EVT America Z/R-20/30/...

I've owned an EVTAmerica R-20 for over a year. I've had a substantial number of problems with it, the most recent being the controller dieing after the oft-mentioned random-cutout problem seen by many EVTAmerica owners. For a complete list of my problems, see the "improvement" list of the R-30 vs. the R-20. I've pretty much had them all.

So I was driving my R-20 the other day and i hear a clunk and I pull over and my brakes fell out. It looks like the screws vibrated loose slowly. The problem now is puttin gthem back on... it seems like there's a space inbetween the lip of the brakes and the frame where they both screw in. I don't know if this was seperated by washer or what, but if someone could post pictures of the back of their rear breaks that would be awesome.

I've been enjoying my R-20 over the summer months thankfully without any of the problems that have popped up on this site.

I guess my luck ran out.

For the last several rides I have been hearing noise from within the hub of one of my wheels. This noise increased with the speed of the bike. Yesterday the speedometer/odometer conked out on me. I think the issues may be related. My understanding is that the speedometer works by a magnet passing by a plate from within the wheel. My surmise is that something broke off in there which caused the speedometer to malfunction.

After working as expected for around 4 months, the Soneil charger for my Z-20 seems to have stopped working.

Here is what I am experiencing:
1. When I plug in the charger and turn it on, neither of the LEDs light up. (as I recall, 1 LED used to light up when I turned on the charger previously)
2. When I then connect the charger to the Z-20, a single red LED lights up on the charger.

Other notes: the Z-20's batteries are about 1/2 charged, and when I turn on the scooter's breaker switch to on and turn the ignition on it seems to work as expected.

I have put about 400 miles on my R-20, and, unlike many posters here, have had a reasonably good experience so far. Haven't had any of the common problems addressed by others -- YET. Very thankful about this, because my experience with the EVTA "service department" has been abysmal.

So is there some standard preventative maintenance that should be done to our bikes? I have done the usually check everything over, tire pressure, checking the lights but what about lubrication? I have noticed the front wheel doesn't seem to spin as freely as it did making only about 2 full revolutions before stopping where it used to spin about 4 full revolutions. That got me to thinking is there anything else I should be doing regularly.

Thoughts?

I have just recently begun to investigate buying an electric scooter. So far I have been impressed, yet I think the same thing that shocks people is the power issue. I have noted much talk about waiting for lithium batteries and using silicon batteries but I think their already exist a better option, I'm just not electrically inclined enough. I would like someone to tell me if this sounds on the right line.

Has anyone considered using a Nanophospate battery? Here are some specs from the only distributer I know of A123System.

Cell Type: ANR26650M1
Model No. AS400059-001
Nominal operating Voltage 3.3V
Dimensions: 26mm x 66.5mm ht. including tabs
Cell weight 70g
Assembly Weight 72g including tabs
1 Developer Kit, 6 cells $129.00
2 or more kits $110.00 each

It seams that if you want to run at 60V you would need roughly 18 of these batteries or 3 kits which would cost $330. If you know anything about these batteries they charge to 80% in about 5 minutes. This is what they use to convert Toyota Prius from a Hybrid Electric Vehicle to a Plug-in Hybrid Electric vehicle. The weight savings is enormous at just under 3lbs for the whole battery 12V battery; I bet you would get lots of extra miles out of these little guys regardless of the scooter/moped you ride.

Since most of us have fully broken in our Z20/R20 scooters by now, it would probably be beneficial to get an update of the status of each of them. I suspect that prospective buyers would like to have a concise list of the pros and cons, and the advice of those who have already made the plunge. Here's my info:

Just FYI, the mirrors from a Honda Ruckus are an easy swap for the Z20 mirrors, and are a big improvement functionally. Someone on the forum mentioned replacing their mirrors with a pair from a Honda Metropolitan, so when I broke one of my original mirrors I went to the local Honda dealer. They suggested that the Honda Ruckus mirrors would be a better match stylistically (the Metro mirrors are round chrome mirrors, the Ruckus mirrors are a rectangular black mirror) and either would reach out further and give a better view.

Well, I just went to the scooter shop today and they told me that I need to replace my master cylinder for the rear brake. Does anybody have any experience doing this? Is it a difficult DIY project? What do master cylinders on a bike like the Z-20 go for these days?

Thanks for any help you can provide!