Some LMT'D updates

[peteh_2]

I had a chance to do a longer ride this morning, ~ 39 miles. No error 21 issues so the new controller seems to have effectively resolved that issue. From 100% SOC to ~ 12% SOC over 39 miles, riding in assist level 1 ~ 40%, 2 ~30% & 3 ~30%. I could see 42-45 miles of range being possible with a fully depleted battery. Of course, this was a beach ride with little in the way of elevation change. And little to no use of the throttle.

All told, I think the bike is...adequate. It's about what I would expect quality-wise for a $1,700 bike. The chain/derailleur is a bit sloppy at times and the motor is excessively loud already. Time will tell what happens once there is some decent mileage on the bike.

 

[Mike N.]

Saturday 09/26 I took a 21 mile ride with elevation changes and had no problems. Rode again yesterday 09/29 around Lake Mead with some elevation changes. At about 14. 6 miles I lost power to the motor by torque sensor. The display screen was normal but had no assistance. Also the throttle did not work when I tried it but I wasn't using the throttle at the time it stopped. There were some pretty steep parts and when I glanced down at the display I was pulling 800 watts for a bit. After a few minutes I powered back up the display and I had power. After that I rode up a steep hill and stopped in the shade for a minute or two to have a drink of water. I never powered the bike down. When I went to start I once again had no power. Turned off the display and back on again and I instantly had power. I finished the ride of about 22 miles with no more incidents. A large part of that was coasting down hill in the opposite direction!

My hypothesis right now is something is getting hot and shutting down till it cools off. If it is the motor or the controller I don't know. I'm leaning toward the motor. I'm keeping in touch with Ride1up support and reporting when I have an incident. When I emailed them yesterday the latest shutdown there response:

"There are a few things that we could check though the motor definitely does have guards against overheating - it is possible that the cause of the shutdowns is for self-protection or regulation. If you find that it is only occurring in situations where the motor is working really hard, it may be correlative but we will not prove causation quite yet. Please keep us posted if you seem to find a pattern, or if the issue becomes more severe and we will assist! Thank you as always for your detailed descriptions, that certainly makes this much easier to help you."

As far as I know I'm the only one having this problem as far as no codes. I understand why they just do not want to throw parts at it trying to fix it. I really enjoy riding the bike now and I'm pretty happy with all the other aspects except the intermittent shutdown. I'm just going to keep riding it and document the loss of power when it appears. I'm sure Ride1up will stand behind their product and come to a resolution eventually.

 

[LAMike240]

Saturday 09/26 I took a 21 mile ride with elevation changes and had no problems. Rode again yesterday 09/29 around Lake Mead with some elevation changes. At about 14. 6 miles I lost power to the motor by torque sensor. The display screen was normal but had no assistance. Also the throttle did not work when I tried it but I wasn't using the throttle at the time it stopped. There were some pretty steep parts and when I glanced down at the display I was pulling 800 watts for a bit. After a few minutes I powered back up the display and I had power. After that I rode up a steep hill and stopped in the shade for a minute or two to have a drink of water. I never powered the bike down. When I went to start I once again had no power. Turned off the display and back on again and I instantly had power. I finished the ride of about 22 miles with no more incidents. A large part of that was coasting down hill in the opposite direction!

My hypothesis right now is something is getting hot and shutting down till it cools off. If it is the motor or the controller I don't know. I'm leaning toward the motor. I'm keeping in touch with Ride1up support and reporting when I have an incident. When I emailed them yesterday the latest shutdown there response:

"There are a few things that we could check though the motor definitely does have guards against overheating - it is possible that the cause of the shutdowns is for self-protection or regulation. If you find that it is only occurring in situations where the motor is working really hard, it may be correlative but we will not prove causation quite yet. Please keep us posted if you seem to find a pattern, or if the issue becomes more severe and we will assist! Thank you as always for your detailed descriptions, that certainly makes this much easier to help you."

As far as I know I'm the only one having this problem as far as no codes. I understand why they just do not want to throw parts at it trying to fix it. I really enjoy riding the bike now and I'm pretty happy with all the other aspects except the intermittent shutdown. I'm just going to keep riding it and document the loss of power when it appears. I'm sure Ride1up will stand behind their product and come to a resolution eventually.

Mike, that controller gets quite hot. Saturday I ride home from the LBS, about 5 miles and then proceeded to change out the controller they sent me for the Error 21 and loss of power, similar to yours.

As I pulled the controller out, I noticed how hot it was to the touch. It’s my understanding, and I could be wrong, but someone mentioned the internals of the entire controller were encased in silicon to protect them from weather.

I could see a downside to this where cooling is degraded. Placing the controller isnide above the battery with almost no airflow can’t help. We all know heat is the enemy of electronics.

I’m interested to know the resolution of your issue.

 

[Mike N.]

I always wondered why Rad bikes had the controller mounted to the frame. Not a very clean look but a better way of dissipating heat.

 

[Mike N.]

This will apply to LMT'D owners. Someone on the Ride1up Facebook page that their LMT'D was missing some rear brake disc bolts. I checked mine today and I have only one bolt out of 6 holding it on. The front had all 6 in place. The third picture is the front wheel. I attached some photos to show you. Never thought of checking since the wheel was already on the bike at delivery. I would go out and check your bikes to make sure their all there.

 

[Thombrad]

Thanks for the heads up !!!

 

[Asher]

Wow that is horrendous QC. Seems worthy of a product recall. Shameful if true

 

[Lumpydog]

This will apply to LMT'D owners. Someone on the Ride1up Facebook page that their LMT'D was missing some rear brake disc bolts. I checked mine today and I have only one bolt out of 6 holding it on. The front had all 6 in place. The third picture is the front wheel. I attached some photos to show you. Never thought of checking since the wheel was already on the bike at delivery. I would go out and check your bikes to make sure their all there.

I saw that same FB post and went and checked mine. All 6 screws there - but I’ll be checking to make sure they are tight. Looking at yours, like the image on FB, you can see where the head of the screw once contacted the rotor. So they didn’t just blow off using all 6 screws... they were there at one point. Seems like lack of locktite?

check older pics of ur bike... zoom in

 

[Mike N.]

I went to the Giant bike shop and received 6 replacement bolts for the rear rotor. The funny part was the 6 were 25 torx head. The one that was left in the rear had a 4 mm Allen head. When I checked the 6 in the front for snugness they were also 25 torx head. The one in the rear did not look like it had on any blue lock tight in appearance and was slightly shorter then the torx head. All the 6 torx heads came with blue lock tight on the threads. I didn't have to pay for the bolts since I purchased front fork pump at the time. So back to riding.

 

[grahamB]

I went to the Giant bike shop and received 6 replacement bolts for the rear rotor. The funny part was the 6 were 25 torx head. The one that was left in the rear had a 4 mm Allen head. When I checked the 6 in the front for snugness they were also 25 torx head. The one in the rear did not look like it had on any blue lock tight in appearance and was slightly shorter then the torx head. All the 6 torx heads came with blue lock tight on the threads. I didn't have to pay for the bolts since I purchased front fork pump at the time. So back to riding.

My fronts are all torx heads and the rears are Hex.. good thing I have all the bits.. None have fallen out of my 2nd gen LMT'D, however I did spot torque most bolts on assembly.

 

[Lumpydog]

Same - Gen 1. Front torx, rear allen. All relatively tight and none missing. Retorqued all and got a tiny bit of tightening out of all - but I wouldn’t call any loose.

 

[Mike N.]

I just wanted to report since installing the new controller sent by Ride1up I have not had any more issues with the motor shutting down under heavy load. I am really happy with my LMT'D and it is my go to E-bike to ride now. I have gone up some very steep hills on the bike path by the Las Vegas wash and this bike pulled me up no problem. The torque sensor is much more like riding a regular bicycle compared to the cadence sensor and I believe I'm getting more of a workout at the same time I'm getting better performance. Once all my problems got ironed out I can now recommend this bike to my friends. Best bang for the buck!

 

[LAMike240]

I just wanted to report since installing the new controller sent by Ride1up I have not had any more issues with the motor shutting down under heavy load. I am really happy with my LMT'D and it is my go to E-bike to ride now. I have gone up some very steep hills on the bike path by the Las Vegas wash and this bike pulled me up no problem. The torque sensor is much more like riding a regular bicycle compared to the cadence sensor and I believe I'm getting more of a workout at the same time I'm getting better performance. Once all my problems got ironed out I can now recommend this bike to my friends. Best bang for the buck!

Mike,

Was this a recent new controller?

 

[Mike N.]

Mike,

Was this a recent new controller?

Yes. Looks exactly the same as the old one. Date of manufacture is only one month different.

 

[LAMike240]

Yes. Looks exactly the same as the old one. Date of manufacture is only one month different.

Thanks for the update Mike

 

[Mike N.]

Just another update. My crank/bottom bracket always had a little creek to it when pedaling my LMT'D. I first changed the pedals and also removed the cranks and lubed and refitted them with no luck. My brother in law came to visit and he was using the bike which he really liked while I was using my old E-bike. He is in pretty good shape and after he rode it with his monster legs it really started creaking bad.

I contacted Ride1up and they gave me some advice to remove the bottom bracket. Alex wrote back:
"Be extra careful when working with the bottom bracket as there is a wire running into it and if damaged, the torque sensor will not work. Please watch the linked video before making any adjustments. Let me know if you have any questions." It is not the same bike but shows how the bottom bracket comes off.

I went to the local bike shop to see if they had the right size wrench for the bracket for sale. They did not have that size available but said they will take a look at the bottom bracket for me. It seems there was not much if any lube in the bracket assembly from the factory. They removed it and lubed it up and the horrible creaking is gone. They charged me $15.00. Just putting this out if someone else has that concern. Was a simple fix.

 

[LAMike240]

Just another update. My crank/bottom bracket always had a little creek to it when pedaling my LMT'D. I first changed the pedals and also removed the cranks and lubed and refitted them with no luck. My brother in law came to visit and he was using the bike which he really liked while I was using my old E-bike. He is in pretty good shape and after he rode it with his monster legs it really started creaking bad.

I contacted Ride1up and they gave me some advice to remove the bottom bracket. Alex wrote back:
"Be extra careful when working with the bottom bracket as there is a wire running into it and if damaged, the torque sensor will not work. Please watch the linked video before making any adjustments. Let me know if you have any questions." It is not the same bike but shows how the bottom bracket comes off.

I went to the local bike shop to see if they had the right size wrench for the bracket for sale. They did not have that size available but said they will take a look at the bottom bracket for me. It seems there was not much if any lube in the bracket assembly from the factory. They removed it and lubed it up and the horrible creaking is gone. They charged me $15.00. Just putting this out if someone else has that concern. Was a simple fix.

Hi Mike. By any chance did you ever record that sound?

 

[Mike N.]

Hi Mike. By any chance did you ever record that sound?

No but you real noticed it.

 

[Thombrad]

Hello Mike N.
Did you notice what make , brand , BB torque sensor Ride1up uses on LMTD .
Thanks

 

[Mike N.]

Hello Mike N.
Did you notice what make , brand , BB torque sensor Ride1up uses on LMTD .
Thanks

No. The bike shop removed it to lube it so I didn't think of asking.