Just got my XM-3500Li

I think the S-1 tires only come in 10", though. The XM-3500Li uses a 13" tire. I'm sure I'll need to do some more tire research, but I figured getting some feedback from the always knowledgeable folks here wouldn't hurt.

I would really appreciate some input on these issues!

Well, i can only speak to my particular XM-3500Li, but I can't say that I've had any of the issues you mentioned with it. The fork and frame all seem stable and sturdy, no loose bolts or anything, and while others have reported something about off-center handlebars and possible alignment issues, I have no such problems on mine, even at low speeds. I can ride it hands-off and it rides true. Now because of the low-slung weight you can't throw the bike around in a turn like you might with a bicycle because the bottom of the bike does not respond very quickly, but the top responds quite nimbly, in my experience, so as long as you rely on what is probably more proper technique for a motorcycle by counter-steering and leaning then it seems to work quite well for me even (or especially so) on the swerve. The only times I've had wobble so far have been due to slick road conditions, and hence my looking at getting new tires.

That being said, though, my experience with motorcycles is a bit more limited. I did some dirt (and some street, but mostly dirt) riding on 150cc bikes a bit in my younger years and I had a small Piaggio Ciao moped when I was stationed in Italy back in the 1980s, but my experience with very large bikes is pretty much non-existent.

Lenny Zimmermann
Metairie, LA

Just a bit of an update. I've done a little more testing on the odometer and I've determined that actual distance traveled is 98% of the distance showing. Which means that I have 2,262.5 km (2,308.67 showing... the .07 is a guesstimate bases on how far rolled up the number 6 was. ;)), or about 1,406 miles, on the bike so far. So far so good. It does appear that on colder days, say below 50 degrees, I can only get a top speed of around 37mph. When it's in the 60s or above the usual 39mph seems to be as good as it gets. I did notice the other day, though, that I did the usual commute to the office and then forgot to put it on the charger as soon as I got home. I wasn't until about a half an hour before I had to go out again that I realized I needed to plug in the charger. So I went out again without getting a full charge up, so I didn't reset the fuel/trip gauge on my GPS. On the way back the throttle abruptly cut off and would cut back in again after a bit, although I could hold the throttle at a lower speed and could go for longer without the cutout. I think this is the behavior I should expect when the battery gets low, but... my trip gauge read all of 24 miles on it, which seems WAAAAAY low. I may have to go back and measure battery levels again when I get some time to dig back into things and see if I have a bad cell or something.

I'm very, very tempted to add some batteries into the mix, like others here have, but considering that summer is just around the corner (with 90 & 100+ days in 90+% humidity) I'm pretty concerned about hurting the motor doing that, so i think I'll wait and see how others are fairing with their setup as temps warm up. I'd love to do the BMS thing, but taking the time to order parts and do the soldering... well, I'm just not up for doing all of that yet, so relying on warranty is where I'll stay for now. Maybe if someone finally puts out a complete BMS for these cells I'll buy in.

Even when not posting, I'm still lurking, my man! Thanks for the Green BMS link, though, I hadn't really been looking in that forum, although I remember Sparky talking about doing that. Of course around here it's already scooter weather! (Actually it never really stopped being scooter weather, except that I hate scooting when it's colder than 40 degrees F.) I simply must continually remind myself that patience is a virtue.

Here it is a year and a half after my initial purchase, and 7 months since my lost post here, and everything is still running along. The XM3500 remains my primary commuter, although I finally dumped the bike for the first time on Friday. These tires suck BAD. I've known it for a while now but taking a turn on a slick street with someone practically tailgating me and apparently even 3-5mph is just too fast for the stock tires to handle. There was no slipping or skidding this time, though. One nanosecond I'm fully upright and the next the bike, and me, are sliding on the ground down the street. (No serious injuries or anything, other than a bruised ego and a bit of scraped up lower plastic panel and on the side of the front cowling.) I've taken that turn hundreds of times on the bike and was fully aware of how slick it could be, but the guy behind me must have had me flabbergasted enough to have held onto the brake just a hair too long for those pitiful tires to completely lose all traction. Trust me, this was not the kind of conditions that any decent tire shouldn't have been able to handle and the tread on the tires is still in good shape, the tires themselves just seem to be of a rather poor design as others on this forum have mentioned. So I really need to stop procrastinating and really get some good tires. ;)

So beyond that I'd recommend folks put some Loc-tite (or Super Glue, if you will) on the threads that connect the speedometer cable to the speedo assembly. When doing that for everything else I forgot to do it for that one and the whole cable just fell out on me one day (I wondered that that pop was, thinking a rock had hit the bottom of the bike or something, when in fact it was the speedo cable smacking the bike before dragging on the ground underneath me.) All of which means I have no actual idea how much mileage I've put on this sucker so far, but suffice to say I tend to drive it 20-25 miles a day, 5 days a week weather (and/or other factors) permitting. So maybe an average of 3-4 days a week for as long as I've had it. So conservatively it should have at least 4,500 miles on it by now and probably closer to 6,500 miles. I've had to add brake fluid once during that time, it seems to get pretty low every 10 months or so, so it's getting around that time to add some more. I thought that a relatively closed system like that would have lasted longer, but brake fluid is cheap and it doesn't take much to fill those reservoirs and considering there's no need to do things like oil changes and the like I can certainly live with it. I've also had the front left turn signal light go out on me just the other day and I need to check if it's just a wiring issue or if the bulb just burned out, both conditions would be rather annoying to have them go out so relatively soon, but I knew this thing was something of a "project" going in. I just hate that I have to go through taking so much stuff apart to do such a routine bit of maintenance. You'd think these guys would have made getting the lights a little easier. Indeed that has to be one of the most annoying aspects of this bike. The body design is such a pain to deal with when it comes to taking things apart and getting in to do even simple things like changing light bulbs. I hate having to set aside so much time just to do something like that.

Overall, though, the experience is still pretty positive. Maybe if Current comes out with a good enough design I could look at buying up to a different bike (and maybe even getting an actual motorcycle endorsement on my license). We'll just have to see how the pocketbook looks whenever they eventually do get a final release product out the door. ;)

Thanks for the advice, but I do check the pads regularly and they are still quite thick. A tad more wear on the front over the rear, as I would expect, but they're still in very good shape.

I did forget to add one more thing, which is a problem I think someone else on the forum had at some point as well, my side stand loosened up with a crack at the weld joint, so I HAVE to use the center stand now. I'll probably take it to the local motorcycle shop and see how much they charge to fix it up, but since I had read about the same problem here for someone else it's definitely something to note on the less-than-optimal build quality for these.

Latest update: I finally got around to getting the new tires. I ended up with a flat on the old ones, but with the potholes being what they are around here I apparently had a few dings on the rim enough that the tire ended up losing its bead, so I wasn't able to pump it up after I repaired it. So that pretty much forced the issue since I would probably need some help getting that useless tire reseated anyway. Long story short (too late!) I got some Michelin tires (I forget the exact model) and took them to a shop to have them mounted. THAT is something to be aware of, BTW, because it actually took me a while to find a place that would do it. Most tire shops only have a machine for mounting tires on a 15"+ rim, not a 13" one, and pretty much nobody wants to do it manually anymore, but eventually I did find a motorcycle shop that also did a lot of ATV and other small vehicle work that would get the job done.

I haven't been on a wet street with them yet, but certainly their dry road performance already feels like a vast improvement over the stock tires. I can't recommend replacing the stock tires strongly enough now. We even have a few spots where they are doing road work and they've temporarily filled in some spots near a corner on my commute with just dirt, and the grip there is still really good. Hopefully their wet weather performance holds up as well as their dry weather performance has. They also just cut off the rest of the weld on my side stand after making sure that the disconnect from the cable wouldn't cause any issues.

I'll also throw in that I'm enjoying the warmer weather now, too. Although it's starting to get hot (into the upper 80s) and will certainly get a lot hotter come summer, the warmer weather seems to help me get a tad bit more performance out of the batteries, with my top end getting up to around 46 on the flat with no breeze (as compared to closer to 44 during the winter). Not a huge difference, but it does feel just a tiny bit more responsive in warmer weather as well. Of course that could just be me being more responsive when I'm not cold. ;)

Dang, Mike, that sounds like a lot more trouble than it's worth. At least you were able to get replacements on the batts. No issues so far with mine, thankfully, even without a BMS. (*Knocks on wood*). Maybe you should look at one of the CuMoCo bikes instead. I'm seriously considering selling off my 3500 (and getting a motorcycle license) and getting one of John's bikes. They seem to be shaping up pretty good, but I'm in no rush and wouldn't mind seeing a few more reviews on their final, shipping product first. Sounds like they're getting pretty close, though, so it might be worth looking into for you. Should be a lot less headache, if nothing else!