Last week I was riding out on my Cube Stereo HPA 140 500 race and noticed what i believed to be extra noise coming from the DU.
I really didn't know if it was a form of paranoia or if it truly was getting more noisy. So when i got home i did my usual cleaned the bike and put it on the stand. I did notice that after an incredibly muddy ride the cowling around my DU on the Cube Bike was leaking water for a very long time. (I've put a picture up so that you can see how Cube differ to lots of manufacturers in this area.)
taking one side of the cowling off (don't have a tool for the drive side as yet) and found that the drain holes that are in the cowling and a lower trim strip are small and just abound aligned with each other, there was lots of mud etc in the cowl thats for sure.
anyway proceeded to remove the chain and turn the crank to find that through the 360 degrees of rotation it felt different in its feel all the way around the stroke. it was at this point that i figured out that my paranoia was not for no reason.
so boxed it up whilst cleaning all the parts and put it back together. Contacted my local bike shop who happen to be a Cube agent, but not the company i bought it from and they said they would have a look.
I got a call from this this morning to advise that it most certainly looked like premature bearing failure, as there were some rust witness marks on the side of the DU when the cowling was removed.
Strangely they had no idea that the DU had no locally serviceable parts as they were quite prepared to take it on, but had received advice from the importer of the bike to desist and return the DU to Bosch. No criticism of these guys at all, they were conveying their instruction to me. However, they did heap lots of warning about warranty might be rejected because i had used a pressure washer on the bike etc and it might cost 600+ Euros.
As you can well imagine my clacker valve started to oscillate quite violently at this point, so i issued a cease and desist instruction to prevent them becoming more embroiled in to something than they needed to be.
I went over to the shop to photograph the DU just to get some evidence and a better understanding of the situation and to get them to put it back together so that i could take it to the company i originally purchased it from who had agreed to take it in and would not charge for the labour. All i got charged was £20!!!! don't think I've ever paid so little to have work done, least wise not in a BMW garage LOL.
This afternoon i took it to Rutland Cycles in Peterborough for them to do the work and deal with Bosch regarding its replacement as the original supplier.
as i have said earlier this bike does get muddy and it gets everywhere!
several things come to mind!
1. I only knew of the existence if the "seal" and its inability to deflect water by reading other members comments from their experiences of failures!
2. i only know of the new maintenance regime with the removal of the drive gear, removal of the seal and the application of the Bosch grease because of other members experiences!
3. I know not if this will be covered under the 2 year warranty or if i'll be expected to pony up for this little lot!
4. if there was a maintenance manual, sticker or something on the bike or at the point of sale (like there was for the front Fox fork and the rear Fox shock as well as the shimano brake leavers) to advise how to adjust or maintain them them possibly i might not be in this invidious position of not knowing which way this is going to go!
5. and lastly, if a little sticker had been placed in the area of the ineffective seal, then i might not have pointed a pressure cleaner at it for the last 14 months (probably 30-40 times washed) and possibly this might not have happened.
And really lastly, when folks suck through their teeth and say ooooh you shouldn't have pointed a pressure washer in that area like i should have know this..... put yourself in my position. I've owned motorbikes, race cars, worked on very large diesel generator sets, and have done no end of work on road going concrete mixers, and likely cleaned the lot of them with.... you guessed it a high pressure lance. only with vehicle electrical system did i ever consider shielding them from the effects of the water spray. So please don't jump to the conclusion that this was a deliberate act to self inflict this sort of trouble upon myself.
I await with baited breath to see the outcome from Bosch. As one other member has said on here on their thread regarding the CX drive! I happy to take this all the way to the small claims court if i have to pay for the replacement. Its a bike that goes in the mud, what was i expected to do with no warnings to the contrary.
I really didn't know if it was a form of paranoia or if it truly was getting more noisy. So when i got home i did my usual cleaned the bike and put it on the stand. I did notice that after an incredibly muddy ride the cowling around my DU on the Cube Bike was leaking water for a very long time. (I've put a picture up so that you can see how Cube differ to lots of manufacturers in this area.)
taking one side of the cowling off (don't have a tool for the drive side as yet) and found that the drain holes that are in the cowling and a lower trim strip are small and just abound aligned with each other, there was lots of mud etc in the cowl thats for sure.
anyway proceeded to remove the chain and turn the crank to find that through the 360 degrees of rotation it felt different in its feel all the way around the stroke. it was at this point that i figured out that my paranoia was not for no reason.
so boxed it up whilst cleaning all the parts and put it back together. Contacted my local bike shop who happen to be a Cube agent, but not the company i bought it from and they said they would have a look.
I got a call from this this morning to advise that it most certainly looked like premature bearing failure, as there were some rust witness marks on the side of the DU when the cowling was removed.
Strangely they had no idea that the DU had no locally serviceable parts as they were quite prepared to take it on, but had received advice from the importer of the bike to desist and return the DU to Bosch. No criticism of these guys at all, they were conveying their instruction to me. However, they did heap lots of warning about warranty might be rejected because i had used a pressure washer on the bike etc and it might cost 600+ Euros.
As you can well imagine my clacker valve started to oscillate quite violently at this point, so i issued a cease and desist instruction to prevent them becoming more embroiled in to something than they needed to be.
I went over to the shop to photograph the DU just to get some evidence and a better understanding of the situation and to get them to put it back together so that i could take it to the company i originally purchased it from who had agreed to take it in and would not charge for the labour. All i got charged was £20!!!! don't think I've ever paid so little to have work done, least wise not in a BMW garage LOL.
This afternoon i took it to Rutland Cycles in Peterborough for them to do the work and deal with Bosch regarding its replacement as the original supplier.
as i have said earlier this bike does get muddy and it gets everywhere!
several things come to mind!
1. I only knew of the existence if the "seal" and its inability to deflect water by reading other members comments from their experiences of failures!
2. i only know of the new maintenance regime with the removal of the drive gear, removal of the seal and the application of the Bosch grease because of other members experiences!
3. I know not if this will be covered under the 2 year warranty or if i'll be expected to pony up for this little lot!
4. if there was a maintenance manual, sticker or something on the bike or at the point of sale (like there was for the front Fox fork and the rear Fox shock as well as the shimano brake leavers) to advise how to adjust or maintain them them possibly i might not be in this invidious position of not knowing which way this is going to go!
5. and lastly, if a little sticker had been placed in the area of the ineffective seal, then i might not have pointed a pressure cleaner at it for the last 14 months (probably 30-40 times washed) and possibly this might not have happened.
And really lastly, when folks suck through their teeth and say ooooh you shouldn't have pointed a pressure washer in that area like i should have know this..... put yourself in my position. I've owned motorbikes, race cars, worked on very large diesel generator sets, and have done no end of work on road going concrete mixers, and likely cleaned the lot of them with.... you guessed it a high pressure lance. only with vehicle electrical system did i ever consider shielding them from the effects of the water spray. So please don't jump to the conclusion that this was a deliberate act to self inflict this sort of trouble upon myself.
I await with baited breath to see the outcome from Bosch. As one other member has said on here on their thread regarding the CX drive! I happy to take this all the way to the small claims court if i have to pay for the replacement. Its a bike that goes in the mud, what was i expected to do with no warnings to the contrary.
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