trying to decide what to do with my cheap piece of crap plastic XB500.

Can I over amp my scooter and go faster? I haven't tried that yet but a friend suggested I try it before I spend a lot of money on a new motor and corresponding new pieces of drive train to go with it. Any thoughts?

You can, but you need to make sure the motor can take it if you don't want to fry the motor. Feel the motor. If it is getting really hot than you probably don't want to, unless you don't really care about the motor. If you can keep your hand on it after a long ride than I'd say it is safe to increase the current with either a higher amp controller, controller bypass contactor, higher voltage system, or or a combination of these depending on what the limiting factors of the existing system are.

If you do a little testing, than we can figure out how to get more power...

Measure the voltage on the motor terminals when traveling up a steep hill where the controller might be limiting the current. If the voltage is lower than the battery pack voltage than a higher amp controller will help. Note that the pack voltage will sage under load. A bypass contactor will also do the trick.

If the motor terminal voltage is the same as the pack voltage than you'll need to up the pack voltage with an additional 6 or 12v battery and you can install a "turbo" boost button to switch in a bypass contactor of the controller, or get a higher voltage and amp controller.

Hope that helps some.

---
Avatar taken from http://www.electricmotorbike.org/
Anyone got one they might want to sell?
My KZ750 Project: here E.T.A. 1 mo

I bought it to get me through my license suspension and it did that quite well but now I need to go faster.

I realize this is off topic, but you've just put me into a rhetorical bind. Whenever I tell people I sold my car and went full-time EV the first question is almost inevitably, "When did you lose your license?" My reply, increasingly snippy, is "People do this because they realize our environment is threatened and fragile. It is a conscious choice not an emergency backup plan after a run-in with The Man. I don't know anybody who was done this just because they got their driving privileges suspended." Well now I do. Thanks a lot. :-) I might have to change my response to something more enigmatic, "There are many paths to heaven, but they all go to the same place."
--
Full time ebiker
BionX and Wilderness Energy

`
Actually there are more than you probably think. I get asked a lot, "Do you need a Drivers Licenses" from men that seem to be riding as passengers with there wives or girlfriends, or waiting on a ride or Bus. They also ask how far will it go a lot, so I assume they need to get to work.
I really believe a E Bike would be a better option, it doesn't look as nice to some, but there are limits to what you can do with them.
No one ever says anything about the environment, only how fast will it go. I use the No Gas needed approach, and they agree since the current price is so high. Then I was talking with this older man that agreed, and said we need to do something as he was doing. He was driving a Truck, but said he had a Harley and got 50 miles per gallon, but when it rains you get wet. Go figure, a Harley is better for what?
I spent over a year on the old site, looking for the same answer and finally realized I really had a Kids toy someone purchased for me for $100 from Goodwill, and I believed what the Book that came with it said about speed, range and weight it would carry. You probably know the model, 24V little over 100W called the Dolphin. The most I could get out of it was several blocks, and had to push it up a incline to get back home.
My next EV will probably be a E Bike, using a old Giant Bike I already have.

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

` :jawdrop:
BTW, Paris Hilton would make a excellent PR person, she can't drive right now, and she could have a different color to match her outfit. They did show her trying to ride a Bike, and the Paparazzi were trying to follow her on Bikes.
Imagine if she was on a EV.
Then she could do a Ad similar to the Burger King Ad she did. Now that's the way to get the word out, and she could slightly change her image by becoming a Tree Huger.

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

I really believe a E Bike would be a better option, it doesn't look as nice to some, but there are limits to what you can do with them.

I agree. I've alternated between the two for a year and eventually sold the scooter. If I am going to ride with the cars I would like something at least as fast as a car for safety sake. In my neighborhood this means 45mph. There just isn't a common scooter that will do this. When the Vectrix arrives or if the Z-20 meets their optimistic specs then perhaps I'll change my mind. With the ebike you can go anywhere bikes can which in my case means I can avoid cars almost entirely. It's not that much slower, either. I and cruise comfortably at 20mph on the Bionx and 25mph if I'm in a hurry and don't mind getting sweaty. The Emax only did 30 mph. I regularly, every couple of weeks or so, do a 15 mile commute on the ebike. I wouldn't want to go much further than this on the current crop of scooters anyway.

Go figure, a Harley is better for what?

If you want to wake up every dog in the neighborhood at 6:00 am there is nothing finer. Other than that I haven't a clue.

--
Full time ebiker
BionX and Wilderness Energy

`
upperleft7,
FWIW, a Dealer was selling Scooters as 500 watt,. when I contacted the mfg in China, they said it was a 350 watt Hub Motor. Seems the Dealer was using a over amp controller to get 500 watts.
Do you have any numbers off the motor or controller, you can't always believe what the Dealer says it is?

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

The Emax only did 30 mph...

Well, in all fairness, with just the addition of a size-bigger tire, the e-max will go close to 35 mph, and has proven itself to be eminently modifiable to at least 45 mph and plus more torque for hills.

The frustrating aspect is that the manufacturers are simply choosing not to build scooters with usable speeds.

But, back to the off-topic topic, I do find it disconcerting how most people find it incomprehensible that my motivations would be to reduce my personal environmental footprint. The only believable motivation for all human behavior is personal selfishness, so the only remark that works is the white lie that I'm saving money. Compared to the alternative of using an older paid-off car, I am at best, breaking even.

`PJD,
The saving money line works for me also, everyone agrees and understands it, I then ride off with several bags of Groceries etc.
I read somewhere, because of the high Gas prices, people are taking shorter trips in there SUV's. I guess once you've driven a big SUV, it's hard to go back no matter what it cost.
This is off topic, but I did get a clarification of:
FOSHAN NANHAI YIHO HARDWARE ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT CO. & FIRST UNITED INDUSTRIAL FOSHAN LIMITED, they were the Factory that once cooperate with E Max.

Dear George;
Our USA DOT, please go to the government link below to check with WMI:LVW
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/manufacture/
the new one is got Sep 1,2006
the old one is got Jan 9,2006 when we cooperate with our Germany partner...
Manufacturer Name FIRST UNITED INDUSTRIAL FOSHAN LIMITED
WMI LVW
Address DONGYU INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, LISHUI,
NANHAI,FOSHAN,GUANGDONG
PROVINCE, 528244
Product Type MOTORCYCLE
Model
Letter Date 09/01/2006

Manufacturer Name FOSHAN NANHAI YIHO HARDWARE ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT CO.
WMI LVW
Address LTD) NO. 1 LUMIAN CUN
INDUSTRIAL ESTATE WEST CALZADA
LISHUI,NANHAI,, 528244
Product Type MOTORCYCLE
Model
Letter Date 01/09/2006

There is also suppose to be a new E Scooter being sold in NY?

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

I was thinking about buying one of the xb500s. Is it really that bad?

Gushar

`gushar,
Welcome to the V is for Voltage Community.
All I know is what I have read. It seems there is a big problem with there customer service, and that doesn't seem to have changed. In a perfect world, if everything arrived ok, and preformed ok, you would probably never need to contact them. There ads are also very suspect.
The only X Treme I've ever seen was being ridden by a young Lady, probably in her teens, for her it was probably perfect.
The quality issue has also been a problem. I saw one complaint, were X Treme replied, " What you ordered was cheap, if you wanted better quality you should have ordered something that cost more. This was a problem the customer was having with the welds coming apart on several E Scooters he ordered for his Kids.
Other than the lack of expected power, people seem to get by the first year, then latter, things start to come apart, no place locally to get replacement parts, the Batteries are not as good etc and they begin to complain about it being crap.
Just on paper, and what I've only read so far from two customers I like the Liberty EB-643 48 Volt, 25 Amp Town & Country Cruiser
for the price. I'm still doing research on it. They seem to have pretty good customer service, and sometime that's more important that the product you purchased.

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

I remember that odd comment from X-Treme as well, and in fact they recommended the purchaser buy the X-500, which was the first electric scooter I bought and is a good product for the money. I really think that kind of comment from a merchandiser is as bad as it gets.

That said, I have contacted X-Treme two times to get parts (in both cases I wanted spares, the original parts are still on the scooter and working fine)., and they responded quickly in both cases.

`
FWIW, I give a lot of weight to what someone like decibel1 says. I believe he knows something about E Scooters, where as many of the complaints you may see on the various complaint sites, you really have no idea of who and why. One person did come back latter and say they received a refund, and liked the product.
The X-500 was a very good value, and I haven't seen many people that will disagree with that. Certification of the Xtreme X-500 electric scooter

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

I have one, im not disappointed with the scooter itself, just the cust service, as seems to be the rule there. they are dismissive, they lie, etc. but i did get a few replacement parts within a decent time frame when i called on them. The bike is finally ridable. it eats up the battery after about 13 miles at best, but it gets me back and forth to work, and the like. I too am one who lost my license and am using alternate transportation. But i dont like the eco impact of the bus, and get a kick out of the fact that i have a near zero eco impact mode of transport. if i could go solar... no probably not. who wants to ride a giant solar panel around. probably look like a plane. but after a month, i like the 500 and am looking for a way to increase power to it too. im going to look into the controller this weekend. and emailed some places as to a diff motor etc i may need.
hndld

` ;)

How to convert an EVT 4000E electric scooter to a solar scooter

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

In case it's not clear -- on that bike the solar panels fold out like wings. You only want to fold them out when you're parked, not while driving.

The panels that guy has takes 2-3 days to give the bike a full charge.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

` ;)
Thanks, I've often wondered how long it took to recharge them. I assume he has to park it at the correct angle and all that stuff. Is it possible to overcharge them?

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

I've just ordered the xb600 and so I'll let folks here know what I think when I get it. As far as xtreme...this will be my first experience with one of their products. But, if anyone saw my post about "cheap chinese scooters" then you know my feeling. I have had two of the "boreem" type scooters...but supposedly the "cheapest, poorly made" ones....Freedom brands. I've been totally satisfied with both. On my first 24v one the weld holding the steering broke. Lucky I was just barely rolling at the time! I took it apart and had it welded back with some additional bracing...like I'm sure the original designers would have done had they not been trying to keep costs down. And, I "had" been riding sidewalks...clunk, clunk, clunk over the joints every few feet in the sidewalks...alot of stress on any wheeled vehicle. Sure, they're cheap parts, cheaply designed, etc. But the reason is "SO YOU CAN BUY IT CHEAP." Despite that, I'm amazed sometimes at how well they've created these designs at the price they are selling them for. There's still an awful lot of ingenuity, perhaps not so much quality, in the design. I'll state again what I said before here. Most of these are designed with kids in mind. Adults generally weigh more and that puts more stress on the scooters. Me...I weigh what a kid does!...120 soaking wet...52 years old. Always been a small guy. So, for me they perform speedwise well. Also, I'm technically inclined so I can take care of most problems. And again, kids (we know since we were all kids once!) generally just don't take special good care of their "toys"...and even some adults...and they're going to abuse them. If they leave them outside in the rain...how long are the electronics going to last? If they are trying to jump ramps...again, how long are they going to last? And as far as adults...I think again like folks say here...you have to pay for quality if you want it...just as with anything. For a guy like me who isn't looking for daily transportation...or similar...but, just likes electric powered stuff to cruise around the neighborhood, tinker with, etc....mostly flat paved streets...down around the corner to the convenience store, etc. they work just fine and are well worth the money. So, I just say don't give such a bad rap to something that costs you less than a clutch job (maybe just the parts) for the average manual tranny automobile you may have. It's not meant to be that reliable if you're spending less than $1000 on it...it's just not. My .02 worth again!

Obviously, if the adult market for electric scooters ever supports real quality...then the quality will come....along with the price...and in fact it has to some extent...with the Oxygen, former E-Max, etc. Until then why compare "apples" to "oranges?"

Gushar

It's not just the "cheap" scooters that can have problems like the frame breaking. The Vego 600sx (an American made scooter) had a flaw where the frame would break in the front where the steering column joined with the frame. I have a Vego 600 frame, noticed a crack at that spot, took it to a welding place and for $50 they made a stronger weld and extra bracing. Coincidentally the Vego corporation went out of business some time ago.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

` :?
reikiman, just for the record, how many EV's do you have total?
I'm sure other members like myself would enjoy seeing some pictures, no matter what state they are in>

BTW, a good point about cheap, one reason Japan is now # 1 in Automobiles, is there quality.

Peace Out,
Gman

Now that we have clarified our beliefs, your invited to join us as we begin building on them to define our Community Mission Statement

My suggestion is try and get rid of it, I managed to sell one very similar to a Neighbor for his Daughter, it's perfect for a youngster.