I refer to the Shimano Alfine 11 hub on my Rose/Bosch bike.
Regular readers will know I've been getting false neutrals on the hub.
This got worse, and the box rarely wanted to go into second gear at all.
Things came to a head for me when I was left in neutral in heavy traffic on the level crossing at Northallerton during my ride to York.
Very disconcerting, which in turn means unsafe.
I draw the line there, so back the wheel went to Maddison/Shimano.
No bull was used, I told them it was on an 18-month old Rose ebike and had done about 2,000 miles.
The good news is they accepted it as a warranty claim.
The wheel was returned about three weeks later with a brief letter from the technician to say the planetary gears were not engaging and, cutting a short letter short, he'd replaced the guts of the hub.
Not only that, but it was returned with a new sprocket, the same size as the larger one I had fitted.
It would have been all too easy for Maddison to say it's out of warranty or the hub had been over geared due to the larger sprocket, so fair play to them.
I've done a couple of short rides and all appears to be well.
The owner of the bike shop who administered the return told me service from Maddison is generally pretty good
There have been a few reports of the Alfine 11 misbehaving, so I wonder if there is a tacit acceptance it wasn't all it should be.
Apparently something similar happened with some suspension forks, a couple of the shop's customers were given a 'don't ask any questions' upgrade.
It's comforting to know there is a proper route to service for a lot of the components on the bike, if not the motor.
Regular readers will know I've been getting false neutrals on the hub.
This got worse, and the box rarely wanted to go into second gear at all.
Things came to a head for me when I was left in neutral in heavy traffic on the level crossing at Northallerton during my ride to York.
Very disconcerting, which in turn means unsafe.
I draw the line there, so back the wheel went to Maddison/Shimano.
No bull was used, I told them it was on an 18-month old Rose ebike and had done about 2,000 miles.
The good news is they accepted it as a warranty claim.
The wheel was returned about three weeks later with a brief letter from the technician to say the planetary gears were not engaging and, cutting a short letter short, he'd replaced the guts of the hub.
Not only that, but it was returned with a new sprocket, the same size as the larger one I had fitted.
It would have been all too easy for Maddison to say it's out of warranty or the hub had been over geared due to the larger sprocket, so fair play to them.
I've done a couple of short rides and all appears to be well.
The owner of the bike shop who administered the return told me service from Maddison is generally pretty good
There have been a few reports of the Alfine 11 misbehaving, so I wonder if there is a tacit acceptance it wasn't all it should be.
Apparently something similar happened with some suspension forks, a couple of the shop's customers were given a 'don't ask any questions' upgrade.
It's comforting to know there is a proper route to service for a lot of the components on the bike, if not the motor.
