Do you own a Suede E?

[M.J.M.]

This is a part two of a post I put on your forum guys - I have clatter noise in my front hub. Under the advisment of some of this forums experts I brought it to my dealer which in turn they called the Giant " electric sharpshooter" and he said the clattering noise is normal when ever you exceed the 12 mph speed limit the motor is designed for.

Well I'm not buying that since I know the motor can't be designed to only go 12 mph! What the heck would the pedels be good for then. I sort of stumped them when I mentiond the fact that I can turn the motor off and it still clatters.

Anyhow, does anyone have a Suede E than can shed some light on this problem - i.e. do you have any noise and vibration coming from your front hub?

Thanks - MIke

 

[flecc]

Hi Mike. Andrewelectricbike1 in this forum has a Suede. If you go to the Members List at the top of this page and look him up, you can send him either a Private Message or email to ask about his bike.
.

 

[M.J.M.]

Many Thanks - I will!

 

[darrellt]

Clattering noise

I had a Suede E for 2 days and had the same problem, as soon as you got up to speed the clatter started. I called Giant myself and they said that it wasnt normal and i should speak to the dealer. Dealer offered to swop the motor but i opted for a refund.

 

[andrewelectricbike1]

12MPH? yikes Definitely not normal. For the forum..

I`m not sure whether I can help you much but my Suede E does not clatter at all. The motor does have a throb when going up hills. I would suggest that it sounds like one of the hall sensors in the motor has worked loose. These sensors allow smooth operation of the dynamotor. If the dealer has other bikes on display ask him to prove his theory by letting you ride another suedeE. Alternatively find another dealer and get a test ride.
Are you still in warranty? Where are you in the country? Don`t take any rubbish from the shop. There seems to be a few cowboy Giant dealers out there who don`t know their NiMh from their NiCd. Last resort, call Giant themselves!
Andrew

 

[M.J.M.]

Andrew,

Thanks for the reply - the funny part is the tech at Giant told my dealer that the noise was from me exceeding the "designed speed' of the motor (rubbish) the tech was lost for words when I told him I took the battery out of the bike and it still does it.

I've flown RC Helicopters for 30 years and electric helicopters since 92, so I'm pretty in touch with electric motors and their operation.

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The real problem is I don't want the dealer tearing into the hub if he's not experenced. Hopefully they can just send me an intire wheel assembly and let me get on with this!

I have more more question, the other day I was riding and the display went from two lights to one. I kept riding for another 15 minutes with one light then all of a sudden two lights came back on and I rode it for another 15 minutes and it remained with two lights on. When it went to one light, it did not seem to have any less power like something was drawing it down though.

Thanks

Mike

 

[flecc]

Battery meters are load dependent Mike. This is very noticeable on throttle bikes, and I don't know if you've done the throttle mod on your Suede.

On most throttle bikes, if the throttle is opened wide for a load like hill climbing, it's normal for the meter lights to drop due to the motor's extra power drain causing a voltage drop.

Once the load is reduced, the lights go back up again as the voltage drop disappears. Even if you are on pedelec only, load variations can act in the same way, though the cause is not so obvious as when one operates a throttle. It's not a problem, just the physics of an integrated motor and battery system, and in fact the battery meter can only be accurate when the bike is stopped. That's because meters don't measure what's in a battery, that's impossible, but measure instead the voltage, this declining very slightly as the battery content is used.
.

 

[andrewelectricbike1]

On the suede with a pod throttle, you do get some voltage sag on the hills. I find the meter quite useful.
Flecc, Mike has a US spec SuedeE with a throttle and pedelec as standard (as well as a lite!).

 

[andrewelectricbike1]

Andrew,

Thanks for the reply - the funny part is the tech at Giant told my dealer that the noise was from me exceeding the "designed speed' of the motor (rubbish) the tech was lost for words when I told him I took the battery out of the bike and it still does it.

Mike

Definitely a return back to Giant.

 

[Bikerbob]

I'm coming late to this thread as I've been away for a while. Just to add further confirmation that the clatter is not normal - I've had a Suede
since October 2005 and have never experienced any such problem.

 

[andrewelectricbike1]

The weird thing is that the "Giant electric troubleshooter" said the Suede in the US maxes out at 12mph Yet the Giant website in America says 17mph Giant Bicycles |  bikes - lifestyle - Suede E

Did Jim Henson take over Giant recently?