The "Storm $500 Electric Bike" Revealed

Court gives us his spin on the Indiegogo "Storm" electric bike.

Some key points include:

1. Need & appeal of a fat bike?
2. The impossible weight claim of 45lbs (the $6000 Felt Lebowske using all racing grade parts is 48 lbs and considered very light for a fat Ebike)
3. Very low grade lithium battery
4. Range claim of 30-40 miles
5. Lack of battery indicator
6. Similarly priced alternatives (up to $800)
7. Is there a warranty? Shipping of the bike is $200, how much would it be to ship it back for service issues?

All in all from what we've gathered, the Storm Electric Bike is a genius stroke of marketing. They have raised 2.5 million of their 75k goal, putting the unit number count up to 5000 units! As an experienced Ebike shop ourselves, we seriously question many of the claims made by the campaign, and what the end user experience will be like once these bikes are delivered to customers. Another concern is also the logistics and time frame required for actual units to arrive. Similar campaigns such as the Copenhagen wheel have been promising delivery for over 1 year! Although this may be the nature of crowd funding, it is a legitimate concern when shelling out the $500 + $200 shipping costs. Not a small chunk of change. In the end we applaud Storm for their efforts but we aren't holding our breath on the bike.