Cyclotricity Stealth Owners thread.

Thought I'd start an owners thread for this model as is typical in many forums. Over time, I will add to it with all info relevant to the stealth. I am planning several upgrades to the bike over the coming weeks and will detail all work here.

 

Perhaps as a starter here's what I think are the 3 best and worst things about the bike (1000W):

 

Best

• POWER! Yes, that 1000W motor really rocks. Great for even the steepest inclines.
  
• Configurability. Having the 250w and top speed limit programming options gives superb flexibility.
  
• Comfort & looks - for an MTB the saddle is actually fairly comfy and riding position quite relaxed. Everybody thinks it looks great in the black/white colour scheme.
  

Worst

• Brakes! For a 1000W bike getting on for 30Kg when fully loaded up, the Chinese mechanical items are woefully inadequate. I'm surprised the manufacturer gets away with it really. You won't realise how much better they could be until you get some decent hydraulics on there. This is my upgrade priority - just researching a way to maintain the motor cutoff switches at the moment.
  
• Pedals - cheapest in the world with wooden bearings and loads of resistance. Change them asap!
  
• Alright, perhaps not the worst but find general things like the battery level indicator (on the batt itself) to be a complete waste of time (always shows full). The one on the LCD dash never shows a full 4 bars even when charged overnight, and when down at 1 bar if frequently cuts off the power if you hit a moderate incline on full assistance. This indicates a fairly high cell impedance as you can often get another 5 miles or so after that if you keep the power down.
  

 

After the revelation that the vast majority of '250w compliant' ebikes typically output an average of 400-600W (and peaks of even more) I've started to run the Stealth at 1000W on the road limited to 25km/h. I keep the assistance lvl at 2 and find this by far the best setting for general day to day riding.

 

The problem if you don't have the 25km/h restriction is that the assistance level is so high even at 1 you end up cruising at 35-40km/h with even very light pedal rotation. This just eats the battery and isn't that pleasant due to wind etc.It's like the assistance level is calibrated for 250w.

 

Having the 25km/h restriction just makes it a more enjoyable bike as the motor comes in strong below that (i.e. hills) and then on the flat and downhill you tend to pedal over that speed anyway so saves lots of battery power. At first I thought the motor would be very on & off around the 25km/h point but its very gradual and well measured.

 

The other slightly annoying thing is the battery is not mounted straight on the frame (the bottle fixings that it sits on are not perfectly centered on the frame). Just poor tolerance on the frame manufacture I guess.

 

Finally, if you follow the owners manual (which doesn't come with the bike incidentally and has to be downloaded), it recommends having the batt turned on and the charger off before plugging in the charging jack. This inevitably results in a disconcerting 'crack' as the output capacitors in the charger are suddenly charged by the bike battery. Far better to have the charger turned on before plugging in the jack.I have a feeling that Cyclotricity intended the battery switch to disconnect the circuit to the charger - it doesn't. It makes no difference to charging whether the battery switch is on or off (despite what the manual says).

 

Overall I do think it was superb value for money at the 2015 price of a smidge over £1,000. This year that has been hiked by over 20% to nearer £1,300. I would have loved them to have spent some of that on hydraulic brakes (maybe would have cost them another £30- £40). At £1,250 it starts to hit some pretty serious competition and if it wasn't for the 500 / 1000W options I think they would be running seriously low on USP's considering the level of kit specified.

 

The bike does handle well though despite the weight, with only the excruciating 'clank' of the basic Suntour XCT forks when pulling up over curbs etc causing a minor annoyance.

 

UPGRADES SO FAR...

• MEETLOCKS® Bike Pedal, Injection Aluminum Body, Cr-mo CNC Machined 9/16" Screw Thread Spindle, 3 Ultral Du/sealed Bearings.£18.99 from Amazon. (Superb bearings and match the Stealth colour scheme perfectly)
  

 

• Slime puncture resistant innertubes (as a stopgap before upgrading to Scwalbe Marathon plus MTB tyres)
  

 

• Lezyne microdrive 400XL front light. (£25-£30 from Ebay) I wanted something usb rechargeable that I could plug into the usb port on the Stealth battery. This fits the bill perfectly and has a great range of light modes.
  

 

 

• Moon Pulsar COB LED Rear Bike Light - LAA570. (£10-£15 from Ebay). Looked at rechargebale rears but you don't really need the lumen level on the back so you actually get much better performance from AA / AAA cells. Love the Moon Pulsar, has great viewing angle, is incredibly bright with hundreds of hours runtime from a single set of batts. Also like it remembers which mode it was turned off in so no fiddling around going through modes every time you turn it on.
  

 

NEXT UPGRADE

 

• Shimano hydraulic brake set BR-Mxxx (£50 - £80). xxx can be 505, 555, 615 etc, I don't think there was a massive difference. The front rotor really 'ought to be 180 or 203mm. You have to be very careful with the Stealth that the caliper width is not too high otherwise it will foul on the motor hub. I will post my findings on here and also how I implemented the brake switch.
  

I have just ordered the 500w with a 15ah battery. Looking forward to getting it. I have been reading up and thinning down a big list of potential bikes for the past months. So I hope I have made the right choice time will tell I suppose. Apart from a bit of fitness it's will become my daily driver taking me 18 miles round trip to work and back.

Cool! Where did you buy from if you don't mind me asking? If you've never been on an ebike before you will love it! I think 500W is right on the sweet spot for the Stealth actually. Drop your max speed assist setting to 25km/h and enjoy....then realise you need better brakes!!!

http://www.electric-bike-factory.co.uk

 

The guy on the phone seemed like a decent chap very helpful also provided the services I needed. Only thing I didn't get was the throttle. Maybe I'm wrong but it doesn't seem like something you need on a bike whole point is to pedal no?

 

I have been on an electric bike before but it cost 4x the amount of our stealth lol.

PH001, I have now covered 350 miles + on my Stealth 1000w and my main gripe is the lack of gears.

I think the mechanical brakes are fine although I am on my second set of pads. This may be due to the fact that I am quite heavy and use the Stealth on forestry mountain tracks with a lot of downhill. I would be interested to hear how you get on with hydraulic though.

My battery is also a little lopsided on the frame.

I have not experienced any problems with the Suntour forks however, never having had suspension before I have no experience of any other type.

I agree that the battery indicators are worse than useless, when I hired a Raleigh modus in Centre Parcs which had the Bosch crank drive system the battery indicator was very accurate and even provided you with your range left.

The only other issues I have experienced are a seized freewheel which required a soak in some releasing oil, noisy spokes (this has now stopped) & the tyres are great on the road however, not so good on gravel/mud etc.

 

Teab8g I would suggest you get a throttle if possible it is so useful.

 

Teab8g I would suggest you get a throttle if possible it is so useful.

 

I sent a quick message asking about the throttle. Andy said he would fit on for free. So far service from http://www.electric-bike-factory.co.uk has been great. Bike can't get here soon enough.

I sent a quick message asking about the throttle. Andy said he would fit on for free. So far service from http://www.electric-bike-factory.co.uk has been great. Bike can't get here soon enough.

Result!

Great! You will find it invaluable for setting off from juctions / roundabouts quickly as it can otherwise take 45' or so of pedal rotation before the motor kicks in.

You don't need to switch to hydraulic brakes to get good disc brakes. Avid BB7s are mechanical, but superbly powerful and very modulated. Fit some of those and you can keep the cut-offs you already have.

Thanks for the suggestion Warwick but I don't think you can get the rear on because of the caliper width (it has an adjuster on each pad which makes it quite bulky). I also can't really see how they can accommodate a brake switch any easier than a hydraulic lever.

Edited June 11, 20169 yr by PH001

I have not experienced any problems with the Suntour forks however, never having had suspension before I have no experience of any other type.

 

I guess if you have never felt good ones you wouldn't really notice although you should notice the horrible clunk if you pull the front wheel up into the air. I suppose the main problem is the complete lack of rebound damping.

 

The problem I'm having with 2nd hand replacements is that the steerer tube length seems to be quite long (245cm) and they have nearly always been cut down to less then this. Could take a spacer out I suppose but I don't really want to upset the geometry and riding position too much.

I also can't really see how they can accommodate a brake switch any easier than a hydraulic lever.

You would use the same levers as the current brakes, unless they're already hydraulic discs. V brake levers will work fine with the BB7s, as long as you get the MTB-specific ones.

You would use the same levers as the current brakes, unless they're already hydraulic discs. V brake levers will work fine with the BB7s, as long as you get the MTB-specific ones.

 

Got you. The BB7 rear caliper is still too wide though (fouls on the motor casing) so a definite no go for the rear at least. In fact there seem to be very few calipers at all that will fit on the rear. I will start a new thread for rear caliper recommendations as this won't be Stealth specific.

Indeed not. I had to change forks on my bike because I couldn't get the BB7 to fit the fork with an Electric Bike Conversions kit; either 250W or 500W. There just wasn't the clearance.

Try the BB7 on the front. It's a very good brake.

Thanks Warwick. The other thread came up with the idea of fitting a 203mm rotor on the rear...crazy big and you would never need that normally but it might just clear the motor. Will have a measure tonight.

Hey guys. I also have a stealth 1000w which I purchased at the lower price of £1075 in January. Great bike, love it!

 

Agree about the battery indicator and also had lots of brake problems with only just 300 mles covered.

 

Purchased a set of clarks m2 hydraulic brakes, fitted the front and upgraded the rotor to the 180mm supllied, then realised the rear was too wide. Found a 220mm rotor and adaptor online but very pricey! Front brake is amazing, and with the stock rear generally happy with the brakes all round. I'm still looking for a way to fit that rear though. Was hoping a 200mm rotor would work, it looks close but still possibly too smallneed to measure more acurately. I'll update if I have any luck.

Found a formula theone 220mm disk and a hope 220mm floating disc both for around £50 online. Either of these with the correct adaptor would almost definately solve the problem. I'm taking it down to local guy this weekend to have a look so will let you know how things go.

Very new to bike stuff, although learning slowly after fitting the hydraulic front myself. Anyone know if my rear mount is post mount or a different type?

 

Thanks

 

Rick

Your rear mount should be easy for you to figure out, a post mount bolts straight down on to the frame , if there are two lugs which requires a mount to be fitted by bolting through then it is an IS mount.

Yeah must be an IS mount then. I spoke to someone from a bike shop on the phone, described it and they said it was an IS mount. Thanks

The rear is IS on a Stealth. This may help...

The rear is IS on a Stealth. This may help...[ATTACH=full]14448[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]14449[/ATTACH]

 

Thanks big help to someone completely new to this

Well, I can confirm a Shimano BR-M355 rear caliper clears the motor on a 203mm disc . Just!

Just wanted to let Stealth owners know how important it is to tighten their rear spokes after a month or so of ownership. My rear wheel was getting really noisy - like a 'clacking' sound when engaging the motor. Got the bike back to the garage and about half the spokes were really loose. They obviously stretch under the high torque of the motor.

 

Went around each one tightening no more than half a turn at a time (which means you end up going around the wheel 4 or 5 times) until they were all about the same tension. Wheel still perfectly straight and now runs completely silent. Massive improvement.

 

If you haven't done this on your stealth yet I recommend you do it asap.

Are these bikes up to the job of handling a quite often very muddy towpath as part of a daily commute?

My daily ride is 15 miles and the one I have now isnt ideal.

The rest of the ride is a mixture of dry gravel towpaths and a bit of tarmac road.

 

Many thanks

Are these bikes up to the job of handling a quite often very muddy towpath as part of a daily commute?

My daily ride is 15 miles and the one I have now isnt ideal.

The rest of the ride is a mixture of dry gravel towpaths and a bit of tarmac road.

 

Many thanks

There shouldn't be too many problems using it on a towpath however, I would suggest that the standard tyres be replaced with something more suitable. The stock tyres are more suited to tarmac. I tend to use my bike mostly off road on gravel tracks however, whenever I encounter patches of mud the bike takes it in its stride albeit with some slipping due to the tyres. In 250W mode you will have no problem with your 15 mile commute however, if you intend using it in 1000W mode 15 miles would be about your limit.

Thats useful to know, many thanks.

I might go for the lower 500watt I think as it is unlikely I would need that extra speed...unless I fancy a swim in the canal!