After alot of time researching and reading this forum I have decided to purchase the Liberty 643. I appreciate everyone's input. I also realize that noone here has admitted to buying one of these yet. I have had several conversations with two of the guys at Liberty. I also strongly considered gushman's reccomendations that this is the same as the xb600. The guys at Liberty have told me that the owner travels to China a few times per year. He had these made to their specifications so I do believe it has a bigger motor with a lot of the same parts as the xtreme. Veloteq also has a bike that looks exactly like the xb600 with a 500w motor and they are getting $1,500. The people at Liberty are very helpful and seem sincere.
The guy I spoke to said he has personally traveled 40 miles on one of these at low speed not accelerating fast or going over hills and he weighs 180 pounds. We will see about that. He said the speed tops out at 22mph. I should have it by early next week and I will post pictures and a full report.
The people at liberty also said they can get me a 60V controller and it would be easy to upgrade to 60v. I plan on using 5 35ah batteries to see what kind of range and performance I can get. This will be done by the first of the year.
Good luck on your purchase. Perhaps there are some differences with the Liberty and XB600...but again I'd probably place my bet that there aren't--at least anything that makes any difference. I wonder about the motor though...cause it's my understanding again that the motor has to be less than 750 watts to classify with e-bike fed laws so it's legal in all 50 states anywhere a bike is. That's according to what I've seen online. Also, the wattage difference...apparently doesn't make a speed difference cause even though the XB600 is rated at about 20 mph max...mine runs approx. 22 mph on the flats...and I recall another person stating the same with theirs. And I measure that with a bike computer that is set up accurate.
Oh well, not trying to be negative here. I really hope it's worth the extra money! And most of all enjoy your new ride regardless and let us know all about it!
Happy scootering!
Gushar
Gus
Thanks Gushar. I am a bit stubborn. I hope the extra money is worth it. As for the 750 volt max allowed I read that as well. The guy at Liberty explained to me that their motor is rated at 850w but with the drag created by components will put out 750w at the rear wheel so they are still legal if that makes sense. I am curious about those batteries on ebay. Anyone have a comment?
Hey, I looked at the Veloteq scoots. Never saw that online site before. Interesting. I like the fact that they have an odometer. And it's funny how the gauges/cluster look the same as the XB600...except they have an odometer and the XB600 doesn't. Hmmmmm. The scoot that looks just like the XB600 actually comes with a 750 watt motor. But, it doesn't appear to me that any of these are hub motor driven like the XB600 and the Liberty.
Interesting though...all of their offerings.
Gushar
Gus
Wow- 5 batteries at 48lbs each= 240 lbs, if you went with the ebay ones. And I hope everything goes well- I've owned two scooter style e-bikes for over two years now, and my current setup is a motorino from e-ride.ca. I think I have about 30ah at 48v, and my range, with many hills, is about 20 miles with the SLA units. However, I do keep the throttle fully open, and rarely use the pedals, so I'm happy that the usable distance carries me to work and back.
With my current bike, I've already replaced the batts after a year, but I can't complain because I did receive about 300 cycles of charge and, as mentioned, truly deep cycle during my commute. And I think the cost to replace was around $200 Canadian, which these days would be about the same in US dollars. At this point, I'm willing to shell out $200 a year, rather than take a change on technologies that are still being proven. I'd love to have a 48v 20ah LiFePo pack, but I'm not a rich guy and SLA's work well enough. If I had dealer in town I'd be more likely to take a chance.
In general terms, it's important to have a good dealer willing to stand by their product and I've been lucky to find such a person in Victoria, BC- (www.scooterunderground.ca), and he does sell Veloteqs with 500w motors, which is the max up here in Canada.
By the way, I ride all year in this climate. Occasionally there's the odd snowfall, but more often than not the temperature stays above freezing, so I may be shivering, but I'd rather be commuting in the bike lanes and walking trails (we're allowed to use them here), than be caught in bumper to bumper traffic. I'm sure there's people on this board who agree!
Good luck and happy trails.
We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.
The weight of the batteries is 48 lbs for TWO. So five would only be 120 lbs. ^0 lbs more than stock. Not too bad.
Got the Liberty today. Very nice bike. Very good customer service. They called me monday with a tracking number when it shipped and it arrived in one piece without any damage. Put the front wheel on and off it goes. So far I only got to ride around the parking lot at work. I will have some more to say after a long trip this weekend.
Does anyone know how to tell if it is fully charged? There are two lights on the charger. One says "power" and the other "charging". Does the charging light go off when it is done? Can you overcharge the batteries?
Also it came with a weird key. It is a straight bar with a notch on the end that fits in a slot on the rear wheel. Anyone know what that does?
Yeah. That's the bike key. It winds up a spring in the rear wheel for extra starting torque. :-)
"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"
that key is used to lock the rear wheel it disables the hub motor