Three months with CCS: Good and Bad

[jinim]

I’ll give a different example. I bought a Jeep 4 years ago that had transmission issues out the gate. I had to take it in 3-4 separate times before it was finally resolved. I also seem to get a recall notice every few months and lemon law letters every week. I actually never thought I’d buy an American car, but wound up buying the Jeep. It’s got some weird issues that pop up from time to time as well. The customer service isn’t the greatest as there’s not many Jeep dealers that are all that close to me. My previous vehicle had an excellent dealer network, but I don’t miss it for a second. I still love my Jeep though and will probably get another one down the line. I easily recommend it to people even with the issues I’ve had, and have convinced some friends to buy it. Even though my Jeep has had some quality issues, I still love it and would recommend and buy another one. I can have a poor experience in one area but the pluses in other areas can outweigh that poor one. Maybe my experience with my bike will be a blip and I’ll change my short term opinion of it.

 

[Chris Hammond]

I don't know if I'm supposed to be checking the spokes more often.

Simply put YES! you definitely need to check spoke tension far more often with hub motor ebikes. Like you I am a long time road bike rider. My current road bike has only required spoke adjustment a couple of times in > 15,000 miles of riding.
Fortunately, due to this forum, I have checked this regularly on my CCS. The first check at ~ 3-4 weeks surprised me at the number of loose spokes as well. Since then I have been checking more often and only have to do minor adjustments.
My theory is that since the hub motor delivers power to the wheel via the spokes, it puts a far greater torsional load on them than normal. This increases the likelihood of problems.

 

[jinim]

Simply put YES! you definitely need to check spoke tension far more often with hub motor ebikes. Like you I am a long time road bike rider. My current road bike has only required spoke adjustment a couple of times in > 15,000 miles of riding.
Fortunately, due to this forum, I have checked this regularly on my CCS. The first check at ~ 3-4 weeks surprised me at the number of loose spokes as well. Since then I have been checking more often and only have to do minor adjustments.
My theory is that since the hub motor delivers power to the wheel via the spokes, it puts a far greater torsional load on them than normal. This increases the likelihood of problems.

I picked up my bike today from the shop. They said I have a dent in the rim, and it possibly may have a slight crack. It took a while for them to true up the wheel. I'll have to keep an eye out to see if the rim is ok. I definitely plan on checking the spokes and tires often. Hopefully my rim holds up.

 

[ncrkd]

jinim, I think you've mentioned them before, but the use of velcro straps is common for the bottle-mount battery systems, as are unfortunately melted contacts. Some systems, such as the shark bottle-mount pack, double up the contacts and there are still issues, especially for those drawing max amps.

For the Juiced design, allowing the socket to slightly float as Reid shows, seems to me to be a good idea.

Broken spokes, chains pulled apart and bent sprockets (high power mid drive), melted contacts, water intrusion - ebikes have a ways to go towards reliability.

I doubt even the uber-expensive Stromers are trouble-free - I would hope though, for that price, the Stromer dealers jump (how high?) for their customers.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

I doubt even the uber-expensive Stromers are trouble-free - I would hope though, for that price, the Stromer dealers jump (how high?) for their customers.

So for grins I went to the Stromer subforum to check it out. Yep, there are problems there too. Loss of power, motor "juddering", power cables needing to be replaced, etc. And one guy said that the two nearest Stromer dealers wouldn't do the work his bike needed.

So quality control and customer service can be spotty with the expensive bikes too. Pretty much what I expected.

Go to any car forum, you'll see the same thing. Most people get a car and unless that model is a known lemon (cough/Chevy Vega/cough), they just drive it without issues. Any car made could have some issues, and for the poor sod who buys that car, it's frustrating. But I think we all understand that all Toyotas are not bad just because you got the bad one.

 

[ncrkd]

My apologies - I was the one who mentioned Stromer. I meant no offense.

There's a lot to be gained by fortunately having so many engineers in the e-assist bicycle pot. I hope it leads to some design standards, as it's a bit of a "wild west" right now (and some really shady businesses and practices). I've had good to great support with a few of the web-driven entrepreneurs out there so far (Dave Weiner of Priority Bikes, Roshan Thomas of Biktrix, and Eric Hicks of Luna), and am hoping dealing with Tora Harris of Juiced Bikes turns out the same.

Personally I'd love to see a commuter ebike revolution in the United States, which might drive better roads, bike rider and workplace acceptance, reliable bike designs, etc.

 

[Chris Hammond]

Wow better simmer down! lol I wasn't trying to hit a nerve but I guess I did!

Not sure you hit a nerve as much as you got a response from a satisfied owner who is a big proponent of his bike; and wanted to add some perspective over someone who doesn't own one. Being realistic about things is useful. Simply put every bike maker is going to have some issues with their bikes, its the frequency relative to total volume of the issues that people on this forum are trying to elicit.
That's nearly impossible in this forum. The best you can hope for is tendencies.
My Juiced bike has > 2300 miles in less than 3 months of ownership. The only problem I have had is a failed rear taillight that was immediately replaced under warranty by Juiced. This in no way qualifies me to comment on the quality of Stromer, Trek, etc. I think that was Bruce's point.

 

[jom]

I have the standard battery.

Your excellent photos above confirm the hypothesis that a rigidly mounted plug into the rigid socket of a shifting battery will destroy the integrity of the electrical contact..

Reid, I read your report about the battery connection. I agree that the frame port connector should float, but I think it should be spring loaded from the back to assure that the connectors are really mating.

Have you had any permanent solution by Juiced Bikes? Thanks for your postings.