Kickstand failure on my eZee Quando II

bersh

Pedelecer
Jul 31, 2007
38
0
Yikes, two days ago, I discovered that my "U " shaped kickstand had completely separated from my bicycle's frame. Both welds had fractured, and there was a hole in the frame, part of the detachment. I phoned the dealer and per his request, emailed him a photo of the damage. But one thing the representative said was troubling: he referred to the possibility that I had sat on the bike while it was on the kickstand, which, would create the failure. I feel that just the possibility of this design failure exonerating the manufacturer from responsibility, or making responsibility impossible to determine is unreasonable and a potential cop out.

Since my bike is about six months old, and is three thousand miles away from the dealer, these complicating factors are troubling. I am hoping for some positive outcome, but in the meantime, WILL ANYONE WHO HAS HEARD OF THIS KIND OF FAILURE, PLEASE RESPOND. The dealer's rep whom I spoke with, said that he had heard of similar failures, and suggested that one solution would be to attach an auxillary kickstand to replace the original-a totally unacceptable and again, troubling possibility.

This bicycle has no more than three hundred miles on it.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
I'm afraid this is normal on any bike Bersh, from brand new, and particularly so with an alloy frame, they simply cannot be sat on with the bike on it's stand without risk of breakage. I've seen split lower tubes and separated welds even on steel frames in the past. Making any bicycle frame unconditionally strong enough to withstand those sort of twisting forces on the tubes would mean very thick and larger diameter tubes and the bike being impossibly heavy.

I wouldn't expect to sit on the bike on it's stand with my 11 stones / 70 kilos weight, and, forgive me if I'm wrong, I seem to remember that you are somewhat heavier than me.

If the controller, keyswitch and battery support are unbolted and tied to one side, plus the wheel slipped out, the frame could be welded by someone experienced with welding thinwall aluminium tubing, and the best place to explore to get that done would probably be a motorcycle dealership. They would be competent to disconnect those parts, and also often have experience of aluminium repairs done on motorcycle frames.
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bersh

Pedelecer
Jul 31, 2007
38
0
kickstand

Flecc, your memory of my weight (127lb) is pretty amazing. I did not indicate that not only had I never sat on the bicycle while it was on its stand, but that actually trying to do that would be pretty hard to do, since putting the key in the bike, taking it off the stand, and then getting on the bike are my normal sequence of every takeoff.

I was referring to the notation in the slim manual accompanying my eZee, the dealer's referring to that scenario, and trying to find anyone who had my experience which came from normal bicycle useage. Putting the bicycle on its stand, and removing it, require a fair amount of stress on the kick stand/mounting welds. I guess the big question is, what is the failure rate, and thus, would the president of eZee bicycles come forward and describe exactly what kind of repetitive stress testing was done on the kickstand/welds before the bike was allowed to go into the market place?
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
Understood Bersh, it wasn't clear from your original posting whether you had sat on the stand or not. I can only say that I've had no trouble with mine, either with the original stand or the slightly longer legged one I added when I converted the bike. As I said, I've seen both breakages and split welds, both where no-one has necessarily sat on the bike on the stand, but I have never heard of this on a Quando, or any eZee bike to date, all the models using the centre stand mounting. Given the material used, it's certainly just as possible on them as any other alloy frame bike.

The tubing is fairly standard thinwall stuff, which I know from when I deliberately separated two of the welds when I converted to the Q bike form, and this isn't very strong against twisting forces as when a bike is put on a stand and it bangs against the stop.

Perhaps it would be an idea to try the main contacts now. eZeebike's main agent for the USA is Eric Sundin at:

Electric Bikes Northwest
Website: Electric Bikes Northwest
E-mail: info@ebikesnw.com
Tel: 206/547 4621

If you cannot then get satisfaction, the eZeebike president is Mr Wai Won Ching:

EZEE KINETICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Tel: +86 21 58 22 40 40
E-mail.: ezeebike@gmail.com

Hope that's some help and that you get this resolved to your satisfaction.
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Bandruidh

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 6, 2009
7
0
Kickstand failure on Ezee Sprint


Though the previous post was some time ago the problem still remains!
My Ezee Sprint has exactly the same trouble but I was able to get an expert aluminum welder to repair the break in the weld which has lasted just 12 days!
The fundamental reason, to my eyes, is that the stand weld to the frame is barely supported by the frame and relys on the strenght of the weld to support the stand rather than the frame being the stronger base.
Having gone through considerable expense and trouble to get it welded I was exteremely reluctant to see if it could be rewelded again so I have glass fibred it in place which lasted 5 days inspite of treating the stand as a fragile article. Now i have sent for a single prop stand from Wheelcare(UK) of Alsager, Stoke -on - Trent. This fits onto the rear axle so I trust it will work as distinct from the stands that are fitted behind the seat stem.
I am replying to a post as I cannot find out on this forum how to just post a new post ; the FAQs are no help so how do I do it please?
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
New posts like this normally go into the Electric Bikes forum, top one in the forums list. When you enter that forum, you'll see a blue button at the top left hand with New Thread on it. Click that and you get boxes to enter the thread title and subject. Click the Submit button and you'll see your new thread appear at the top just below the sticky threads.

Regarding your fault, the only incidents we've heard of this on the eZee range are the two in this thread, and we have many members with eZee bikes, I've owned two myself since mid 2006.
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Bandruidh

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 6, 2009
7
0
Kickstand failure


Thank you for your guidance how to put on a "Thread"
I am a real beginner to a forum; I thought that one posted a "post" is it the same as a thread?

I tried to put my thread (post?) on to a new form by copy and paste but that did not seem to work.
In view of the time elapsed perhaps as you imply it should be a new post /thread?

I received the new kickstand and it was only a couple of minutes job to fit it and it works very well.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
Basically a "thread" is a new subject and it appears in the list of subjects to select from in a forum. A "post" is usually used to mean a response within a thread, the response entered by clicking the Reply button under the last post in that thread.

The title box in a new thread has to be completed so a subject shows, the title box in a reply does not have to be used.

I'm glad the new stand works ok for you, bypassing the original problem.
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Michael of Gwynedd

Pedelecer
Jun 30, 2008
39
0
Caernarfon, Gwynedd
The kickstand on my eZee Forza snapped off about three months ago, I’d parked the bike on the lawn of a friend’s house and on leaving, somehow managed to push the bike over onto the stand so the whole weight was on the stand. This was my fault and I purchased a new stand at Siop Y Modur (Motor Shop) in Caernarfon for £5.99.

(The weld on the frame was fine, the stand had snapped across its hinge)

Siop y Modur had a choice of black or silver, the latter being £6.99. I opted to buy the black stand as this matched the colour of the Forza.

It appeared to be the same make and design on the broken stand apart from having a hexagonal screw to secure the stand to the frame.

I had difficulty in using the hexagonal screw, as I couldn’t get my spanner or socket wrench to fit, so I used the allan screw that originally came with the Forza, by using a long allan key.

The new stand is still in place and working well.

Michael.
 

brigaf

Finding my (electric) wheels
Nov 14, 2006
13
0
south lincs
prop stand falure

my ezee sprint,bought second hand from this site some 2 years ago,has had hard use but is still sound and on the original battery.a couple of punctures have been the only problems up to now,but the propstand plate broke yesterday:a fatigue fracture near where the mounting plate has a right angle bend,looks if it has been failing for some time,the break is part shiny metal part rusted. this may convince my wife that I really need a new bike,not.
 

Bandruidh

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 6, 2009
7
0
Broken Kickstand on EZEE

My rear axle mounted propstand as in my post of August last continues to work well for which I am very thankful as repairs to the weld of the frame mounted kickstand are certainly a "No No"
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,761
30,348
Good to hear Bandruidh. Replacement with a different type rather than repair seems to be the best option with these stand problems.
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