How many miles do you have on your e-bike with a Brose motor?

R

Ricky

Member
Hi,

I know that many (most?) Specialized bikes have Brose drive systems. I have test driven many makes and models of bikes and have an iZip Moda that has a Brose drive system. I also rented a Specialized Turbo Vado in Colorado and went on a 42 mile ride with 2600 feet of elevation change and liked it even more than my Moda although it is a very similar bike.

I think that the Brose drive system is the best drive system for e-bikes out there (most natural feel and quietest). I have 1500 miles in the one year I have had my Brose based e-bike and I was wondering how many miles people have on their Brose system bikes.

I have friend who had a belt failure at 1000 miles on his iZip moda and I was wondering what kind of reliability others are seeing with their bikes.

Thanks,
Rick

p.s. Looking forward to people posting that they have thousands of miles and are happy. So far, I LOVE the Brose system and think it is quite superior to other drive systems.

Reply
 
Right now my Turbo Vado 6 has not quite 2,500 miles and has performed flawlessly. We are in a cold snap now but I'm hoping to get out a couple more times before it's officially winter. I really can't ride below 40 F.
Truthfully, I don't care how long the motor lasts. If it breaks tomorrow I will still get another one. The Brose motor is fabulous.
 
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I only have close to 500 trouble free miles and I'm totally enjoying the Brose system, my S propels my BH AtomX mountain bike, it's the most refined of the motors I have which include a Yamaha PX, Bafang BBSHD and Ultra, and an eProdigy, all mid drives plus two Bafang rear hub drives. I had a Bosch CX on a Haibike but wasn't happy with it and got rid of it. My favourite is the Brose followed by the Yamaha. The Bafang mid drives have the most torque ( I run them at 1600 watts ) but are the least refined. I've only had one issue with an ebike motor and that's with the Ultra, I hope to rectify that this winter...........:)
 
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2018 Bulls Evo 3 27.5+ - coming up on 4k miles. My first ebike and a damn good one. Love every minute on it but 20mph is a bit limiting, other than that, no complaints. Not the fastest but 27.5+ rocks for many rides. Love rhe 27.5+ traction. A few clunks from the motor but nothing serious (yet)
2018 iZip Moda E3 - about 1800miles now, my favorite ebike for most rides. The bulls is definately a better bike overall but the higher class 3 speed of the Moda has its benefits for many rides.

I also have a 52V Juiced CCX. A wonderful FAST bike...although not my favorite.
 
Ricky said:
Hi,

I know that many (most?) Specialized bikes have Brose drive systems. I have test driven many makes and models of bikes and have an iZip Moda that has a Brose drive system. I also rented a Specialized Turbo Vado in Colorado and went on a 42 mile ride with 2600 feet of elevation change and liked it even more than my Moda although it is a very similar bike.

I think that the Brose drive system is the best drive system for e-bikes out there (most natural feel and quietest). I have 1500 miles in the one year I have had my Brose based e-bike and I was wondering how many miles people have on their Brose system bikes.

I have friend who had a belt failure at 1000 miles on his iZip moda and I was wondering what kind of reliability others are seeing with their bikes. [...]
Click to expand...

Our bike shop has sold a bunch of iZip E3 Modas. I would get your bike to a dealer (unless it's out of warranty and you'd prefer to do it yourself) and get the belt tightened, as 100% of the E3 Modas we've checked have their belts completely un-tensioned out of the box. You don't need to open the motor to tension the belt, but you do need to drop the motor from the frame to do so. The motor's internal belt is tensioned to a very specific (and very low) torque spec, but the tension is set externally on the motor. We've seen several shredded belts on E3 Modas, which is how we discovered they all appear to come from the factory with un-tensioned belts.

I'm at 3K km on my Raleigh Tamland iE with Brose TF motor. I had previously done over 1K km on an iZip E3 Moda. I quite like the power and quietness of Brose, but am so far not convinced it's quite as trouble-free and low maintenance as Shimano/Yamaha/Bosch. I'm also not convinced it's overall as efficient as Shimano STePS. It's definitely not as lightweight as Shimano. But these are arguably acceptable trade-offs if Brose's advantages add up to a better experience for you. I have no plans to let go of my Tamland iE for the foreseeable future! :)
 
Mass Deduction said:
Our bike shop has sold a bunch of iZip E3 Modas. I would get your bike to a dealer (unless it's out of warranty and you'd prefer to do it yourself) and get the belt tightened, as 100% of the E3 Modas we've checked have their belts completely un-tensioned out of the box. You don't need to open the motor to tension the belt, but you do need to drop the motor from the frame to do so. The motor's internal belt is tensioned to a very specific (and very low) torque spec, but the tension is set externally on the motor. We've seen several shredded belts on E3 Modas, which is how we discovered they all appear to come from the factory with un-tensioned belts.
Click to expand...

Is there a description for how to do this tensioning? My bike should still be in warranty as I have only had it for one year. How did you find this information out? How many of the E3 modas were like this?

I am confused. From the photos/videos that I have seen, you have to open the Brose motor to adjust the belt tension as the belt is sealed inside the box. Unless there is an external adjustor for the belt tension.

Thank you,
Rick
 
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I drove 15000 trouble free km in the last 1,5 years. Recently tough, the motor doesn’t start up now and then. After a few times switching the battery on and off it start again. Another issue is the display. Sometimes it doesn’t turn on. I checkt all the wiring of the motor and did not find anything unusual. I suspect the controlerboard
 
Ricky said:
Is there a description for how to do this tensioning? My bike should still be in warranty as I have only had it for one year. How did you find this information out? How many of the E3 modas were like this?

I am confused. From the photos/videos that I have seen, you have to open the Brose motor to adjust the belt tension as the belt is sealed inside the box. Unless there is an external adjustor for the belt tension.

Thank you,
Rick
Click to expand...

We took some apart in conjunction with a local mechanic from another bike shop who had gone through Brose's training programme. Maybe it's different for newer Brose motors, but for the older Brose Drive TF there was an external allen key for belt adjustment, as I understand it. I'm not a mechanic myself, so this is my understanding of what my mechanics told me was happening.

Thus far, 100% of Raleigh and iZip bicycles with Brose motors we've seen have their belts completely untensioned from the factory. We're in the process of doing a recall on every one we've sold to tension the belts (and to replace the steel chainrings that are prone to dropping the chain, with aluminum narrow/wide chainrings that are not).
 
Mass Deduction said:
We took some apart in conjunction with a local mechanic from another bike shop who had gone through Brose's training programme. Maybe it's different for newer Brose motors, but for the older Brose Drive TF there was an external allen key for belt adjustment, as I understand it. I'm not a mechanic myself, so this is my understanding of what my mechanics told me was happening.

Thus far, 100% of Raleigh and iZip bicycles with Brose motors we've seen have their belts completely untensioned from the factory. We're in the process of doing a recall on every one we've sold to tension the belts (and to replace the steel chainrings that are prone to dropping the chain, with aluminum narrow/wide chainrings that are not).
Click to expand...
Hi,

Thank you very much. I had a problem with my chain repeatly coming off the front chain ring. It was getting worse and worse. I bought a new wide-narrow chainring myself and had the bike store that I bought the iZip moda from put it on and I paid for that too. This completely fixed the problem and I have gone probably 700 miles since the change with no problems.

Can you get the information to me to forward to my bike store about how to adjust the belt tension using the allen key? This may explain the problem with my friends iZip Moda where he wrecked the belt after 1000 miles. He puts a lot of stress on the system as he has a long commute to work and was riding it between 22-28 mph the entire commute.

I have 1500 trouble free miles but I typically ride at 16-18mph the majority of time which obviously puts less stress on the system.

Thank you for your reply,
Rick
 
Ricky said:
Hi,

Thank you very much. I had a problem with my chain repeatly coming off the front chain ring. It was getting worse and worse. I bought a new wide-narrow chainring myself and had the bike store that I bought the iZip moda from put it on and I paid for that too. This completely fixed the problem and I have gone probably 700 miles since the change with no problems.

Can you get the information to me to forward to my bike store about how to adjust the belt tension using the allen key? This may explain the problem with my friends iZip Moda where he wrecked the belt after 1000 miles. He puts a lot of stress on the system as he has a long commute to work and was riding it between 22-28 mph the entire commute.

I have 1500 trouble free miles but I typically ride at 16-18mph the majority of time which obviously puts less stress on the system.

Thank you for your reply,
Rick
Click to expand...

I am not sure about the legality of passing along technical documents provided by our suppliers. We got assistance from a local mechanic who had gone through Brose technical training, with permission from Brose. But if they reach out to Brose USA, and if they explain they're a dealer selling e-bikes with Brose motors I'm sure Brose USA will help them out! :)

You may also ask if your bike shop would help a buddy out with the cost of the chainring and the labour. They sold you something that wasn't working properly, and you found the solution, and you paid for the solution. Doesn't feel right to me. We're choosing to cover that cost for our customers, and if you bring it to their attention then they may be just as happy to help you out. They may have other Raleigh/iZip Brose-equipped owners that need help too, that are suffering in silence. It just might not be on their radar yet, and your query might put it there. They might be happy to step up if you bring the issue to the attention of the right person at your local bike shop.
 
My bike came back from the repairshop today and they found out that the speedsensor was at fault, replaced it and the system was okay agian.
What they also did was an upgrade from Blocks display to TCD-W display in order to connect with the missioncontrol app. Now that is done, it is at last possible to use the app via bluetooth. A disadvantage is that it is no longer possible to destrict the bike. I had a Polini derestrictor installed and unfortunately that is no longer possible. Unless someone knows a trick(!)
 
MarcoVado said:
My bike came back from the repairshop today and they found out that the speedsensor was at fault, replaced it and the system was okay agian.
What they also did was an upgrade from Blocks display to TCD-W display in order to connect with the missioncontrol app. Now that is done, it is at last possible to use the app via bluetooth. A disadvantage is that it is no longer possible to destrict the bike. I had a Polini derestrictor installed and unfortunately that is no longer possible. Unless someone knows a trick(!)
Click to expand...
My Turbo Levo FSR is a 2016 model that now has about 3000 miles total. The Brose Motor was replaced at about 2200 miles due to various maladies. The first two years were a nightmare with problems, including the dealer going out of business and Specialized having zero factory support. Now have a really great dealer who has done so much to correct all the problems, many caused by software or firmware changes. They have no problem sending me marketing emails, but I have never received a technical notice. Today I had the first failure in 6 months. I’d guess the Brose motor or belt has jammed. I was not even able to get home without power. The crank is very difficult to turn. I guess I have an early lemon, or maybe they’re all unreliable. If it was a car, there’d be a recall.
 
Hi, Sorry to hear that you are having so many problems. I have had many responses from people with 4000+ miles without any problems. Here are some replies on a different but similar thread about bikes with Brose motors.

- 6000km (3700miles) with Brose motors on 2 Specialized Vados. Had a problem at about 200km and haven't had any problems since.
- Just hit 400 trouble free miles on my Moda this morning
- I'm up to 700 miles on the Brose S that's in my BH Atom X.
- I have read user reports having problems with the display not going above 10.000km at a Specialized Vado (solution is to display in miles).
 
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