LIBERTY EB-643 48 Volt, 25 Amp Town & Country Cruiser

I purchased a 443 Mountain bike from Liberty this past month. I think that the bike is a quality built bike, maybe a little underpowered at times but great quality in build. Their customer service is great.
When I first got the bike I noticed a motor/ controller problem that seemed to be from manufacturing. When I contacted them by email they responded that same day with suggestions on how to remedy the problem. When these suggestions did not work they shipped me a new bike right away. Since then I have had no problems and I love the bike. I ride it every day to work.

Interesting resource. Gman, are you involved with them as a sales agent?

Since their base is PA, they offer a resource that is reachable from East coast locations, rather than depending on 3000 mile shipping from LA for everything. Picking it up from them rather than depending on UPS would both save shipping and let me see what their operation looked like.

The small wattage would be suitable for flat areas, or, if they have good controllers, for "push assist" up steeper hills.

My wife and I have been riding two (now one) 700W scoots for a year, rain and shine, and have been pretty happy. Speed as about the same as an enthusiastic cyclist, and they are MUCH lighter than the 1600/2000 watt versions, since they don't have to carry 40AH battery packs.

mark

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usatracy
I tried to post a comparison table I built in Excel between the xb-600 and the Liberty eb-643, but that did not go well

Was the problem with trying to post it as a attachment?

Stleride
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I would be more then reluctant to recommend the Liberty Town and Country II Cruiser to anyone. I have recently purchased this bike and received it in a seriously damaged condition. Thou I will say that technical support is being extremely helpful, I will be spending many hours in repair work.

Lets start with the worst issue. The tires came inflated with 30 psi – the tires state 35 psi. I pumped up the tires to 35 psi then about 2 hours later the front tire had a sever blow out. shredded rubber and chunks of rubber blown off the tube. It was so sever it blew the tire off the rim. Fortunately this happened while it was parked. I would hate to think what would have happened if this occurred while I was on the road. When I examined the tube it was the wrong size (a 2.5” tube in a 3” tire one size smaller then the correct Cheng Shin tube)

The instruction manual does not include a parts list or wiring diagram. Tech support said they would send me a wiring diagram but they did not have a parts list. Well the wiring diagram should help because the speedometer works only intermittently, there are numerous wires going to the gages so determining which one is for the speedometer is extremely difficult with out the wiring diagram.

Other problems are that it has a very loud and obnoxious beeper that activates with the turn signals. Tech support said they wish they knew how to disable this but they didn’t have any solution. Using the turn signal in a quite neighborhood will wake people 2 blocks away.

Metal straps in a vinyl case with about 4 inches clearance hold the batteries. Going over a curb or speed bump could easily damage the batteries. It should have a steel plate to protect them.

The pedals are not only useless they are a hazard. When you back up the pedals automatically turn. Banging into you shins. I back up a lot because I use the crosswalks, as is the legal requirement in California, Often the button for the pedestrian cross is inconveniently located so after pressing it you need to back up to align to the crosswalk.
Also the pedals go too low and often hit the ground when you turn. I have not been able to go over 2 mph with the peddles and have found walking the bike, and pushing it off the curb, much easier then using the peddles.
Also the shroud covering the rear wheel bearings has become damaged backing up the bike. I had to shave it with a razor to get it to function properly.

They do not provide the basic tools you need to assemble the bike

The manual provided is for the Original Town and Country and it is extremely poor for the Town and Country II. Another words it is way the wrong manual with many of the instructions being totally wrong.

I received the bike with sever damage, missing parts and factory defects.

As an engineer I know that thou companies like to promote their products strengths – it is the products weaknesses that kill you. The old antage that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link should be any engineers motto and this product has some sever weak links

I did see an X-Treme bike – Overall it is built more cheaply but the owner was very happy with it. Its suspension, shocks and Motor where inferior and I think the controller was also. On the Plus side for the iloveebikes.com Town and country II. It does get over 30-mile range easy with a rider less than 160 lbs. (level ground and not to many stops).

The main reason I purchased this bike was due to this forums bad press over X-Treme support. And so far I will say that the Tech Support from iloveebikes.com has been good..

On the positive side – The range claims for the Town and Country appear to be very accurate.
Once I have fixed the weaknesses of this product it will be a better bike then the X-Treme XB-600. (Which it should as it cost over 50% more) full throttle for
Tech support appears to do their best for you.

Bottom line is I would have never taken this bike off the floor in the condition I received it in. I believe iloveebikes.com needs to do better if they want to develop a serious market with this product. The Wrong Tube – blow out issue is very serious – This could easily result in serious injury or worse with the repercussions bringing extremely serious.

From what you describe...not the damage but the "metal straps in a vinyl case" and other comments...I'd say you should have bought the XB600. As I've commented all over this site...I love the XB600. Got it with no damage. Been riding for a year daily. Replaced a tube (ran over a metal staple in the road) and recently had to replace a worn out keyswitch. No big deal. Excellent customer service from xtreme...etc., etc. I think much of the time you only hear the "negative" about customer service. People just seem to be more motivated to write about negative experiences so it "skews" the reality of what level of customer service overall into a negative...when these may be the exceptions. Quite frankly, I don't think there is anything about the product you bought which is better than the XB600. I could be wrong but that's my opinion from what you've written and looking at the info. And in fact, I believe it may be just a bit inferior to the XB600. But I guess you'll know more about this, at least regarding what you bought, when you have the chance to actually ride it and see how it works over a period of time with regular use.

For my money...now...it's only a product from xtreme. I don't think ANYONE else, when it comes to this class of escooter/ebike combo has the financial position, etc. to provide the equivalent that they do. I'm not talking strictly "ebike" that looks like a regular bicycle, etc. I'm talking more in the "scooter" line. The XM2000 had some problems...but nothing for example like the ZAPS seem to have experienced. I think currently the stats on comparable products are in Xtreme's favor. And again, I don't think the good customer service that I've gotten from them is a "fluke." Perhaps the other way around.

Just my .02. And regardless, good luck with your scoot!

Gushar