Yamaha Supply Line Issues, No Wheel Until at Least September

[Djangodog]

I had a mishap with my Cross Core a few days ago. It was a transporting accident and it took out my rear rim. I couldn’t find one in stock anywhere, so I reached out to Yamaha and they told me to call their customer service number, which I did. The person at customer service told me that I had to order it through my dealer. I asked her when my dealer could expect to see it and she told me that they are back ordered until at least September and that the back orders keep getting pushed back. I then asked her if their technical service people could suggest an aftermarket wheel that would work well and accept the Yamaha in the hub speed sensor. She told me that they would only suggest that I use an OEM wheel, which of course is not available and won’t be for at least two months.

I am writing this as a word of caution. We bought our Cross Cores thinking that Yamaha was a premium brand with a long history and that there would never be a supply issue with such an established company. Not only do their dealers not have parts on hand, but Yamaha doesn’t have parts on hand and they refuse to do anything in the way of helping you to get back on the road. I like the Cross Core and I have my “acoustic” road bike which I rode today, but my wife won’t ride alone and my road bike and her ebike don’t play well together, (I am too fast on the flats and down hills and she is too fast climbing. We also set the Cross Cores up as flat bar gravel bikes and my road bike is definitely a tarmac only kind of ride.

Needless to say, if anything goes wrong with a Yamaha ebike, you better have a spare or get used to not riding it for a while. I think that DT Swiss CR 1600 wheels will work as a substitute, (the speed sensor should mount without issue and the wheels are strong and light). I would have preferred the DT Swiss HE 1800, but those are back ordered. I will update this after the new wheels arrive, ($706.00 for the new wheels, but if they fit and function, they should be a nice upgrade).

 

[EMGX]

I might be missing something, are you saying the hub is damaged or just the rim/spokes? If your original hub isn't damaged why not just lace a new rim onto the old hub? I've laced several wheels, it is a pretty easy job as long as you buy the right length spokes based on hub and rim measurements. I don't know how much a bike shop would charge to lace a new rim on your hub but any decent shop should easily be able to do it for you.

 

[Djangodog]

I might be missing something, are you saying the hub is damaged or just the rim/spokes? If your original hub isn't damaged why not just lace a new rim onto the old hub? I've laced several wheels, it is a pretty easy job as long as you buy the right length spokes based on hub and rim measurements. I don't know how much a bike shop would charge to lace a new rim on your hub but any decent shop should easily be able to do it for you.

The hub was fine, but the rim and spokes are not. I had built my own wheels years ago, but I no longer have a truing stand and to do it correctly, you really have to have the correct setup including tension gages, (a failed wheel is extremely dangerous). I will have the wheel rebuilt as a spare by a very good local wheel builder, but his lead time would put me out a couple weeks and the new, upgraded rear wheel was just over $400.00, so I would rather have an upgrade and a spare set than mess around during the middle of our short New England riding season.

 

[harryS]

Is that an aspect of the lighting or your Yamaha only has 20 spokes?

You can't just drop in another wheel?

 

[Djangodog]

I think that the point was missed, (my fault for being too wordy). The point is that Yamaha has a lack of parts on hand with long back orders and is making no attempt to help customers find alternatives.

 

[LimboJim]

Is that an aspect of the lighting or your Yamaha only has 20 spokes?

You can't just drop in another wheel?

I believe that the OEM hub has a unique speed sensor that a replacement wheel won't have, and the OEM hub can't be transferred to the new wheel without a total rebuild.

As far as Yamaha's supply chain issue goes, many if not most bicycle brands have similar problems. Even behemoths like Giant and Specialized can't get all their OEM parts from their suppliers - pretty much every bike specifications page now says "subject to change without notice," or some such.

I understand the OP's frustration, but the pandemic still has factories hamstrung and shipping slowed to a crawl. It's not likely Yamaha could have anticipated the situation any better than the rest of the industry.

 

[EMGX]

Honestly, I don't see much of an issue with Yamaha in this case. The Cross Core is a nice bike with very basic peripherals. A OEM quality rim is probably ~$30, spokes about $1 each. Using the old hub a bike shop might charge ~$150(?) to replace the rim and spokes. The proprietary hub with built in speed sensor is a different issue and I would expect that to be sourced from Yamaha. In this case only generic parts are needed for repair. These (relatively) inexpensive bikes probably all have machine built wheels and a regular bike shop could do just as well without need for a custom, high end wheel builder. I'm glad that my BH gravel bike with Yamaha PW-SE mid drive has a standard speed sensor with a spoke magnet rather than a special proprietary hub. It allows for more choices and easier replacement and I like the straight pull spoke hubs that came with my bike rather than standard J bend spokes.

 

[Djangodog]

I believe that the OEM hub has a unique speed sensor that a replacement wheel won't have, and the OEM hub can't be transferred to the new wheel without a total rebuild.

As far as Yamaha's supply chain issue goes, many if not most bicycle brands have similar problems. Even behemoths like Giant and Specialized can't get all their OEM parts from their suppliers - pretty much every bike specifications page now says "subject to change without notice," or some such.

I understand the OP's frustration, but the pandemic still has factories hamstrung and shipping slowed to a crawl. It's not likely Yamaha could have anticipated the situation any better than the rest of the industry.

The point was never about the wheel. The point was that if you need a part from Yamaha, that you probably won’t be getting it this riding season and they won’t lift a finger to help find a solution that will keep you riding, (any part). I think that I will be back in business on Friday. I just hope that we don’t need anything that is not readily available from another source. That is the issue.

I understand that there are extenuating circumstances, but I also understand that there are ways that a company can react in a positive way. If a supply line dries up, you find alternatives or you lose customers, (I was a product development engineer and that is how we handled supply line issues). You do not leave a customer looking for a new supplier. It may affect your profit on a given part, but that’s what you do to meet the needs of your customers. What you don’t do is tell a customer that they need to use the OEM part, but that part won’t be available for at least two months.

The speed sensor is driven by the center lock nut, but some hubs, like the one offered by Shimano have features that would interfere with the drive features. Some others have wrench flats or other features that make them unacceptable. The Cross Core already has tire clearance issues with my preferred tires are 40mm Maxxis Receptor, so the inside width of the rim becomes an issue.

The requirement is a 700c wheel that can handle the additional stresses from the assist and extra weight of an ebike, a 142mm hub with a 12mm through axle and a center lock rotor. I chose the DT Swiss CR 1600 because it ticked all the boxes. It would have been nice if Yamaha, knowing that some parts wouldn’t be available for quite some time would have done a little leg work to provide their customers with recommendations rather than tell a customer that they should just use the part, (A part that they can’t provide), which is a bad thing to tell a customer.

The bigger point is that it is not just an issue with a wheel. It is an issue with any service part from Yamaha. My wife has been putting up with a bad hub, (warranty issue with bearing drag), for the last six weeks. I understand that a local shop can generally lace up a wheel, but around here, you would be waiting a minimum of two weeks. The New Hampshire riding season is already short. I guess that you would have to be the one on the phone with a dismissive customer service person to appreciate how unhelpful she was. The conversation remained civil, but that doesn’t make things right. I just hope that we don’t need a part that is Yamaha specific, because if we do, we won’t be riding for a long time.

 

[Djangodog]

I ended up buying a set of DT Swiss CR 1600 Spline Wheels. The end cap on the brake side had to be modified because there is a groove that is used to locate the outer portion of the speed sensor. The groove is 6.00 mm wide and ends 10.00 mm from the end face. The CR 1600 has a 130 Kg rating and is also a gravel wheel. A Shimano hub won’t work and there are many wheels that don’t have an end cap that is not already grooved or has wrench flats that would interfere with the groove.

Everything works as it should.

 

[tomjasz]

Supplystreams still suck. I have cash to buy a new RAV4 but no Toyotas on the dealership lots. My new battery won’t ship till the end of the month. Dependence on China is a disaster.