Bass Ackwards.

@@dehoedisc7247 do you do stand up comedy?

@@GregCarrick Heck yah, I'm a headliner at the little pub at McMurdo. Do Drop In.

eozzie.com.au/blogs/news/a-beginner-s-guide-to-electric-bike-laws-in-australia

Good to have suppliers in Australia. Being a retail shop, their prices are a lot higher than buying direct. The upside is you don't have the long wait for delivery, and they can service what they sell.

@@GregCarrick Oh yeah, I never said they were cheap, but same as any recent technology, will become better over time. I had been looking at the imported Super73 before I found AMPD BROS; now there is expensive bikes. And all are made in China, so I should not have said Australian bikes; they are distributors and have many models.

@@johngreydanus2033 Now we just have to wait for our laws to catch up with technology :)

@@GregCarrick Yeah, they are late to the party, only have to see how UBER got going even though everyone was saying, "Oh, that's illegal" LOL

@@GregCarrick AUS should ditch the stupid UK/EU laws and permit the US standards

Looks good