e-bikes - service and repair in China?

[Alex728]

I'm curious to know what the score is like in China for e-bike repairs/spares/service, as the machines are popular there...

has it got to the stage where people can just go into their bike shop and buy stuff like motors / controllers / batteries and the like same as we would get stuff like brake levers and derailleurs?

 

[IOM]

If it is of interest, I will start a thread to share my experiences of E Biking in China. Especially now that Flecc has provided me instructions on how to post pictures.
With regard to your question Alex, I am sure they do. The shops I visit, usually have bikes part stripped in various stages of re-build. I will enquire on my return in July.

 

[Conal]

ebike life in China

IOM,

Please do, can you also give us an idea of the differences between service in the cities and in more rural areas

Conal

 

[Alex728]

If it is of interest, I will start a thread to share my experiences of E Biking in China. Especially now that Flecc has provided me instructions on how to post pictures.

I would definitely be interested in this.. especially as I would like to visit China one day, my ancestors on my Dad's side are from South China (although he was born in and grew up in Malaya...)

I keep meaning to try and learn at least some basic Chinese as well (even got a picture of a controller where I am slowly trying to work out what the characters stand for..)

 

[stevenwong]

e bikes/e scooter are such a common transport tool in China nowadays..but in deals shop or super market,you can not buy controllers or motors easily .maybe only battery you can get there..the reason is most consumers do not know the specs of scooters they used everyday. they will come to repair shop when problem happens and repair shop will take care of everything.. only few consumers will study their e bike or e scooters.

 

[Alex728]

e bikes/e scooter are such a common transport tool in China nowadays..but in deals shop or super market,you can not buy controllers or motors easily .maybe only battery you can get there..the reason is most consumers do not know the specs of scooters they used everyday. they will come to repair shop when problem happens and repair shop will take care of everything.. only few consumers will study their e bike or e scooters.

Thanks Steven...

Are there many repair shops?

In each town of England there is usually at least one shop for repairing conventional bicycles, but if you take your e-bike into the normal bicycle shop many mechanics say "oh no, we do not know how to work on it"...

do Chinese repair shops work on all kinds of bicycles/scooters or are their special ones for ebikes?

 

[rog_london]

Thanks Steven...

Are there many repair shops?

In each town of England there is usually at least one shop for repairing conventional bicycles, but if you take your e-bike into the normal bicycle shop many mechanics say "oh no, we do not know how to work on it"...

do Chinese repair shops work on all kinds of bicycles/scooters or are their special ones for ebikes?

I was just thinking - maybe things are rather similar to what happens in West Africa, where a vehicle repairer will tackle absolutely anything which rolls (or is pushed) through the door - but sometimes with a lot more enthusiasm than expertise. There are no e-bikes there AFAIK but lots of every other type of vehicle, and usually you get a good result for anything which doesn't involve opening up an engine or dealing with anything electrical other than a basic wiring fault....

They could make you a bike frame, or a vehicle exhaust system from scratch, or a body panel, or cobble together a serviceable spoked wheel from two or three others. If a cable breaks or frays they will replace the inner for almost no cost. They re-line disk brake pads and make replacement ones for pushbikes from scratch. Starter motor brushes? They start with good ones off another vehicle and adapt them. It's an interesting culture born from not having any spares or the money to buy any.

Getting back to Chinese e-bikes, I expect that by now the mix 'n' match culture for repair will be in full swing, as if they have the numbers they seem to have, the recycled spare parts business must be booming especially as they're feeling the pinch even worse than we are at present.

Rog.

 

[stevenwong]

Thanks Steven...

Are there many repair shops?

In each town of England there is usually at least one shop for repairing conventional bicycles, but if you take your e-bike into the normal bicycle shop many mechanics say "oh no, we do not know how to work on it"...

do Chinese repair shops work on all kinds of bicycles/scooters or are their special ones for ebikes?

yes.so many repair shop.some normal bike repair expand their business to e bikes repair.so does traditional motor repair shop.actually,many repair shop are multifunctional.repair normal bike,e bike,motorcycle..i think e bikes is main business among all their repair business now.

and very similar situation as what rog said.. repair almost means replacment for electric defect here. no special licence is needed to make e bike repair business here. they can work on all kinds of 2 wheel vehicles

 

[flecc]

actually,many repair shop are multifunctional.repair normal bike, e bike, motorcycle..

This is like the situation in Britain after World War 2, with no new items to sell and all income having to come from repairs, the cycle and cyclemotor business was often done by combined motorcycle and cycle businesses. The first job I ever had was with one of these companies.
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[Tiberius]

This is like the situation in Britain after World War 2, with no new items to sell and all income having to come from repairs, the cycle and cyclemotor business was often done by combined motorcycle and cycle businesses. The first job I ever had was with one of these companies.
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It wasn't only just after the war, Tony. Rog's description of maintenance in Africa sounds like my life as a student in the 70s.

Nick

 

[flecc]

It wasn't only just after the war, Tony. Rog's description of maintenance in Africa sounds like my life as a student in the 70s.

Nick

I know Nick, many of those 1950s combined companies lasted well into the 1970s, including the one I mentioned. It was when the boss retired and the new generation took over that it went motorcycle only. Later it became even more specialised with the grandson Paul Denning running the factory Suzuki Moto GP international racing team, a far cry from the company's ersatz beginnings.
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[rog_london]

I know Nick, many of those 1950s combined companies lasted well into the 1970s, including the one I mentioned. It was when the boss retired and the new generation took over that it went motorcycle only. Later it became even more specialised with the grandson Paul Denning running the factory Suzuki Moto GP international racing team, a far cry from the company's ersatz beginnings.
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I don't know whether it was a local phenomenon, but when I were a lad (!) in Salford generally bicycle shops also sold TVs and radios and white goods. I don't recall too many motorcycle dealers who also did bicycles, but it was a good while ago and my memory isn't THAT good.

Rog.

 

[flecc]

I suppose that would have been much later than the 1950s Rog, those sort of goods weren't too common then. There may well be a regional aspect to this, each following another's example, since I don't know of any cycle shops getting involved in electrical when I was in the trade in the south.
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[rog_london]

I suppose that would have been much later than the 1950s Rog, those sort of goods weren't too common then. There may well be a regional aspect to this, each following another's example, since I don't know of any cycle shops getting involved in electrical when I was in the trade in the south.
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Originally I suppose it would have been radios and radiograms, with TVs being added later. All really rather odd, and not very logical. There were still battery table radios around then too and the cycle/radio shop was where you went to recharge your 2 volt glass accumulator (for the valve heaters).

In case the idea of battery radios sounds daft, it was still not uncommon for houses not to have any electricity - I can remember those right up until we emigrated to East Africa when I was 9, which would have been in 1954.

We had a washing machine prior to that, but they were admittedly rare, as were fridges. Not unknown though.

Rog.

 

[flecc]

Yes, we had a battery radio until 4 years after the war ended, an Echo built pre-war from a kit. That was in the London area and it was an electrical repair shop where we got the accumulators charged. I remember most city areas had electrical sales and repair shops, but with not much to sell. I suppose in areas where an electrical repair shop wasn't justified, others like ironmongers and cycle shops would jump in to fill the gap. In a Devon village I knew of, the blacksmith charged the accumulators!
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[IOM]

In Guangzhou, the shops are cram packed with E Bikes. I visit them frequently and from my experience turnover is good, evidenced by the stream of new models.
One reason for the interest in E Bikes is the recently introduced (last couple of years) ban in certain cities/provences of motorbikes. They literally banned them overnight, the main reasons being to tidy up the roads and to reduce theft (handbag grabbers).
The official ruling is that E Bikes are restricted to 12mph, I am sure that non comply. In fact the manufacturers are making the bikes more and more powerful. The one I recently purchased (see thread titled 21million.....by Seataltea) as a 68v battery, currently restricted to 23mph. The shop owner claims 37mph if I de-restrict.

 

[flecc]

One reason for the interest in E Bikes is the recently introduced (last couple of years) ban in certain cities/provences of motorbikes. They literally banned them overnight, the main reasons being to tidy up the roads and to reduce theft (handbag grabbers).

They don't seem to be able to make their minds up on who to ban. In some cities they banned e-bikes on the grounds of the congestion they caused, the cars they were getting in the way of apparently not being guilty!

All signs of a rapidly developing nation finding it's new feet I suppose.
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[Alex728]

They don't seem to be able to make their minds up on who to ban. In some cities they banned e-bikes on the grounds of the congestion they caused, the cars they were getting in the way of apparently not being guilty!.

I'lll have to dig up the link of a video I found but apparently one of the main e-bike manufacturers actually arranged meetings and argued the case for e-bikes (on safety and environmental grounds) in front of various Council leaders, and this ban appears to have since been rescinded in many of these areas. The impression I got is it wasn't particularly well enforced or enforceable either..

 

[IOM]

E Bikes are ok, its petrol powered motorbikes that are banned.

 

[flecc]

E-bikes were definitely banned on some places including a major city IOM, but as Rog says, most of them have been rescinded. Hence my comment on them not making up their minds. Last I heard was that there were some e-bike bans still in place on certain city main routes rather than being city wide now.
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