Feedback to wisper (Not a moan!) please join in :)

[Riverboots]

Hi all. I have now owned my 906 (2011/12? modell)for a while now and I would like to compare my experiences and thoughts on a few of the design aspects with other "Wisperers" out there.

I'm generally happy with my bike. It feels very robust mechanically but i have had several issues with the electrics and design:

1. On delivery, the plastic hub which receives all the wires from handlebar had already snapped off its metal bracket. It is now held in place with cable ties. Might a flexible joint here be better? It seems very vulnerable to knocks.

2. Battery - I try to be as carefull as possible with it but the inevitable has happened. It fell on its side from an upright position whislt on a hard surface,(not from any height though). The first time the handle snapped. The second time the four small screws holding the case together shattered their mounts (out with the epoxy glue again!). The plastic seems very brittle. Would a softer plastic be better? Or more screws?

3. The connectors to both front and rear lights have fallen off before now. An easy fix but a bit scary when suddenly going down hill in the pitch black! Better connectors?

4. The bottom bracket bearings appear to be failing after only 1200km. A friend who has the same problem on his 906 believes this is due to the crank sensor which displaces the crank away from the bracket by several mm causing excess leverage and resulting wear on the bearings. I understand this is dealt with on newer modells. Is this true? Anyone else have this problem?

5. The Wisper is ideal for towing my boys in a kiddy trailer to kindergarten and on weekend trips. Unfortunately the connection brackets for all these trailers are designed to be clamped to the bike via a quick release rear axle which the Wisper does not have. I have cobbled together a system of washers and nuts on the rear axle which performs ok but does work loose from time to time. It is impossible to tighten the axle nut enough as it is designed to fail before ruining the thread on the axle. Could Wisper provide an adaptor kit for this? Other solutions out there?

6. Those handlebar grips keeps twisting down!!

Please reply with your experiences or suggestions for the rest of us and the boffins at Wisper

 

[Kenny]

Don't own a Wisper but can maybe help you with your moving grips.

Assuming they are regular push fit grips, if you spray some hairspray inside, you will find that they slip on easily.
Just leave them overnight and they'll be fixed solid in the morning.

They can still be removed by levering the grip with a knitting needle or similar and squirting some WD40 between the bar and grip and working loose.

 

[grldtnr]

Put the bar grips on with a little washing up liquid ,or rubber solution from your puncture kit,it lubes the grips to get them on,when dry it stops them slipping,only works on new grips tho'

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Hiya Riverboots, thanks very much for your valuable input. Not dealing directly with the public we really appreciate any constructive criticism. So thanks for your time.

Many of the points were cleared up on our 2012 models;

1. On delivery, the plastic hub which receives all the wires from handlebar had already snapped off its metal bracket. It is now held in place with cable ties. Might a flexible joint here be better? It seems very vulnerable to knocks.

We have completely redesigned the plastic hub or "cable manifold", the new design is much tougher and smaller with a brass thread inserted and fixed into the unit, so far we have not had any new problems.

2. Battery - I try to be as carefull as possible with it but the inevitable has happened. It fell on its side from an upright position whislt on a hard surface,(not from any height though). The first time the handle snapped. The second time the four small screws holding the case together shattered their mounts (out with the epoxy glue again!). The plastic seems very brittle. Would a softer plastic be better? Or more screws?

We did have a problem with the plastic grade late in 2011, the polymers used to make the case was changed without our knowledge. All cases are now back up to spec and are tested by dropping a fully loaded battery from a height of 900mm onto a concrete floor. If you are still experiencing problems we would be delighted to change the case for you to one of the correct polycarbonate/abs specs.

3. The connectors to both front and rear lights have fallen off before now. An easy fix but a bit scary when suddenly going down hill in the pitch black! Better connectors?

We have found that crimping the connectors with pliers helps enormously, this is an inherent problem with these specific lights. We have now changed model on our new Classic bikes for 2013.

4. The bottom bracket bearings appear to be failing after only 1200km. A friend who has the same problem on his 906 believes this is due to the crank sensor which displaces the crank away from the bracket by several mm causing excess leverage and resulting wear on the bearings. I understand this is dealt with on newer modells. Is this true? Anyone else have this problem?

Please speak to your supplier and double check that the axle extension has been inserted. If you have any difficulties please let me know directly and I would be pleased to help.

5. The Wisper is ideal for towing my boys in a kiddy trailer to kindergarten and on weekend trips. Unfortunately the connection brackets for all these trailers are designed to be clamped to the bike via a quick release rear axle which the Wisper does not have. I have cobbled together a system of washers and nuts on the rear axle which performs ok but does work loose from time to time. It is impossible to tighten the axle nut enough as it is designed to fail before ruining the thread on the axle. Could Wisper provide an adaptor kit for this? Other solutions out there?

That's a tricky one. Let me look into this and come back to you.

6. Those handlebar grips keeps twisting down!!

Kenny's suggestion sounds good, I have not heard of this being a problem, maybe the bars were not as grease free as they could have been. It may be worth taking the grips off, cleaning the bars and the inside of the grips with a spirit and trying again?

All the best

David

 

[Pharisee]

Hi all. I have now owned my 906 (2011/12? modell)for a while now and I would like to compare my experiences and thoughts on a few of the design aspects with other "Wisperers" out there.

3. The connectors to both front and rear lights have fallen off before now. An easy fix but a bit scary when suddenly going down hill in the pitch black! Better connectors?

The rear light on my 905 is self contained and has no external connectors but the front light is connected to the main battery by two tiny spade connectors. As you say, these become disconnected from time to time. I took the easy way out and soldered the wires directly to the male connectors on the lamp and covered them with a short length of heat shrink tube. A bit drastic, maybe, but easy enough to un-solder should I ever need to remove the lamp. I've also replaced some of the 'dodgy' multi-pin connector blocks in the controller enclosure with water 'resistant', insulated bullet connectors as used on modern Japanese motorcycles after suffering some intermittant connection problems.

 

[Butts]

Hi Pharisee, you mention itermittant connection problems , this wouldnt happen to be the motor pulsing or surging every so often would it, That is what is happening to my Wisper .

 

[Pharisee]

Hi Pharisee, you mention itermittant connection problems , this wouldnt happen to be the motor pulsing or surging every so often would it, That is what is happening to my Wisper .

I've not experienced any 'surging' but every now and again the motor cuts out completely for a brief interval whilst I'm pedalling... probably only for a second but long enough to be noticable, especially up hill. The LEDs on the handlebar indicator go out briefly at the same time. I've never really got to the root of the problem. Both the rear wheel / motor assembly and the controller have been changed under warranty for different reasons but the problem remained. I have two batteries and I get the problem irrespective of which one is installed. I've disconncted the switches in the brake levers... that made no difference. As I mentioned earlier, I've replaced the white plastic multi pin connectors on the main battery lead and the motor power cable to no avail. I'll replace the multi-pin connector on the motor sensor leads next. After that.... your guess is as good as mine but I'll probably replace the pedelec sensor. My bike is a 905se City, by the way.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Hi Pharisee, it reads to me as if there is slight a problem with the controller, if you contact the support lads and talk the issue through I am sure they will be able to resolve the the intermittent 1 second cut in power. As I mentioned earlier we changed from bullet connectors to the single white connector last year to make disconnection and reconnection more straightforward. Having spoken to our engineers we don't seem to have problems with the connector so I don't think that was the problem.

Butts, it would also be worth you speaking to the Wisper support team re the 1 second intermittent cut out. We have recently changed the software in the controller and this issue, although rare in the first place seems to have been resolved. I am not certain that we have a stock of the new controllers in at the moment but Support will be able to help.

All the best

David

 

[waldey]

The hub on my 806 Alpino is a very neat unit indeed and the threaded bush in the rear of the unit is simple and effective. Unfortunately the fixing bolt was missing (a dealer issue maybe?) and the hub was hanging by the wiring. I've since sourced a replacement bolt which I reduced in length to suit.

David, it's great to see Wisper continuing to refine components and responding to feedback from customers.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

5. The Wisper is ideal for towing my boys in a kiddy trailer to kindergarten and on weekend trips. Unfortunately the connection brackets for all these trailers are designed to be clamped to the bike via a quick release rear axle which the Wisper does not have. I have cobbled together a system of washers and nuts on the rear axle which performs ok but does work loose from time to time. It is impossible to tighten the axle nut enough as it is designed to fail before ruining the thread on the axle. Could Wisper provide an adaptor kit for this? Other solutions out there?

That's a tricky one. Let me look into this and come back to you.

No it isn't!

Many trailers use a fixing that clamps to the chainstay like the one in the link below. You can get cheap ones as well as expensive ones. My 2 kid trailer has this clamp and cost me £40 in good used condition. The first link shows the clamp in detail.
Trailers - Kiddie Trailers: Avenir Trailer Hitch Stay Mount - TRA085 | eBay
Avenir Cleveland Child pull-along Trailer RRP £249.99 | eBay

 

[Wisper Bikes]

The hub on my 806 Alpino is a very neat unit indeed and the threaded bush in the rear of the unit is simple and effective. Unfortunately the fixing bolt was missing (a dealer issue maybe?) and the hub was hanging by the wiring. I've since sourced a replacement bolt which I reduced in length to suit.

David, it's great to see Wisper continuing to refine components and responding to feedback from customers.

Thanks Waldey, as I have often said, the feedback we have received from Pedelecs members over the last six years has been massively influential in the way Wisper bikes have evolved.

Sorry about the missing bolt, it should have been picked up in PDI.

Enjoy your Alpino and thanks for the business!!

Thanks for the advice D8veh!

All the best

David