Ezee Sprint brakes

[Jeanette Morgan]

Hi, both my husband and I have an Ezee Sprint, living in hilly Cornwall. We have only had them for a couple of months, they were definitely a good choice. Having experience of a Brompton with a Heinzmann motor, and a Giant Twist electric bike, I find the brakes on my Sprint somewhat different. The one on the right seems very spongy - I have adjusted the brake cable a couple of times, but that brought the brake pads so close to the wheel that I altered it back - the brakes still work ok - sometimes they brake very hard indeed. The one on the left to the back wheel I don't understand at all - it does not really seem to do anything, although it does seem to work when riding, there are no visible pads that I can see.

The above said, the bike always stops safely, even on the steepest hills, I just wonder why the brake handles seem so soft, and almost touch the handle grips, Any tips so I can be confident of my brakes?

Also can anyone explain the automatic cut out of the electric, when the brake is applied. As I naturally brake approaching a junction, or roundabout, there is always a period of time, sometimes about 30 seconds, before the throttle will work (I switch to ebike on approach to the roundabout).

Many thanks
Jeanette

 

[flecc]

Hello Jeanette, it's difficult to explain a difference between the two, unless one is an older model where the specification has changed a bit.

The rear brake is a Shimano Roller Brake. THis works entirely differently from using pads or blocks. When the brake is applied, steel rollers ride up ramps in the hub centre into a derceasing gap and so retard the wheel rotation. This type of brake has a slower initial reaction but has the advantage of virtually never wearing out. It is soft acting at the lever.

The soft action of the front lever results from the type of V brake and the brake pads used. Rims brakes wear rims through with use, and this can be accelerated when stopping a heavy bike like an electric one. That's easily solved with a new rim built on normally, but not so easy when it's an electric drive wheel, hence a need to minimise the wear. The pads provided do give a soft feel, my much faster Torq is just the same, but it's mainly a matter of getting used to the difference in feel.

If the front wheel rim is quite true, it should be possible to adjust the pads quite close, but you may need to balance the arms side to side by adjusting the grub screws, but don't end up with a situation where both are overtightened and the arm springs are fighting each other. If you're not happy about doing that a cycle shop can do it easily.

Other than that, just accept it's a soft action and don't carry on squeezing the lever in an attempt to find a hard feel point, since that will bring the lever up to the bar as you describe and then cause snatch as it leads to excess braking force on the rim.

I have some sympathy with your comments since I grew up in an era of steel rims, hard pads and very firm acting brakes. Unfortunately they didn't work at all in wet weather though!

 

[Jeanette Morgan]

Thanks Flec,

In fact my previous experience with brakes is not with a Sprint - I have the latest model - You comments are very helpful, I now feel more confident about them. I appreciate what you say about balancing the arms side to side - however, i was not sure whether to lossen or tighten the grub screws (by these you mean the ones that lie horizontally which stick out a little). I was worried they might come right out, or the whole thing might fall apart!! - I'll look at them later this week. Fortunately I have a good bike shop, only trouble is getting there at this busy time of year.

Any thoughts on the electric cut out of the break mentioned in my posting?

regards
Jeanette

 

[flecc]

On the grub screws Jeanette, try balancing them inward at first, but if they seem to suddenly balance the arms first one way, then the other, quite suddenly, back them off so that there's not much spring action either side and then take them in equally until balance is achieved without them fighting each other too much.

Sorry, I forgot to answer the slow reaction of the motor. This isn't usually connected with the brake cutouts but is commonly a slow throttle reaction all the time on these bikes. The same applies to all the eZee models with this battery system and I've described the action to take on my Torq Talk site.

Here's the extract of the most likely cause, followed by the link to my site page giving further infomation:

"The main indicator of a connection problem is any delay in the throttle response, this due to the software being very sensitive to any resistance at this point. The first action to correct this is to thoroughly clean both the brass posts and the battery clips (soon to be nickel plated) with a suitable cleaning fluid. I've tried switch contact cleaner, but it's inclined to attract road dust etc so is not suitable. The best liquid for this purpose is isopropyl alcohol which you can get from a dispensing chemist, 100 ml will last a very long time. Squeeze the pad of a cotton bud with pliers to slim it down, lightly moisten it with your chosen cleaner and thoroughly clean the contact ridge area of the battery clips and the brass posts on the battery tray."

batteries

N.B. Any solvent cleaner will help on the battery posts initially, just unplugging the battery and replugging it often cures the problem. The throttle response should be quite quick all the time.

 

[Jim]

Hi Jeanette

we've just recieved a few of the levers fitted to the newer torq which have a more positive feel, if after trying to adjust yours, they still feel soft give us a call and we'll supply you with a pair of the new levers.

Cheers

Jim Morris
Technical Manager
50cycles.