independent e bike technician

[stevieb]

i haven,t asked any questions .
i,m stating facts .
do you disagree about the time it may take to resolve a problem?
do you disagree about dealers not having the knowledge and training required?
i understand what you are saying about things getting better in future but i am talking about now.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

It's hard to justify this argument, since a warranty is paid for up front as part of the purchase price, especially when it comes to the big name brands.

That's a fair point... I don't know the details of the case, the shop or the bike brand involved, so I'm not defending them.

I'm just trying to point out why there isn't a market for an independent service center... yet. I think you'll find lots of eBike specialist shops closing over the next 2 years as the bike shops start to get more and more involved.

i haven,t asked any questions .
i,m stating facts .
do you disagree about the time it may take to resolve a problem?
do you disagree about dealers not having the knowledge and training required?
i understand what you are saying about things getting better in future but i am talking about now.

I don't know about the time. but i do know that if its a Bosch motor and it takes longer than a week to get you a new motor, its the shops fault, not the bike brand or Bosch.

If the motor is under warranty, the dealer shouldn't be taking it apart, so it will have had to go back to Magura, who are the UK service center for Bosch. (I've assumed its Bosch - I'm not sure why?)

 

[Woosh]

On the other hand, when you buy direct from China for a fraction of the cost, you accept a lack of backup from the retailer.

if you buy from UK distribution, whether online or in the shops, you are protected by the same consumer laws and therefore should not accept a poor service.
I

 

[stevieb]

That's a fair point... I don't know the details of the case, the shop or the bike brand involved, so I'm not defending them.

I'm just trying to point out why there isn't a market for an independent service center... yet. I think you'll find lots of eBike specialist shops closing over the next 2 years as the bike shops start to get more and more involved.



I don't know about the time. but i do know that if its a Bosch motor and it takes longer than a week to get you a new motor, its the shops fault, not the bike brand or Bosch.

If the motor is under warranty, the dealer shouldn't be taking it apart, so it will have had to go back to Magura, who are the UK service center for Bosch. (I've assumed its Bosch - I'm not sure why?)

the motor is a yamaha.
i,m not sure if you agree or not about the long process of getting a problem solved or not?
how long would it take if i had the same problem with a ktm?
i,m also not sure if you agree about the dealers not getting enough training

 

[soundwave]

motors are non serviceable as they dont sell the parts to fix them so all have to go back under warranty.

out of warranty then unless you can source the part a new motor must be bought.

even out of warranty bosch want the old motor back b4 they will sell you a new one and even then you can only have what you got.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

the motor is a yamaha.
i,m not sure if you agree or not about the long process of getting a problem solved or not?
how long would it take if i had the same problem with a ktm?
i,m also not sure if you agree about the dealers not getting enough training

Ah, well I'll have to step out of this discussion then, because anything I say could be taken as biased because we don't use Yamaha motors, and I have zero experience of their systems.

All I can say, is bosch dealers have to have a days training every year from Bosch and we do something on top of that for KTM. Bosch / Magura also have a UK center that is used by all bike brands and all dealers to supply Bosch spares, so the service is excellent.

I have no idea what Yamaha do or don't do.

However if you'd had the same problem on a Bosch equipped KTM, or indeed any other brand. The dealer would call Magura, get a returns number, Magura collect the motor and ship out a new one, usually 48 hour turn around on recent experience.

 

[soundwave]

why dont bosch offer a after warranty motor service? as id rather get my motor serviced and parts replaced then out right killing it then have to buy a hole new unit.

as if i want a new one i have to send it back anyway and cant change to a cx so why not as will be alot cheaper for me anyway?

i think as long as bosch will not sell motors on there own then there will be no 3rd party service options and given the price of some bikes is just nuts.

tho if all i have to keep an eye on is the drive side bearing going then ill just do it my self just anything else goes not much options other than ebay for parts.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

why dont bosch offer a after warranty motor service? as id rather get my motor serviced and parts replaced then out right killing it then have to buy a hole new unit.

as if i want a new one i have to send it back anyway and cant change to a cx so why not as will be alot cheaper for me anyway?

i think as long as bosch will not sell motors on there own then there will be no 3rd party service options and given the price of some bikes is just nuts.

tho if all i have to keep an eye on is the drive side bearing going then ill just do it my self just anything else goes not much options other than ebay for parts.

Bosch don't deal with anyone but bicycle brands.

Magura do all their servicing in UK.

Magura could / might start offering motor servicing outside warranty, or as demand grows another company might also offer it.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I honestly think you're worrying about nothing. You don't have a problem, and you won't have in the future.

Chinese bikes might be "easier" to repair, but you'll also find less people are prepared to touch them.

If you've invested in a quality brand of bicycles (ignore the motor bit) you're always going to get looked after by the brand, and their dealer network. If its outside of warranty, then you'll find mechanics in the industry step up. Currently they don't really need to because most things are covered by warranty.

Tell that to the guy that brought his Trek with Bionx system to me to have a look at. His only choice is to box up his bike and send it hundreds of miles, when all it probably needs is a simple software reset.

 

[soundwave]

Bosch don't deal with anyone but bicycle brands.

they do i have a drill and a washing machine made buy them lol

and they even come out with parts to fix the washing machine with extended warranty, its still knackered tho as the bearing has nearly gone lol.

 

[anotherkiwi]

If I was commuting I would have two bikes. To afford two bikes I would do two conversions myself.

The step down from that would be one bike and a couple of wheels with hub motors and a spare controller or two.

 

[cwah]

maybe some sort of insurance scheme would be good? like £15/month contribution to get the bike fixed when you have issue

 

[Woosh]

maybe some sort of insurance scheme would be good? like £15/month contribution to get the bike fixed when you have issue

it's a very good idea, in a way, that's what the guarantee is when you first bought your bike.
Continued insurance is difficult to work in practice. The admin overhead takes most of the premium, you are left with £5 a month budget for maintaining the bike. Also, some people take good care of their bikes, some don't.

 

[stevieb]

that is very impressive that ktm would have a very quick turn around (48 hours).

It seems that if the warranty runs out there is still a problem.

In my case there was a complete failure of the system.

This was diagnosed as coming from the motor.

It could have been something very simple and inexpensive to sort.

The fact was that nobody was able to delve into the problem any further in the uk and the whole motor was shipped back to germany.

Fortunately a spare motor was available and was fitted.

So in a way i have scored and got a new motor under the warranty from what may have only been a very simple fault.

But if my warranty had expired then i would have had to pay for a new motor because of what may have been a simple fault.

So if a technician was available who could investigate the problem further then a new motor may not be required.

I am told that when motors are sent back to manufacturers with a fault then they are repaired , so it is possible.

I am left with the concern that when my warranty runs out and i have a motor issue then it may not be worth fixing.

As someone stated earlier you cannot liken the ebike industry to the car industry but i still think it is like taking your car to the garage because the engine is not running properly and them saying that you need a new engine even though it may only be a faulty injector.

 

[Woosh]

stevieb,
I would hazard a guess that in your case, the controller inside your motor was the source of the problem. If this is the case, a replacement controller is needed, and because they are fairly inexpensive, nobody repairs controllers anymore .
On the kind of bikes I sell, it would not have taken long to come to this conclusion. This is an easy part to replace, only requiring basic tools. The price of a replacement controller is about £50, much less than a couple of hours of technician's time and you get proper quality control on the replacement part too.

 

[stevieb]

thanks woosh,
this kind of sums it up.
all your eggs are in one basket with my type of bike.
it does make sense to have all components separate.
i would gladly have paid £50 to have my bike sorted .
if this was the case with my bike then it was a VERY expensive fix.
please don,t take offence ,but i don,t think that your company sells a bike suitable for my type of riding (off road mtb) .
However when i am asked about ebikes by friends etc i now recommend bikes that have separate components if they are to be used as transport on the road.
other manufacturers would be advised to go down the modular component route.
anyone can then swap about small parts to find the issue.
you are then only replacing and paying for the faulty parts

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

Tell that to the guy that brought his Trek with Bionx system to me to have a look at. His only choice is to box up his bike and send it hundreds of miles, when all it probably needs is a simple software reset.

I'm not sure why didn't he take it to his local Trek dealer?

but you have at least shown that there is a market for an independent eBike technician, that this thread was originally asking about. You are one

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

thanks woosh,
this kind of sums it up.
all your eggs are in one basket with my type of bike.
it does make sense to have all components separate.
i would gladly have paid £50 to have my bike sorted .
if this was the case with my bike then it was a VERY expensive fix.
please don,t take offence ,but i don,t think that your company sells a bike suitable for my type of riding (off road mtb) .
However when i am asked about ebikes by friends etc i now recommend bikes that have separate components if they are to be used as transport on the road.
other manufacturers would be advised to go down the modular component route.
anyone can then swap about small parts to find the issue.
you are then only replacing and paying for the faulty parts

I'm jumping to the defence of Haibike / Yamaha here.

Your problem was fixed under warranty wasn't it? So your issue was only the time.

During warranty, I'm sure Yamaha ask for their motors back, just like Fox, Shimano, Rockshox, etc etc etc etc all do on their parts on bikes.

If it wasn't a warranty, then I'm sure someone would have had a go at fixing your motor. But as it was under warranty, they didn't need to.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

that is very impressive that ktm would have a very quick turn around (48 hours).

It seems that if the warranty runs out there is still a problem.

In my case there was a complete failure of the system.

This was diagnosed as coming from the motor.

It could have been something very simple and inexpensive to sort.

The fact was that nobody was able to delve into the problem any further in the uk and the whole motor was shipped back to germany.

Just to be clear... motor warranties are dealt with by the motor brand, so this good service comes from Bosch / Magura and is irrespective of the bicycle brand that the motor is attached to.

I don't understand why or how you think there would be a problem out of warranty? Our of warranty, someone would have gone into the motor to fix it. Inside warranty, they can't and don't need to, so why would they?

 

[Woosh]

I don't understand why or how you think there would be a problem out of warranty? Our of warranty, someone would have gone into the motor to fix it. Inside warranty, they can't and don't need to, so why would they?

If I understand stevieb correctly, he would feel vulnerable that his dealer would not be capable of repairing his motor, should something like this happen again after the bike is out of warranty.
This is of course unproven fear, but if his dealer wasn't trained to fix this sort of problems because of proprietary technology or tools or expertise, then his only choice is to pay for a swap out replacement.