my bike has died!

[NRG]

I can see as you get older the panasonic system being of great benefit because you can't or simply don't want to maintain a high cadence, so they are great for climbing hills. However I find them counter intuitive to climbing hills and as I'm no where near my 80's yet I much prefer hub drive plus physical effort to get me up them.....

 

[Grizzly Bear]

I can see as you get older the panasonic system being of great benefit because you can't or simply don't want to maintain a high cadence, so they are great for climbing hills. However I find them counter intuitive to climbing hills and as I'm no where near my 80's yet I much prefer hub drive plus physical effort to get me up them.....

The dissatisfied Kalkoff owners I know, in their 80s, were so frustrated with the slow hill climbing, that they found it necessary to pedal hard to gain sufficient speed so as not to feel vulnerable. If it's just you and the hill, great, but with the amount of badly driven motor vehicles on the road, you really need to climb faster to be safe.

Griz

 

[Old Timer]

What i have always though has come true, and that is these heavy moped style e bikes are near useless if not working electrically. With a kit on a quality donor bike at least if it plays up you can leave the battery of and still have transport.........

Ed

As we exchanged once before, I love my Evans kit bike, it is just so light to lift on and off the van and even with the battery it can be ridden home in an emergency.

Keep drinking the Chianti

 

[winterdog]

eddieo sorry to hear you are having such a bad time of
it

i had something a bit similar last week it turned out to be the micro switch on the break if you go the front junction box infront of the handle bars and disconnect the brake electric cables. looks to be some not gate when miroswitch is active motor is cut out (disconnect leaves motor active).
i now only have one active cut off brake(upside down)

davidk

 

[fishingpaul]

What i have always though has come true, and that is these heavy moped style e bikes are near useless if not working electrically. With a kit on a quality donor bike at least if it plays up you can leave the battery of and still have transport.........

I think the main reason for some kit bikes being easier to ride, is more down to the double and triple chainwheels on the donor bike,i have just replaced 12kilos of lead acid with 2 kilos of a123 batteries on my bike,it feels much easier to ride on the flat unpowered but even after losing 10 kilos of weight off the bike, it has made very little difference to riding it up hills without power,i have a 48 tooth chainring and i notice it looks far bigger than the large chainwheel on the other mountain bikes in the bike sheds,and they have at least one much smaller chainwheel to drop down to uphill,regarding your loss of power i think it is useless trying to troubleshoot problems without a multi meter,you can easilly check continuity from one wire to another,just unpluging and reconnecting a faulty connector would only lead to more problems in the future,a loose wire needs to be identified and recconnected properly.

 

[eddieo]

Well, we are back.....and I can write freely again without struggling on a Blackberry!

I must say the holiday was essentially ruined for me as we were prevented from carrying out planned excursions together. All was not lost! still swam, ate and drank excessively....... but there was a cloud over the proceedings because of the bike problem.

I tried on occasions over 3 day to find the wiring problem without luck although when you turn the throttle you do get a momentary kick.

cycling by vine and fields full of olive tree and pretty hill top towns is so much nicer they my normal grind through the delights that sarth london has to offer

I have lost confidence in the bikes to be honest, and I am very disappointed. As once I retire properly and go on longer motorhome trips, if this happened again, carting 25kg of useless metal around with me for a couple of months would really upset me

So a rethink is probably in order...a lighter high spec bike with a kit, that can be ridden without the battery more or less like a normal bike OR a course in e bike electrical maintenance and a bag of spare parts?

I will contact Norman tomorrow, and I know he will sort this out quickly and efficiently for me, as I said at the beginning of this thread if it happened here it would not matter as I have a choice of the 2 bikes, and this was a case of the worse case scenario.

I am shattered it was a long drive back

 

[flecc]

Glad you are back ok Eddie, and sorry to hear of your disappointment.

If changing brands, something like a Cytronex might suit, very light and easy to pedal without motor, the latter having almost no drag resistance anyway.

Alternatively, a Kalkhoff Pro Connect or a BH e-motion model might suit since they are quite easy to pedal without power and anyway, their Panasonic unit is incredibly reliable over years of use so hardly likely to ever fail on holiday.
.

 

[eddieo]

Thanks Tony!

with my weight thinking a more substantial bike then the cytronex would be necessary

Bionx or maybe the forthcoming wisper (naughty wisper!) kit may be of interest........ I have asked some questions on recent Bionx thread

the wisper has good sized 11 amp battery and dapush front motor, which appeals more then the bionX rear wheel set up.....what do you think. the dapush set up should hopefully be as powerful as what is fitted to the Alpino bikes?

 

[Mussels]

Did you fit the new 16.5A controller? Long shot but I get similar problems without the noise when the pedelec restriction is enabled and it might not just be mine with a problem.

 

[eddieo]

Did you fit the new 16.5A controller? Long shot but I get similar problems without the noise when the pedelec restriction is enabled and it might not just be mine with a problem.

sorry Andrew was this directed to me? I have a 905 not a 906?

Can a bigger controller be retro fitted to a 905?


before the holiday I had discussed with Norman that I was experiences a problem from time to time, a bit like the brakes being applied or a brief power cut and the throttle seemed to overide the problem, so I was not that concerned........ He had sugested it could be a controller problem but I said I would wait and see.

 

[flecc]

It certainly sounds like a controller problem. These are always possible and seem to be a main cause of the occasional failures on hub motor bikes, the motors themselves being very reliable. Changing to another hub motor model won't necessarily improve the odds against that happening again.

The BionX kits do have a good reliability record, their unique controller electronics being a very long established design. The latest Panasonic electronics have to be made very reliable since they are integrated into the sealed unit and not replaceable.

Once you've sorted this problem though, your 905 will probably run for years without any further problems, since it sounds as though it might have been on the verge of failure for a long time. I and a subsequent owner ran a Panasonic unit Lafree for over 6 years and I've run two eZee bikes for four years, all without any electronic failures, so you should be able to look forward to the same reliability.
.

 

[Old Timer]

Eddie

Did you buy the 905 new?

 

[Mussels]

sorry Andrew was this directed to me? I have a 905 not a 906?

Can a bigger controller be retro fitted to a 905?

It was, I don't know if the controllers are similar enough for it to be a design fault. It was a long shot and probably not connected.

 

[eddieo]

Dave, I bought it in March this year. It was an ex demo model, only exhibited once, at the London bike show in November 2009.........Supplied with a new battery as well

OK Mussels.....maybe there are problems with the controllers then. but when it went wrong, at end of a long hill climb, the noise was very alarming, I kinda assumed it was the motor......but what do I know!

 

[flecc]

One phase of the controller out or the wiring from it into a Hall sensor into the motor can produce some horrible sounds from the motor that make it sound as though it's destroying itself. Once the connection or controller are corrected, the noise disappears.
.

 

[eddieo]

One phase of the controller out or the wiring from it into a Hall sensor into the motor can produce some horrible sounds from the motor that make it sound as though it's destroying itself. Once the connection or controller are corrected, the noise disappears.
.

sounds like that is it.....a spare controller in the parts kit then?

the beauty of a kit is you can take the original non motor wheel with you on holidays and easily convert back to a normal bike.

 

[Old Timer]

One phase of the controller out or the wiring from it into a Hall sensor into the motor can produce some horrible sounds from the motor that make it sound as though it's destroying itself. Once the connection or controller are corrected, the noise disappears.
.

I did touch on that myself earlier, when I lengthened the cable on my powertrek and got one wire badly connected it was like destruction.

 

[Old Timer]

sounds like that is it.....a spare controller in the parts kit then?

the beauty of a kit is you can take the original non motor wheel with you on holidays and easily convert back to a normal bike.

It`s sods law, if you took a whole new spare bike it wouldn`t be needed. I make you right about being able to put the original wheel back if something goes amiss but there is a big difference on holiday with mixed terrain and a manual bike.
When E biking is such a major part of the enjoyment of a holiday( and it would be for me now as well) and if I were to be away for two or three months then I would have to seriously consider enough spares to put the bike back on the road. Where there are two people(husband and wife) then two bikes that could share parts would make big sense and take a spare hub wheel, controller, battery and maybe twist grip. Some people are going to say that it`s over the top but when it`s your enjoyment then it`s worth making room for! period.

 

[Old Timer]

Eddio

Meant to add.

My converted bike is a 25 year old Evans MTB, I bought it on a whim and it got very little use, it was in my garage till I moved up to Norfolk 10 years ago when it was put in my greenhouse(yes! the greenhouse)Anyway, after getting into e biking and wanting to play around my wife suggested I dig out the Evans(and boy did it need digging out) anyway, because it cost a fair penny all those years ago and after a clean and service it road like a new bike. I fitted it with an Alien kit(2009 model) and the front hub ballanced the rear battery nicely. It is a joy to ride which brings me to my point. You just can`t beat putting a conversion onto a decent bike to start with and it always amazes just how light and competitive that frame is against the more modern ali framed and suspension loaded frames it is.
They just seemed to make better frames a while ago. As far as conversion kits are concerned then I`d be the first to admit that the Alien kits need a touch of polishing ( nothing serious, just fine tuning) but you just can`t beat being able to talk to someone like Jim or Roy at Alien and when approached in the right manner they will always move heaven and earth to put things right or even supply small parts that improve on the original. I`ve never seen let alone tried a Bionx kit and have no doubt from views on the forum that they are the dogs private parts but keep an open mind and make sure you put money into the bike frame and acc`s then you`ll find that something like an Alien kit will keep you smiling and carrying some spares on the camper van won`t break the bank.
I know one thing, if I were away for a decent length of time and ran into a problem then Jim would have found a way of getting parts to me in Europe within a day or two.

 

[eddieo]

well it seems that things are a changing with Wisper support......Norman is oft to bigger things within the company and warranty support is with a company in Woking "CycleMech"

Had a chat with new chap, and will drop the bike of in the next few days.....

I liked dealing with Norman