Do All eBike Motors Have Issues?

R

Recycled Cycler

New Member
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USA
I've been close to pulling trigger on a new road-oriented eBike several times, but then I plunge into reviews of the motors and it scares me away from a purchase. The road bikes I look at are $2,999 Scott Addict to the $5,000 Cervelo Rouvida (yes I have found one in my size at that price). In between are the comparable BMC and Orbea models. It all comes down to motor capability and reliability. I don't want to spend that much $money$ on a bike that is in the shop for motor/ electronics issues that no one can figure out shop or manufacturer. eBikes have that major technical complicated failure point requiring specialized support and wrenching that non-electric bikes don't have - the motor and motor electronics. That is a big game changer now - it's not just frame geometry and metal type, or Shimano vs Campy vs SRAM components that most every bike shop mechanic can work on.

So for me it comes down to MAHLE X20 or X35, or the Fazua Ride60. All seem to have frustrated owners venting on the 'net. Which is why I'm still electric-less.
 
Bosch powered bikes are developed to Bosch requirements, not merely assembled from Bosch parts. This creates a close collaboration between Bosch and the bike manufacturer that carries throughout the development/sales/support stages.

Stick to the big bike shop names and you'll be fine. Buy direct, take your chances.
 
My wife and I each have three e-bikes, all Specialized, and absolutely no problems.

If you buy a high quality bike, from a reputable shop, you’ll be fine.
 
Most big motor names are fairly good with warranty claims. Issues can arise between retailer, bike brand and motor manufacturer especially when in different countries and that needs to be sorted out better. But the issue is that most warranties are only 2 years and for me, I intend to have a bike a lot longer than that. So what are my options then for repairs/replacement out of warranty? It can suddenly become very expensive.

The EU passed the 'Right To Repair" electronics law to prevent electronics going to landfill and Bosch, based in Germany, have got a lot better for third party repairs, less secretive/proprietory then in the past. Shimano are not good at all at this and motors with issues often end up as landfill instead of allowing people to repair, very disappointing of them. Spesh are very good at warranty repairs/replacements and offer discounts for replacement motors outside warranty and in the UK at least seem to provide parts to 3rd party repair shops. Yamaha motors are very good for home repairs or 3rd party repair shops, as befitting an engineering powerhouse the motors are robust and simple to repair. Best of lot for DIY repairs are Bafang and Polini the Italian brand well known for motorbikes & scooter motors. Polini actually provide lists and schematics of all motor parts for their EP-3+ range with parts numbered for easy reordering if something breaks and seem to encourage home repairs, probably as they are an old company and provide spares for motor scooters and motor bikes in Italy. But unfortunately not many bikes outside of Italy use their EP-3+ motor which is a shame and more bike brands should follow their example.

Fazua make great SL motors but unfortunately their reliability is always under question, I'm not sure why they have this problem, maybe because they are a small company. Mahle, a huge automotive company did/does have issues with their lightweight hub motors (these were originally made by a Spanish company ebikemotion which Mahle bought several years ago) but those issues seem to be mostly in the past now I think.

Brose had huge issues with the first or second generation of the Spesh Levo motor but sorted it. I'm seeing a lot of new comments about reliability issues with the new Levo motor and an issue with the warranty due to a backlog from Spesh or lack of replacement motors. Teething problems I guess, it being so new, but a real pisser if you just spent a lot of money on a new Levo.

DJI/Avinox seem to have very good reliability so far and decent warranty, but early days.

The only answer I think is to move to Norway which might be an extreme reaction - except that by law, Norway has a 5 year guarantee on ebike motors, ALL e bike motors. Now that is something that should be worldwide, after all the damn things cost enough, reliability & worry should not be an issue.
 
I have been riding my Haibike with Yamaha motor for ten years now. No issues. At 15,000 miles I had seals and bearings replaced as preventive maintenance. Still going strong after about 20,000 miles...

My 3-year-old Yuba with Bosch motor has had no problems either. It has about 6,000 miles.
 
I don't know why you are limiting yourself to a mid-drive if you are a powerful head down flat back racer. My experience, no display, no software problems. I ride geared front hubs, which are now in US limited to 750 watts. Wimpy for grocery haulers as I ride, but the brands you mentioned are lighweight racers. You probably do not carry a 10 lb toolbox, 3 tubes, a spare tire, 40 oz water as I do. A 7 lb geared hub could pep up your hill climbing ability, or reduce your sensitivity to headwinds. 1 lb for the controller, 11 lb for a 17 AH battery. Yes, the gears do wear out. ~ 5000 miles. Clutches do wear out at about the same distance. My original controller developed a throttle error after 5 years, bad connection on the pcb. The replacement was $60. The motors in a wheel were $700 or less: just throw a worn one away and install another the same day. No hassles at a dealer. I buy my parts on ebay. If the Amazon truck has not chased you off the road, they have a good selection. I buy the controllers which require no display, which tend to be for scooters and rotate backwards until I reverse a couple of wires. Throttle only control, fine with me. No hill, no >13 mph headwind, I do not need electricity anyway.
 
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My Shengyi DGW22 has been running great. It came with my ride1up 700 series bike. I’ve installed a temp sensor and welded the clutch to take advantage of regen braking. I have a 1200w max with no problems.
 
Another general principle to consider is that generally-- all other factors being equal, which of course they are not!-- lower power, and lower torque will mean lower failure rate and longer lifespan.

There are a lot of hills where I ride, so I don't have a lot of miles on my 250W 40nm Shimano E5000-- maybe only 2,000-- but it has done a lot of vertical. There are no signs of any wear and tear.

My experience with the TSDZ2B was not good; I killed it in about 500 to 1000 miles. We don't know why, but unusual mounting (at my request) on a bike with a BB bracket that was too wide, and created unusual vectors of force, likely played a role. The housing cracked, which is a very rare and unusual issue. On a cargo bike or standard city bike, it probably would have had a far longer service life. Some bad luck is likely at work, too.
 
No issues in 2500 miles with my Bafang H550 rear hub motor in over a year and a half. It might be the most reliable part of my bike, short of the bullet-proof frame.
 
Catalyzt said:
Another general principle to consider is that generally-- all other factors being equal, which of course they are not!-- lower power, and lower torque will mean lower failure rate and longer lifespan.
Click to expand...
I've burned the winding on two 350 w bafang geared hubs, trying to climb hills with 40-60 lb groceries. 20 amp controller burns winding, 10 amp controller is too wimpy to climb even 10%. I weigh an enormous 160 lb, bike is 88 lb with spares tools & water. I bought a no name 750 w geared hub 2 years ago: burned the winding the first trip on the 12% grade of 80' rise. 1000 w & 1300 w motors have not burned the winding, but wear out clutches (Mac) or gears (ebikeling). I cannot buy these high wattage geared hubs anymore in the USA. My experience with aliexpress has been total failure. Trying today to modify a Mac motor clutch to work again. Going to pound dimples in the rollers to make them bigger.
 
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indianajo said:
I've burned the winding on two 350 w bafang geared hubs, trying to climb hills with 40-60 lb groceries. 20 amp controller burns winding, 10 amp controller is too wimpy to climb even 10%. I weigh an enormous 160 lb, bike is 88 lb with spares tools & water. I bought a no name 750 w geared hub 2 years ago: burned the winding the first trip on the 12% grade of 80' rise. 1000 w & 1300 w motors have not burned the winding, but wear out clutches (Mac) or gears (ebikeling). I cannot buy these high wattage geared hubs anymore in the USA. My experience with aliexpress has been total failure. Trying today to modify a Mac motor clutch to work again. Going to pound dimples in the rollers to make them bigger.
Click to expand...

Ya, 'all other factors' are NOT equal! Depends on the OP's use case scenario, mid drive vs. hub drive, etc.
 
We're talking about a few grand; it's not as though you are dropping $50k-$100k on an automobile. There will be a few rotten apples in every truckload of apples, but that is what the warranty is for. Why fret? Buy an ebike, have fun with it, time's a'wasting. If you happen to be in the one or two percent that have problems with the ebike, you will probably be one of those who writes reviews everywhere and blasts the brand (which is what you're reading lately) because the small percentage make the most noise. In other words, reviews can be needlessly off-putting unless you can determine that it is a widespread problem with the motor brand.... and that does not seem to be the case, from the viewpoint of folks on this forum. Buy an ebike sooner rather than later, and go riding!

I am springing for a new ebike with a Yamaha mid drive, simply because I want to ride some places (while on vacation) that are limited to class 1. Later this month I'll be riding up the Going to the Sun road in Glacier NP and riding the Route of the Hiawatha rail trail (up as well as down). Next year, possibly Acadia NP.
 
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A lotta brand motors mentioned in this thread, but most/ many must be on bikes other than the make/models I looked at: road bikes that look like road bikes from Cervelo/Trek/Scott/BMC/Orbea. Most of what I looked at were mid-motor Fazua or hub Mahle motors.

I rode both and ended up purchasing Cervelo with mid-motor Fazua because it performed better than the hub motor models I tested. Especially at lowest assist level. More natural feeling. Weight centered vs all in the rear. The other motors mentioned I never found in a road oriented bike.
 
stompandgo said:
The Rouvida is a great bike.
Click to expand...
The gravel version is on sale a lot of places now for $3,999. I might have purchased that model had there been one available locally to test ride, That, plus not sure how that component group compares to the road version with Rival and Red, though. I've always preferred SRAM (and Campy) to Shimano.
 
indianajo said:
I don't know why you are limiting yourself to a mid-drive if you are a powerful head down flat back racer. My experience, no display, no software problems. I ride geared front hubs, which are now in US limited to 750 watts. Wimpy for grocery haulers as I ride, but the brands you mentioned are lighweight racers. You probably do not carry a 10 lb toolbox, 3 tubes, a spare tire, 40 oz water as I do. A 7 lb geared hub could pep up your hill climbing ability, or reduce your sensitivity to headwinds. 1 lb for the controller, 11 lb for a 17 AH battery. Yes, the gears do wear out. ~ 5000 miles. Clutches do wear out at about the same distance. My original controller developed a throttle error after 5 years, bad connection on the pcb. The replacement was $60. The motors in a wheel were $700 or less: just throw a worn one away and install another the same day. No hassles at a dealer. I buy my parts on ebay. If the Amazon truck has not chased you off the road, they have a good selection. I buy the controllers which require no display, which tend to be for scooters and rotate backwards until I reverse a couple of wires. Throttle only control, fine with me. No hill, no >13 mph headwind, I do not need electricity anyway.
Click to expand...
Just what is it you are trying to say here anyway?
 
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