Unbelievably bad experience with a Haibike SDURO Trekking S RX

[RobF]

Did you never consider just buying a lever, instead of moaning and complaining for 3 months?

I think it was established earlier in the thread the Magura brake light activation brake is not generally available for retail sale.

While I agree the OP's blustering approach did him no favours, there were some circumstances outside his control which conspired against him.

Top and bottom of it is Magura/Haibike/the bike shop should have sorted this somehow, irrespective of what they thought of the OP's attitude.

 

[Scott Nelson]

Did you never consider just buying a lever, instead of moaning and complaining for 3 months?

• First of all F.Y. for your comment.
  
  2nd, if you had bothered to read my statements you would have seen that these brakes are NOT AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS.
  

 

[Scott Nelson]

I think it was established earlier in the thread the Magura brake light activation brake is not generally available for retail sale.

While I agree the OP's blustering approach did him no favours, there were some circumstances outside his control which conspired against him.

Top and bottom of it is Magura/Haibike/the bike shop should have sorted this somehow, irrespective of what they thought of the OP's attitude.

What blustering approach? I just asked that they fix a defective brake on a brand new, very expensive bike and originally I was told it was going to cost me hundreds of Euros. How would you respond? That's fine thank you very much here's my money??

 

[Scott Nelson]

Anyway, it seems most of the people on here are jerks so have fun slagging me off after I'm gone.

 

[Izzyekerslike]

Anyway, it seems most of the people on here are jerks so have fun slagging me off after I'm gone.

The vast majority of the people on here are polite, friendly and try to be helpful to anyone that has a problem. A small percentage are experts and professional e-bike retailers who understand e-bikes inside out, it was your approach that has managed to alienate all of these.
To insult them because you can't get the answer you like is totally out of order.

 

[RobF]

What blustering approach?

Mmm, that's a hard one, try:

most of the people on here are jerks

Believe it or not, this jerk still has some sympathy with your predicament.

But your poor attitude will have contributed a great deal to the length of time this is taking to sort out.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

No sympathy from me at all. You can hate me as much as you like. I don't care:

A guy breaks his brake lever. It's smashed into two parts. He comes into my shop and asks for a free new one. I say, "but you bust it. You have to pay for a replacement". Guy tells me that it's made of the wrong material. I ask, "how come all the other Haibikes aren't returned with broken levers?" I send guy on his way. When guy has gone, I give a stock bike's lever a bit of a heave-ho, just for reassurance. It seems plenty strong enough. I think to myself, "Waker."

Guy comes back to shop with the other bike he bought that now has a mudguard totally worn through, and he tells me it was because a screw fell out. I remember the previous episode with this guy, so I'm very suspicious. The mudguard isn't touching the tyre and I can't make it do so, so I ask, "Did you have something on the rack that poked through and pushed the mudguard down". "No" says guy. "It's because the screw fell out and it only happens when you put enough weight on the rack". I sit on the rack, but the tyre still doesn't touch the mudguard. "Hmmm! Here we go again."

This is the real world. Sometimes things conspire against you. If you go with the flow, life is so much easier. Fighting it only makes yourself unhappy. It's only money. Pay it and move on. Maybe it would be worth fighting if it was your whole bike that blew up.

 

[Danidl]

Anyway, it seems most of the people on here are jerks so have fun slagging me off after I'm gone.

Scott
If I were teaching a class on how not to progress a complaint, I could use your emails as a case study. At every stage in the process you chose the wrong option.

1. In selecting the bikes initially you were unaware they would not be legal in UK
2. Whether the failure of the brake handle, was due to bad workmanship or an action you caused, I will not consider, but will assume it was not your fault.
3. You contacted the retailer by phone, ok , reasonable first step. But who initiated the suggestion that a photo graph would suffice?. At the risk of being obvious, fixing the photograph would not fix the bike. French retailers speak French, and the person on the phone may well have been an intern .. did you record their name. ?
4. You then published the shops name on the internet, without their knowledge or right of redress.
5. I will not bother about your attempts to humiliate the OEMs on Facebook. ... Of course when you contact a commercial company on Facebook, they will invite you to contact them ... Public relations 101 .
6. You then dismantle the brake assembly and cables etc.
7. You then dismantle the motor assembly in part. If and when you reassembled it, are you confident of the torque settings on bolts and nuts?
8. You are now 3 months on and with a damaged bike.

What you should have done....
1. Contacted the shop and sent the phograph and also image of your bill of sale
2. Looked at any documentation e.g bill of sale and the retailer website. You had indicated that your wife's command of French was much better.
3. Noted the 30 day cooling of period and brought the defective bike in .
4. Had it been a manufacturing defect, it would be evident to the technician in the shop. .. lack of abrasions would be supporting evidence. The shop would most likely have initiated a repair on the spot. Had they not done so, and you were confident that the fault was not yours you would demand return and have had the money credited to your account within the week . If they demurred you could legitimately return the other bike. However I really do not believe that it would have come to that.
These people are expert and would have replaced the hydraulic brake, if necessary by taking one from another bike. Problem would have been solved.

 

[Graham B]

I did not join just to moan. So you are 100% wrong and I resent your assumption. I joined to find out if other people have had a similar experience/problem, to get some advice, and to warn others about this issue in case they were thinking about buying a Haibike.

Cheers Scott. I found this discussion helpful no matter what the outcome.

I am just about to buy my first e mountain bike, and was looking at and sduro until I had comments from two local bike shops to avoid the Yamaha motors. I've now switched my thoughts to xduro. Partly as I've found a cheapish one on sale at another shop.

I know to some extent you hear a lot more about the few problems and not all the success stories, but I'm finding it very difficult to judge who to avoid or not with my first bike. With a couple of years experience I'm sure I'd be in a much better place.

 

[soundwave]

I am just about to buy my first e mountain bike, and was looking at and sduro until I had comments from two local bike shops to avoid the Yamaha motors.

fail rates for both are very small but Yamaha has less than bosch that i can find but both work in different ways and the bosch does cost a bit more on a new bike.lbs lol

tho a new pwx is more than a bosch cx motor if you had to buy a new one out of warranty.

 

[Izzyekerslike]

Cheers Scott. I found this discussion helpful no matter what the outcome.

I am just about to buy my first e mountain bike, and was looking at and sduro until I had comments from two local bike shops to avoid the Yamaha motors. I've now switched my thoughts to xduro. Partly as I've found a cheapish one on sale at another shop.

I know to some extent you hear a lot more about the few problems and not all the success stories, but I'm finding it very difficult to judge who to avoid or not with my first bike. With a couple of years experience I'm sure I'd be in a much better place.

I've had my Yamaha sduro Haibike for almost two years and my brother and cousin have both bought one after seeing and riding mine.The Yamaha motors have been totally reliable. I have also been on this forum for two years and have very rarely heard mention of problems with the Motors.

Enjoy your search for your new bike and if you buy one of the major brands (excluding Kalkhoff) you shouldn't go far wrong.
If you have any questions at all ask on the forum you will get great advice.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Cheers Scott. I found this discussion helpful no matter what the outcome.

I am just about to buy my first e mountain bike, and was looking at and sduro until I had comments from two local bike shops to avoid the Yamaha motors. I've now switched my thoughts to xduro. Partly as I've found a cheapish one on sale at another shop.

I know to some extent you hear a lot more about the few problems and not all the success stories, but I'm finding it very difficult to judge who to avoid or not with my first bike. With a couple of years experience I'm sure I'd be in a much better place.

Is it because they don't make so much profit with the yamaha motors?

 

[soundwave]

Is it because they don't make so much profit with the yamaha motors?

yes

 

[Graham B]

I've had my Yamaha sduro Haibike for almost two years and my brother and cousin have both bought one after seeing and riding mine.The Yamaha motors have been totally reliable. I have also been on this forum for two years and have very rarely heard mention of problems with the Motors.

Enjoy your search for your new bike and if you buy one of the major brands (excluding Kalkhoff) you shouldn't go far wrong.
If you have any questions at all ask on the forum you will get great advice.

Cheers guys for the comments. I guess with all of these bikes you generally get good ones and the occasional bad if your unlucky

 

[Graham B]

Just to add I have two more ride booked in this weekend. One on the Haibike fatsix, and the other on the specialzed turbo levo, so will hopefully give me a good comparison of fat vs plus, and the brose motor without the shift recognition as well.

 

[soundwave]

you will like the turbo levo over the fat 6

 

[Trevormonty]

I've had my Yamaha sduro Haibike for almost two years and my brother and cousin have both bought one after seeing and riding mine.The Yamaha motors have been totally reliable. I have also been on this forum for two years and have very rarely heard mention of problems with the Motors.

Enjoy your search for your new bike and if you buy one of the major brands (excluding Kalkhoff) you shouldn't go far wrong.
If you have any questions at all ask on the forum you will get great advice.

In all research I've done only Impulse drive (kalkhoff) has had major issues. Bosch,Yamaha, Brose, Shimano all seem good and typically come with 2yr warranty on motor and just importantly battery. The new Shimano E8000 drive is yet to prove its self but can't see Shimano not supporting it if there are issues.

If you plan to buy more than one bike or another for wife, then interchangeable batteries maybe deciding factor. This is where Bosch and Shimano are better both have huge variety of bikes that all use same batteries.

Whatever you decide best to buy local if you can.

 

[Graham B]

I'm only planning to buy the one for me at the moment, but if I get into it enough then maybe another would come along in a couple of years when i've saved up again.

 

[E-Wheels]

A

In all research I've done only Impulse drive (kalkhoff) has had major issues. Bosch,Yamaha, Brose, Shimano all seem good and typically come with 2yr warranty on motor and just importantly battery. The new Shimano E8000 drive is yet to prove its self but can't see Shimano not supporting it if there are issues.

If you plan to buy more than one bike or another for wife, then interchangeable batteries maybe deciding factor. This is where Bosch and Shimano are better both have huge variety of bikes that all use same batteries.

Whatever you decide best to buy local if you can.

Are Shimano batteries interchangeable and backwards compatible like the Bosch?

 

[Wander]

Are Shimano batteries interchangeable and backwards compatible like the Bosch?

Bosch aren't backwards compatible. You can interchange the variants of the Gen 2 range but these aren't backwards compatible with the Gen 1.