I wrecked my R30 today and had to go to the hospital. It was a chain of unlucky events, but one link in the chain was a quality problem with the R30.
I had to mail a small package today, so I took it to the post office on my R30. My brakes were being kinda sticky and making scraping noises on the discs. I squeezed them both down hard to realign them, something I had done before many times. This time, the front brake cable burst and leaked fluid. It was useless.
The cause? The front brake cable routinely would scrape against the inside of the front wheel cover. It made an annoying sound when this happened, so I would routinely adjust it. The braking pressure would always move it back to the position in which it rubbed, so I would always have to move it back. I have heard of other people having a similar problem. This seems like a design flaw.
Well I guess over time the rubbing created a weak point in the cable. The last squeeze was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Oh s***," I thought, "I'll have to get this fixed. OK, ASAP, but first I'll just go home because the shop is closed already anyway. The back break is pretty strong and reliable."
When I was almost home, something bad happened. A car wasn't looking and pulled out of a driveway right in front of me. I screamed with all my might and got her attention and she slammed on the brake. But it was too late. I crashed into the front of her car at about 25mph and flipped over the bike. Thank God I was wearing a DOT helmet because my head did hit the ground on the second bounce. I got scrapped up here and there, but my right foot was the big victim. It has swollen up and got a deep cut and a lot of bruises. I think I sprained it or something. Fortunately no bones broke, but damn it hurts. I'll be on crutches for at least a week. And the bike is totaled.
I don't know if having both brakes could have stopped the collision. But it might have, or least have reduced the impact speed.
So in summary, you can have a very nice motor and Kelly controller and battery equalizer and automatic charger, but if you don't have a quality build of the things that aren't specific to electric bikes, it can cause serious problems. The bike has some nice components but overall the build is cheap Chinese junk. They pass the savings on to you. Great deal until you have an accident.
I'm really sorry about your accident. (It's the one thing that really worries me about riding my bike to work every day - if I ever get to use it that much!). But I'm glad you'll be OK and that it wasn't worse.
And I agree with you. My main concern isn't the cost of the bike or how long it took to get here or how fast it goes. My biggest concern is safety. And the poor quality of all of these Chinese products has me backing away from wanting to pursue this endeavor much longer. I would love to have a reliable, safe, electric powered vehicle that I could ride to work everyday. But the more I learn about these bikes, the dimmer grow my hopes.
How do others feel about this?
I'm really sorry too about you getting hurt man. Without the helmet you probably wouldn't be here right now. I've ridden mine many times w/o a helmet(Florida doesn't require helmets) but I think I'll wear one from now on. I'm just sorry that someone had to get hurt before i wised up. You really begin to appreciate the Japanese, German, italian, and American stuff (and some others) when you ride one of these Chinese bikes. It's like all the parts are there, and they all kinda fit, but none of the parts are engineered to work with the other parts that they're bolted to. For instance, They might put the exact same brakes on a bike that weighs 200 pounds more. We all know about the speedometer. I still don't know how that speedo ever got approved by the DOT. I think the biggest thing that worries me though is that the front forks are only attached to the bottom of the triple clamp. On a motorcycle the forks are attached to the bottom and the top of the triple clamp which is correct. Maybe it's beefy enough to handle it, I don't know but it sure looks like a weak spot to me. I'm gonna keep my Z-20 but I really think the best thing for anyone wanting an electric scooter to do is buy an older Honda, Yamaha, or Suzuki gas scooter and convert it. You could use one of those 6000 watt hub motors from Kelly, a Kelly controller, a good quality dc-dc converter, lithium batteries, etc. and build a nice battery box and mounts for the other stuff, and put some decent sized wire it that thing. The wire looks sooo undersized in my Z-20. What a stupid place to try to save money! I'm old enough to remember when Made in Japan meant Junk! Then before you knew it Made in Japan meant excellent quality. For some reason the Chinese don't seem to be determined to make that happen. Certain individual products like the Kelly Controllers are high quality but not assembeled products like cars, scooters, appliances. I have steered away from other Chinese vehicles because of what I've experienced with my Z. I test drove a little three wheeled truck made in China. Right off the bat their claims of speed and range were overinflated, and the speedometers read higher than the actual speed and the ride was terrible. I thought to myself...been there done that. The Ohm Depot
For the sake of fairness, I just wanted to report that, although the brake problem concerned me, the police report from the accident seems to say that I could not have avoided the collision. Says I tried to swerve (I don't even remember that happening), and I just did not have enough distance to stop.
cars pulling out in front of you is a fact of life on motorbikes.
so is almost universal hatred of cars
shame it happened when your front brake was out.
ever since my off (well the 1st one) i wear a proper jacket with inserts and reinforced gloves.
on my last off, (at 45mph) i didn't sustain any injuries at all
heal soon fellow rider.
i certainly agree with the need for decent brakes and steering components.
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km