HyperFat 1000 Production Update: Try Harder

All of the HF1000 Founders Series frames got remade. We were not happy with the frame performance and just scrapped the entire batch of frames and started over. The new frames are much stronger and more capable of standing up to the powerful 1,000 Watt motor. We lab tested the frame with 33% more load and 4x more load cycles than what is necessary for production and it easily passed.   

On these series of rides we are testing the frame and more importantly the 12T motor setup which we have not much time to run. The 12T motor has more torque at the expense of top speed. You can definitely can feel the additional torque and top speed is slightly lower, but still incredible performance especially when you factor in the massive tires. 

The bike far exceeds any pedal-assist e-bike I have tried. It is just on a whole different level. Much beyond this power level and we are moving towards e-motorcycle territory where human input is not helping the motor too much unless you are incredibly strong. At the top speeds, moving your head down a few inches has more of an effect than pedaling harder. 

The bike is fun to ride an you get an amazing workout in a short amount of time which is counter-intuitive. The feeling is like flying on the ground and 30 mph does not feel too intimidating once you get used to the speed. The big tires are very stable and you are not too concerned about the bumps. Maybe that is the advantage of the big ties beyond the "wow" factor. 

The bike shown is nearly 100% stock with production-sourced parts without any special modifications. We did not have time to paint the frame and just needed to get testing as the project is very behind, but the frames will be painted black. All of the frames have been sent out to be painted already. We are running the 48V / 21Ah pack and the controller set to “off road” mode so the speed is not limited. This "Andi Zoo" run is mostly level ground. The frame that is shown is XL.

We are scheduling the assembly for after the holiday. Here in China it is something like the 4th of July week. So we will loose a few days. We will have updates from the assembly once things get underway. We are not taking any new orders until the initial batch of bikes ship which is estimated to be sometime in November.

Getting on the bus in the sky. It's a long commute. 

Massive Shanghai train station. You have to walk all the way to the center to see which track your train will arrive as the track display screens are tiny.  

The train is fast, but you get used to it and just want it to go faster... like everything else. 

Arriving a the factory. HF's materials collecting dust at the back of the line as we wait for the new frames. 

Swinging over to the frame factory. There is a new manager and things are running much more smoothly. 

New HFs getting welded up.  

Some are back from heat treatment.  

 

We pull a sample for closer inspection and testing. This one is going to to the Fight Club. 

Checking out the welds on the frame.

The production standard test for e-bikes is 75kg for 160,000 cycles. We raised the standard for the HF project to to 100kg at 600,000 cycles. The new frames can pass. 

Everything fits as expected. It's real. 

Swing over to the paint factory and check the frames again before giving the go-ahead to paint. 

Not happy with the stainless-steel anti-turn washers and they got remade. 

Testing temperature limits of some new components. The development process never stops. 

We have a little time to test the 12T motor. 

Custom dual LED spot/wide beam is perfect light, in daytime people respect your space when they see the light coming. 

Christmas under my des: Testing and benchmarking every 1,000W system available. The 1,000W torque sensored power system is the holy grail of pedal assist e-bikes. The HF will be the first e-bike to deliver this experience. 

How did the industry arrive to such ridiculous sized tires? We have been trying to find the answer. 

Another unit is testing the 9T and some other parts. The nice thing in China is if you get a flat tire, just wait around and an electric tricycle can take you back home. 

Field testing: Stopping to snap a picture. The bikes looks nice without all the silly graphics that get stuck on bikes these days. 

Let's Ride!!

Ride Stats: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2024222907 

Quick Update on the HyperFat Founders Series

First off sorry for the massive delay on this product. It has been quite difficult to get these bikes out. We have all the parts for all the Founders Series bikes ordered and sitting at the factory, but one part we requested to be reworked before assembly. This is very disappointing, but we will only let the bikes be release correctly. 

It is not 100% sure the exact date of completion. We are targeting September assembly and can deliver the bikes before the end of Nov. I am going back to the factory next week to check the status and solidify timeframes. 

We understand some people cannot wait or want the refund. This is totally understandable. We will give the 100% refund to you and hold your place on the order anyway. We will also suspend additional pre-ordering until we get all the over 100 FS-HF shipped as we now have enough parts to make every pre-order. 

Anyway we got already a small shipment of the final specification HF units which can be tested at our facility in San Diego but not sold as we wait for re-worked parts. The performance can reach the targets promised and it is quite impressive.

Just let us know if you want to try it and are in the area and bring a helmet. We will also do some other test ride events once the bikes start shipping. Things will go much smoother once we get over all the hurdles and bottlenecks resolved. Thank you for your patience so far. 

-Tora

HyperFat Initial Production Update [Video]

It has been a little bit of a delay, but we finally started the initial production builds of the HyperFat 1,000 Watt Fat tire bikes. Here we do some test rides inside the factory. 

The performance of these shipping units far exceeded our targets and is likely one of the highest performance production fat-tire e-bikes available today. 

Throttle-only cruising speed is right around 30mph and with the torque-based pedal assist you can see numbers like 34-37mph. The 1,000W geared MAC motor is ridiculously smooth and responsive. 

Now all the HFs come with the air suspension forks which makes a big difference in front end stability. The ride feels much more solid and planted than the prototypes. 

We worked hard to get the LCD to display data that is actually useful to the rider.

The new 1,800 lum dual LED light lets people know you are coming in the day or night. This is the more powerful light used on a production e-bike. 

We set the bar very high for this project with an insanely tight deadline for a bike that does not really need to exist. Many new custom parts needed to be developed to achieve our goals. Special thanks to our suppliers who help make this thing a reality. We have a few little loose ends to tie up and we can then start shipping the initial batch of bikes to waiting customers. 

---

Challenges along the way: 

One massive challenge has been the integration of the 1000W MAC motor. For the HF project we wanted something special. 1,000W with torque sensing has not been done before in this way. We have explored all the possibilities including the BBSHD, Ultra and other bits and bobs, but they all have limitations that made it undesirable for this particular project.  

Most e-bike manufactures buy the ready-made electronics packages and install them onto frames. The package has the motor, controller, display and sometimes the battery all in one kit.

Hand-built 1000W MAC Motors 

While these OEM kits gets the bike to the market faster, the performance and cost did not meet our expectations. The only choice is to develop our own platform. Most e-bikes are in the 250-500 W range with some systems claiming 750W. We wanted true 1,000 Watts with a peak of nearly 1,800 Watts in a real production e-bike. This proved to be much more of a challenge than expected. 

Controller Integration: 

Right away it was clear the average controller would not be up to the task. Everything needed to be upscaled to handle the power that we demanded. The MAC motor has some quirky attributes that makes it a little tricky to tune. The software had to be re-written and a speed sensor needed to be added. We needed to coordinate with several different suppliers to pull it off. The result is the most powerful controller they have ever created of this type with sine wave function, 35A peak, support for torque sensing, economical to build with short lead times.

 

Initial batch of Custom 12 FET controllers. Lots of wires!  

Above: Standard CrossCurrent Controller, below: HyperFat Controller. New controllers are fully sealed and waterproof. Custom software written specifically for the 1000W MAC geared motor. 

 The discharge cables and phase wires all needed to be beefed up to handle the current draw of the HyperFat. 

Motor, spokes, wheels, tubes and tires coming together.   

New Battery:  

The semi-integrated downtube battery platform is now commonly used in the industry. This provides the best position for placing the battery. There are a few problems with this platform that needed to be solved. First off, the cells are stacked on top of each other like roman candles. While this is great for compactness, it a huge headache to manufacture. This architecture makes it hard to automate the welding of the tabs connecting the cells.

The next problem is the overall capacity is limited. To run at 1,000 Watts with decent range, you need something like 48V 17+Ah. The Reention platform in the 13S5P configuration gives at best 17.5 Ah with the densest cells readily available. It's possible to extend the platform to 6P but then the downtube is really long, compromized geometry, and possibly no room for the controller.  

The only solution is to re-engineer the entire pack to: 

- House enough cells

- Be easy to manufacture 

- Be short and compact

- Fit 45A BMS

- Be backwards compatible 

- Be ready for future expandability

- Look nice 

The solution took lots of money and more critically lots of time. We end up tooling our own plastic injection parts and extruding our own aluminum case. On top of this it takes many cuts and CNC operations to get the the final shape. In the end, we got what was required. The result is the foundation to build much higher performance e-bikes with backwards compatibility for existing e-bikes. 

The Frame

Fitting the huge controller, massive battery, fat tires and making it capable of withstanding the loads was another challenge. We came up with a workable solution, but of course there is always room for improvement. This kind of bike has many really thick wires and it somewhat challenging to fit everything cleanly.

One special attribute of the HF's frame design is the rear "wishbone" element. This junction of the seat tube, top tube and seat stay is milled from a solid block of aluminum. The CNC process is very time consuming and only about 4 wishbones can be made a day. The result is a very clean flowing lines across the top of the bike and a very solid feeling ride. 

Coming Together

Once every single part arrives from the suppliers, we check them to see if the production parts match the prototypes (which is not always the case). These powerful bikes are very exotic and everything just does not "go together" like some of the other bikes we manufacture and "stock" parts. We will build the bikes slowly at first and then transfer the builds to the line as we gain better understanding of how to make the bikes efficiently. The eventual goal is to have bikes in stock and ready to ship right after it's ordered. 

Here is the first build and we are only able to test it indoors since its raining very heavily outside. Thank you for your patience was we produce all of the pre-ordered bikes and catch up with demand. 

HyperFat HF1000 Update for Pre-Orders

HyperFat Founder's Series Availability: 

We have been hard at work getting the initial batch of Founder Series HFs out. There has been a slight delay in the frames but things have been sorted and some units should ship in May. Other units will ship in June and we should have all of the Founder's series shipped in July. Thank you for your continued patience in this very aggressive project. 

Follow the progress: Building The Hype / Blog Update (view)

Suspension Fork: 

We have sourced a suspension fork for the HyperFat due to popular demand. Though not essential for a fat bike platform, suspension forks do provide benefit in some applications, however with a weight penalty to an already heavy bike. But let's face it, it looks cool. 

All Founder's Series e-bikes will be upgraded to MOZO Fat Man Air Fork with no additional charge. 

All MAC Motors: 

We have been really impressed with the performance of the MAC motor. Moving forward, we will use all MAC motors for both the HyperFat HF1000 and HF750. 

MAC Motor is well known in the high performance e-bike scene. While the motors appear similar to other motors on the outside each step of the way they improve the design and and use higher quality materials. 

The end result is just much higher thrust output and higher speed for a given current relative to anything else we have tried. It is also silky smooth and very little vibration. 

Integrating this motor with mass-produced e-bikes has been challenging due to some quarks in the way the motor is designed. We have solved these issues and decided to use the MAC motor for both HF750 and HF1000 bikes. 

Here is a video of our recent visit to MAC motors. 

More Torque: 

MAC 12T High Torque Motor Winding Option for customers who want higher torque for hill-climbing. This will result in a slight decrease in top speed. 

Winding more copper around the motor's stator gives you more torque and less speed. Less windings will give you more speed and less torque. The MAC motor and most other motors of this type can only be set up with one type of winding. 

The production HyperFat is set up with a 9T winding which was selected to target a top speed performance of 30+ mph with pedal assist, yet provide good hill climbing performance. 

For riders who are heavier or have more hills, we have a 12T motor winding option which provides more torque performance, but reduced top speed. The estimated top speed of around 25-26 mph with the 12T setup. With this option chosen, only the motor is changed everything else remans that same. 

Order the 12T High Torque Option (+$99) 

Hydraulic Disc Brakes: 

We’ve provided an upgrade path for users who want hydraulic disc brakes. Hydraulic disc brakes provide better stopping power and modulation. You can also use less lever actuation force to slow the bike down. Hydraulic disc brake levers use nicer materials than the mechanical ones and have better feel and aesthetics. 

We have sourced Tektro Dorado HD-E715 which are regarded as one of the best Hydraulic disc brake systems designed for e-bikes. Learn more about the Tektro HD-E715 on Tektro's webpage.

Tektro HD-E715 Details: E-Bike - Hydraulic Disc Brake With Sensor Control Design

- Open System, Dual Piston

- Sensor Control Designed

- High Performance, Designed For 45km/Hr E-Bikes

- Easy Installation, Adjustment And Maintenance.

Upgrade to Tektro Hydrulic HD-E715 Disc Brakes (+$249)

Frame Sizes:

The founders series Frame is 18" size which fits most riders. The next production moving forward will have a Small, Medium and Large frame sizes to accommodate a wider range of riders. 

 

Here is the size breakdown: 

S: 16.5"

M: 18.0"

L: 20.0"

Rear Racks: 

The HyperFat will have mounting bosses for a rear rack installation. Though these fittings are absent in our pre-production prototypes, they will be included for the production units. 

There are very few racks designed for fat-tire bikes and we frankly got tired of looking. So we are now at work designing a rack that will fit the HF perfectly. 

Here is a preview of this rack and we will make another announcement when it is ready. 

Mud Guards/Fenders: 

There are surprisingly few mudguards made for fat bikes at the moment. We are working to find some models with a good performance and sporty style — stay tuned! The bike has mounting points to accept most any 3rd party Fat tire fenders. 

Revised LED Headlight:

The initial LED used 2 separate 900 lum lights. The same supplier has now made for us custom one piece dual LED headlight which works out to be much lighter. It kicks out the same amount of light (1800 lum) and just as waterproof. The light is automotive grade and light even works underwater. 

The DC driver boards found on most e-bike controllers are designed to power rather puny LED lights. It is not able to handle a 20W LED light (yes, we tried). We have sourced a water proof switch and made a custom wire harness to complete the integration onto the bike. 

Price increase and Crowd-Funding Campaign: 

We will be offering the HyperFat through a Crowdfunding campaign later in the year at a slight price increase relative to the Founders Series. Pre-orders moving forward will have this adjusted specifications and price increase.   

We have already ordered some of the critical parts for the next few batches of HFs to reduce delivery lead-times. We will start pre-orders for the Crowd Funded spec models as soon as possible. 

Test Rides:

The pre-production HyperFat HF1000 has arrived to our San Diego facility. We will announce test ride availability. This will give customers a chance to experience what the HyperFat is all about. 

A high-powered, fat-tire geared hub drive e-bike with fully proportional torque sensing is quite unique in the e-bike world. 

There is zero learning curve and you just ride it like a normal bike without the need to touch the throttle. It is very smooth, climbs well, and builds speeds effortlessly while not feeling scary. 

Please contact us if you would like to try out this amazing e-bike. 

HyperFat 1000 Watt E-Bike - Having fun with the radar gun [Video]

http://www.hype-bikes.com/ The first pre-production HF1000 has arrived to the USA and we got it built up and running with zero problems. The updated high rate 45A BMS packs have not arrived yet, so we can't run more than about 80% of full controller power or the pack will shut down.

It's still enough to have a lot of fun. Here we have a quite flat stretch of pavement to play around with the radar speed gun. With spirited pedaling, we could briefly see  37-38 mph (59-61 km/h). This is remarkable considering the big and goofy fat tires. 

This bike just wants to keep pulling and keeps providing assistance even when you are pedaling as hard as you can. You enjoy pedaling more than ever as your efforts are well rewarded. 

With the torque sensor reacting so quickly and so many amps on tap, the system is always able to keep the motor in front of you so you never feel like you are working against the motor.

Pre-Order the HypeFat

The HyperFat is coming to America!

The HyperFat demo units are on the way! The pre-production units will be avaliable for test rides from our San Diego Headquarters. Later we will take the bikes on a tour across the USA to give people a chance to feel the Hype. Forget about spec sheets, this game-changing e-bike has to be experienced first hand!  

First Class flight to San Diego

HyperFat 1000 Watt E-Bike - Making the case for a bigger battery [Video]

We are making the next 500-unit batch of our exclusive Hyper-Extended Range Batteries. This is one of the largest downtube battery packs available today with 78 Cells giving up to 48V and 21Ah of capacity! Such a pack is absolutely necessary for the HyperFat to reach the 1000W level and have useable riding range. 

Tora takes time out to talk about our battery packs for e-bikes.

Here is graphical representation of the capacity of our battery packs. This helps give a sense of scale as to how much capacity relative to everything else available. 

HyperFat 1000 Watt E-Bike - On-board Riding Experience

http://www.hype-bikes.com/ It's difficult to wrap your head around the HF's performance just by looking at the specifications. With double the power and up to double the battery capacity of the average e-bike, combined with torque sensing pedal assist, the HyperFat absolutely flies on the ground. We will post more videos of the onboard riding experience. 

HyperFat 1000 W MAC Motor Factory Visit

The MAC motor is one of the highest performance E-bike motors available today. http://www.macmotortech.com We visit the factory to check up on our HyperFat motor order. 

The motor is rated for 1,000 Watts and can send the bike past 30 mph very easily. The motor is made with high quality materials to start, but also manufactured with great care.

 

The combination of the 1000 Watt MAC motor, our 30 Amp controller, torque sensor and our massive 48 V / 21 Ah packs makes for an incredible e-bike riding experience.

Learn more and order the HyperFat e-bike: ‎www.hype-bikes.com

HyperFat 1000 Watt E-Bike: Custom Wire Harness

One of the problems we encountered with building the HyperFat is the motor cable. The 1000 Watt MAC motor uses an external speed sensor while the Bafang uses the internal speed sensor. The MAC also has a temperature sensor and the result is more wires needed for the motor. 

Also there are a few additional cables for the speed sensor and LED lights etc. To give the bike a professional look we needed to make some custom wire harnesses. For such a small batch of totally custom cables we needed to call on a favor or two to pull it off.  

 Coordinating cable lengths with various suppliers

The cables are mocked up on the bike and then drawings are made for the cable supplier to follow. Once the cables are made they are separated out and sent to the various suppliers for installation onto each part. 

In this case we send the unterminated cables out to the Brake Supplier, Motor Supplier, Display Supplier, Controller Supplier and Torque Sensor Supplier. They solder the wires onto the parts and then send them to final assembly. Like a jigsaw puzzle, everything should go back together and look clean when installed on the bike. 

Unfortunately it is never the case that we get things perfect on the first go. It's just too many factors to align perfectly, so we iterate and eventually the wires appear more and more orderly. 

HyperFat - Pre-Production Update and Product Overview

Here is a more detailed update on the HyperFat project. Tora gives a overview of the product and some of the design decisions we took. We also show a demonstration of the torque sensor which is difficult to capture on camera. 

The bike is coming together nicely and has amazing performance. We have ordered all of the parts for the Founders Series units and now working on the controller's software as we wait for parts to arrive. 

Over the next few weeks we will visit our suppliers, check up on parts and continue to look for ways to improve the product. 

HyperFat - Hill Climb and Acceleration Demonstration

HyperFat - Hill Climb and Acceleration Demonstration

Here we give a quick demonstration of the hill climbing capability of the HF1000's MAC motor. In the demo we use only the torque-based pedal assist system. Climbing such an incline feels almost like riding on level ground. Acceleration from slow speeds is smooth and linear. 

Learn more and preorder the HF1000 here: ‎www.hype-bikes.com

HyperFat - High Speed Demonstration at 32 mph

After some adjustments to the software (more on this later), we were able to achieve our performance targets set for the project. This bike now runs at about 31 A (48 V) with a fully porportional torque sensor. Here we run the bike on level ground up to top speed using the pedal assist only.

It peaks at over 1,400 W briefly before setteling down once the top speed is reached. Here we measured it at 32mph with the GPS, but we have seen it as high as 34mph on level ground. 

This incredible machine is the Porsche Cayenne of production e-bikes. Special thanks to our suppliers who worked with us to make this project a reality.

Download GPS Track: goo.gl/cEjhC7

HyperFat 1000 W Frame Hits the Gym

Before being signed off for production, each frame platform hits the gym to confirm the strength and durability of the design. Then between each production batch, frames are again randomly selected for testing. 

This platform for the HyperFat line is called the HF1. It passed the standard and then we proceed to run the test 2 more times before we were tapped on the shoulder and kindly asked to pull the frame off the test rig. 

Learn more 

HyperFat 1000 W Pre-Production Shakedown Runs

We are doing some shakedown runs on the 1000 W HyperFat with the Panasonic 48V / 21Ah pack. Mostly production parts and the power is dialed back to just 70%.

The torque sensor is functioning beautifully with linear and uninterrupted acceleration. This thing is an absolute weapon and will redefine this category.

Learn More

Juiced Bikes 2017 Winter Production - Video Update