Short E-Bike Warranties: Are They A Problem?

[Asher]

On e-bikes, there's obviously more that can go wrong, and at great cost. Catastrophic crashes from part failures are rare, but the financial impact of motors or batteries failing prematurely due to manufacturer defect can easily be $500+ if not under warranty.

And yet on many of the popular direct sale e-bike brands, the warranty is paltry, often one year for not just parts but the frame as well.

It's a bit shocking that frame warranties are so short, especially when big bike brands usually warranty frames for life, including on e-bikes.

I recognize that warranty servicing, especially for direct sales, can be costly to operate, but even then warranties may not cover labor, just parts. An approach like Wing's of charging you extra for a longer warranty on parts seems reasonable, (although warranties sold separately can often be overpriced).

Does it matter that warranties are so short? Should it matter? Are you willing to pay an extra 5-10% for a year or two more of warranty on parts?

Online direct sales ebike brands:

1 year (all parts):
Blix
FLX
Juiced
Lectric
Magnum
Rad Power
Ride1Up
Rize
Sondors
Super 73 (high end models have a 2 year warranty for just batteries)
Wing (but can pay extra for up to 3 years)

3 year frame, 1 year parts:
Espin
Surface 604

3 years, frame and parts:
Vanmoof

Lifetime frame, 1 year parts:
Biktrix (90 days for Swift Lite)

 

[Taylor57]

Personally, on a $1000-1500 ebike, I am comfortable with a year warranty. If it breaks, you fix it. Back in the day when my parents plunked down 75 bucks for my Schwinn Lemon Peeler Stingray, (which is probably equivalent to $5000 today!) I doubt we got a lick of a warranty. My experience with both Lectric and Espin is that they want happy riders. Happy riders help sell units!! But many get hung up on warranties.
Now if I plunked down 12k for a new R&M...

 

[darksky]

That's why I bought a brand with a 5 year warranty (lifetime on the frame, 5 year prorated on battery) and a great reputation for customer service.

 

[Dewey]

I like the motorcycle companies selling ebikes like Yamaha and Harley can bring transferable warranties, helps used values

 

[legsofbeer]

One year is fine on a $1500 ebike. Parts are either going to fail fast, or last for a long time. Even there I would have voided that 1 year warranty 3 months early, except the controller/display upgrade was backordered. Having an active online community that is likely to have prior experience with whatever goes wrong for me, is more important than a multi-year warranty. Plus, I am comfortable doing maintenance and some fixes myself.

Of course, that one year warranty had better be real. You buy a dud bike, you expect to be able to return for refund or exchange. Those too good to be true deals I wouldn't count on that.

 

[Taylor57]

That's why I bought a brand with a 5 year warranty (lifetime on the frame, 5 year prorated on battery) and a great reputation for customer service.

Which brand is that?

 

[darksky]

Which brand is that?

Pedego

 

[voidedwarranty]

My take may not be popular here but I don't see anything wrong with a 1 year warranty for ebikes. I'm a dealership technician for BMW. Some of their cars sell for six figures and only have a 4yr/50k mile warranty. Now that is a tragedy. Especially given the amount of failures their new cars are prone to and what it costs after the warranty has expired.

I guess what I'm getting at is the cost of an ebike is comparatively low to a car, ditto for repairs. I think one year is sufficient given the costs of purchase and repair.

*I apologise to those offended by my analogy

 

[McCorby]

My bike frame’s lifetime warranty gives me added confidence in their engineering and manufacturing capabilities. The other components including the motor and battery are warranted for 2 years.

For an additional cost, many lbs’s offer extended warranties and service plans for the bikes they sell.

 

[Asher]

LParts are either going to fail fast, or last for a long time.

This isn't true. Bathtub curves are used to model part failures, and failures you hear around ebike parts, like anything else, can and do happen at any stage of their life.

Bathtub curve - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

My take may not be popular here but I don't see anything wrong with a 1 year warranty for ebikes. I'm a dealership technician for BMW. Some of their cars sell for six figures and only have a 4yr/50k mile warranty. Now that is a tragedy. Especially given the amount of failures their new cars are prone to and what it costs after the warranty has expired.

I guess what I'm getting at is the cost of an ebike is comparatively low to a car, ditto for repairs. I think one year is sufficient given the cost of the product.

I wouldn't say that a short warranty is wrong per se, but that it's penny wise, pound foolish:
* Most buyers don't work on their own bike. Prob <10% do. So the 'joy' of having to work on your bike and reaping the savings therefrom are non existent.
* Your 1 year old ebike has lost half its value, even if it's fully working. Let's say $750/$1500. The motor fails at the 1.5 year mark. It costs $500 to fix. The battery has already done a couple hundred charge cycles, the cassette is a little worn... Your bike isn't even two years old and it's already borderline in terms of scrapping or saving it. And it's not like ebikes improve as considerably year over year like a smartphone.
*Maybe you just don't like the feeling of buying a hunk of metal only to throw it out after a year, when you could have spent less over time to keep your metal longer.

Even name brand motors only have two year warranties, but there's more assurance of their durability than the motors used on the low end ebikes (with the possible exception of Brose motors). And the retail shop you bought it at will do all repairs under warranty for free.

 

[voidedwarranty]

This isn't true. Bathtub curves are used to model part failures, and failures you hear around ebike parts, like anything else, can and do happen at any stage of their life.

Bathtub curve - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I wouldn't say that a short warranty is wrong per se, but that it's penny wise, pound foolish:
* Most buyers don't work on their own bike. Prob <10% do. So the 'joy' of having to work on your bike and reaping the savings therefrom are non existent.
* Your 1 year old ebike has lost half its value, even if it's fully working. Let's say $750/$1500. The motor fails at the 1.5 year mark. It costs $500 to fix. The battery has already done a couple hundred charge cycles, the cassette is a little worn... Your bike isn't even two years old and it's already borderline in terms of scrapping or saving it.

Even name brand motors only have two year warranties, but there's more assurance of their durability than the motors used on the low end ebikes (with the possible exception of Brose motors).

If you love it, save it. If you've been eyeing something else, scrap it. Average person spends that a year in gas anyways. If your bike is replacing 20-30% of your driving you are saving that in gas to get a nice new bike every 2-3 years.

LBS offering extended warranties is a great option provided the fine print covers those big ticket items.

Also I hope everyone is aware of the 30% refundable tax credit capped at $1,500 and available to claim every 3 years and can be claimed twice for married couples filing jointly. Yes it hasn't been voted on yet but with the current administration it seems highly likely to pass. I know that only applies to the US but it's still something.

 

[legsofbeer]

This isn't true. Bathtub curves are used to model part failures

FFS, this is stupid nitpicking. The intent of my post is that one's probability distribution favors early failure and late failure, I did not mean it is impossible for a part to fail in the middle. But my point remains uncontested, that a one year warranty covers the early failure scenario, assuming it comes from a legit vendor that actually backs their one year warranty.

 

[legsofbeer]

Your 1 year old ebike has lost half its value, even if it's fully working. Let's say $750/$1500. The motor fails at the 1.5 year mark. It costs $500 to fix. The battery has already done a couple hundred charge cycles, the cassette is a little worn... Your bike isn't even two years old and it's already borderline in terms of scrapping or saving it. And it's not like ebikes improve as considerably year over year like a smartphone.

Straw man city. If I could have bought a decent one year old ebike at half off list, I would have done so in 2019.

 

[Asher]

Straw man city. If I could have bought a decent one year old ebike at half off list, I would have done so in 2019.

Lol you're the same person who disappeared when I refuted your claim that you can't find half price Rads. To save myself the effort, here's the evidence again.

Rad Power just got $150m from investors. What will they do with it?

Yes agreed. Their line up has evolved but the designs look dated compared to companies such as Sondors which are continuously evolving with new frames, integrated batteries, mid-drives etc. Rad's lean business model is why they are where they are today,Sonders is continuously evolving their...

electricbikereview.com

 

[Terry777]

I got a Chinese bike thinking surely it won’t break easily. I’m sure it was a 1 year warranty for the motor and 2 years for the frame, not 100% certain though. I thought it would be fine.

The gear selector cable snapped after a few months. The cable on the 5 speed SA IGH is a real fiddly job to fix. I was going to get a shop in the UK to do it but decided to have a go myself. I fixed it in around 3 - 4 hours. I’m not a mechanic by any stretch but can do general maintenance. I think people should factor in what they could do themselves and what they couldn’t when deciding on what warranty they need.

 

[Taylor57]

Another factor is how handy you are around bikes. If you have no tools and very little mechanical ability, a bike direct from China off the internet is probably not for you even with the 1 year warranty. That is where you may want to check in with your LBS. Growing up with bikes, minibikes and motorcycles or being handy with a wrench is probably a good thing when it comes to buying direct. With that said, even if you are clueless with tools, the internet and YouTube vids are amazing at what they can teach you about fixing your broke machine.

 

[Terry777]

Another factor is how handy you are around bikes. If you have no tools and very little mechanical ability, a bike direct from China off the internet is probably not for you even with the 1 year warranty. That is where you may want to check in with your LBS. Growing up with bikes, minibikes and motorcycles or being handy with a wrench is probably a good thing when it comes to buying direct. With that said, even if you are clueless with tools, the internet and YouTube vids are amazing at what they can teach you about fixing your broke machine.

Agree totally with the internet and YT thing. When fixing mine I had to set the cable length before I fixed it to the selector arm. I’d have had to guess the length then try it and see. It’s a mm measurement too just to make it easy! Lol

A 7 year old YT video gave me a near enough measurement to start me off which turned out to be the correct size for my bike. It took me 3-4 hours to do the job. Without that help I could have been days. Literally days.

 

[legsofbeer]

Lol you're the same person who disappeared when I refuted your claim that you can't find half price Rads. To save myself the effort, here's the evidence again.

It wasn't worth refuting... but since you insist...

You assert ebikes depreciate 50% in resale price in one year. To back this up, you cite two ebay (EBAY!!! Who sells bikes there?) listings of direct drive rad city bikes, one of their least popular models. I'll assume the current rad city price of $1500 is the same as last year. One closed at $1035 after 19 bids, buyer pickup required. That's 69% of list, not 50%. The other rad city direct drive bike closed at $585 with just one bid, 39% of list. Any real seller would have borked that sale. But... both bikes are from the same seller, a 501c3 non-profit. I would assume those two bikes were donated by someone who just wanted them gone and took the full list price tax deduction, and the 501c3 seller had a cost base of zero:

On Jan-02-21 at 13:51:13 PST, seller added the following information:
100% of the proceeds of this sale are tax deductible under our 501c3 non-profit designation from the IRS.
Mother Teresa Mary Care Givers, Inc.
“Freedom from the Bondage of a Felony Charge”
Hollywood, FL

Now, let's look at all the craigslist asking prices for rad power bikes in my area, and the seattle/portland area.

Rad mini, $800, has seat and post upgrade, 4 years old: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/d/san-francisco-rad-powerbike-radmini/7277952721.html
Radwagon, $1300, no year: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/bik/d/sausalito-electric-cargo-bike-for-sale/7277558372.html
Radrover, $2635! 2019, lots of tricking out, looks like seller's asking for list on everything: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/bik/d/sausalito-electric-cargo-bike-for-sale/7277558372.html

Radrover, $1375, 2019 https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/bik/d/portland-rad-rover-fat-tire-bike-with/7279479780.html
Radwagon, $1200 with panniers, 2019 https://eugene.craigslist.org/bik/d/elmira-2019-radwagon/7279631414.html
Radwagon, $1400 with caboose, "bought new in November" https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bik/d/seattle-radwagon-electric-cargo-bike/7279495673.html

You know what I'm not seeing? Asking prices on one year old bikes at negotiating distance within 50% off list.

I'm pretty sure I could repeat this exercise with any other well known brand. If you insist, I will.

 

[Terry777]

I think the used bike market will just keep growing as the new bike market doesn’t seem to be catching up with demand. I know everyone wants a new bike but if that’s not available a good used bike has to be an option. The weather should only get better as we head into the summer months which means more people will want to get outside. I’m glad I pulled the trigger earlier and got one the end of last year as finding what you want is only going to get harder I think.

 

[Asher]

I think the used bike market will just keep growing as the new bike market doesn’t seem to be catching up with demand. I know everyone wants a new bike but if that’s not available a good used bike has to be an option. The weather should only get better as we head into the summer months which means more people will want to get outside. I’m glad I pulled the trigger earlier and got one the end of last year as finding what you want is only going to get harder I think.

It will be interesting to see where the used market settles after the corona crunch of 2020-2021. Plentiful new e-bikes will drive used prices down and lots of people changing commutes will spur a lot of owner resale.