D
Deleted member 4210
Guest
In the past year, I have witnessed a strong increase in a lot more local consumers, contacting my shop for "help" with their on-line purchased ebike. They are often desperate for assistance, because of a) their on-line purchase was not supported by the on-line company they bought from b) they were not capable of following the on-line company's support or trouble-shooting procedures IF that help was even available, or c) they simply did not have the tools, or the experience working with electronics or mechanical items.
So here are some friendly tips before you make the decision to buy on-line:
1) Strongly suggest you evaluate if you are indeed capable of all bike repairs, and have some years of trouble-shooting all sorts of appliances, and even better electronics. There are very few bike shops willing to take on ebikes at all, and there are even fewer with mechanics or people with electronics trouble-shooting on their respective staffs, IF you can find one willing to service a brand they did not sell. E-Bikes are WAY different in that while regular bikes use many standard components that service techs are used to, and even if they haven't seen a specific brand of component before, they can still usually do the repair. (i.e. with cranks, derailleurs, cogsets, cassettes, cables, shifters, hydraulics, etc.) With ebikes NO TWO ebikes are the same on a majority of the ebike related components. Everyone uses a different controller, different displays, different connectors, different motors, different cable styles, different brake inhibitors, and on and on. The odds are very low any dealer will be willing to take the service repair on, even if they have a generally competent staff, because the infrastructure just doesn't exist presently, for securing parts for brands a dealer doesn't carry.
2) If you are ok with the above risk, and do an honest assessment of your skill sets, then consider also buying at the time of purchase the following extra parts to have on hand. I'll tell you why this is very important at this time in the ebike industry in a moment.
a) Buy an extra controller
b) extra wiring harness
c) extra pedal assist sensor
d) extra brake inhibitor cable/brake lever for both sides
e) extra display
f) extra throttle
g) even an extra battery if you can afford it.
3) The primary reason to have the above on hand is for trouble-shooting the electronics, and the second reason is for potential long delays, or the company not having your part in stock. Many times, and I have witnessed this personally, dealing with on-line vendors (for customers I was willing to help out), the folks on the supplier end simply are not very good at trouble-shooting themselves, and usually ask the wrong questions. Not being able to see the product first hand, and try things out, they often start sending parts, one at a time to try to 'help you out.' It might be weeks before you get to the part that is correct, and solves the problem. Often they wait until the end to send you the most expensive part, since they figure you won't want to spend very much initially to solve the problem, and they hope its the cheapest part.
Sure you can send parts back, but the problem with this strategy, is it takes too long and is very frustrating, since you have no parts on hand to try something out. Dealers, who have a lot of brands, can carry these parts for their own brands, but again if you are buying a ebike on line, very few dealers are likely going to want to carry these parts from someone who competes on-line.
Also, trouble-shooting by a dealer, is very time consuming, and you likely wont enjoy the 'bill' you get for all the time the dealer has to spend to find out the problem (that is, if you can find a dealer willing to take in your on-line brand for service) The dealer HAS to charge for that time, and it will take him/her longer if its a brand he/she doesn't carry.
4) Another reason to order spare parts at the time of purchase, is that these ebike components are changing all the time, from year to year, with maybe minor improvements, or likely cost reductions, as the industry grows. The odds of the on-line vendor continuing to carry those parts for you is very low, because today most vendors (and there are over 300 brands alone here in the US) are fighting tooth and nail just to stay afloat, and try to be competitive. Very hard to stay competitive, with so many new components changing very quickly, and suppliers of those components themselves being mostly Asia based, continually go out of business in very short periods of time, because in China right now there is immense over capacity in all areas, and their margins are even slimmer than businesses here in the US. So if you don't get the part right away, you are essentially gambling the entire amount of your purchase price, and HOPING your ebike doen't become a boat anchor, because you could not get the obsolete part, that was maybe only produced a year ago.
Suddenly that 'cheap' $700, or $1000, or $1600, or $2000 on-line ebike purchase AIN'T so cheap, as now you can't get it fixed, nor can you find the part. I have seen this happen this year, as someone called me who only bought the ebike a year ago, could not figure out if it was a battery, or controller, and worse could not find anywhere the right controller.
Please don't get angry or be 'baffled' that no dealers are willing to even look at your ebike, let alone help repair it, because many by now know that its a time consuming rabbit hole to attempt to diagnose and fix a brand that was bought on-line and you as the dealer don't have your friendly OEM who you've come to know, to help you diagnose issues. A lot of purveyors on line, are simply 'white labeling' some obscure company in Asia, that go out of business quickly, to re appear as another firm with a different name, especially if the stuff they sold had lots of failures and they want to dodge 'warranty'. An insidious way they dodge repairs and warranties is they will make the buyer (dealer or individual) pay to send the failed part back (if you can figure out the right failed part - very hard with electronics), before they will send you a new one at no charge. And make you pay for shipping both ways. The part is nearly always a large chunk of the cost of all the electric components that went on the bike in the first place to make it so 'cheap' to sell.
Numbers of ebikes sold here in the US is still very very small (less than a few hundred thousand annually), so there really isn't enough of a market for any one entity to become a 'parts source' and again with 300 brands out there, and more coming every week, the number of parts and sku's makes any investment in spares a non-starter for anyone with deep pockets willing to take the risk. About the only brand who has sold enough world wide to be able to find parts for consistently, is that of the after-market kit seller called Bafang. Even then you can't deal directly with Bafang , unless you are very high volume distributor. And from what I have heard, they are a PITA to deal with even if you are one of their high volume distributors.
Final Word of Caution - if you have no electrical or electronic experience, especially if you have none with lithium batteries, by all means DO NOT attempt to do any trouble-shooting on your own, and DO NOT open the batteries. This may seem like obvious common sense, but these battery packs are filled with very high density and very high power battery cells, that can cause very serious injury if mis-handled in any way, or the wrong wires are touched or grounded. DC power is thought to be 'safe' but nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to these batteries and trouble-shooting. AND keep in mind, if a battery fails, you cannot ship it back, unless you are a HAZMAT certified shipper. So buying these on-line, ask the company if they will be willing to send you an empty box with pre-paid labeling, and HAZMAT certification, such that you can return a battery that needs repair or trouble-shooting. Things that can go wrong with these batteries are mind boggling, in terms of BMS's, driver failures, bad software programming, and on and on. This is the one component you truly want to buy your ebike from a local dealer. And if its a mid drive motor on the ebike you are choosing, that is also another component, you really should buy from a local dealer, and one that has staff on-site to handle the repair and replacement. Even savvy techs can quickly get in over the head on mid drive trouble-shooting, and so company's make mid-drive returns mandatory back to the factory and dont even allow dealer repair. You are talking a VERY stiff bill for at least $600 minimum when that is out of warranty, and more along the lines of $800 to $1000.
CAVEAT EMPTOR !
So here are some friendly tips before you make the decision to buy on-line:
1) Strongly suggest you evaluate if you are indeed capable of all bike repairs, and have some years of trouble-shooting all sorts of appliances, and even better electronics. There are very few bike shops willing to take on ebikes at all, and there are even fewer with mechanics or people with electronics trouble-shooting on their respective staffs, IF you can find one willing to service a brand they did not sell. E-Bikes are WAY different in that while regular bikes use many standard components that service techs are used to, and even if they haven't seen a specific brand of component before, they can still usually do the repair. (i.e. with cranks, derailleurs, cogsets, cassettes, cables, shifters, hydraulics, etc.) With ebikes NO TWO ebikes are the same on a majority of the ebike related components. Everyone uses a different controller, different displays, different connectors, different motors, different cable styles, different brake inhibitors, and on and on. The odds are very low any dealer will be willing to take the service repair on, even if they have a generally competent staff, because the infrastructure just doesn't exist presently, for securing parts for brands a dealer doesn't carry.
2) If you are ok with the above risk, and do an honest assessment of your skill sets, then consider also buying at the time of purchase the following extra parts to have on hand. I'll tell you why this is very important at this time in the ebike industry in a moment.
a) Buy an extra controller
b) extra wiring harness
c) extra pedal assist sensor
d) extra brake inhibitor cable/brake lever for both sides
e) extra display
f) extra throttle
g) even an extra battery if you can afford it.
3) The primary reason to have the above on hand is for trouble-shooting the electronics, and the second reason is for potential long delays, or the company not having your part in stock. Many times, and I have witnessed this personally, dealing with on-line vendors (for customers I was willing to help out), the folks on the supplier end simply are not very good at trouble-shooting themselves, and usually ask the wrong questions. Not being able to see the product first hand, and try things out, they often start sending parts, one at a time to try to 'help you out.' It might be weeks before you get to the part that is correct, and solves the problem. Often they wait until the end to send you the most expensive part, since they figure you won't want to spend very much initially to solve the problem, and they hope its the cheapest part.
Sure you can send parts back, but the problem with this strategy, is it takes too long and is very frustrating, since you have no parts on hand to try something out. Dealers, who have a lot of brands, can carry these parts for their own brands, but again if you are buying a ebike on line, very few dealers are likely going to want to carry these parts from someone who competes on-line.
Also, trouble-shooting by a dealer, is very time consuming, and you likely wont enjoy the 'bill' you get for all the time the dealer has to spend to find out the problem (that is, if you can find a dealer willing to take in your on-line brand for service) The dealer HAS to charge for that time, and it will take him/her longer if its a brand he/she doesn't carry.
4) Another reason to order spare parts at the time of purchase, is that these ebike components are changing all the time, from year to year, with maybe minor improvements, or likely cost reductions, as the industry grows. The odds of the on-line vendor continuing to carry those parts for you is very low, because today most vendors (and there are over 300 brands alone here in the US) are fighting tooth and nail just to stay afloat, and try to be competitive. Very hard to stay competitive, with so many new components changing very quickly, and suppliers of those components themselves being mostly Asia based, continually go out of business in very short periods of time, because in China right now there is immense over capacity in all areas, and their margins are even slimmer than businesses here in the US. So if you don't get the part right away, you are essentially gambling the entire amount of your purchase price, and HOPING your ebike doen't become a boat anchor, because you could not get the obsolete part, that was maybe only produced a year ago.
Suddenly that 'cheap' $700, or $1000, or $1600, or $2000 on-line ebike purchase AIN'T so cheap, as now you can't get it fixed, nor can you find the part. I have seen this happen this year, as someone called me who only bought the ebike a year ago, could not figure out if it was a battery, or controller, and worse could not find anywhere the right controller.
Please don't get angry or be 'baffled' that no dealers are willing to even look at your ebike, let alone help repair it, because many by now know that its a time consuming rabbit hole to attempt to diagnose and fix a brand that was bought on-line and you as the dealer don't have your friendly OEM who you've come to know, to help you diagnose issues. A lot of purveyors on line, are simply 'white labeling' some obscure company in Asia, that go out of business quickly, to re appear as another firm with a different name, especially if the stuff they sold had lots of failures and they want to dodge 'warranty'. An insidious way they dodge repairs and warranties is they will make the buyer (dealer or individual) pay to send the failed part back (if you can figure out the right failed part - very hard with electronics), before they will send you a new one at no charge. And make you pay for shipping both ways. The part is nearly always a large chunk of the cost of all the electric components that went on the bike in the first place to make it so 'cheap' to sell.
Numbers of ebikes sold here in the US is still very very small (less than a few hundred thousand annually), so there really isn't enough of a market for any one entity to become a 'parts source' and again with 300 brands out there, and more coming every week, the number of parts and sku's makes any investment in spares a non-starter for anyone with deep pockets willing to take the risk. About the only brand who has sold enough world wide to be able to find parts for consistently, is that of the after-market kit seller called Bafang. Even then you can't deal directly with Bafang , unless you are very high volume distributor. And from what I have heard, they are a PITA to deal with even if you are one of their high volume distributors.
Final Word of Caution - if you have no electrical or electronic experience, especially if you have none with lithium batteries, by all means DO NOT attempt to do any trouble-shooting on your own, and DO NOT open the batteries. This may seem like obvious common sense, but these battery packs are filled with very high density and very high power battery cells, that can cause very serious injury if mis-handled in any way, or the wrong wires are touched or grounded. DC power is thought to be 'safe' but nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to these batteries and trouble-shooting. AND keep in mind, if a battery fails, you cannot ship it back, unless you are a HAZMAT certified shipper. So buying these on-line, ask the company if they will be willing to send you an empty box with pre-paid labeling, and HAZMAT certification, such that you can return a battery that needs repair or trouble-shooting. Things that can go wrong with these batteries are mind boggling, in terms of BMS's, driver failures, bad software programming, and on and on. This is the one component you truly want to buy your ebike from a local dealer. And if its a mid drive motor on the ebike you are choosing, that is also another component, you really should buy from a local dealer, and one that has staff on-site to handle the repair and replacement. Even savvy techs can quickly get in over the head on mid drive trouble-shooting, and so company's make mid-drive returns mandatory back to the factory and dont even allow dealer repair. You are talking a VERY stiff bill for at least $600 minimum when that is out of warranty, and more along the lines of $800 to $1000.
CAVEAT EMPTOR !
