Crossfuse-E Vs Crossfire-E

[kingsknight]

Hi all,

First time poster here. Short story about how I ended up here. 3 years ago I finally found out that I've got
Psoriatic arthritis and needed to start chemo right away due to it trying to kill me.

6 months of chemo, feeling like a bag of crap I started to gain a LOT of weight VERY fast. Over the last 3 years I've gained 5 stone because as I found out chemo screws with your thyroid and it is very common for people to gain a lot of weight like I have.

This is no sob story, just a short explanation why you'll be seeing me posting a lot on here lol

My diet is fine as I kept a food dairy for 3 months and I'm a very active person walking at least 6 miles on average a day.

I decided to go back in to cycling after 20 years of not being on a bike and bought myself a high end Vulcan and done all the fancy upgrades to make it fun as possible. It is a great bike but I'm just not as great as it is so I ended up giving it to my brother as I just couldn't deal with the hills around here and decided to buy myself an ebike.

Booked a test ride for 30mins in Halfords on a Crossfire-E and LOVED it. They didn't limit me to 30mins, they let me ride it for as long as I wanted. I rode non stop for an hour and fell in love with it. The extra push up the hills made all the difference. Even after an hour of riding my left knee which has arthritis quite bad didn't barely hurt at all. The same ride on my standard push bike would have killed my knee.

So this is where I am now. I ordered my bike and it should be here on Thursday by 2pm.

The problem is that I've gone down the rabbit hole of e-bikes and haven't stopped reading up on them / watching youtube videos since ordering it on Saturday.

The Crossfire seems like the perfect bike for me, it's mainly a road bike and Halfords back up after sales but I'm quite worried about the cut out issues. After reading some horror stories about the Crossfire cut out issues I've looked at paying the extra to get the Crossfuse but I've also read about the motor stopping working all together and the chain is always at risk of breaking due to the mid drive system.

I want to be able to park up my car and know that I'm going to be able to get home from work 10 miles away. I want my bike to be my main form of transport and I'm not sure how my knees could live up to riding a 25/30kg bike home after a long day in the office.

I'm only 35 by the way but I need to take care of my joints as best as I can. I want to maintain a good 140bpm on my bike and know it will get me to and from work / where ever I want to ride.

Just looking for some advice about what would be the best bike to get? Reliability means a lot to me.

Do you think I'll be able to fix the cut out issues on the crossfire or would it be better to get the crossfuse as they seem to have less issues?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Eagle]

kingsknight,

Welcome to the Pedelecs Forums.

There are numerous posts on these forums about the Carrera Crossfire-E cutting out, so caveat emptor.

See post #2:

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/faulty-ecarrera-crossfire.30229/

The Suntour Halfords bikes are well known for cutting out in different ways that are well documented on here.


Have a search for Crossfire and you'll find many posts about their unreliability. I honestly can't believe that Halfords are still selling them. I remember someone saying that they managed to reduce cutouts by securing the motor cable with a cable tie but I've not heard of anyone who's completely managed to fix the issue.

With so many problems, Halford's inability to rectify, and the seemingly random nature of cutouts I can't help but wonder if there are mutiple points of failure on these. I'd take it back and ask for a refund if you can, after all you've had two of these now.

Another quote (post #51):

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/faulty-ecarrera-crossfire.30229/page-3

It does seem ridiculous that Suntour/Halfords don't seem to have gotten to the root cause of this problem yet, and are still selling these bikes.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/faulty-ecarrera-crossfire.30229/page-4

Then again, in contrast (post #72):

Epilogue - Halfords took my faulty eCarrera Crossfire back. I did not get a refund but I did get a full price trade in on a eCarrera Crossfuse.

The Crossfuse has a Bosch crank motor power train and is absolutely fantastic. I have put 1000 miles on it now with no problems. The battery - even though it's still rated 400Wh the same as the Crossfire - is much stronger and the motor much more effficient. I get around 36 miles out of it in 100% assist around Leicester whereas on the Crossfire with the Suntour system I had to use it in 50% assist to get that performance.

My advice - go the extra £300 to buy the Crossfuse-Bosch over the Crossfire-Suntour.
........................................................................................

Comparison of Crossfuse-E & Oxygen S-Cross:

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/which-one-chaps-carrera-crossfuse-or-oxygen-s-cross.30514/

……………………………..

The Woosh Big Bear is often recommended for heavier riders and for those with plenty of local hills:

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?bigbear

Note that the LS version has the superior hydraulic brakes:

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?bigbear-ls

From personal experience I can certainly recommend Oxygen bikes for both quality and customer support.

 

[MikeS]

The cut-out isn’t the only problem with the Crossfire E. Some of them develop the pedalling through treacle problem when the motor is switched off. Apart from that the Crossfuse looks nicer and has a few better quality parts fitted (the brakes seem better to me, and the saddle, and even the bar grips which kept rotating on the crossfire. On paper they seem to be similar weights but the Crossfuse seems lighter to me - maybe because it’s weight is more central
Having said all that the crossfire seems to have more oomph and it also gives a boost from a standing start which the Bosch motor doesn’t do
The Bosch has a system that’s supposed to protect the chain if you are worried about it being overloaded. I can often feel it in action but I am not convinced it’s doing it right
I’m certainly glad that Halfords let me swap my 3 week old crossfire for the Crossfuse with me just paying the retail price difference. You should definitely be able to persuade them to sell you a Crossfuse instead of the crossfire. And around here they are on 2 days delivery so you should still be able to get it for Saturday
Mike

 

[egroover]

I take it you have paid the current 1k price for the Crossfire? If so big jump of 600 quid to the crossfuse. You'll see many a post on here of me praising the Crossfire. I will say there are some issues with snapped spokes on the rear wheel, I've had a few go in the last 2 years, simple fix, but annoying all the same. I only paid about 650 for each crossfire-e I bought, so my opinion is based on that. Good luck

 

[Celtic Fan]

@kingsknight how is it going for you with your Crossfuse? Like yourself, I went down the hole of all things ebikes and came up with choosing the Crossfuse as my 1st ebike. I pick it up tomorrow so look forward getting in the saddle! Up to now I have been a peddler (sounds ominous, I know ), under my own steam , past 25odd yrs. be interring to hear your story, so far.

 

[kingsknight]

hey man,

Done 600 miles on my Crossfuse and it has been perfect! Not had any issues with it! Pretty much replaced my car with it! Battery range is so good, I'm getting 50 miles in tour mode and 90 im eco!

I love the active plus motor, there is no drag after the 15mph limit!

I'm sure you'll love it! keep us posted

 

[Celtic Fan]

Awesome Sounds so good. I like the bit ‘it replaced my car’ Good fer the Earth and body mass as well, no doubt! Lol
Not the best time year to be hopping back onto the saddle, still, give it a whirl. Will Mind to share the ride and how it goes. Sounding v good. Well done mate

 

[kingsknight]

I feel amazing mate, I use it as much as I can! no matter the weather I will always try to use the bike! I've not dropped much body mass which is a shame but it just makes me push myself harder.

Owning an ebike has honestly changed my life! I spend so much time outside and im always smiling on my bike Thank you so much for your kind comments.

You sir are a gent!