The Storm Electric Fatbike on Indiegogo has changed their entire website to the Sondors electric fatbike. This was a direct result of Prodeco’s Cease and Desist letter send as soon as the campaign went viral.  This article on Yahoo is what started the whole “This campaign is a scam” hysteria that has been sweeping the internet.

From the website updates

“our Storm eBike is not in any way affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or related to the Prodeco Tech Storm 300 or 500 electrical bicycle models”

 

Elsewhere in the update they talk about the differences between the prototype and the final model (which they should have done weeks ago). They also talk about the Demo Days event

Finally, to show that there are no gimmicks, “smoke and mirrors”, or uncertainties about the product, we will be showcasing the bike this weekend for fans and customers at our first ever demo day.  This gives fans a voice and extends past just the press and media. We have 150+ backers RSVP’d for the eBike demo this weekend in LA and can’t wait to get their thoughts on feedback

 

They say that they can do 12,000-14,000 bikes on the first production run. I am relatively certain with all the controversy around this campaign that the number of bikes they need will not exceed that number.

They have also made a few changes to the website to get rid of the reference to a 45lb bike on one of the images, and they are back to calling the motor a 350 Watt Direct Drive motor, but in the same picture also call it a geared motor. I don’t think they realize they are talking about 2 completely separate technologies.

The most recent addition is that Storm Sondors also has a picture added to his Indiegogo profile.

There has been some speculation and rumor that Storm Sondors is actually Ivars Sondors from this thread on Endless-sphere

1) We know Storm says he lives in Malibu. We know he says he was involved in the toy industry. It appears his real name may be Ivars Sondors and he was sued for fraud.

Toyjobs Prevails in Personal Fraud Suit vs. Ivars Sondors
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

The Superior Court of New Jersey has awarded Toyjobs a default judgment in the amount of $39,456.00 in its personal fraud suit against former A-HA Toys president Ivars Sondors.

Toyjobs president Tom Keoughan said: “I certainly expect that Mr. Sondors will try to make it difficult to collect but we have chased him for over three years across two continents. He should realize by now that we’re not going away. The beautiful thing about a judgment obtained on a Complaint for fraud is that it can’t be cleared through bankruptcy. It sticks around and so shall we.”

2) We know Ivar Sondors lives in Malibu and has also lived in Chicago: https://www.mylife.com/ivars-sondors/ivars-sondors

3) We know Ivar Sondors Ivars Sondors is associated with offshore entities: http://staging.offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/95079

 

I don’t know if any of these claims are true or if Storm is really Ivars Sondors. I hope that Storm is NOT Ivars and that he comes through on his commitments to the campaign supporters. It seems impossible to me that in this age of computers and record keeping that someone could hide their identity at all. Time will tell.

Ride On.