Link to story just posted on Electrek: https://electrek.co/2022/04/07/fiido-x-electric-bikes-frame-can-apparently-break-in-half-company-issues-recall/ , hope that nobody has been injured by this. Unfortunately some still for sale on E-bay. Looks like Fiido have done the right thing with a recall.
Fiido X frame breakage
- Thread starter PaulM24
- Start date
Yes, that was origionally posted on facebook. It was a brand new bike (ridden just 50km). I'm no engineer, but the owner's close-up photos of the frame cross-section did appear to have casting flaws. Fiido removed it from sale immediately. AFAIK, all sales are despatched from Fiido's own warehouses, so I'd think any further sales - ebay/Amazon/3P - are unlikely to be fullfilled.
It was an original frame design (rather than a copy as most of their previous bike models are) similar in concept to their prior D11/21 frame, but that's a welded aluminium frame with a conventional hinge design, whereas the X has a cast magnesium frame like the MiRider. On the X, the frame thickness is significantly reduced at the failure point by the inclusion of the integrated folding latch mechanism (which I've seen before on another makers Carbon framed ebike).
Like the similar frame-failures of Tern and Decathlon's folding e-bikes, it doesn't look good for Fiido, but at least they were attempting a new/original design.
It was an original frame design (rather than a copy as most of their previous bike models are) similar in concept to their prior D11/21 frame, but that's a welded aluminium frame with a conventional hinge design, whereas the X has a cast magnesium frame like the MiRider. On the X, the frame thickness is significantly reduced at the failure point by the inclusion of the integrated folding latch mechanism (which I've seen before on another makers Carbon framed ebike).
Like the similar frame-failures of Tern and Decathlon's folding e-bikes, it doesn't look good for Fiido, but at least they were attempting a new/original design.
I'll like to see more bike frames milled from solid blocks
www.autoevolution.com
The Stunning Frace F160 Bike Is Made From a Single Block of Aluminum
Engineer Bernd Iwanow makes each F160 frame from a single block of 7075 aluminum, which is impossible to weld because it’s very stiff
www.autoevolution.com
That frame is guaranteed to fail if he leaves his bike there across the railway tracks.
A very small train could use the frame as tracks. Maybe it was designed by a trainspotter?
This is the best close-up I could find, and true to form the magnesium alloy hinge looks to have shattered - I had a Kirk "Revolution" magnesium framed bike in the 90s, which I had to keep taking back to the shop under guarantee because the damn thing kept cracking. I'd had no such cracking problems racing steel framed MTBs down Snowdonian mountain tracks. After three frame replacements of the same type within 8 months, I got a refund and went back to steel.
The reason why they're so rare now, is because they kept cracking!
The reason why they're so rare now, is because they kept cracking!
Kirk Revolution MTB. Rare early 90s mtb Magnesium Alloy | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Kirk Revolution MTB. Rare early 90s mtb Magnesium Alloy at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk
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The bike owner has posted maybe about a dozen or so shots he took at the time and in the location of the incident (maybe a week ago now) from all angles on the Fiido Owners Group facebook page: I suspect he took them to prove what happened to Fiido and make a claim. There're several close-up shots which show the fracture in detail. The solid metal portion of the frame at that failure point - when seen in cross section - is substantially less at that hinge point because the frame is rebated to accomodate the lever and hinge assembly. Unusually for a folding bike, the hinge and lever were rebated so that when closed they appeared flush with the frame.
Because it was an indiegogo funded project, there was huge pressure from the backers to deliver; maybe testing of the concept wasn't as thorough as it otherwise might have been had there not been that pressure?
I'm certainly glad I didn't buy an early D11 - also indiegogo funded. Although there don't appear to be any real issues, the early ones certainly were a bit rough, and Fiido have made many subtle changes to resolve those minor issues since. My own later model D11 is a fairly decent bike to be fair (for the money).
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That might be why the Dahon Curl was so awful - also a (rushed?) crowfunded project - Brompton have dropped their lawsuit (last year), but the folding mechanism patent has expired, therefore I don't see they had a case in the first place. That they paid Dahon's legal costs is telling:
Home - Folding Bikes by DAHON
Official website of DAHON, World Leader in Folding Bicycle, RIDE ANYWHERE, ANY TIME, ANYTHING. Freedom Unfolds.
eu.dahon.com
Social media and the internet didn't exist (apart from JANET) when Kirk's "Revolution" was cracking as hard as Boris, so it's troubles weren' widely known. I've avoided magnesium frames ever since. I might get a titanium framed bike someday, because my mate has one and I'm envious.
my haibike had a flaw from new as the 4 rear piviot bolts can come loose and fall out tho haibike did fix this but only through dealers that originally bought the bike but as i got mine 2nd hand my death is not there problem anymore.
the new bolts use cer clips so they cant fall out, i use lock tight and a cable tie
the new bolts use cer clips so they cant fall out, i use lock tight and a cable tie
What's really strange about that Brompton story is they don't seem to be doing anything about this blatant copy?
Whoah! Looks like someone xeroxed the blueprints! The folding mechanism patent has expired; maybe Brompton have learned an expensive lesson through their Dahon lawsuit attempt? Lawsuits like that have as much chance of succeeding as DuPont sueing Wilkos for their cheapo non-stick pans - that patent has also expired. Pointless and futile.
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I notice that the product is called
"Litepro 16Inch 6 Speed Folding Bike For Brompton Litepro 16Inch 6 Speed Folding Bike For Brompton"
Factory rejects, originally made for Brompton? Or maybe that's their story... Adidas, Nike etc. are forever trying to stop rejected but trademarked items being sold instead of destroyed by sweat shops, which produce their legit goods in the far east. It's that grey market: power supplies and electronics, clothing, cosmetics, it happens in all products types. Someone tried to sell me a cotainer load when I was on holiday - Nike, from the factory which made the T-shirts for Nike, which had some defect I couldn't see.
LitePro make a range of small-wheeled bikes, but by far the majority of their catalogue is parts made exclusively "for Brompton" bikes. It's only a small step to combine those two core activities and make a complete Brompton bike. Both the 3 and 6 speed certainly are cheap (by comparison to actual Brompton).
Are they a wise purchase? That's a mad price, if they are indeed made with quality parts which Brompton use...
I'm suprised @Woosh hasn't had some assembled and delivered to Southend, to sell completed with his Brompton conversion kits.
My favourite found by a friend in Beijing when I briefly worked there: nice quality jacket, correct font, logo, etc, etc, branded 'North Fake'
It would make a perfect partner to a dodgy self-repaired battery.
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