Hello from Huntington Beach New Enertia Owner

[hbrider]

Hello,

Picked up a used Enertia from Steve Atlas who races for Brammo.  I'm an electronic engineer who works with electric vehicles for a living, I have driven everything from Teslas, Solectrias, Fords, Volts and daily drive a Nissan Leaf so I'm very familiar with electric vehicles and have been using them for 10 years now.  I built a hub motor driven mt bike which doesn't really compare to the Enertia which is a REAL motorcycle.

As for the Enertia, I love it!!! very fun to ride, so quiet and nimble.  It is extremely well executed I would say in the same class as the Leaf as far as user friendliness and general build quality.  Down here along the coast at every stop people as asking questions about the bike.  Its a blast to shoot around downtown, so easy to ride and quiet!  No problem commuting 10 miles along the coast to work.  I was a little afraid the quiet nature of an electric bike would make it more dangerous on the highway but so far I feel its not any less or more visible than a ICE bike.  The acceleration and braking are both very solid and the bike feels very ICE in nature except that the noise level is sooo much less.  Its way more fun in the turns and the narrow nature of this bike make it very easy to ride.  It does start to feel a tad bit light at 60mph and it seems this bike may be geared a bit taller than stock as it could go faster! which surprised me.  Steve did tell me that it could go up to 70mph but I had no desire to test that! as 60mph felt just fine.

Anyways great bike, I'm very happy to be an owner and most of my biker buddies are equally impressed by the build and ride and are now seriously considering getting electrics.

Steve
Huntington Beach

[Brammofan]

Hi Steve - hey, at least the bike didn't have to learn a new name for its owner.  Welcome to the forum.  I hope this forum can be a useful resource for you.

Make sure to add yourself to the Map (see the menu above, "Home, Help, Search...Map ... Wiki...." )  and check out the wiki for some basic information and some advice like which chain lube to use, etc. 

You're lucky to live somewhere that you can ride year round.  Here in Kansas City, it's getting too darn cold.

Steve Atlas did a lot to publicize how great Brammo is, so as his bike's new owner, you have some big shoes to fill.  ... figuratively speaking.

[protomech]

Hey, welcome to the forum : ) Glad to hear Steve's bike found a good home.

The stock Enertia has a 13 tooth motor sprocket and a 64 tooth rear wheel sprocket. I'm curious if your bike has a smaller larger motor sprocket or a larger smaller rear wheel sprocket. If you ever do test it over 60 mph to vmax, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

One of our forum owners had a question recently about range on the Empulse for a longer highway speed trip. My thoughts are that the Empulse probably would not make the trip on a single charge, but that the Leaf might barely make it. Your input as a Leaf user would be pretty helpful.

http://brammoforum.com/index.php?topic=928

[Gavin]

Great to have you here....

My test ride experience was similar to your's: Easy to ride, quiet, great in turns...and EVERYBODY want to talk to you about it...

one difference...I could only get to 63 mph...it will get to 55 easy and FAST...55 to 60 is still pretty easy and no real strain, but then my top end just peaked and wouldn't go any further...I inched it up to 63...I wonder if SteveO's bike was "less restricted"...

It is a bit light over 60...70 might be about as fast as I would want to go But I know as soon as I hit 70 I'll want 75

I remember the first time I went 60 on my Stella scooter (vespa p clone)...10 inch tires, bouncing all around, barely touching the ground...thought I would pass out my heart was pounding so fast...after a few times it was nothing and I modded my scoot to hit 66 mph...wanted to mod her some more to go over 70, but then she would have been less reliable...anyways, if I can get used to my 230 pound scooter on 10" wheels going 66, I'm sure I can get used to going 70 on the 300 plus pound Enertia on 17 and 16 inch wheels..

Let us know how she does for you...I know I found the Enertia be be great for my needs...more range was my only complaint**, and the Plus should work great for that

Gavin

**and really the standard Enteria is fine for my commuting...heck, to and from work uses only 30% of the battery...but I like to wander and basically travel all around...most days 15 miles is all I'll do...but some days I want to go 50-60 miles just to ride...

[Shinysideup]

Welcome Steve. It 's great that you're here with the background you have. Makes me feel I did OK by choosing Brammo!

I too come to this forum from a DIY bike project. Check it out:

http://www.evalbum.com/676

I've got a little too far to go for the Enertia and am holding out for the Empulse.


Bill

[hbrider]

Thanks for the quick replies this looks like a valuable forum.  I'll try out a higher speed today on the way into work and see what the top is.

Also I need to post my vehicles on that Austin EV list, I'm starting to collect a good stable of EVs which someone in my family is using everyday.  We have a converted 83 VW Rabbit Cabriolet currently waiting for new lithium battery pack, a Ford Think NEV which sees daily use, my converted mt bike which won't get ridden much now that I have the Enertia, and access to two Nissan Leafs which actually belong to work.

My day job is to develop chargers for EVs and the Nissan Leaf is one target application hence the access to the "lab" vehicles. 

My experience with the Leaf is similar to the bike in that it all depends on how you operate the pedal.  Its easy to use up the batteries if your heavy on the peddle drive it nice and 100 miles is obtainable.  The car has an ECO mode which forces you to drive "nice".  Accelerate smooth and light and keep the current down is the way to extend range.  Also having Chargepoint card on the keychain helps for those times when your running low and hear in So Cal we do have quite a few public charge locations.

Anyways there's no way I could fill Steve Atlas shoes, he is the real deal, very nice guy with some serious riding credentials 

Loving the bike and looking forward to my commutes and learning more about these well engineered bikes and ways we can tinker with them

Steve
HB

[Brammofan]

Loving the bike and looking forward to my commutes and learning more about these well engineered bikes and ways we can tinker with them

Steve
HB

Oooh... a brave soul!  Make sure to check out the Brammo Enertia Mods forum to see some of the requests we've come up with.  I gave up on engineering a top box because of the need to move the brake light out to the end of that rear "shelf."  Anyway, glad to have you on board.