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After my 4th Bosch motor in 3 years I asked the question what happens to the old motor to which I got zero reply ,I pointed out their website was full of idyllic “ Green” fluffiness 🙄 the only thing Bosch advised was “ Try and avoid riding through water as our motors don’t like getting wet 🙄”
The last motor replacement came after the existing motors bearings started to groan , my local Bosch Service Centre guys had been trained by Bosch to replace them at a much reduced cost . I thought great so just like servicing a BB but a few months later it failed again and Bosch said they shouldn’t have carried out the repair even though they sold them the service kit ! 🙄
Not really a sustainable model is it ? 🤔
I want an ebike to compliment my normal bikes, but these posts are just putting the fear of god into me.
I'd want it for the slop and some hard winter days but doesn't sound robust enough..
There's a huge amount of online only retailers selling ebikes and all it makes me think is 'what happens WHEN it goes wrong?'.. does it get posted back whole? That's uneconomical if that's being done 2+ times a year.
I've got a few great LBS' (Whyte & Specialized) here but not spoken to them about their take on it. Although they'll be in full sales mode I imagine.
I had one of the best weekends riding in my life on a Giant Reign ebike in the Polish mountains last year. It absolutely blew me away with how capable it was and how much I was grinning. It's this experience that keeps dragging me back to getting one...
How do we know that they’re not just going to landfill?
https://www.bosch-ebike.com/nz/help-center/can-components-from-bosch-ebike-systems-be-repaire-195479
Straight from the horses mouth.
Bosch refurb their motors where it makes sense to do so.
You're far from alone @cokie
I've done it a few times now and whilst i'm not a fan of some aspects of how they ride, some of their other parts make a massive difference to rides and can turn a chore into a blast... But as you say, threads like these just tell me you're buying a grenade, it's just a question of when the pin comes out.
I want an ebike to compliment my normal bikes, but these posts are just putting the fear of god into me.
I’d want it for the slop and some hard winter days but doesn’t sound robust enough..There’s a huge amount of online only retailers selling ebikes and all it makes me think is ‘what happens WHEN it goes wrong?’.. does it get posted back whole?
Buy a bosch bike, It'll probably break at some point if you ride it often and in all weather's ,when it does break take it back to any Bosch dealer near you and they'll sort it out .
I've bought 2 ebikes now,one from Germany, the other from 200 miles away. Both have needed new motors, both have been sorted by local dealers (ie not the dealer I bought the bike from).
At a cost or free? If a cost, how much?
If no cost, what about when warranty ends?
my shimano warrenty is over. Madison said they have a sliding scale of age/replacement cost. in reality i imagine it ramps up pretty fast!! Still if you get a new motor and new warrenty for another 2 years its not too bad.
mine was 2 yrs last november. not sure on mileage but plenty of jumps and bike park wales trips- i do limit the really rainy days out to a normal bike though (but if its wet/sloppy on teh ground the eebs good to go) mainly as electric + water is a bad combo anywhere really!.
At a cost or free? If a cost, how much?
If no cost, what about when warranty ends?
Can't remember exactly , I think it was about 30 quid to process the warranty and remove/refit the motor, which I thought was a bit naughty given it was covered under a worldwide warranty,but a small price to pay , especially compared to what I saved (over £2k)by buying the bike from Germany,
When warranty ends you'll pay whatever the dealers hourly labour rate is to swap the motor (probably about an hour,maybe two ,so 100 quid worst case?)plus the cost of the motor.
I want an ebike to compliment my normal bikes, but these posts are just putting the fear of god into me.
I’d want it for the slop and some hard winter days but doesn’t sound robust enough.
TBH I’m in the same boat, I’m unhappy to buy a £5-6k product which the motor is treated as a warranty consumable.
I’ve been looking at surrons and tbh have even been thinking of a trail motorbike or even a quad as the the prices are similar and once you go surron road legal it’s tax/insurance anyway.
Straight from the horses mouth.
Bosch refurb their motors where it makes sense to do so.
I read that as they repair individual motors for customers where it's feasible, but it doesn't say that motors they can't repair are refurbished. I wonder what proportion of faulty motors are repaired versus replacement with a new motor. Oh, and in New Zealand judging from the URL?
Peter from eBike Motor Centre confirmed several years ago that faulty motors were refurbed by Bosch.
I have taken some older motors apart and they have had green pen over the top of the original blue marker pen used for quality control, showing the motor has either been totally checked twice or refurbished. Two of the internal bearings had different colour seals too. Again, I have never seen these coloured seals on un-touched motors.
You can also tell if the motor has been apart by the feel of the self threading screws that hold the right hand motor casing on, and the motors with double pen markings had much freer case screws.
From here; https://www.emtbforums.com/threads/right-to-repair-my-motor.2335/
I’ve been looking at surrons and tbh have even been thinking of a trail motorbike or even a quad as the the prices are similar and once you go surron road legal it’s tax/insurance anyway.
That’s where my mind wandered for a bit.. £6k gets you a nice electric trail bike that’s proven and reliable.
Andreas Preuninger, head of Porsche GT, swears by them. It’s the only way to go off-road without annoying anyone as they’re silent. Germans are pretty strict on greenlaneing.
Lose some of the freedom, fitness and benefits of an ebike then. You’re into a different realm. So, back to ebike musings for me!
If the UK had the variety of riding available for Moto enduro bikes that eBikes have I would have bought one of those for a lot less money!
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) doesn't go into landfill within the EU or the UK
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment