Tailor

I'm looking very seriously at a rear wheel kit from Falco. However, the one thing that has made it a hard sell (or is that buy) for me, is that while they sound great, and very advanced.. I cannot seem to find anyone who owns one to talk about it.

Optimally, someone who owns one, installed it themselves, and would be willing to answer some questions about how it went, what kind of documentation was involved, and such like that.


The system looks pretty simple, but I'm also pretty simple, so I'm hoping to figure out whats involved before buying one, from someone not looking to sell me the product.

powell

No I don't own FALCO, but
I have tried 500W and 750W versions and was really impressed.
THis is only hub ebike drive I would recommend, 5 year warranty tells it all.
Sure other China run-off-the -mill cheap kits can carry you from A to B.
But:
for how long and how.
here is the link where you can read what owners say:
notice it is mainly DIY forum so ignore those malicious comments

Endless-sphere.com ? View topic - Falco e-motors Kickstarter project: ebike meets smartphone
miro13car

2old

I've had good luck with a Dillenger 350w system and the price is about one third that of Falco (I'm sure to be criticized for this post). Falco is manufactured in India (AFAIK); that doesn't impress me much. Also, since you've been forwarded to ES, several members have had excellent success with YESCOM 1000w systems which are < $300 for everything but the battery. Sorry, that doesn't answer your question about Falco, but I haven't read any reviews by ES members. Their kickstarter effort was more of a kickstopper.

powell

bike-on and busybee are owners in the link above ,
there are more threads about FALCO on ES for sure where bike-on contributes a lot.
The name of this thread is:
"Any Falco emotors kit owners here".

2old

As I said, there would be a detractor who doesn't own a Falco either. Guess he didn't realize that the name of this thread is "Any Falco emotors kit owners here". That kickstopper campaign by Falco that was referenced (it was one of the lowest funded ever) and the lack of reviews seem to show what ES members think about overpriced Indian junk. I was just trying to be helpful with my own experience about a product that is still on the market not companies that couldn't sustain enough business to remain viable or had to beg for money to stay in business.

bareyb

I'm about to buy one for myself. Mainly because I like the whole package. It's the nicest looking AIO I've seen. The BionX is nice, but they are too expensive for a 350 watt, 20 mph (software limited) bike. The Falco seems to be very high quality and well engineered. Plus they have a dealer nearby if I need support.

I called their website for some additional info, and got a real human being immediately and he was extremely helpful, and they provide support if you are going to be doing the labor yourself. The man who founded the company has a stellar reputation for innovative electric bikes and has a great deal of experience. I'm very comfortable with the company being around for a while. The good news is, unlike most other propriatary systems, this is open source so you can use almost any controller or battery and are not tied to the manufacturer. That is a huge plus for me. Add in a a FIVE YEAR warranty, and I think it's a pretty good deal.

bareyb

Oh well... I went ahead and bought the Falco 500 watt/36V kit and it took the Dealer 3 weeks to get it working. Something with the Torque sensor... I rode it for about 20 minutes at the Dealer (Helm of Sun Valley in San Mateo, CA) and it seemed to be working okay. Got it home, charged the battery and now it can't connect to the motor. I'm beginning to think they should NOT have used a wireless console.... Anyway, I took it back to the dealer (45 minutes each way) and my bike has been there since yesterday. Today is over and I have not heard a word from anyone. Not even sure if they worked on it at all...

Probably won't buy another kit from Falco at this point. I'm so turned off, I'm actually considering just buying a new purpose built e-bike from a reputable company. Unfortunately, today I rode 6 of them and 3 of them were having various problems... The one I liked the most was of course, the most screwed up... This is not going well.

350htrr

Yea, I suspect the LBS are not really up to speed on E-Bikes yet, the learning curve could be a long one for some of them...

Bizman

Sorry to hear of your problems, I know how excited you were to get your bike. I hope they get it figured out and get you happy. Nothing worse than spending money on something you are anxious to have and then nothing but problems. What bikes did you ride and what problems did they have so others will know what to look out for?

bareyb

Thanks... I hope I'm just having a run of bad luck. I have been VERY excited to embark on this new adventure, you are correct about that. It's literally been on my mind all the time. I've seen every YouTube video and I've been poring over the forums here and elsewhere non stop. I wasn't expecting to run into so many problems and it's kind of making me wonder if I'm making a mistake here... At minimum it's taken a lot of the wind out of my Sails. Kind of a bummer.

I'm still gonna persevere though. It's too cool not to stay with. I've seen plenty of guys around here who are doing just fine with their e-bikes.

Today I rode an "Emazing" Bike with a faulty display, a Curry Dash with a bad throttle (probably lost a magnet as it won't go past 12 mph), and of course the BH E-motion Nitro with the Herky, Jerky, cycling of the motor which we felt was probably an adjustment to the Torque Sensor. I'm gonna try another dealer in Palo Alto and see if his bikes are in better condition. He carries a lot of the same brands.

2old

Interesting journey; keep us appraised. What's really curious is that my local dealer, Myron's Extreme Machines, has at least 10 different brands, all cheap Chinese except Haibikes which are expensive Chinese and the ones that I tested all worked perfectly. I was there for most of a morning and other test riders on different bikes all returned with smiles. As I stated above I ended up purchasing a Dillenger kit since there was already a plethora of bikes in my garage, and it functions excellently.

Kilted

Barey,

I also hve the Falco 500w emotor. You should have called Rakesh. I talked to him three times and emailed back and forth a few times. I had a similar problem, bought the kit, installed on a Montague Paratrooper Pro., did the paring, hopped on and nothing. I called Falco, we went through the setup, I also bought the ant+ dongle. I believe the axle was installed up side down so the torque sensor did not work. The "red paint" to mark axle position was only a dirty smug. Mention that to Rakesh, how about and orientation notch.... Also set boost to +5 initially. I latter went in and reprogrammed the motor start. Initially it was set to high and motor would not start just riding up and down the street in front of my house.

I did not buy the throttle, I wanted/need to pedal. Console has a strange setup, after your setup off bike and you get on bike a missed press on a button will cause a setup to change, vary annoying. I also run a regular bicycle computer on the bike.

Other than that I have 460 miles on the kit and I really like it. One thing I really like it does not feel like there is any assist run. The sensor control the motor and you NEVER feel like the motor is over running you. It is very easy to for get you have an electric assist bike. What I noticed was I'm now running up one chain ring instead of averaging 12-15mph now its 16-20mph, my legs feel better and my knees do not hurt. I normally run the boost level at +2, +3 leaving the +4, +5 for the homeward leg when I am tired turbo for hill climbing. Another comment I wish the regen/boost was a lot smarter.

I am only a few miles from you in Mountain View near Google.

--Brandy

bareyb

Hi Brandy. Thanks for posting. I am definitely doing much better now with my Falco Kit. I did finally call them and Rakesh and Cameron really took the time to make sure it was all working correctly. It's quite a nice cruiser now. I think it's one of the best Pedelecs I've ridden.

Their only major problem is their quality assurance. Way too many problems on kits they sell. Almost every one I talk to had to buy the Dongle and have it reprogrammed in some way. That shouldn't happen. Mine ended up needing a complete firmware re-program which meant I'd had to buy the dongle and install Windows on my Mac. Cost me over $400.00 to get it going. My Charger was faulty and sparking and that had to be replaced too. So they really need to fire somebody in their QA dept. If they can get it together they have potential to take over that segment of the market. Their kits are far more versatile (not to mention faster and more powerful) than BionX which is their main competitor.

Kilted

Barey,

Glad to hear the Falco emotor is working better for you. Sorry to say, yes I agree their QA can use a lot of improvement. I'm a windows user so I had the hardware and just needed the ant+ stick. After seeing several threads on Falco and looking at their website I knew I would be tweaking the motor, so I was prepared for that one.

Take care, wishing you many Happy Bicycle rides.

--Brandy

bareyb

I just took my Falco bike to the Gym (8 miles) and it really is a pleasure to use. In many ways I like it better than my other e-bike which has ten times the power. It's light, it's nimble and it's smooth and quiet. They have a great product once you get it up and running. Now they just need to iron the kinks out of their manufacturing and quality control.

InTheRain

I've been happy with my "too expensive" "software limited" bike. The kit was installed. It worked perfectly. I didn't have to call anyone. I didn't have leave it at the shop for several weeks. I didn't have to buy additional parts. I didn't have to have anything reprogrammed. I paid the money and rode away. I think that's how it's supposed to work with quality products. Apple products are overpriced and limited... and Apple is the highest valued company in the world. Sure you can find other things that work... but, you don't have to make a judgment on whether BionX or Apple products "seem to be" high quality and well engineered... it's already been proven.

bareyb

My point was never about the quality. My point was that you CAN'T buy a Bionx kit that isn't software limited to 20 mph. The 20 mph may be okay, but the way it lurches on and off and on and off when you reach that threshold is annoying. Personally I could never have an e-bike that would only go 20 mph. I can ride faster than with no motor. So it wouldn't be a good fit for me. I'm glad you like yours though. I hear a lot good things about BionX. It's just too bad they don't offer an unrestricted off road version. I probably would have bought one.