It might seem messy, but Giant's policy is that all support is through the relevant agents rather than direct. In practice most find that Giant is very helpful when this route is used, as you've found with the box offer from John.
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anyone got/tried giant prime hybrid ebike?
- Thread starter footpump
- Start date
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It'll be worth all the effort if I can get a satisfactory outcome from this. Lets see how it works out.
Clinging onto hope that I just ended up with a dud bike, and they might replace it with one that doesn't rattle!
John speculated the rattling could be linked to the error. Said the controller is housed inside the frame itself, so that area could be loose. Obviously no idea whether that's the case or not...
Bit of an update - I left the bike with the Giant Store in Bristol. It has been picked up by courier and returned to JE James (JE James sent the box).
When I dropped off the bike, the guy in the store thought the rattling sounded like it was coming from the motor itself. It did actually sound like that.
Anyway, just need to wait and see what JE James decide to do. They've been reasonably helpful so far, so fingers crossed.
When I dropped off the bike, the guy in the store thought the rattling sounded like it was coming from the motor itself. It did actually sound like that.
Anyway, just need to wait and see what JE James decide to do. They've been reasonably helpful so far, so fingers crossed.
Another update on this for anyone who may be interested.
Well, my 2014 Giant Prime went back to JE James (who in turn I believe returned the bike to Giant to look at). The whole warranty process was incredibly messy, and essentially took a month. The Giant store in Bristol boxed the bike, but did so with the key left in the battery. On arrival at JE James, that key was badly bent. They also lost the second key I'd provided. JE James weren't happy about this, which further complicated things for a day or so.
Anyway, the end result is that I've been provided with a completely new Giant Prime. The one I've been given is the Giant Prime E+ 2 2015 model, which has disc brakes and several other tweaks over the 2014 model. The horrible plastic contraption covering the whole chain/gears etc. isn't on this one. There's no Abus chipSecurity device. The mudguards are made of tougher material and no longer flap around. The wiring looks more secure. The gearshift is much more reliable.
I am no longer experiencing ANY rattle with this model. It seems better put together, and better designed. It looks as though the design update specifically addresses the issues I'd been experiencing (other than the motor cutting out, obviously).
Also, not sure if it's just me but the motor seems somewhat more responsive than the 2014. Not sure whether this is just placebo as I don't have the two to compare. Think the Yamaha motor is the same but there may have been tweaks here?
Anyway, I'm only 2 days into owning the 2015 Prime but SO FAR, I absolutely adore it. It's a fantastic ride, and is everything I'd hoped my original purchase should have been.
Providing the 2015 Prime remains reliable, I'd have no hesitation in recommending it. Fingers crossed.
Well, my 2014 Giant Prime went back to JE James (who in turn I believe returned the bike to Giant to look at). The whole warranty process was incredibly messy, and essentially took a month. The Giant store in Bristol boxed the bike, but did so with the key left in the battery. On arrival at JE James, that key was badly bent. They also lost the second key I'd provided. JE James weren't happy about this, which further complicated things for a day or so.
Anyway, the end result is that I've been provided with a completely new Giant Prime. The one I've been given is the Giant Prime E+ 2 2015 model, which has disc brakes and several other tweaks over the 2014 model. The horrible plastic contraption covering the whole chain/gears etc. isn't on this one. There's no Abus chipSecurity device. The mudguards are made of tougher material and no longer flap around. The wiring looks more secure. The gearshift is much more reliable.
I am no longer experiencing ANY rattle with this model. It seems better put together, and better designed. It looks as though the design update specifically addresses the issues I'd been experiencing (other than the motor cutting out, obviously).
Also, not sure if it's just me but the motor seems somewhat more responsive than the 2014. Not sure whether this is just placebo as I don't have the two to compare. Think the Yamaha motor is the same but there may have been tweaks here?
Anyway, I'm only 2 days into owning the 2015 Prime but SO FAR, I absolutely adore it. It's a fantastic ride, and is everything I'd hoped my original purchase should have been.
Providing the 2015 Prime remains reliable, I'd have no hesitation in recommending it. Fingers crossed.
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D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Please report again sometime in the future to let us know if you get any more problems or not and if you still like it.
The battery/motor appears to be basically the same as the 2014 Prime (though as I mentioned, the 2015 motor does feel somehow better tuned). The 2014 model gave me between 25 and 30 miles of assistance. I mainly use the 'sport' setting (the highest) purely because it makes me that little bit faster accelerating.
The battery takes in the region of 5 hours to charge fully. Not sure how much power the charger draws.
Well, I've been riding the 2015 Prime E+ for a month and a half now.
Still going strong, so far. A few little quirks:
1) Sometimes when pulling away from a standstill, the assistance doesn't kick in at all. This happened occasionally on the older model as well. It happens very rarely - maybe one in ten times (about once every couple of days). I do tend to keep the bike in a fairly high gear, so this may contribute.
2) The rearward weight does mean I have to be careful over bumps. Every so often I'll go over a little bump and there will be a 'slam' sound from the rear along with a vibration. The bike itself remains stable however, so not too big a deal.
The mileage. I'm fairly certain I can reach about 30 miles on a single charge at the moment, using 'Sport'.
It will be interesting to see how long the bike lasts. I'm cycling about 80 miles a week, so after a year or so it'll already have gone quite a long distance. Hoping it'll give me 2 years service at least... but lets see.
Still going strong, so far. A few little quirks:
1) Sometimes when pulling away from a standstill, the assistance doesn't kick in at all. This happened occasionally on the older model as well. It happens very rarely - maybe one in ten times (about once every couple of days). I do tend to keep the bike in a fairly high gear, so this may contribute.
2) The rearward weight does mean I have to be careful over bumps. Every so often I'll go over a little bump and there will be a 'slam' sound from the rear along with a vibration. The bike itself remains stable however, so not too big a deal.
The mileage. I'm fairly certain I can reach about 30 miles on a single charge at the moment, using 'Sport'.
It will be interesting to see how long the bike lasts. I'm cycling about 80 miles a week, so after a year or so it'll already have gone quite a long distance. Hoping it'll give me 2 years service at least... but lets see.
Well, unfortunately my more positive experience with the 2015 Giant Prime hasn't lasted long.
Less than 1,000 miles cycled. I've begun to notice flex in the pedals while peddling, in particular from the raised foot.
At first I thought it was just the pedals needing to be tightened, but no - those are secure.
The flex is actually coming from the MOTOR, which is moving about slightly relative to the frame. The motor itself is bolted on in about 6 places, I think, but I only have access to a couple of those without dismantling other parts of the bike first. I can't tell exactly where the problem is but suspect that in one or more places, the bolt has rubbed the frame, and this has worn slightly. Can't think what else it can be, other than perhaps the structural integrity of the motor itself deteriorating.
Back to JE James... really, thought an expensive bike like this would have better reliability
Less than 1,000 miles cycled. I've begun to notice flex in the pedals while peddling, in particular from the raised foot.
At first I thought it was just the pedals needing to be tightened, but no - those are secure.
The flex is actually coming from the MOTOR, which is moving about slightly relative to the frame. The motor itself is bolted on in about 6 places, I think, but I only have access to a couple of those without dismantling other parts of the bike first. I can't tell exactly where the problem is but suspect that in one or more places, the bolt has rubbed the frame, and this has worn slightly. Can't think what else it can be, other than perhaps the structural integrity of the motor itself deteriorating.
Back to JE James... really, thought an expensive bike like this would have better reliability
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Wouldn't it be easier to find the loose bolts and tighten them? That's a lot less work and you won't be without your bike.
I would have to dismantle other areas of the bicycle in order to access these, which I believe risks me invalidating the warranty. I'd rather have it assessed/fixed by a qualified person and keep my warranty intact...
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Why don't you ring JE James and ask them if you can sort it and keep your warranty intact? How would they know that you tightened the bolts, anyway?
They would know if, for example, I were to dismantle that area of the bicycle and find myself unable to put it back together properly. There are a lot of bits, a lot of allen key screws (that shred easily) and everything requires quite a bit of force.
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
My 2014 Prime had this. It's basically a rear-wheel lock on the frame. The lock itself is pretty sturdy and quite convenient. The 'chip' being referenced is, as far as I can tell, just a little microchip somewhere in the device. I believe it should be possible to register the details with Abus (and then use to identify your bike if it is stolen), however the 2014 Prime I received had absolutely no information on this whatsoever so I was unable to make any use of this.
Incidentally, if you're considering the 2014 model I'd strongly advise against it from my own experience. The 2015 model seems a lot better, but I've unfortunately had some reliability problems with this too.
Just an update regarding the return process of my 2015 Giant Prime.
The bike was returned to the Bristol Giant Store on 25th September. The Giant Store advised that they were unable to work on the bicycle due to a couple of 'shredded' allen key screws around the motor. They asked whether I had tampered with the motor (I haven't).
I had noticed on inspecting the bike myself that one of the screw holes looked bigger, but it certainly was not something I had done.
Advised that this could affect the warranty status of my bicycle, which is obviously incredibly frustrating since I have taken great care in looking after the bike.
JE James then requested I return the bike to them. I had to pay them for a box (about £20) since the Giant Store claimed they didn't have one.
The bike was collected on 8th October, so would have been returned to JE James on 13th October.
JE James did not get back to me until 22nd October (they claimed the manager at Giant UK was on holiday so had not responded to their communications).
JE James went on to ask questions like:
* "Did you put thhe bike in self-diagnostic mode/factory rest?"
(I don't know what that is or how to do it)
* "Are you pedalling at all when you hit the power on/assist button?"
(Don't think so - I turn it on when I get on the bike. However, once the bike turned itself off with a low battery warning from 2 bars of battery while I was pedalling on a busy road. I did try and turn it back on then (unsuccessfully).
They then advised they were going to try a full reset of the settings, which would take some hours, then try the bike again in the morning.
Next day (23rd October) they advised the reset had made no difference, and they were getting back in touch with Giant UK: "at this stage we have not touched the motor or housing due to the rounded bolt heads".
I'm currently waiting to hear back.
Really disappointed so far. I'm worried that i am being blamed in an attempt to exclude me from the warranty, which would be awful for me as I've done nothing to the bike and ridden it carefully.
Hopefully it won't come to that but lets wait and see. I'll provide an update when I know.
The bike was returned to the Bristol Giant Store on 25th September. The Giant Store advised that they were unable to work on the bicycle due to a couple of 'shredded' allen key screws around the motor. They asked whether I had tampered with the motor (I haven't).
I had noticed on inspecting the bike myself that one of the screw holes looked bigger, but it certainly was not something I had done.
Advised that this could affect the warranty status of my bicycle, which is obviously incredibly frustrating since I have taken great care in looking after the bike.
JE James then requested I return the bike to them. I had to pay them for a box (about £20) since the Giant Store claimed they didn't have one.
The bike was collected on 8th October, so would have been returned to JE James on 13th October.
JE James did not get back to me until 22nd October (they claimed the manager at Giant UK was on holiday so had not responded to their communications).
JE James went on to ask questions like:
* "Did you put thhe bike in self-diagnostic mode/factory rest?"
(I don't know what that is or how to do it)
* "Are you pedalling at all when you hit the power on/assist button?"
(Don't think so - I turn it on when I get on the bike. However, once the bike turned itself off with a low battery warning from 2 bars of battery while I was pedalling on a busy road. I did try and turn it back on then (unsuccessfully).
They then advised they were going to try a full reset of the settings, which would take some hours, then try the bike again in the morning.
Next day (23rd October) they advised the reset had made no difference, and they were getting back in touch with Giant UK: "at this stage we have not touched the motor or housing due to the rounded bolt heads".
I'm currently waiting to hear back.
Really disappointed so far. I'm worried that i am being blamed in an attempt to exclude me from the warranty, which would be awful for me as I've done nothing to the bike and ridden it carefully.
Hopefully it won't come to that but lets wait and see. I'll provide an update when I know.
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