Kalkhoff Pro Connect Impulse 10 2015 Review

[lowranger]

2300 mile report. Motor Failure!
Or more precisely the freewheel in the crank. Sorry to report that I had a major problem a month ago. Started making a graunching noise from the crank and on freewheeling the crank locked up throwing my feet off the pedals a couple of times. Returned to 50 cycles who have replaced the whole motor under warranty as it's not a serviceable item. Full marks to 50 cycles for getting it done without quibble under warranty but a worrying failure (and inconveince, for which it's not covered) after a short distance. New one feels a bit tighter when not under power but I'm hoping this is just the newness and it will wear off.

Chain and sprocket also replaced in this period as well.

I'll keep you posted as the miles clock up............

 

[hopbackguy]

Watching this thread with interest as I have the same bike, supplied June this year.

 

[nightrider]

2300 mile report. Motor Failure!
Or more precisely the freewheel in the crank. Sorry to report that I had a major problem a month ago. Started making a graunching noise from the crank and on freewheeling the crank locked up throwing my feet off the pedals a couple of times. Returned to 50 cycles who have replaced the whole motor under warranty as it's not a serviceable item. Full marks to 50 cycles for getting it done without quibble under warranty but a worrying failure (and inconveince, for which it's not covered) after a short distance. New one feels a bit tighter when not under power but I'm hoping this is just the newness and it will wear off.

Chain and sprocket also replaced in this period as well.This happened to my kalkhoff endeavor about 4 months ago, and 50 cycles replaced motor under warranty, you are the third i have heard happening to, so a little concerned.

I'll keep you posted as the miles clock up............

 

[nightrider]

2300 mile report. Motor Failure!
Or more precisely the freewheel in the crank. Sorry to report that I had a major problem a month ago. Started making a graunching noise from the crank and on freewheeling the crank locked up throwing my feet off the pedals a couple of times. Returned to 50 cycles who have replaced the whole motor under warranty as it's not a serviceable item. Full marks to 50 cycles for getting it done without quibble under warranty but a worrying failure (and inconveince, for which it's not covered) after a short distance. New one feels a bit tighter when not under power but I'm hoping this is just the newness and it will wear off.

Chain and sprocket also replaced in this period as well.

I'll keep you posted as the miles clock up............

 

[nightrider]

this happened to my kalkhoff endeavor and motor was replaced under warranty about four months ago. This is the third occurrence i have heard, getting a little concerning.

 

[Will Tinker]

Also watching with interest, since I am strongly considering either the 9 or the 10 to replace my less-than-impressive Giant Prime E+ 2015.

 

[Biscitt]

Oh dear, just started looking at Kalkhoffs as an option. This does not sound good.

 

[JohnCade]

When people post about problems like this they are self selecting so there is no way of knowing how widespread they actually are. As an example there were problems with a batch of Kalkhoff batteries a year ago - I and a couple of others here had bad ones - and a lot here were saying how you should keep away from the brand etc. But although I don’t remember seeing much written here about it there were a lot of bad Bosch batteries around then too, and EddiePJ wrote the other day that he’d had two duff ones. Bosch had to redesign their motors because the main bearings failed and were not replaceable too. They just change that model on demand now.

So all of these makes of bikes can have faults, but most of the time they give good service for a long time, and few write much about that. If you google any make of anything and add reviews + problems? You will find pages of complaints. Because it’s human nature to only review something if they had a problem with it, and if it does what they expect it to do without any issues they don’t think twice about it.

The Kalkhoff warranty is for two years which is longer than many. Transferable too which again not many are.

 

[Will Tinker]

I am four weeks into ownership of the Kalkhoff Impulse Pro Connect 9, having moved from the Giant Prime E+ 2015.

Have now completed approximately 230 miles. Here are my early impressions:

The first couple of weeks I was noticing fairly significant rattle while cycling, over any substantial bumps. This was concerning me a bit, so I took the bike into 50cycles. They worked on it for an hour or so, and I'm pleased to report this is all but gone.

Build quality seems pretty good. There is one cable routed through the frame, where the plastic body of the cable does not stretch all the way into the frame itself, and therefore approximately 1cm of much narrower cable is exposed. Apparently this is common with the large frames, since the same length of cabling is used for all sizes. I have had some concern that this might wear and cause problems, but 50cycles think it will be ok. So we'll wait and see.

Ride quality is good, but I actually prefer the ride from the Giant Prime (2015). The Prime seems to ride the bumps a little better.

Battery life is so far excellent, and easily outstrips that of the Prime.

The Impulse 2 motor doesn't feel as good to me as the Yamaha present in the Giant Prime. Torque seems lower, and response time is slower. I do like that the motor cuts out during gear-change, which the Yamaha doesn't do. Also, I should state that I had problems with my 2015 Prime where the motor was coming loose vs. the frame - the way it is mounted seems to be poor design. The Impulse 2 motor onthe Connect 9 appears to me mounted far, far more sturdily.

The Impule 2 seems to drive me to a higher speed than the Yamaha before cutting out. The Impule 2 provides a degree of assistance up to 17mph (so, cuts completely at 17mph). The Yamaha on the Prime 2015 cuts out completely at around 15.5-16mph.

I really like the LED display on the Pro Connect 9. Being able to see my total mileage and speed is really useful.

I prefer the battery operated lights on the 2015 Prime - I can turn these on and off via a switch on the control panel. on the Impule Pro Connect 9, the dynamo lights are nice and bring but have to be turned on/off by reaching down to the front light to flick a switch.

The main reason I bought the Kalkhoff is because I expect better reliability than from the Giant Prime 2014/2015. If it provides this I will be happy. The Prime 2015 provided a lovely ride, but I've had big problems from TWO Prime bikes all well within the 1 year warranty, so I believe that these bicycles simply aren't particularly reliable.

Hope this helps someone. I'll report back after 500 miles.

 

[Tomtomato]

When people post about problems like this they are self selecting so there is no way of knowing how widespread they actually are.

It's surely true that people tend to post more about issues than other things.

We don't know what the sample size is, and therefore can't do statistics.

If it was 10 motors failing per year out of 10,000 bikes sold, then it would be a very small issue. There is no way of knowing how many Kalkhoff electric bikes are sold per year (and in the UK), and the types (e.g. powered by an Impulse 2 motor).

My main concern currently is about the availability of replacement parts: for some of those custom Kalkhoff parts (e.g. motor), it's not even possible to buy directly a replacement motor (or even know the price), and it's not possible to repair those. Once the bike is out of warranty, how much are we talking to replace the motor? If it's £500, what choices do we have?

If it was powered by Bosch, at least the choices of repairers is much broader.

Yes, Kalkhoff bikes have a 2 year warranty in the UK, but the after sale service from 50 Cycles is, let's say, a bit "relaxed"/laid back: the fault on my bike is going to require the bike to go back to the workshop 3 times. It will get resolved at the end...

 

[Tomtomato]

Ride quality is good, but I actually prefer the ride from the Giant Prime (2015). The Prime seems to ride the bumps a little better.

Get a Suntour NCX SP12 suspension seatpost, will make a big difference, and should be compatible with the original sadle. I have installed one of those on my Pro Connect 10.

Those are about £45 delivered from Bike Discount Germany:

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/suntour-sp12-ncx-suspension-seatpost-31.6-mm-211482

You need to check what sort of coil you need (based on your weight).

 

[Will Tinker]

Get a Suntour NCX SP12 suspension seatpost, will make a big difference, and should be compatible with the original sadle. I have installed one of those on my Pro Connect 10.

Those are about £45 delivered from Bike Discount Germany:

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/suntour-sp12-ncx-suspension-seatpost-31.6-mm-211482

You need to check what sort of coil you need (based on your weight).

Did consider this, but would it add further to the overall weight?

The one on the Pro Connect does seem nice and light...

 

[Tomtomato]

Well, it's 800g I think, so not very light (but well built), and surely heavier than the original seatpost. However, it's still much lighter than a full rear suspension, and weight on an electric bike is usually not an issue...

 

[Will Tinker]

Well, it's 800g I think, so not very light (but well built), and surely heavier than the original seatpost. However, it's still much lighter than a full rear suspension, and weight on an electric bike is usually not an issue...

Thanks - I might look into that round about Christmas time. The 2015 Prime did have a suspension seatpost so this may have been the major factor on ride feel.

 

[JohnCade]

The Kalkhoff cut out at a little over 17mph is one of the reasons I would be reluctant to change to another make. I don’t know of any other manufacture that makes use of the ten percent leeway in the regs to give that extra assist speed. It cuts out imperceptibly after the power is tapered down and you find yourself on your own. Another bike I owned had a very sharp and unpleasant cut out at 15.5mph jerking me forwards.

It might not seem like much but that extra assist allows you to keep up a good speed on the flat, pedalling past the cut out and then finding the assist coming in again at 17mph as the road rises a little. It does make a big difference in practise and it’s legal.

 

[Will Tinker]

The Kalkhoff cut out at a little over 17mph is one of the reasons I would be reluctant to change to another make. I don’t know of any other manufacture that makes use of the ten percent leeway in the regs to give that extra assist speed. It cuts out imperceptibly after the power is tapered down and you find yourself on your own. Another bike I owned had a very sharp and unpleasant cut out at 15.5mph jerking me forwards.

It might not seem like much but that extra assist allows you to keep up a good speed on the flat, pedalling past the cut out and then finding the assist coming in again at 17mph as the road rises a little. It does make a big difference in practise and it’s legal.

Agreed - it does make a bit of a difference. On the Yamaha motor I was often catching up with cyclists but didn't have enough quick boost to overtake them. The extra mile-an-hour or so makes that process easier.

 

[Tomtomato]

I don’t know of any other manufacture that makes use of the ten percent leeway in the regs to give that extra assist speed

...although, arguably, that 10% leeway may just be to do with the inaccuracy of the speed reported (due to the way it's measured), so maybe you are still actually going to the legal speed anyway, and not faster.

 

[Will Tinker]

...although, arguably, that 10% leeway may just be to do with the inaccuracy of the speed reported (due to the way it's measured), so maybe you are still actually going to the legal speed anyway, and not faster.

Possibly, though it does seem perceptibly faster than the Giant Prime.

Once I have the Prime back (hopefully fully repaired under warranty - that's another story) I might try a side-by-side comparison on top assist speed.

 

[JohnCade]

...although, arguably, that 10% leeway may just be to do with the inaccuracy of the speed reported (due to the way it's measured), so maybe you are still actually going to the legal speed anyway, and not faster.

No it is ten percent faster and all the Kalkhoffs are the same. I’ve measured it accurately as I measured my other bike which cut out at dead on 15.5mph.

 

[Tomtomato]

No it is ten percent faster and all the Kalkhoffs are the same. I’ve measured it accurately as I measured my other bike which cut out at dead on 15.5mph.

Well, if you have measured all Kalkhoff bikes, then you must be correct...particularly when measured against another bike (which I guess was measured in turn against??).

I personally don't know many bike computers that are dead correct regarding speed...