Got Juiced? RipCurrent S Log

[Jeff in WA]

My point exactly. Sweeping generalizations are not valuable because we don't have enough data. I'm not against talking about the problems. I'm against making sweeping generalizations on insufficient information.

Since when is this a "we" thing. This situation has absolutely nothing to do with you. As it stands, Juiced is not trying to solve this problem with any level customer satisfaction.

This all began almost two months ago. It has taking them almost six weeks to send a simple box to ship the battery to them.

The 'show the work' statement you demand is being met by logging the performance of the business. This is their game, not mine. I have zero control on how they choose to support their products.

I did my part, I supported them by purchasing their product. Now, they can do their part by honoring their warranty in a timely manner, if they even decide it is a warranty problem. Yet another factor I have no control over.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Since when is this a "we" thing. This situation has absolutely nothing to do with you. As it stands, Juiced is not trying to solve this problem with any level customer satisfaction.

This all began almost two months ago. It has taking them almost six weeks to send a simple box to ship the battery to them.

The 'show the work' statement you demand is being met by logging the performance of the business. This is their game, not mine. I have zero control on how they choose to support their products.

I did my part, I supported them by purchasing their product. Now, they can do their part by honoring their warranty in a timely manner, if they even decide it is a warranty problem. Yet another factor I have no control over.

More anecdotal evidence. That doesn't mean "false." I'm sure it's accurate. But a story here and a story there are not data.

You had a bad experience with Juiced's customer service. That doesn't mean they aren't providing good customer service to everyone else.

Expecting any company -- not just ebike companies -- to have 100% customer satisfaction is just naive.

 

[Justin Fischer]

I've had my own issues with Juiced support (A lot of them, and a lot of the same ones people here have). Despite people with no stake in the company defending them to the grave (Why are you defending a corporation so fervently? You owe them nothing. They owe US, the customers, answers and support.) I've been inspired by your thread to start my own. I just ordered my 4th Juiced bike, a brand new CCX, and will be starting a thread shortly with my own log. I should have started one for my last commuter bike (A first gen CCS that I sold recently) which had it's own issues with a wide variety of parts. Hopefully I'll have a better experience this time around!

 

[Uuzd4S]

Since when is this a "we" thing. This situation has absolutely nothing to do with you. As it stands, Juiced is not trying to solve this problem with any level customer satisfaction.

This all began almost two months ago. It has taking them almost six weeks to send a simple box to ship the battery to them.

The 'show the work' statement you demand is being met by logging the performance of the business. This is their game, not mine. I have zero control on how they choose to support their products.

I did my part, I supported them by purchasing their product. Now, they can do their part by honoring their warranty in a timely manner, if they even decide it is a warranty problem. Yet another factor I have no control over.

As an owner of a RipCurrent S I can cert

Since when is this a "we" thing. This situation has absolutely nothing to do with you. As it stands, Juiced is not trying to solve this problem with any level customer satisfaction.

This all began almost two months ago. It has taking them almost six weeks to send a simple box to ship the battery to them.

The 'show the work' statement you demand is being met by logging the performance of the business. This is their game, not mine. I have zero control on how they choose to support their products.

I did my part, I supported them by purchasing their product. Now, they can do their part by honoring their warranty in a timely manner, if they even decide it is a warranty problem. Yet another factor I have no control over.

I am having a similar experience with Juiced as well Jeff of WA. Purchased my RipCurrent S during their "Black Friday" sale event last November. My first Ebike and I thought I'd done my homework before purchasing. Yea, while Juiced offers the ever elusive "Good Bang for your Buck", I regret not having read the Ebike forums.
Juiced has well documented Quality Control and warranty problems in other Ebike forums as well . . . and, I'm at the point of bringing in the Federal Trade Commission on Consumer Fraud and the California States District Attorney also on Consumer Fraud. I've had 100% positive and quick results from the FTC and far less than that with Juiced.
That said, my issue with Juiced is with defective Front Forks which were a different brand than the ones advertised when I purchased the bike. The bike was too dangerous to ride more than twice so after much wrangling with Juiced to no avail I replaced them with new Bolany's (yea, cheap but try to find decent Fat Forks on a straight 1 1/8" steer tube) which cured the problem.
I like the bike and except for their dysfunctional customer support and running Quality Control issues all else works as advertised. This bike is a Blast to ride but it cost me $200 bucks additional to get it there because of defective equipment right outta the box. It's for that reason I'll recommend that those interested look elsewhere. This Ebike industry is changing right before our eyes and there's some more than able contenders for an Ebike with these features at this price.

 

[robertabooey]

Chiming in to say I've had a dreadful experience with Juiced customer support as well. Like, 3 months off a brand new bike godawful experience. I'll post a log once I get the bike working again...

 

[Uuzd4S]

Yea Timpo, I'd priced a few bike shops to cut and fit the replacement Fat Forks I was forced to buy. Portland Ore has Lots of bike shops but the "conventional" shops gave me the feeling Ebikes were somehow "flawed" and the Ebike shops quoted high prices.
So, I went down the YouTube rabbit hole on how to change Front Forks . . . bought one speciality tool (the star nut setting tool) and overall saved enough to buy a set of road tires in addition to learning some basic bike maintenance.
During my unsuccessful back and forth with Juiced trying to get some sort of concession on the original Forks I was warned several times not to take this RCS offroad. Juiced is apparently aware there is a weakness in the Forks on this very heavy Ebike but did nothing but blow smoke up my arse. So I basically dont need the offroad tires this bike came with, they're just for appearances.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Yea Timpo, I'd priced a few bike shops to cut and fit the replacement Fat Forks I was forced to buy. Portland Ore has Lots of bike shops but the "conventional" shops gave me the feeling Ebikes were somehow "flawed" and the Ebike shops quoted high prices.
So, I went down the YouTube rabbit hole on how to change Front Forks . . . bought one speciality tool (the star nut setting tool) and overall saved enough to buy a set of road tires in addition to learning some basic bike maintenance.
During my unsuccessful back and forth with Juiced trying to get some sort of concession on the original Forks I was warned several times not to take this RCS offroad. Juiced is apparently aware there is a weakness in the Forks on this very heavy Ebike but did nothing but blow smoke up my arse. So I basically dont need the offroad tires this bike came with, they're just for appearances.

I genuinely sympathize with the problems you've had.

I've got to say this, though: nowhere do they claim that the RipCurrent is an off-road bike. There are reasons to like fat tires that have nothing to do with rugged terrain. Appearance is one; comfort is another; and somewhat better performance on bike trails (not mountain bike trails) with, say, a gravel surface come to mind. When they told you not to take it off road, they weren't trying to rip you off, they were informing you about the intended design characteristics.

 

[Uuzd4S]

Their promotion sure looks to be off road capable.

In the snow, beach, mountain, gravel, etc.

Amen Timpo . . . The promotional advertisements for this model makes all appearances as a Mountain Bike rather than the commuter/cruiser it actually is.
Juiced knows these forks are too light for this bike. They swapped from a brand name Front Fork to a no name fork mid production and made a point of reminding me the stanchions were increased in diameter to 32mm.
There's a fellow on this blog or another that recieved the same "no name" Fork swap with the heavier stanchions but they broke in two at the lower slider. In Juiced defense they replaced them with what, I dont know.
There are No patent infringement laws in China which is why you see so many different name brand goods having identical looks & features of another name brand. Amazon has such a problem with this the FTC is investigating them.
The no name Forks I removed off this RCS were flawed to the point of being unsafe to ride. Even moderate braking caused the sliders to drop back relative to the stanchions asemetricly. The Forks would visibly bend back much further on the left side than the right. This, in effect, twisted the entire wheel/tire assy to the left while the top of the tire contacted the inside the left Fork. In addition to this there was audible "clunking" (which you could feel as well) when braking was initiated and again when released.
It was scary and I was only willing to ride the bike twice in this condition. Juiced tried to convince me this was normal over a dozen correspondences with their tech services. The Bolany Forks I installed were identical to the one removed except for the decals on the Bolany's. They work great and without clunking and very little twist towards the brake disk side (which IS normal).
I'd suggested to Juiced that maybe the Steer Tube bearings were not drawn tight within the frame Head Tube causing the clunking. This was not the case as all the historisis and noise were coming from the Forks themselves. The no name forks were either missing some internal parts, mis-assembled or just a Really Bad knock off of the Bolany's.
I dont mind restricting myself to improved bike trails or well marked bike lanes with some occasional light gravel or dirt (Portland is good about this) but as much as this Ebike is portrayed as a Mountain Bike, it is not. It's like buying a truck or SUV and being told it's for street use only as your driving off the lot.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Timpo and Uuzd4s, y'all sure have a different idea of what mountain biking/off-roading is than I do, if that's what that video looks like to you.

What it looks like to me is pretty pictures that create an image of a fun bike that is not a road bike. There are no rocks, tree roots, twisty trails, steep ascents or descents, nothing technical at all.

Now I see how you got fooled. You took fantasy for reality. That's kinda what advertising does. Come-ons, not promises. Let the buyer beware.

My Harleys never had sexy women draped all over them, but that's what the pictures looked like. Dang it!

 

[linklemming]

Timpo and Uuzd4s, y'all sure have a different idea of what mountain biking/off-roading is than I do, if that's what that video looks like to you.

What it looks like to me is pretty pictures that create an image of a fun bike that is not a road bike. There are no rocks, tree roots, twisty trails, steep ascents or descents, nothing technical at all.

Now I see how you got fooled. You took fantasy for reality. That's kinda what advertising does. Come-ons, not promises. Let the buyer beware.

My Harleys never had sexy women draped all over them, but that's what the pictures looked like. Dang it!

And thats the thing, Mountain Biking can be alot of different things to different people. I was a hardcore MTBr in my earlier years which has tapered off as I get older....its all relative

Offroad can also mean alot of different things . For me it means "anything not paved".

You mention all this criteria but perhaps we need to evaluate further. Rocks (how big?), tree roots (how big?), twisty trails (how twisty?), steep (define steep?).

The posted videos do 'imply' things but its all just camera angles.

I actually ride my CCX(2.3F/2/1R) in ALOT worse than whats in the video. Just today, I encountered MANY rocks, tree roots, twisty trails with switchbacks and a few steep sections (15%). I wouldnt consider any of this MTBing but more 'gravel riding' as its things I see guys on gravel bikes do. I have done these same things/trails on rigid fork MTBs for 20 years. Im sure the CCX fork which is a POS will eventually fail and get replaced with a rigid fork. I do have many MTB trails nearby which I would never even consider on the CCX.

While I realize Im using my CCX way out of its designated parameters, I would expect the RCS to 'at least' be able to do the same. The blanket statement of 'not for offroad use' just seems ludicrous for a fat tire bike. Even court 'technically' does some offroading in the RCS review video.

Seems like Juiced needs to get this fork issue resolved. The pictures of the fork breakage is something I have never seen in my MTB years. And for that matter, why even bother with a suspension fork on a fat tire bike (IMHO, not needed and just for marketing). While the RCS doesnt have the best spec components, here is nothing I see keeping it from 'mild offroad use' other than the fork. My CCX is built like a tank (with weight to match) and handles 'mild offroad/gravel rides' just fine. About all I would update would be going to a rigid fork for more offroad reliability/capability.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Timpo and Linklemming, y'all are justifiying your own gullibility and blaming Juiced because you can't tell advertising from design. I get it. It's fun to blame other people for my shortcomings! I just try not to display my foolishness so publicly.

 

[linklemming]

With all that adventure riding promotions, you're insisting that RCS is strictly on-road only, perhaps for something like getting groceries, city commuting, etc?
Oh come on..

Believing this line of reasoning would take someone who is truly gullible

The whole "but Juiced never said you can go off road" seemed odd to me. Now he is doubling down, and insulting us who dare to question it.

Seems like he is just projecting at this point.

 

[Sojourn7ers]

As a new RCS owner myself who commutes almost daily and has put 150+ miles on my bike in 6 days, I thought I might weigh in.

During my 2-3 months of researching eBikes, the RCS pretty quickly made it to the top of my list. At no point was I under the impression that the RCS would be any kind of mountain bike equivalent. Partly because, as someone who has a mountain bike and has done a fair bit of mountain biking, the thought of taking a bike this large and heavy on anything other than a well manicured trail, seems like a waste of effort. I saw it as a commuter bike that would also be capable of off-road riding on well manicured trails or just across my own 10 acre property. I have ridden my RCS through fields, around my pond, on highways, country roads, city streets, up and down my gravel driveway, on sidewalks and pedestrian trails, over potholes and rough roads, up and down curbs, and in all those situations it has performed as well (in many cases better) than I expected.

I do not race around at 20+ mph speeds when I am off road (meaning over any kind of rough terrain in the absence of any kind of well packed or paved trail) and I do not believe that this bike would hold up well to that kind of riding. If that is what you are looking to do, I would suggest looking elsewhere at a bike with components more suitable to that kind of riding.

I do confidently travel at speeds of 20-30 mph on roads of varying condition and have had no issues at all. When I am off-road, I keep the speed at or below 15 mph and feel the bike is well suited to the task.

I am not interested in saying anyone was gullible or foolish in their impressions or that anyone here is right or wrong, just wanted to give my impressions up to this point for anyone who might be in the same boat I was and trying to figure out if the RCS is a good fit for them.

And who knows, I may be singing a completely different tune by the time I put the next 150 - 200 miles on my bike. Only time will tell. I am by no means an expert, and make no claims to be one. These are simply my experiences as I can best communicate them.

Happy Riding!

*Edit: So, full disclosure, I did just see a sponsored post on Instagram for the RipCurrent and the juicedbikes comment on the ad is a quote credited to eBike Report that reads, "A fast & powerful off-road adventurer". So I would agree an argument could be made for some "misinformation." I think it ultimately comes down to what your definition of "off-road adventurer" entails.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Believing this line of reasoning would take someone who is truly gullible

The whole "but Juiced never said you can go off road" seemed odd to me. Now he is doubling down, and insulting us who dare to question it.

Seems like he is just projecting at this point.

"He" thinks you have to work pretty hard to believe that the use of fantasy in advertising constitutes a warranty. Some call it insulting, some call it observation.

 

[teskow]

Hey guys quit fighting and ride. You guys are arguing semantics just for the fun of it.
I live in the Southwest desert and ride my RC comfortable year around. I do it on some pretty dang rough trails but take it easy and don't ride like an Evil Kenevil either. I was born and raised in the Northwoods and rode off road all the time. go course that was on logging roads and such. No mountains or big boulders to jump.
I think common sense will be obvious that the RC or RCS is not designed for rock climbing and rock jumping etc.
Jeez guys it is advertizing and we all know you can't take advertising bitterly, it's a no brainer.

 

[Slevin]

Hey Jeff, what's the latest, did you get a replacement battery back?