Hello all that own a Trek!

[Allant+Wizard]

Hi Everybody!

I am a Trek technician and manage the service department at an authorized Trek dealer. I sell and most importantly, service many Trek bicycles. I have extensive experience working on Trek and Electra branded Bosch bicycles and have many answers to important questions you have behind wait times, repair, and quick fixes.

I will use this thread as well as PMs to answer specific questions.

Just please be aware that I do not have all of the answers. Anything I provide is a reflection of the knowledge I have gained from working directly with the bikes themselves and the manufacturers. And just to be totally transparent, I do not OWN a Trek/Bosch bicycle. I love riding my non-electric road and mountain bikes on group rides, tours, and trails and I have found that eBikes are just not the thing for me quite yet.

 

[GuruUno]

So then newbie, whats your professional opinion regarding this issue:?

Allant+ 9.9S Carbon Fiber Fork, Head Tube, Headset, etc.

Last week I hit a pretty big pothole, bent my front rim and took a dump. Fortunately, only I had a minimal facial injury as the brunt of the spill was absorbed by my helmet, and then 1 end of my handlebars. Traveling about 5-7 MPH. Got up, brushed off, verified all was good on the bike and...

electricbikereview.com

 

[Allant+Wizard]

Well, first of all, I'm glad you're ok. There is a lot that can go wrong falling at any speed so I do hope your recovery went well. As far as the bicycle, there are many things at play. Ultimately, it appears the Knockblock stopper has sheared off along with the screw head. This poses a pretty big challenge to the tech due to the nature of drilling out a screw in a carbon frame for replacement. I have done it before but it is difficult and the risk to the bike frame is relatively high. More so than Aluminum.

As for your question of having seen this before, I absolutely have. Knockblock is designed to protect the frame in the event of a crash that would cause the fork to swing around hard enough to damage the mainframe. In this case, it was successful in its prime directive. If it had failed, you would be buying a new frame out of pocket. I have repaired many Fuel and Remedy Mountain Bikes as well as a handful of Madone's that have had this piece break. As for extracting the screw, that will be up to the LBS.

Just for reference on Knockblock, it is used on all of Trek's higher-end Carbon, FS Mountain Bikes, and the Madone SLR to protect the frame from damage and is a replaceable part. The only saving grace is that Knockblock in most cases is not REQUIRED for the bicycle to function. I will have to check an Allant I have at the store to see if that still holds true but every single bike otherwise is fully functional without the Knockblock chip.

As far as wait time and the store. There is a lot of employee turn over due to COVID as well as the sheer quantity of traffic and work arriving in LBS's is insanity. The average wait time in my store is a 2 week turn around with 1month for most warranty claims due to inspection time, shipping, parts availability, and repair time. I currently have a work queue of around 100 work orders waiting to be completed and one fulltime mechanic including myself to handle all of it.

I do hope this helps!

 

[Dallant]

Welcome and I’m curious if you’ve seen many of the Allants having battery lock issues? I recently had my newer Allant+7 battery lock fail to release the battery. My local shop guy fixed it quickly but I’ve heard others have had batteries fall out. Are these locks faulty, misadjusted, or what?

 

[Lowndes]

..... but I’ve heard others have had batteries fall out. Are these locks faulty, misadjusted, or what?

I am one of the guys that has mentioned batteries falling out. It was on my Allant 8S. I brought it to my local Trek-Authorized shops. The adjustments made there have made the battery locking work fantastically. If anyone else has issues, I would absolutely recommend doing the same.

 

[Clydesdale]

I am one of the guys that has mentioned batteries falling out. It was on my Allant 8S. I brought it to my local Trek-Authorized shops. The adjustments made there have made the battery locking work fantastically. If anyone else has issues, I would absolutely recommend doing the same.

My battery is not falling out, but it does lose connectivity to the motor when hitting bumps. Did did you have this issue also? If so, did the adjustments stop that as well.

 

[Allant+Wizard]

Welcome and I’m curious if you’ve seen many of the Allants having battery lock issues? I recently had my newer Allant+7 battery lock fail to release the battery. My local shop guy fixed it quickly but I’ve heard others have had batteries fall out. Are these locks faulty, misadjusted, or what?

Ill answer all of the battery questions in one go. From the factory, the battery RIB system for the allants are adjusted but it is only a partial adjustment. We are trained to re align the battery using the security screws at the top and base of the system before the customer takes delivery of the bike. The problem is not with the bicycle but instead up to the LBS and technicians who are working on it.

There have been webinars and service training revolving around the issue and from my personal experience, it is very easy to do the adjustment and very common to see shops do the full build improperly.

As for lock barrels failing, that would be an issue with ABUS and can be submitted by your LBS.

 

[Clydesdale]

Thanks so much. This is fantastic information. I'll take the bike to my LBS for the adjustments. Hopefully it won't take too long.

 

[Dallant]

Thanks so much. This is fantastic information. I'll take the bike to my LBS for the adjustments. Hopefully it won't take too long.

My local Trek guy and I spend about 15 minutes trying to use the key to unlock the battery to no avail. I took it in to him late that next morning and he got the battery out and the adjustments finished in 3 hours.

 

[Dallant]

Curious about system updates. What’s the latest version out? What are the key operating parameters affected? Are we missing any new “features” if we don’t get one?

 

[Alaskan]

@Allant+Wizard I am one of the many Allant+9.9s owners who has had more than one rear hub clutch failure. The first one occurred after just 300 miles when it started making a grinding noise in rhythm with the bike's speed, not the crank cadence. The tech at Trek mistakenly identified the noise as coming from the motor. After installing the replacement motor from Bosch, he rode the bike around the store to test for noise and while doing so, the clutch in the hub failed. As I understand it upon removal and disassembly, he discovered that one of the springs on a pawl had come loose, got into the clutch assembly and trashed it. He rebuilt the hub with all new parts and that ended up developing an even louder noise within another 150 miles. There are many 9.9s owners here who are waiting for a replacement hub, a few like me have gone through more than one in under 500 miles.

The tech identified a hub made by Onyx as an ideal replacement, with its spag clutch, it has instant engagement is whisper quiet and has ceramic bearings for super low drag or friction. Onyx has developed a microspline version of their "classic" model which is heavier than the Vesper version which has been pared down to reduce weight. They felt that the classic frame would hold up better to ebike forces. They started shipping these out recently. Some riders already have them and love them. Mine just shipped yesterday and should be laced up and installed by next week some time....I hope.

In the interim, the tech took a mountain bike rim with a Bontrager microspline hub and put it on my back end so I can ride the bike till the Onyx arrives.

I am curious what you know or have heard about this issue. Clearly the Shimano microspline hub originally speced out for the Allant+9.9s was not adequate to the task or Shimano provided a bad batch of hubs to Trek. Supposedly there has been a field service advisory about this but few seem to know about it.

Is Trek going to spec out a new hub for the bike, build out a bunch of wheels, ship them out to the shops and announce a recall and replacement? They have to do something as this is a major embarrassment for them to have so many critical part failures on the top model of one of their premier ebikes.


By the way, I had the shop add on the SRAM X01 Eagle AXS Kit to my bike. This took the drive train up another notch in performance and ease of use. I was also going to upgrade to the Shimano XT CS-M8100 12-speed MTB Cassette Sprocket 10-51T as well but the bike ended up coming with that cassette even though it was speced to come with the Shimano SLX M7100, 10-45T, 12 speed. Do you know if this is a mid model year upgrade or did I just get lucky when they ran out of the listed cassette and threw one of the better ones on my bike?

 

[jpa2825]

@Allant+Wizard thanks for offering your insight. Just wondering your thoughts on the Domane+ (2019 version) compared to either the Domane+ HP (Bosch) or Domane+ LT (Fazua) 2020 versions. The 2019 is current discounted to $5,300 which is pretty nice.

I put some of the comparisons in another thread but was interested in what you have seen "out in the wild." All 3 have very strong reviews on the Trek website, so seems people are pretty happy overall.

 

[tegnamo]

I would spring for the Domane+ HP (compared to 2019 Domane+) for a few reasons: Kiox (now it has navigation update), rear rack compatible, better isospeed, lower motor drag when switched off, range extender compatible

 

[FlatSix911]

Hi Everybody!

I am a Trek technician and manage the service department at an authorized Trek dealer. I sell and most importantly, service many Trek bicycles. I have extensive experience working on Trek and Electra branded Bosch bicycles and have many answers to important questions you have behind wait times, repair, and quick fixes.

I will use this thread as well as PMs to answer specific questions.

Just please be aware that I do not have all of the answers. Anything I provide is a reflection of the knowledge I have gained from working directly with the bikes themselves and the manufacturers. And just to be totally transparent, I do not OWN a Trek/Bosch bicycle. I love riding my non-electric road and mountain bikes on group rides, tours, and trails and I have found that eBikes are just not the thing for me quite yet.

Welcome to EBR... great to have a tech on board!

Can you comment on the rumors that Trek may be introducing a line of bikes with Yamaha motors next year?

 

[jpa2825]

I would spring for the Domane+ HP (compared to 2019 Domane+) for a few reasons: Kiox (now it has navigation update), rear rack compatible, better isospeed, lower motor drag when switched off, range extender compatible

Interesting. Watched a few early videos (including an 11:00 by @cort). Isn't there an anti-theft component to the Kiox? Given the investment that might be a difference maker in a decision tree.

 

[Stiksandstones]

Hi Everybody!

I am a Trek technician and manage the service department at an authorized Trek dealer. I sell and most importantly, service many Trek bicycles. I have extensive experience working on Trek and Electra branded Bosch bicycles and have many answers to important questions you have behind wait times, repair, and quick fixes.

I will use this thread as well as PMs to answer specific questions.

Just please be aware that I do not have all of the answers. Anything I provide is a reflection of the knowledge I have gained from working directly with the bikes themselves and the manufacturers. And just to be totally transparent, I do not OWN a Trek/Bosch bicycle. I love riding my non-electric road and mountain bikes on group rides, tours, and trails and I have found that eBikes are just not the thing for me quite yet.

How can I turn my headlight off on my Domane+ HP?

 

[jbizzybiker]

Hi Everybody!

I am a Trek technician and manage the service department at an authorized Trek dealer. I sell and most importantly, service many Trek bicycles. I have extensive experience working on Trek and Electra branded Bosch bicycles and have many answers to important questions you have behind wait times, repair, and quick fixes.

I will use this thread as well as PMs to answer specific questions.

Just please be aware that I do not have all of the answers. Anything I provide is a reflection of the knowledge I have gained from working directly with the bikes themselves and the manufacturers. And just to be totally transparent, I do not OWN a Trek/Bosch bicycle. I love riding my non-electric road and mountain bikes on group rides, tours, and trails and I have found that eBikes are just not the thing for me quite yet.

Do you find the rear brake rotor regularly going out of alignment, e.g., every 5 miles, on the Cafe Moto? Suggestions?

 

[Dallant]

Apparently we’ve lost our tech already! If not, I’m curious exactly when this system “update” we’ve heard rumors of is actually going to happen, what’s the cost, etc.
I asked my local Trek guy and he knew absolutely nothing about it.

 

[FlatSix911]

Apparently we’ve lost our tech already! If not, I’m curious exactly when this system “update” we’ve heard rumors of is actually going to happen, what’s the cost, etc.
I asked my local Trek guy and he knew absolutely nothing about it.

3 posts on EBR and done... perhaps he was advised by his LBS to not give advice.

 

[gringo]

I’m curious exactly when this system “update” we’ve heard rumors of is actually going to happen, what’s the cost, etc.

The Bosch system (firmware) update for the gen 4 motors appears to be arriving soon. I've seen reports of someone in Australia already getting it and this Bosch website has very recently updated the version numbers (e.g., previously Performance Line Speed was ver. 1.0.3 and now it is listed as very. 1.1.0).

I understand that the update itself will be free, but some shops might charge a nominal fee for the time/labor.

More information, including some info from US Bosch rep, in this thread.