Thanks for posting up your conversion in progress. I hope everything comes together eventually. I for one appreciate all the users who post their experiences, good or bad. It rounds out the understanding of potential buyers so they know exactly what they are getting into.
myelectricbike is a bit on the defensive. There have been a few recent posts highlighting the limited customer service and the frequency of in-transit damages to the goldenmotor product. None of these are myelecticbike's fault, but he has staked his position as "you get what you paid for, and you're lucky you got so much". In part this is true; if you get a kit in mostly undamaged shape, a little do-it-yourself repair and you will be cruising for years on a pretty decent product. If the kit comes in completely destroyed, you are probably going to be taken care of by either the shipping insurance or the manufacturer. I may be recalling incorrectly, but I think when something has come in completely buggered up the sales reps have been providing replacements.
One must also understand a user who has a smooth experience with receipt, intallation, and use, is actually unlikely to come onto the forum and post an "everything went exactly as planned" post, so the bad experiences will always be somewhat disproportionately represented on a forum. People should understand that as they read through the forum.
Although many of us don't like his "level of service" opinion, myelectic bike has some valid points. The electric bicycle conversion kit market is extremely small in the US, Canada, UK, etc. He also points out the company is much more focused on the internal PRC market. In the overseas market, the company is staking out a bottom-level entry position, with extremely limited post-sale support. As long as prospective buyers understand the level of support the company is willing to provide, there should be no problems. It just needs to be an up-front understanding so buyers can factor it into their purchase decision.
The next price point in todays market for a conversion kit is the Wilderness Electric BD36, retailing at about $400 (delivered?). I'm pretty sure this includes a 3-battery 12Ah SLA pack (say ~$80 retail value), so the comparable cost of the kit is $320, about a $100 difference. Add to that the fact the motor is a brushed version and the value difference is a bit more. My understanding is the Wilderness Electric kit dealers have developed a decent customer support reputation (well deserved or not?). The interesting thing to note is the price jumped by almost $100 in the last year or two.
With the price differential, it would seem goldenmotor (or an enterprising middleman?) can up the price to provide a basic level of support. Whether they choose to or not is entirely up to the company.
As an aside, the Wal*Mart entry into the market actually got some pretty poor reviews in the e-bike user space. At least the buyers could take the piece of junk back to the store for a refund. I guess that is a form of customer satisfaction.
Ah well. My opinion is probably the least valid on the entire forum. I keep running into finance issues that delay my purchase decision. Just ran my son in to the doctor for a mystery illness. At the rate this keeps going it might be next spring before I finally pull the trigger and buy.
-Mike
