nik_lin
New Member
- Region
- Europe
Hi everyone,
I have a KTM e-bike that is almost 10 years old by now and it has worked flawlessly until last autumn.
One day I was going to bike home from work and the engine made a really unhappy sound as soon as it started doing any heavy lifting. I was afraid the engine was busted (even though it had worked perfectly that morning) and started running on eco setting to avoid the issue, while contacting the closest repair shop regarding a possible motor exchange. Their reply was that they could do it but did the sound really make a difference or was the bike still working? If I was going to exchange it, I may as well keep driving until the engine is fully broken and then replace it at that point in time.
So I kept using the bike for a couple of weeks more, until the snow arrived and ended the biking season. During that time I noticed that apart from the noise, I would have some issues where the motor would not activate at all. Like, I would turn it on and start biking and the engine did nothing. Turning the bike off and then on again would sometimes work and once the engine was working it would keep going for quite some time, but sometimes the same thing would happen again during the same ride and it would have to be restarted more than once.
Also, I noticed that if I turned the bike off and kept riding it would often turn itself back on, and you could kind of feel that the engine was trying to do something even when the display was turned off. There was never any error message on the display, and the problem was biggest on mondays, especially the morning commute, even though the bike had been standing in a dry, warm apartment during the weekend.
After getting back to biking yesterday (the snow finally being gone), I have been unable to get it to work properly. The bike turns on normally, everything looks fine, but the engine does not engage properly, except for a little noise at the very start. Turning it off mostly makes it turn itself back on again after something like 20 seconds, but it still doesnt start working. Instead, the display has started indicating error 500 (which I read was internal error, try restarting the bike) and error 530 (battery error) after (re)start. At 2 times during the entire rides back and forth to work the engine started working for something like 20-30 seconds then presented me with either of those errors.
The battery error is a bit confusing, since I have never had any issues with the battery and it always holds its charge well. And even during the problematic early winter, once the bike was working everything was fine. No power drops or anything like that.
I have ridden more than 10 000km with the bike before the issues occurred.
Sorry about the lengthy post, but my question is: based on the description above do you guys think that a simple engine replacement would solve this problem? Or is it related to the battery? Or could it be the electronics that have given up? Does anyone have a similar experience with their Bosch and could share their experience of what was wrong? Would you guys consider trying to get a bike like this repaired or is it simply too old to bother?
I love the bike, and I am open to the idea of replacing the motor. However, if it turns out I need to replace the engine. And the battery. And the electronics. And pay for the person doing the job. In the end it will be almost the same price as buying a brand new bike. I would love to get some input from people here regarding the possible extent of the problem. The repair shop I mentioned is really busy, so getting a workshop appointment for even basic troubleshooting is more than a month away.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Best regards,
Niklas
I have a KTM e-bike that is almost 10 years old by now and it has worked flawlessly until last autumn.
One day I was going to bike home from work and the engine made a really unhappy sound as soon as it started doing any heavy lifting. I was afraid the engine was busted (even though it had worked perfectly that morning) and started running on eco setting to avoid the issue, while contacting the closest repair shop regarding a possible motor exchange. Their reply was that they could do it but did the sound really make a difference or was the bike still working? If I was going to exchange it, I may as well keep driving until the engine is fully broken and then replace it at that point in time.
So I kept using the bike for a couple of weeks more, until the snow arrived and ended the biking season. During that time I noticed that apart from the noise, I would have some issues where the motor would not activate at all. Like, I would turn it on and start biking and the engine did nothing. Turning the bike off and then on again would sometimes work and once the engine was working it would keep going for quite some time, but sometimes the same thing would happen again during the same ride and it would have to be restarted more than once.
Also, I noticed that if I turned the bike off and kept riding it would often turn itself back on, and you could kind of feel that the engine was trying to do something even when the display was turned off. There was never any error message on the display, and the problem was biggest on mondays, especially the morning commute, even though the bike had been standing in a dry, warm apartment during the weekend.
After getting back to biking yesterday (the snow finally being gone), I have been unable to get it to work properly. The bike turns on normally, everything looks fine, but the engine does not engage properly, except for a little noise at the very start. Turning it off mostly makes it turn itself back on again after something like 20 seconds, but it still doesnt start working. Instead, the display has started indicating error 500 (which I read was internal error, try restarting the bike) and error 530 (battery error) after (re)start. At 2 times during the entire rides back and forth to work the engine started working for something like 20-30 seconds then presented me with either of those errors.
The battery error is a bit confusing, since I have never had any issues with the battery and it always holds its charge well. And even during the problematic early winter, once the bike was working everything was fine. No power drops or anything like that.
I have ridden more than 10 000km with the bike before the issues occurred.
Sorry about the lengthy post, but my question is: based on the description above do you guys think that a simple engine replacement would solve this problem? Or is it related to the battery? Or could it be the electronics that have given up? Does anyone have a similar experience with their Bosch and could share their experience of what was wrong? Would you guys consider trying to get a bike like this repaired or is it simply too old to bother?
I love the bike, and I am open to the idea of replacing the motor. However, if it turns out I need to replace the engine. And the battery. And the electronics. And pay for the person doing the job. In the end it will be almost the same price as buying a brand new bike. I would love to get some input from people here regarding the possible extent of the problem. The repair shop I mentioned is really busy, so getting a workshop appointment for even basic troubleshooting is more than a month away.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Best regards,
Niklas
