Got My Commuter Scooter: XM-2000

Crunchfam,
Sorry it came busted up like that. It sucks. Mine came with just a rubbed left (red) fairing like yours and the throttle grip flaked off a bit. The kickstand was also punched a bit through the cardboard, but there was no damage. Oh, and apparently I was the lucky one to have a broken shifter button. That plagued me for about a couple hundred kilometers before it finally entirely gave out and I had them send me another one. I never did replace my throttle grip--too much trouble to replace rubbed-off fake chrome for me. I'll have it as a spare part.

What you'll need to do is put in an email support ticket off their website and upload a few pictures of the damaged parts. They're pretty good at responding quickly and sending the replacement parts out. You'll feel better about it after you dust it off and clean it up and then charge it up fully.

As for the MSO and the new VIN tag, it'll come in the mail. You probably won't even have to tell them you need it. They know where to send it. Kathy's been good about keeping track of the owners.

Decide if you want to register it as a moped or a motorcycle too. Moped's a lot easier, but motorcycle is more legal. I registered mine here in CA as a moped.

One thing you might want to invest in right away is a PakTrakr and a BattEQ (or PowerCheq's). Batteries in series have to be babied to make sure they charge and discharge evenly. You'll run into trouble like ALL of us (Emax, XM-2000's, upcoming Z-20's, Leptons, everybody) have with batteries if you don't have monitoring and balancing equipment on the scooter soon.

Well, don't get entirely discouraged with your purchase. It's a temporary setback. And welcome to the club!

This is one of the biggest reasons why I wouldnt buy a XM-2000. If they can't do a good job at packaging the product, after repeating complaints, then that speaks for them as a company.

They are saving money with lousy packaging and hoping most of the consumers don't complain.

usatracy,

While what you are saying is true you are comparing apples and oranges. Most motor driven cycles have a much larger engine compared to the hub motor on the XM. I submit that if you compared a gas engine and an electric motor with the same rating the gas engine would have just as much or more trouble getting started as the hub motor when faced with a curb or bump to over come at takeoff. Also remember the gas engine has a clutch which allows you to increase the RPM which increases it's torque. A electric motor has max torque at take-off which you demonstrated by trying to hold your XM after the motor is in motion. I do not disagree with what you have said I was just wanting to clarify the point that an electric motor has more torque at start-up and a gas engine get it's torque from RPM and has very little torque at idle. If you just let the clutch out on the gas bike when attempting the same maneuver you would most likely stall the engine.

Chas S.

This is one of the biggest reasons why I wouldnt buy a XM-2000. If they can't do a good job at packaging the product, after repeating complaints, then that speaks for them as a company.

They are saving money with lousy packaging and hoping most of the consumers don't complain.

Here we go again. Greg starts off with his opinion (he wouldn't buy an XM because of the packaging) - all fine and good. Then he falls into supposition (they're not doing anything about packaging despite complaints). Finally he rounds it off with a completely baseless assertion (they're saving money and hoping folks won't complain).

1) Greg - fine, don't buy an XM2K but please don't assume that you can tell all you need to know about an electric scooter, the wholesaler and the dealer by the cardboard box the product comes in.
2) X-Treme sent out a dealer email the other day. One of the points in that email was that they were improving the packaging on certain models (sorry, but it wasn't clear to me which exact models would be affected). This will only start happening when the current stock is sold out. At the price these scooters are sold for they don't budget for unpacking and repacking every bike they sell. Have you *any* idea how much that would cost them? They're a wholesaler who drop ship for dealers - their margins are smaller because they rely on higher volume.
3) I'd propose to you that in all likelihood X-Treme lose money because of the bad packaging. First (and most significantly) they lose money because of increased warranty claims. Secondly they lose money because of lost sales (e.g. Greg). Finally, they lose money because of bad word of mouth.
4) The XM is built to an exacting price point and that necessitates saving money wherever possible. Unfortunately, some places they save money come back to bite them. Packaging is one of those things. They've realized it and they're addressing it. However, it's not like there's a bunch of folks at X-Treme World HQ plotting how to screw the customer with lousy packaging and hoping people don't complain.

Please folks think about things and apply just a little common sense before posting. I'm not saying that Greg's post is completely without merit (yes you can tell things about the company from their dealings). However his argument doesn't suggest he's thought much before posting. Remember, engage brain before posting... (and yes this one still trips me up from time to time as well!)

Brain is engaged. You seem confused and distraught over my 2-3 sentence post. Of course X-treme loses money over bad packaging - when the customer complains. Lets keep it simple and try to understand, ok?

It seems that whenever someone expresses their hesisitancy in buying an XM, or doubts, they get jumped all over (you are a dealer, aren't you?) Thats why I usually avoid these discussions. But what I say is valid. I'd like to see the XM come in better packaging. That would really improve product image. And packaging is SUCH A BASIC THING it can't be overlooked. I've said what I had to say.

electricgreg,

No, when people say bad things about anything then if their post is well reasoned they don't get jumped all over. They might get some counter arguments offered or asked for some clarification. From that, both parties will likely learn something.

I agree the packaging is a problem. I agree that for some folks bad packaging is a valid reason not to buy it - because some people aren't ready for the approximately 1 in 4 gamble of getting an XM2000 that has significant cosmetic damage. I'd suggest that those folks will probably need to either buy a Vectrix or wait another couple of years before buying an electric motor scooter. The e-scooter market isn't mature enough yet to offer the sort of dealer network that can guarantee a good experience (not even the Zap's and the EVTA's can do this yet).

If you had kept your post to your opinion of the packaging then I wouldn't have responded.

The parts of your post I take issue with are the supposition that X-Treme is not doing anything about it - that's just not so. And the accusation that "They are saving money with lousy packaging and hoping most of the consumers don't complain" - that's not so either. Both these points you make are unwarranted and create an unfairly poor picture of X-Treme.

Of course the reason I responded is because I'm a dealer. I'm fed up with people going off half-cocked and spouting unwarranted bad press about the company whose product I use and I am trying to sell. Why wouldn't I try and correct the wrong headed impression you and other posters create with your two line "X-Treme is bad" posts? I'm not saying X-Treme is perfect - but at least put a little more thought into what you post.

I agree with John. Besides, what other budget escooters are out there? Z-20? Not yet. Emax? Not any longer. Lepton? Too slow. Vectrix? Too expensive.

When my XM-2000 came with a few "bruised" parts, I was immediately sent replacement parts. Did I mind? Not at that price point. If I paid $11 thousand, I'd have been mad. But not at $1500.

When the Z-20's come out, they're going to find something, some little thing, that they didn't count on. Maybe some part of the packaging not done well enough. Or maybe some wire that wasn't connected correctly on a lot of models. Or paperwork that wasn't included. Or specifications in the manual that were changed after the printing date. It's going to be something.

Am I going to complain that they're a piece of crap because of that? Nope. Because I've learned that lesson from all the jerks on this forum who don't own one and haven't dealt with the company before, but who feel they can pass judgement on the behalf of others.

ElectricGreg, keep riding your toy scooter. And when a brick and mortar dealer comes out with a model that'll meet your exacting specifications, plunk down your money and enjoy your new ride.

HI, Friends:

[Warning: the following message is NOT written in the highly efficient, style of most internet forum postings—I am a storyteller by nature and trade so I apologize in advance for using 10 words when 2 would suffice. If you seek the shortest line between two points then I recommend you skip this post now—it’ll only drive you crazy :)

Those who have been on these forums for at least 6 weeks or so-might remember that I posted a lot for a short while and then disappeared. My only excuse is that my username, Rebbe, is actually not random--I am a Rabbi in New Jersey so the fall season is, as my wife says, "rabbi tax season"

Anyway, the members of this forum were extremely helpful to me when I was a newbie pre-owner, trying to negotiate everything. I have felt badly about not 'giving back' at least with a description of my own purchase, register, and early-use experience with my XM2K.

First I want to say that the dealer through which I bought my scooter was 'thegostore.com'.
I spoke and emailed a bunch of times with 'Tom' who I THINK is ‘the’ owner.
My experience with them was great. He answered all of my nervous questions very quickly, fully and with patience.

Of course I am not suggesting that there aren't many great, responsible, responsive scoot- dealers with integrity out there (special shout out to John from 'A squared’—Ann Arbor, MI'-though he knows me not all. I am an '86 grad of U of M.
Wackily enough, [I believe I just made that word up], I had a small motorcycle during my years in Ann Arbor! And the only wipe out I ever had on a motorcycle or anything else, happened one wint'ry morning on Washtenaw Ave. Ouch.)

First I will say that I felt very 'smiled upon" because my XM2K arrived in picture perfect condition! Given most people's experience I was shocked by that. It was charged up when it arrived and about 1.5 minutes after breaking open the crate, I was scooting around my synagogue’s parking lot.

I then entered the nerve-wracking pre-DMV registration-attempt phase. Many of the vet-posters here helped me through. All of my paperwork came 1 day after my scooter arrived (Tom explained to me that it is always sent separately as a matter of security—so someone who robs the bike won’t get the papers proving their ownership along with it.)
I regularly woke up in a cold sweat at night, vision of a DMV Monster doing a wild and evil dance around my registration form, cackling and hissing (it’s really not easy to cackle and hiss at the same time. Try it.)
“You’ll NEVER register your scooter, my Precious!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, etc.”

What actually happened was that I stood on a long line, constantly counting people in front of me and trying to anticipate which Beaur-o-meanie I would get. Finally, I arrived in front of a man who was—no joke—about 75 years old. He couldn’t have been any nicer.

When he looked at my application, though, he appeared not to have a clue what to do with it. So he, literally, shuffled over to a woman who was clearly the Big Cheese on Duty. I could tell immediately she lived her life figuring out how many different ways she could say “no” between each coffee break. The thing is that at this exact moment she was surrounded by at least 4 fawning supervisor-lets, all of them studying the intractable, deep and hopelessly complex question raised by the young Indian couple at the window next to me, trying desperately, I’m sure, to formulate the inevitable “no” with SOME semblance of logic attached to it. Clearly, that was a tough job.

So my guy stood in the back of these Big Cheese Devotees and shifted from foot to foot to get her attention 4 times and then finally waved his hand in disgust and started shuffling to the back office to get…Moped Plates!!

Although I thought I would have an angina attack watching him chicken peck each-individual-letter-on-the-keyboard as he completed the registration process, everything went totally smoothly.

I then did something that might actually be a bit heretical for this crowd. I beg your forgiveness in advance. I paid a body shop $100 dollars to remove all of the ‘Xtreme’ wavy, fiery lines. All of them. I suppose this was a small concession to growing old and fuddy-duddied—but I just couldn’t deal with them. It turned out better than I dreamed. To my mind it gives the scoot a whole different classy look. But that’s perception through the eyes of Love.

I had a colorful incident of miscalculation in distance , etc. that I am actually going to post separately because it leads to some practical questions I have for the electro-wise folks out there.

And since I am quite sure no one is still reading this ridiculous rambling post—I think putting those questions right here would be ill-advised and ineffective.

So, if you are still out there, anyone, please convey my gratitude to all for all of your great advice and support thus far and I look forward to hanging out together, so to speak, into the future.

In summary: I am having a GREAT time riding my scooter. Every single day—I get jazzed all over again when I take it out of the garage.

By the way, as a reward (?) for hanging in there until the end of this post please enjoy a taste of my scooter-star status :

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/101107/mwMontclairRabbi.html

Those are nice pictures Rebbe. I not far from you btw. I'm in bloomfield actually. XM2000 styling isn't my taste but the specs look great. I actually like the styling of something like the XB600. Oh that and why pay to remove those decals. Couldn't you do it yourself. I can't justify paying that much when it could be done with some patience and a little cleaning later.

Hi Rebbe, (or is it shalom?)

I read your whole post - as one who also uses 10 words instead of two I couldn't resist. I loved it - thank you.

I agree that the flames are - to use the vernacular of my home country - X-Tremely naff! But I'm too stingy to pay to have them removed and too worried of making a hash of it to to it myself (they're actually pretty well put on). Do you happen to know how they removed them? Is there a trick?

My guess on tires is that you won't notice the difference in size when you look at the bike. The color has nothing to do with anything - usatracy was just using it as a differentiator because he has two of these bikes.

Of course with you being a man of religion I suspect you had an inside line on being "smiled upon" and getting a good one. ;-)

A question for you: How far do you normally ride your scoot? If it's over 12 miles a journey then beware the "silicone-batteries-are-crap-and-underrated-for-the-bike" syndrome (that's a technical term) - you will probably start seeing your range decrease. Alas, at 1100km my Electier Silicone's are down to around an 11 mile range - which is a bit of a problem because my commute is 12 miles! Oh well, it's getting cold here and I will continue to use the XM2K for errands around town until the spring - in the spring two things will happen:
1) I will be choosing between a set of good SLAs or shelling out big bucks for Lithium batteries for the XM2K
and
2) I will be road testing my CB750 conversion - CB-72V :)

All the best and I hope you encourage your congregation (is that the right term?) to go electric!

I knew I'd write back soon , but I didn;'t think it would be THIS soon :(

So here's th situation:
A few weeks back I miscalulated the distance, etc. to a cycle shop, ironically enough.

The bottom line is that I ran out of juice on the way back, the bike kind of kept dying and then I would release and reapply the throttle and it would very briefly come back to life until it died again, then I would release and reaplly, etc.
--limping along in this fashion I got home.

So, of course, I fully recharged,and have been using the bike daily ever since.
But I have suspected ever since then--though it has been running fine--that the pick-up from a dead stop was noticeably weaker than it had been. More and more coming away from a red lilght I have to get to the side and let the person right behind me pass because it's taking too long to get up to speed. Once at speed, it has been ok. Also inclines seem to have much more dramatic effect on power than before "the incident"

Last night I decided to experiment and went down a long flat street at full throttle (plenty of juice)--sure enough the bike got up to 35/7 or so (on the speedometer) 'clicked' and then died until I released and reapplied the throttle. As I started back home the die, release, reapply cycle began to become more and more frequent.
I got home, charged it but have not taken her out again...

At one point the red light was flashing 4 times which the manual said was something about the battery overheating (I think)

2 questions, possibly related to all this:
Buttons: what IS the red button next to the lightning button for?

And, I pressed the black reset button under my legs and nothing seemed to happen except the button went in and didn't come out...

Ideas??

The little red button out all by itself is for switching into low speed. You should use low speed to start off and then switch to high speed (by pressing the lightning button) at around 15 to 20mph.. When you come to a stop press the little red button to switch back to low speed for the next start.

Hmmm, have you always been riding around in high (i.e. never switched to low?) - if so you run the risk of burning up your motor. If your motor is still working then you truly are blessed - but start using low speed for starts. However, it sounds like your high speed only starts have prematurely aged your batteries (hence the lower speeds, accels and shorter range). Sorry about the batteries - but at least you haven't fried the motor yet...

If I were you I'd keep using those batteries as long as you think they're usable. After that, don't replace with GreenSaver's replace with AGMs instead. Ask usatracy, PJD and andrew for their opinions on which AGMs to use.

Hello to everybody,

I know I'm new to this board, but I'm not new to scooters. I bought a gas powered twin to this XM2K a few years ago, if you ever need body parts for one, there are several makers that sell this scooter as a gas version, look for Tank and Geely scooters they have twins you can use body parts from probably things like wheels, shocks, headlights, seats......

Mine had a battery under the floorboard, you might find enough space there if you want to add one.

I'm a moderator at scootdawg.com forum, we do not have an electric scoot section but a lot of nice people are there, we have about 1900 members. feel free to come over and lurk if you like.

I agree with Rebbe, I removed my major graphics and repainted what needed it. The stickers are heavily covered in clear coat but if you have a sharp knife you can catch the edge and then slowly peel the stuff off, then a little sanding repainting and a new clear coat and things should look very nice.

About the license plate bracket, my XM-2000 also came with that funky large bracket. Like it's for larger plates overseas. I was talking to GreatGuru (Markus) here on the forum, and he told me that he had mistakenly gotten a whole box of the plates with his XM-2000. Oh, and some of those "X-Treme Scooters" and "E-Runner 220" decals. Somebody screwed up and gave him a large supply. So I sent him $10 via PayPal and he mailed me the bracket and some decals. Dunno if he's still around, but if you're interested, send me a private message and I'll give you his email address. Maybe he'll still have them.