Thanks again. I will add some washers to my crank to try to center the chainring. Hopefully it doesn't screw up my chainline too much
Haibike Urban Plus 2017 - The most exciting Urban E-bike!
- Thread starter Moonshine
- Start date
Thanks again. I will add some washers to my crank to try to center the chainring. Hopefully it doesn't screw up my chainline too much
Khaled
New Member
Although the supermoto x on this bike is nice I was wondering if they are upgradable to a larger size. For example is it possible to fit 700c x 51c tires? I would imagine the fork would have to be changed but what about the rear? something like these would be nice:
https://www.landrys.com/product/specialized-electrak-2.0-armadillo-reflect-307067-1.htm
https://www.landrys.com/product/specialized-electrak-2.0-armadillo-reflect-307067-1.htm
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You can run 700C if you change the wheelset. Super Moto X at 650B x 2.4 is much much larger than 700x51C and uses the "balloon bike" effect
Manu
Active Member
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Spain (Galicia)
Sometimes the front derailleur is hit by the feet or an object and loses the separation or width of the chain step because it has deformed inwards. Friction is heard when moving. The solution is to take a pliers and straighten the derailleur again until achieve the original separation.
Ebiker2018
New Member
That’s your chain on the biggest chainring of the rear cassette. It’s normal.
I have a 20 Speed Haibike Trekking and I had to spend around 90 Minutes to get the front derailleur perfectly aligned so that 10 out of 10 speeds would be available on the lower front chainring without ever touching the ‘banana’ of the front derailleur. It just barely fits... LBS said ‘it would never work’ and configured it for 8 out of 10 gears at the first free tune up. They were obviously wrong because the factory setting allowed 10 out of 10 gears without any contact with the front derailleur. So it was just a question of being a hard head and trying until it worked. It’s a setting that requires a good amount of precision.
Urban Plus owners don’t have to deal with this type of problem. So just enjoy the bike.
You did not read the thread I was responding to, there is nothing wrong with my bike. I just posted photos of the highest and lowest gear engagement for reference. If I understand what you are saying your shop is correct and you are being contrary to your owner's manual on gear selection. No worries a jumped chain is easy to put back on... as long as it doesn't destroy your derailleur. Cheers!
Ebiker2018
New Member
I only put the derailleur back the way it was factory shipped... and tuned to perfection. There’s a reason it was like that. Nothing contrarian. Just asking that my bike be given back to me the way it was. Nothing more, nothing less. Those 10 gears are now usable, which is what I wanted. I’ve used the bike for a year. 11,000 kilometers. Zero derailleur issues, zero chain issues, still the same cassette. Enjoy your bike.
Adjustment is one thing, you should be able to enjoy proper adjustment. The use of all 10 gears is contrary to page 55. of the Winora manual. Enjoy your perfectly tuned bike. Cheers!
I have almost 500 miles on the bike now and I wanted to give some impressions. If you're on the fence about this bike, assuming you can still find one, I would endorse it without reservation. I'm 6ft 1" and weigh 267lbs, 43 years old and very out of shape. The entire purpose of this bike was to get me active without getting discouraged, and perhaps commute to work. Getting another car off the road also mattered to me, as well as the potential savings it represented.
I managed to locate the last large UrbanPlus in my city. The company I bought if from is largely know as trend seller of whatever seems to be hot at the moment. As such I had very low expectations of these people understanding what they were selling or their ability to service it. Fortunately I have technical background and spent my years in university as a bike mechanic. I took a quick test ride, negotiated the price a bit, paid and left knowing I'll be handling any issues myself.
After I got home I immediately broke out the tool set and started going over the bike. As expected adjustments and tweeks were needed. Probably 20% of the fasteners weren't tight at all, not even fully seated and showing threads. The front fender top bolt was much too long and bottomed out before tightening up. A stainless steel washer behind the mounting tab solved that. I filled the tires, set up the controls and seat height. I downloaded the app and paired my phone, then took the bike for a blast.
First impressions: It's fast. It has a high quality feel to it. The ride quality is much better than I expected. The brakes are awesome. The handlebar mounted control buttons are cheap and flimsy. The frame geometry fit me well and it handles great. The various power modes worked well. The Cobi app worked very well too. I had planned to do a couple laps around the block and ended up riding 9 miles! Absolutely I was getting exercise and covering meaningful distance while doing it. This thing is meant to commute!
I knew a few accessories were going to be required. I installed a much more comfortable seat from my old bike, a SunTour suspension seat post, a Topeak trunk bag, and suspension stem from RedShift Sports. All accessories have lived up to their claims and made a truly beneficial improvement to the bike. I will need to change the pedals, the supplied pedals are so narrow the outside of my foot hangs off the side. Additionally I bought a tire pump, patch kit, and bike multi-tool. I also carry around a few cable straps, some duct tape, chain lube, and non-bike specific multi-tool.
Riding to work will result in a 22 mile round trip. I wanted to see what I was capable of ahead of time. On a day off I rode to work, and then kept riding, and kept riding, and then much later thought I should head home. I rode almost 30 miles that day, stopping to have a drink of water now and then, and watch the ducks in the canals. I rode the whole time in the highest setting and got home having used only the top half of the battery. I'm impressed.
I've been commuting to work regularly now, not everyday as my legs are still building up to it, but soon I will be. The bike simply eats miles. I've seen 27mph on the speedo, but 19 to 20mph seems to be a good zone where I'm really covering ground and not exhausting myself. I've also found that riding with a higher pedal cadence results in much more efficient performance. I'm still adjusting to this and often find myself trying to torque on the bike rather than let the rpm build the power.
To date the bike has had no failures or issues of any kind. It's thoroughly pleasing to ride to work enjoying the open pathways, logging my performance and fitness improvements, all while listening to my favourite tunes on Spotify. I arrived energised, awake and feeling good. So far the Haibike UrbanPlus has not only been a good buy, but also a good decision.
I managed to locate the last large UrbanPlus in my city. The company I bought if from is largely know as trend seller of whatever seems to be hot at the moment. As such I had very low expectations of these people understanding what they were selling or their ability to service it. Fortunately I have technical background and spent my years in university as a bike mechanic. I took a quick test ride, negotiated the price a bit, paid and left knowing I'll be handling any issues myself.
After I got home I immediately broke out the tool set and started going over the bike. As expected adjustments and tweeks were needed. Probably 20% of the fasteners weren't tight at all, not even fully seated and showing threads. The front fender top bolt was much too long and bottomed out before tightening up. A stainless steel washer behind the mounting tab solved that. I filled the tires, set up the controls and seat height. I downloaded the app and paired my phone, then took the bike for a blast.
First impressions: It's fast. It has a high quality feel to it. The ride quality is much better than I expected. The brakes are awesome. The handlebar mounted control buttons are cheap and flimsy. The frame geometry fit me well and it handles great. The various power modes worked well. The Cobi app worked very well too. I had planned to do a couple laps around the block and ended up riding 9 miles! Absolutely I was getting exercise and covering meaningful distance while doing it. This thing is meant to commute!
I knew a few accessories were going to be required. I installed a much more comfortable seat from my old bike, a SunTour suspension seat post, a Topeak trunk bag, and suspension stem from RedShift Sports. All accessories have lived up to their claims and made a truly beneficial improvement to the bike. I will need to change the pedals, the supplied pedals are so narrow the outside of my foot hangs off the side. Additionally I bought a tire pump, patch kit, and bike multi-tool. I also carry around a few cable straps, some duct tape, chain lube, and non-bike specific multi-tool.
Riding to work will result in a 22 mile round trip. I wanted to see what I was capable of ahead of time. On a day off I rode to work, and then kept riding, and kept riding, and then much later thought I should head home. I rode almost 30 miles that day, stopping to have a drink of water now and then, and watch the ducks in the canals. I rode the whole time in the highest setting and got home having used only the top half of the battery. I'm impressed.
I've been commuting to work regularly now, not everyday as my legs are still building up to it, but soon I will be. The bike simply eats miles. I've seen 27mph on the speedo, but 19 to 20mph seems to be a good zone where I'm really covering ground and not exhausting myself. I've also found that riding with a higher pedal cadence results in much more efficient performance. I'm still adjusting to this and often find myself trying to torque on the bike rather than let the rpm build the power.
To date the bike has had no failures or issues of any kind. It's thoroughly pleasing to ride to work enjoying the open pathways, logging my performance and fitness improvements, all while listening to my favourite tunes on Spotify. I arrived energised, awake and feeling good. So far the Haibike UrbanPlus has not only been a good buy, but also a good decision.
markybolton
Member
[QUOTE="HaiGuy, post: 149472, member: 18411"
I've also found that riding with a higher pedal cadence results in much more efficient performance. I'm still adjusting to this and often find myself trying to torque on the bike rather than let the rpm build the power.
[/QUOTE]
I have the same problem too. I try to set the torque and expect the motor to accelerate and it doesn't but if I change it to easy pedaling it zooms. If I can just get it down pat then I can average 21 to 24 mph but old habits are hard to break. I was thinking about switching the front chainring to a 52 which would make it less easy but it would require a spacer and a 5 to 4 ring adapter. Love the bike too. One thing I found is if you load down the rack over the approved weight then the light assembly under the fender will rub against the tire and will not easily spring back.
I've also found that riding with a higher pedal cadence results in much more efficient performance. I'm still adjusting to this and often find myself trying to torque on the bike rather than let the rpm build the power.
[/QUOTE]
I have the same problem too. I try to set the torque and expect the motor to accelerate and it doesn't but if I change it to easy pedaling it zooms. If I can just get it down pat then I can average 21 to 24 mph but old habits are hard to break. I was thinking about switching the front chainring to a 52 which would make it less easy but it would require a spacer and a 5 to 4 ring adapter. Love the bike too. One thing I found is if you load down the rack over the approved weight then the light assembly under the fender will rub against the tire and will not easily spring back.
Ebiker2018
New Member
Nope. Not what the manual says. Use of all gears for "your" bike is not recommended, my bike though only has the 1x10 gear set, so it is like the Immaculate Conception of being perfect. Cheers! Enjoy your seemingly tuned bike, but not so such perfectly tuned but fooling you into believing it is perfectly tuned so that you don't notice... the strain on your chain.
Ebiker2018
New Member
It would seem that the bike in my opinion "likes" the 20 mph speed zone. It takes a lot of work to get to the max assisted speed in relation to the lower speeds. I have the super large style pedals from pedalist and they are great. It takes a little change in the way you ride because the pedal will be lower to the ground when taking corners while pedalling.
Countrygent
New Member
After grinding through every scrap of info I could find I pulled the trigger on an Urban Plus with Amego. I think the value proposition is extremely good - subject to people finding other awesome deals with particular bikes elsewhere, pricing for this brand and quality is really competitive by my survey of what I could find on offer. As for the worries about the TranzX platform, yes, discontinued with Haibike in North America. Accell Group sold a ton of TranzX bikes under the Winora Radar branding in Europe, and my best guess is Bosch led a concerted effort to squeeze them out of Cobi integration and completely out of Haibike if not other brands (including Winora in Europe), because the lower price point was stealing their market share. Look for a Bosch/Cobi offering in one of the Accell brands in North America, (maybe Raleigh?), coming some day soon. I'd also predict or guess we might see TranzX reappear in some of the off-brands - such as Volt, and how long before there is a Kirkland Signature Urban Commuter ebike? To hit their price point a reliable Taiwanese motor might be perfect. Not unlike how the motor scooter market developed in brands like Piaggio filling in underneath Vespa pricing, with lots of Taiwanese components, but supervised by the same manufacturing group as Vespa. The smartphone/ebike integration is an obvious market - including much better security like disturbance push alerts, GPS tracking, who knows what other apps and ideas. So my bet is there will be TranzX and Cobi support for at least several years to come. We shall see. I also think it is the end of the line here for deciding to get one - seems like inventory is shrinking and soon they will be done.
markybolton
Member
I don't find that too much of a problem. I think it is getting in the right grove ( pedaling and gearing) and I can obtain it. I can pretty much run a comfortable 24 and 25 but admit 26-28 takes work but then again if you wanted it to be easy then you should have bought a throttle bike.
If you look at the new 2019 Haibikes (https://www.e-bikeshop.co.uk/blog/post/haibike-2019-electric-bike-range/) then you will see that Haibike is going in a new direction. They are using a whole new motor so Bosch doesn't have all that much influence. In fact, if you look at their new line, there are remenants of the Urban plus from the rack, mobile interface , battery in frame to the tires. I don't think TranzX was discontinued because it was a bad motor or it had many problems. I think it was a corporate decision to go into a new direction and they used TranzX as trial balloon to see how receptive people were new design and features. If you got your Urban Plus cheap then thank your lucky stars because i AM SURE YOU WILL WANT TO TRADE UP WHEN YOU SEE THEIR NEW LINE. The pain of selling a my Haibike for about 400 -600 less then what I paid for it after two years is so much better then crying about 2500 to 3500 if you bought some of their trekking models or Urban S at full price.
Enjoy your bike, customize it and ride it hard. Get your money out of it and don't think twice about other models out there, it doesn't matter. E-bikes are like computers, they are only significant until somethings more advanced replace them and with more people buying it will happen with greater frequency. Bosch may be the king at the moment but competitors are plotting in the shadows and if they don't innovate and get cheaper then they will go the way of IBM in the pc market. Personally that makes me love my Urban Plus even more when I think of all the money I save and I can invest in a new ebike in a few years with features such as anti-lock brakes, double chainrings, motorcycle like headlight, in-frame rear brake and tail light, GPS alarm and tracking, more powerful hill climbing and longer battery range for a price that will be less then what people are paying for premium bikes that are no way near so equipped.
Countrygent
New Member
I think you are absolutely right about advances coming Marky, but I doubt my budget for a bike will never be anywhere near what those Flyon bikes are priced at in 2019. The old dilemma about any evolving technology, do we buy now or wait for features and price drops? Back in the 1980’s VCR’s, then desktop computers, then laptops and cellphones, faxes, tablets, cars all along, now ebike ... at my age waiting might be losing a significant proportion of the biking seasons I have left in my tank! I’m pretty happy with the Urban Plus deal (buyers bias maybe). I’m guessing the ebike business will also be innovating downmarket to more consumer aggressive pricing as the market expands. And agree with you completely Haibike was sharpening their focus, so one of the other Accell brands like Raleigh probably poised to be more in my wheelhouse of a nice urban commuter/sport crossover - the ebike equivalent of the unibody compact SUV?
markybolton
Member
Good thing about the Urban Plus is that you can ride something you don't have to be rich to afford but still feel like you have a million bucks. I swap seats and will probably do handlebars and gears when I have some extra money to splurge instead of buying a whole new bike. Even if I won the lottery and could afford a new bike, I would probably keep this for awhile, its been so much fun. Using it made me forget about buying a newer car, it is so great trying to justify buying a Burley Travoy to get more storage than purchasing a SUV that will take a big bite out of my pocketbook.
bob armani
Well-Known Member
My 2 cents-E-bikes are not really an investment like a rare Lambo or expensive art or even commodities. They are purely for enjoyment and good health and what you get in return from them by far outweighs thinking of getting your money back from it. It pays for itself on so many other levels. Even if you get half of your money back after a couple years is well worth the investment. I just say 'hello fun' and take the high road and go out on a high note. Enjoy!
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Gator
Well-Known Member
I am in full agreement with your statement, but I would like to add that with my bike commuting I can make a tank of gas last two weeks instead of one week so that is $20-25 a week in savings.
Countrygent
New Member
With you on that too Bob - any consumer purchase I make I don’t really think about resale, except maybe for cars. My assumption today with the pace of battery and electric motor innovation is that technology will render this year’s ebikes obsolete much sooner than this year’s conventional bikes. Maybe there will be retrofit improvements available, but the risk is frame housing sizing for batteries and motors change, in which case, in a few years the value will likely be limited. So be it, I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Like you say, I hope to have a lot of enjoyment in the meantime. I’m a big believer that expenses on experiences, even ones with zero financial recovery - travel, special events, fine dining, adventure ... is an investment in a full and interesting life. With material things the usual resolution seems to be a friends and family transaction so I get back maybe a fraction of value or make a gift but I get to see somebody I like enjoy the same thing after my turn is over - and I try and take good care of anything I have so they will get something nice.
bob armani
Well-Known Member
Country-Very well said. Invest in yourself while being prudent and it will always pay you back 10 fold, better than any money making investment, etc. Once you get in your comfort zone financially, spend more time dong things for yourself and the people you love, instead of working 60+ hours a week and only getting a pay check is my philosophy. I myself, make E-biking a large part of my lifestyle, because it encourages me to get out on a bike more frequently. It fits well into keeping fit and moving forward. Enjoy!
markybolton
Member
I really like that thought and approach! I thimk it is beneficial in life general. Regardless if you own a ebike or not!
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