Feedback on Magic Pie

[GM Canada]

I would though recommend Gary from Goldenmotors.ca as he has been very co-operative and a pleasure to deal with, a real good honest guy and great representative of the company every step of the way, even now that I am having issues with the unit.

I have the "Green Light" to replace your wheel. I just need the old one back so we can figure out to prevent future failures and improve the product. I will contact you in private to arrange replacement.

I know from private email you sent me you feel this process was long but you only contacted me on the afternoon of the 25th and it is now the 28th. This does seem to be a reasonable time frame to me.

Gary

[diverdon]

Please give us more feedback. Please post ONLY:

1)Negative (with reasons)
i.e. This is a piece of junk, bad service, scratched surfaces and it doesn't even run properly. The speed is only.... blah blah blah... etc.I love me pie it came with all of that parts snd piecec ai was promised . I am a retired auto mechanig so not too smart wityh new things nor too dumb about basic thinking. Received thr packagr within 1 week in south Florida .. Took My time assembleing it so as to not make any dumb blunders maybe ,...I really enjoy assembleing things like this .. I did make a couplr of upgrades . Ideas

2)Ideas (improvements)
i.e. I think it needs more speed and be available in different rim sizes. I think it needs to come in Pink and White colors. I think you should add a pan to the sides so that it can cook eggs while I'm riding it to work.Ideas  thats hard .. Wonder wow many years or months thet worked at the kits ...interface ;...sizing for all bikes;;; GOOD JOB :-)....but the number 1 problem I see here is trying to make everyone happy ...it's impossable .. I say keep doing what yiour doing the best.. Leave thr ("Genuises") to design some of the toys that some people want .. BY ALL MEANS Please be Careful ..And THANK YOU ALL Golden Motors people for the magnificent product you have .. Please don't let the public and any little fallbacks discourage you ,,, PLEASE ...I may be nuts but I see one of these things fLYING .......soon? well sometime you people have it in you ..

       If there is any little think I CAN DO FOR YOU over there Please let me know . I like so many others would like to be in on whatever you have coming in the future . Looks Real Exciteing and I have no one holding me here. Yours, Don Johnson

3)Positive (with examples)
i.e. Oh yeah, it saves me 8 hours a week riding it to school. Now that I want to ride my bike, I always insist on helping my mom on buying her groceries and she says I'm a good boy. It has fulfilled my Ghost Rider fantasies.

Ok... let's go.

Hello Yao , I am Confused . I never wrote all of that negative stuff at the top of this post that appears to be from me ... This must be some kind of mistake on your end at your internet level I would hope you would fix it so I don't look like a jackass.. I love my Magic Pie and every part of the transaction was good . PLEASE fix this post so it doesn't look like I am complaining ..

       To be completely honest I did ask about some possible loose spokes and also about what seems to be double shipping charges for the headlite/tailite assemblies. But I have not written any terrible post like it looks like above .. I only hope you will fix it..

     Thanks again for taking my post here and THANK YOU for the great TOY/Bike I have now ... Don J.

Edited by Moderator
The text now shown in blue is the original quote from Yao.

[GM Brazil]

Don, that text you quoted looks like an example from yao... not your text

[Bikemad]

Don, that text you quoted looks like an example from Yao... not your text

GM Brazil, It was actually a combination of the two.

Don, you appear to have typed your reply within the quote, so I have rearranged your text in the original post so it is now correct. (Hopefully)

You can see it here.

If you wish to alter anything, click the Modify option above your post and then edit as required.
To make sure it is displayed as you intended, you can preview it as often as you like, but don't forget to click the save button when you are happy with the results, or all your time and effort will have been wasted!

Alan
 

[Mabman]

1) Negative: The MP we received would not respond to the throttle out of the box. After getting some assistance here and from China and quite a bit of time it finally took off. However the problem is caused by a short in the controller wire at the motor. This is unfortunate as it will recur at times due to the motor taking a jolt, like a bump in the road, although a well placed zip tie seems to keep it in check for the most part. I suppose that we will have to take the motor apart at some point here and fix it properly.

The MP we got for our project is the 16"  front wheel version and the fact that there are no spokes, as the rim is mounted directly to the MP, it is impossible to center the wheel in the fork without shimming at the axle. This is due to the disc brake mount and in the future we will spec wheels that do not have this as it is not necessary for our needs anyway.

Also because of the rim being directly mounted to the motor the valve stem hole exits the bottom side of the rim instead of straight down as on a normal rim. The result is that the valve stem sticks out to the side, and is not adjustable in length, and because the hole is drilled on the non disc side it is long enough to hit the fork of our project.

The regen feature is way to strong for the smaller sized 16" wheel and locks it up upon application. There is also a good deal of drag with the throttle off which is to be expected with a non geared motor, but it is more than we expected. In fact a disc mount on this motor is not necessary at all we feel due to the this.

2) Ideas: Drill the valve stem hole on the opposite side of the rim.
             Employ some sort of variable control for the regen.

3) Positive: The torque of the 16" wheel is very good and is working well for our needs as we had hoped it would. With a 48V 12AH LiFePo4 battery our initial trials have shown that top speed is 32 kmh, but it gets there in relatively short order. With constant pedal power applied to stay on top of the motor speed we are getting 30+ miles for 8 AH of draw over variable terrain with a good amount of hills. But unable to average much above 30 kmh due to the aforementioned drag not allowing our bike to move without resistance to get it much beyond 34 kmh after releasing the thottle on downgrades.

In conclusion we will probably not be using the MP in the future for our needs but it is a good enough system that many will benefit from it once they get the bugs worked out.

[Magic Poop]

Gary came through with the replacement wheel as promised.

The first wheel must have been defective from the start, this one does not make any grunting noises from the start-up, like the old one.

Thanks Gary.

Also Gary what I said was I thought I was dealing with a dealer from Canada who approved the warranty work himself, I was wrong.

My other issue was that I had to wait for the "behind the scene guys" to decide whether or not my controller would be warranted, which should have went without saying, hence the 1 year warranty.

I had no problem waiting, the response time was great and the replacement was at no cost to me.


Hopefully I will get more then 20kms off this one...10 kms in so far.

[Bikemad]

The valve stem sticks out to the side, and is not adjustable in length, and because the hole is drilled on the non disc side it is long enough to hit the fork of our project.

2) Ideas: Drill the valve stem hole on the opposite side of the rim.

It appears to be drilled on the correct side here:

The regen feature is way to strong for the smaller sized 16" wheel and locks it up upon application.
Employ some sort of variable control for the regen.

I totally agree with the variable regen, and have already suggested it:

Yao,

I know you're all very busy at the moment, but I wanted to make some suggestions, which your technical guys at GM might want to think about:

Would it be possible to modify speed controllers (Magic Pie included) to allow variable regen?

This could be controlled either by using an additional thumb throttle to control the amount of braking, or preferably with a purpose made bi-directional (dual action or two-way) twist throttle .

It should be easy enough to accomplish using twin hall sensors and 4 wires instead of 3 and would obviously need to spring back to the mid position when released.
Simply twist backwards for throttle, or twist it forward for variable regen braking. (Or to operate reverse when you're already stopped.)

I think this would be far better than the existing "All or Nothing" regen, especially with smaller wheels when regen braking can sometimes be too much. (Or on a dual motor setup).

The cruise control could also be modified to also give a constant braked speed using variable regen braking.
If your cruise speed was set at 15mph, regen would automatically cut in if this speed was exceeded on downhill stretches, instead of simply stopping the power to the motor, which I presume is the current method. (No pun intended!)

A dual action throttle could be used for forward and reverse without the need for a separate switch, and could also allow a conventional "twist back to accelerate" action, if it is fitted on the left hand side of the handlebars. (i.e. when twist type gears are already fitted on the right)

If it is possible, it would be nice to see it incorporated.

Does anyone else think this might be a useful improvement?
I'd like to have your opinions and/or suggestions.

Alan
 

Mabman, if you think the regen is too strong with a 48V pack, then don't try it on 24V:

I've been doing some bench testing with my Magic Pie, and when I try to turn the wheel by hand with regen switched on, it turns much slower and feels like twice the resistance.
With a single flick of the wheel, it produces over 3Amps on 24V, but only just over 1Amp on 48V for the same speed flick.

So I'm expecting the difference between using regen on 24V and 48V at speed to be quite noticeable.

Time will tell.

Alan
 

[Mabman]

Yes it is on the correct side in that photo. Guess it was just my luck to get the one they drilled on the other side. Really a simple problem with a simple solution.

I have been undergoing trials here treating my shorted controller cable with just the right amount of zip ties to keep it in just the right spot. The motor is doing all that I ask of it on the steep hills here albeit with pedal input also as stated. But that is ok by me as I don't mind pedaling.

Yesterday I went 35 miles and averaged 11 wh per mile, once again with a steady pedaling effort, but not enough to sweat, in a gear range from 80"es to 106"es. Brought my 12AH LiFePO4 battery down 8 amps so I think I could get 40 out of it perhaps by hyper mileing it and favorable winds. Average speed was 18 mph.

 

[GM Canada]

Also Gary what I said was I thought I was dealing with a dealer from Canada who approved the warranty work himself, I was wrong.

When you sent me an email that you had an issue I called you immediately and told you "I have to get an OK to replace your wheel" and that is how we started the process of replacement. Maybe you forgot this or misunderstood but I am glad I could get your wheel replaced within a week. I don't know of any other warranty issue that was solved this quickly.

My other issue was that I had to wait for the "behind the scene guys" to decide whether or not my controller would be warranted, which should have went without saying, hence the 1 year warranty

I don't recall anyone stating you were not having a warranty issue, only that we had to get approval before it could be replaced. Most companies operate this way. Your intent seems to be to make me look bad, but I don't know of any way I could have given you better service from the time You ordered your wheel to the time it was replaced. Oh well, I hope your new wheel serves you well for many miles and look forward to seeing pictures in the Gallery as you really do have an awesome looking bike.

Take Care
Gary Salo

[karen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtqe-mod-zc

haha

Said removed by user?

[Mihail]

Made an order on March 2 this site http://www.devi-comfort.com
Ordered BIKE WHEEL WITH CONTROLLER, 700c REAR MAGIC PIE
Until now, the order is not sent.
The letters correspond to a very long time or not at all responsible.
They write that are not available, waiting for deliveries from China.
And it lasts 4 months old.
Had passed all reasonable period of time, during which the devil could bring bald.
I am angry, I have no words to swear.
Specially made an order in early spring.
I thought that put the engine and begin to ride in the late spring and now summer has begun, and the engine still no ((((((
Please, deal with this issue, such terms simply unacceptable.
Do not know when there will be shipped the goods.
It does no credit to either the seller nor you.

Now looking for where you can buy this product elsewhere.
And one more question.
Spokes what size (length) are used for the wheel size 700c?

[Bernie]

I've had my70Cm 24V MP for around six months and it gets used every day taking me down to my local Pub for a few sherberts. The journey is about 5 Miles (8KLM) there and back and quite hilly in parts. In addition, about twice weekly I ride it to my daughters place, also hilly and about 7 miles in total.

It has never missed a beat, but is not totally flawless.

Firstly, since I am in Australia where we have a law limiting us to 200KW of power I took the 24V option, I expected it to be very slow. It isn't, it takes off very quickly and seems to pull along at about 23 klm on the flat and it almost eliminates the hills.

Faults:

1) It has some loose metal in the wheel casing which rattles loudly, you can hear from quite a distance almost as if it was done deliberately.

2) One spoke has fallen off.

3) Dam near impossible to to fit it back on the bike after a flat tyre.

4) The regen is borderline dangerous on wet roads.

5) The only light on the twist throttle is red. The others don't work.

6) If there is a cruise control I don't know how to switch it on, OR I haven't wired it up right. This might be related to 5) Above.

Apart from that this is a terrific thing! I understand teething troubles but I cannot complain and in fact I wouldn't be surprised if this just keeps running for years!

My question is have we been given a price for MP Mark Two yet?

[Bikemad]

5) The only light on the twist throttle is red. The others don't work.

6) If there is a cruise control I don't know how to switch it on, OR I haven't wired it up right. This might be related to 5) Above.

The single red light is because the throttle control you have is either a 36V or 48V unit instead of the correct 24V one.
Perhaps GM should have a voltage check box on the order form to enable the correct voltage throttle units to be supplied.

The cruise control should be wired to the red button above (or below) the green horn button.  To operate the cruise control, simply adjust the throttle to give the required speed and then press the red cruise button once. If you release the throttle the motor should continue to run at the set speed, until you either press the red button again, or apply the brakes.

Alan
 

[sdaniels]

1) stopped working after 200km. No answer from support yet. pedelec should not accelerate in curves while not pedaling. Batterie connector broken while unpacking. Front Led lamp only works if plus signal is connected on that connector which is also connecting to the bike frame  Documentation is very bad. What are 6 beebs comming from the controller. No information found. Pedelec mode where the motor only spins while pedaling not working....

2) pedelec should measure force on the pedal in order to calculate the needed motor support. Cabeling could improve.


3) The 4 rides to work were fantastic. unfortunately 200 dollar per ride is a bit to expensiv.


Hope I get my bike fixed soon.....

[electrocyclist]

Why don't you pre-solder all wires for front kits to something like this

I can bet that most of the bikes cable lengths would be max a foot apart. this would make installation much simpler and product more attractive. for rear kits you could do the same and sell extension cables of different lengths for people to choose from.
This would make kit more accessible to anyone since no soldering is required. Cable or parts not needed could be simply cut out (in the case someone does not like to use two brakes or cruse control).