motostrano
Active Member
Reliability is always a concern for any one looking at spending a couple thousand or more dollars on an e-bike (or anything) and I see a couple other posts about the BOSCH system so here's are experience with the system so far after 2 years working with and selling the BOSCH systems, both Gen 1 and Gen 2 here in the heart of e-bike country San Francisco / Silicon Valley.
We believe, as a store, that reliability and longevity should be the paramount concern with any e-bike on the market, as these products are usually competing with cars, bicycles and motorcycles for a rider's dollar. So, these things need to be at least as reliable as these products dollar for dollar, if not more reliable for their use to spread.
I also test and ride and actually use the products we sell on a long term basis. I mean months and years. Not only for short trips around the block or a weekend ride. I commute and recreate daily on e-bikes.
When recommending e-bikes to our customers the BOSCH system is currently our most preferred because out of all brands out there we know that the BOSCH bikes will see the fewest amount, if any, of post-sale tweaks or service questions/issues. Great job to BOSCH for designing, testing, building and producing a world-class consumer product on par with their other consumer products.
I've always said to our brand suppliers that an ebike needs to be as reliable as the shaver I use every morning. Plug it in, turn it on and it goes.
I know that most of these BOSCH bikes will still be ticking 10 and 15 years or more from now. There are few e-bikes on the road currently that can say that, though we still see the Iaccoca bikes around from time to time. We've been dealing in e-bikes for about 6 years.
We have a showroom full about appx 50 e-bikes and a second store too. We currently sell and service the following brands using the BOSCH system and we are a certified BOSCH dealer with 2 stores in California: Haibike, Felt, KTM, Lapierre, Grace and Urban Arrow. We have sold upwards of 50 BOSCH bikes since they made their debut and in that time frame and the only even sporadic issue we've had with the e-bike system itself is a gremlin on the Gen1 system of an Urban Arrow that was being used on some heavy duty San Francisco hills with a full family load.
We've sold the high end off-road Haibikes and Felts to hard core mountain bikers who use them on real Marin mountain trails and the road/commute bikes to people who commute on up to 80 miles a day (for real) every day up and down Silicon Valley. These bikes are getting hammered day in and day out and no one has come back with a busted battery or motor or display or anything. A remote switch broke once after a crash. A battery mount needed resetting once. That's it.
Other brands will have mysterious motor, sensor, controller, display battery issues as a common occurrence - all solvable - but nagging nonetheless. And, we've sold them all- some of the most well known brands out there have had upwards of 50% and higher motor or battery or controller failure rates. Not acceptable.
We are also so confident about the bosch power system that when customers say "what if I get it home and it won't go up my hill?", I say, "bring it back for a refund". It's that good.
Frankly- we think your e-bike needs to be as reliable as your regular bike. If you set out on your daily commute dressed in work clothes and your battery conks out on you causing you to have to pedal your e-bike to work without motor the rest of the way to work and you get to work drenched in sweat, the e-bike has failed. If you also had the idea to go out on a adventure mountain bike ride for the day and you end up having to push your e-bike back to your car due to a mechanical failure the e-bike has failed and out there on the trail that will be embarrassing.
We talk up the BOSCH system for a bunch of design and reliability reasons. You can drop the battery on the floor without demolishing its case like many brands. The battery is small and actually has a handle. Power delivery is completely predictable and in sync with the rider. The range gauge is actually forgiving, not tricking. The user interface is easy to navigate and the rider experience is above par. The manual is useful. Wiring is good. The display comes on and off easily. BOSCH service department is quick to get a hold of and knowledgeable. Out of ALL the brands we sell BOSCH was the only brand to come out with an actual system diagnostic tool for our service department. BH now has something for their battery.
The best part about the BOSCH system is that they have built a system that is made to ride and stand up tto he abuse of actual riding. No one wants to buy a few thousand or a few hundred dollar anything that, when they are out there 6 miles from home, they are afraid about getting stranded and that's what these products are made for and why we buy them.
I know we'll eventually see the odd technical problem. I'm waiting eagerly for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it never came along.
Joe
motostrano.com
We believe, as a store, that reliability and longevity should be the paramount concern with any e-bike on the market, as these products are usually competing with cars, bicycles and motorcycles for a rider's dollar. So, these things need to be at least as reliable as these products dollar for dollar, if not more reliable for their use to spread.
I also test and ride and actually use the products we sell on a long term basis. I mean months and years. Not only for short trips around the block or a weekend ride. I commute and recreate daily on e-bikes.
When recommending e-bikes to our customers the BOSCH system is currently our most preferred because out of all brands out there we know that the BOSCH bikes will see the fewest amount, if any, of post-sale tweaks or service questions/issues. Great job to BOSCH for designing, testing, building and producing a world-class consumer product on par with their other consumer products.
I've always said to our brand suppliers that an ebike needs to be as reliable as the shaver I use every morning. Plug it in, turn it on and it goes.
I know that most of these BOSCH bikes will still be ticking 10 and 15 years or more from now. There are few e-bikes on the road currently that can say that, though we still see the Iaccoca bikes around from time to time. We've been dealing in e-bikes for about 6 years.
We have a showroom full about appx 50 e-bikes and a second store too. We currently sell and service the following brands using the BOSCH system and we are a certified BOSCH dealer with 2 stores in California: Haibike, Felt, KTM, Lapierre, Grace and Urban Arrow. We have sold upwards of 50 BOSCH bikes since they made their debut and in that time frame and the only even sporadic issue we've had with the e-bike system itself is a gremlin on the Gen1 system of an Urban Arrow that was being used on some heavy duty San Francisco hills with a full family load.
We've sold the high end off-road Haibikes and Felts to hard core mountain bikers who use them on real Marin mountain trails and the road/commute bikes to people who commute on up to 80 miles a day (for real) every day up and down Silicon Valley. These bikes are getting hammered day in and day out and no one has come back with a busted battery or motor or display or anything. A remote switch broke once after a crash. A battery mount needed resetting once. That's it.
Other brands will have mysterious motor, sensor, controller, display battery issues as a common occurrence - all solvable - but nagging nonetheless. And, we've sold them all- some of the most well known brands out there have had upwards of 50% and higher motor or battery or controller failure rates. Not acceptable.
We are also so confident about the bosch power system that when customers say "what if I get it home and it won't go up my hill?", I say, "bring it back for a refund". It's that good.
Frankly- we think your e-bike needs to be as reliable as your regular bike. If you set out on your daily commute dressed in work clothes and your battery conks out on you causing you to have to pedal your e-bike to work without motor the rest of the way to work and you get to work drenched in sweat, the e-bike has failed. If you also had the idea to go out on a adventure mountain bike ride for the day and you end up having to push your e-bike back to your car due to a mechanical failure the e-bike has failed and out there on the trail that will be embarrassing.
We talk up the BOSCH system for a bunch of design and reliability reasons. You can drop the battery on the floor without demolishing its case like many brands. The battery is small and actually has a handle. Power delivery is completely predictable and in sync with the rider. The range gauge is actually forgiving, not tricking. The user interface is easy to navigate and the rider experience is above par. The manual is useful. Wiring is good. The display comes on and off easily. BOSCH service department is quick to get a hold of and knowledgeable. Out of ALL the brands we sell BOSCH was the only brand to come out with an actual system diagnostic tool for our service department. BH now has something for their battery.
The best part about the BOSCH system is that they have built a system that is made to ride and stand up tto he abuse of actual riding. No one wants to buy a few thousand or a few hundred dollar anything that, when they are out there 6 miles from home, they are afraid about getting stranded and that's what these products are made for and why we buy them.
I know we'll eventually see the odd technical problem. I'm waiting eagerly for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it never came along.
Joe
motostrano.com
