Selling the Pi - riding the Stromer

Has anyone seen the latest note on the home page for picycle.com? Apparently they aren't taking any orders from customers until all current orders are filled.

"PiMobility regrets to announce that we will not be accepting any new orders until all existing orders are filled. We anticipate this occuring on or about October 15th, 2012. However, while we are not accepting orders we are available to answer any questions you may have.

Sincerely,
Team Pi"  

I wonder if this means my bike will be completed and sent. I'm not holding my breath.

Additionally, they have moved from their cool digs in Sausalito to a dump across the bay.

Since my last post I've been putting the Pi back in shape for sale. I removed the battery (good) and controller (junk) and all the wiring to the controls. The big tube can hide a lot of ills.

I learned that apart from the tube and other machined parts, Pi seems to buy everything off the shelf from Ebike.ca. These are great people up in Vancouver that have most everything you need to build a fine ebike. 

I couldn't however find a controller from them small enough to fit inside the tube but I found one via Endless Sphere from Ed Lyen. Ed is knowlegable, a great guy and will go to the ends of the earth to help a customer - Note to Pi Mobility; Learn from Ed. He's even in your metro area.

So armed with a new controller and my soldering iron and crimping tools I installed the new controller.

To make a long story short, we (my own personal Dr. House of mechanics and I) are having trouble with the (sensorless 750W) motor cogging under immediate full throttle or with any load without pedaling. Whilst pedaling as a pedal assist mode, it works fine.

I'm done. I can't send more good money after bad so I'm going to sell this bike to the highest bidder. There is a local guy interested in turning it into an uber hot rod and I'm hoping he buys it. If not I'll be posting it locally and likely on ebay. It's currently in "bobber" mode with a seat bracket I created but I'm putting it back into bike mode today - higher seat and handlebars.

And so for the pitch.....short as it is. This bike is frame stamped 0003 so I'm assuming it's the third bike in existence. It's the same bike that Susan Carpenter reviewed for the LA Times. Used to be red but I had my race car painters (artists all) paint the entire frame BMW Gun Metal Grey. Cogging issue not withstanding it's an interesting piece guaranteed to turn heads anywhere.

I came very close to boxing this up and sending it back to Pi thinking that it might give me leverage in litigation but I quickly realized that Pic Mobility seems to heading down the drain of business history and even if awarded a judgement, I would likely never collect. so if anyone wants a project ebike, get in touch.

I've also heard from a few people that are in my same boat. They have sent in their money and are not getting there bikes shipped. One man paid with AmEx to Marcus' chagrin and has been trying to get them to refund his money. I wish them all luck.

As for me? I'm enjoying riding the Stromer every other day. I took my old steel Bianchi and have converted it to a FGSS city bike and that gets used the other days. I've read some reviews of the Stromer that criticized it for using sup-par parts and pieces on such an expensive bike. I guess I wold agree if I were knowledgeable enough to know A parts form B+ parts (which apparently are on the bike). Since May I've put just over 1000 miles on it and its been flawless needing only to have the controller/computer reset once.

The dealer is local and that has made all the difference.......more later.