Powacycle Technician
- Thread starter 20 inch terror
- Start date
Rain
Hi Flecc, Have been unable to work on the bike today, we are in Peniscola on the Med and it has bucketed down all day long, forecast for tomorrow is for snow , so will have to wait for a window of good weather to work on the bike. Set to return to 19 degrees next week so will report back at the first opportunity.
Strider
Hi Flecc, Have been unable to work on the bike today, we are in Peniscola on the Med and it has bucketed down all day long, forecast for tomorrow is for snow , so will have to wait for a window of good weather to work on the bike. Set to return to 19 degrees next week so will report back at the first opportunity.
Strider
Hi Flecc
The weather here has finally picked up and we have been able to check all the electrical connections including hard wiring the battery, all to no avail. Our conclusion is that the control box has died, by the way, the Powacycle help line was pretty useless. Mike, the chap who bought the Windsor from me has now ordered a whisper from onbike and is now eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Peniscola is a lovely area for e-biking ( when the sun is shining ) and we have had some wonderful rides on extensive cycle routes and up in the hills amongst the orange groves. Once again a big thank you for your assistance it has been much appreciated.
Strider
The weather here has finally picked up and we have been able to check all the electrical connections including hard wiring the battery, all to no avail. Our conclusion is that the control box has died, by the way, the Powacycle help line was pretty useless. Mike, the chap who bought the Windsor from me has now ordered a whisper from onbike and is now eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Peniscola is a lovely area for e-biking ( when the sun is shining ) and we have had some wonderful rides on extensive cycle routes and up in the hills amongst the orange groves. Once again a big thank you for your assistance it has been much appreciated.
Strider
Salisbury Problems
Further to my posts with the problems I have encountered with My Powacycle Salisbury. I am finding at the moment that if I am off road and it is fairly bumpy that the bike has a tendency for the motor to stop working briefly. Sometimes it comes back on and sometimes I have to stop and switch the key. But on the road I havent had this problem to date.
The design of the bike is as an ATB so I presume it should be OK off road ?
Further to my posts with the problems I have encountered with My Powacycle Salisbury. I am finding at the moment that if I am off road and it is fairly bumpy that the bike has a tendency for the motor to stop working briefly. Sometimes it comes back on and sometimes I have to stop and switch the key. But on the road I havent had this problem to date.
The design of the bike is as an ATB so I presume it should be OK off road ?
Poor battery connections could be this problem Dave, it's quite common. Ckeaning the connector blades and receptors as well as possible with a solvent might help. Although e-bikes often have the MTB style, they really aren't suitable for rough ground, connectors, battery mountings and hub motors aren't up to the sort of shaking they can get, often leading to problems like the one you have.
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Salisbury problems
Hi Flecc - thanks for your answer.
I have had further developments as it appears it is now a faulty controller. I found a local dealer (Universal Electric Transport, Wimborne). I was originally told there wasnt one. Anyway they have been very helpful. UET fitted a new controller for me (labour at my expense - Powacycle wouldnt pay for it. They said they had sent me instructions for me to do it myself - but it looked a little complicated once I had the instructions to hand) but also told me my charger was faulty (I had already told Powacyle email support the red light stayed on - but they didnt reply). So have had to get a new charger too.(Couldnt get a new charger until I sent the faulty one back)
So since I had the bike in November it had to be replaced as faulty (Battery u/s found at factory) and the on/off switch was broken in the package. With the second bike the controller was faulty and the battery charger. I dont think there is much more to replace except the Motor !!!
Is this just bad luck, bad workmanship or what !!!!!!!
Hi Flecc - thanks for your answer.
I have had further developments as it appears it is now a faulty controller. I found a local dealer (Universal Electric Transport, Wimborne). I was originally told there wasnt one. Anyway they have been very helpful. UET fitted a new controller for me (labour at my expense - Powacycle wouldnt pay for it. They said they had sent me instructions for me to do it myself - but it looked a little complicated once I had the instructions to hand) but also told me my charger was faulty (I had already told Powacyle email support the red light stayed on - but they didnt reply). So have had to get a new charger too.(Couldnt get a new charger until I sent the faulty one back)
So since I had the bike in November it had to be replaced as faulty (Battery u/s found at factory) and the on/off switch was broken in the package. With the second bike the controller was faulty and the battery charger. I dont think there is much more to replace except the Motor !!!
Is this just bad luck, bad workmanship or what !!!!!!!
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unfortunately I really think Powacycle have been "victims of their own success" - they have sold loads of units whilst at the same time been hit by exchange rate fluctuations (look at the financial reports of Ultima networks plc and you will see)
last year they sold more of their bikes but still made a net loss, which must be really demoralising, alongside the Infineum being plagued by teething problems..
if the Makro deal doesn't pay off (they've also put up the prices of all their bikes when sold directly) their shareholders will argue "why put resources towards something not making a profit?" - unlike other e-bike manufacturers Powacycle are part of a publically traded company and thier staff wear many other hats than just making e-bikes...
I still think its a real shame that neither Wassim nor any of his staff are able or willing to form an official channel of communication - it could be painful at first as people are understandably disappointed at recent levels of service but it would save them time and resources in the end - for instance there are many times when instead of having to bother Norman or David at Wisper I've found a detailed answer on here...
last year they sold more of their bikes but still made a net loss, which must be really demoralising, alongside the Infineum being plagued by teething problems..
if the Makro deal doesn't pay off (they've also put up the prices of all their bikes when sold directly) their shareholders will argue "why put resources towards something not making a profit?" - unlike other e-bike manufacturers Powacycle are part of a publically traded company and thier staff wear many other hats than just making e-bikes...
I still think its a real shame that neither Wassim nor any of his staff are able or willing to form an official channel of communication - it could be painful at first as people are understandably disappointed at recent levels of service but it would save them time and resources in the end - for instance there are many times when instead of having to bother Norman or David at Wisper I've found a detailed answer on here...
Thanks for the update Dave. It seems they are really suffering from quality control problems since this rate of trouble is much higher than they experienced in the earlier days.
This is something that plagues Chinese manufacturing still. I know from others like Wai Won Ching of eZeebike and David Miall of Wisper that any manufacturer or supplier needs to watch production standards all the time and never take an eye off the ball to prevent things slipping.
Only a couple of days ago I heard a Chinese manufacturer openly admitting how far short they were of the Japanese in this respect. That admission is something that would never have occurred not long ago, given the long term enmity of those two nations. However, the admission and the fact he said they would get there does hold out hope for the future, but that's little consolation to you at present.
If Powacycle are to continue in this market they will have to up their supplier's control standards and pay more attention to home market support, since there's increasing choice of budget bikes these days.
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This is something that plagues Chinese manufacturing still. I know from others like Wai Won Ching of eZeebike and David Miall of Wisper that any manufacturer or supplier needs to watch production standards all the time and never take an eye off the ball to prevent things slipping.
Only a couple of days ago I heard a Chinese manufacturer openly admitting how far short they were of the Japanese in this respect. That admission is something that would never have occurred not long ago, given the long term enmity of those two nations. However, the admission and the fact he said they would get there does hold out hope for the future, but that's little consolation to you at present.
If Powacycle are to continue in this market they will have to up their supplier's control standards and pay more attention to home market support, since there's increasing choice of budget bikes these days.
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yes, there are major problems with money (i.e the budgets the clients provide for the project) and the exact same human attitudes towards industrial relations / bosses vs workers we had when manufacturing was in England or Europe.
The Chinese had a similar discussion in Singapore a couple of years ago about this issue...
I think there is a big cultural difference even in the Orient - Japan and Singapore are very strict about quality and discipline in work whilst the Chinese are more like the British in the "good" old days, with at best case a "good enough" culture, at worst case not caring as long as they get their pay packet!
A powacycle Salisbury new is now nearly £800, so I think the competitors will be fast barking at their heels (for instance the Scottish Alien Gents Special looks like a significant competitor especially now the chap has expanded his customer service resources).
It could of course also mean that Powacycle are selling loads of units and feel they can afford to tolerate a few lemons and even lose customers to keep up volume - I will be looking at their next set of financial results with interest...
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You are not kidding Flecc! EVERY Wisper that comes out of our OEM partners factory (Taiwanese) after QC is then taken into our own QC department manned by 100% Wisper employees for a second QC. Believe it or not we reject 25 to 30% of all bikes for some little niggle normally but without such attention to detail we would be constantly on the phone dealing with problems rather than the one or two a week we have now.
All the best
David
so the bikes cross the border from Taiwan into mainland South China and are inspected there?
in the 1990s I remember a 25% failure rate being viewed as normal in the IT / electronics industry. This has improved a bit since then (and yet the kit is still made in South China) so maybe there is some hope for e-bikes
in the 1990s I remember a 25% failure rate being viewed as normal in the IT / electronics industry. This has improved a bit since then (and yet the kit is still made in South China) so maybe there is some hope for e-bikes
Sorry to confuse Alex, what I meant was the factory we work with is a Taiwanese owned and managed factory located near Shanghai.
All the best
David
Salisbury problems
Have been riding the bike since I posted last and detailed all the problems I have had.
I dont know what to say really as off road on a rather bumpy bridleway the motor still stops spasmodically. On a smooth road it goes along fine. I hear what was said previously that ebikes are not designed to go off road but I didnt know that and you expect a bike designed as an ATB to be able to perform off road. This is such a great pity as there are so many off road tracks in my area including the Ringwood Forest and the New Forest on my doorstep.
On the one hand I was quite elated by the prospective ebike action and performance but very dissappointed by what has actually happened with all the faults and not being able to take the bike off road.
Have been riding the bike since I posted last and detailed all the problems I have had.
I dont know what to say really as off road on a rather bumpy bridleway the motor still stops spasmodically. On a smooth road it goes along fine. I hear what was said previously that ebikes are not designed to go off road but I didnt know that and you expect a bike designed as an ATB to be able to perform off road. This is such a great pity as there are so many off road tracks in my area including the Ringwood Forest and the New Forest on my doorstep.
On the one hand I was quite elated by the prospective ebike action and performance but very dissappointed by what has actually happened with all the faults and not being able to take the bike off road.
I can understand the disappointment Dave. We often have to explain how the bikes styling isn't lived up to in practice. On another make of ATB styled bike which was very expensive, I even had a battery platform shatter when riding normally over a speed bump, you can see how it's cracked through here:
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Salisbury Problems
The bike is still playing up. I dont think the replacement battery charger is working properly. Also the stop/start of the motor has got really bad. It has now become a health and safety issue. I went to ride accross a junction to get to the other side of a busy road when the motor stopped. This acts as a brake so it put me in some difficulty with the traffic. I have lost all confidence in the bike and am not using it. I have now written to reject the bike and ask for a refund under the Sale of Goods Act.
The bike is still playing up. I dont think the replacement battery charger is working properly. Also the stop/start of the motor has got really bad. It has now become a health and safety issue. I went to ride accross a junction to get to the other side of a busy road when the motor stopped. This acts as a brake so it put me in some difficulty with the traffic. I have lost all confidence in the bike and am not using it. I have now written to reject the bike and ask for a refund under the Sale of Goods Act.
Salisbury Problems
For information I have just heard from Makro. They have been in touch with Powacycle and it has been agreed to give me a full refund.
For information I have just heard from Makro. They have been in touch with Powacycle and it has been agreed to give me a full refund.