Electric bicycles - who buys them?

[Richtea1970]

Scaleybrat said:

highet said:

Battery on my volt alpine just packed up completely (bought it 2nd hand but it's about 4 years old) - volt want £600 for a replacement !!! Ouch !!!

I have a similar tale of woe. After charging my Bosch Powertube 500 off the bike, with all the green charge leds lit, I inserted it back into the bike to find there was no response when I tried to switch it on. After removing the battery from the bike and performing a reset, there was no indicated life on the green leds. I hooked the battery back up to the charger and again, no response with the leds failing to illuminate. I’m convinced after 954 miles and just over 2.5 years, the fault was in the Battery Management System (BMS), rather than any failure of the cells.
With no way of doing any diagnostics yourself, you are forced to take the bike to your local Bosch dealer. They need the bike because the testing port is on the Purion display. Long story short, with the 2 year warranty expired, the dealer couldn’t resolve the issue and I ended up forking out £650 for a new Powertube.
I now have the old Powertube at home, probably fully charged and no way of trying to repair it. I’m also not even sure if I should dispose of it in its fully charged state so it’s sat in the garage at the moment. No doubting the Bosch system is very good but it can turn expensive when it goes wrong.

Sounds like a BMS issue, open it up and replace it, not a difficult job

[Hol]

Richtea1970 said:

Scaleybrat said:

highet said:

Battery on my volt alpine just packed up completely (bought it 2nd hand but it's about 4 years old) - volt want £600 for a replacement !!! Ouch !!!

I have a similar tale of woe. After charging my Bosch Powertube 500 off the bike, with all the green charge leds lit, I inserted it back into the bike to find there was no response when I tried to switch it on. After removing the battery from the bike and performing a reset, there was no indicated life on the green leds. I hooked the battery back up to the charger and again, no response with the leds failing to illuminate. I’m convinced after 954 miles and just over 2.5 years, the fault was in the Battery Management System (BMS), rather than any failure of the cells.
With no way of doing any diagnostics yourself, you are forced to take the bike to your local Bosch dealer. They need the bike because the testing port is on the Purion display. Long story short, with the 2 year warranty expired, the dealer couldn’t resolve the issue and I ended up forking out £650 for a new Powertube.
I now have the old Powertube at home, probably fully charged and no way of trying to repair it. I’m also not even sure if I should dispose of it in its fully charged state so it’s sat in the garage at the moment. No doubting the Bosch system is very good but it can turn expensive when it goes wrong.

Sounds like a BMS issue, open it up and replace it, not a difficult job

I’m surprised there wasn’t someone on here close by in Scotland who could test it on their 500 spec bike. It’s not an uncommon battery.

[Konan]

fiatpower said:

Konan said:

Just asking to make sure here, did you properly set up on the bike? It might be something you're more than knowledgeable about but being tired from a couple of five mile commutes made me want to double check.

Don't take it the wrong way, that plus running plus maybe being on your feet all day might add up, or you might have my problem and when a ride is only five miles you do it flat out like it's a time trial

Just wanted to ask as I see a lot of people commute on a bike the way it was wheeled out of the shop door and it genuinely makes the difference between five miles being like a short walk or a tour de France stage.

I think it’s fairly well setup as I’ve done a few 40/50 miles rides on it. It was usually by the Thursday that I started to feel it especially as Thursday is usually intervals night at running club. So I’d have done 8 x rides by then.

I did have the same problem that you do in that I used to try them flat out. When I did that I’d be shattered by Wednesday usually so I backed off a bit which gave me the extra day.

Cool - makes total sense, I just always think it's worth checking the simple things just in case! You so often see people on decent road bikes with the saddle dropped to the cross bar so they knock themselves in the chin with their knees (I 100% blame this on people age 7 being told "can you reach the floor with your feet?")

Afraid I've no specific knowledge on your initial question! Just keep in mind if you are a 'I'm gonna ride fast', you'll only really get e-bike benefit from a lot of stop start or if you have a really hilly route - rest of the time you'll probably be over the assist speed limit.

[Scaleybrat]

Richtea1970 said:

Sounds like a BMS issue, open it up and replace it, not a difficult job

That’s not my understanding. From my reading on t’internet, opening up the Powertube takes a bit of persistence and everything is tightly packaged. Even if I could change the BMS hardware (probably well within my skill level), I believe it still needs some Bosch magic for the BMS to talk to the cells through the CANbus.

[Senex]

I have no connection to the seller but this is a real bargain.

New price is £1559, he is now asking £900.

Large 17ah battery.

Located in Chester.

You will need to create an account to see the full size pictures,

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/woosh-gra...

[gangzoom]

Richtea1970 said:

Sounds like a BMS issue, open it up and replace it, not a difficult job

Fazua battery pack failed on my Boardman after 2 years, likely a cell failure, yes I can open it up and fiddle but thermal runaway is a real thing and I don't fancy burning down the house.

A replacement battery is currently £500 for a 250wh pack.

eBikes are great, but they aren't cheap.

[m_cozzy]

I had my dead Bosch battery repaired. I'm not going to give details, as it wasnt a smooth process and I have some concerns, but it's been ok for 12 months so far.
The shop is in Torquay.

[-Cappo-]

It’s probably back in the depths of this long thread, but has anyone chipped a Bosch-powered bike? Legalities to one side for a moment, how was the bike afterwards? Just curious.

[Captain Smerc]

VOLspeed V4 box on my Cube for the last 12 months, no issues at all. Restricted emtb's feel broken now. Do it.

[vindaloo79]

-Cappo- said:

It’s probably back in the depths of this long thread, but has anyone chipped a Bosch-powered bike? Legalities to one side for a moment, how was the bike afterwards? Just curious.

Amazing. Get it bought/done.

Just make sure the model you get are derestrictable - the latest gens blocked it last time I looked.

[Cupid-stunt]

vindaloo79 said:

-Cappo- said:

It’s probably back in the depths of this long thread, but has anyone chipped a Bosch-powered bike? Legalities to one side for a moment, how was the bike afterwards? Just curious.

Amazing. Get it bought/done.

Just make sure the model you get are derestrictable - the latest gens blocked it last time I looked.

Are they all in the circa £150 range?
Talked to a proper cycling buddy of mine and he has one for his brother and said he got it cheaper (approx 30%) in Spain.

[nosuchuser]

https://nlscomponents.com/collections/speedi

I want one of these, they don't do Whyte yet though.

[Barchettaman]

Cupid-stunt said:

Are they all in the circa £150 range?
Talked to a proper cycling buddy of mine and he has one for his brother and said he got it cheaper (approx 30%) in Spain.

The ones where you ‘splice’ in a little module inside the motor housing are about €150.

The ones that clip onto the magnet on the NDS chain stay are cheaper: maybe €80?

[PushedDover]

On my fourth Bosch CX performance motor- all courtesy of warranty

Ain’t no way I would jeopardise that with a hack to enable assists over the limit. Rarely needed.

[PushedDover]

Bosch battery / powertubes -

Do we know of a way to check their condition? if necessary is there a way to refurb ?
I am thinking mine is not so durable in charge depletion, and it would be interesting to check the battery health.

[leyorkie]

Lots on line.
This company has repair kits but out of stock
https://www.electricbikebatteryrepairs.co.uk/

[P675]

Hi, any advice for an upgrade? I've had a Carerra Vengence ebike for about 2 years now. Its a mountain bike with big tyres but I actually find myself more on the road. I can get about 30 miles on the lowest assist mode but I'm finding this restrictive as I get that done in about 2-2.5 hours and have to plan my route in a loop back home. I've been caught out before and had to ride 5 miles with no battery and that sure was lame.

Any ebikes below 2k that I can get more range out of? Would a hybrid style one be better for me? 60 miles would be nice I suppose. Thanks.

[stargazer30]

P675 said:

Hi, any advice for an upgrade? I've had a Carerra Vengence ebike for about 2 years now. Its a mountain bike with big tyres but I actually find myself more on the road. I can get about 30 miles on the lowest assist mode but I'm finding this restrictive as I get that done in about 2-2.5 hours and have to plan my route in a loop back home. I've been caught out before and had to ride 5 miles with no battery and that sure was lame.

Any ebikes below 2k that I can get more range out of? Would a hybrid style one be better for me? 60 miles would be nice I suppose. Thanks.

The boardman ADV 8.9E is very close but a bit over your budget. Its a lightweight eGravel bike. When I had mine 40miles with my 90kg fat arse was possible on the lowest assist. If you really want range though, you'd be better off getting something bosch powered with a 500wh or bigger battery and hybrid tyres. It won't be light but it will do 70 to 90 miles in eco mode no problem. Cube do the bosch powered touring hybrid or kathmandu or even get a cube reaction mtb and just swap out the tyres for some schwalbe hurricanes.

[sociopath]

P675 said:

Hi, any advice for an upgrade? I've had a Carerra Vengence ebike for about 2 years now. Its a mountain bike with big tyres but I actually find myself more on the road. I can get about 30 miles on the lowest assist mode but I'm finding this restrictive as I get that done in about 2-2.5 hours and have to plan my route in a loop back home. I've been caught out before and had to ride 5 miles with no battery and that sure was lame.

Any ebikes below 2k that I can get more range out of? Would a hybrid style one be better for me? 60 miles would be nice I suppose. Thanks.

Good luck whatever you choose, I'm finding it incredibly difficult to find anything available anywhere. Even my LBS can't give me any possible dates before september

[Richtea1970]

P675 said:

Hi, any advice for an upgrade? I've had a Carerra Vengence ebike for about 2 years now. Its a mountain bike with big tyres but I actually find myself more on the road. I can get about 30 miles on the lowest assist mode but I'm finding this restrictive as I get that done in about 2-2.5 hours and have to plan my route in a loop back home. I've been caught out before and had to ride 5 miles with no battery and that sure was lame.

Any ebikes below 2k that I can get more range out of? Would a hybrid style one be better for me? 60 miles would be nice I suppose. Thanks.

Keep an eye on the classifieds as the type of bike you’re after (hybrid/road style) isn’t particularly fashionable. The MTBs (Hardtail and full sus) are the ones most of the kids want, not a ‘shopping bike’, so you’ll find some pretty good deals on hybrids.