CCX intermittent power

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Gentlemen, your point is well taken. But as with any issue like this, in any class of vehicle, it has to be asked: how many does the problem affect? How serious is it? The NHTSA doesn't issue a recall for every defect; there's no specific number of reports before a recall is declared. No doubt the person who has a certain safety-related problem thinks it is worth a recall, regardless. "Acceptable level of risk" is in the eye of the beholder.

Juiced may feel that this is covered under warranty and that there are not enough instances to require a change in the equipment. Could they do a better job of warranty service? Probably.
I have no clue how often this will occur. Maybe it’s only 1%; maybe it’s 10%? It’s just a guess. I had a battery fit issue on day one. After getting a new battery downtube interface, I had no issues for a few months until the connector melted. I received a new battery, but didn’t get another new battery interface. After reading that other people had used a strap or ties I bought some cheap velcro straps off Amazon. If you’re worried you may develop battery fit issues down the road, if probably can’t hurt to use a strap to secure the battery.
 
The Reention battery connection/assembly is fairly commonly used by a decent number of e-bike OEM's, and while it's ok, there are certainly more electrically secure designs out there. The frame stiffness, and overall integration (casing to frame fit) is critical for the Reention to continue to consistently function properly. You can readily see that over time with typical bike wear and tear, the connection will likely pose future issues.

That said, It's really tough to build an ebike with all the higher wattage motors, higher speeds, higher capacity batteries, and modest quality bike components such as the suspension,drive train, other components, and still have enough money to build a quality frame that can appropriately house the battery design that Reention offers. I experimented with getting an ebike directly from one of the same manufacturers that Juiced and others like Surface used, and the frame and battery integration issue was the same that this poster experienced, and others on this thread said too they have experienced. It also had a larger battery (17.5 AH, 48 Volts). After the situation occurred and I learned from it, I decided it was the only, and last ebike I was willing to risk money buying direct from China in the same way firms like Juiced and M2S and BikTrix is doing. There is simply too much that can go wrong without proper quality control, excellent specification adherence, and manufacturer guarantees, top notch R&D, which is very costly until you get to a scale of at least 50,000 ebikes per year if you are a small and new firm in the industry, and not established with substantial revenues from regular bikes or other products like the big OEMS have.

So it is not all that surprising that Juiced (and also others like them) are having these issues, particularly with all that they are attempting to offer at the price points they have chosen. Larger firms like Trek, Specialized, Giant, Accell (Raleigh, etc.) , and Yamaha just to name a few, can and do offer better frame quality and battery connection designs, but their price points are also higher than most of the models than Juiced offers, yet Juiced is typically including higher capacity batteries, and higher wattage motors than the larger firms are offering for their comparatively lower price points. So its really a trade off, in what you want from your ebike, at a certain price point. This battery assembly design and frame integration is just one of those trade offs. Could Juiced spend more and come up with a better configuration with more consistent quality ? Probably. Would people be willing to spend another few hundred to get this higher level of quality and electrical connection durability, frame stiffness, and super close tolerances ? Hard to say. Its not an easy solution for someone like Juiced or M2S to resolve without really deep R&D pockets, unless their Chinese factory is willing to pony up the extra design effort and money involved.

For the average consumer it is very hard to discern these quality differences, especially not seeing a Juiced or M2S or Biktrix first hand such as in a local store like you can with a Specialized or Trek or Yamaha or Giant or Raleigh (and others). Also, you have to know what to look for, and its not just with battery connections or frame/battery integration design.

My point is, while its good to let people know that these certain brands are having some of these issues on forums like EBR (as do all brands seem to have some sort of issues... i.e. none is 'perfect'), certain vendors of a certain size, and ones trying to offer a lot on 'performance', while maintaining a relatively lower price, are seeming to show as we have all seen on this forum, and many Ebike dealers have seen first hand, that certain pain points can keep re-occurring, and its just a risk you have to be willing to take when both buying on-line site unseen, and then wanting so much "performance" (usually speed, power, and range) at a lower price than some of the large brand names generally offer at much higher price points.
 
Very happy with my Juiced bike but it's very early on for me. Reading through these vendor-specific forums would scare most away from almost any eBike. Specialized, Trek, Stromer, etc. All seem to be filled with some very concerning issues. Customer service is paramount right now in this still relatively niche field but with eBikes growing exponentially things will only get better.
 
I have a Biktrix with "modest quality " and routinely curb jump and the battery connection is rock solid. Mike taking another swipe at bikes he doesn't sell.
 
I have a Biktrix with "modest quality " and routinely curb jump and the battery connection is rock solid. Mike taking another swipe at bikes he doesn't sell.

I vacillate on my thoughts about Mike's posts. I'm leaning towards the fact that he's a guy with a ton of experience on the eBike industry and vocal with his opinions. Sometimes I think he has an agenda as the bike I was looking at has a few posts from him knocking it but when reading his other posts he expresses both negative and positive input. He likes what he likes and has been selling them for years and that's not unusual.

Where I grew up there were farmers that only bought one brand of tractor or truck. They never, ever, changed. Dodge guys. Massey-Ferguson guys. John Deere guys. My dad was a Ford guy. We never had a ranch truck in 60 years that wasn't a Ford. I asked him why one day and he said that his first truck was a Chevrolet and it had tons of trouble. He then bought a Ford and never changed - even though my formative years were filled with having to fix our Ford trucks! He also had a bad John Deere tractor once and never changed from Massey after that.

If Mike has been working on eBikes for 20 years and he bought one Chinese kit-type bike and it was a lemon then he has evidence why he doesn't want to sell them. If people come into his shop four times a week with Chinese kit-bikes with problems he's going to form his opinion based upon not only direct evidence he has experienced but also what he hears from others in the industry and reads. I have no problem listening to him and learn a lot. It's all good food for thought and we all win.

I am new to all of this and readily admit I know next to nothing. It's all based upon what I've read and we all know how that goes.

I would say that this website is probably the authoritative site for eBikes in the United States. There might be large ones in the World but since I live in the US I'm interested in this site. If you take a look at the Brand Forums you'll see that the number of Threads and Posts for Juiced and Rad total more than all of the other vendors combined. Those two companies have the most interest according to the number of people that are interested in their products. Nobody is even close - maybe Specialized comes in a distant third.

These two companies are going to be targets because they are doing something that interests the consumer.

Just my humble opinion. I followed Tesla since 2009 and bought one in 2012. I've seen it all with electric cars and their early detractors. They are still out there in droves. I read a lot, joined forums like this one, listened to EVERYBODY and formed my opinion. I've been very happy with that decision and hopefully will be as happy with this one.
 
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Yeah, dude came into this forum basically trashing Juiced Bikes saying that they could never deliver on their promises. And he was selling his own branded e-Bikes at the time.
 
My CCX had intermittent power problems from the first week, and I knew from day 1, thanks to EBR, that I may have the same problem. So far what I can say is that Juiced Bikes stands behind their products and try their best to have happy customers. I did not ask for replacement parts, they asked me for pictures and they decided to put the orders to replace the parts in question (battery and frame port assy).

Internet buyers are more inclined to post in internet sites like this one, the problems they have with their bikes. This is clearly an advantage that we, internet customers have. For customers that buy from brick and mortar shops, the problems with the bikes may not reach the general public the same way, so they need to trust their local vendor.

There is enough room in this world for the brick and mortar shops providing an attentive on-the-spot, real-time service, -as I assume Mike provides- and the internet-based companies selling direct to the public at a lower cost. Trumps' trade war is between China and the US; we should be thankful to have Juiced Bikes and Mike's shop, and many others to choose from, coexisting and not declaring "war". Thanks again, EBR!
 
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Thanks Bruce, I ordered a piece that is similar but not identical from Aliexpress.

Hi, do you have the link to that part on Aliexpress? I've done a quick search and can't find it. My battery connector melted yesterday and left melted plastic stuck to the receiver pin :(
 
Hi, do you have the link to that part on Aliexpress? I've done a quick search and can't find it. My battery connector melted yesterday and left melted plastic stuck to the receiver pin :(

Hi MikeS, could you please upload some pictures?
 
Hi MikeS, could you please upload some pictures?

Here are some pictures. I have logged a warranty support ticket with Juiced and I'm sure they will sort it. I'm based in New Zealand, so shipping batteries (especially the big ones) is a real pain. If Juiced have a battery connector set, I may be able to fix it myself.
 

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Here are some pictures. I have logged a warranty support ticket with Juiced and I'm sure they will sort it. I'm based in New Zealand, so shipping batteries (especially the big ones) is a real pain. If Juiced have a battery connector set, I may be able to fix it myself.
That’s what happened to my battery. Unfortunately, your bike is basically unusable now until you get a replacement battery. Did you have a strap for the battery? Since I got my replacement battery and had it strapped to the frame, I haven’t had any issues since. They really need to address this issue so owners don’t need to address it themselves.
 
That’s what happened to my battery. Unfortunately, your bike is basically unusable now until you get a replacement battery. Did you have a strap for the battery? Since I got my replacement battery and had it strapped to the frame, I haven’t had any issues since. They really need to address this issue so owners don’t need to address it themselves.

I'm sure Juiced will take care of my issue. They have been fabulous so far with the few problems I've had. I was using an old rubber inner tube stretched really tight and tied off to hold it nice and tight. The battery couldn't move at all. I'm hoping I can just unscrew the battery housing and replace the melted socket.
 
I'm sure Juiced will take care of my issue. They have been fabulous so far with the few problems I've had. I was using an old rubber inner tube stretched really tight and tied off to hold it nice and tight. The battery couldn't move at all. I'm hoping I can just unscrew the battery housing and replace the melted socket.

I wonder if Juiced will classify this as another case of pins pushed in: https://support.juicedbikes.com/hc/...-Battery-Discharge-Port-Socket-Pins-pushed-in

It is curious to me how folks gets a 2nd battery, and then the problem seems to go away? MikeS, are you on your original battery?

Also, I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I tried to search... hope it helps:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/EUN...lgo_pvid=bf5a4e79-f59d-47d1-8853-bdba8f25e4f2
 
.... It is curious to me how folks gets a 2nd battery, and then the problem seems to go away? MikeS, are you on your original battery?...

I originally had the 48v 12.8 Ah battery from new and then replaced it with a new 48v 21 Ah battery. I now keep the smaller one as a spare in case I forget to charge the big one. I have a Grintech 72v Satiator charger at work and the Juiced one at home on a timer. The intention was to extend battery life by only charging to 80% daily (60km commute) and 100% every 2nd month to balance the cells. Didn't quite work out with the connector melting :(
 
I think the problem doesn't go away with the 2nd. battery.... I received a new battery and new frame locking parts, installed them, but made some changes:

In my case, after I went through the experience of a ruined connector, I tried to get a better insertion of the frame connector pins into the battery sockets (I removed one of the o'rings of the frame side male connector) and tied the battery firmly to the frame with two 2" wide velcro straps. Even with the changes made, I still think the connection is marginal at best.

I cannot complain about the service department: they are responsive and willing to address the issue; it is quite dissapointing that Juice does not acknowledge they have a design problem with the battery-to-frame electrical connection. Shouldn't the bike owners receive a permanent solution?
 
...it is quite dissapointing that Juice does not acknowledge they have a design problem with the battery-to-frame electrical connection. Shouldn't the bike owners receive a permanent solution?

@Court asked @Tora Harris about quality issues in the CrossCurrent S review. @Court, could you ask @Tora Harris about the battery connection issues in the Cross Current X review? Guaranteed big hit!
 
Us relatively new CCX owners have a year to get this sorted out. I'm hoping if indeed it is a problem that affects the majority of owners that they'll come up with some type of retrofit solution. Seems like both connectors are removable so you could just provide two new connectors and perhaps resolve this.

Again, my bike with around 300 miles is solid as a rock. I have not experienced any intermittent power issues. I don't think I'll go the strap route or the other remedies - I'll wait for a solution from Juiced if one is required.

This spring I'll put a couple thousand miles on it and should know more.
 
Us relatively new CCX owners have a year to get this sorted out. I'm hoping if indeed it is a problem that affects the majority of owners that they'll come up with some type of retrofit solution. Seems like both connectors are removable so you could just provide two new connectors and perhaps resolve this...
This spring I'll put a couple thousand miles on it and should know more.
My exact thoughts on the supposed issue...
Perhaps there is a design issue of concern. Some prudent steps may stabilize the issue like: strap supports, and minimizing installing and uninstalling the battery. We may be gaining an understanding that this issue could be the weight of a 14 series battery effecting an undue stress on the 2 pin electrical connection...
 
We may be gaining an understanding that this issue could be the weight of a 14 series battery effecting an undue stress on the 2 pin electrical connection...

Had the same thought. Prior bikes had smaller and lighter batteries. Reention also designed the battery, enclosure, and everything (light up LEDs, disabled USB port tweaked by Juiced)? Now comes the CCX with its custom Juiced-up battery (designed by Juiced's new 3D printing equipment in another video?) while still using the Reention enclosure which may have only designed and tested with the smaller and lighter batteries? :eek:

There was a clip in a Juiced video where a frame was being vigorously shaked. Put the new heavy battery in there and shake it up... The new battery works well on a desk with a multimeter...but can it withstand the shake test. :p
 
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