Ongoing reliability of Kalkhoff/Focus Impulse 2 motors

[oriteroom]

View attachment 15716
Correct: lots of small niggling things like a missing nut from the rear mudguard which I only realised when out on a ride and heard a rubbing sound.Somehow my bike had slipped through its pre-delivery inspection and I suspect , no evidence of course, that having asked for a larger sprocket to give me slightly higher gear, that was carried out but in doing so the normal preparation was missed.My cousin and wife who live in Germany both have the same model and not experienced any problems at all. I am about to buy my wife an eb but will do so from a local dealer because living so far from 50Cycles has been the cause of much of my frustration.

Hi Osho

Will be pleased to know what you pick. Samways Cycles in Wimborne have Raleigh Motus and Captus with Bosch motors and have been doing quite a brisk trade. I use them for some maintenance on my older Panasonic Motored Kalkhoffs for jobs I don't fancy doing.

 

[Osho]

[

In defence of 50 cycles or any dealer for that matter a nut can work itself loose and fall off, a bike being used in/on rough terrain will shake quite a bit....and it is only a nut and washer.

For the record and for balance, I'm not a fan of owners of 50 cycles at all, I and other local companies in Hampton Wick found them bullish, arrogant and down right rude to deal with.

Yes just a nut and a washer but you have to remove the light in order to reattach a new one which was just another one of those frustrating experiences I could have done without.

 

[Osho]

I don't get it. How could you have had no pre-delivery inspection on your bike?

From the 50 Cycles website:

=======================
First Class Service

We specialise in providing the best electric bikes and the smartest cycling accessories in the UK. We also offer the most responsive and knowledgeable after sales service.
========================

How could this happen from the self-proclaimed best in the UK???

They delivered it to my home. I watched their videos on setting up your bike but there were so many niggling adjustments that were beyond my level of competence. Thanks to member oriteroom whom I met through this site and who lives near me, most of these were fixed with his help and advice . However it was only after I took the bike to Bristol (twice) that the spokes were rebalanced (?) chain replaced and software updated that I am now happy with my bike. Had this been a car I would have rejected it as not being fit for purpose.

 

[Ted B.]

For the record and for balance, I'm not a fan of owners of 50 cycles at all, I and other local companies in Hampton Wick found them bullish, arrogant and down right rude to deal with.

Unfortunately, some of their customers think the same too...

Sounds like the level of service in Bristol is not any better.

 

[ibbeebee]

I own a Kalkhoff Sahel Impulse 8 Step thru & have just had the motor replaced after 5500 KM & 1 year. Mine died differently than most of the stories I've read on here. It just slowly got weaker, so slowly that I wasn't certain it wasn't me getting weaker " I'm 75 ". The impact of the new motor was incredible I had been slowly getting stronger as the motor went in the other direction & suddenly had all this extra power it was both a little scary & exhilarating . When I took my bike in yesterday for the changeover the service guy was replacing the motor on a focus bike. Seeing two of them being replaced on the same day got me thinking, so did a google search when I got home which led me here & to various other sites .
I have absolutely no problems with my Supplier they got the new motor in & replaced it in a couple of hours so all's good for now but reading about other peoples issues made me realize that this is probably only the beginning which really is a pity as I really love the bike

 

[Ted B.]

50 Cycles have released their own brand of electric bikes: Beat Bike Toba

Yeah!

The issue is: they are made by Derby Cycles, are basically rebranded Kalkhoff bikes (look exactly the same, like the Agattu), and have the infamous Impulse 2 motor, well known now for it's poor reliability.

"Powered by the Impulse II Midmount 250W Drive"

On their website, they make it sound as if they designed and created a brand new range of bike from their "15 year experience in the electric bike industry"...

To their credit, they have created a logo.

Those Beat bikes are supposedly also lighter than the Kalkhoff ones. Unless the brand stickers are lighter, I think those 50 Cycles Beat Bikes are probably exactly the same weight as the Kalkhoff ones (like 25kg heavy).

"'The Beat Bike Toba model is Designed to be light..."

 

[Deleted member 4366]

That's interesting because the last Kalkhoff I picked up (the one with the battery in the frame) was very heavy - I'd say closer to 30kg. I remember at the time thinking that it was too heavy for an ebike.

I can't see how it's designed to be light, when it has a dynamo on the front and hub gears on the back. Also, while we're talking about design, does anybody know why they persist with hydraulic rim brakes, when just about every other quality brand uses disc brakes?

 

[IR772]

Vorsprung Durch Technik or not

 

[Crockers]

That's interesting because the last Kalkhoff I picked up (the one with the battery in the frame) was very heavy - I'd say closer to 30kg. I remember at the time thinking that it was too heavy for an ebike.

I can't see how it's designed to be light, when it has a dynamo on the front and hub gears on the back. Also, while we're talking about design, does anybody know why they persist with hydraulic rim brakes, when just about every other quality brand uses disc brakes?

Don't Riese and Muller still use hydraulic rim brakes on some of their models??

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

Don't Riese and Muller still use hydraulic rim brakes on some of their models??

we do too, not on many models.

But we also offer a Bosch equipped eBike with 30 gears, when our top end one's comes with 8.

basically there are some things that are customer driven. They make no sense why they sell but they do, because some customers love them.

 

[soundwave]

my bosch has 22 gears

 

[Artstu]

basically there are some things that are customer driven. They make no sense why they sell but they do, because some customers love them.

To me that implies that you offer bikes with a choice of rim or disc brakes at the same price point?
Surely it is more a case of people buying what KTM offer and that they may actually prefer disc brakes but can't afford or don't want to spend more to have them.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

To me that implies that you offer bikes with a choice of rim or disc brakes at the same price point?
Surely it is more a case of people buying what KTM offer and that they may actually prefer disc brakes but can't afford or don't want to spend more to have them.

well yes and no, its just odd.

Look at this bike.

http://www.flidistribution.co.uk/2017-ktm-macina-bold-8-26-a5

£2499 with rim brakes. One of our best selling bikes year on year over the past 3 years.

can't work out why it sells more than something like this.

http://www.flidistribution.co.uk/ebikes/bosch-drive---hybrid-city-bikes/2017-ktm-macina-joy-9-a41

Which is just £1999.99

yes I know you get 100wh more battery and a nexus hub. But there is no suspension and no disc brake.

Well actually we do know why if I'm honest. Its because the Bold was in stock in the summer of 2013, so dealers sold a lot. Which meant they though it was a good seller, so they pre-ordered more in 2014 etc etc. So now we have a situation where one of our best sellers isn't really that logically explainable as why its a best seller.

 

[Artstu]

Perhaps you could ask them to also build a Bold with hydraulic disc brakes alongside the one with the rim brakes, then see what happens.

Perhaps it's down to the 26" wheels and no front suspension that appeals.

 

[Will Tinker]

Yeah, my KTM Bold has rim brakes. I was surprised when I noticed that, but actually I had a bit of trouble maintaining the disc brakes (the fronts would get noisy and lose traction literally every few days, even with new pads) when I had those.

Even if disc brakes have superior performance, I'm liking the fact that I don't need to bother with all that maintenance (cleaning and sanding them).

 

[Trevormonty]

Focus new eMTBs are using Shimano new unproven eMTB drive, instead of inhouse Impulse.

http://ebike-mtb.com/en/world-premier-first-ride-new-focus-jam-2/

 

[HelenJ]

Morning all, could we all please keep this thread on topic (Impulse 2). Thanks.

 

[Tomtomato]

50 Cycles have released their own brand of electric bikes: Beat Bike Toba

It's interesting indeed to see that 50 Cycles have chosen to develop a new bike, based on the Impulse 2 motor.

 

[redalexx]

@Tomtomato @Will Tinker and all the other

Focus Crater Lake bought in 03/2015

repeatition for the new followers:
- 1st motor changed (03/2015) after motor mileage 120km due to creak noise and vibration in POWER mode
- 2nd motor changed (09/2015) after motor mileage 3.180km - same failure
- 3rd motor changed (09/2015) at dealers test ride due to same failure (possibly they tried to fix the 2nd motor or they even did nothing)
- 4th motor repaired (08/2016) after motor mileage 5.100km - broken pawls, freewheel locked

and here we go on:
- 5th motor (the repaired 4th) prepared for change (10/2016) after motor mileage 850km due to creak noise and vibrations in POWER, SPORT and ECO mode

The dealer proposed to take back the bike and give back the money. I think I have to pay between 250 and 500 Euro for the usage for the last 19 month / 9.400km.

So thats the end of the story.

Awaiting the new Bike in Feb. 2017.
Impulse motor? 2.0 or EVO?
No!
Never again!

I will continue the Impulse runtime list. So please update your mileage. Thanks.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WQ6DqHS4uXCNybjnlXZD3dOU_ylw5Qwsc0_89coCsF0/edit#gid=0

 

[nemesis]

I bought the new integrale S class kalkhoff with the battery in the frame at the end of last year.One of the reasons was because of the claimed higher torque from the motor that i soon found out was absolute rubbish. The bike was very heavy at 28kg and it felt gutless.The motor failed after a few weeks cutting in and out at all speeds so after a new motor was fitted i sold it on.
Now on the Bosch CX and couldn`t be happier with a Cube bike that weighs 17kg.