Buyer Beware - 2 month old bike, leaking brakes and Biktrix says "wear and tear"

verstappen

New Member
Region
Canada
I'll share my whole purchase experience.

Bought a Juggernaut Hub Duo Step-Over on May 8, got it May 16th, easy process and fast shipping to GTA, ON, Canada. Great feature set, fenders, rear rack, kick stand, big chainring, 27.5*3 tires.

Assembly isn't the easiest, the manual is online only and it contradicts the assembly video and just seems to omit steps. It's a heavy bike as well, I'm 6' 183lbs, average strength and decently fit and it was/is a handful for sure - makes my old aluminum giant dirt-e+ 2 ebike feel like a carbon fiber race bike. Not the biggest deal when you are riding it (with assist) but I wouldn't want to be much weaker than myself when handling it in other situations. Probably spent close to 2 hours adjusting the front brake so that it wouldn't rub.

The bike looks great, it's fast, rides well. The upright seating position is a big change from my last 2 bikes but I liked it. Unfortunately I quickly saw that Biktrix had cut some corners. One of the bolts that attaches the fender to the fork worked itself loose (they didn't include nuts for them and the bolts weren't long enough to have room one anyway). They sent a replacement bolt with the extra battery I ordered and it's held so maybe the original was my user error.

The seat was rattly from (almost) day 1 and eventually the one side of it completely collapsed (in mid June IIRC). Biktrix offered $25, then upped it to $35 when I told them the exact seat was 50+tax on amazon and the seat on their site was 80+tax. Then there are 2-3 other mystery rattles (fenders mostly I think) and the pedals feel a bit creaky/loose at times.

None of this is a deal breaker, the bike still rides ok/does the job. Credit to the tires, 0 flats. But then at the 2 month mark is where I hit my limit. I store the bike indoors and there were no leaks and the brakes were fine on my previous ride. Right near the start of a ride the front brake lever feels weird. 10 minutes later the front brake has 0 stopping power. I get to my destination 20 minutes later and see the leaking oil on my front rim.

I email Biktrix about it and they ask for a picture of my odometer (weird). I reply right away with ~986km then send a picture 25 minutes later (984, early afternoon). They reply the next day

"Thanks for sharing the pic.
May I know when was the last time you had the bike brake inspected at the bike shop? To resolve the issue I would suggest taking it to the bike shop.
Please note that Biktrix will not reimburse you any shop charges."

We go back and forth a few times and their final word is:

"I apologize if you feel this way but please note brakes are wear & tear parts and you have done 900+ km on the bike. We would have considered this warranty if you received bike with any damage on the brakes.

I again apologise but this will not be honoured as a warranty."

Maybe I'm crazy but if I spend $3,700+ all in on a new bike I expect the brakes to not leak 2 months in even I'm doing 900+ km. I'd recommend staying away from Biktrix and just going with something from a local store. [It seems like few if any people/stores want to work on ebikes they didn't sell in my relatively large city.]
 
no the breaks or I should say the caliper should not be leaking. its a faulty seal and thats all there is to it. maybe if you braked so long your rotors were smoking maybe. but really most caliper cant be repaired so you will need a new one. then the system ill need bled.
 
I get a kick how all these rants have a list of every nut and bolt that isn't right. Assembly of a bicycle is not rocket science, there are many videos about bicycles on Youtube. Didn't you read about the bike weight when shopping? A dot of blue Loctite fixes any bolt loosening. Every bike will make noise after riding. Standard operating procedure to tighten fasteners and make alignment changes. Many people complain about bicycle noise and it's often a loose seat fastener. Seats see a lot of pressures, not matter the weight of the rider. It's due to the cadence speed and the number or body moments during the act of pedaling. Is the leak from the tube, tube fitting, or piston o-ring? It's hard for them to warranty leak responsibility. You make just have a loose fitting on the tube. Finding eBike repair locations is a known issue since the day people started buying on-line eBike sellers. Sorry you consider this a deal breaker, just reads like regular bicycle maintenance to me. Nice way to enter the forum with a company bashing on your first post. But you sure aren't the first one to do that, we get a lot of these!
 
no the breaks or I should say the caliper should not be leaking. its a faulty seal and thats all there is to it. maybe if you braked so long your rotors were smoking maybe. but really most caliper cant be repaired so you will need a new one. then the system ill need bled.
How do you know it's a seal?
 
How do you know it's a seal?
I thought he said only on the disc but he said rim so it could be the fitting. check and see if the hose going into the caliper is tight. but no matter what it would need to bleed cleaned with alcohol and bled.
 
I get a kick how all these rants have a list of every nut and bolt that isn't right. Assembly of a bicycle is not rocket science, there are many videos about bicycles on Youtube. Didn't you read about the bike weight when shopping? A dot of blue Loctite fixes any bolt loosening. Every bike will make noise after riding. Standard operating procedure to tighten fasteners and make alignment changes. Many people complain about bicycle noise and it's often a loose seat fastener. Seats see a lot of pressures, not matter the weight of the rider. It's due to the cadence speed and the number or body moments during the act of pedaling. Is the leak from the tube, tube fitting, or piston o-ring? It's hard for them to warranty leak responsibility. You make just have a loose fitting on the tube. Finding eBike repair locations is a known issue since the day people started buying on-line eBike sellers. Sorry you consider this a deal breaker, just reads like regular bicycle maintenance to me. Nice way to enter the forum with a company bashing on your first post. But you sure aren't the first one to do that, we get a lot of these!
Lol, are you a Biktrix employee?

I gave my honest review, I researched this forum and many other places but the issues/downsides in my post weren't stated often if at all.

None of the issues you say are so common happened with my 2008 Gary Fisher Piranha (non ebike) or my Giant Dirt E+ 2 I got a few years ago.
 
no the breaks or I should say the caliper should not be leaking. its a faulty seal and thats all there is to it. maybe if you braked so long your rotors were smoking maybe. but really most caliper cant be repaired so you will need a new one. then the system ill need bled.
Yeah I figured. And no, I didn't do any crazy braking.
 
Lol, are you a Biktrix employee?

I gave my honest review, I researched this forum and many other places but the issues/downsides in my post weren't stated often if at all.

None of the issues you say are so common happened with my 2008 Gary Fisher Piranha (non ebike) or my Giant Dirt E+ 2 I got a few years ago.
You bought a bike that makes you the LBS. you bit off more than you can chew. Next time buy from a local a LBS .
 
Last Call for Happy Hour.
Have a drink you will get over it.
Your bike is telling you upgrade my brakes.
How much do you weight any ways?
"I'm 6' 183lbs"
If I knew the brakes would fail in 2 months I would have bought the upgrade. They worked well until they broke.
 
Brother unless you are your own mechanic and capable of periodically inspecting and adjusting parts as needed to ride problem free utilize your LBS services and pass the service onto them. A lot of the guys on this site do their own maintenance as required or upgrades they want. If you got 900k,s on the bike and your leaking fluid that’s on you, probably a loose connection or a split in the hose, easy fix. Since you assembled the bike it.s on you to make it 100% safe to ride. Unfortunatly $3,700 clams doesn’t mean you can,t have issues. That’s at the lower mid scale cost for a decent e-bike. I spent almost that much for just my frame and motor and recently blew apart a rear pivot and had to get the replacement parts from Germany. Didn’t try to “warranty” through the company I bought it from but went directly to the source and repaired it myself. Make yourself a checklist to use every week or so and you’ll be ahead of the curve. YouTube is your friend. Just a heads up if you have the 197mm rear end those Quanta hubs are not long for this life. And no I don’t work for Biktrix, I live in So.Cal.
 
Brother unless you are your own mechanic and capable of periodically inspecting and adjusting parts as needed to ride problem free utilize your LBS services and pass the service onto them. A lot of the guys on this site do their own maintenance as required or upgrades they want. If you got 900k,s on the bike and your leaking fluid that’s on you, probably a loose connection or a split in the hose, easy fix. Since you assembled the bike it.s on you to make it 100% safe to ride. Unfortunatly $3,700 clams doesn’t mean you can,t have issues. That’s at the lower mid scale cost for a decent e-bike. I spent almost that much for just my frame and motor and recently blew apart a rear pivot and had to get the replacement parts from Germany. Didn’t try to “warranty” through the company I bought it from but went directly to the source and repaired it myself. Make yourself a checklist to use every week or so and you’ll be ahead of the curve. YouTube is your friend. Just a heads up if you have the 197mm rear end those Quanta hubs are not long for this life. And no I don’t work for Biktrix, I live in So.Cal.
The bike comes mostly assembled, including the brakes. Doesn't look like a loose connection or split hose, leak appears to be from "inside" the caliper.

If you don't expect a caliper to last more than 2 months with normal use that's on you, I think differently.
 
I hear ya. But a bike at that price point isn’t going to have quality parts, it just won’t. I‘m guessing some no-name brand for the brake set? I see the “upgrade” are the tektro’s. What does that tell you. Just drop it off at the bike shop and hopefully your $3,700 bike will only cost ya another $100 or so to fix. Welcome to the e-bike world.
 
I hear ya. But a bike at that price point isn’t going to have quality parts, it just won’t. I‘m guessing some no-name brand for the brake set? I see the “upgrade” are the tektro’s. What does that tell you. Just drop it off at the bike shop and hopefully your $3,700 bike will only cost ya another $100 or so to fix. Welcome to the e-bike world.
thats not even close to true. my bulls with a bosch speed motor was on sale for 3500 regular 3800 decent components but for the rims and fork. our e tandem with a bosch motor was 3700 and its only cheap parts were the shimano brakes just too weak for the tandem.
 
When you mail order a bike you need to have decent maintenance and repair skills or be friends with your LBS. Leaks should not be hard to pin point for it could be an o-ring or something simple. Research what your buying ahead of time to know what components are used, sizing, weights and such so your not surprised when the bike shows up. Checking bolts being tight is just a good practice. I have an Ultra duo, over a year old, 1500 miles, no issues, do all my own maintenance and repair. When it showed up first thing I did was put it on my bike stand to make assembly easy and go thru everything very carefully. No complaints about the bike or the company. Monitoring the Biketrix owners group as well as this forum gives insights on systemic problems that we all learn from. I’m way smarter thanks to these forums.
 
One of the qualifications to be a proper Biktrix owner is that you have to defend your purchase under any circumstance. Plus, you have to shut down any conversation that has a hint of criticism.
It's no different than BMW ownership. BMWs are perfect even though the earth's atmosphere and gravity occasionally cause parts to fail.

BTW, any negative response to any part of this post is proof that it is factual. LOL
 
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