Trek Verve + 2 chain is constantly slipping.

[Jaeger1946]

Last October, I bought a Trek Verve + 2 e-bike.

I love the bike. It's fun to ride. Now here comes the BUT

For the fourth time, my chain has slipped from the bike. This isn't something I can fix while I'm on a trail. It happens mostly on uphill shifts. I have had it to the Trek shop the past three times and they were very helpful. They gave me a new chain. They adjusted the deraiileur. The last two happened within a week of each other. I asked the shop if I was doing something wrong. One guy said that if I am going uphill and shifting that should soft-pedal my shifts. That did no good.

The bike seems fine otherwise but I am getting reluctant to use the shifter when I ride. I am thinking maybe I should stay in a neutral gear (e.g. 5) and just let the motor do the work. I have about 600 miles on the bike.

Is anyone else seeing this problem? Does anyone have an idea what I might be doing wrong. I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,

Joe T

 

[Ron Mayer]

Last October, I bought a Trek Verve + 2 e-bike.

I love the bike. It's fun to ride. Now here comes the BUT

For the fourth time, my chain has slipped from the bike. This isn't something I can fix while I'm on a trail. It happens mostly on uphill shifts. I have had it to the Trek shop the past three times and they were very helpful. They gave me a new chain. They adjusted the deraiileur. The last two happened within a week of each other. I asked the shop if I was doing something wrong. One guy said that if I am going uphill and shifting that should soft-pedal my shifts. That did no good.

The bike seems fine otherwise but I am getting reluctant to use the shifter when I ride. I am thinking maybe I should stay in a neutral gear (e.g. 5) and just let the motor do the work. I have about 600 miles on the bike.

Is anyone else seeing this problem? Does anyone have an idea what I might be doing wrong. I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,

Joe T

This is a known issue. Trek will replace the chainring with a narrow wide chainring as part of the warranty. My LBS (The Bike Lane in Reston, VA) did this at no charge when I purchased mine and I have not had the chain slip issue at all. Make sure your LBS knows about this! The chain replacement and deraiileur adjustments will not address the problem.

 

[Dallant]

This is a known issue. Trek will replace the chainring with a narrow wide chainring as part of the warranty. My LBS (The Bike Lane in Reston, VA) did this at no charge when I purchased mine and I have not had the chain slip issue at all. Make sure your LBS knows about this! The chain replacement and deraiileur adjustments will not address the problem.

Is this for all Trek ebikes? Is it a recall we just take to the dealer?

 

[Ron Mayer]

My understanding is that this is just for the Verve+ 2 and that it is covered under warranty. Not sure if this is a formal recall. I had read about this issue in EBR discussions and elsewhere before I bought the Verve and mentioned it to the dealer when contemplating the purchase. They said they knew about the chain thing and they routinely replace the chainring with a narrow wide model at no charge when selling the bike via some agreement with Trek. My LBS replaced my chainring with a Wolf Tooth brand model. I bought my Verve +2 in February 2020.

 

[Jaeger1946]

My understanding is that this is just for the Verve+ 2 and that it is covered under warranty. Not sure if this is a formal recall. I had read about this issue in EBR discussions and elsewhere before I bought the Verve and mentioned it to the dealer when contemplating the purchase. They said they knew about the chain thing and they routinely replace the chainring with a narrow wide model at no charge when selling the bike via some agreement with Trek. My LBS replaced my chainring with a Wolf Tooth brand model. I bought my Verve +2 in February 2020.

I just wanted to thank you. After the chain came off for the fourth time, I brought my bike back to my nearby Trek shop. When I took it to the shop after the second slip, they said they were unaware of any known problems with the bike. I asked them to get the thing fixed this time and I asked them to give me my free "tune up" as well. I sent them your posting to me. The new chain ring will be in on Friday. If this does what I hope it does, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I am 74 years old and I was getting very tired of having to deal with this.

Thanks, again, Ron.

 

[Ron Mayer]

Jaeger - You're very welcome and glad that I could help!

 

[alexcabot]

I hope I have as much luck as the rest of you getting this problem fixed. I had my chain come off twice in my first 15 rides. I commute with the bike with hills at both ends and miles of flat nothing around in the middle so chain problems can be a real problem. Luckily I was able to get it on again both times. I already had to take the bike to be repaired cause the lights never worked. Hopefully when I go for the 90 day tune up they can fix this problem too. At about 200 miles total right now, been limiting shifting gears as much as possible to avoid this problem happening again, but it sucks on the hills.

Is there a notice somewhere on Trek's official site about this issue that I can point the shop to?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ron Mayer]

I hope I have as much luck as the rest of you getting this problem fixed. I had my chain come off twice in my first 15 rides. I commute with the bike with hills at both ends and miles of flat nothing around in the middle so chain problems can be a real problem. Luckily I was able to get it on again both times. I already had to take the bike to be repaired cause the lights never worked. Hopefully when I go for the 90 day tune up they can fix this problem too. At about 200 miles total right now, been limiting shifting gears as much as possible to avoid this problem happening again, but it sucks on the hills.

Is there a notice somewhere on Trek's official site about this issue that I can point the shop to?

Thanks in advance.

I'm not aware of anything on the Trek Site. You may have some luck contacting my LBS - The Bike Lane in Reston, VA and speaking to the mechanic there - Tom Sziede - 703 689 2671

 

[alexcabot]

Thank you for the suggestion. Will follow up on this when I have a day off work.

 

[Jaeger1946]

When Ron wrote me, I showed the info to my local Trek shop. They called headquarters and they confirmed what Ron wrote. You should let your own Trek shop know. My shop told me that the narrow wide ring replacement is on its way. Talk to your shop. They’ll them what you know. I suspect they will act on your behalf.

 

[BillA]

In regards to the chain slippage, have their been any other occurrences and did the changing of the chain ring to a narrow wide chain ring solve the problem? I purchased this bike for my wife on Sunday and we are supposed to take delivery this Thursday, the shop is closed Monday and Tuesday. I read somewhere that Trek was delivering the bikes now with the new chain ring, but I am not sure when production started on this. Trek told me that our bike was delivered to the dealer in April 2020. The person above had this problem in July. Would like to hear other stories and remedies. I will not take delivery of the bike until I know this problem is fixed. We do not live that close to the dealer. Thank you.

 

[Jaeger1946]

I can't say when the new chain ring was put into production. I can say this. I went to my bike shop several times with this from late 2019 to mid 2020. On one occasion, the tech at the bike shop said that he called Trek and they were not aware of any issues. This time, I took the information that Ron Mayer had provided and Trek did acknowledge the issue. They repaired it without a charge. However, one thing the Tech guy told me was interesting. He said that when one of the guys who worked for him put the new chain ring on, he put it on the outside but it should have been placed on the inside. The tech boss made that change while I waited.

I can't say that I understand the difference. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable here can help. But, as someone else in this chain indicated, he told the dealer that he would not accept delivery of the bike if the change was not made. I have found my local Trek shop very accommodating. Let me tell you the this online group has been extremely helpful to me. The results so far are good on the fix but I have spent most of the time on vacation on the flat surfaces of the South Jersey Beach towns, I have put about 100 miles on the bike since the fix. I will be back home soon in my home town which is far more hilly. That should be the real test.

 

[BillA]

Jaeger, glad you got this attended to. I had read many post of the chain slipping off, some people were able to put the chain back, other times it jammed. Not a good situation for a 50 pound bike when not near home. There is another thread I posted on, the bike is for my wife, and I was the one who would not take delivery without the proper chainring. However, as I posted I spoke to the dealer before delivery and he confirmed the narrow wide chainring was on the bike. We just picked the bike up this past Thursday, and found out from TREK CS that the bike was delivered to the dealer in April 2020 with the new chainring. I am not technical enough to explain why the NW chainring is needed, but it helps that the chain wont slip when changing gears on an incline.

 

[Jaeger1946]

Jaeger, glad you got this attended to. I had read many post of the chain slipping off, some people were able to put the chain back, other times it jammed. Not a good situation for a 50 pound bike when not near home. There is another thread I posted on, the bike is for my wife, and I was the one who would not take delivery without the proper chainring. However, as I posted I spoke to the dealer before delivery and he confirmed the narrow wide chainring was on the bike. We just picked the bike up this past Thursday, and found out from TREK CS that the bike was delivered to the dealer in April 2020 with the new chainring. I am not technical enough to explain why the NW chainring is needed, but it helps that the chain wont slip when changing gears on an incline.

Thanks for the response.

I am not sure why the NW is necessary but I read something about it being important when there is one one ring on the front and multiple gears on the back. I also don't know why the tech boss at my Trek shop said that the ring should be placed on there inside.

I haven't had the chance to test it on the hills around my house yet but it worked well when I had to change gears down the shore due to some significant headwinds. Here's hoping!

 

[BillA]

I reread you posts and I am not sure you have the NW chainring. Perhaps I am a little OCD and at the same time this bike belongs now to the wife, it is the lowstep version, I want the latest revisions on the bike. I would not like to get a call that her chain came off and she is 20 miles away. I do not see harm going back to the dealer and having him install the NW chainring. It will not cost him anything because of the arrangement that he gets reimbursed by Trek, and you get total piece of mind.

 

[Howard A]

Went to my local Trek store today for my 60+/- day post purchase free tune up of my 2020 Verve purchased this past June. I love the bike, most fun I've had on a bike in 50 years.....but, chain drops - dropped my chain 3 times over about 500 miles of riding. A royal PITA to reset the chain out on a ride.

Mentioned this to the Trek tech and I had assumed that this problem had been corrected with the later 2020 model Verve's. He said that it had but even though mine was purchased just a coupla months back, my bike had the old chain drive set up.

They have ordered the NW chainring and will correct for me gratis.

When it is replaced I think I'm going to remove the chain cover and deep six it. Tech confirmed that the only purpose for the chain cover is to prevent your pants leg getting caught up. I bike mostly in shorts so no problemo.

My takeaway, if you're thinking of buying a 2020 Verve or just recently purchased one, verify that the NW chainring has been installed.

Also had them reprogram my controller so I can turn lights off/on as desired.

 

[BillA]

Howard, do report back to us how the chainring replacement went when the new NW installed.

I was also curious why one would turn off the lights on the bike? I am assuming the head light and rear red light.
To me its like Day Running Lights on a car, easier to be seen.

 

[Howard A]

Will do

 

[Howard A]

Bill - I do like the safety aspects of riding with lights on during daytime and do follow this when out riding. I will continue to do so.

I very rarely ride after dark so that aspect is of little concern to me.

I suppose my reasoning for changing the factory setting on the lighting is to allow me to have just a little more control of the features of my bike. Maybe its a bit silly, but it is my bike and I'd just like to be able to control its features to suit my needs.

 

[Ron Mayer]

Hi Everyone. Just a followup - I just purchased a 2nd Verve +2 a short while ago so that both my fiancé and I can keep up with each other! The new bike (which I believe was a 2021 model) came with the old chainring and the dealer replaced it. BTW the dealer is flooded with Verve +2 Lowsteps!