steve mercier
Well-Known Member
It has been 6 weeks since you posted Roman ,did you have any luck finding the part and has it been installed yet?
Known Issues & Problems with Riese & Müller Products + Help, Solutions & Fixes
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Dmitri
Active Member
I strongly recommend that instead of replacing that wheel, you replace the right dropout instead. R&M have effectively admitted that the roller wheel design is flawed by phasing it out completely from their bikes. This wheel caused the chain to be too tight initially and too slack once it's seen some use, and also the wheel wears out in time — mine was destroyed after about 2 years of use.
The recommended solution is to order a right dropout that has a derailleur hanger. You can order one from your LBS who will, in turn, order it from R&M. It's not cheap! I think it's about €100 for the pair (I don't think you can order the right one separately). Then, simply purchase a Rohloff tensioner — it's a breeze to install! This way, you no longer have any issues with chain tension, and you can get rid of the roller wheel completely.
That said, if you really want to replace this wheel, search for 'bicycle roller wheel' online, matching your diameter (I don't remember exactly what that is).
romanstrobl
New Member
Thanks Dmitri, I already managed to order 5 replacement wheels from R&M via German e-bike dealer. Your solution seems much better though because of the tension (I had same issues as you write). So I will ask the repair shop to look into it.
Steve - yes, the German e-bike dealer managed to order new wheels from R&M. I asked for 5 because I am sure it will break again and who knows if these wheels will exist in e.g. 10 years from now. It took about 3 weeks to get the wheels. The part seems slightly different from the original one, so hopefully it will last longer this time, however as Dmitri wrote this part is pretty sensitive and chain tension needs to be always managed.
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romanstrobl
New Member
Hello again, did anyone have luck with ordering the Bibia rubber or similar replacement online? The rubber lasts less than 1 year in my experience and my replacement received from Germany broke again. I ride in winter conditions, so that may be the cause. I tried to replace it with regular rubber, but it does not fit so well on the rack. Thanks!
D
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bombadero
Active Member
@David Berry I also ordered one from HollandBikeShop.com, in my case for my HPV Scorpion trike, and haven't been happy with the Ergo. The handle is garbage; the straps have pulled out of it twice on me when attempting to secure a large load. Unfortunately, the handle on the R&M version, which works quite well, appears to be a custom part from Bibia only available on the version of the Bibia strap on R&M bikes, so it probably has to be ordered via R&M. I might also try ordering the non-Ergo version of the strap, it looks like it has deeper hooks. We actually haven't been using them much lately, as we've taken to securing milk crates to our racks with bungee vines and securing loads with cargo nets rather than a pannier/strap combo, as it tends to be more convenient.
Speaking of custom parts, it looks like the fenders on R&M are also custom made for R&M by SKS, which segues me into a new problem I've encountered. 3 of the 4 aluminum stays on the rear fender of my Homage broke clean through from stress fractures. They are made out of billet aluminum instead of the cold-rolled steel that fender stays usually are made from, so I guess they just couldn't handle the vibration of the moonscape that are SF Bay Area streets, not to mention the occasional off-road riding we do on it. It's surprisingly difficult to order just a stay kit in black from any manufacturer for some reason, so I ended up buying an entire Bluemels 65 kit, to which the fenders on the Homage appear to be identical. However, the Homage fender has custom hardware for affixing the stays, so I had to rig something up with a couple of washers and a zip tie. Unfortunately, the Homage fender also appears to be a couple of mm narrower, so the fender doesn't sit flush on the stay and has a tendency to flop to one side or the other, and rattles like crazy. So it looks like I will need to take the whole fender off and replace it with the Bluemels 65, which is about 6 inches shorter.
You may wonder why I don't just have R&M replace my fender; one reason is that based on how the stays failed, I believe the design to be inherently flawed. I also need to do this after acquiring a Surly Bill trailer. The Surly Bill and Ted trailers have a custom hitch with a yoke that rests on bearings on specialized axle nuts. The Homage fender stays however are designed to slide over the axle nuts, which are acorn nuts. The Surly nuts do have a threaded stub that could go through that same hole on the stays and be secured with another nut on the outside of the stay like a nylock or acorn, but the raked angle of the aluminum stays themselves, and the way they curve in towards the wheel is such that the hitch yoke wouldn't fit.
Overall I'm still thrilled with the bike, which is an uncomplaining, reliable, beast of a bike. But this is one of those few fit and finish details I've come to be a little disappointed in - looks fantastic, but doesn't work too well. I think it's a side-effect of being a premium brand. Most of the components are off-the-shelf or custom made from other manufacturers like Fox, SKS, Bibia, Bosch, Schwalbe et cetera, and the frame is beastly, so overall it performs great. However, because the brand is so expensive and not for professionals but regular consumers, I think perhaps that R&M made the design assumption that their customers would all be fancy-pants types that would never actually put the bike through its paces like it was engineered to be. And to that point, they're mostly right - I've seen a lot of other R&M's in SF, and none of them are spattered with mud like ours frequently is, and appear to be spotlessly clean with a completely unused cargo rack and no signs of wear. I don't think they expected most of their consumers to use their bikes the way people in this forum have, for instance. It's sort of like the difference between the person who buys a Range Rover to drive around town, that's always shiny and waxed to a blinding gleam, and the person that buys one and actually goes off-roading in it. Same thing with high-performance sports cars. Of course, that's pure speculation on my part. But I feel they should have a few more packages on offer to reflect the differing needs and use cases of their customers. It seems ridiculous to have these issues on a model billed as the ultimate touring bike, which for the most part it has lived up to so far after about 1500 miles of riding.
I'm curious if anyone else has had similar issues with fenders or solutions to them.
I also have a question on a third topic: how do you properly torque a nut that only accepts a crescent wrench (a spanner for those of you outside the US)? The Surly axle nuts require a crescent wrench and I while I have a socket torque wrench, I can't for the life of me find a 'crescent torque wrench' or some sort of adapter to do the job properly so I just have to do it by feel - which scares me, because the last time I 'did it by feel', I broke an axle on a GSD motor on my trike when my previous torque wrench went out of calibration and I over-torqued it to the point of failure.
Speaking of custom parts, it looks like the fenders on R&M are also custom made for R&M by SKS, which segues me into a new problem I've encountered. 3 of the 4 aluminum stays on the rear fender of my Homage broke clean through from stress fractures. They are made out of billet aluminum instead of the cold-rolled steel that fender stays usually are made from, so I guess they just couldn't handle the vibration of the moonscape that are SF Bay Area streets, not to mention the occasional off-road riding we do on it. It's surprisingly difficult to order just a stay kit in black from any manufacturer for some reason, so I ended up buying an entire Bluemels 65 kit, to which the fenders on the Homage appear to be identical. However, the Homage fender has custom hardware for affixing the stays, so I had to rig something up with a couple of washers and a zip tie. Unfortunately, the Homage fender also appears to be a couple of mm narrower, so the fender doesn't sit flush on the stay and has a tendency to flop to one side or the other, and rattles like crazy. So it looks like I will need to take the whole fender off and replace it with the Bluemels 65, which is about 6 inches shorter.
You may wonder why I don't just have R&M replace my fender; one reason is that based on how the stays failed, I believe the design to be inherently flawed. I also need to do this after acquiring a Surly Bill trailer. The Surly Bill and Ted trailers have a custom hitch with a yoke that rests on bearings on specialized axle nuts. The Homage fender stays however are designed to slide over the axle nuts, which are acorn nuts. The Surly nuts do have a threaded stub that could go through that same hole on the stays and be secured with another nut on the outside of the stay like a nylock or acorn, but the raked angle of the aluminum stays themselves, and the way they curve in towards the wheel is such that the hitch yoke wouldn't fit.
Overall I'm still thrilled with the bike, which is an uncomplaining, reliable, beast of a bike. But this is one of those few fit and finish details I've come to be a little disappointed in - looks fantastic, but doesn't work too well. I think it's a side-effect of being a premium brand. Most of the components are off-the-shelf or custom made from other manufacturers like Fox, SKS, Bibia, Bosch, Schwalbe et cetera, and the frame is beastly, so overall it performs great. However, because the brand is so expensive and not for professionals but regular consumers, I think perhaps that R&M made the design assumption that their customers would all be fancy-pants types that would never actually put the bike through its paces like it was engineered to be. And to that point, they're mostly right - I've seen a lot of other R&M's in SF, and none of them are spattered with mud like ours frequently is, and appear to be spotlessly clean with a completely unused cargo rack and no signs of wear. I don't think they expected most of their consumers to use their bikes the way people in this forum have, for instance. It's sort of like the difference between the person who buys a Range Rover to drive around town, that's always shiny and waxed to a blinding gleam, and the person that buys one and actually goes off-roading in it. Same thing with high-performance sports cars. Of course, that's pure speculation on my part. But I feel they should have a few more packages on offer to reflect the differing needs and use cases of their customers. It seems ridiculous to have these issues on a model billed as the ultimate touring bike, which for the most part it has lived up to so far after about 1500 miles of riding.
I'm curious if anyone else has had similar issues with fenders or solutions to them.
I also have a question on a third topic: how do you properly torque a nut that only accepts a crescent wrench (a spanner for those of you outside the US)? The Surly axle nuts require a crescent wrench and I while I have a socket torque wrench, I can't for the life of me find a 'crescent torque wrench' or some sort of adapter to do the job properly so I just have to do it by feel - which scares me, because the last time I 'did it by feel', I broke an axle on a GSD motor on my trike when my previous torque wrench went out of calibration and I over-torqued it to the point of failure.
bombadero
Active Member
Ah, I found the answer to my last question finally after a little more searching. And the magic search term is... crowfoot. Apparently I need a crowfoot wrench set as it's called.
RamPro 3/8" Drive Crowfoot Wrench Set, SAE/Inch (Standard) | Includes Sizes: 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4, 13/16, 7/8 & 1 Inch | 10-Piece Kit with Clip Organizer. - - Amazon.com
RamPro 3/8" Drive Crowfoot Wrench Set, SAE/Inch (Standard) | Includes Sizes: 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4, 13/16, 7/8 & 1 Inch | 10-Piece Kit with Clip Organizer. - - Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
romanstrobl
New Member
I ordered new SKS fenders and Bibia straps from the dealer who got them from R&M ... seems the only way to go because the parts you can get online are different. It takes a lot of time and I have to ship these parts from another country. I think R&M should provide together with the bike 5x bibia strap, 5x SKS fenders and 5x mini-wheel for chain support, in my experience each of these components does not last longer than 1 year. I drive 6000 km anually in all conditions, so that doesn't help either 
I wish R&M had an online shop for all these custom parts. I know they can't make money on this, but it seems to be a common issue. I am still extremely happy with the bike, this is my only issue, which is not present with other bike manufacturers who use common parts.
I wish R&M had an online shop for all these custom parts. I know they can't make money on this, but it seems to be a common issue. I am still extremely happy with the bike, this is my only issue, which is not present with other bike manufacturers who use common parts.
Ddewsbury
Member
I have a superdelite gx kiox cockpit. I would like to find a compatible handlebar with more rise and sweep for an upright position, while not having to modify any cables. This stem has a wide clamp area (80-90mm) and double clamps. It's a 24.5 clamp diameter. Does anyone have any knowledge and suggestions? Thanks.
Dmitri
Active Member
Without knowing more about your requirements I would recommend the NC-17 Trekking handlebar. I have it on several bikes (including a R&M Delite GX) and find it perfect if you want to ride comfortably in an upright position.
mountaindweller
Member
I have a general question for all those folks with a 2019 Supercharger GX re: the rear pannier rack and touring with Ortlieb panniers , have you suffered any paint loss due to non metallic rubbing on the rack caused by the panniers, see photo attached, i have been in contact with R&M and showed them the damage,still waiting for a reply , i have normally used Tubus racks on my old bikes and have never had any wear and tear like this , which tells me the paint is not strong enough to protect from plastic or cloth wear ,.note the photos show identical wear pattern on both sides , your thoughts ?
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Over50
Well-Known Member
I have the 2017 Charger GX as well as a few other bikes with other branded racks such as a Bontrager. Once I realized that my pannier hooks (I use Ortlieb and others) would cause scuffing and then presumably leading to paint loss (I didn't let it get that far), I started applying a single piece of black gorilla tape at all of the contact points on the rack. That also helped deaden any road vibration noise. On the frames, I apply clear frame protector tape at most of the contact points (where I might grip the frame to lift or carry the bike and where the lock will contact the frame for example). Your's does look particularly bad. Are your Ortliebs sliding around a lot when you are riding? Or all of that wear is just from attaching and removing the bags?
mountaindweller
Member
Thanks for the feedback , my bike is like 5 months old from new , did along tour around Europe , and got that wear and tear , put it to R&M , but one should not have to tape up a rack, my old Tubus rack s had bomb proof paint , the matt finish on the R&M is in my opinion inferior and needs to be toughened , hopefully under guarantee i will get it sorted , and maybe they have received other feedback to make an improvement ?
dblhelix
Well-Known Member
Please follow-up here. My situation is identical except I have a 2019 Nevo. After 2.5 months of touring, (Ortlieb panniers) my rack looks like yours. My dealer was not enthusiastic about pursuing replacement under warranty.
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
I wonder if the soft paint is a tradeoff due to using more environment friendly methods?
dblhelix
Well-Known Member
In China?
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
Huh? The frames are painted in China?
Ddewsbury
Member
Your rack says made in China on it?
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
Mountaindweller shows pics of the chainstay paint wear.
dblhelix
Well-Known Member
So you are telling me the frame and rack are not manufactured in China?
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