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'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

theguardian.com

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Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#61

Post by wyre »

dgacmu wrote: post #53
serf wrote: post #11

it's not surprising to me that the bosch mid-drives are failing, they're typically placed at an angle that catches all the run off from every tube at the lowest point on the bike (except on recumbents), and the controller is (usually) integrated. mid-drives are great, the gear advantage rocks; the bosch units suck but unfortunately they had so much industry sway that a lot of ebike frames are coming out built around…

The gear advantage of a mid-drive rocks but I was quite surprised that I chewed through a rear cassette in under a year / about 1k miles -- a 250W motor + heavy cargo bike + kid passenger + a large and pretty strong rider exert an awful lot of force. And with the assist, I almost never use the larger cogs, so all the wear gets concentrated. (This compares to many, many thousand miles on my road bike.) Still love the…

I have a friend in your same scenario. I’ve never thought to ask how quickly he goes through cassettes on that bike.

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#62

Post by namaria »

dwb wrote: post #18
makingstuffs wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone living in London and travelling to The Netherlands on a regular basis (intending to migrate), I have to say, pretty much everything from public transport to supermarket design seems of a much, much higher standard than its British equivalent. Further to that, it generally feels as though the UK is a country massively in decline and this transcends down to the quality of goods which we pass as acceptable. T…

I was born in England, live in London, have a Dutch partner, and also travel to the Netherlands often enough. I agree completely. They have their problems too (from the political to having to tap out on buses), but the overall level of quality and care seems rather higher. The sense of decline and disengagement is strong too. Difficult to say much objective about that (though keep an eye on the turnout in the upcomin…

Why is tapping out on the bus a bad thing? It means you can pay for distance traveled instead of a flat fee.

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#63

Post by germinalphrase »

dgacmu wrote: post #53
serf wrote: post #11

it's not surprising to me that the bosch mid-drives are failing, they're typically placed at an angle that catches all the run off from every tube at the lowest point on the bike (except on recumbents), and the controller is (usually) integrated. mid-drives are great, the gear advantage rocks; the bosch units suck but unfortunately they had so much industry sway that a lot of ebike frames are coming out built around…

The gear advantage of a mid-drive rocks but I was quite surprised that I chewed through a rear cassette in under a year / about 1k miles -- a 250W motor + heavy cargo bike + kid passenger + a large and pretty strong rider exert an awful lot of force. And with the assist, I almost never use the larger cogs, so all the wear gets concentrated. (This compares to many, many thousand miles on my road bike.) Still love the…

Would an internally geared hub solve for this type of wear?

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#64

Post by 39896880 »

hi-v-rocknroll wrote: post #29

If it's a Chinese e-bike, it's probably lying about being IPX67. OTOH, Riese & Müller $15k USD e-bikes aren't IPX anything because the Bosch components aren't. If you get it wet, just kiss that money goodbye. Absolutely bonkers.

I’m glad you wrote this. I have one of these, and I love it, but haven’t ridden it in the rain. Now I won’t. I thought it might be okay because, as you pointed out, it definitely wasn’t cheap.

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#65

Post by tchvil »

lostlogin wrote: post #57
andrewshadura wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use mudguards, chain guard and coat guards.

Any recommendations? I had guards and found they rattled, slowed me and were less effective than what I wanted.

This one is cheap and light and works great on various bikes but on a 29er:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Eu2mwYj

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#66

Post by Loughla »

ohples wrote: post #58
lostlogin wrote: post #16

I’ve been doing a bit of (non e-bike) riding in poor weather of late, and it’s really surprising just how wet and dirty everything gets. After a wet road ride, every surface is covered in black, greasy dirt. It rots fabric, makes grinding paste in mechanical parts and generally makes everything worse. You need really good seals to keep that crap out.

This is one reason I wish belt drives where more common.

I feel like oil and those sorts of things would be even worse on a belt?

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#67

Post by tyingq »

jerlam wrote: post #59
prmoustache wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Road condition is the key. Most of the water you collect while riding, even with full length fenders, is dirty water sprayed by your and other users tires. The rain itself usually account for very little in comparison.

The article mentions "mountain bikes" several times, which implies the failing bikes aren't ridden on roads at all. The fenders shown on the picture are not the same ones to be used on the road. It's possible we're talking about two completely different types of cycling.

I'm willing to bet that most electric mountain bikes are ridden on roads.

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#68

Post by brippalcharrid »

_oyks wrote: post #4

£700 for a replacement motor? Bloody hell

You get this with anything that hasn't been mass-produced at a large scale and commodified for a long time. It's more remarkable that something like a car (or a mobile phone, or a CPU) is cheap than that something like an electric bike motor is expensive. And it could be that this is a poor application for this type of motor technology and that a better type will be developed and that we'll look back on this as an expensive relic that was holding us back.

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#69

Post by bigfudge »

Loughla wrote: post #66
ohples wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one reason I wish belt drives where more common.

I feel like oil and those sorts of things would be even worse on a belt?

Most belt drives are run dry so the oil doesn’t attract dirt in the same way

Re: 'The big problem is water': UK ebike owners plagued by failing motors

#70

Post by devbent »

serf wrote: post #11

it's not surprising to me that the bosch mid-drives are failing, they're typically placed at an angle that catches all the run off from every tube at the lowest point on the bike (except on recumbents), and the controller is (usually) integrated. mid-drives are great, the gear advantage rocks; the bosch units suck but unfortunately they had so much industry sway that a lot of ebike frames are coming out built around…

I just dropped a bunch of money on a Bosch based bike because I was told they are very reliable.

I'm going to be very annoyed if that turns out to not be the case....

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