Known Issues & Problems with DOST Products + Help, Solutions & Fixes

[Admin]

No ebike is perfect, this is a thread dedicated to sharing known issues or problems with electric bikes from DOST as well as any help and solutions you know of. Sometimes that means a DIY fix and other times it can mean a recall, software update or part replacement by a dealer.

Please be respectful and constructive with feedback, this is not a space for hate speech. In many cases, representatives from the company will see feedback and use it to improve their product. In the end, the goal is to enjoy riding and help each other go further and be safer.

 

[Kjgasner]

Court, has this bike shipped to buyers yet. The only review I have seen is from EBR and it was given pre production bikes for review.

looks like a good ebike option but wish more reviews were available or owners were posting on this forum.

 

[webcurl]

DŌST Bikes Forum

Discuss the brand, its products and upcoming models.

electricbikereview.com

 

[Cycledoc]

I think it's still to be delivered. No user experiences yet.

 

[RobMontanez]

Have any issues been identified by real owners of Dōst bikes? Dōst has a very active Facebook forum but it’s more of a collection of devotees and a bit of a cheerleading exercise since it’s a new firm. Current owners seem to be enjoying the bikes (Kope and Drop) based on the little they have posted, but I haven’t really seen a real in-depth review of longer time usage in that forum.

I’ve ordered one of their bikes as I like the overall list of features and aesthetics after doing some research, scheduled for delivery to me in late November. A mid-drive motor with a throttle and two available batteries is very appealing to me, which is why I’ve pulled the trigger.

I’m looking for an honest appraisal of what works and doesn’t work with their bikes from real owners that have been riding it day to day, as it‘s still not too late for me to consider other alternatives I find interesting (Evelo, Gazelle, etc.). I’ve seen some naysayers trying to detract from the bikes in the other forum as well as here at this site. My guess is that some of it comes either from competing firms, as well from some who just get a kick out of knocking other folks down.

 

[Alriksy]

I have the Dost Drop and as of today have 800 miles on the bike. It eats hills and has regularly gone 35 miles on one charge with enough charge to probably go another 5 miles or so. This is at 18mph and assist level 1 and includes some easy hills. The bike handles really well and is a pleasure to ride. Weekends rides average 30+ miles and weekday rides (2 to 3) are between 10-15 miles. The weather here has been very cooperative.

A minor criticism: the wires under the motor could be hidden from view for a cleaner look. Outside of that the bike is very nice looking.

I must add that I am not a fan of derailleurs and chains. In my thinking, they are old technology and require more maintenance than a belt drive and CVT hub. The downside is that CVT hubs add to the cost of the bike and are said to be slightly less efficient. I would gladly trade a little efficiency for less maintenance. I owned road bikes and MTBs for many years and always hated chain cleaning and derailleur adjustments for smooth shifting. The Dost bike offered everything else I wanted at a reasonable price point (IMO), so I decided to live with the derailleur for now. If Dost or someone else builds a bike like the Drop with a CVT drive at a reasonable price, I would buy it. As of this writing, in my opinion, that bike doesn't exist.

This was written by an old guy who did a lot of research, took a chance on a new company, and is now having a lot of fun with a bike that can do some of the work when I want it to.

 

[RobMontanez]

Thank you for your feedback, that's helpful. A few questions:

• On your rides do you do a lot of shifting?
• If not, what gear do you mostly remain in?
• How often do you use the throttle?
• Has the chain ever come off?
• Did you purchase the additional battery option that Dōst offers?

 

[ROCebike]

As referenced earlier, I recommended Dost to friends and after a four month wait, their bikes have arrived. Both a Kope and a Drop. Initial observations:
1. Shipping and Packaging was excellent. FedEx delivered in a few days to western NY. Interesting that one bike arrived one day before the other. Packaging is solid and no damage to either bike.
2. Set up was easy with minimal work. Handlebars and pedals. Some fender tweaking. Tires already installed.
3. Initial inspection the bikes are beautiful. The large tires with fenders makes them look substantial, almost massive.

However, there are some issues

4. The Kope is showing some battery irregularities. The charge indicator on the display jumps around. After a 100% full charge, it then immediately dropped to 91%. Then after riding 100 meters, it jumped to 96%. On another ride, it bounced between 100% to 74% to 90% all within two miles. Currently under review with Dost.

5. The Drop has not been ridden much so far. The initial ride spooked my friends wife. While riding, the assist was turned from zero to level 1, and the bike gunned. Almost to max power. The Kope doesn’t do this. Dost seemed to know the problem and is sending a cable to reprogram the controller remotely. It’s been three weeks and no cable. It’s not clear how the bikes controller can be accessed and hooked up to a PC by a regular guy. Well see.

6. These are powerful bikes. Assuming Dost can improve the algorithm on the Drop, the 750 W and 120 Nm torque is a lot for simple recreational riding. Even on the Kope, it’s impossible to ride below 10 mph in level 1 assist on flat surfaces. I suspect that the cadence sensor combined with this motor is intended for faster and more experienced riders. Newbies beware.

I’ll update this when Dost responds to the complaints.

 

[billyboy]

I got my dost in late june over 800 miles on it I have had a couple of issues but hey this is a new product things are going to happen. the dost team has stood behind there bikes friendly hell they know me by first name. I have a riese and muller nevo also great bike but have the fun as my dost would love to see the gates on this bike

 

[aldiver]

I received my Kope in early Nov. It was ordered in June, knowing that it wouldn't ship until Sept. The shipping was delayed due to (non)availability of parts, which was not uncommon this summer. Recieved the bike & it was well packaged. While the box was torn open a little, there was foam padding on every part of the frame & spacers on the wheels to stabilize the bike in the box.

After aligning the handlebars & setting my preferences in the onboard computer, it was ready to ride. The battery had enough charge for a quick test out front. All good!

Over the last few weeks, I've only managed to log approx. 60 mi. while riding some of my intended commuter & errand routes. I was able to ride through some snow & get a feel for handling in these conditions. The 2.4 tires were stable & familiar, as that is what I run on
my mtb. You definitely want to be aware of braking technique on snow since the brakes react quickly & slides comes easily.

My only concern at this point is with manual shifting. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to be more smooth & consistent. I've experimented with various pedal assist levels combined with no pedaling, easy peadaling & hard pedaling. At its worst, it feels like it's slipping & grinding, trying to find a gear. So much so that I'll shift down or up a gear to try and correct it. I feel like common sense would dictate that easy pedaling while the electric motor is engaged provides the best results, but that hasn't always been the case. The terrain I am riding here in Colorado is so varied, so I'm shifting a lot.

Overall, I love the bike so far. I'm sure the more rides I get, the more I'll get things dialed in. Until then, I'm wondering if anyone else has any feedback on their experience.

 

[Grumpy Hiker]

My Dost Kope was in the first shipment, and I have ridden it more than 1,200 happy miles since July. I would mention a few things here:
1. the customer service from Dost really is exceptionally good. Helpful, timely, responsive, friendly, and cheerful.
2. the bike was shipped with a derailleur b screw position that provided inadequate tension on the chain, which caused the chain to jump off the chainring inappropriately when shifting, or over bumps. Watch the excellent park tools video on you tube to check your adjustment to fix this easily -- chain guides are not needed.
3. the bike was shipped with an insufficient range of pedal assistance (only medium and high PAS levels, no low setting and no gradations). This was a problem only in the very first shipment of bikes, that was fixed for my bike quickly and easily by a Dost-supplied flash update to the controller, which I understand was applied to all subsequent shipments.
4. a new problem at about 1,200 miles was that the Shimano shift sensor had to be replaced as a warranty repair. The shift sensor has a little roller sensing movement of the shift cable. It can stick in place temporarily, inhibiting movement of the shift cable so it does not travel the index distance as required for timely shifting. This shows up as delayed shifts or crashing through the gears. I am replacing the shift cable housing and shift cable at the same time. Ideally the bike would have come with a higher grade drive train but I understand this is a tradeoff to a higher price on the bike overall so I have no complaints. It shifted perfectly for 1,200 miles before needing this maintenance. If the sensor fails again, then I will look into upgrading the chain, cassette, shift trigger, and derailleur together as a package. (but at this rate, the bike will be a couple years old at that point.)
That's it in the problems/issues department!

 

[Mzee Richard]

After an understandable 6 month delay received our Dost Kope and Drop last December. Because we were away from home, we did not start driving them until March this year. Service was initially very helpful over the phone in attempting to accomplish two things; 1) the rear brake lever (Nutt brand) acted as if there was air in the line despite bleeding it repeatedly, at one of our local bike stores --Ashland Electric Bikes. (great shop by the way!). The handle assembly itself appeared to be leaking. DOST suggested sending me a different brake handle. The new brake handle is safer with more assured movement but it too is still acting like there is air in the line which suggests the problem is deeper. However, there is no apparent leakage in the line or the "slave" cylinder at rear wheel. That involved more shop time bleeding the replacement brake. Dost is refusing to cover the shop cost of installing and bleeding the new brake because its "out of the warranty period".
The discussion with them is ongoing.
The second issue concerned an inconsistent throttle. At the higher PAS levels, if you stop pedaling and switch over to throttle only, the power drops considerably. I'd begin the climb by cranking up our hillside at PAS 9 and at the lowest mechanical /chain gear. Then because of "pedaler fatigue", I'd go over throttle alone, the result of this is that the bike slows down such that you cannot easily balance it . This is annoyance when on the flat but its downright dangerous when slogging up these hills. Turns out that the problem goes back to Bfang motors. Before 2017, they made the PAS equal , even subordinate to the throttle. With the increasing regulation about PAS and the legality of ebikes, they apparently reverted to making the PAS dominant. Such wisdom oft emerges in the face of well intended but ill thought-out legislation.
The Dost folks do not have a solution and getting anyone from Bfang to actually talk with you as a non-direct purchaser of their motor , has me scouring the web for sites such as these, for a solution.
Two final albeit minor observations. 1) Per an earlier contributer, I too, would happily like to bury the rather unsightly cables-- bursting as it were out the battery compartment. Someone suggested replacing the more rigid fiber wrap with flexible spiral coil wrap. which allows tighter alignment to the steering tube/ post. Finally, I would also appreciate a more secure attachment of the rear fender braces to the frame, than the plastic snap on clips the bike came with.

NOW then with al that said, the bike itself is proving solid and reliable and its a hoot to drive provided you don't try to scoot up the more serious hills of Ashland .

 

[Mzee Richard]

My Dost Kope was in the first shipment, and I have ridden it more than 1,200 happy miles since July. I would mention a few things here:
1. the customer service from Dost really is exceptionally good. Helpful, timely, responsive, friendly, and cheerful.
2. the bike was shipped with a derailleur b screw position that provided inadequate tension on the chain, which caused the chain to jump off the chainring inappropriately when shifting, or over bumps. Watch the excellent park tools video on you tube to check your adjustment to fix this easily -- chain guides are not needed.
3. the bike was shipped with an insufficient range of pedal assistance (only medium and high PAS levels, no low setting and no gradations). This was a problem only in the very first shipment of bikes, that was fixed for my bike quickly and easily by a Dost-supplied flash update to the controller, which I understand was applied to all subsequent shipments.
4. a new problem at about 1,200 miles was that the Shimano shift sensor had to be replaced as a warranty repair. The shift sensor has a little roller sensing movement of the shift cable. It can stick in place temporarily, inhibiting movement of the shift cable so it does not travel the index distance as required for timely shifting. This shows up as delayed shifts or crashing through the gears. I am replacing the shift cable housing and shift cable at the same time. Ideally the bike would have come with a higher grade drive train but I understand this is a tradeoff to a higher price on the bike overall so I have no complaints. It shifted perfectly for 1,200 miles before needing this maintenance. If the sensor fails again, then I will look into upgrading the chain, cassette, shift trigger, and derailleur together as a package. (but at this rate, the bike will be a couple years old at that point.)
That's it in the problems/issues department!

I have also experienced the same gear crunching issue but it was caused by my shifting while at a standstill then accelerating quickly. The roller shift motor cutout indicator thingamajig doesn't like that--at all. With a pedal --non e bike-- one would usually "intuitively"tend to back off until the chain was moved to the right casette. Thats just my own observation.

 

[Rad_Fred]

After an understandable 6 month delay received our Dost Kope and Drop last December. Because we were away from home, we did not start driving them until March this year. Service was initially very helpful over the phone in attempting to accomplish two things; 1) the rear brake lever (Nutt brand) acted as if there was air in the line despite bleeding it repeatedly, at one of our local bike stores --Ashland Electric Bikes. (great shop by the way!). The handle assembly itself appeared to be leaking. DOST suggested sending me a different brake handle. The new brake handle is safer with more assured movement but it too is still acting like there is air in the line which suggests the problem is deeper. However, there is no apparent leakage in the line or the "slave" cylinder at rear wheel. That involved more shop time bleeding the replacement brake. Dost is refusing to cover the shop cost of installing and bleeding the new brake because its "out of the warranty period".
The discussion with them is ongoing.
The second issue concerned an inconsistent throttle. At the higher PAS levels, if you stop pedaling and switch over to throttle only, the power drops considerably. I'd begin the climb by cranking up our hillside at PAS 9 and at the lowest mechanical /chain gear. Then because of "pedaler fatigue", I'd go over throttle alone, the result of this is that the bike slows down such that you cannot easily balance it . This is annoyance when on the flat but its downright dangerous when slogging up these hills. Turns out that the problem goes back to Bfang motors. Before 2017, they made the PAS equal , even subordinate to the throttle. With the increasing regulation about PAS and the legality of ebikes, they apparently reverted to making the PAS dominant. Such wisdom oft emerges in the face of well intended but ill thought-out legislation.
The Dost folks do not have a solution and getting anyone from Bfang to actually talk with you as a non-direct purchaser of their motor , has me scouring the web for sites such as these, for a solution.
Two final albeit minor observations. 1) Per an earlier contributer, I too, would happily like to bury the rather unsightly cables-- bursting as it were out the battery compartment. Someone suggested replacing the more rigid fiber wrap with flexible spiral coil wrap. which allows tighter alignment to the steering tube/ post. Finally, I would also appreciate a more secure attachment of the rear fender braces to the frame, than the plastic snap on clips the bike came with.

NOW then with al that said, the bike itself is proving solid and reliable and its a hoot to drive provided you don't try to scoot up the more serious hills of Ashland .

You drive your bike? I ride mine.

 

[Mzee Richard]

I received my Kope in early Nov. It was ordered in June, knowing that it wouldn't ship until Sept. The shipping was delayed due to (non)availability of parts, which was not uncommon this summer. Recieved the bike & it was well packaged. While the box was torn open a little, there was foam padding on every part of the frame & spacers on the wheels to stabilize the bike in the box.

After aligning the handlebars & setting my preferences in the onboard computer, it was ready to ride. The battery had enough charge for a quick test out front. All good!

Over the last few weeks, I've only managed to log approx. 60 mi. while riding some of my intended commuter & errand routes. I was able to ride through some snow & get a feel for handling in these conditions. The 2.4 tires were stable & familiar, as that is what I run on
my mtb. You definitely want to be aware of braking technique on snow since the brakes react quickly & slides comes easily.

My only concern at this point is with manual shifting. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to be more smooth & consistent. I've experimented with various pedal assist levels combined with no pedaling, easy peadaling & hard pedaling. At its worst, it feels like it's slipping & grinding, trying to find a gear. So much so that I'll shift down or up a gear to try and correct it. I feel like common sense would dictate that easy pedaling while the electric motor is engaged provides the best results, but that hasn't always been the case. The terrain I am riding here in Colorado is so varied, so I'm shifting a lot.

Overall, I love the bike so far. I'm sure the more rides I get, the more I'll get things dialed in. Until then, I'm wondering if anyone else has any feedback on their experience.

Aldiver , I have had my kope for about 7 months and while service over the phone was helpful, i really need a local shop with experienced pros to sort out a few issues . As concerns your rough shifting , i only experience this if i inadvertently shift while standing still then accelerate out from the stop. They come with a clever cut out which acts instantaneously to cut the motor when you shift —- while in motion. That bit works well. So my question : Are you shifting up or down while at a standstill ? That indeed assures a sick crunching sound and screws up the concerned chain ring on the rear cassette .

You drive your bike? I ride mine

You drive your bike? I ride mine.