Picked up a Koda Sport 2.0 this weekend (Motor dead after less than 200 miles)

[Buzzatronic]

A month or so ago I got a long-term loaner from RadPowerBikes (for a podcast I do) and this weekend I paired it up with an e-Joe Koda Sport 2.0 and I gotta say, this bike feels like a great deal for the money.

I rode it to work on Monday (~15mi each direction) and now have over 50 miles on it. I'm an avid cyclist (non-electric) and ride ~200mi a week in general, so this bike is quite honestly a way for me to ride more while still having the ability to have rest/easy days while I recover from training.

Here are my initial thoughts on the e-Joe:

- I took the fenders off after the first ride since I don't plan on riding in the rain (as if that's a real thing in SoCal anyway) and they rattled a bit
- I set the max speed to 50kph and so far I've been able to get it to around 27mph on a fully topped battery with no headwind
- At max speed, the bike feels stable and smooth for the most part
- At max assist, the motor starts to make a subtle noise that I need to monitor, not sure if it's normal (I'm new to e-bikes) or if it indicates I'm pushing it too hard or what
- I've also noticed that on rare occasion, the motor seems to stop providing power for 1/2 a second then pick back up again while riding at a constant speed. Not sure if that's me hitting the max and not knowing, or if it's a cadence sensor issue.
- I change the PAS to 9 modes since with 5 modes, my modes didn't align well with my wife's RadCity. I'm hoping that 9 modes will give me more flexibility to ride at her pace without start/stop issues with the motor
- The battery seems to go from 100% (5 of 5 blocks full) to 60% (3 of 5 blocks full) and skips 80% charge completely. Not sure why that is. I haven't gone below 60% so I'm not sure if 40% and 20% behave the same way yet.

When I bought it the shop told me to be aware that the wheels were not of the highest quality and it was likely that the wheel would need to be trued after ~100 or so miles so I'll likely have to take it back in next week for that.

I'm hoping I don't start breaking spokes on this thing (reading other discussions indicates this is an overall e-bike problem for some brands).

So far I'm certainly digging this bike, it's fun and quite a bargain for a commute bike that you can also take to the beach path.

 

[Buzzatronic]

Checking in after about 100 miles. So far so good but I'm still getting the hiccups at max PAS even when I'm not hitting the max speed. It's not frequent enough to by worrisome yet.

I'm also not very impressed with the front fork, I may need to tune the preload to make it feel more natural.

Also today I did a range test to and from work. Ride to work was 13.9 miles, I parked it with 60% battery.

Ride home was 14.7 miles and I hit 20% battery with ~4 miles left, about ~2 miles I started getting battery warning (blinking 20% battery segment) and had to baby it home.

This is about what I expected since max range is 25-45 miles and I was running it at max PAS in both directions.

 

[Buzzatronic]

So I'm sad to report that less than 200 miles into my e-bike adventure with the E-Joe Koda, the motor has gone pear shaped. I rode it to work this morning (~13.5 miles) and everything was fine. Plugged it in to charge at work and go about my day.

I leave this afternoon and take the bike down the elevator and outside. Power it up and I'm getting no power to the motor from PAS or throttle.

I check all the connections (motor, brake cut off, etc.) and all checks out. Battery shows 100% (5/5 bars on display, 4/4 on battery itself.)

Throttle doesn't work, PAS doesn't work.

I power cycle everything multiple times and even jiggle the battery (key is at home so it's locked into place) and suddenly I get a little throttle but it's not enough to move the bike.

I lift the rear wheel and give it some throttle and the wheel spins but it sounds like I'm taking an angle grinder to a steel pipe.

I take the bike back inside my office to make the call to my wife to come pick me up (and I'm not happy).

The bike is 16 days old and I'm going to have to through a motor warranty replacement already.

Not a good start with this bike.

 

[Buzzatronic]

Update on my broken motor ... the shop had the rear wheel replaced for me (under warranty) soon after it failed. I stopped riding it and then we moved across town. I finally got back on it to survey the new neighborhood and I'm starting to hear the same warning sounds as before, with the internal gearing of the motor sounding like they are slipping at max power.

I've also noticed that plugging the charger in causes a SIGNIFICANT arc spark from the charger to the charging port, even when the charger has not been plugged in for days. My wife's RadPower City does not do this when I plug it in.

All said, I can't say I feel good about this bike at this point and will likely get rid of it.