Hey guys , I purchased a basis Hunter September last year and it’s been nothing but problems with the brakes from the start, I know the bike is pretty heavy but replacing brake pads once a week to me is just daft , contacted ebikes direct and although they were very polite wanted me to send in pads like that might be a way to diagnose the problem, anyway I got maguras put on the back and a disc brake on front , as I’d seen this be able to be done with elec still working, long story short , elec now doesn’t want to work , wondering if anyone has experience if how to get this thing working again before it goes in the bin , tia
Basis hunter
- Thread starter Blondred
- Start date
You most likely would of had cut off sensors/connections on the previous brake levers. I don't know how or if you still have them connected.
Vbrakes are not ideal on ebikes, so you've made a worthwhile upgrade, you should be able to disconnect the previous cut off connectors at the controller to get the bike working again
Vbrakes are not ideal on ebikes, so you've made a worthwhile upgrade, you should be able to disconnect the previous cut off connectors at the controller to get the bike working again
I'm going to guess that you cut the brake wires instead of disconnecting them. If that's not it, you need to give more details of what you actually did with them. Whatever you did, disconnecting them should fix it.
Hi thanks for your reply - the bike shop removed the plugs and I did test the bike with the plugs removed before changing the brakes.
There was a strange alternate flashing on the controller between the two lines of leds before it switched off and after that the controller won’t won’t even switch on
I hope that makes sense
Thanks for then response, the connectors weren’t cut but disconnected, I’m not too well up on this stuff but there was an error on the led display if you can call it that before it totally gave up the ghost , not sure what do do now going forward lol
next step would be to check your controller system is pushing out the 5v for sensors and the headset/display unit. the brake sensor sockets if 3x wire/connections would be an ideal place to probe and check.
An often overlooked issue can be the matting/sitting of the battery, with age and knocks plastic can deform and the battery may need a shim or 2 to position it correctly for a good connection?
An often overlooked issue can be the matting/sitting of the battery, with age and knocks plastic can deform and the battery may need a shim or 2 to position it correctly for a good connection?
That’s a good starting point. And I really can’t say how helpful this
I really don’t know anything about bikes but I want this back up and running!The controller is very basic and there is only a plug similar to the brakes connected to it and there is no other device for operating it. Is there an other part that should be accessible. I really can’t see anything apart from the battery
I don’t know what the error was though as I can’t find any info on it anywhere, and now it’s not turning on
Google for an online manual for your bike that details error codes, use the keyword ".pdf" in the search string and any relevant results will return a page count so you can bypass overlook the 2-3page intro docs and focus on longer detailed in depth manual options if available.
Post pics of your controller and its connections if your unsure how to test, a bog standard multi meter is a must for ebike diagnosis and battery voltage checks.. £10 should get you a fairly good basic model. I have a couple of el-cheapo aneng brand meters that work a treat with nice big clear displays.
Post pics of your controller and its connections if your unsure how to test, a bog standard multi meter is a must for ebike diagnosis and battery voltage checks.. £10 should get you a fairly good basic model. I have a couple of el-cheapo aneng brand meters that work a treat with nice big clear displays.
Bought my Basis Hunter off eBay for £350 two years ago. Done nearly 4000 miles since. Wore through both rims with countless brake blocks, replaced front wheel (donor bike), had back rebuilt professionally with new rim (to keep same motor) for around £100. New rim started to wear, so have upgraded everything to disc brakes, the frame has the mountings. Got discs and another front wheel off a scrap Carrera, new calipers from Amazon. My motor didn't work initially, so I refit the new brake cables and it has been fine since. I think there's a switch internal to the brake lever.
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Cable disc brakes are better than rim brakes, in that they don't wear the rims, but they're pretty crappy as brakes, and they soon go out of adjustment, which causes their performance to drop off. Even the cheapest Chinese disc brakes are miles better, and they never need any adjustment, so you get consistent and predictable braking for many thousands of miles. You can also get cable operated hydraulic brakes from Aliexpress that are a lot better than normal cable disc brakes because they never need adjustment. I'd say that they're about 2/3 the way between cable discs and hydraulic ones.
High-performance Cable-actuated Hydraulic Disc Brake Caliper Front and Rear Road Mountain Bikes Outdoor Cycling Accessories - AliExpress
MTB Bike Hydraulic Disc Brake Oil Pressure Caliper Clamp Brake 160mm Front Rear handle A B-pillar CNC bicycle Accessories upgrad - AliExpress
With switches if you need them. They do the waterproof connectors too.:
XOD Ebike Bike Hydraulic Disc Brake Electricty power control shifter disc brake hydraulic bicycle brake SM Plug - AliExpress 18
High-performance Cable-actuated Hydraulic Disc Brake Caliper Front and Rear Road Mountain Bikes Outdoor Cycling Accessories - AliExpress
MTB Bike Hydraulic Disc Brake Oil Pressure Caliper Clamp Brake 160mm Front Rear handle A B-pillar CNC bicycle Accessories upgrad - AliExpress
With switches if you need them. They do the waterproof connectors too.:
XOD Ebike Bike Hydraulic Disc Brake Electricty power control shifter disc brake hydraulic bicycle brake SM Plug - AliExpress 18
Useful info! In over 50 years of cycling I'd never had discs, didn't have a clue, but helping my grandson with his bike taught me a few new things! I've fitted hydraulics to his but it's not an ebike so yeah would need research to put hydraulics on my Hunter. Was very simple to move to cable discs as a first step, and the whole upgrade cost under £30 so no biggie to upgrade again.
You can buy new and used hydraulic brakes for the same price. Fitting is identical - basically three screws. After fitting cable disc brakes, you have to do two adjustments, one to get the fixed pad close to the disc and the other to get the cable length right. You don't have to do any of that with hydraulic brakes. Just put them on with the three screws, and they work perfectly. There's nothing to research.
I'll explain the difference.
Hydraulic brakes have two pistons that push each pad onto the disc. As the pressure is the same on each side, they're self-aligning. When the pads wear, the level goes down in the reservoir a bit, so the system is self-adjusting.
Cable disc brakes have a fixed pad and a moving one that's operated by a screw or ball mechanism. The one moving pad has to bend the disc onto the fixed one. As the fixed pad wears, the disk has to be bent further and further to reach it, and the braking efficiency becomes less and less. Also, the pads wear at an angle because of the angled disc. After adjusting the fixed pad to reduce the amount of bend, the angle of the disc when making contact with the disc, no longer matches the pads, so efficiency is not good and the wear rate is high. The system is flawed in its concept. Once you try hydraulic brakes, there's no way back.