Agattu Lights and gears

[lemmy]

My Agattu has been back to 50Cycles with non functioning lights.
It now has the opposite problem and the b****y lights won't turn off!

All 3 switch positions have the lights on full time - and I don't want the light on in day time. Any other owners out there had the same problem?

Also, the gears. The cable keeps popping out, so you change down and find yourself still in top gear.

Today going up one the steepest hills in Richmond Park, it slipped out and, unable to pedal, I had to dismount rapidly.

I can't send the bike back to Loughborough again so any advice would be gratefully received.

By the way, Flecc, you recommended a bike shop to me in South Croydon. What a friendly bunch there and happy to deal the with a pedalec. Very different from my LBS. Thanks. Perhaps I'd best just get them to sort this out.

 

[flecc]

Yes, Bike Plus are nice people and have plenty of past experience on Panasonic powered bikes. Paul and co
there will be happy to help. They should be able to sort that sticky change and may be able to sort the
lighting too.
.

 

[Fecn]

All 3 switch positions have the lights on full time - and I don't want the light on in day time. Any other owners out there had the same problem?

You're not just being fooled by the standlight function are you? The lights will stay on for about 10 mins after being used so that you don't get flattened by cars when you're waiting at the traffic lights. The rear light has a small square red button on top which will turn off the standlight when you press it. The front light has no buttons at all though - The little white LED will glow until it's capacitor/battery runs flat.

With the switch, the uppermost position is the always-on setting, the centre position is the light-sensitive automatic settings, and the bottom-most one is lights-off.

Also, the gears. The cable keeps popping out, so you change down and find yourself still in top gear.

I had this problem on my Agattu too, but I changed the Nexus7 on mine to a Nuvinci, so it ceased to be an issue. I suspect that this may be caused by the way the gear cable routes down behind the motor unit - There's a bit of a bend in there which can only be causing friction inside the cable sleeve. My guess is that a bit of lubricant inside the sleeve would help matters considerably.

 

[lemmy]

You're not just being fooled by the standlight function are you?

With the switch, the uppermost position is the always-on setting, the centre position is the light-sensitive automatic settings, and the bottom-most one is lights-off.
. My guess is that a bit of lubricant inside the sleeve would help matters considerably.

Thanks - I've just been out to the bike after reading your answer.

It has been standing in the shed for 3 hours with lights in the off, lowest position. When I spin the front wheel, the front and rear lights come on. As the wheel comes to a stop the front light goes out and the rear stays on until the rear 'off' button us pushed. Exactly the same happens in all 3 positions.

The gears, it ruins the pleasure of riding the bike but I think I may have just got one of those bad ones, Friday night special as they used to say at Leyland!

I'll try some lubricant as you suggest. I have to say I don't expect to be doing these things with a machine I've just forked out £1400 for, sale item or not.

As Flecc says Bike Plus can probably get it sorted.

 

[musicbooks]

Hi Lemmy,
Very interesting. I'm having similar problems. A few weeks back I demoed my bike and the test rider crashed my gears and wrenched the gear cable out of its socket ( I assumed that's what had happened ). Subsequently, gear changing was pretty much hit or miss. Lloyd at 50C was very helpful as usual and suggested I contact a local bike shop for repair. I took the bike to Avon Cycles in Bath and they replaced the cable. But when I got it home, the gears started crunching again. I noticed that there was quite a bit of slack in the cable down by the pedals. I fact I had to tape it down to the frame as I was worrying it would snag on the pedal cog. needless to say, I'm not impressed with their service. ( sad as they sell electric bikes)

So the situation now is that when I change down it sticks in 7th or 6th until I reach 1st and then crunches and jumps down. OK changing up on the whole, but when I'm going uphill I'm not sure the micro chip in the power unit fully recognises what gear I'm in and it feels very difficult at times.

Lights: My rear light has stopped working completely. I don't think the design of the front light helps because when you adjust the light it is very easy to pull out the connector plugs attcahed to the bottom, for the rear light. So when I investigated the problem, sure enough, the plugs had disconnected, but when I re-connected, the light still didn't work.

I'm going to contact Lloyd again and I'll let you know what he says. I am feeling rather concerned now about being a demonstrator as I don't think many people are used to hub gears any more and tend to crash the gear system ( failure to pause before changing).

BW
musicbooks

 

[musicbooks]

cable update

Hi Lemmy,
I contacted Lloyd and within 2 mins had the technician on the phone. TNow that's what I call customer service! They think it might be something quite simple. I'll keep you posted on developments.
BW
musicbooks

 

[JamesC]

Hi Lemmy,
Very interesting. I'm having similar problems. A few weeks back I demoed my bike and the test rider crashed my gears and wrenched the gear cable out of its socket ( I assumed that's what had happened ). Subsequently, gear changing was pretty much hit or miss. Lloyd at 50C was very helpful as usual and suggested I contact a local bike shop for repair. I took the bike to Avon Cycles in Bath and they replaced the cable. But when I got it home, the gears started crunching again. I noticed that there was quite a bit of slack in the cable down by the pedals. I fact I had to tape it down to the frame as I was worrying it would snag on the pedal cog. needless to say, I'm not impressed with their service. ( sad as they sell electric bikes)

BW
musicbooks

Hi Lemmy and Musicbooks

It is important to check that the outer cable is sitting completely home into the socket of the hub gear cassette at the back wheel.

If the outer has got pulled out a bit, you can find that you make the correct adjustments to align the yellow marks in 4th gear, but as soon as you use the bike, the adjustment slips.

Underneath the chain stay, there is a rubber grommet holding the outer cable against the frame. Check that there is enough of a curve in the cable on the hub side for the outer to fit to the bottom of the cup.

There are 2 reasons that it might have pulled out a bit:
1. Something snags the cable at the handlebar end, and pulls the outer back towards the handlebars.
2. Moving the backwheel further into the dropout slot to tighten the chain causes the gear cable outer to pull out a bit from the cup.

James

 

[lemmy]

Hi Lemmy,
I contacted Lloyd and within 2 mins had the technician on the phone. TNow that's what I call customer service! They think it might be something quite simple. I'll keep you posted on developments.
BW
musicbooks

Thanks! The lights seem to be very second rate and troublesome on these bikes.

The gears, I'll check but it looks like this damned bike is turning me into a bike technician again. My bike is less than two weeks old and has been back to Loughborough once for the lights. This sort of stuff should have been sorted before I got it.

I'm wondering if I've been given someone's returned bike? The battery on mine was 3 LEDs charged when it was delivered.

 

[flecc]

The battery on mine was 3 LEDs charged when it was delivered.

That is normal for these batteries, they leave manufacture like that and should always be fully charged before use.
.

 

[tillson]

The gears, I'll check but it looks like this damned bike is turning me into a bike technician again. My bike is less than two weeks old and has been back to Loughborough once for the lights. This sort of stuff should have been sorted before I got it.

It is definitely worth checking the gear adjustment and checking the cable anchor points as James describes. Even if the bike had been set up properly by 50C when you took delivery, you may find that a combination of inner cable stretch and outer sheath compression will quickly put the gears out of adjustment. It's just a fact of life with a new bike. It will settle down, but you need to keep checking the adjustment for the first few hundred miles.

ps The lights aren't brilliant are they. Might be worth investing a few extra pounds in a decent secondary set.