Built a couple new vehicles. So decide to try out R1 Wurks V21-S Spec. My progression was Slot Machines, HW G4s, Fantom Helix RS Works, and finally R1 Wurks V21-S Spec.

Observations. I purchased 2 x 17.5T and 1 13.5T hand picked stator and aligned sensors motors. All the motors came with high timing +47. The end bell timing is off from the actual timing by 5-7 degrees across each motor. The epoxy on the stator is not the cleanest application. The overall design is nice but the HW and Fantom finish was noticeably nicer. The solder tabs leave a lot to be desired. For one, there’s no way without a load master could I have tested the motor because the middle (B) tab is so close to the stator housing. The tabs are also extremely close. In fact so close, the torque from the motor shifted the 13.5T and caused overload in the load master because the center arced. I imagine soldering having to be very proficient.

Upgrades. R1Wurks sells 10x ceramic motor bearings and titanium nitride coated screws set. I had breakage problems with Fantom Ti screws. The R1 screws were consistently strong and add really nice bling factor which is in contrast to the rather industrial finish of the motor. The ceramic bearings have no seals. Jury is out on these because you can’t oil the sensor side without disassembling the motor. On one hand this protects the bearings. I’m also running mid motor on carpet, so light dirty exposure. However, I’m not sure there is more performance than the Fantom ceramic bearings or Boca ceramics which would have less maintenance. The bearings do look nice for a bearing with a darker 10x ceramic coating on the steel races.

Bench Performance. I’m not going to go into depth here, focus more on observations. The motors seem to want more timing than HW G4 and Fantom Helix RS. Those motors and especially the tuned Helix Works were timed in the high 30s. In addition, they had low amp draw at 3-4 amps. The R1 Works V21-S definitely wanted more advanced timing to get similar KV. The amp draw was higher around 6 amps to get similar KV. This seems more like Slot Machines wanting more timing and drawing more amps than the last wave of motors. Based on the other thread for dyno results I set the timing between 42-45 for peak efficiency. The rotors also seemed very strong, but I don’t have a device to measure but would assume these are more torque based.