Electric Bikes - WalMart Electric Trike anyone ?

has anyone had any experience with the WalMart, China built Meridian Adult Tricycle ?

i'm working on a friend's & looking 4 a manual ... in that search i found their Electric Trike .

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5692925

worth $800 or just junk ?

my pet project is a 1950s, 3 speed, adult trike ... hope to use a Cyclone motor ...
pix 2 follow, when it makes it off the backburner .

I usually don't like pre-built electric bicycles, but lets see..

Well, its complete with fenders and a substantial looking basket, has a Cr-mo frame if those specs are correct (which is unexpected for the price, I would assume you'd get hi-ten), Currie motors work decently.

Those are some pretty good positives for $800, and its ready to be put to purposeful use as opposed to being a silly toy. The componentry won't be anywhere near stellar, but its not a performance machine.

As for the negatives,
I would however expect that should you run out of batteries, pedaling that machine around would suck quite badly. I would also expect the realistic range on a 90lb trike with 12ah of SLA to be lower than a "25-30" mile range. That would be their lab tested expectation after running the motor on a stand, not what you'll get out on the streets.

Previous I-zips have had problems, there are a few threads on the I-zip trailz bike around here. Hopefully, this one is more reliable. As for what you get for $800, I like it.

My wife used to ride an upright adult trike before we got her the recumbent, and I'll tell ya, at 18 MPH, it would be awfully squirrely. Look at a Sun EZ-3 with an added electric assist.

has anyone had any experience with the WalMart, China built Meridian Adult Tricycle ?

i'm working on a friend's & looking 4 a manual ... in that search i found their Electric Trike .

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5692925

worth $800 or just junk ?

my pet project is a 1950s, 3 speed, adult trike ... hope to use a Cyclone motor ...
pix 2 follow, when it makes it off the backburner .


The Schwinn Meridian is single speed version of the Town & Country 3 speed trike. I've posted Pics of mine on the Utility cycling forum I(See thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=375070). For what it is it's pretty good. The frame is a massive Aluminum tube and it's carried my 180 lbs bottom and occasionally cargo for over 50 miles thus far. The wheels and rims are kinda cheap and when being set up could use some professional attention in the form of a good truing. If I had money to burn I would rebuild the wheels on better rims and hubs; however the rear hubs are kind of unique to a trike so I'd probably have to settle for just the rims. The transmission is a Sturmey Archer SRC3 (II) which is is the only name brand precision machined part on the entire trike.

Ride characteristics take some getting used to. I average around 8 mph over 4 miles; however, I have done bursts up to 14 mph and it wasn't overly exciting.. As for a manual the one that comes with the Town & Country is pretty generic. You're not missing anything of real value that common sense doesn't cover.

I usually don't like pre-built electric bicycles, but lets see..

Well, its complete with fenders and a substantial looking basket, has a Cr-mo frame if those specs are correct (which is unexpected for the price, I would assume you'd get hi-ten), Currie motors work decently.

Those are some pretty good positives for $800, and its ready to be put to purposeful use as opposed to being a silly toy. The componentry won't be anywhere near stellar, but its not a performance machine.

As for the negatives,
I would however expect that should you run out of batteries, pedaling that machine around would suck quite badly. I would also expect the realistic range on a 90lb trike with 12ah of SLA to be lower than a "25-30" mile range. That would be their lab tested expectation after running the motor on a stand, not what you'll get out on the streets.

Previous I-zips have had problems, there are a few threads on the I-zip trailz bike around here. Hopefully, this one is more reliable. As for what you get for $800, I like it.

Actually, Pedaling the Town & Country (the three-speed equivalent of the Meridian) in Second gear (1:1 ratio) which is not bad at all even when carting a substantial load of groceries. My longest ride to date fully laden is 8 miles and it was not bad at all..

i am getting to like my cheapy ezip trails from kmarts,yes they are cheapies but with some simple mods you should end up with a reasonable bike,my ezip is very well biult actually and good design for only $450 aussie,cant really beat that price for bike and complete curry setup,the good thing about buying these bike from either wallmart or in aussie its kmart,is that these companies will stay around.also they have very good suppliers backing up all parts as i just found out,parts are cheap as well.alot in aussie are going currie setups in my city now.

i am getting to like my cheapy ezip trails from kmarts,yes they are cheapies but with some simple mods you should end up with a reasonable bike,my ezip is very well biult actually and good design for only $450 aussie,cant really beat that price for bike and complete curry setup,the good thing about buying these bike from either wallmart or in aussie its kmart,is that these companies will stay around.also they have very good suppliers backing up all parts as i just found out,parts are cheap as well.alot in aussie are going currie setups in my city now.

This trend toward electric powered transportation was predictable due to the high price of petroleum. What you're seeing in Australia is becoming the trend in more and more industrialized countries. Currie Technologies and Wal-Mart are doing quite well with their collaboration on low cost, electric bicycles. For the money, the E-Zip is a good value.

yes i am seeing a rapid growth here in sydney in my suburb especially mainly due to high pertol prices,high cost of parking,cost to run a car or cost to catch public transoprt now is just too bloody high for most.electric bikes do offer a good choice but companies must do some more homework and back up with parts etc not just go get all the cream from only selling bikes they will surelly go broke fast just doing that.

ps,it would be also better for bussiness if they give us bike riders what we actually want not what they all think we want so i say to them go do alot more homework then you may make some real money and build some more pratical bikes and fater ones as these bikes are are main mode of transport guys they are not some kids toys

thanks for your time & replies ... they have been helpful .
returned my friends trike ... she pointed me to the Currie powered Meridian ...
the good news is that my Swagman XC bike rack transports a trike ! ! ! Y A Y ! ! !
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r89/miklb/TrikeRack3.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r89/miklb/TrikeRackDa.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r89/miklb/TrikenPacka.jpg

sorry ... thought i was inserting links not pix ...
still learning .

my currie ezip was cheap and they were biult down to a cost and not everything was done might you say not perfect i had to re-line my back wheel and put extra washers down there to bring the motors chain over more,also the batteries were not crash hot i replaced those with better ones and the bike went faster,also puncture proofed tires and i never get flats now but yes these bikes are cheap but not too bad for the price,i just didnt like the fact currie designs these bikes so its hard to interchange other currie bike parts,man the computer industry went big by doing the opposite so how it about it mr currie loosen up abit there man lol