I'm very similar to georgehenry, I have an Oxygen E mate city rear hub drive and a Cube crank drive mtb. For me its horses for courses. I have had my Oxygen 5 years and during that time it has done about 8k, i say 8k because the odometer stopped working a few years ago at 4k.
Initially I found it too high geared for the hills around my home in Fife, I persevered but eventually changed the gearing so i could spin up the hills, that worked for a while but eventually I was going so slow most of the energy was going into heat. I eventually bought a 350w Oxydrive Hi Torq kit fitted to another bike for my hill and off road trips. This got sold in March because it was impossible to source another battery for it. I am currently exploring more powerful motors and higher amperage controllers for the Oxygen because i like the bike so much. i am now of the opinion that most legal 250 watt hub motors paired with 10/15A controllers are unsuitable for long day rides in hilly terrain.
In March around the start of lockdown i bought a crank drive with the new Bosch CX gen 4 motor. For hills and off road it has been a revelation. I have done a nearly a 1000 miles in 3 months. The cycling experience for me is better, the higher cadence i can achieve coupled with the torque sensors has resulted in me tackling on & off road climbs which were impossible for me with my hub motor setup.
The reason i am writing all this is if my crank drive packs up in 3 years and it costs me 900 quid to replace it i would consider that acceptable. I hope and expect though with the vast number of crank drives being sold the independent repairers will increase and it will be cheaper to fix them. Like others the maintenance won't cost much, 9 speed blocks and chains are cheap now. Schwalbe Marathon plus last forever. OK Bosch batteries are an arm and a leg but hopefully folk like Jimmy at BGA if they can't do it now will in time be able to recell Bosch cases.
I hope this thread gives the OP some options. and he gets it repaired and reports back.
Initially I found it too high geared for the hills around my home in Fife, I persevered but eventually changed the gearing so i could spin up the hills, that worked for a while but eventually I was going so slow most of the energy was going into heat. I eventually bought a 350w Oxydrive Hi Torq kit fitted to another bike for my hill and off road trips. This got sold in March because it was impossible to source another battery for it. I am currently exploring more powerful motors and higher amperage controllers for the Oxygen because i like the bike so much. i am now of the opinion that most legal 250 watt hub motors paired with 10/15A controllers are unsuitable for long day rides in hilly terrain.
In March around the start of lockdown i bought a crank drive with the new Bosch CX gen 4 motor. For hills and off road it has been a revelation. I have done a nearly a 1000 miles in 3 months. The cycling experience for me is better, the higher cadence i can achieve coupled with the torque sensors has resulted in me tackling on & off road climbs which were impossible for me with my hub motor setup.
The reason i am writing all this is if my crank drive packs up in 3 years and it costs me 900 quid to replace it i would consider that acceptable. I hope and expect though with the vast number of crank drives being sold the independent repairers will increase and it will be cheaper to fix them. Like others the maintenance won't cost much, 9 speed blocks and chains are cheap now. Schwalbe Marathon plus last forever. OK Bosch batteries are an arm and a leg but hopefully folk like Jimmy at BGA if they can't do it now will in time be able to recell Bosch cases.
I hope this thread gives the OP some options. and he gets it repaired and reports back.
