![]() ![]() ![]() Sondors Fat Electric Bike Honestly Evaluated. I have been building, riding, and writing about electric fat bikes for years now. A few years back I reviewed the $5. ![]() ![]() Currie Trailz and thought that this was a decent bike for $5. I said in that article and I say now that there is a place for a $5. The Currie Trailz was probably the best selling electric bike of all time because of that $5. It seems an eccentric and charismatic man by the name of Storm Sonders (previously a Mc.
Donalds happy meal toy tycoon, believe it or not) has released a $5. I have to admit it, the bike looks good. It seems someone with some aesthetic taste is coming in and teaching the big boys like Currie, Pedego, and Prodeco- Tech how good a bike can look at only 1/6th of the price of what they offer. Seems too good to true. But I soon realized that the snazzy looking prototype in the photo with sweet anodized components is not at all the fat electric bike I will be getting. Never has there been this much attention on an electric bike in the mass press. I would boldly state that this is the best selling electric bike of all time. He has proven that thousands of people want ebikes and are willing to pay for it right now. Selling an electric fat bike at this price is even harder (read our story on electric fat bikes). ![]() I have been building, riding, and writing about electric fat bikes for years nowway before they became the hot new thing. A few years back I reviewed the $500. Fat bike components are more specialized and more expensive to source than regular- sized bike parts. So how is it possible to offer a $5. We know that many of the performance numbers are exaggerated (more on that later), and who knows how well Sonders researched this to know what this bike would really cost to produce, and what type of after the sale support he will be able to offer. So lets start taking this $5. To start with this is no longer a $5. So if you’re reading this now. It started as a $5. ![]() ![]() Eventually the bike will retail for $1. Another 1. 00. 0 or so at $5. Indiegogo price of $6. Learn these fat burning exercises to condition your whole body with an emphasis on your lower body at Men's Health. Indeed, the bike was in such a sorry state yesterday morning that instead of lubing the chain I simply threw it away and installed a new one--and by "new" I mean I. Before I start this review, I would like to establish what we know about the state of the Sondors campaign. The Sondors bike is not sold by traditional. Sales have grown really stagnant at the $6. I have shipped fat electric bikes larger and heavier than this and it costs me only $8. UPS and that is without arranging a bulk shipping deal that Sonders is no doubt in the position to negotiate. We have been let down a lot in the recent past. The industry is full of ebikes like this. Here is a small sample with links to the articles I wrote: Blacktrail Ebike, Audie Ebike, Pi Bike, BMW Ebike. These now- defunct vapor ebikes all had huge price tags, and still didn’t make it as viable products in the marketplace. There are many more ebikes that have come to market and have failed. Check out the electric bike graveyard. New electric bike companies seem to start every day. Because even with China and new technology, it seems impossible to offer a quality ebike at that point and not lose your shirt. Then how is Sonders able to do it? The first point is he probably can’t. I personally don’t see how he can offer a bike at $5. Starting with the 5. The Sonders bike has 3. V / 1. 0- Ah battery pack, 3. It has a cheap inexpensive motor. A more realistic estimate on a bike like this is 1. Read our article on calculating range. Also the Sonders team claimed the bike weighed only 4. Sonders Ebike, it actually weighed in at 5. The other great exaggeration is the speed you can expect. The test bike is obviously burning a lot more than 3. The 2. 0- MPH top speed is far- fetched, given the 3. It is misleading to let the press and potential buyers to ride around on a prototype bike that was pumping out 4. X as much power as the production bike will have. It is easily proven that the prototype electric bike is “souped up”. Pictures have been released of the prototype bike with a Cycle Analyst on board. It will have the same basic structure, wide tires etc. Obviously, the bike would be a lot lighter if it was made from aluminum (which would be more expensive than steel). The 3 key components to this Ebike. Sonders bike. Forget riding in the sand or doing any real off road riding. There has been a lot of skepticism about Sonders and this campaign. You can read this long Endless- sphere thread with a lot of facts mixed in with a lot of speculation here. Why Insurance? For this campaign, Indiegogo did the totally unprecedented maneuver of offering insurance: “Get your money back if you don’t receive your Sondors e. Bike within 3 months after the estimated delivery date. Insurance provided by Indiegogo”This makes the bike way less of a gamble. Getting to the Real Price. So the bike now costs $6. Things Are Looking Good. The good news is if you bought into the Sonders ebike, and bought it at the $5. Here is an article about those changes. Indigogo stepped up with an optional $1. Sonders has really seemed to come through on his end with keeping backers updated with pictures and blog posts from him on the production lines in China, Supposedly right on target to meet his May 1st deadline. Would I Buy One? Honestly if I could go pick one of these up tomorrow at a store somewhere for $5. I would go buy it. I think the bike looks really good and is a great value for the money. I would test ride it. I would buy it. But given the waiting time, the gamble, the shipping costs, and the insurance. Notice the Fat motor in the Fat front wheel to put out Fat power. That is called a Crystalyte hub motor. We want to be completely fair, in spite of what we felt is a reasonable amount of skepticism on our part. You can track how this is evolving by checking posts on a couple of Facebook pages. The “Go Sondors” page is a pro- Sondors FB which was started for Public Relations (PR), and the Sondors Storm Owners Group was started by the customers, so they would likely be the most truthful source of what’s going on. Benefits of Riding Your Bike. By Dr. Mercola. Exercise is one of the foundational pillars of good health that I've been practicing for over 4. You experience profound benefits from exercise, especially as you age, including improved sleep quality, immune system support and a reduced risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. There are several different types of exercise you can use to reach your goals. A smart combination of different types will produce positive biochemical changes that may reduce chronic pain and improve depression. But, one of the biggest issues people face today is simply not having enough time to exercise. I believe a well- rounded exercise program includes strength training, flexibility (stretching), cardiovascular and high- intensity interval training (HIIT). A common mistake is to focus on getting hours of cardiovascular exercise, which may in fact be more detrimental than helpful. A simple way to address your lack of time is to integrate strength training, flexibility and HIIT with cardiovascular exercise. Although multitasking is not a productive way of achieving cognitive tasks, it may be just what you need to find the time to exercise. A recent study demonstrates how actively commuting to work may help you achieve your goals. Active Commute to Work May Improve Your Health Over 2. U. K. The researchers chose those who biked, walked or used their car to commute to work and measured rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer, deaths from those diseases and all- cause mortality. It may come as no surprise that the more physically active the participants were, the lower their risk of disease and mortality during the study period. The scientists' intent was to differentiate several factors that in previous studies had not been accounted for — such as the difference between walking or cycling to work, or the different risk potential between the groups. The average age of the participants was 5. CVD and mortality; in fact, they had the lowest risk of these outcomes, as well as lower risk of cancer and all- cause mortality. Interestingly, the researchers found in this observational study that those who walked to work had to walk more than 6 miles each week to experience a reduction in risk to the health conditions evaluated in the study. If the commuters combined active commuting with using the car, they enjoyed the benefits only if their active commute meant using a bicycle and not if they walked to work. Active Commuting Could Save Billions. An accompanying editorial from Lars Bo Andersen, a professor of epidemiology, public health and sports medicine at Western Norway University, expounded on the idea that through choosing an active means of commuting, countries could save billions of dollars in health care costs. He described how Copenhagen prioritized bicycling as a means of commuting. The city built an infrastructure that supports cycling with bike lanes, tunnels and bridges, as well as changing speed laws so no car or bus can travel faster than a bike through the city. Since the changes, the city has enjoyed a 3. Anderson comments on the current study: 4. A shift from car to more active modes of travel will also decrease traffic in congested city . This is a time you'll be spending getting to and from work anyway, so why not use the time as productively as possible? A steady ride in the morning helps to get your creative juices flowing and increase blood flow to your brain and muscles. This may also inspire you to continue to move more throughout the day. I recommend sitting as little as possible to improve your overall health. Stretching for a short time after your ride helps to cool down your body and takes advantage of warm muscles. After a ride to work, a short stretching routine for your legs and ankles can help prevent stiffness during the day. Read more about stretching and consider the simple stretches outlined in my previous article, . This is a strategy you may incorporate up to three times each week. By picking up the pace for a short period of time, you increase your benefits and reduce the time needed to accomplish the same results. Biking on your way home is the perfect time to use HIIT. Read more about how to accomplish this in my previous article, . Schedule a short workout for days you aren't doing HIIT. The exercises in my previous article, . Preparing for Your Commute to Work It's important to prepare for a consistent active commute to work in order to be successful. Strategies to get the most from your pedal power, reduce your risk of injury and be ready for work takes just a bit of planning. However, once you have a routine in place, it becomes second nature and you'll reap great health rewards. Like any other time you're out riding, be sure to bring the equipment needed to repair a flat tire. Using your bike consistently throughout the week may mean you'll need to do maintenance more frequently. Keeping your chain clean of excess dirt and grime will ensure the bike shifts more easily. When your wheels are aligned and tires inflated, the ride is easier and the brakes work more smoothly. By shifting your bike gears when they aren't under hard resistance, such as pedaling up hill, you'll reduce wear and tear on the shifter. You have to pedal while shifting, but can ease off a bit as you shift up or down. Biking to work will mean it's more important to keep track of the weather, both for the commute in and back home. Driving home in the rain isn't nearly as challenging as riding in to work in a storm. Keep an eye on the weather reports and have a contingency plan if the weather is too inclement to ride. Riding to work will likely mean you need a place to lock up your bike and take a quick shower before getting to your desk. Discuss your options with your company's human resources manager, explaining that your efforts to actively commute to work may encourage others to become more active and ultimately have a positive effect on the company health costs. Good Form Improves Function. As with most exercises, using good form not only improves function but also reduces the likelihood of overuse injuries. And, pedaling efficiency is important to get the most out of every revolution of your feet, producing more power with less energy. In this short video, you'll see the basic form demonstrated that improves your efficiency on the pedals and your position on the bike. Having your bike set up properly isn't only more comfortable, it's also more efficient. The placement of the seat, or saddle, on your bike determines whether you're driving the most power from the large muscles in your legs through the pedals of the bike. If the saddle is too high, you rock to fully extend your leg. If the saddle is too low, your knee comes up too high, impeding your diaphragm and cutting your oxygen supply, not to mention it's really uncomfortable. If the saddle is too far forward on the bike you'll be pedaling behind you, and will be rocking on the bike to compensate. You'll find the saddle in the right position when your foot is at 3 o'clock and your knee is directly over the ball of your foot; and when your knee is slightly bent when the pedal is at 6 o'clock. There are two different philosophies about pedaling. It may seem to create more power to pull up on upswing, but you'll be placing a large workload on muscles designed to lift your leg against gravity and not against resistance. Your best option is to use only your muscle to push through from the top of the revolution to the base. Keep your hip, knee and ankle lined up through the pedal stroke, without wobbling at the knee or with your knee outside or inside the line from ankle to hip. This not only generates more power, but also reduces potential for an injury. The power you generate at the pedal is a factor of your cadence (how many times your feet revolve in one minute) multiplied by the torque, or the resistance against which you are pedaling. It's common to try to push into a higher gear before adapting to pedaling at a higher, more efficient cadence. Your goal is to easily pedal between 8. In the beginning, you'll accomplish this with less effort at a lower gear. As your strength improves, you can increase the resistance as you maintain the cadence. Reduce Your Risk of Injury. Although there aren't as many moving parts as some other aerobic sports, there is still a chance for an overuse injury while biking, especially if your body is not aligned properly and too much stress is placed on your joints. Before looking further, ensure your saddle is at the right height and placement and your legs are properly aligned while biking. If you're new to biking, start out slowly and gradually work up to biking to work each day. You'll reduce your risk of injury by building muscle, gaining flexibility and increasing your mileage slowly over several weeks. Start by biking to work once a week and gradually add a day until you're at five days a week, and enjoying the benefits of greater calorie burn and improved muscle strength. Many times knee pain doesn't actually originate in the knee, but rather from a tight or inflamed iliotibial (IT) band, which runs along the outside of your thigh. Both a tight IT and weak hip abductors play a role in knee joint pain. Your abductor muscles are those that pull your hips out and away from your body. Adding an IT stretch and simple body weight abductor exercises once or twice a week with your strengthening routine can help prevent this from happening. Patellar tendonitis, also called jumpers knee, may be triggered from a poor saddle height, increasing stress on the patellar tendon. Long hours in the saddle can cause skin breakdown, which may be alleviated with a proper seat height and properly padded shorts. Achilles tendonitis is another overuse injury that can result from a poorly fitting bike or tight calf muscles. Be sure to stretch your calf muscles after each bike ride. It takes very little time, and helps to prevent injury that can sideline you for weeks.
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