Looking for comments on the Juiced Bikes Rip Current S - Should I purchase or spend more?

[CodyDog]

I have a Rip Current S (with19.2 Ah battery) on order. With that being said I have been somewhat concerned of the amount of negative remarks or criticism I have found in regard to the Juiced Bike products. I think a lot of the comments I have come across are from individuals that actually do not own the product, at least that has been my impression. Also, EBR didn't give the Rip Current S much of a thumbs up. So I'm hoping to hear from owners or folks that have been around the bike (friends, etc).

Over all, the Rip Current S seems like a great value for how the bike is equipped so I gravitated to this product. I am wanting a fat tire bike. My budget is up to $3,500.00 but finding a nice fat tire bike for $2K seems appealing.

I live in Central Texas area and will be doing all type of recreational riding such as downtown Austin, out in the country, dirt roads and occasionally some trail riding (not extreme). I live in a hilly area which made me take a look a at the mid drives but the throttle assist and 750w hub drive motor seems like it will be sufficient. I would most likely be a candidate for both a street cruiser and a mountain bike but prefer to have only one (I'm buying my wife an E-bike as well).

Thanks for any comments you may have.

 

[Nova Haibike]

Over all, the Rip Current S seems like a great value for how the bike is equipped so I gravitated to this product. I am wanting a fat tire bike. My budget is up to $3,500.00 but finding a nice fat tire bike for $2K seems appealing.

Of course $2K is more appealing than $3.5K; who wants to spend more? On the flip side though, some things cost more for a reason.

If you can ride a 45cm, here is a great deal on a 2017 2017 Haibike Fat Six. The listing says local pickup only, but in the description it says delivery is available. Even if delivery adds $100-200, it would still be a great deal for a Bosch-powered bike with high spec'd components. It's not a 28mph motor though.

 

[CodyDog]

I don't know if I would qualify to post here, since I do not own a Rip Current S, however I do own a Cross Current Air.

I'm a student and don't have much money, so I bought Juiced bike because I found their pricing attractive.

I have to say though, if you're looking for something reliable, I would stay away from Juiced... or any other similar budget bike.
My kickstand broke in 2 weeks, seat torn in 4 weeks, brake wire frayed in about 5 weeks, spoke broke in about 6 months, etc.

oh yeah, my chain fall off at least twice a week. It's VERY annoying. I think the stock chain is too floppy? I tried to get adjusted but not possible.

I could not find 13 gauge spoke anywhere, all the bike shop said they didn't have it. Even Juiced dealer didn't have it, so I ended up getting a 13GA (slightly skinnier) spoke because Juiced spoke is very hard to find in North America.

Although the motor and battery have no problem, the motor started making this grinding noise? (Very similar to cell phone's vibrating noise) But this happens only when I'm going uphill.

Overall, it's not the best bike, but for the price? I think it's ok. Not everyone have money to buy Stromer.
If you're mechanically inclined and love working on your bike, I think it's ok. To me, it was best bang for buck considering how fast it goes for what it is and how cheap it is.

In the end, motor & battery are still holding up!

Timpo: Thanks for your reply, helpful information.

 

[CodyDog]

Of course $2K is more appealing than $3.5K; who wants to spend more? On the flip side though, some things cost more for a reason.

If you can ride a 45cm, here is a great deal on a 2017 2017 Haibike Fat Six. The listing says local pickup only, but in the description it says delivery is available. Even if delivery adds $100-200, it would still be a great deal for a Bosch-powered bike with high spec'd components. It's not a 28mph motor though.

Thanks NovaHaibike. I'll check it out.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

I own the CrossCurrent S. I've had no problems with it. It's a well-designed and well-built bike. The value per dollar is exceptional. To get the same level of performance, you would have to spend much more. If that's worth it, then it's worth it. My wife's Pedego, which she loves, has had to go back to the shop several times now. We paid twice the cost of my CCS for it. She wanted the peace of mind of being able to take it to a distributor for service if needed, and that has worked out. In our experience, Pedego's customer service is great. What she didn't get for her money is a bike with no problems.

It's easy to read comments on the JB sub-forum and think that these bikes have a lot of problems. However, there are an equal amount of comments from people who are having good experiences with their bikes. It's important to remember that Juiced Bikes practices incremental improvements -- like v.1, v.1.0.1, v.1.2 and so forth -- so if you read about some problem that's more than a month or two old, it's probably been fixed.

For instance, I was really worried about spoke breakage when I ordered mine last September, because there were many posts back then about spoke problems. Then in November, they totally re-spoked all the wheels for that shipment with a better grade of spokes. No problems reported with spokes since then, and I don't even carry the spare spokes that I bought. (@Timpo if you want my spare spokes, they are yours for the cost of shipping. PM me if interested.)

Regarding Court's review of the RCS, I've said before that it was not his finest hour. He just didn't seem as focused as he usually is. Also, some of his reservations had to do with its off-road performance, but Juiced doesn't market it as an off-road vehicle, so what's up with that?

Finally, and with no disrespect intended to anyone, anecdotal stories are only so helpful. Out of thousands of Juiced Bikes sold, of course some have had problems. Some more than others. The most successful product ever made will turn out some percentage of lemons.

If you find a bike you like more than the RCS, by all means go for it. Juiced is very good about quick refunds, you won't have a problem there. However, based on what you've said so far, you don't really have objective reasons not to buy the RCS. You might have changed preference, is all, and that's good enough reason for anyone. Let us know what you finally decide, will ya?

 

[CodyDog]

I own the CrossCurrent S. I've had no problems with it. It's a well-designed and well-built bike. The value per dollar is exceptional. To get the same level of performance, you would have to spend much more. If that's worth it, then it's worth it. My wife's Pedego, which she loves, has had to go back to the shop several times now. We paid twice the cost of my CCS for it. She wanted the peace of mind of being able to take it to a distributor for service if needed, and that has worked out. In our experience, Pedego's customer service is great. What she didn't get for her money is a bike with no problems.

It's easy to read comments on the JB sub-forum and think that these bikes have a lot of problems. However, there are an equal amount of comments from people who are having good experiences with their bikes. It's important to remember that Juiced Bikes practices incremental improvements -- like v.1, v.1.0.1, v.1.2 and so forth -- so if you read about some problem that's more than a month or two old, it's probably been fixed.

For instance, I was really worried about spoke breakage when I ordered mine last September, because there were many posts back then about spoke problems. Then in November, they totally re-spoked all the wheels for that shipment with a better grade of spokes. No problems reported with spokes since then, and I don't even carry the spare spokes that I bought. (@Timpo if you want my spare spokes, they are yours for the cost of shipping. PM me if interested.)

Regarding Court's review of the RCS, I've said before that it was not his finest hour. He just didn't seem as focused as he usually is. Also, some of his reservations had to do with its off-road performance, but Juiced doesn't market it as an off-road vehicle, so what's up with that?

Finally, and with no disrespect intended to anyone, anecdotal stories are only so helpful. Out of thousands of Juiced Bikes sold, of course some have had problems. Some more than others. The most successful product ever made will turn out some percentage of lemons.

If you find a bike you like more than the RCS, by all means go for it. Juiced is very good about quick refunds, you won't have a problem there. However, based on what you've said so far, you don't really have objective reasons not to buy the RCS. You might have changed preference, is all, and that's good enough reason for anyone. Let us know what you finally decide, will ya?

Bruce:
Thank you for your insight and comments. Well taken!
Mike

 

[Invid]

Finally, and with no disrespect intended to anyone, anecdotal stories are only so helpful. Out of thousands of Juiced Bikes sold, of course some have had problems. Some more than others. The most successful product ever made will turn out some percentage of lemons.

If you find a bike you like more than the RCS, by all means go for it. Juiced is very good about quick refunds, you won't have a problem there. However, based on what you've said so far, you don't really have objective reasons not to buy the RCS. You might have changed preference, is all, and that's good enough reason for anyone. Let us know what you finally decide, will ya?

For what it's worth, I also own a CrossCurrent S that I love. I've not posted on the forums yet because I've had no problems or questions that didn't already have answers. The bike has exceeded my expectations in all aspects save the fenders, which are too flexible and rattly for my tastes. They do work well however. For the money I saved over the other options I was looking at, I can easily swap them out and still come out way ahead.

The only advice I have is to keep in mind that people with no problems are out riding, not posting to internet fora so don't put too much stock into what a self selecting group has to say about a product. The Juiced Bikes forum is one of the highest traffic subforums on this site, which either means they have a ton of problems or a ton of engaged owners with an average number of problems. Simply looking at post counts won't tell you which of those two possibilities is the truth.

 

[Chris Hammond]

For what it's worth, I also own a CrossCurrent S that I love. I've not posted on the forums yet because I've had no problems or questions that didn't already have answers. The bike has exceeded my expectations in all aspects save the fenders, which are too flexible and rattly for my tastes. They do work well however. For the money I saved over the other options I was looking at, I can easily swap them out and still come out way ahead.

The only advice I have is to keep in mind that people with no problems are out riding, not posting to internet fora so don't put too much stock into what a self selecting group has to say about a product. The Juiced Bikes forum is one of the highest traffic subforums on this site, which either means they have a ton of problems or a ton of engaged owners with an average number of problems. Simply looking at post counts won't tell you which of those two possibilities is the truth.

Just to give my opinion as well. I own a CCS which I love. The only problem I have had was a failed rear taillight, which Juiced replaced immediately.
I also had the fender rattle problem, which I posted on this forum about. @Bruce Arnold mentioned he was able to cure by moving the supports. BTW, I forgot to say THANKS Bruce! If you look at the picture of the CCS on their website, you will notice the supports mounted near the bottom of the fender, I personally found the best result with them at the bottom edge of the fender.
I suggest you try moving them and monitor results, it has mad a significant improvement for me; there is still a slight rattle over more severe bumps but greatly improved.

 

[Crazyworld]

I own a RCS Large with the 52v. Love this bike. I have been charging to 80% and did not re charge after a few days biking to work. On the way home last Friday volts started at 49.5, got down to 43.7 on charger display at home. So way too low for me. Very windy day and got a first class work out. No problem with bike so far, over 400 miles. I just clean bike and oil chain so far. Front disk brake had a few lose bolts that I found. Also the front wheel shifted in the fork after my last crash so fixed that and adjusted the front brake. After swapping out the handle bar, had a throttle error code. Was able to move the throttle over and re-seat connector, all fixed. Biggest problem for me is to stop buying upgrades.

 

[Reid]

For what it's worth, I also own a CrossCurrent S that I love. I've not posted on the forums yet because I've had no problems or questions that didn't already have answers. The bike has exceeded my expectations in all aspects save the fenders, which are too flexible and rattly for my tastes. They do work well however. For the money I saved over the other options I was looking at, I can easily swap them out and still come out way ahead.

The only advice I have is to keep in mind that people with no problems are out riding, not posting to internet fora so don't put too much stock into what a self selecting group has to say about a product. The Juiced Bikes forum is one of the highest traffic subforums on this site, which either means they have a ton of problems or a ton of engaged owners with an average number of problems. Simply looking at post counts won't tell you which of those two possibilities is the truth.

Rattley and Floppy Fenders Fix:

The two wire stays are bendable. Unhook each from the fender proper. There is a nearly hidden, small phillips head set screw to back out all the way, first, from each clip before you unclip from the fender. BEND the two wires so they splay away from the fender. Reattach them to the fender. BIAS-bend one or the other, so that in balance, the fender is centered.

This will leave the fender stays in a state of balanced tension, for much better stiffness of the fender. You see, both stays will be wanting to move the fender outwardly and in result this dynamic tension makes for stiffness, as much as you might like.

He had a revelation though while watching a lion stretch at the zoo (some sources reference a tiger). He realized that lions were big and muscular even though they didn't lift weights. That's when he hit upon the idea of 'pitting muscle against muscle,' which spawned his dynamic tension approach to building muscle.
http://www.criticalbench.com/charles_atlas.htm

 

[Ann M.]

I don't know if I would qualify to post here, since I do not own a Rip Current S, however I do own a Cross Current Air.

I could not find 13 gauge spoke anywhere, all the bike shop said they didn't have it. Even Juiced dealer didn't have it, so I ended up getting a 13GA (slightly skinnier) spoke because Juiced spoke is very hard to find in North America.
If you're mechanically inclined and love working on your bike, I think it's ok. To me, it was best bang for buck considering how fast it goes for what it is and how cheap it is.
In the end, motor & battery are still holding up!

@Timpo, a 13 GA spoke IS a 13 gauge spoke. The issue you may have had was with the spoke length. Almost every shop and definitely every EBike shop will have 13 gauge spokes. Perhaps they needed a non-broken spoke or info off of the Juiced Bikes site to know how long the spoke needed to be. Most shops have at least a simple spoke threader and can cut and thread a spoke to the correct length.
Sorry to hear about your other problems, though.

 

[Ann M.]

@CodyDog, being from the Austin area myself; I feel the 750 watt motor will do the job for those pesky steep downtown hills and should be pretty good for the Hill Country climbs. For the latter, you may want to air those fat tires to the max psi to reduce your rolling resistance; that will help on the range, too.

Lots of good off-road trails in the area; enjoy!

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Most of those components have been upgraded at some point. Kickstand, LCD display, seat, all upgraded. Part of the incremental improvement plan that Tora has described.

I don't know about the quick release deal; that's not common on any bike, kinda weird.

Paint chipping? Normal wear and tear IMO; never had a bike (or motorcycle for that matter) that didn't show dings.

I got to say, at 25 miles per day and having a first-generation CCA, a lot of this sounds like normal wear and tear. You could have spent the $5000 @JayOhEn mentioned and still have some of these issues.

BTW, Jay, the CCA is a $1400 bike, not $2000, so he could have bought 3 and have $700 left over.

For comparison, I Googled mountain bikes from $1000 - $1500. The higher end had one or two steps up in components -- Deore instead of Altus, or RockShox instead of Suntour, for instance. Not all that daggone different; you could replace any of these components yourself for not a lot of money, and still have the battery-controller-motor of an ebike at no extra cost.

It's pretty easy to criticize a brand that isn't as good as you thought it would be, until you compare to other bikes in the same range. The CCA is an extraordinary performer at the price, and picking at things that aren't quite up to the quality you had hoped is kinda petty.

 

[kev312]

It's pretty easy to criticize a brand that isn't as good as you thought it would be, until you compare to other bikes in the same range. The CCA is an extraordinary performer at the price, and picking at things that aren't quite up to the quality you had hoped is kinda petty.

I wouldn't call it petty. $1400 is nothing to sneeze at, and at that price I would expect some of the issues pointed out to last a little longer than 6 months. I mean "kickstand broke in 2 weeks, seat torn in 4 weeks, brake wire frayed in about 5 weeks, spoke broke in about 6 months". It's not like he bought an el-cheapo no-name brand off of eBay.

 

[Asher]

Did you try contacting Selle Royal about the saddle?

Juiced specced 13 gauge spokes precisely because its an ebike which requires stronger spokes. First store I looked has them. http://www.ebikes.ca/shop/electric-bicycle-parts/spokes.html?SID=0a9db9f144175f84ab151ec7454345c2

Kickstand, okay, spend another $20-50.

The quick release failure, if true, is unacceptable. Companies have had major recalls over that. Quick releases on non-race bikes are super dumb anyway, but I guess they're so common they get put in anyway. Skewers are better, plus make using security solutions like hexlox easy.

As for electronics, if you're parking something outside a lot, or riding in inclement conditions, some sort of cover was warranted.

I say you don't get what you pay for. Juiced is much cheaper than the competition (at least for the CCS*), and not much if at all worse besides a little less finesse (no user manual lol). From a utilitarian perspective, my Juiced CCS isn't perfect, but it's close enough that I wouldn't pay more than $500 or so extra for perfection if it existed.

* There's more choice for fatbikes.

 

[Asher]

I basically agree Jay with your first two comments, though from a value perspective, budgeting $100-200 for a couple kinks, you're still way ahead.

The kickstand issue and broken spokes on the CCS (not sure about this model) wasn't a matter of variability apparently, just under-speccing parts. Shimano makes tons of reliable, budget parts too, so budget doesn't necessarily entail risk.

 

[CodyDog]

@CodyDog, being from the Austin area myself; I feel the 750 watt motor will do the job for those pesky steep downtown hills and should be pretty good for the Hill Country climbs. For the latter, you may want to air those fat tires to the max psi to reduce your rolling resistance; that will help on the range, too.

Lots of good off-road trails in the area; enjoy!

Thanks Ann. I am tending to like the idea of the 750 watt hub motor over the mid drive for this area.

 

[JoePah]

These blogs coninvced me that Cross Current isn't the best choice... too many unresolved complaints.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Exactly! Juiced definitely markets itself as a high-quality brand - not just a nameless knock-off company like so many off-brand Walmart bikes. And there certainly is a difference between how a bike rides immediately off the production line vs how it runs long term, under real world conditions.

Juiced does provide high quality. Amazingly high, for the price. Not the very highest quality possible, but then that's not their claim. I stand by my earlier expressed opinion: petty complaints.

I will say this: the kickstand and seat have been replaced, which indicates that Juiced realized that an improvement was in order. But as to the rest, c'mon. Brake wire frayed? How different are any brake wires from any company?

What y'all are asking for is 100% quality control (not possible) and premium components at a discount price. You say $1400 is not peanuts, but show me an ebike at the same price with superior components. Show me an ebike at a lower cost that you would dream of riding 25 miles per day, day in day out, rain or shine.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

My mother bought a $500 bike back in 2000 something, approx 15 years ago from a local bike shop. Her kickstand never needed replacing, had to replace tires, rubes, brake pads and other genreal maintenance like adjusting the dellaireur.

OK, $500 in 2000 is around $750 today. If you know of a $750 ebike of the same quality as your CCA, by all means cut your losses and get one.

As to your other comments, I'm not going to repeat what I've already said about upgraded components and quality assurance. It seems to fall on deaf ears.

Instead of "petty," perhaps I should have said "unrealistic."