Pro Connect Concerns

[Erica]

I took possession of a Pro Connect in September and have had two problems.

One is frequent chain dropping which I think was related to a non-mobile tensioner. I lubed up the tensioner, tightened the bolt, and so far in 10 miles the chain hasn't fallen off. Previously, the chain had dropped about eight times in 140 miles. Kind of irritating for such an expensive bike, but hopefully resolved.

The second issue seems more serious to me. The bike began to make irregular clicking and popping noises that eventually became associated with what felt like a lack of engagement of the chain. It reminds me of the sounds playing cards in the wheels made when I was a kid, only louder and grating. The problem has progressed now and in 5th and 4th gears it's constant. Also it's starting up in 6th.

I can't ride in those gears at this point, which is really limiting. I don't think the problem is in the crank, maybe the motor. But the connection to certain gears makes me wonder if the hub is defective. I've never ridden an internal gear hub before, so no experience with them.

Has anyone else had this problem? I live in the USA, maybe the third American to be shipped a Kalkhoff. I wrote to 50 Cycles about the chain and never got an answer. Found some help here and hoping you all may have some ideas about this more serious issue before I contact 50 Cycles again.

 

[essexman]

eek ok re the gears its either very simple or very bad.

It could be your gear cable has stretched. You just need to re-align it. Very simple with nexus hubs. Check 50 cycles website for how to do this. Its under the contact us tab..

Or

Your hub gear is broken. I've just had to send my rear wheel to 50cycles to get the gear replaced. Although you could probanly find someone local to you to do it.

Hub gears shoudl be very reliable and outlast derailleurs. A few people on this forum have had hubs fail (but most havent). Its slightly worrying, its possible a defective batch was used.

PS Yes that chain tensioner needs to keep 'springy' once its sorted a drop of oil every now and then keeps it mobile. I had the same problem, sorted it and never had it again.

 

[flecc]

It's likely to be just the gear cable stretched as essexman has said, this being quite normal initially.

To adjust it use the screw out adjuster on the change lever to set the alignment marks as detailed on the last column of this Shimano document:

Nexus 8 cable adjustment

Over a long period of time you can eventually run out of adjustment, and then it's necessary to shorten the inner cable. The action to take them is more fully detailed by our JamesC on this link which you may wish to print out for the future:

Inner cable shortening
.

 

[Patti]

Motor drive sprocket on the Pro connect

My lovely Pro connect was delivered just over two weeks ago and I have just returned from a 3 day cycling trip, complete with Bob Ibex trailer. The combination was quite brilliant; with the help of the electric assist, I powered up hills that I could never have attempted with the 20k load on the back. And I DO recommend the trailer - it was so easy to pull that I almost forgot it was there. BUT:
Day 1: rode about 60 miles, everything fine. I exhausted the battery & charged it overnight.
Day 2: another 60 miles. But half way through the day, I heard a tiny grating noise around the chain area, rather like the sound when a gear hasn't quite engaged. Through the afternoon this became more pronounced. But it had nothing to do with the gearing, which worked perfectly when I wasn't using the electric boost.
Day 3: the noise was really bad; it felt as if the chain was constantly slipping and grinding. But again, only when the power was on. I headed for home as I felt really worried that I was doing some real damage. I phoned 50 cycles, who told me that it sounded as if the motor drive sprocket, situated behind the main chain wheel, had worn. On a two-week-old bike????? I'm sure that he's right, but I am seriously not impressed. Also, the post room was closed so 50 cycles would be unable to send a replacement out today. So I won't get it until Tuesday which rather messes up my plans for a cycling holiday starting - guess when - next Tuesday.
C'est la vie - but not good on such an expensive bike.

 

[flecc]

It cannot be wear Patti, the problem is elsewhere. Do you have hub or derailleur gears?

 

[robelee]

Hi Patti,

It sounds exactly the same problem a few of us have been having with the Pro Connect. Look at the forum posts - Pro Connect Feels Rough. You will see what I did to solve the problem temporarily. 50 Cycles have told me they will be emailing Derby Cycles in Germany to see if they have any ideas as to how this problem can be resolved. With my 'temporary fix' in place bikes rides beautifully. I think the chain just needs more tension.

Good Luck

Rob

 

[Patti]

Thanks for your helpful comments. 50 cycles sent me a new sprocket which looked identical to the existing one, so I didn;t change it - as you said, it wasn't wear. I have hub gears, flecc. Would that make a difference? As I said, the gears are perfect when I'm not using the battery assist. I am really worried about going a long distance with the 'temporary fix', but I might have a go at it tomorrow. I wonder how many people are having this problem.

 

[tillson]

Sorry to hear that you are still having problems. The, Pro Connect Feels Rough thread, on which people are reporting similar problems, seems to have gone quiet with no real conclusions.

From what I have read, I would be tempted to shorten the chain as it would appear that additional chain tension reduces / eliminates the problem. It just depends if you are confident enough to do this yourself and it is easy to reverse if it doesn't make any difference.

 

[Patti]

Thanks, tillson. But my bike has a derailleur fitted - along with hub gears. Wouldn't that keep the tension going? I don't want to fiddle with the chain myself - is it the sort of job that a local bike shop could do?

 

[robelee]

Hi Patti

Just to ease your worries. I've covered about 250 miles with temporary fix in place and bike is still riding well. This obviously shouldn't be neccessary though!

Come on 50Cycles help us out, we should not be having to play around with brand new bikes costing just under £2000.00 it's not good is it?

Rob

 

[tillson]

From what you have said, I think your bike has hub gears. The derailleur you mention is a chain tensioning arm. (discounting the arm, how many sprockets do you have at the rear wheel? One would indicate hub gears, a stack of different sizes would indicate derailleur)

If you do have hub gears, that arm at the back should keep the chain tensioned. If the chain is too long, the tensioning arm may not be doing the job properly as the spring in it won't be within it's working range. The temporary fix detailed on the other thread is just a method of artificially introducing chain tension. Shortening the chain will cause it to pull against the arm and create the appropriate chain tension. I guess the arm should sit somewhere just over halfway through it's movement range. If it is towards the slack end of it's range, this could be another indication of incorrect adjustment.

This is something a LBS should be able to adjust. Removing links from a chain is simple work for them regardless of whether the bike is electrically assisted. This modification / adjustment is very easily reversed too, so I would say that it is worth a try.

 

[timidtom]

Hi Patti

Just to ease your worries. I've covered about 250 miles with temporary fix in place and bike is still riding well. This obviously shouldn't be neccessary though!

Come on 50Cycles help us out, we should not be having to play around with brand new bikes costing just under £2000.00 it's not good is it?

Rob

I wonder what it is you're paying for? To me, £2000 is a huge amount of money. I don't think I've ever paid that much for a motor car! £1500 bought us two trouble free bikes from a delightful shop in Buxton ...
Best wishes,
Tom

 

[Tim]

I wonder what it is you're paying for? To me, £2000 is a huge amount of money. I don't think I've ever paid that much for a motor car! £1500 bought us two trouble free bikes from a delightful shop in Buxton ...
Best wishes,
Tom

Of the thousands of Pro Connects we've delivered over the years, 99% remain trouble-free. There are sometimes problems that only become apparent after a few rides that are hard to pick up as part of the pre-delivery inspection. Perhaps in this case the motor sprocket had a problem, but once it's fixed, it's likely the bike will continue to run for years and years. So, for £1995 you're getting a state of the art bike, made in Germany, that will climb virtually any hill you're likely to encounter in the UK, with a motor system that is second-to-none in terms of reliability and the largest single battery range on the market in the case of the 18Ah pack.

Most problems can be fixed with the application of an allen key or spanner - one of our demonstrator Pro Connects in the Richmond shop had developed a slight click but was other wise performing brilliantly. Tightening the right hand crank slightly (after 140 miles) was enough to fix that.

Tom, sounds like you got a bargain, but I hope your pair of £1500 bikes are still running well after four years of daily use, like the earliest Kalkhoffs we brought over in 2007 still are. Many of our customers view their Kalkhoff as a car replacement. There are plenty of reports from customers on our website to support this.

 

[carpetbagger]

I suppose its just like cars and any other appliance,occasionally an odd rogue one or two get through the system.
I have just completed 3000 miles on my 7speed Agattu.
Broken chain link at 1000 miles
New gear shifter at 1200 miles
Adjusted gears 4 times
5 punctures
Thats it,pretty excellent so far.
I am sure once your teething problems are sorted you will have many thousands of miles of very enjoyable cycling and you will soon forget your initial problems,Good luck.

 

[oigoi]

Of the thousands of Pro Connects we've delivered over the years, 99% remain trouble-free. There are sometimes problems that only become apparent after a few rides that are hard to pick up as part of the pre-delivery inspection. Perhaps in this case the motor sprocket had a problem, but once it's fixed, it's likely the bike will continue to run for years and years. So, for £1995 you're getting a state of the art bike, made in Germany, that will climb virtually any hill you're likely to encounter in the UK, with a motor system that is second-to-none in terms of reliability and the largest single battery range on the market in the case of the 18Ah pack.

Most problems can be fixed with the application of an allen key or spanner - one of our demonstrator Pro Connects in the Richmond shop had developed a slight click but was other wise performing brilliantly. Tightening the right hand crank slightly (after 140 miles) was enough to fix that.

Tom, sounds like you got a bargain, but I hope your pair of £1500 bikes are still running well after four years of daily use, like the earliest Kalkhoffs we brought over in 2007 still are. Many of our customers view their Kalkhoff as a car replacement. There are plenty of reports from customers on our website to support this.

50 cycles if I was paying that much for a bike I would expect the product development / testing to be adequate to pick up on these potential issues and issue customers with suitable advice when they purchase the product.

In the absence of this product development and testing the purchaser should be able to resolve these issues quickly and easily in communication with yourself without needing to ask on here how to fix it. The moment people have to ask on here to find a way of sorting things out on a nearly brand new bike your customer service has failed

 

[robelee]

Totally agree with your comments Oigoi. I thought 'Sale of Goods Act - Fit for Purpose' would come into this scenario.

50Cycles looks like they could be having a fair few bikes returned if this is not resolved soon. It certainly should not be up to us with new bikes to be trying to solve this problem - which is obviously a design fault.

Rob

 

[banbury frank]

Hi the member who started this thread lives in the USA Please don't Blame 50 Cycles


For the support issues

Frank

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Frank,

50cycles do supply to the US and other countries 50cycles electric bicycles - Delivery Locations - Free Delivery to UK Mainland

 

[Tim]

Hi Frank,

50cycles do supply to the US and other countries 50cycles electric bicycles - Delivery Locations - Free Delivery to UK Mainland

No, we don't sell Kalkhoffs to US customers, that's Electric Bikes | Electric Bikes Made in Germany| Kalkhoff USA territory

 

[robelee]

Hi Tim,

What about responding in a proffesional manner as to how we go about fixing this problem? I'm quite handy with tools, spanners, allen keys etc. I've tried all the obvious but am still relying on my 'cable tie fix'. If I was to shorten the chain to increase tension and after awhile fault returns, what then? Your technician informed me he would be getting in touch after contacting Derby Cycles, alas I'm still waiting.

How do you stand on my query as to 'Sales of Goods Act - fit for pupose? If it was any other item I think most products would be exchanged/refunded or at least repaired at suppliers expense.

Rob