So I've done some checking on the T8 Onebot. Bill
Post# of 22940
There is a website that appears to be the manufacturer (onebotbike.com) that is advertising the Onebot e-bikes. If you go on that website you'll find some informative videos and flyers. There's also a link to purchase the Onebot. So I tried to purchase one and guess what?
You can't. At least not here in the USA. Oh, and by the way, it's also $1700 US and that's not including shipping from China. I filled out the form for a delivery to my home address in California to see how much shipping would cost. It replied with the equivalent of the old Windows blue screen of death. It said, and I quote: "There are no shipping methods available for your destination." TPAC's Onebot website, when completed, will solve that issue.
Bill took a lot of heat over on the other board for supposedly getting mixed up with an expensive e-bike that you could buy off Alibaba for less than $500. But after doing some due diligence come to find out he's playing it straight. The Florida show is coming up pretty quick this month and it will be interesting to see the interest generated by the Onebot.
It's true that there have been some false starts in TPAC's history, or at least what seem to be false starts. I consider them growing pains. Bearings are a tough business to break into apparently. So be it. It is interesting that rather than sit on his hands while waiting for Boeing, Airbus, Avic, BTL, and the like to generate some interest in TPAC, Bill has in the meantime branched off into a few other directions in the pursuit of revenue. Anything green-powered in this day and age is worth looking into. And good reliable equipment does not come cheap. So it's not surprising that, as an owner of an aerospace company, he has settled on some higher end personal e-transportation methods. The Onebot does cost more than the typical e-bike but then the Onebot is built out of materials and workmanship that are as far beyond the cheap knockoff e-bikes as a BMW is beyond a Yugo.
Let's see how this works out. Bill seems enthusiastic about them and although enthusiasm alone does not guarantee success, diligence and persistence plays a big part in most success stories. Toyota started as a automobile company in 1937 and struggled along until being on the verge of bankruptcy by 1950, only producing some 300 trucks. But by the early 1950's with the advent of the Korean War and the US military putting in an order for 5,000 vehicles, the company was revived and look where it is today.
It took some 15 years to start to become successful. Who knows, maybe the e-industry will turn out to be TPAC's niche and bearings may become just a minor part of the business. But with millions of the e-bikes sold in China alone and only 150,000 in the US last year there's a huge opportunity here in the US and TPAC is being positioned to ride whatever e-wave comes our way.
We'll see soon enough. At any rate, go for it Bill!