Crank drive engine life

[Bullet]

Has anyone experienced problems with their crank drive motor?

 

[matthewslack]

Bit of a broad question!

Do you have a specific use case for which you'd like recommendations?

Most of the bikes I come into contact with here are mid-drives, a mix of Shimano, Bosch and Yamaha, but most don't do many miles, so unless dropped in a canal will probably last many years. No motor issues with any of them so far.

If you look on ebay at secondhand mid-drive bikes often the same is true: 1,000 miles or fewer per year, so likely to last well if looked after.

My own bike is an outlier, no issues at 22,600km.

 

[soundwave]

my bosch gen 10 had over 1000 miles on it b4 it needed a service and got a cx motor upgrade instead

if ebike motor center wont service it then dont buy it esp shitmano! that just needs going down the tip

they are also the brose service centre from oct for the uk so any warranty problems and motors go to him at fkn last

 

[saneagle]

There was a period when Bosch CX motors were struggling for 2000 miles. I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of improvements on later ones, so probably a lot better now. Most crank motors don't like water and mud or sand. If you only use them in the dry, there's a good chance that they last a very long time.

The main problems with OEM crank motors are their lack of serviceability and cost of replacement. After-market ones (kits) are very variable. Some give problems quite quickly, and others last a lot longer.

All of them are getting better all the time from the reliability point of view. They've only really been developed in the last 10 years, and there was a bit of a learning curve for the manufacturers.

 

[soundwave]

my gen 2 cx motor was custom built for me to try to kill it and even if i do brake it i can get it rebuilt for free

peter is motor master

 

[Deno]

I had 19,000km on my Bosch Gen 2 CX when the main bearing collapsed. I had it rebuilt by Ebike motor centre in late 2020 and its just ticked over 30,000km. The only other failures have been the motor to battery harness and a well used and abused battery. The bike is de-restricted and in daily use so it not been an easy life but pretty astonishing reliability.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

From posts here I think there used to be a lot of problems with the built in controllers on Bafang BBS01 /02 s
Not sure, but not heard of problems with recent versions. For kit bikes you are potentially putting a lot more power through the chain drive / rear cassette than a human could possibly do, so potentially increasing wear on chain / rear cassette compared to an analogue bike.