Trek Verve + 2 chain is constantly slipping.

[BillA]

Ron
Glad you had the chainring replaced. What seems to be the case is actually when Trek shipped the bike to the dealer. I bought my wife’s bike on Aug. 16 and according to the receipt it is a model year 2020 bike and I had the dealer check the chainring and is the NW chainring. It seems your dealer has a big inventory (as seen in your picture) so perhaps your new bike was shipped a while ago to the dealer. Before I picked the bike up at the dealer, I called Trek with the serial number and they verified the bike was shipped in April 2020 to the dealer. You might want to check the receipt because it clearly states on my receipt after the dealer scanned the bar code on the bike is was in fact a model year 2020, not a model year 2021. Trek CS told me there was no difference in the 2 models years. Hope you get lots of enjoyment.

 

[Ron Mayer]

Thanks. I visit the LBS frequently as it's a 5 minute ride away. Most of the bikes shown were not there until about 3 weeks ago. I do know that the blue color did not show up until the 2021 model year, but mine is the matte grey color. Just for informational purposes I'll check to see if mine is actually a 2021. My receipt shows the S/N but not the year, but I guess i could have the LBS scan it in per your suggestion. I do know that mine had the newer model of the H5 tires with the big white lettering and I assumed it was a newer model.

 

[BillA]

At least you have the up to date chainring now. Sounds like you have a 2021 if in fact that color was not available in 2020. My wife has the grey color bike. If you go to the Trek website, they have a Chat open during certain hours, you can give them the serial number and they will tell you when the bike shipped to the dealer and the model year.
Edit: Just re-read your post above, you may have the 2020, my wife's bike is also the gray and it is a 2020. As I mentioned above CS Chat will answer your question if you give them the serial number. Good luck and enjoy your rides in the best of health.

 

[Howard A]

Update on chainring change out on my 4 month old Verve +2 at Trek today..

Everything went smoothly with changing my factory chainring with the NW chainring. Part was ordered from WI 2 weeks ago and it took about an hour for the install and work was completed under warranty. Great service, I'm a happy customer.

So, I asked the tech what are the differences between an NW (narrow width) chainring and the original factory installed chainring. He explained that Trek had isolated the chain slippage problem to two factors - first, the original chainring gear teeth were not tall enough to adequately grip the chain vertically and secondly, the gear teeth were too wide to properly mesh with the chain horizontally.

This second item requires a close look at your chain. You will notice that the width of the chain slot between each link is a bit narrower than its neighboring link. This wider gear tooth caused conflict with the narrower sections of the chain. Using narrower width chain teeth apparently eliminates this conflict.

Seems like a logical analysis and work around by Trek. We'll see, I'll put about 100 or so miles on it and report back.

Cheers,

Howard

 

[BillA]

Question for the Verve+2 community: We discovered that although the speed can be registered in tenths on the computer, the distance/range is in only whole numbers, no tenths. I found that to be strange. I called Trek and they confirmed this. I called my dealer and there are no upgrades to the computer software and they recommended against swopping out the computer. Have others had this problem and figured a solution? Of course we could use a program on a cell phone, but that uses data and we do not have unlimited data. Thanks.

 

[Luv2ride]

Question for the Verve+2 community: We discovered that although the speed can be registered in tenths on the computer, the distance/range is in only whole numbers, no tenths. I found that to be strange. I called Trek and they confirmed this. I called my dealer and there are no upgrades to the computer software and they recommended against swopping out the computer. Have others had this problem and figured a solution? Of course we could use a program on a cell phone, but that uses data and we do not have unlimited data. Thanks.

I use a Garmin cycling computer and load my rides into Garmin connect and or Strava to keep a running log of all my rides and it does record tenths.

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[Latitude]

Question for the Verve+2 community: We discovered that although the speed can be registered in tenths on the computer, the distance/range is in only whole numbers, no tenths. I found that to be strange. I called Trek and they confirmed this. I called my dealer and there are no upgrades to the computer software and they recommended against swopping out the computer. Have others had this problem and figured a solution? Of course we could use a program on a cell phone, but that uses data and we do not have unlimited data. Thanks.

I use the Cyclemeter App on my iPhone and have several screen options of it available on my Apple Watch. I don’t think it’s using much data. I download the day’s rides to my iPad when I get home. Otherwise, I find the Purion display fine for info during my rides. It would be interesting to have information like cadence, actual % of battery use, etc but it’s not critical for me.

 

[Howard A]

Reporting back on performance of the new NW chainring.

Have put around 100 miles on the NW chainring and no problems. Most of the riding has been on varied terrain, mostly flat to 3% grades but, this morning rode up Palomar Mountain South Grade Rd - 7 miles at 7% and the chainring felt solid with no slipping or gear jumps.

FWIW, the 7 miles at 7% was primarily in Tour and Sport modes, maybe 50/50, and my battery capacity gauge was showing 2 full bars left at the end of the ride. Beautiful ride if you're ever in the San Diego area.

Cheers
Howard

 

[BillA]

I am still shocked at the reviews of the bike on the Trek website. The chain is still slipping off and it means that Trek has not replaced the chainring on the bikes with the NW chainring.

 

[BillA]

BarryS, you are certainly intitled to your opinion and letting us know of your experience and your friends experience. When buying my wife’s electric bike, they did not push any one particular style on us/her. I do notice that lots of bike manufacturers are offering the low step model, perhaps their marketing is showing some need, perhaps for older people to to get older people to re-enter the marketplace.

 

[BillA]

Would anyone have thoughts on this: I was adjusting my wife’s seat height with her today and noticed that the seat itself had a wobble to it, kind of a shimmy, a wobble. It is not the post where it meets the clamp because I took the seat post out and put it back in. It appears to be where the seat post actually meets the seat itself. I did not see any place to tighten the seat around the seat post. Any thoughts on this?

 

[fooferdoggie]

Would anyone have thoughts on this: I was adjusting my wife’s seat height with her today and noticed that the seat itself had a wobble to it, kind of a shimmy, a wobble. It is not the post where it meets the clamp because I took the seat post out and put it back in. It appears to be where the seat post actually meets the seat itself. I did not see any place to tighten the seat around the seat post. Any thoughts on this?

there is at least one screw or two under there. mark the seat hight on the post then take it off and check

 

[BillA]

thanks, just reviewed a YouTube video, it is not uncommon for the seat on a suspension seat post to have some giggle to it. Showed the inside of the post which lets is move up and down and how to tighten but being careful not to over tighten because you want the seat to move up and down with bumps.

Edit: I just off chat with Trek CS, there is no adjustment on the seat post on this bike to tighten the saddle giggle.
The seat post has that what I will call an inner piston which is square shape which moves up and down. Some seat posts, the more expensive one, have a bolt or some clamp to adjust this, to make it tighter or looser. The seat post on this bike does not come with any adjustment features so will have to live with the slight giggle or replace the seat post. Others might want to check their saddle itself to see if there is a side to side motion.

 

[Dallant]

Judgemental? I don't care what someone rides : That's there Choice : If I'm judgmental it's because I see the trends moving toward a situation where I may be forced to ride something Step Thru. After all I was recently asked at teh Doctors if I'd ever had cervical cancer or been pregnant : When I laughed the Tech asking the questions sternly said . EXCUSE ME Cancer is a serious matter : I could care less if you or anyone else wants to ride a Step Thru Bicycle : What I'm judging is the Industry going in the direction to force me to as well.
My Good friend who is 24 years younger then Me . Just recently Purchased a Giant Model. He said to me : Boy did they try to push me towards a Step thru because that's where the Market is Going : Just structurally a Step thru isn't as Solid. As a Men's Frame A phrase you're not supposed to say either ???

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The vast majority of bikes I see for sale are still men’s frames. But assuming the Lowsteps are as sturdy, I don’t see why you’d care, though I agree with your preference for the normal frame. I will say that with more women riding, a Lowstep style is a popular option and at some point it may cost some bike companies too much to engineer/manufacture two frame styles. I just ordered one for my wife.

 

[colleendabean]

We have had nothing but problems with our Verve 2 and the chain. Three of the four rides we made, the chain came off and jammed behind the front ring, with our 2 year old on the back, on the way to work. I had to leave work, go home, get in our car (fortunately we have one) and go pick up our child, the bike, and my partner so I could drop them off. We took the bike in got the ring replaced. It took over a month for the replacement to come in, apparently it is in high demand. I rode it a couple of times after that with no issue. Our round trip to the daycare is 25kms. So knowing the issue had been resolved was reassuring until, it wasn't resolved. The chain came off again. Luckily, it didn't jam this time. There is no way to fix this easily without special tools. So, my partner who was riding it was able to walk it home. But it is not safe to ride this bike any distance because you may or may not make it there. And being stuck outside, on the side of the road with your toddler while you wait to be rescued is not great either.

 

[BillA]

We have had nothing but problems with our Verve 2 and the chain. Three of the four rides we made, the chain came off and jammed behind the front ring, with our 2 year old on the back, on the way to work. I had to leave work, go home, get in our car (fortunately we have one) and go pick up our child, the bike, and my partner so I could drop them off. We took the bike in got the ring replaced. It took over a month for the replacement to come in, apparently it is in high demand. I rode it a couple of times after that with no issue. Our round trip to the daycare is 25kms. So knowing the issue had been resolved was reassuring until, it wasn't resolved. The chain came off again. Luckily, it didn't jam this time. There is no way to fix this easily without special tools. So, my partner who was riding it was able to walk it home. But it is not safe to ride this bike any distance because you may or may not make it there. And being stuck outside, on the side of the road with your toddler while you wait to be rescued is not great either.

Colleen
I am so sorry to hear the problem you are having with the chain. Other buyers of the bike have seemed to have this resolved with the chainring replacement. So while the bike is at the dealer I think I would want to make sure that the correct NW chainring was shipped to the dealer and installed, this might mean having a conference call with Trek CS and the dealer. You may want to demand that a factory rep come look at your bike while at the dealers shop, if they will do this. For $2500 there is no way this should happen. You could also demand a replacement bike. Keep us posted.

 

[colleendabean]

Yeah, after I typed my post, I called our LBS again. Apparently Trek is sending out another add on piece that should resolve it. My intuition says it's some kind of guide. Fingers crossed! Plus this cost $3200 in Canada!

 

[rdowns]

Yeah, after I typed my post, I called our LBS again. Apparently Trek is sending out another add on piece that should resolve it. My intuition says it's some kind of guide. Fingers crossed! Plus this cost $3200 in Canada!

They are such nice bikes. It's awesome you are using it for a commute. I hope it is fully resolved soon

 

[Jimfastcar]

I purchased two Verve+2 for me and my wife over the Winter and we went out for our first rides outdoors today (+12C Toronto area)
My chain came off and I had to walk the Bike back over a Km to my car. Waiting to hear back from the Trek Dealer where we bought the bikes.
Before I purchased them I specifically asked about this issue and was told it had been resolved - not Happy.
If I take the chain guard off is it easy to re-install the chain / is it a matter of pushing the derailleur forward to loosen it to reinstall ? (I am reasonably handy, but not a Bike Tech).
I did not have my tools with me - in the trunk of my SUV
Thanks for advice

 

[Latitude]

I purchased two Verve+2 for me and my wife over the Winter and we went out for our first rides outdoors today (+12C Toronto area)
My chain came off and I had to walk the Bike back over a Km to my car. Waiting to hear back from the Trek Dealer where we bought the bikes.
Before I purchased them I specifically asked about this issue and was told it had been resolved - not Happy.
If I take the chain guard off is it easy to re-install the chain / is it a matter of pushing the derailleur forward to loosen it to reinstall ? (I am reasonably handy, but not a Bike Tech).
I did not have my tools with me - in the trunk of my SUV
Thanks for advice

It is easy as you describe. The guard is a pain, I changed mine (Verve 3, same guard) to a smaller ring that doesn’t get in the way.