Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
As far as lack of repairability we’re already there with traditional bike brands with motors and integrated batteries. It’s frustrating that every single part on my bike (aside from frame) if it breaks I can do a quick google search to see how much it costs but for motors it’s all “contact dealer”. 2 year warranty is a total joke considering we have multiple brands with lifetime warranty alloy rims. Motors other than Spesh and Bosch no aftermarket service at all. I plan to keep my eeb for 10 years and I’d like to have at least some idea of how much it will cost me to run.
I’m anti motor gearbox for this reason. I break derailleurs, but not enough to want to be a slave to Shimano/Bosch/DJI for my entire drivetrain. At least if your motor blows up your eeb is now just an analog bike. “Escalator temporarily stairs, sorry for the convenience”
https://www.ebikemotorcentre.com/repair-overhaul-service/
How much does it cost to overhaul e-Bike Motors?
*All prices include VAT
Bosch
Classic (Gen 1) POA
Active Line (Gen 2) £315.00*
Performance Line (Gen 2) £315.00*
Performance Line CX (Gen 2) £315.00*
Active Line (Gen 3) £267.00*
Active Line Plus (Gen 3) £267.00*
Performance Line (Gen 3) £267.00*
Performance Line CX (Gen 4) £405.00*
Bosch Gen 4 overhaul now includes our full upgrade. Click here for more information.
Brose
C, T &S 1.2e, 1.2 & 1.3 £409.55*
S-Mag All £409.55*
All Brose overhauls now include our full upgrade. Click here for more information.
Impulse
2.0 & 2.3 £275.97*
Evo & Evo RS £295.62*
Mahle
Mahle 1.1 £325.00*
Mahle 1.2 TBA
Yamaha / Giant
PW £285.95*
PW-SE £285.95*
PW-ST £285.95*
PW-CE £285.95
PW-X £285.95*
PW-X2 £285.95*
PW-X3 £324.95*
Yeah from what I've heard Bosch takes all the motors back - I've wanted to get my hands on some old e-bike motors to dissect but weirdly they all seem to disappear in to the ether!
And yeah Cory is great - for extra context if people haven't heard of him, he is literally the man who coined the term "enshittification" so it's not a great sign when the bike industry has caught his eye.......
Yes I’m aware that services like this, Ebike Motor Repair, and PNW Suspension Service (only shop I know of that does Shimano). That only makes a small dent in my confidence my eeb won’t be a brick 10 years from now, especially with how fast motor tech is developing. Most of us here keep backup wheels, derailleurs, etc. Why not a motor? It’s not if, it’s when any brands motor will blow up. My component purchases are prioritized around never missing a ride, and having a motor die already makes you miss at least one!
In the recent Jack Moir vid, he was riding with his uncle who has an ebike motor repair shop. Jack asks him a bit about which motors go through the most, what's hardest to repair, etc. Uncle said he hasn't seen a single Bosch CX 5 come in yet.
As a parent I can never get behind "it's not the parents fault."
in America, do you guys have the same issues we have with youths on those throttle only fat wheeled ebikes? Down my part of the world (Southern Sydney) it's rife with entitled kids on these things riding down the middle of the road (usually the wrong way) no helmet, 2 up with virtually zero riding skills and no traffic sense (too young for a licence)
there has been a few fatalities recently. I love the fact kids are off screens and outdoors, I'm more stoked they are on bikes but playing chicken with cars is never going to end well
here in Australia, legally ebikes can only go 25kph (15.5mph) but these kids just go into the settings and they will do 60kph+ @ 1000watts
In most european countries you can't ride anything more than an en e scooter without a licence plate and an insurance and there are probably also age limits. Only pedelecs which provide assistance up to 25 kph (which is a bit too low in my view) and not throttle are allowed without license and insurance. There are faster s-pedelecs who have assistance until 45 kph but those require a licence plate, rear view mirrors and insurance.
None of those things provide protection against stupidity, only education does
I think especially in the DACH countries we have a different culture around that like being covered by insurance all the time is a big thing to the point people sometimes are double or triple insured for some scenarios. If you crash with a vehicle or especially hurt someone and it's not legal to drive in public you will get in legal trouble. So it's very rare that people do it.
Until now I only saw one guy once riding with a surron without a license plate and a helmet. We also have very strict laws against riding off road and a dense population so it's not really common anyway because you'd get caught and fined quickly.
you clearly have no clue, yet want to speak for DACH. have you been to zurich lately? ever seen one of these?
there are tons of these here, can be driven without a licence, without a helmet, and are easily easily modified to go over the allowed 25...
Switzerland is a special case. I didn't claim I know any rule. I should have said Europe in general. For example in Switzerland they have this weird rule that you have to have a front an back lights always on on ebikes even on trails. Which is silly. I never follow it.
But in general in Europe you can't go off road in most countries with a vehicle on public or even private land that is publicly accessible on foot. You need to go to the balkans to do that or maybe in some areas of Switzerland or Italy it's possible. But in general if I would drive around all the time on a surron or something similar without license plates I would quickly run into trouble.
With a van it's crazy in Switzerland. You can't sleep almost anywhere outside of campgrounds. Everything is plastered with signs that everything is is forbidden and also the police checks it while at the same time in counties like Wallis they are extremely corrupt but then you are not even allowed to carry the bike up through some nature reserve (l'ar du tsan) to the trailhead of the famous Brazilian trail. But then they build cabins in this reserve with a helicopter and the other guy with a cabin in the reserve who has cattle rides around on a quad. Makes no sense.
In italy on the other hand it's random af. Like they have laws that ban stuff but nobody seems to care. So you can sleep in the van easily or I also see people riding around on motox bikes. But usually it depends on the region.
In my city it's probably the delivery drivers on e-scooters that follow the rules most. You'll see people on all sorts of contraptions going way too fast fairly frequently. Some are likely clueless and some don't care. Where my work is located I used to see the same younger guys riding e-motos on the streets without a helmet and more times than not, masked. It's in a shittier part of town and they may just as well have been wearing signs saying "please arrest me, I sell drugs". I haven't seen them in a while so maybe they're gone or it's the weather.
I don't think the police here can be bothered chasing around people on e-scooters to be honest unless they're going like 100 km/h, I read they caught someone doing just that last year.
Here in France it's mostly e-scooters, the type you stand on, but some brands do fast ones with big tyres and suspension. Regularly see dudes bombing along cycle paths without a helmet. A lot of people just go right onto the main roads, but they tend to have more protections. To be fair, kids have been bombing around on 50cc mopeds doing wheelies since the 80s...
I was really surprised to see a "gang" of 3 teenagers bombing around city traffic on surrons in Ireland. Definitely not the brightest bunch or most outstanding members of society... It did look like fun though 🤣
The crew without a helmet usually sort themselves out after a while.
This is my belief too.
It’s not quite BASE jumping, but roasting around the city / town / world on a bike brings with it certain statistical implications. It’s never the experienced ripper who would be capable of navigating an intersection at 30mph who’s trying to navigate said intersection at 30mph: they’ve been around enough to know that you don’t need to be borrowing trouble.
Still, I’m way more concerned for the baby boomers on their balloon tired hub motor death machines than I am for the SurRon kids in hoodies…that shit is sick!
And if our kids are reading this: no, no you cannot. Ever.
Atherton confirming they're using the Avinox system on their ebike.
Not to derail convo's going on, but I have a question maybe some of you can help with:
I'm flying to NZ next week (with Air NZ) and was flirting with the idea of bringing my e-bike. I'd leave the battery behind and sort that out when I get there. I'm aware of the weight limits/potential overweight fees. Am I overlooking any other potential issues with doing this?
You're good. I've flown with my ebike a bunch and no problems as long as you remove the battery. I hang a "battery removed" tag from my battery void as it gets hand checked by TSA every single time.
Rounding up batteries to buy or rent isn't easy. You can buy a new battery, but they're never stocked locally and can take a long, long time to ship. Make sure you have a battery plan ahead of time.
I think you pretty much nailed the core concerns. I would be a bit worried about proving that the ebike, doesn't have a battery in it to the vigilante TSA/Airline staff that checks your bag. I have had a few power trippers from time to time through that process and it's been hard to reason with these people or explain things.
Regarding the weight, the last time I flew home from whistler, was the first time I've encountered said power trippers being rigid on the weight of my bike bag. Usually, if it's over, it's just an issue of pay more money... this last time they would absolutely not accept my bike bag with it being over weight, stating that it was an bag handlers union requirement. Fwiw, I struggle to get my 37lb xl enduro bike and bike bag under the limit with extremely limited spares/tools in the bag.
another issue is that you get fat and have to pay extra for your own ticket home also 😘
Not e-bike specific but make sure your bike is super clean, NZ customs is very strict about potential invasive plants/animals. I always mount new tires to avoid any hassle.
I saw this pic from the land down under the other day, and yeah, think it's a great illustration of exact how dangerous this can be.
We have the same here, thankfully winter keeps them indoors, but come spring, the trails get these cheap chinese ebikes and the typical throw garbage in the forest kind of rider that comes along with it. It's absolutely disgraceful, but I've really no idea what can be done aside from education.
its all good, you might get slugged with fees if over 23kg
Bikeaholic hire out batteries, there is also vertigo bikes in town. The local riding community is so friendly, if you join one of the local groups, post you need a battery I'm sure someone will help you. Those groups have saved me with broken bikes a few times now. ZQN is very bike friendly.
make sure your bike is spotless, I'd run new tyres. Have your shoes immaculately clean. NZ customs does not muck around with Biosecurity, they will see the bike bag/box and target you so just be warned.
welcome to disneyland for bikes, I get serious depression when I get back to Sydney.
Yeah as others have said, make sure your bike is SPOTLESS and either bring new tyres (maybe don't even fit them until you get here) or come without tyres. I know a lot of people coming home just bin the tyres before packing up.
Also agree on the battery arrangement thing - plan that out before you leave since parts supply can be scarce for all kinds of things! I never take for granted that replacements are always available down here.......
Cheers for all the insight, everyone!
I've been chasing down a Levo SL frame all week that if I can rip it from FedEx's damn hands, I'm going to swap all the parts from my alloy Stumpy 15 over. I was doing some simple math, and the time it's going to take to overhaul my Stumpy for this trip is probably more than just building the Levo SL. AND the Levo SL without the battery will weigh maybe a pound more than my Stumpy lol. I'm not even that fussed about finding a battery when I'm there.
If anyone has recommendations on trails, food, non-bike must-do's in Queenstown area (won't have a car), slide into my DMs. 😊
talk to your airline, there is a possibility that you can take up to two 160wh batteries with you in the hand luggage which happens to be exactly the same size as a specialized range extender which the sl bikes can run on without a main battery…
you could just ride skyline bikepark (Ben lomond) for a month and not get bored.
There is also rude rock, cardrona, coronet peak and hundreds of miles of other trails.
One must do is get the gondola to the top of ben lomond and hop on a trail called beeched as, make your way to a trail called "salmon run" it's one of the great adventures of Queenstown, stunning views and a proper double black diamond descent into town.
Post a reply to: E-bike talk: not tech rumor derailment