Need help with my Stromer Sport

[LisaL]

Got stranded yesterday when my bike died. I could barely push it home because it does not push as usual. It is like I am pushing an extra 75 lbs, like against a parking brake. Brakes are not locked. Could it be a brake sensor?

I was riding as usual. Lots of battery. Pedal assist stopped. Red light on controller said overheat I have never seen that. I turned off bike and waited about 15 mins and peddeled with it off. Turned it back on it went 30 secs tried to peddle assist, but would not engage. Tried power on demand, no go. Controller kept turning off. Then controller would not come on at all.

Got it home and tried to charge battery through the bike. No go. Just flashing yellow light on charger.

Removed battery from bike it charged fine. Controller is dead. The bike weighs a thousand pounds pushing it.

Have I destroyed the motor?

Any help would be appreciated. There is no shop in Houston. It closed.

 

[bluecat]

Does the display looks like this?

Then, there is truly a risk of engine's death. These motors have the controller in the motor housing, so overheating will kill the electronics. A (nun-Stromer) bike mechanic might be able to replace the rear wheel (with a wheel with a 2nd hand motor). Be aware, over the years, the connectors of the motors are changed.

 

[LisaL]

yes, that is it. I spoke with other ebike shops and everyone thinks the motor is fried. Yes, I understand the connection are different depending on my bike year. I suppose I am fortunate to have gotten 5 years out of the bike, but I was expecting more for the brand. Now what to do with it? Repairing is more than the bike is worth and if this brand is not reliable; why keep putting money into it. What is a good powerful reliable long term bike? Any recommendations? I do not commute, I ride the bayous on the weekend.

 

[Ann M.]

Lisa, have you spoken with the techs at the Bike Barn in the West University area of Houston? They sell several brands of high quality electric bikes at that location and would have the expertise to modify any of the wiring and install the newer version of the UltraMotor motor which would resolve your issues. A fairly inexpensive repair to keep your bike going if you enjoy the ride .

The West University location of Bike Barn:
5339 Weslayan
Houston TX 77005
713-529-9002.

If they can't help you there are several of us in the Austin area who could.

 

[LisaL]

Ann, that is very helpful. Bike Barn does not show up in any ebike web search for the area, so I had not thought of them. I will call them this morning. My plan was to drive to Austin this Saturday and bring the bike to either Electric Ave or Rocket Electrics. Are the techs equally good there? Do you know?

 

[Ann M.]

Glad to help, Lisa. Even though Bike Mart is not a Stromer dealer, they should be able to connect with Stromer about parts & technical details. Although a visit to Austin at this time of year is pretty, I do suggest you skip it this weekend and the next. We're in the midst of a huge set of conferences & music with SXSW held in the downtown district and by LadyBird Lake, so finding somewhere to park or even manage the IH35 traffic near there is going to be difficult. Also, Rocket Electric is going to be on overdrive handling ebike rentals during the festival.

At this time, Electric Avenue does not have an on staff electric bike repair person, they send out the work to someone else, their focus is really more on the gas scooters they sell. Rocket Electric has several techs on their repair team, a couple that I've spoken with that are quite knowledgeable.

You can also call Stromer and see if they could arrange a repair via a Velotech repair team in your area; however, I think this would be more expensive than finding a competent electric bike shop to do the work. Please feel free to reach out to me if you need help on this; I've been working in the ebike industry for 17 years in the Austin area.

As a former A2B/UltraMotor dealer, we had the same issue come up years ago and the replacement motor was a significant improvement.

 

[LisaL]

I was actually coming for SXSW anyway, so yes I know about the traffic. Good to know about the 2 shops. Thank you so much for your help.

 

[LisaL]

Stromer USA just emailed me to expect 4-5 years on a motor. That was certainly not communicated to me when I bought the bike. And I do not ride every day.

 

[bluecat]

Stromer USA just emailed me to expect 4-5 years on a motor.

No lifetime forecasts are given in Switzerland; however, I expect at least 1000 operating hours. On a Stromer (speed range 20 to 45 km/h), I see 30km/h as average speed. So, the motor should last about 30'000km. Limiting factors are: Series with bad parts, riding below 20km/h or overheating due to other circumstances and ... bad luck.

On the other hand, the blue 630Wh battery currently on sale still fits into a 2009 Stromer (originally fitted with 360Wh battery).

The disadvantage of a replacement of battery or motor not covered by the warranty, is its very high price in relation of the bikes price.

 

[bluecat]

As a former A2B/UltraMotor dealer, we had the same issue come up years ago and the replacement motor was a significant improvement.

Interesting; I thought, A2B was a trademark of UltraMotor. Then it seems as Ultra Motor ran into bankruptcy, their business was taken over by TDCM. The firmware used by UltraMotor made me the impression to be a legacy of the BionX firmware. In the beginning, Stromer used such firmware.

So, a non-Stromer replacement motor could work with the Stromer display unit (because the 36V battery is free accessible). Does this fit with your experiences?

 

[LisaL]

Well, I got far far less than 1,000 operating hours, or 30, 000 km. If anything, I did not ride it enough. Thank you for taking the time to answer.