Overstock on BH Easymotion Bikes over 50% off on some models

[TomD]

2018 was only confirmed for the ones on bicycle blue book. Lenny never said 2018 AFAIK. Pretty sure these are 2019 although there is no real difference between 2018 and 2019 on the Easy Motion / BH website.

I kinda soured on the Brose version after looking more carefully at it. The battery is not in the downtube and the plastic around the motor casing looks really cheap. Plus the Brose motors do not have good reliability and it seems BH is giving up on the US market or at least has cut a bunch of staff. Support seems to be a question mark.

 

[BillH]

Now I'm kind of leaning toward the Brose-powered one for $2299. Even with $200 shipping it's a bargain. It's got the bigger battery too. But it's likely a '18 as well.

That bike has the Brose T, great motor no doubt, but you probably want the Brose S which has 15% more power. The Brose M is the newest.

That bike was $1980 back in December and what I intended to buy but eventually went with the Atom X Lynx 5, Brose S motor, for a fraction more.

Motor review article https://ebike-mtb.com/en/the-best-emtb-motor/

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Plus the Brose motors do not have good reliability

Hard facts please.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Talking helmets, I bought Fox Rampage full face helmet for my gf. She's got a beautiful face, pity if anything happened to her.

 

[TomD]

Hard facts please.

Just one report: https://electricbikereview.com/foru...se-specialized-reliability.27608/#post-238312

Not the first or only report I've seen, and even earlier in this thread someone else mentioned reliability as a potential con.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm now 3100 miles into my 2020 Vado 5.0 and I have had no motor problems.

You missed some important part there.
It is easy to generalise based on single cases @tomdav.

 

[TomD]

They clearly had issues with some of the belts in the 2018 motors. It was only rectified after they swapped him out with a 2020 model. But I get that you are a Specialized/Brose fanboy so it's pointless to try and have an intellecutally honest discussion about this with you.

 

[FlatSix911]

So I was looking at all these again, and that PW-X has two different listings, one as above for $2480, and then another one for $3999.
The former must be a 2018 model, and the latter a 2019.

Now I'm kind of leaning toward the Brose-powered one for $2299. Even with $200 shipping it's a bargain. It's got the bigger battery too. But it's likely a '18 as well.

EDIT: Duh...now I see the "We have a great deal on BH 2018..."

I believe all of the BH models offered are 2018 stock... the list price on the PW-X was $3,999 and now $2,480.
After talking with a lot of owners and retailers, the Yamaha motor appears to have better reliability than Brose.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

They clearly had issues with some of the belts in the 2018 motors. It was only rectified after they swapped him out with a 2020 model. But I get that you are a Specialized/Brose fanboy so it's pointless to try and have an intellecutally honest discussion about this with you.

Every e-bike make has some issues at certain time. Yes, try to ride a Brose equipped bike and you might become a fanboy yourself.
I hate generalisation. " Plus the Brose motors do not have good reliability". Do not have or did not have? Specialized? At least they provide proper technical support and it comes at a price.

 

[FlatSix911]

I kinda soured on the Brose version after looking more carefully at it. The battery is not in the downtube and the plastic around the motor casing looks really cheap.
Plus the Brose motors do not have good reliability and it seems BH is giving up on the US market or at least has cut a bunch of staff. Support seems to be a question mark.

They clearly had issues with some of the belts in the 2018 motors. It was only rectified after they swapped him out with a 2020 model.
But I get that you are a Specialized/Brose fanboy so it's pointless to try and have an intellectually honest discussion about this with you.

Hard facts please.

Here is some objective information for the data scientists on EBR.

A 16 point delta between the top 3 brands... Shimano, Bosch, and Yamaha.
A 38 point delta when compared to the next tier brands Panasonic and Brose.

"Every year, leading German bike trade magazine SAZ bike sends surveys to hundreds of bicycle dealers asking them to score manufacturers in different categories. They’re the ones who assemble and maintain the system, and they’re in daily contact with customers, so they know what they’re talking about. SAZ bike rated ten manufacturers in six categories: product quality, complaints handling, service, training, maintenance costs, and batteries. When the results are in, SAZ bike publishes their rankings: "

 

[TomD]

I probably wouldn't have an issue with it if the warranty support was solid but I think it's a question mark at this point with BH support going forward at least in the US. Even specialized has issues with supporting their products in the US. A buddy of mine bought an prior model year turbo vado because it was such a good deal and has been frustrated with the warranty service. The dealer warned him before he bought about the level of service from specialized and said other brands were better at offering support. That's not to say that specialized isn't putting out a good product in 2020.

Oh and I have fanboy on ignore so we'll let him talk to himself in the future.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Here is some objective information for the data scientists on EBR.

I have seen that. According to SAZ, Shimano motors are the most reliable. Why are these motors so rarely found then?
I need to add that at least Specialized must have recognized some issues with Brose motors (e.g. overheating) and put solid engineering to resolve them (I've seen a video about it on EMTBN channel). That's why these motors are named Specialized not Brose.

@Browneye, before you consider the YT Decoy, please listen to the bzzzzzzz of the Shimano motor It would annoy me. (from 7:26)

 

[TomD]

I can only imagine the gnashing of teeth that will ensue for mentioning a bike with a Bafang (gasp) mid-drive, but now that Luna seems to have a solution to quiet the M600 I would consider the X1 with a budget in the high $3K range.

X2 Enduro Ebike

Carbon fiber mid drive beauty.

lunacycle.com

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I wonder where is the Bafang motor in the reliability chart and how much the Luna weighs. It must be a challenge to carry the bike over an obstacle...
(Yes @tomdav you're not reading me).

 

[BillH]

I probably wouldn't have an issue with it if the warranty support was solid but I think it's a question mark at this point with BH support going forward at least in the US.

Could you point me in the right direction with supporting evidence to this comment?. My search has led me to nothing solid to back that up. I ask because I'm just beginning my 5 year warranty on my US BH bike and your comment concerns me.

 

[TomD]

Nothing concrete. Just a gut feeling based on Court's comment at the bottom of this review that the company recently (last year) moved headquarters and let go of a lot of staff.

Easy Motion ATOM Lynx 4.8 27.5 Pro Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $4399.00 | Model Year: 2017 | A full suspension cross-country or all-mountain electric bike with beautifully hidden motor and battery pack, 120 mm suspension from Fox, available in two frame sizes for improved fit

electricbikereview.com

And rumors in this thread that Lenny bought out remaining US distributor stock and BicycleBlueBook seling 50+ brand new 2018 bikes at fire sale prices (less than $1K)! Makes me wonder how committed BH is to the US market. Also, why hasn't BH offered the latest Atom X Lynx models in the US? And a few comments in reviews elsewhere about poor US support. Could be no reason for concern at all but doesn't necessarily give me warm fuzzies either.

 

[Ebiker01]

question mark at this point with BH support going forward

Explain where you get this information and the concrete facts before making some wrong assumptions and leading people the wrong way.

 

[bikeman242]

Nothing concrete. Just a gut feeling based on Court's comment at the bottom of this review that the company recently (last year) moved headquarters and let go of a lot of staff.

Easy Motion ATOM Lynx 4.8 27.5 Pro Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $4399.00 | Model Year: 2017 | A full suspension cross-country or all-mountain electric bike with beautifully hidden motor and battery pack, 120 mm suspension from Fox, available in two frame sizes for improved fit

electricbikereview.com

And rumors in this thread that Lenny bought out remaining US distributor stock and BicycleBlueBook seling 50+ brand new 2018 bikes at fire sale prices (less than $1K)! Makes me wonder how committed BH is to the US market. Also, why hasn't BH offered the latest Atom X Lynx models in the US? And a few comments in reviews elsewhere about poor US support. Could be no reason for concern at all but doesn't necessarily give me warm fuzzies either.

I believe that BH pulled out of North America. I am not sure what will happen to our warranties. I am sure though that a major retailer like Lenny's would take good care of their customers. I would still jump on this deal.

 

[TomD]

Explain where you get this information and the concrete facts before making some wrong assumptions and leading people the wrong way.

That's why I said question mark and see my reply above clarifying why. Seriously, did you not have any question mark whatsoever that BH might be retrenching in the US market when you saw all these bikes being cleared out at these prices, particularly the $777 deal from BicycleBlueBook? Seems likely they dumped everything to the highest bidder.

 

[Johnny]

Yeah, the firesale prices scare me too. If I bought one it would be under the assumption that I would have no warranty, or perhaps for a motor drive or something under the original manufacturer, be it Brose or Yamaha. Otherwise I would figure I would have to fix it myself. The low price is attractive - who doesn't like to save money? But if the product becomes unusable and you can't fix it, you may just be out of luck.

A manufacturer committed to moving foward with their product in the US market wouldn't be liquidating their entire inventory to a retailer. Just sayin'.
It's also unnerving that they have so many older unsold models. OTOH I saw somewhat discounted 2018 Trek models at my dealer - and I thought they were going to need to discount them further in order to move them. This industry moves so fast that you don't want two year old models sitting around.

The way Haibike liquidates product also raises my eyebrows.

With the Big-3 they may not always be able to fill all demand, but they don't seem to have a lot of unsold merchandise either. I trust they'll be here tomorrow if I need them.

This thread is getting ridiculously long. Mid drives are just like any other bike in terms of maintenance. You are making too big of a deal with this warranty stuff. Yes you should be handy and do your own adjustments and minor tweaks. Unless something serious like a cracked frame happens (in which case I think you will be able to get support).

Big three doesn't need a large inventory because they are able to sell the same product to customers for close to 1.5 to 2 times the price. A bike having similar components from Trek is two times this price. Paying $2000-2500 extra for the probability of dealing with a $200-400 warranty repair. Your choice.

And one last note, if you constantly need to go through warranty then that product is not usable anyways...



Now for those of you who has received this bike, I was wondering if there is enough clearance in the frame for 29er wheels ?