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1993 Bricklin
EV Warrior
Electric Moped

  • Premiere Collector Edition
  • Full electric, electric assist, or pedal
  • Aluminum frame
  • 26" wheels
  • Shimano  515 6-speed rear hub set
  • 20+ MPH top speed
  • 15-20 mile range (full electric)
  • Halogen headlights, LED tail/brake lights

EV Warrior Technical Data

 

I am looking for any manuals, advertisements, schematics, and other literature for the  EV Warrior Technical Data library (link above).  If you have EV Warrior literature and are willing to share, please send a scan to me at posti@aol.com.
October 30, 2020 - Back in August, I was asked to submit an article on the EV Warrior by the editor of the national Antique Automobile magazine.  The article was easy, and I submitted a bunch of photos so he could have his pick.  I was expecting maybe one black and white image and an edited down story. The proof arrived tonight and he used the whole article and all the images!  It really looks great.  You can read the entire article here.
October 17, 2020 - The EV Warrior has been nominated for a National Award!  This is even higher than the Grand National it earned at Gettysburg.  I have to send in some photos and wait for final decisions, which may not be until January.  It's always an honor to be nominated.  The Centaur received a National Award back in 2007.  Now I need to get some pictures while the sun is still out!

October 18, 2020 - One of the last really nice days I can expect allowed sunshine for the pictures I needed.  Although I have stubbornly hung onto my DSLR Nikons, the best pictures actually came from my pocket Panasonic Lumix!  Photos and Questionnaire have been sent in, so now I just have to wait.

August 22, 2020 - My first antique car show of the year was a great success - everyone used proper caution and wore masks, kept social distancing, and all activities were outdoors.  The 2020 Antique Automobile Club of America Grand National was a great credit to the club and the members who showed the courtesy and responsibility to make this event safer than going to the local WalMart for groceries.  I took the EV Warrior and set it up with the dealer data packet zip-tied to the handlebars and the cover off.  In addition to getting its Grand National award, I was also approached about submitting an article about the EV Warrior to our national magazine!  Great trip up and back - the van was flawless and traffic was mostly cooperative.
August 7, 2020 - With Covid canceling almost every activity, I had pretty much given up on any car shows this year.  However, the AACA Grand National has been salvaged in a way that should be safe to participate in.  Since the EV Warrior is eligible, I can take it up to see if it can earn a Grand National Award, and also get a judging credit in (I am a national AACA judge). However, this decision comes really late - the show is August 22 in Gettysburg, PA.  I need to dust off the EV Warrior and get it ready, plus prep the van for the trip.
March 20, 2020 - Hard to believe how quickly time flies - it has been almost four years since I got the EV Warrior, and sitting most of that time killed at least one of the batteries.  I installed a new set tonight, and have the bike back to full power.
February 4, 2020 - The promised literature packet from 2018 never arrived, but I was contacted by another EV Warrior owner last week who had several extra packets.  He sold me one and sent it right out.  I got it today and was delighted to see everything it contained.  Starting across the top from the left: Owner's Manual and hex keys for tightening and adjusting, owner's registration card, shifter manual and spare washers, spare charger port plugs, Catseye cycle computer manual, Sachs disc brake manual, EV Guardian electronic disabling system instructions, and pedal installation instructions.
December 16, 2018 - The EV Warrior did not get a National Award this year - I got a nice letter and certificate noting that EV Warrior was one of only 240 vehicles nominated out of more than 3000 in 2018.  And there is always next year!  In the meantime I have been contacted by an EV Warrior enthusiast who says he is going to send me a complete literature packet for the EV Warrior!  Fingers crossed.  Also, an eBay seller wrote me that he has some NOS turn-signal mirrors which he will sell me as soon as he finds them!  Today, I finally got the EV Warrior showroom sign hung up in the garage and wired up.  It looks great and is right behind the area I usually keep the EV Warrior parked.
October 25, 2018 - I did a photo shoot for the EV Warrior and some friends' 1970 Chevelle that was also nominated for a National Award on Sunday and got the pictures sent in. The rear shot is above, and the front shot is currently the page intro picture.  The EV Warrior sign arrived tonight, and is in excellent condition.  It did not work when I plugged it in, and I opened it up to reveal a rat's nest of fibre-optics.  The cooling fan and color wheel were both working and a mutimeter identified the culprit as a blown bulb.  Not available at WalMart, but I found some on Amazon.  I was impatient to see it working, though, and tried a flashlight with pretty good results. It's a great sign!

October 26, 2018 - Follow Up - I found the bulb at a shop just a few blocks from work and it really made a difference - I took a video of the sign working:  https://youtu.be/iQzeOEat3Oo  The loose pieces have been glued back in place and it is ready to hang up - somewhere.

 

October 19, 2018 - Although last weekend was a great one, this past week has eclipsed it!  I received a letter from AACA letting me know the EV Warrior has been nominated for a National Award!  I need to send in two good photos, which I will be taking this weekend.  They will make a decision in early December, so I won't know until then.  Even so, it is a great honor to be nominated. As you have probably surmised by other posts, I am an eBay addict and check every morning for items related to my various vehicles. This morning I was rewarded with the discovery of an EV Warrior dealership sign, a marvel of animated fibre-optics! I had only seen one in pictures of a showroom - the actual visuals are terrific. The seller posted a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfne7PT498A

Better yet, he accepted my offer and it is mine!  I have only seen one in showroom photos - it looks terrific in the video!

 

October 13, 2018 - Although all my cleaning efforts were mostly wasted after having to drive the EV Warrior through the rain to the show field, the overall work paid off with the Senior award I was hoping for.  I also managed to come up with a better 'raincoat' in the form of a clear shower curtain (Thanks to Pam Bond).  The Warrior got a lot of attention - no one had seen one of the electric mopeds before.  I also got a nice photo-op taking the Warrior over to park in a friend's trailer Friday night - the car in the background at right is a 1921 Detroit Electric, one of the earliest electric vehicles.  Interestingly, the Detroit had a top speed fo about 20 MPH, the same as the EV Warrior.

October 17, 2018 - FOLLOW-UP - The EV Warrior must have made quite an impression on the judges - it has been nominated for an AACA National Award!  I'll find out in December if I actually received an award, but just being nominated is quite an honor!

October 6, 2018 - Less than a week before Hershey, and my last decals arrived!  The left side 'Premiere Collector Edition'  logo was missing the first two letters of 'Premiere,' and the edge was dirty and ragged. After three tries that did not line up right, I finally got exactly the right position and trimmed it to fit. The result is a perfect match!  (See the August 31 entry for how I got the decal made). Best bud Chip trued up the back wheel after I got it cleaned and polished, and the EV Warrior is back on it's 'feet' - with two brand-new tires and heavy-duty tubes.  I plan to do final cleaning tomorrow and make sure it all fits and works right.  NOS mirrors, the new motor cover, new decals, etc.  If she doesn't get her award next weekend, it won't be for lack of trying!
October 2, 2018 - With Hershey just over a week away, I am in the final stages of cleaning up the EV Warrior.  Most of the bike is really clean, but some items had to be helped out.  The kickstand got a new coat of gloss black engine enamel and then spent an hour baking in the oven.  The 25 year-old tires look like new, but the tubes leak and the rubber is getting stiff.  So I have new correct flat-tread tires and heavy-duty tubes.  Those new tires will be going the old rims after a thorough cleaning and polish.  As you can see, the brake pads have left their mark on the outer rims, but some Nevr-Dull and 0000 steel wool clean it all off.  The rim, spokes and hub all need to gleam like new.  The last decal set came back with a white background and had to be re-ordered, but it should be here this weekend.
September 23, 2018 - Three weeks left to Hershey and I am pulling things together.  I had NOS battery hold down clamps and hardware, and polished up some screws and bolts that had surface rust.  Probably silly to clean up the motor assembly, as it will not be seen anyway, but I figured just in case. However, I discovered that the plastic tabs that hold the upper cover base out flush with the bottom cover were broken off. The solution was quick and easy - finishing nails super-glued to the tab struts in the base worked perfectly.  Note the shiny new cover and taillight, complete with reproduced EV Warrior logo decal.  The side PREMIERE decal ended up having a white background by mistake, so I have to reorder that one.  Other than that, all that is left is cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!  The rims need some elbow grease and the frame still has dirt stains from the bad weather riding at Charlotte. 
August 31, 2018 - With 6 weeks left to go before Hershey and a try for a Senior Award, I am finally getting busy on the EV Warrior.  The road trip in the back of my truck shook a few things loose, and I have known some things needed fixing.  The taillight was held on with double-sided tape because the original glued-on plastic retainers had long-ago broken off. So I drilled out the broken-off studs and used #6 self-tapping screws with rubber and metal washers.  The covers I'd had painted before had some flaws, so I had the last of my spare covers and one of the better yellow ones redone professionally.  Turns out you have to paint them white first so the old color won't bleed through.  They came out great!  The next big hurdle was recreating the main 'Premiere Collector Edition' decal which is missing part of the left side.  It has a unique font, so I photographed the perfect right side and isolated 'Premiere' - then I used Photoshop to strip out the color and clean up the letters, and sent it off to StickerYou.com to be made up.  It should be here in just over a week!  It's amazing what you can get done on the Internet!
April 15, 2018 - It's official - the EV Warrior's AACA national award badge arrived Friday, and I picked up the actual trophy last night. The trophy has a marble base and is very heavy. The next time the EV Warrior is shown (hopefully in Hershey this October), it will be considered for a Senior award.  Lots of cleaning to do, and maybe a few tweaks here and there.
April 7, 2018 - Despite the whole day being wet and nasty, the EV Warrior's trip to North Carolina was a success.  It earned a AACA National Junior Award, the highest honor it could get.  The trip in the back of my pickup shook the taillight loose, and I need to remember a wrench to retighten mirrors, but all of that was pretty normal for a first time out.  I'll go for the Senior award at Hershey in October.  The bike got a lot of curious lookers, and worked perfect on the short run to and from the field.  It is likely that, much like its stablemate Nissan Laurel, the EV Warrior its the only one of its kind in all of AACA! 
March 31, 2018 - The EV Warrior has been sitting idle for most of the past year, waiting for its chance to shine.  That chance has finally come - a week form today, it will take its place on the show field at Charlotte Raceway from the AACA Eastern Division National Spring Meet.  All it needed was some air in the tires and I took it for a spin around the block.  The trickle charger kept the battery up and everything is working perfectly.  I'll do some cleaning and detailing tomorrow, and have a sign made up to explain what the bike is.  This is probably the only EV Warrior most folks will ever see, and it is actually pretty significant historically.  It was the first of the new breed of commercially-produced electric vehicles and despite its age, it has pretty much the same range and performance as the latest electric bikes!
December 12, 2016 - The EV Warrior was available in a many colors, but the most popular seems to be yellow like mine.  The rear motor cover is very susceptible to damage when the top-heavy bike falls over, so it seems that all the NOS yellow covers got sold a long time ago.  I was able to pick up some NOS green, blue, and purple covers for $2.50 each, and a friend in the car club painted them for me using some PPG paint I had mixed up to match.  In the lower left photo, the best of the covers and a once-blue handlebar pod cover are in the center next to the original items.  The color match is perfect, and I had reproduction logo stickers made up.  The original items are on the right.  I installed the new items on the bike and it looks great.  I can keep the originals and the two other spare covers set aside.
November 9, 2016 - I've taken steps both to make the EV Warrior maintainable and restorable.  While mine is almost new in most areas, it has a damaged and very hard to find taillight.  And much of the electronics, such as the control unit, is critical and no longer available.  A seller on eBay offered not only a nice taillight for $12 with shipping, but also had a complete EV Warrior for $135.  Unfortunately, you had to pick up the bike in California.  However, he also offered all of the unique electronics for the same price post-paid!  The parts arrived today, carefully packed and in great shape.  The Catseye computer came to life with a battery, and looks new.  I also got the EV Warrior logo stickers duplicated by StickerYou.com so that I can get the NOS purple rear cover painted to match the bike and still have the correct logo just like it came new. 
October 24, 2016 - The full comic is now available on the EV Warrior Technical Data page!
October 5, 2016 - Marketing is a funny thing - and sometimes it is downright hilarious. Case in point - the EV Warriors comic book #1, featuring an entire super-hero team based on the EV Warrior Electric Bicycle! I have not been able to find a sales folder, shop manual, owner's manual, or even a magazine ad for my 1995 Bricklin EV Warrior, but the comic book I ordered from Amazon showed up today and was every bit as ridiculous as you might expect.  The Team Leader is Cyclotron, and they are fighting the evil Dr. Plague using EV Warrior electric bicycles for ground troops. After all, it is 'America's Solution to Pollution,' at least according tot the center page spread.  I suppose it is not all that silly since the EV Warrior was targeted to Yuppies and idealistic kids who wanted to fight the demon of combustion engines with electric vehicles. Oh, who am I kidding? This is absolutely ridiculous! Fun, though. I now have justification for building my EV Warrior Cave and my Fortress of EV Warrior!
October 3, 2016 - Look!  Up in the sky!  It's a bike!  Its electric!  It's EV WARRIOR!  OK - not a super-bike.  But would you believe it had its own comic book?  EV Warriors #1 (and probably only) promotional comic book is on its way to me from a seller on Amazon.  Published by the Electric Bicycle Company in 1996, it is 36 pages of action-packed electric bicycle adventures.  I can hardly wait to see what they put together.  I can't find an owner's manual, repair manual, or even a magazine advertisement - but I have a comic book!
September 24, 2016 - Although slightly too new to be registered for my antique car club's Wings and Wheels show, the EV Warrior was a big hit both with spectators and with me.  I used it all day to run back and forth between taking photos, judging, setting up presentations, and running errands.  At the end of the day, it still had two-thirds charge.  A lot of people thought it was a new product, and the bike got lots of attention.  I must have gone over its history a dozen times.  The general consensus was that just about everyone thought it was not only a cool ride, but wondered where they could get one for themselves.  I had a great time zipping about the field - it was perfect for what I needed!  One lesson learned - the field was still wet from nearly a week of rain, and the drive bar would slip on full throttle.  Easy acceleration worked fine.
September 23, 2016 - My EV Warrior is one of the earliest production models - there were a couple of design changes, including replacing a removable plug for covering the charger port with a pivoting hard cover.  I lost one on the very first ride on the bike, but there were four of them with the original bike pack.  Obviously they knew it was easy to fall out.  Instead of swapping out for the later version, I made an easy fix for the original style.  I put a securing line through it and fastened it inside the motor cage.  That prevents the plug from being lost even if it vibrates loose.
September 16, 2016 - The EV Warrior is looking spiffy with its new RH mirror.  One of the most critical items for an electric vehicle is its battery charger.  I was able to find a NOS unit on eBay and got it in yesterday.  At first it looked to be dead as it would not power up, but when I opened it up a spade connector had come off a transformer contact.  After pushing the contact back into place and putting the case back together, the unit worked perfectly (The one on the left with the lights on).  I also got in a 1995 Popular Science magazine with a centerfold article on the EV Warrior (check my EV Warrior Technical Data page to see it).  Pedaling the bike has been frustrating, as it seemed to be geared too low.  The hub setup is Shimano 515, a good name brand. I checked the gear cluster tonight. The protective cage around the rear derailleur had gotten bent in and was holding the derailleur back so it could not engage the highest two gears.  Once I bent it back out, I had full gears again.  A quick test ride showed I can pedal and assist or even roll pedal only at a decent speed.  This will greatly increase the EV Warrior's range. 
September 10, 2016 - I got a big box of NOS EV Warrior parts in from Staton Inc. that included a new right hand mirror.  I pulled the blanking plug and installed the mirror, but saved the plug as an 'original' part.  I took the bike out again today, this time putting 6.2 miles on it and showing just under a third discharge at the end.  Top speed was 21.3 (see computer image at left) and I estimate the  range to be 18-20 miles, so the EV is exceeding manufacturer claims even with a large guy riding it.  It probably helps to have the improved 22 amp-hour batteries instead of the EV's original 17 Amp-Hour set.  Still, I am very pleased with the performance.  Now I just need to figure some sort of rack or seatback bag for carrying small items and it will make a great small errand vehicle.  Out of curiosity, I checked the specs of one of the most highly-rated 2016 electric bikes out - the Specialized Turbo Levo FSR.  It provides 'assist' for 25-55 miles, has a 20 MPH top speed, and weighs 50 lbs.  It costs $5500.  Considering the EV Warrior is 23 years old, I'd say it is doing well to have full electric drive for 18-20 miles, better than 21 MPH top speed, and just fifteen pounds heavier!
September 9, 2016 - The replacement taillight came in today and looks good.  I was lucky to find a NOS unit right when I needed it.  I also picked up a spare charger on eBay tonight.  I plan to hang onto the EV Warrior - it is fun to ride, takes up very little space, and doesn't need much of anything.  Not that I am not buying up a bunch of spares.  When you can get a new wiring harness for seventy-five cents and a spare motor box cover for $1, it is foolish not to grab what you can.  The one area that is amazingly lacking is literature.  So far I have found absolutely nothing other than some Internet news articles.  No sales folders, no manuals, not even an advertisement!  For all the press the EV Warrior got when it was new, there seems have been nothing done to promote it.  I took it for another long ride today.  I want to try the range out on it.  I've had it up to 19 miles per hour, but even going 4 miles has not really shown much discharge. 
September 5, 2016 - I got confirmation on the wiring hookup, and plugged the security module in.  It worked great - when the EV is turned on, the motors are isolated from power until you press the remote.  The unit beeps, and you have power to the motors until you turn it off.  Then you need the remote to activate the motors again.  I used the EV for a real run today - rode it over to a friend's house about 2 miles away.  The EV reached better than 18 MPH and showed no appreciable discharge.  I think the evening ride with the halogen lights going took a bit of the operating voltage.
September 3, 2016 - I got a big surprise today - the batteries I ordered just Wednesday night arrived today in the mail!  The bike was all ready for them, so I got the new ones installed and hooked up the official EV Warrior charger.  It charged up full in just ten minutes, so I put the back cover back on and checked it out. If you look at the console display, you'll see the power use meter showing 0.22 power usage and a green bar showing full charge (on the right of the display).  The weather dried out this evening, and before it got dark I took the EV out for its first ride.  Everything works perfectly. I got up to 17.2 MPH with just electric drive, and just shy of 20 pedaling some to assist Horn, lights, and flasher all worked great.  I did have one mishap before I started, though.  While checking the air pressure in the back tire, I knocked it over and the back tail light assembly got broken.  Luckily, I had already located a replacement unit on eBay and it is now purchased.  I need to be really careful - the bike is very top-heavy, but so well balanced that you don't realize it until it starts to go over!
September 1, 2016 - The first flicker of life for the EV Warrior came in the form of a new battery for the cycling computer (top left).  Once I installed the new 2032 battery, the computer came on and works fine - just had to set the wheel size (2030).  That console it sits on has a lot of electronics in it (top right) that look new - hopefully they will work as well once I get the batteries in next week.  I also got a new security fob and receiver (left) dropped off by the seller - this prevented the electronics from working unless the owner was there.  However, my EV Warrior is an early model with some differences, and I cannot find an old receiver anywhere on the bike.  It may not have been equipped with the device.  Options included hydraulic disc brakes and LED turn signals in the mirrors.  While looking for parts, I came across a site with new factory EV Warrior stuff for silly prices - five cents for a full set of side reflectors, $1 for the rear top motor cover, seventy-five cents for a main wiring harness.  Staton. Inc carries parts for a variety of equipment. I ordered almost everything they carry for the EV Warrior as spares.
August 31, 2016 - With no space in the garages or driveway, you'd think I would not be adding to the inventory, right?  Wrong.  I picked up an EV Warrior Electric Moped today.  The EV Warrior was brainchild of Malcolm Bricklin of Bricklin SV-1 fame (a gull-wing 'safety' vehicle built in the mid 1970s) and Dr. Malcolm Currie, former Chairman and CEO of Hughes Aircraft, GM Delco and former Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. They formed the Electric Bicycle Company and came out with the EV Warrior in 1993.  The rider could pedal unaided by the motors, or could activate them with a thumb switch on the handle bar. That took the bike up to 20 mph for about 15 miles before it needed a charge. It featured LED brake/tail lights and headlights, and incorporated a CatsEye cycling computer.  The EV Warrior has an aluminum frame and is set up to work as a 6-speed mountain bike.  The electric drive used two 12-24-volt electric motors powered by two 12-volt sealed batteries, and is housed in box behind the seat that straddles the rear wheel. The suggested retail price was $1,399 to $1,899, depending on options.  As you might expect, a bicycle, even one with electric motors, was a hard sell at that price, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 1997. 

This particular EV Warrior is one of the first, a 1995 Premiere Collector Edition in bright yellow.  It was originally won by someone in a promotional giveaway who had no use for it and stuck it in his attic.  The Warrior was then purchased by a now-deceased friend in the antique car club to display with his son's Bricklin SV-1 car.  The EV Warrior was never actually used - the tires (at right) still have the flashing on the tread and I unwrapped the factory tie from the charger cable.  The rear cover is cracked and some decals are damaged, but it is in very good condition.  However, the 23 year-old batteries will have to be replaced.  They were readily available, and I ordered a set tonight.  I am hoping to locate an owner's manual, as the electronics are fairly complex.  On the bright side, the EV Warrior looks like it is nearly perfect and should work fine once the batteries come.  Oh, and the remote fob that unlocks it is being dropped off to me tomorrow.  The batteries should be here next week.

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