Cube Bosch Performance cx Burns out

Izumojo

Just Joined
Jun 30, 2020
1
1
£2000 For a cube bike with Bosch performance cx. 3 years in and the motor burns out, dead. That’s it. Out of warranty and can’t be fixed. Other people must be having this problem. Bosch is no help (it’s out of warranty). Only option is another £8-900 to replace or dump the entire bike, which is now worthless.
 
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
15,971
6,292

he sells second hand motors and imo could use what you have for parts if the controller/pcb is toast just bung him a email ;)
 
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Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
19,990
8,172
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West Sx RH
Get your self a rear hub bike for reliability and then any part of the electrical system can be replaced should any thing burn out for matter of ££'s usually.
In 6 years I have replaced stuff to up grade on my hub bikes, had three mid drive kits and all have failed they just don't have the reliability.
 
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
15,971
6,292
or you just service it your self after the warranty ends ;)
DSC_0113_01.JPGDSC_0114.JPGDSC_0115.JPG
looking good after 5 years with a dongle :p
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
15,971
6,292
I told you, the flux capacitor is swollen. It could blow any time soon.
there is no flux capacitor that was a item in a film called back to the future and does not exist on a bosch controller pcb.

go google bga chip replacement and programming them and hack the bosch software so i can use a usb cable to change my motor settings via a laptop.

ill use the same link you gave me for all the answers to hack this system.

 

Deus

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 18, 2014
328
143
Dewsbury
£2000 For a cube bike with Bosch performance cx. 3 years in and the motor burns out, dead. That’s it. Out of warranty and can’t be fixed. Other people must be having this problem. Bosch is no help (it’s out of warranty). Only option is another £8-900 to replace or dump the entire bike, which is now worthless.
Are you sure you are not Andy Mat ?
 

Gavin

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 11, 2020
316
179
three mid drive kits and all have failed they just don't have the reliability.
Apologies for the thread-jack OP

@Nealh what motors were they and what happened to them? Were there common failure point in all of them?
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
19,990
8,172
60
West Sx RH
The controllers are the Achilles heel on the kits followed by the nylon drive gears.
Two were the ill fated GSM mid drive one failed at 250 miles and the other 70miles.
One was the BBS01 two controller fails both about the 1600 mark just not reliable enough.
The BBS one day I will dig out of the parts/scrap bin and have another go with an external controller to get it up and running as they can and do work. Although I got mine working the phase wasn't happy.
 

Gavin

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 11, 2020
316
179
Interesting. I suspect the nylon gears are designed as a "mechanical fuse" on all the mid-drives, loke the shear-pin on an outboard. Did they fail under high load?

Were the controller failures caused by overheating do you think?

As an aside, you might wanna contact the guy in this thread- he's looking for a broken mid-drive....

 

Andy-Mat

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 26, 2018
2,214
561
77
£2000 For a cube bike with Bosch performance cx. 3 years in and the motor burns out, dead. That’s it. Out of warranty and can’t be fixed. Other people must be having this problem. Bosch is no help (it’s out of warranty). Only option is another £8-900 to replace or dump the entire bike, which is now worthless.
Your post is very important to all Pedelecers, but especially the newer ones here, ones evaluating the market before buying.
I would like to personally thank you for telling us all, just how it is with many mid motor products, not just Bosch.
I hope that some reasonably priced solution, comes your way, but it may be possibly worth more to you personally (just guessing), selling the parts for spares, than the price of a new Chinese bike is on the market today.
(Bosch is also Chinese parts apparently, but they do not tell you that, so its a secret YOU MUST KEEP! :mad: :mad:)
For instance, my Chinese bike cost, with 2 batteries, all extras except the GPS module, including import duties and transport cost, only a little more than the replacement/repair of a defective Bosch mid motor, which apparently comes in at around £ 800.
(My bike cost just over £ 900 here delivered at the front door 3 years ago)
A thought, if the bike frame is still good, you could talk to some members here and find a good rear hub motor wheel kit, with battery and all electronics, for far less than getting your Bosch bike repaired....and as Nealh mentions in a post here, each and every part can be replaced at a comparatively minor cost, IF it goes wrong.
Just how complicated it will be to have a bike's Cranks grafted on, and it will depend on your DIY skills as well, but a good DIYer, might be able to do something, possibly working together with others here and their bikes with defective Bosch mid motors......Just a thought!
But maybe too much work, I am simply thinking aloud, sorry!
regards and condolences for your appalling Bosch problems, and many thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Andy
 

Andy-Mat

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 26, 2018
2,214
561
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Are you sure you are not Andy Mat ?
There is simply no need for anyone, least of all myself, to try those sort of child's games you talk and obviously know about.
As there are simply SO many people here, with 100% genuine mid motor problems in the e-bike world nowadays, especially in the higher price sector, showing just how awful some manufacturers are, without needing my help!;);););)
What I really do not understand, is why some people try to "shut down" any negative, but truthful accounts of Bosch's general wrongdoing? Wrongdoing they are still complicit in doing further.....
Do you yourself know why that is?
You would expect that any "honest" forum members would be only too happy to see true facts here, and not try to erase or whitewash them!
But each and every time, ANY member here mentions such problems of ANY mid motor bike (not just Bosch, but mostly!), certain people become apparently seemingly demented, that such a problem has come to light AND IS DISCUSSED BY OTHER MEMBERS OPENLY, to their chagrin!
I myself find that it does not show OUR Forum to any visitors or new members, in a very good light to try an "cover up" such things, and therefore should be ignored by the greater majority, of all our good, faithful and honest members.
Don't you also agree with that?
Awaiting your comments to my questions.
I wish us all here a really great day, mine even started a full hour before most of yours did!
CET Rules!!:):):)
Andy
 

Warwick

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 24, 2015
731
225
Warwick
It's not the fact that you discuss the issue; it's the fact that you do so endlessly, irrelevantly and hijack people's threads with you tirades. It's like Pavlov's dog when you see the word 'Bosch' and feel the need to vent your spleen ad infinitum. If you can't answer the original question in the thread, there's no need for you to add your 'wisdom'.
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,985
Basildon
This is a bit of a problem. I can't understand why some people just can't be honest. Over the years, I've had a lot of contact with dealers and people in the trade, so I hear lots of interesting stories and stuff. I can say categorically that people have been coming on the forum, recommending their bike and boasting about how reliable it's been, when they've had major problems that needed to be fixed during the warranty period.

Also, for some reason, people with expensive bikes never want to talk about the running and servicing costs. Does anybody know the annual cost of running a full-suspension mid-drive bike with the latest gears, when they take it somewhere off-road every weekend?

By expensive, I mean £1800 upwards.
 
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Gavin

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 11, 2020
316
179
@Andy-Mat, as soon as I saw the title of this post I knew it would be "Manna from Heaven" for you! You're clearly very impassioned about Bosch mid-drives for whatever reason.

I absolutely agree that people need to know facts, and the more facts a person has, the wiser they are. Your posts however, only contain opinion.

Please provide us with data to back up your opinions around mid-drives in general and Bosch in particular. Useful data would include:

What percentage of them break?
What is the average lifespan?
Percentage of breakages fixed under warranty and outside of warranty.
Average cost of repair.
Percentage of users that would recommend the brand.

This would at least allow potential purchasers a balanced, fact-based view of the market, and be a more valuable use of your time than simply slandering Bosch's reputation for no apparent gain....
 
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Andy-Mat

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 26, 2018
2,214
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For anyone who compares for themselves e-bikes, front hub, mid motor and rear hub, as I have done, may find as I did that the front hub simply does always not do a good job on certain, steep hills. Ones with a slippery surface, whether dust, mud or moisture, but, if you drive manly on the flat, and are maybe prepared to push on some steep hills, technically its the easiest one to repair punctures on! Some here could maybe do it blindfolded at night (when many punctures happen!)
I did not have any problems of balance, it rode well and gave a good battery range on the one I had to test from my neigbour!
Furthermore, front hubs doe not suffer from having to be pushed home if the chain or part of the chain drive breaks. Nor do they need to be pushed if the battery runs out of power!!

The problems of middle motors and their lack of long term reliability, possibly at least partly due to their being bought by amateurs that are not mechanically, electrically or electronically DIY minded, did go through my mind, but I have no valid proof of that!
The better DIYers apparently seem to keep them running longer reading om this Forum, but with how much effort, it is difficult to judge truthfully.
The well known, mid motor, "single point of failure", is very apparent in terms of wear and the need to carry a spare chain and tools for each and every ride. Not forgetting a light source that can be easily directed to the chain area, if biking at night!
Many mid motors have the battery forward of the rider, all the Bosch bikes I have myself seen, for example. And the rider's weight and motor weight, one above the other. This makes them too light at the rear IMHO.
It may be an explanation for a Lady rider, who kept coming off her bike in wet conditions that lives locally, even though she had good tyres, correctly inflated..... IMHO but she never was a slow rider from birth! Guessing only! But her husband could never ever keep up on his bike.....
But the Bosch offerings with electronic Data Bus (possibly the CanBus) connected parts - Battery, Controller, LCD and Motor - try to be modern, but all it does is, that it simply removes the possibility for a completely normal owner to use his own labour and to be able to buy and fit replacement parts.....
Bosch even stops most LBSs from buying parts too!!! SIMPLY AWFUL!!

The rear hub bike, which I have owned two of (still own one), which both were so well balanced, with the weight just where it should be, with battery hidden from view in the frame towards the handlebars, my weight keeping the rear hub's tyre tread firmly embedded on the road or track, allowing dramatically steep hills to be climbed still seated, at even my age of well over 73.
Furthermore, rear hubs doe not suffer from having to be pushed home if the chain or part of the chain drive breaks. Nor do they need to be pushed if the battery runs out of power as the likelihood of the chain breaking AND the battery being empty at one and the same time, are remote at best!!!
Such hills which would (and still do), have stressed any mid motor with plastic gears, heating both the motor and the plastic, with eventually disastrous results at some future point in time!
And at the same time, always stressing components in the chain area far more than Hubs.

In the above text, I am only comparing EU legal bikes only, no modified ones.

Have a great day all.
Andy
 
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vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,985
Basildon
@Andy-Mat, as soon as I saw the title of this post I knew it would be "Manna from Heaven" for you! You're clearly very impassioned about Bosch mid-drives for whatever reason.

I absolutely agree that people need to know facts, and the more facts a person has, the wiser they are. Your posts however, only contain opinion.

Please provide us with data to back up your opinions around mid-drives in general and Bosch in particular. Useful data would include:

What percentage of them break?
What is the average lifespan?
Percentage of breakages fixed under warranty and outside of warranty.
Average cost of repair.
Percentage of users that would recommend the brand.

This would at least allow potential purchasers a balanced, fact-based view of the market, and be a more valuable use of your time than simply slandering Bosch's reputation for no apparent gain....
That's not easy because a lot of it is hushed up. I was at a dealer a couple of years ago during the Bosch CX water ingress pandemic, and he showed me a pile of 5 or 6 Bosch motors waiting to go back. He told me that it wasn't just Bosch either.

Don't forget, these people have built a business on the back of it:
 
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Stanebike

Pedelecer
Jan 5, 2020
78
49
£2000 For a cube bike with Bosch performance cx. 3 years in and the motor burns out, dead.
Hi Izumojo
Sorry to hear of your problems. I’m curious so may I ask how was the motor diagnosed as burnt out? Was it diagnosed by a Bosch dealer or do you have a way of determining it yourself.

Thanks
 
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Gavin

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 11, 2020
316
179
That's not easy
That's the idea- it might keep @Andy-Mat busy for a few months!!

As you say, it's created a whole sub-industry on the mechanical side of things. I doubt anybody can be bothered to try and defeat their locked CANBUS systems though. Big investment in for a relatively small return....