TongXin, Where Art Thou?

[Cyclezee]

I have been waiting for 3 weeks to get a reply from Diana Lin regarding a list of components I want for my Dahon Jetstream. Has anyone done any business with TongXin in the last few weeks?

Looks like I am going to have to widen the front forks as there is only 75mm space between the dropouts and even the new narrow motor is probably too wide for the forks. Anyone got any bright ideas?

John

 

[Jeremy]

I've been waiting over a week for a reply from her also, not that this will be any consolation.

I think that Justin may still have some of these kits at ebikes.ca, that, although slightly more expensive than buying direct from Tongxin, might get you some parts more quickly. The best bet for the front fork problem would seem to be to just buy a standard, 100mm wide fork, although you may well be able to widen the one you have with some judicious bending - it's only a matter of bending each side out about 1/2", which seems possible.

Jeremy

 

[musicbooks]

I have been waiting for 3 weeks to get a reply from Diana Lin regarding a list of components I want for my Dahon Jetstream. Has anyone done any business with TongXin in the last few weeks?

Looks like I am going to have to widen the front forks as there is only 75mm space between the dropouts and even the new narrow motor is probably too wide for the forks. Anyone got any bright ideas?

John

How many bikes have you got, John.. I can't keep up! (One more hopefully by the end of the month )

 

[Cyclezee]

Jeremy,
I'm not in a hurry, still in the planing stage, I sent Diana a list of items and asked for a quote, but she has not responded.
The changing the front forks is not really an option due to the paralellogram type front suspension which works really well and I want to keep.
Slight streching of the forks might help with a narrow TongXin motor, but I am not sure I can widen them enough. I'm thinking of mocking up a piece of wood to the dimensions of the motor with an axle bolt through the middle before performing surgery

Musicbooks,
Please keep up currently I've only got 2 bikes, but anticiapte having 2 more next month. I'm going away for a couple of weeks and would have liked to take the Dahon with me as is, but don't fancy having it trashed by baggage handlers.

John

 

[musicbooks]

Musicbooks,
Please keep up
John

You're not related to my wife, are you?

 

[Cyclezee]

You're not related to my wife, are you?

Would that be because you don't concentrate on every word your wife utters or she accumulates a lot of electric bikes for no apparent reason

John

 

[Cyclezee]

I have been unable to get a response following my last contact with TongXin 2 months ago and after reading about problems other people have had with some of their components, I have decided not to convert my Dahon Jetstream.
In some ways it would be a shame to spoil such an aesthetically pleasing, funcional and lightweight bike by adding power which it really doesn't need.

John

 

[keithhazel]

In some ways it would be a shame to spoil such an aesthetically pleasing, funcional and lightweight bike by adding power which it really doesn't need.

John[/QUOTE]

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sorry to hear after so much promise and hope that its dashed...doesnt look good me thinks.....as for "adding power which it really doesn't need.".... no bike needs the power adding,its the humans that dont have enough...

 

[flecc]

I have been unable to get a response following my last contact with TongXin 2 months ago and after reading about problems other people have had with some of their components, I have decided not to convert my Dahon Jetstream.
In some ways it would be a shame to spoil such an aesthetically pleasing, funcional and lightweight bike by adding power which it really doesn't need.

John

Wise decision John. There's always a chance of something better turning up in future.

It's sad the way these oriental companies blight themselves with silly product deficiencies which often could be corrected, then just hiding in the hope that the nasty news will go away.

Not just Tongxin of course, I've noted it with Cyclone and Goldenmotor, plus odd incidences with others. As a rule, I think it a safe bet to avoid any company without a UK importer. Individual consumers the other side of the world just don't have the clout of an importer who means bigger bucks to a manufacturer.
.

 

[Kenny]

I too was considering buying a tongxin being attracted by the small size, good freewheeling and cheap price.
I did get 2 replies from Vivien' Diana's assistant.
The first basically said that they would be glad to supply anything I wanted, the second a week later on 24/03/08 read:

"We are sorry for it is our fault that we sold our products to members of the Pedelec forum directly when we have not made clear that it is for an individual or it is for his company or factory. If you want to buy our goods, you can purchase our products from our dealers in UK such as NANO or MORDEN TIMES and so on.
We trully hope that you can get what you want as early as possible.
Best Regards Vivien"

I would guess that their UK suppliers nano-motor.co.uk (never heard of morden times) have "had a word with Tongxin" or perhaps it just wasn't worth Tongxin's time supplying single motors, Either way it doesn't look like the buying direct from China option is possible now. That was the main appeal for me as it was about half the cost of buying from Nano-motor.co.uk.

Anyway hope this information is of help, though I'm certainly not interested in the Tongxin anymore having read the recent posts - Should have heeded Fleccs words of caution in the first place.

Incidentally has anyone bought from nano-motor.co.uk? Maybe they use better controllers.

 

[flecc]

Incidentally has anyone bought from nano-motor.co.uk? Maybe they use better controllers.

This is one of Tony Castles sites, also known as Mr Motorvator and Electrodrive.co.uk.

Tony is the man behind the Brompton Nano, and he can supply the kits. I'm not sure about different controllers, though the Brompton conversion may have a variant.

He seems to have gone very quiet on the subject now though, hopefully not because of problems.
.

 

[mk1]

I was going to order a Tongxin motor also, but received no reply to my emails. I have now decided to use a Crystalyte motor, these seem to be very reliable but weigh nearly 7kg .

 

[Kenny]

He seems to have gone very quiet on the subject now though, hopefully not because of problems.
.

Not heard from Grizzly Bear recently either, since his OTT response to your warnings about the Tongxin. Would be interesting to know if he has also encountered problems with his kit.

 

[flecc]

Not heard from Grizzly Bear recently either, since his OTT response to your warnings about the Tongxin. Would be interesting to know if he has also encountered problems with his kit.

I've wondered exactly the same Kenny, as he suddenly disappeared from the site after posting about panniers 21st January. Hopefully that won't keep him away even if that is what's happened.
.

 

[HarryB]

I did try to buy from Tony Castles. I put an order in with a cheque as deposit and waited and waited. In fact I am still waiting, not that I have had any contact with them since July 2007 as I gave up and bought from ebay at a third of the price. Also the price is enough to make your eyes water, £150 quite some mark up when you think how much Tongxin sell them for.

I fear the whole Nano/Tongxin project has run off the rails.

 

[flecc]

I've found buying other things from Tony Castles difficult as well. He's a nice chap and means well but seems to get bogged down in too much and his communication arrangements leave much to be desired.
.

 

[frank9755]

ditto!
I only went direct to Tongxin in the first place because Tony didn't return calls/emails.

 

[Andy Day]

Tongxin don't seem to want to talk to me either! I suspect the unreliability of the speed controllers has reared up and bitten their bum and they have gone all silent on everyone.

I am currently waiting for a replacement speed controller for my Nano from Systems at Work, the company that the money seems to go to when dealing with Tony Castles. I've had a couple of emails from Tony, who is a really nice guy. the first on the 11th April 2008 telling me he is experiencing delays with shipments from his suppliers, who we know are Tongxin. He also promises the next shipment of controllers will have some mods. The second a few days later was in response to my return email to him, suggesting possible causes of the unreliability.

I think Tongxin have dropped Tony Castles in it, and through that all other Nano users. Only time will tell, but I have a feeling Tongxin are down the pan.

 

[john]

Delays do see to be a feature of this system. I waited nearly a year for mine! Tony being nearly impossible to contact doesn't help much either.

BTW, despite many problems, I still have a working system!

 

[john]

Just noticed, I'm a Senior Member at last