Need advice on Cannondale and Bosch

[tolovan]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking for an e-bike (my first) for 3+ months. After researching and testing quite a few I decided on Cannondale Topstone Neo Carbon 2. I live in SF Bay area where Cannondale dealers seem to be far and few. None of my trusted LBSs (like Mike's Bikes or The New Wheel) carry the brand. The ones that carry it treat it as a second/third class option, i.e. if I ask for an e-gravel bike and don't tell them specifically that I'm looking for Cannondale they directly go for Specialized Creo or Yamaha Wabash. At the end I ordered one from Sports Basement (local smaller version of REI) that at least carries and deals with regular Topstones. After 3 weeks of waiting they first told me two days ago that they don't know where the bike is and have no way to track it. Today I went back to cancel my order and they told me that the bike is there but this is the first time they are building this 4th gen Bosch Performance Speed motor and they are getting an error code that they do not understand and they are looking into it. Within a day they will tell me if it is benign (e.g. a setup error) or something that needs to be fixed. Since this is my first e-bike experience I don't know what is acceptable what is not. My gut feeling is that I don't wanna pay $7K for a bike that needs fixing out of the box. What can I do? Call Cannondale? Call Bosch? Give Sports Basement the benefit of the doubt and trust them?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[SoCalDave]

I bought a 2019 Cannondale Quick Neo a year ago at REI. It has the Bosch Active Line plus motor. No problems at all in a year, but, having purchased many items there, they will make it right. Also, if you are a member (one time inexpensive charge to join), you will get back about 10% dividend in the spring. If you buy with the REI credit card, you get back another several %.

Having said that, give your LBS a little more time. If they keep getting stuck, maybe consider cancelling the order. In any case, give a ride report when you have the bike.

 

[tolovan]

I bought a 2019 Cannondale Quick Neo a year ago at REI. It has the Bosch Active Line plus motor. No problems at all in a year, but, having purchased many items there, they will make it right. Also, if you are a member (one time inexpensive charge to join), you will get back about 10% dividend in the spring. If you buy with the REI credit card, you get back another several %.

Having said that, give your LBS a little more time. If they keep getting stuck, maybe consider cancelling the order. In any case, give a ride report when you have the bike.

Thanks @SoCalDave. Yes REI is my option B. They were too swamped last time I asked them. The build time was 2-3 weeks on top of 2-3 weeks delivery.

 

[tolovan]

I just got a call. Looks like the bike was asking for the latest firmware. I'd categorize that as benign. Hopefully I'll have a fully functioning bike tomorrow. Now I need to find integrated lights that are compatible with Kiox. Apparently the bike has the cabling (exposed) but no lights.

 

[SoCalDave]

There is a Cannondale forum on this site, with some specific Topstone threads. Some bikes seem to come with the lighting wiring installed, some not. Lupine $$$ and Lezyne $-$$ make lights that can work with the Bosch system. There have been some posts about them here and there on the site. There is an overall wattage limitation on the lights on the Bosch system, and some higher lumen lights can exceed that. I just use some Bontrager rechargeable flashing head and tail lights on my Quick Neo, but I’m jealous of my wife’s Trek Dualsport + in which her lighting is integrated, and the lights come on when she turns on her Purion controller.

 

[WattsUpDude]

First, congratulations on a fantastic bike. I've only shopped for inexpensive things at Sports Basement but I find their customer service to be quite good. I'm glad things worked out. I'll see you on the trails!