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[Electric Cowboy]

The guys at Boom Moto seem like really genuine people and are already implementing some of the feedback we gave them. I have really high hopes for their product which is a Chinese / American teamwork thing. Like lightning, these are manufactured in china, unlike lightning, these are affordable at 6500-7500 USD a piece, and they have slightly less performance than the lightning, but a lot more safety. They do have a lot to work on still, but I would get one for tooling around town or putting around the ranch.

We are still working on editing up the review, and recording the final bits. For now though, here is how they reviewed us! Super cool to see!

[TheRan]

Are they paying you, or do Lightning have a really low end model that I'm not aware of? Even the Strike has nearly ten times the power of the Boom Moto bikes and probably more than double the range. What constitutes "a lot more safety"? The Lightning has better tyres and brakes and I would assume traction control and probably cornering ABS, does the Boom Moto even have regular ABS?

What changes are they making based on our feedback? How much can they even change when they're not the ones manufacturing the bikes?

They've added a new model since I last looked, the i300x, which can supposedly do 115mph with the same 10kW motor and has what looks to be Brembo brakes including dual rear calipers which is odd. They also list the battery capacity which I don't think they had before, it's 7.2kW/h which means their range estimations are way too high.

[JaimeC]

I can see you never saw his video reviews of the Strike...

[Electric Cowboy]

Are they paying you, or do Lightning have a really low-end model that I'm not aware of?

Nope, we made it exceptionally clear that we did not accept payment for our reviews. You can see in the full interview on our Patreon page that they were a little concerned we might rip their bikes apart. They said though... they would rather have honest feedback so they could improve on the bikes. BS journalism that says "ohhhh look at how beuuuutiful this bike is" won't help a brand get stronger.

So unlike lightning, these guys are also totally open. I saw the trepidation in their eyes as they gave us the approval to rip apart a prototype bike, and then they took the advice and comments we gave as constructive criticism. Seriously, I couldn't have been more impressed with the initial steps and products they have.

Oh also, you can buy these and they will ship to you in days. 3-4 lightning strikes have been delivered that I am aware of, and it has been years, and the bikes are not what the people purchased. They have NONE of the promised specs, and exposed battery cells. I mean even Boom has a battery box for crying out loud.

Even the Strike has nearly ten times the power of the Boom Moto bikes and probably more than double the range.

Sadly the strike at >300% the cost has LESS range, I did a full burn down on this bike, side by side with 2 other riders of larger stature than me to get a real world example. It will be in the review. And I would say that the strike has a LITTE bit more power, but maybe 2x, not 10x. The strike has less power than a Zero S, just like this Boom Moto. The only difference is that Boom Moto isn't lying about their specs. They are actually seeking peer review and open confirmation where lightning refuses to do any clear data collection and instead chooses to try and start fistfights with people that speak out about them. I have been refused to talk about lightning on podcasts out of fear that Hatfield would sue them if I said anything bad. He did actually call and say this.

Thankfully Motorcycles and Misfits and Cleavland Moto are honey badgers and don't give a shit.

What constitutes "a lot more safety"? The Lightning has better tyres and brakes and I would assume traction control and probably cornering ABS, does the Boom Moto even have regular ABS?

As Jamie posted above, you clearly did have a chance to look at the cold hard data about lightning yet. At over 300% more expensive, the lightning ones NOT have ABS, NO traction control, 0-60 in OVER 5 seconds, and the bike I rode barely went over 100 mph indicated. All for just $20,000 USD... no thanks. I'd rather pay a reasonable price for a Chinese electric bike. Not to mention Lightning hates the feedback we provided and actively tried to cover it up and lie to customers. These guys took our feedback in stride and got on the phone with their Chinese partners the SAME day to make improvements.

Lightning manual also states that you can not ride the bike in the rain, makes sense when the batteries are exposed the way they are, and the fact that the manual says if you wash your bike at a car wasjh, it will void the warranty.

Also, the bikes I rode did not meet ANY of the specifications promised by lightning. Not only that the CEO tried to pick a fist fight with me over the fact that I said his bikes were not production.

How many strikes were delivered? I bet you can't get a clear answer, it will be full of side steps and misdirects. Boom on the other hand was an open book. They said tell us what is good, what is bad, and what is Ugly. Then they started fixing it! It is night and day.

The big thing is that the lightning bikes are barely more powerful than these. But lightning is charging an order more magnitude.

Oh, I forgot to mention, while Boom does have some QA and QC consistency checks we are recommending they implement, their bike is something Morgan and I would get our Moms. Lightning is not. Boom was assembled with nuts and bolts and plates, we looked for melted gluesticks holding parts on... so far, lightning is the only company claiming production that holds parts on their motors with half-melted gluesticks.

Save yourself $14k and get a Boom Moto instead. Or if you want power and status, get a Zero or Energica. HD is good too if you have that kind of bread.

Apologies if this seemed gruff. I am just always impressed at how many people get sucked into Lightning's false advertising and legal threats. If Hatfield would swallow his Ego, I would offer them the same feedback and he could implement the changes, but noooooo that would mean he would have to admit to some of his "exaggerations". They would rather keep an iron curtain up to protect what I can only assume is a kingdom of lies.

[Starpower]

I see very high potential and value here and especially impressed with the weight. I think this is why it gets the claimed range that seems to be confirmed by the Cowboy.

Being an owner of a BMW S1000R the design "borrow" of the RR is a bit too close, the tail and tank is spot on. My advice would be to not degrade the impact of this bike by coping design styles it speaks to the dreaded phrase - "Chinese knock-off" implying short cuts and poor quality. This is something very original in today's market, the design should  be as well.

[TheRan]

I should point out that I'm not a Lightning fan boy, the only reason I mentioned them is because that's what you decided to compare them to. I also went off the specs that they give on their site (they also list a price starting at like $13k, not $20k), not what has been guessed about a prototype bike (and no I haven't watched the videos, no reason to when I don't intend on getting a Lightning).

So, are the specs that Boom Moto give correct? A 7.2kW/h battery and a 10kW motor? If so that thing will struggle to do 0-60 in under 10 seconds and range is going to be on par with a 7.2 Zero. They say "standard range" will be 75-100 miles but it will be just over 70 miles in the city in the best case scenario, when the weather is colder and speeds are higher it's going to be more like 40-50. Absolutely no way it's doing 100 miles. The top speed of 75-90mph is also dubious (75-115mph for the i300x with the same motor power) when a gas bike with the same power will struggle to get over 70 and a Zero with a lot more power tops out somewhere around 95mph. And what about the weight of 250 pounds when a 7.2 Zero is more like 330 pounds? That's the same as a 3.2 FX/S.

[NEW2elec]

While I'm not a fan of the "city only" electric motorcycle concept.  I believe E bicycles with their ability to be taken up to and inside an apartment is such a huge benefit for city life.  A friend of mine said renting a parking space in her building in Atlanta was like $350 a month. The Ebike -Motorcycle hybrids like the Sur Ron fill most city needs and are improving in both range and power all the time.

That being said I'm glad you guys are getting recognized for all the work and time you've put in with electric motorcycles and the community as a whole.  But remember what the Joker said "when your good at something never do it for free".

When my dad retired he had a few pieces of equipment that he wanted to lease to a big Japanese vehicle manufacturer so he went in and showed them a whole new way of setting up their factory process to streamline the parts flow in order to justify the lease.  When he told me about it later on I had to smile and pat him on the back and say you got a few thousand for the lease but gave them $100,000 worth of consulting in the process.  He's old school and didn't see his knowledge as being worth so much.

Quick side note while we're talking Lightning, thanks for helping out our NZ chain pulling buddy get a DC charging bike that I don't feel afraid for his life on.  (If he rides responsibly that is)

[Electric Cowboy]

I should point out that I'm not a Lightning fan boy, the only reason I mentioned them is because that's what you decided to compare them to. I also went off the specs that they give on their site (they also list a price starting at like $13k, not $20k), not what has been guessed about a prototype bike (and no I haven't watched the videos, no reason to when I don't intend on getting a Lightning).

Fair enough, I feel it necessary to address the false claims from their site as they pop up in my locus of existence.

So, are the specs that Boom Moto give correct? A 7.2kW/h battery and a 10kW motor? If so that thing will struggle to do 0-60 in under 10 seconds and range is going to be on par with a 7.2 Zero.

I would say their specs are accurate. We did make sure to get 0-60 times as a part of our review.

They say "standard range" will be 75-100 miles but it will be just over 70 miles in the city in the best case scenario, when the weather is colder and speeds are higher it's going to be more like 40-50. Absolutely no way it's doing 100 miles.

I'd say the range tests that we performed showed us the bikes would be good for their price, it met our expectations. Again will show all the juicy details in the full edit.

The top speed of 75-90mph is also dubious (75-115mph for the i300x with the same motor power) when a gas bike with the same power will struggle to get over 70 and a Zero with a lot more power tops out somewhere around 95mph.

The tested data does put the top speed of the bikes in the correct range for top speed. Also, Zeros bikes are limited by the controller and battery sag on the small FX, they are not short on power. And these things should not be compared.

And what about the weight of 250 pounds when a 7.2 Zero is more like 330 pounds? That's the same as a 3.2 FX/S.

The FX and these bikes are not the same. What you are doing is effectively comparing an Africa twin to a ninja 250. Totally different things for different purposes. And a major note is that the 8.2kW battery version is still less weight than the FX. These things are just so different it only confuses things to compare. The FX is a perfect hooligan bike, these are not adequate for hooligans.

Awesome comments though, props on having a solid estimation of a lot of parts, and I look forward to showing you the areas that diverge from your expectations, like the top speed, in the review.

[TheRan]

I'll be looking forward to seeing the results of your testing.

I'd be interested in the areas in which they've managed to save weight if that's something you could point out, a ~36kg drop compared to a 7.2 Zero is significant. Could it be the battery tech they're using (I think I remember reading that whatever Zero uses isn't the most energy dense, a trade off for durability), does it have an external charger (the Calex is 7.6kg), is the hub motor significantly lighter than the ~20kg Zero motor?

How are you measuring speeds, GPS and not just recording the dash?

[Brammofan]

Brandon: please put your Patreon link in these comments. 

[Curt]

Brandon: please put your Patreon link in these comments. 

Agreed. Put the link in your signature! This bold, honest, and technically sound information is rare, priceless, and is something that will benefit the whole industry and speed up progress.

[NEW2elec]

Brandon: please put your Patreon link in these comments. 

I guess that's for my comment.

I'm saying get paid by the bike company for the improvement advise.

Because this is the crap coming out now:  As he says you can pay either $10000 or $1900 depending on if it's the American Amazon or Alibaba.  From the bikes and beards channel.

[gregj]

Tyre is spelt the right way unless you are from the US...

[NEW2elec]

Yep that's just the British tyre and the sticker isn't trying to be Optimus Prime it's a trying to be a Decepticon symbol.
But the bike's still crap.

[Electric Cowboy]

I'll be looking forward to seeing the results of your testing.

Thanks @TheRan

I'd be interested in the areas in which they've managed to save weight if that's something you could point out, a ~36kg drop compared to a 7.2 Zero is significant. Could it be the battery tech they're using (I think I remember reading that whatever Zero uses isn't the most energy dense, a trade off for durability), does it have an external charger (the Calex is 7.6kg), is the hub motor significantly lighter than the ~20kg Zero motor?

Yeah, I'll do my best to remember to talk about that at the end of the review.

How are you measuring speeds, GPS and not just recording the dash?

We have dash footage, but all Speed and Distance measurements were done via GPS. We will be doing this with all bikes moving forward.

Brandon: please put your Patreon link in these comments. 

Agreed. Put the link in your signature! This bold, honest, and technically sound information is rare, priceless, and is something that will benefit the whole industry and speed up progress.

Curt and BrammoFan, thanks! This is our Patreon and I will add it to my signature. Thanks for the great advice, and every penny of support really helps. This stuff takes a lot of time to do and is way more work than anyone would expect. I understand why the big YouTubers have crews now.

https://www.patreon.com/BrandonNozakiMiller?fan_landing=true

I'm saying get paid by the bike company for the improvement advise.

We have offered them the ability to use us as consultants if they would like. I would love to dig around in the guts and make mad science improvements!

Because this is the crap coming out now:  As he says you can pay either $10000 or $1900 depending on if it's the American Amazon or Alibaba.  From the bikes and beards channel.

Yeah, he is totally right. That is why I am so excited about Boom. If they get stuff done right, they will be able to offer a reasonable price with consistent quality. That's not something you can get buying one off of Amazon or Alibaba rn. A close relationship with the factory is required and quantity if you want anything resembling production quality. That's why I was so impressed with these guys. The owner knows how to do business in China, so he didn't order just one pre-built model, he ordered 30 with his specs and custom powertrains so they would do it right, and know he wasn't some shmuck promising big numbers but not able to back it up. That said, we tore down a prototype bike which you can tell was a prototype as well.

Yep that's just the British tyre and the sticker isn't trying to be Optimus Prime it's a trying to be a Decepticon symbol.
But the bike's still crap.

Stickers are dumb, I advised that already. The bike is not crap though, maybe not something you want for more than a commuter or a pit bike. But not crap. I mean look, I would buy one if I could right now. It's worth it for the parts alone. It'd be good for a DIY starter project too, build on top of it even to give more features.