Who will carry spare frames then, and which dealers will have the expertise to strip and repair a Bosch motor?
D8veh,
Its the distributor that will carry frame spares. The dealer will carry more accessible/common spares.
Its the dealers responsibility to carry out repairs. Although not all dealers will strip a motor, its the more serious dealers that will help. Its common for a new motor to be replaced by the distributor than repaired by the dealer. Although that said, the first thing I do when stocking any electric bike here; is to strip it entirely down to bare bones including the motor so I can be on hand if there are any problems further down the line. I know this is not the approach of all but I like to know where I stand when talking to customers regarding more specific questions/problems relating to the motor etc.
Unfortunately its always been a viscous circle in the bike trade that if the end consumer has a problem and they contact the manufacturer, the manufacturer points them to the distributor and the distributor points you back to the dealer. We as a dealer then work back up the line to sort the problem for you.
This is normally when the problem arises; with the dealer.
I guess the lesson to be learned is to buy from a dealer that is not just there to sell you a bike but to be therefore you in the future. This is obviously not easy to determine as every dealer seems like the nicest chap in the world when their selling you something.
I suppose the good dealers are the ones that last and that get a good reputation in the trade.
Martin