Bike Maintenance

[lolipop808]

No wonder Cycle Republic are saying that if you have not taken it back to them, if you bought it from Cycle Republic and it is under warranty why would you not take it back to them?

It was bought online. They had no stores in my area. The one they wanted me to take it to was in Birmingham and I live 300 miles North of there.

 

[Amoto65]

So if Cycle Republic have not seen the bike and had a chance to assess it what do you expect them to do? Being realistic if you bought a car from a dealers and it had faults you would not expect them to replace it without seeing it, there must be a Cycle Republic or Halfords nearer than 300 miles away/

 

[Amoto65]

Edinburgh has a Cycle Republic why not take it there?

 

[lolipop808]

So if Cycle Republic have not seen the bike and had a chance to assess it what do you expect them to do? Being realistic if you bought a car from a dealers and it had faults you would not expect them to replace it without seeing it, there must be a Cycle Republic or Halfords nearer than 300 miles away/

Cycle Republic asked me to have an independent report which I did. The findings of the report were as stated above. My original query was that I believe that my forks and my motor and my steering column ballbearings were under warranty. I have done everything as asked from CR. The answer from them was I simply did not maintain my bike enough. I wanted to know how on earth do I maintain a motor, ballbearings inside a steering column and the hydraulics in forks.

 

[Amoto65]

You cant maintain the motor they are a sealed unit that can only be opened by Bosch so it is under warranty, although you have not said what is wrong with it, obviously Cycle Republic are trying to fob you off which is why you need to take it in store and deal with them in person.

 

[lolipop808]

You cant maintain the motor they are a sealed unit that can only be opened by Bosch so it is under warranty, although you have not said what is wrong with it, obviously Cycle Republic are trying to fob you off which is why you need to take it in store and deal with them in person.

I did offer to take it to Halfords but they said it wouldn't make a difference. There is a CR about 30 mils from me but they said as I had bought it online taking it there wouldn't make a difference either.

 

[soundwave]

well the motor has a 2 year warranty it is not serviceable buy any dealer so that should be covered, as for the rest of it i doubt you will get anywhere but the forks should have warranty but i guess you have bent them why they are now stuck in place as imo they have springs than air and stopping the spring from moving.

 

[Amoto65]

That seems to contradict what they said before, if they wanted you to take it to Cycle Republic in Birmingham, as for your independent shop I can not see how he knows the engine is worn out as he certainly wont have opened it. Was the motor ok when you took it in?

 

[vfr400]

None of what you say makes sense. Stuck forks can easily be repaired by any cycle shop. Bosch motors don not require any maintenance and are covered by warranty. Obviously, if you didn't oil your chain and sprockets, they won't be covered.. Pedals are supposed to be maintenance free. who ever does anything to their pedals. I think there must be something you're not telling us. Did you fall off your bike a few times or something?

 

[Nosweat]

Last time I popped into my local Cycle Republic to ask if they could do some maintenance on my (non-e-)bike they said they couldn't as they weren't insured to work on bikes not bought from there! Did make me wonder what confidence I'd have in their ability to do anything useful on a bike bought from them.

 

[lolipop808]

None of what you say makes sense. Stuck forks can easily be repaired by any cycle shop. Bosch motors don not require any maintenance and are covered by warranty. Obviously, if you didn't oil your chain and sprockets, they won't be covered.. Pedals are supposed to be maintenance free. who ever does anything to their pedals. I think there must be something you're not telling us. Did you fall off your bike a few times or something?

The only thing I’ve not said is what is wrong with my motor which I do not know. I’ve not crashed this bike. I crashed an older one once. The forks not been opened up to get a diagnostic of the cause but shop said they might be fixable.
Pedals provided on Crossfuse are rubbish plastic ones which have worn out.

 

[lolipop808]

That seems to contradict what they said before, if they wanted you to take it to Cycle Republic in Birmingham, as for your independent shop I can not see how he knows the engine is worn out as he certainly wont have opened it. Was the motor ok when you took it in?

That seems to contradict what they said before, if they wanted you to take it to Cycle Republic in Birmingham, as for your independent shop I can not see how he knows the engine is worn out as he certainly wont have opened it. Was the motor ok when you took it in?

We are going round in circles about which shop I sent it to. I just followed CRs adivice. The shop is irrelevant to my issue

I thought the motor was fine when I took itin.

 

[Bobajob]

I personally wouldn’t bother with this but issue a ‘notice of intent’ basically saying if they don’t replace the parts under warranty then you will take them to court.
If you research the laws which protect you and your purchase, incorporate the sections of protection into the letter with the valid reasons under the law why you expect them to repair or replace. You are covered by ‘fit for purpose’ legislation, which for them if proved could possibly be quite costly, culminating in a full refund to yourself.
When they have ignored all that in your letter then issue legal action.
They will then (if they have any sense whatsoever) start adopting the law.
If it goes to court then you possibly could have part of your claim reduced through ‘lack of maintenance ‘ but the reduction in my opinion would/could not incorporate the motor and forks.
By being here now alerts potential buyers to Cycle Republics possible tactics if you buy from them, it also gives them bad publicity which always sticks, again reflecting in future profits.
Good luck.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Hi all,

How do you all go about maintaining your E-Bike. I have had mine 8 months now and it has basically fallen apart. It is a Carrera Crossfuse.

I will list the things that have gone wrong or worn out

Headset Ballbearings worn out (Worn out - Not covered on Warranty)
Forks suspension does not work (Not covered under warranty - as they said this is 'wear and tear')
Break pads (Expected wear and tear)
Freehub body ( Expected wear and tear)
New Motor (Not covered under warranty - as they said this is 'wear and tear')
Chain (Not covered under warranty - as they said this is 'wear and tear')
Cassette (Not covered under warranty - as they said this is 'wear and tear')
Pedals (Not covered under warranty - as they said this is 'wear and tear')

I can accept that the pedals, cassette, chain, break pads and free hub body can wear out due to lack of lubrication, properly drying out the bike after use and maintenance, however the headset ballbearings, the fork suspension and the motor is more difficult to accept.

Can anyone shed light on this and is Cycle Republic correct to say these parts are not under warranty. The bike has done around 1500 miles.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Firstly, thanks for making us all "aware" of such possible problems. It was another member, some time ago, that appeared to say similar stuff about another make (from memory only), that later disappeared from the UK "scene". Exact details I could not find again, sorry.
Lack of customer support, in such a short time, is to me personally, mind boggling, as from reading here, none of the problems are huge IMHO.
But things like brake pads (as you mentioned), are usually never covered by guarantee.
Owning any bike, not just e-bikes, requires either a filled wallet, or some own knowledge and work/maintenance. Most of it is not rocket science and there are thousands of websites that can help, plus videos on YouTube. An informed friend would also be very useful too.
I do feel that you should also post the full name of the company selling your bike, so as to prevent further similar happenings to any of our members....Your choice of course, but at least the area where they are situated would possibly help.
I just looked, and apparently Halfords sell them as well, maybe they could help (for money of course) to get and keep your bike in a good condition for the future. Maybe they might even "honour" the rest of the guarantee for you, if you tell them what happened?
Keeping a bike in a good condition and safe to ride is most important for your personal safety of course!
Regards
Andy

 

[vfr400]

Hang on, let's slow down a bit. The bike was bought by mail order. It sounds to me like CR are meeting all their obligations and trying to help. If the bike had been returned to them for fixing, we'd probably be in a different situation. We don't know what the local shop has said to CR, nor whether they're trying to rip them off.

IMHO, the best thing to do would be to fix any service parts that are worn out, like chain and sprockets, then box the bike up and send it to CR for them to fix the rest under warranty. Any further disputes are directly with them.

I keep saying this. If you can't fix a bike yourself, do not buy by mail order. The only exceptions I'd make are from E-bikesdirect and Woosh, who both have a system in place for dealing with warrant repairs, though, even then, normal repairs and servicing won't be easy to deal with.

 

[Amoto65]

Of course your local bike shop may be trying it on and touting for custom,If you thought the motor was fine then it probably is as the bike shop wont have done anything with it, as for the rest just buy a new chain, cassette , brake pads etc then buy a bike maintenance book, take a cycle repair course or look on youtube and start taking care of your bike.

 

[Nealh]

Cycle Republic are owned by Halfrauds but operate as a separate company, asking op to go to Halfrauds is pointless. As VFR has said the obvious would have been to replace the cheaper worn parts of pads,chain and gears first leaving the major components to warranty.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Hang on, let's slow down a bit. The bike was bought by mail order. It sounds to me like CR are meeting all their obligations and trying to help. If the bike had been returned to them for fixing, we'd probably be in a different situation. We don't know what the local shop has said to CR, nor whether they're trying to rip them off.

IMHO, the best thing to do would be to fix any service parts that are worn out, like chain and sprockets, then box the bike up and send it to CR for them to fix the rest under warranty. Any further disputes are directly with them.

I keep saying this. If you can't fix a bike yourself, do not buy by mail order. The only exceptions I'd make are from E-bikesdirect and Woosh, who both have a system in place for dealing with warrant repairs, though, even then, normal repairs and servicing won't be easy to deal with.

I like the last paragraph, very true.
Then who was it who "defined" most of the problems as not being within warranty after only 8 months and 1500 miles? That lead me to believe that a bike shop was involved...Obviously a lot of important information was missing.....
Regards
Andy

 

[lolipop808]

I personally wouldn’t bother with this but issue a ‘notice of intent’ basically saying if they don’t replace the parts under warranty then you will take them to court.
If you research the laws which protect you and your purchase, incorporate the sections of protection into the letter with the valid reasons under the law why you expect them to repair or replace. You are covered by ‘fit for purpose’ legislation, which for them if proved could possibly be quite costly, culminating in a full refund to yourself.
When they have ignored all that in your letter then issue legal action.
They will then (if they have any sense whatsoever) start adopting the law.
If it goes to court then you possibly could have part of your claim reduced through ‘lack of maintenance ‘ but the reduction in my opinion would/could not incorporate the motor and forks.
By being here now alerts potential buyers to Cycle Republics possible tactics if you buy from them, it also gives them bad publicity which always sticks, again reflecting in future profits.
Good luck.

Thank you. This helps me. I will look at the laws now.

 

[EddiePJ]

Headset bearings should last years and can only assume damaged because of poor original set up/tightening.

I get through two sets a year on average.

.