Over 50's Charger GX HS Rohloff chronicles

[Alaskan]

The Homage is a full suspension bike. As such it has a varying geometry as the suspension works so it comes with a chain tensioner that hangs off the derailleur hanger. I have 1500 miles on the bike now and have less than half the stretch that would require replacement. I clean and lube the chain every 100-150 miles, 3 or 4 days the way I ride. Oh how I wish I had a Gates belt drive on this bike!

 

[Over50]

Maybe calling on @Dmitri here since he is in Russia or any other cold climate owners: We are moving to a new house soon. Currently I store my bike indoors in my basement. But now I want to store my bikes in a detached garage (not heated). I will continue to store the batteries indoors.

Will I have any issues with the oil in the suspension forks and the Rohloff hub? Anyone store their bikes outdoors in the winter (not talking about batteries here)? I did a search for info on the Rohloff and found some interesting info I pasted below. But it more refers to usage after cold storage. My bikes don't get much use from about December to end of February. Maybe I should just thin the oil as they suggest? How about the oil and seals in the suspension forks?

https://www.rohloff.de/en/service/handbook/faqs/

Problem-free cycling with a SPEEDHUB 500/14 through winter.

The SPEEDHUB is filled with 25ml of All Season Oil, which allows a problem-free operation down to approximately –15 °C (+/- 5°C).
If the bicycle however stands for long periods in the cold (e.g. outside over night with temperatures of down to –10°C), then the cooled gear-unit retains this temperature throughout the following day and this can lead to shifting problems.
These shifting problems are identified as freewheeling in the gear numbers 4,6,7 and 11,13,14 directly following a gear change.

To ensure therefore a safe and problem-free operation throughout the winter months, the All Season Oil should therefore be thinned with 50% of our Cleaning Oil (total oil in gear-unit remains 25ml).
The safe operation of the SPEEDHUB can now be guaranteed down to temperatures of approximately –30 °C.

The thinned oil mixture can also be ridden problem-free through the warmer summer months.
The only disadvantage being that the noises produced in summer will appear louder and the amount of sweat oil may increase.

A further problem that may occur in the cold winter months is that the shifter cables could freeze if the cables are routed under the bottom bracket. Any penetrated moisture tends to collect in this low point and it freezes here in minus temperatures. In this case, the twist shifter refuses to rotate. If this occurs, the water within the cables must be thawed and allowed to drain out from either end. Following this, the SPEEDHUB should once again operate undisturbed and correctly.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I'd suggest talking to your local bike shop about how to winterize your bike. Especially if you aren't going to be using it for several months.

On top of the oil in the fork and the rohloff hub, I'd be concerned about the hydraulic brake fluid and anyplace in the frame where water might accumulate. And be sure to wrap that Brooks saddle with a plastic bag to keep it from drying out over the winter.

Speaking as someone who has lived full-time in snow country for twenty years, I'd say that an unheated garage is going to be an enormous pain in the butt.

 

[Over50]

I only have 580 miles on my GX Charger but on prompting from a reliable source I took it in for a software update. I really like the Bosch diagnostic report the LBS provided. It gives a lot of info such as current software versions, total operating time, energy consumption, number of charge cycles, min and max battery temperature ... One thing I know cannot be correct however is the Distance in Mode statistics:
1.7 mi Turbo
12.2 mi Sport
234.4 mi Tour
178 mi Eco
158.3 mi no assistance

Well obviously that last bucket is just plain impossible. I'd be surprised if I've done 1/2 a mile without assistance. Any ideas on why the Bosch system would provide this erroneous info? Are there riding situations when you have assist turned on (perhaps coasting) but where the bike is reading zero assistance?

The next chart on the diagnostic report is "Energy consumed by motor" and it shows a pie chart of Eco 32%, Tour 62%, Sport 5% and Turbo 1%.

The person that prompted me to get the software update said there was a change that will allow give the bike a little extra power. I rode about 10 miles after I picked it up from the shop but due to it being local, neighborhood riding I really didn't notice a difference or couldn't test it out thoroughly.

 

[dblhelix]

I only have 580 miles on my GX Charger but on prompting from a reliable source I took it in for a software update. I really like the Bosch diagnostic report the LBS provided. It gives a lot of info such as current software versions, total operating time, energy consumption, number of charge cycles, min and max battery temperature ... One thing I know cannot be correct however is the Distance in Mode statistics:
1.7 mi Turbo
12.2 mi Sport
234.4 mi Tour
178 mi Eco
158.3 mi no assistance

Well obviously that last bucket is just plain impossible. I'd be surprised if I've done 1/2 a mile without assistance. Any ideas on why the Bosch system would provide this erroneous info? Are there riding situations when you have assist turned on (perhaps coasting) but where the bike is reading zero assistance?

The next chart on the diagnostic report is "Energy consumed by motor" and it shows a pie chart of Eco 32%, Tour 62%, Sport 5% and Turbo 1%.

The person that prompted me to get the software update said there was a change that will allow give the bike a little extra power. I rode about 10 miles after I picked it up from the shop but due to it being local, neighborhood riding I really didn't notice a difference or couldn't test it out thoroughly.

Probably miles without pedaling, irrespective of assist level since you’re actually not using assist.

 

[Alaskan]

Also likely to include downhill miles in excess of assisted speed, i.e. >15mph type 1 CX or 28mph type 3 HS

 

[DDBB]

We have an unheated attached garage but it does get well below freezing in the cold northern Michigan winters so my solution is to have both e-bikes in the living room. It's hard to watch TV now because I keep looking at my haibike

 

[Over50]

We have an unheated attached garage but it does get well below freezing in the cold northern Michigan winters so my solution is to have both e-bikes in the living room. It's hard to watch TV now because I keep looking at my haibike

I'm in SE Mich and I went ahead and moved the bikes to the basement of our new house. The wife is not too happy about that. "Just a few months and they go back to the garage" I keep promising her...

 

[Over50]

Probably miles without pedaling, irrespective of assist level since you’re actually not using assist.

This agrees with what the LBS said - either miles pedaling over the assist cutoff or coasting ...

But I posted on my XDuro thread about an inconsistency in the Bosch diagnostics reports. For the XDuro, it reads 0.0 miles ridden with no assistance but the mileage breakdown by assist level does not equal the total odometer miles on the bike (short by 350). The Charger GX mileage breakdown by assist level foots to the total odometer but classifies the almost 160 miles with no assistance. I'm assuming my XDuro report means I rode the 350 miles without assist but it is odd that the reports are inconsistent in how they presented the 'no assistance' mileage. Kinda makes me wonder how much confidence I can have in the diagnostics ...

https://electricbikereview.com/foru...kking-4-0-chronicles.13845/page-4#post-159156

 

[dblhelix]

This agrees with what the LBS said - either miles pedaling over the assist cutoff or coasting ...

But I posted on my XDuro thread about an inconsistency in the Bosch diagnostics reports. For the XDuro, it reads 0.0 miles ridden with no assistance but the mileage breakdown by assist level does not equal the total odometer miles on the bike (short by 350). The Charger GX mileage breakdown by assist level foots to the total odometer but classifies the almost 160 miles with no assistance. I'm assuming my XDuro report means I rode the 350 miles without assist but it is odd that the reports are inconsistent in how they presented the 'no assistance' mileage. Kinda makes me wonder how much confidence I can have in the diagnostics ...

https://electricbikereview.com/foru...kking-4-0-chronicles.13845/page-4#post-159156

I agree with your interpretation of the “missing” 350 Xduro miles. As for the different reports I imagine either different drive software versions or different versions of the Bosch diagnostic software used.

To your greater point, I imagine these inconsistencies will/would be smoothed out if we received consistent updates online. I started seriously shopping ebikes in 2016. I imagined by this time all of this would be sorted, but there hasn’t been an iota of progress. There is the announcement of the Kiox, which has limited OEM availability. There is a “hint” of future update delivery via Kiox but also the now customary “no plan for aftermarket at this time.”

 

[Over50]

I made my longest ride on this bike today (actually on any bike ever). A nice, unseasonally warm day was forecasted (45F and sunny) so I charged 2 500 wh batteries to around 85-90% (estimating). 32F at outset 9:30a.m. and estimated Eco range was showing 110 miles.

I rode to Belle Isle State Park. Carried along some snacks. Stopped in a museum. Stopped for lunch and coffee. Hope to post a picture tomorrow.

Total ride was 49 miles which I was a bit disappointed with (was hoping to at least pass 50). Ride time was 3 hours 21 minutes. I guess 50 miles is close to my one day limit because I was starting to get a sore rear and lower back. I could have done another 10 for sure but my rear-end and lower back would not have been liking it much. Maybe time to tighten the Brooks just a tad.

I returned showing 53 miles of Eco range so that initial estimate was pretty accurate. I rode (estimating) 38 of the 49 miles in Eco. The rest Tour and maybe less than a mile in Sport. I intentionally took a slow pace for the first half of the ride. Keeping my max speeds around 20 mph (all Eco) with a nice comfortable cadence.

 

[Over50]

A few pics from Sunday's ride:

 

[dadanka]

A few pics from Sunday's ride:View attachment 28267View attachment 28268View attachment 28269

Beautiful. I still prefer how look Charger GX than Supercharger, expecially with this matte black, really stylish and elegant.

 

[Over50]

I had a minor issue with the Bosch motor - fortunately caught something early before it became a real issue: On occasion, I turn my bikes with suspension forks upside down - to allow the oil in the forks to flow down and reach the seals. On turning over my Charger GX I heard something rattling around in the motor cover. I was pretty certain it wasn't in the motor itself because there were no performance issues with the motor. I heard this prior to my almost 50 mile ride described above. I heard no noise while riding - probably too much road noise to hear anything rattling. I dropped the bike by the LBS last week and asked them to check it out. They gave me the two pictures attached here. Two of the motor casing nuts had come loose on one side and on the opposite side one of the bolts was backing itself out. It hadn't fallen out because the exterior casing didn't leave it sufficient room to back all the way out. Our roads around here are sometimes pretty bad but I don't have a lot of miles on the bike. I'm supposing things weren't sufficiently torqued down coming from the Bosch factory:

 

[dblhelix]

I had a minor issue with the Bosch motor - fortunately caught something early before it became a real issue: On occasion, I turn my bikes with suspension forks upside down - to allow the oil in the forks to flow down and reach the seals. On turning over my Charger GX I heard something rattling around in the motor cover. I was pretty certain it wasn't in the motor itself because there were no performance issues with the motor. I heard this prior to my almost 50 mile ride described above. I heard no noise while riding - probably too much road noise to hear anything rattling. I dropped the bike by the LBS last week and asked them to check it out. They gave me the two pictures attached here. Two of the motor casing nuts had come loose on one side and on the opposite side one of the bolts was backing itself out. It hadn't fallen out because the exterior casing didn't leave it sufficient room to back all the way out. Our roads around here are sometimes pretty bad but I don't have a lot of miles on the bike. I'm supposing things weren't sufficiently torqued down coming from the Bosch factory:View attachment 28881View attachment 28882

Thanks for posting this and the pics.

I elected to go thru Michigan last summer for the first time while heading cross-country, although not near you. I was surprised how long I was on gravel before getting to asphalt near Ann Arbor. I asked people along the way if I’d planned a poor route, but they assured me that getting to paved roads would not be practical as they were few and far in between. Between Ann Arbor and Lansing, I had to take a lot of poorly maintained dirt roads. Paved roads were generally not in good condition, either. I t was interesting to hear Michiganders joke about it so nonchalantly. The Musketawa Trail from Grand Rapids to Muskegon was a pleasure. I was tempted to head to the UP but was warned at bike shops that the roads would be in even poorer condition. It’s on my bucket list.

Despite the roads, nothing jarred loose. I’ve had more of a problem with the plastics. The mask on the Nyon flew off. First day riding the bike, the round “Performance Line” badge fell off. I was moving slowly along the towpath outside of DC so I saw it happen. I thought for sure it would come off repeatedly until ultimately lost, but surprisingly, after I pushed it back in place, it never came off again. A lot easier to catch compared to pulling off the cranks to check bolts inside the motor!

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Product endorsement of the day: Loctite 222 Purple thread locker.

 

[dblhelix]

Product endorsement of the day: Loctite 222 Purple thread locker.

Isn’t opening up the motor by end user grounds for warranty loss?

 

[Over50]

Isn’t opening up the motor by end user grounds for warranty loss?

My Bosch certified LBS did the work and took the pictures.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Isn’t opening up the motor by end user grounds for warranty loss?

That's why I had my LBS (Bosch certified) do it.

Seriously, though. I highly recommend loctite for rack and fender bolts and pretty much everything else that can work loose. Which is pretty much every bolt on the bike.

 

[dblhelix]

That's why I had my LBS (Bosch certified) do it.

Good move. I guess a bit of preventive maintenance beats the heck out of being in the middle of nowhere with creeping dread as you realize, yes, the clatter I hear is the motor bolts falling out.