Noel

Hi flecc, Again, thanks for the advice. Im thinking that I can live with 23 miles of range. The battery is weak but useable. The island i live on is only 6 miles long. All the grocery stores, etc. are 1.3 miles away. I wont push the battery again to its limits and ill recharge after every use (wait 1 hr. before recharging?) Yesterday i had a load (chair, table, cooler, fishing gear, etc) and i did 9.6 miles with a strong headwind (15 mph) on the way home and i had 1 bar of battery level left which i dont think is too bad considering the total weight of a heavy bike and a 200# rider. I used 50% assist on the way back and 100% the last 1.5 miles and then sprinted the last .2 miles at 200% assist. Also the battery level indicator isnt showing truly whats left of the battery, it indicates less than what is actually there.

I currently am doing a test to find out the range of the battery. I made it to 17.8 miles until i reached zero battery level on the indicator. I continued riding on zero level and ive gone a further 5.6 miles for a total of 23.4 miles mostly on 50% assist. Ive noticed in 50% assist it seems slightly weak but when i jump to 200% assist it pulls ok. Is there a final warning light or beep that will let me know that the battery is getting ready to shut down or will it do so with no warning?

Yes, you are correct. If I were to keep it Id convert it over but I dont like the riding position so Im putting it up for sale. The bike is really handy though, like a pick up truck.

It's too bad that Trek makes the system proprietry. Even using the Bionx platform they change it so that one cant use a Bionx battery for replacement and when Trek quits making the replacement battery for the Transport then the hub itself is unusable. I'll take your advice and put it up for sale and ride it until I sell it. At least for a potential buyer a new battery is available. Too bad they quit making it. My local Trek dealer told me that they didn't stock them because of the price. It rides ultra smooth, quiet and stable. The thing I dont like is the semi hunched over riding position but that is due to me riding a semi recumbent for the last 9 years.

On my battery are 2 large female receptacles that I assume are the charge/feed connectors and also several very small female connectors near the larger female terminals. Ill try and attach a pic later, not sure if my tablet can do that. Re. the cost of the battery the straight dope is: $799.99. My local bike shop said that a new battery charger ($89.99) and cord ($9.99) are required in order to purchase the new battery. Thats not including shipping, which is not cheap. So the total cost is around $1,000. Expensive.

I just found out that a replacement battery is possibly $1,016 USD, or 659£, if the conversion i did is corrrect. I guess the price has went down British Sterling poundwise? The Trek dealer said that he's not sure if it's available. He said that he will call Trek headquarters and if it's not available he will find out if Trek can rebuild it. Can an aftermarket battery pack be wired in to the Bionx system?

I went another 5 miles while on empty and it still had power. The battery is fully charged now. Im going to ride it until the battery totally quits to see how many actual miles that I can ride. I'll make a note at what mileage the gauge reads empty and then keep riding until the battery quits and note the total mileage. Yes, probably run it until the end unless i can find someone who can rebuild it at a reasonable price. I hope to go my local Trek dealer tomorrow to find out the cost of a battery just for the heck of it. Ive dealt with them in the past and they dont have much interest in electric bikes. I think that pedal assist is a great invention, esp. for someone like me and other people who have bad knees.

That's what i'll do when I get my next bike, save tons of money! I'll ride this one for a while and then go the better route. Thanks!

Hi flecc, The previous owner said that he used to go around 20 miles on level four @ 20mph. He said that it was always on empty on his way home. Ive noticed that my mid drive Giant Revive gets good mileage and the battery is way older than 2 years so the mid drive must be easier on the battery. Im fortunate that everything is close where I live as the battery for the Transport is weak. I don't know if I want to spend the money on a new battery, I like the way the bike is made re. carrying stuff but I don't like the riding position, im used to a semi recumbent . Im currently looking for a Rans Hammer Truck cargo bike that is crank forward where my feet can touch the ground flatfooted. If I can find one then Id convert it to (as you have suggested) mid drive or BPM/CST. If I cant find a Hammer Truck then I might convert my semi recumbent to an electric cargo bike using the Xtra Cycle cargo conversion.

I need to learn how to rebuild a battery, thats a tremendous savings! I also have a Giant Revive Spirit that will eventually need a battery but the battery is no longer being made. I contacted a battery rebuild service and they wouldn't do it.

I was wondering why my battery discharged so quickly, the heavy weight of the bike and the heavy rider (200 pounds). The previous owner used it a lot at level 4 for his commute (20 mph) so he probably stressed the battery as you said. If I run it at level 2 I only get 12 miles. At 12 miles the battery level read zero but i had to continue on for another 5 miles to get home but it still had juice left. I suppose that wasnt good for the battery. I contacted Trek to see if the battery is still available and it is. I had better be sitting down when i find out the price, ouch! Thanks for the information!

Thats good news, then i'll run my lights! Thanks!

Seems like using the battery to power a tail light and headlight would drain the battery excessively? The bike came from the factory like that (Trek Transport Plus). Im going to mount battery powered lights. The battery is at least one year old, probably two.

I just bought a used Trek Transport Plus pedelec with a bionX PL-15 hub, 37 volt system, 9 amp hour battery. Yesterday I rode 10 miles and the battery indicator went to zero level reading, it started at 4 bars indicating a full charge and then went to zero bar. I rode another 6 miles with what appeared to be an empty battery, I even had the tail light on. I used only 25 % and 50% pedal assist. The former owner told me that he thought that the battery level indicator was at fault. He told me he used to commute one way 12.5 miles on 200% pedal assist at 20 mph. on the return trip he said that the battery level indicator was always on zero and that he never ran out of juice, in fact, he said that he rode it a lot with zero battery level. I'd like to read the battery voltage after a full charge to see if the battery is weak but the Trek Ride+ site doesn't show how to do it. I went to the BionX site and they have a procedure to read battery voltage but it doesn't work with the trek electrical system. I put a voltmeter on the terminals of the battery after a full charge but no reading. I assume that the voltage reading has to be read using system diagnostics., it cant be read with a voltmeter I assume. Im going to fully charge it and ride the bike until the battery quits. If I ride 10 miles with the battery indicating zero then maybe the indicator is at fault? The former owner said that he bought it new July 2014 but it could have been sitting on the showroom floor for 2 years and the battery could have went bad. I sent the bikes serial number to Trek to try and determine the year of the bike.

Hi flecc, You are right, a lot of avenues to go down to figure slippage out. Again, thanks for getting me there! I'll think i'll go and find a headwind to pedal into! noel

Addendum: I took the bike out the following morning and it started slipping again in 3rd gear. I had a solid 86.5 mm pushrod and i put it in the hub in place of the spring loaded pushrod. No slippage at all now. I put over 18 miles on it with the solid pushrod and still no slippage. I dont know anything at all about internal hubs but im guessing that the spring loaded push rod was moving laterally while in 3rd gear due to the higher load (?). Whew! I was getting ready to flip the drive sprocket over and then possibly replace the chain and then the hub. I guess God looks after sailors, drunks and amateur bicycle mechanics!

I lubed the wrapper arm pivot with silicone grease and now it springs back freely, even when torqued down. I then moved the rear wheel fwd a little bit and to slacken the chain. I took it for a test spin and what a diffeence! Quiet compared to before. Now the pedal assist responds almost instantly. Before I tightened the chain there was a hesitation of the pedal assist. I'll check the chain and wrap arm pulley for wear periodically to make sure that the chain isn't too loose or too tight. Thanks for your help!

I adjusted the distance between the wrap pulley shaft and the drive shaft to 65mm as per Panasonic. Now it seems that the chain is VERY tight. When i rotate the crank by hand i feel above average resistance, esp at the elliptical high point of the front chainring. Im wondering if its supposed to be that tight. Also, the idler wrap pulley cage is binding. I loosened the bolt until it just springs back freely but the bolt isnt tight enough to stay secure. Ill try to install a flat washer behind the cage shoulder as per Panasonic.. Ill try and attach 2 pics. One pic shows me putting upward pressure under the chain with a screwdriver. It doesnt move much.

Thanks for your quick response! I thought something was wrong with the chain wrapper as it didnt move freely and is binding. After I get off work today I'll check it out. I'm going to the site now and read the information. Thanks!

Does anyone know the procedure for chain adjustment on the Panasonic Mid-Drive on a 2005 Giant Revive pedelec? No archival info at the Giant site (that i know of). The bike was never used and all sprockets and chain appear new. when i first got the bike when i applied full power i could hear the jackshaft drive sprocket slip. I tightened the chain somewhat and it alleviated most of the skipping but still skips once in a while. I dont want to overtighten the chain. Also, the chain tensioner spring doesnt spring back like it should when i move it to slaken the chain, seems like the tensioner spring is binding?

Thanks for the links re. panasonic, i'll check them out. wow, i really like this bike! I bought this bike out of curiosity and im glad i did! Im 64 years old and i just did 4 miles while drinking coffee and returning into a strong headwind...hardly any efffort!

Hi, Thanks for your response. Ill purchase an aftermarket magnet and see if that gets the cycle computer to read speed. I wasnt sure if the magnets were for speed or for the the pedelec operation since there were 3 magnets and i thought only one magnet was needed for speed. You sure are right about very little info available re. this bike. This is my first EB, now my Brompton can take a rest! Thanks! noel