Clacking noise - Kalkhoff Impulse 2 motor

[John5001]

All very worrying that the dealers continue to sell these bikes. Especially having the knowledge they are more than likely to fail and cause grief to many people.

Hopefully these dealers are identified and made very public.

 

[RobF]

All very worrying that the dealers continue to sell these bikes. Especially having the knowledge they are more than likely to fail and cause grief to many people.

Hopefully these dealers are identified and made very public.

Identifying 'these dealers' is not too difficult given that 50 Cycles has virtually a monopoly on the sale of Kalkhoff ebikes in the UK.

 

[Crockers]

Strange that as an advertiser on these pages that noone from 50cycles has responded to these problems.

 

[RobF]

Strange that as an advertiser on these pages that noone from 50cycles has responded to these problems.

The retailer is in an awkward position.

Delving into individual cases on a public forum is only likely to descend into a tit for tat argument.

Inevitably, there will be two sides to the story, and the retailer will be properly reluctant to publicise the conduct of the customer in some cases.

It seems obvious to me a significant number of Impulse motors are not up to the job.

But I can understand why 50 Cycles may think it's a case of 'least said, soonest mended'.

 

[nemesis]

There should have been a recall and everyone refunded,the dealer won`t admit liability even though they have probably exchanged a lot of motors.I am relieved to be out of it.
I lost a lot of money on the sale selling it for half the value.

 

[robdon]

What I have read it is an easy fix for those out of warranty, a £3.00 bearing.
which can be done by most diy people.
or the local bike shop.

 

[Mr MSJ]

Well Robdon, if only bearings would be a problem... sigh. Stripped nylon gears, mashed freewheel pawls, (a lot) less power due to microchips failure, display failures, well, the list goes on without mentioning how "very special" 50 Cycles co. treatment is ( for "some" of us at least). Read on the tread.. nightmare.

 

[Will Tinker]

Unfortunately, you can now add me to the list whose motor has succumbed to the dreaded 'clack'.

Until now it had only been a slight and occasional problem, but this past week especially it has become frequent and rendered my bike much more difficult to cycle.

It also make a horrible creaking noise when I stop pedalling - no idea what that is.

Now reached the point where I don't think I can ride it anymore, so I am taking it into 50cycles tomorrow.

They've been really nice to me so far so I'm hoping they will sort this out without fuss.

I do agree on the recall comment though. If there's a known fault, a car manufacturer will issue a recall and pay to replace the faulty part with a non-faulty replacement. Whereas all Kalhoff are doing is giving us a new unit with the same fault, thus keeping the time bomb ticking and leaving us to await the inevitable again.

 

[Tomtomato]

I do agree on the recall comment though. If there's a known fault, a car manufacturer will issue a recall and pay to replace the faulty part with a non-faulty replacement. Whereas all Kalhoff are doing is giving us a new unit with the same fault, thus keeping the time bomb ticking and leaving us to await the inevitable again.

Completely agreed, and the point I made to them when rejecting the bike.

They say they have a software update that reduces the risk of the motor breaking again, but they don't contact their customers and recall existing bikes to install such update, and therefore people will be left stranded miles from home (as it happened to me), or will have their motor break once out of warranty (a £600 repair, with only one repairer: 50 Cycles).

No pro-active resolution whatsoever, which confirm the bad track record they have with aftersales services. However, they still claim they have the best bikes and best service in the UK on their website.

My own experience with them was more like one of the worst experience in aftersales, and I don't seem to be the only one.

I think trading standards will need to have a word with them...again.

Also, my understanding is that the software update reduces the maximum amount of torque applied, meaning that the bike specification is no longer as advertised and sold...

Yet, despite all the points above, they have refused to settle my (reasonable) claim for a partial refund, and therefore this is going to court now.

 

[Ted B.]

There should have been a recall and everyone refunded

I agree. It seems very strange that they are not refunding people, despite known faults reported by many people, and that some people have to take legal actions!

Not the best publicity for some expensive ebike seller...

 

[Paul smith]

So glad im not in your guys shoes..their bikes an after sales service sounds appauling....im glad some of you are taking legal action against them..bit of luck..50 cycles an their shitty way of doing business...i hope they get busted for every penny they got...good luck folks.

 

[Nigel01]

400,000 + impulse 2 's sold and you you few moaners on here complaining no wonder 50 cycles don't want to be on here anymore.....

 

[Paul smith]

I take it you haven,t weighed in a couple of grand for a very large door stopper then..be quiet.

 

[RobF]

Neither is it fair or accurate to describe the Kalkhoff owners on here as 'moaners'.

The accounts of broken motors I've read have been put over in a calm and reasoned manner.

Their expectations - fix the thing properly and don't take forever to do it - are also reasonable.

 

[Tomtomato]

400,000 + impulse 2 's sold and you you few moaners on here complaining no wonder 50 cycles don't want to be on here anymore.....

Thanks Nigel for your valuable input...again. What a shame 50 Cycles don't want to be here anymore, and defend their "best products in the UK" and best aftersales.

Hopefully, your new Kalkhoff will be of satisfactory quality. Otherwise, I am sure you will come back here and share your experience...

Don't worry about those clicking noises, you will be fine. Click click click...

Were you not supposed to delete this site from your favourites?

 

[nemesis]

400,000 + impulse 2 's sold and you you few moaners on here complaining no wonder 50 cycles don't want to be on here anymore.....

The impulse 2 motor appears badly designed and unreliable.I have had two motors on one bike that have failed and one of them was a loud failure that seized all the crank up,not funny on a £3600 bike four months old.
The bike has just been returned with a third new motor and it felt gutless because it has had new software to limit the torque so i`ve had enough and have sold it at a big loss to get rid of the dealer with the endless excuses and denials and the lousy impulse motor.
I also have a bike with the Bosch CX motor and that has been super and it has been used hard.

 

[John5001]

400,000 + impulse 2 's sold and you you few moaners on here complaining no wonder 50 cycles don't want to be on here anymore.....

Unlikely future comments from yourself would be taken seriously. Just saying...

 

[Crockers]

400,000 + impulse 2 's sold and you you few moaners on here complaining no wonder 50 cycles don't want to be on here anymore.....

Hi Nigel (if that is your real name) and welcome to the forum. A very strange first post, one would wonder whether you work for 50 cycles!!! But I'll give you the benefit of doubt and hope your future posts (if we get any) can be of a more informative nature.

 

[lowranger]

It's unreasonable to dismiss the owners of affected bikes as moaners. Owners personal experiences of poor customer service are a side issue to the main problem. Besides the unreliability of the impulse motor there are real and genuine safety issues- the crank can lock up and try to throw you off the bike- it's happened to me so I know.
It's time that Kalkhoff did a full safety recall of all these bikes before a crank lock up causes a serious accident. Derby cycle are a large corporation who should concerned about litigation that would follow any such occurrence.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Will Tinker]

What we don't know is whether each issue here is actually the same. I'm posting because my symptoms are similar (clacking sound and big vibration through the pedals when applying a lot of pressure, like when pulling away from traffic lights).

But I don't know for certain yet what the actual cause is, or if indeed it is the motor (though does seem highly likely).

I should know more today - 50Cycles will be giving me a call.