PatH

Nothing special, I realised ages ago that bike specific clothing is a bit hit and miss, I had an expensive Altura rain jacket that was coming apart after just a few uses, a Merino top from Aldi that was never comfortable and shrank in the wash, padded shorts that were impractical. So these days I'll just wear a pair of pyjamas underneath some loose fitting combat trousers if it's really cold. My trusty Dr Marten's which I've waxed a few times so they are totally waterproof, pair of ten quid gloves, and a woolly hat! I did pay quite a bit for a Helly Hansen Moto Jacket, but it has been great, three years old now and still going strong, very well made.

It would be fine if I could simply order the parts online, the display I can get for about 65 Euros, the button controller assembly for about 38 Euros, but the 'return to base only' crap and London prices means I can probably add 50% to that, not to mention loss of earnings and travelling costs.

You can't really see it in this pic but the pins go through the display onto the main PCB and the visible parts here clip over the plastic lip and that is all fine.

Things just got a lot worse, and at the worst possible time. I accidentally dropped the LCD Display onto a hard surface (frozen fingers) and when I put it on the bike, nothing, nada. I've dropped it before and it was ok but this is my worst nightmare. I start a new job next week and absolutely rely on the bike for my A to B. So god knows how I am going to get it fixed in time. Only saving grace is that I decided to take it apart and see if there was anything obvious, this required a rather invasive procedure but I then superglued it all back together and tried again. Nothing, but then as I tried again pushing it on I noticed a brief flicker, and if I continued pressing then it stayed on. By using a heath robinson arrangement of sticky tape creating angular pressure I can get it to stay on just long enough to cycle a few miles before the tape loosens. So at least I won't have to walk the 5 miles to the train station to then be able to get to the dealers. Why the switchgear and electronics cannot be made more durable on a bike costing more than £2k is beyond me. I've had similar price motorbikes before that have lasted years without the switchgear going wrong. Now all I have to do is get to London before the new job starts, pay god knows how many £££ for replacement parts, and pray that the bike won't let me down for a few weeks until I get paid and can have an emergency fund for alternative transport. I guess the manufacturers cannot really test for high mileage problems (i've done 5k in all weathers) but really this is a serious downvote for something so expensive. And if I buy another e-bike in the summer as I am hoping to then I will not risk buying from anyone other than a local dealer, despite JustEBikes saying they have a 'home service' option, which in reality they are not really interested in offering as I discovered last time. Or maybe JustEBikes might be interested in some owner goodwill as I will be looking to spend some serious cash again in the summer.

Update... It has become like an old dependable horse, just when you think it is about to cark it, it decides to work again. I have taken to placing a woolly glove over the right handlebar to protect the buttons from frost. Most of them have stopped working and the temperature sensor seems to be a part of the button assembly and has also failed and reads zero all the time. But it still works! There is just one functioning button left, which selects max power, all other buttons are stuck, so it's on auto lights, auto-recharge... I don't know how long I will get away with this...

Heh! Maybe I should if I see it again... I didn't have insurance so I could legally state a claim to original ownership.

Few years back I had the same thing, my bike was nicked and disappeared, I kept an eye out in CC and in town for a few months but gave up, and bought my e-bike soon after. A year or so later I was wandering through town and saw it! Locked up to a rack... I waited for the 'owner' and told him he was riding a stolen bike, and that I could identify it from pictures taken and certain aftermarket items I had added. He was a bit shocked but said he got it from Crime Converters for £150 and didn't know. He seemed genuine but I phoned the police because if nothing else this was a lead to the real thieves. The local copper turned up and did an impressive job at telling me there could be no further action, the bike was bought in good faith. Next day I went into the shop and asked them about their procedure for handling stolen goods. They don't have one. Proof of ID is all that is needed plus you sign a declaration stating that the goods are yours to sell. They don't even keep frame numbers for bikes that pass through their shops. I was glad when it closed down a few weeks later. There must be loads of poor souls who see their valuables turn up in places like this and the burden of proof is with the victim it seems.

I have regen too but mostly it's switched off, if I know I'll be doing a lot of coasting then I switch it on, and there is a small noticeable braking effect. What is more noticeable though is cycling along past 16mph, when assistance stops and you are pedalling on your own, most noticeable when accelerating past 16mph going uphill, you are suddenly powering the bike up a hill, on your own. In all other circumstances I hardly notice. And yes it is bloody hard work pedalling it without assistance. I've got stuck a couple of times and the hill towards where I live is a get off and walk job. Nothing to do with motor drag, it's just a heavy bike, as are most e-bikes.

Yep, with my bike I had the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres fitted by the dealer (at extra cost) as a 'recommended extra', from new. Well worth it for peace of mind. Heavy commuting is hard on a bike so look for things like easily replaceable brake pads. Mine has Magura HS11 Hydraulic rim brakes and I'm on the 3rd set of pads in ~5000 miles. It's an easy 5 minute job to fit new pads. Good brakes are just as important as speed. If you mix it up with traffic on roads you need to know that you can stop quickly! For 40 miles a day comfort is going to be important. Personally I like the relaxed sit up and beg riding position, but my bike is also quite sporty when I want it to be, it's perfect for fast commutes and hacking through cities. I've never had to adjust the derailleur gears, but that could be due to a good pre-delivery setup. 20 miles each way though does merit consideration on how long it will take though. My average speed for all journeys is always about 12.5mph, so 20 miles takes about 1 hour 30 minutes, and frankly I wouldn't want to go much faster. If you enjoy the ride then the time doesn't matter, and with an ebike you do arrive fresh and exercised, not all hot, sweaty and knackered.

What a ridiculous statement and totally absurd.

When I took it in for warranty James' partner at Justebikes said that Sparta are not really interested in the UK market any more, I wonder if that has to do with the early image problems? It's still a beautiful looking bike -

Depends on speed and conditions too of course, if climbing on a mountain bike and off road then lower cadence will be a necessity, I'm usually on the road and spinning along at 16 mph, or down to 13mph for the big hill. On the flat I don't care and will happily cruise using hardly any rotation!

Thumbs up for Schwalbe marathon plus, never had a puncture in nearly 5,000 miles, through forest tracks, over glass, they are the best, still plenty of tread left. A track pump from wilco (£7.99) to keep them at 5 bar.

100 to 120 rotations a minute? Or more than one rotation a second.

Yes the Sparta ION M-Gear bike was a very basic and cheap model using a completely different motor and electronics design with a frame mounted magnetic sensor. Therefore if that wasn't properly aligned there would be problems. The one for all documentation should be changed... My one has no sensors on the frame, I should know I've had it upside down for deep cleaning several times. I think the M-Gear is still available from the brochure. It's a shame the electronics are not bullet proof because the rest of the bike is, no expense spared in terms of a hand welded frame, top quality wheels and spokes, stainless steel nuts and bolts. Just needed a bit more spent in development to get IP35 water resistance for the handlebar buttons. The warranty fix was the display holder and I took that apart and it had very inadequate water protection, a very flimsy rubber seal, whereas for probably 10p more per unit it should have been designed to be a permanently sealed shut component, glueing would have been better. I still love the bike and have 5,000 miles on it now over the worst of British roads, but will the electricals last ten years, like the frame? Questionable.

I'm going to order the handlebar buttons and do a tear down, the bike shop cannot refuse to sell me something that is in stock. Can they? It will probably have one or 2 FPGA chips or an ASIC (more expensive), some surface mount components to smooth voltage regulation and the bubble switch buttons. All read-only devices which are completely off the shelf, to think that Sparta have some special relationship with component manufactures is a step too far. It's a £30 item, most of the money will be going on the overall design using decent plastics and bubble switches, and a weatherproof cable. The circuit will be a standard design using components that cost about 2p in bulk.

Changing down through the gears is also about maintaining peak human power efficiency, if you are in too high a gear up a hill then some of the energy will be wasted. In cycling parlance it's called spinning, my daily route is one big incline with 3 or 4 others of varying gradient, I'll be changing gear maybe 4 or 5 times a minute to maintain a fairly fast cadence (pedal rotation speed).

Thanks for that, it's as I thought, the fear about removing the wheel is just feeding paranoia and should never have been described as a 'DO NOT DO THIS'.

I can live with the message but sooner or later the back wheel will need to come off for a tyre replacement and according to the instructions this also can only be done by an authorised dealer. Well, when that time comes we will see about that. If the motor maintains integrity without the battery common sense dictates that there is no reason why carefully removing the wheel can in any way upset the electrics, there's no hidden electrical magic just a fuse where the battery power meets the motor. I've also had intermittent handlebar button issues and rang the dealer about that, I was told that it is also a return to dealer replacement because of the bike security. Really? Get real. The part itself is about £30 and I have taken it off the handlebars to have a look and it is a simple cable connecting to the display. As an electronics design engineer in my time I cannot believe that the handlebar buttons have persistent, storage, and to what point. It's just a bluff by the bike shop to justify some sort of expensive aftercare. ...They also want half an hour labour at £45p/h to 'install' this complicated piece of electronics. They said they wouldn't send out the part because the whole bike really needs to be plugged in. Enough said.

This is a bugbear of mine, why is it necessary for this nagging message to appear on the screen from now on until I take it to the dealer to get it cleared? It's not like some modern cars which can be driven until a service indicator appears based on multiple engine sensors and then it needs an oil change and things. I take care of the bike mechanicals, it's running well, last time the message appeared (1800 miles ago) I had to take it in for a warranty fix and clearing the message was free but now it's out of warranty it won't be. A £30 charge to 'update' the firmware, not to mention hacking it from the South Coast to North London (forty quid rail ticket thanks British Rail). Just seems like a manufacturer tie in to keep you spending a bit of cash, it was already bloody expensive to buy.

Full power all the way for me, the 250w power limit means the actual motor will never really be approaching burnout, and Li-Ion batteries are good at providing peak amps consistently and are designed for this. More demanding are big hill starts, as you push off the battery will be providing a lot of juice and the copper windings will be heating until you are moving. I've seen a video of a guy rebuilding an ION hub motor, there really isn't much to the motor, and the problem was simply corrosion on the power connectors. Lack of use probably (it was in Dutch language). So ride it anyway way you like, but ride it.

Strictly speaking formatting a card installs a new file system, used to to be FAT16 for old tech but any card these days will be FAT32 and factory formatted. You'd only need to format it if you we're using something that doesn't read FAT32. Great cameras the SJCAM, the SJ400 was so good as a GoPro clone at a quarter of the price that it's hard to find one now that isn't fake! Where the GoPro scores though is in image stabilisation.

Post Meon Valley run... If you think the DM's need a clean then it's nothing compared to the bike (too dark to take a photo). The skirt guard thing saves a lot of trouser cleaning.

...The duster under the battery serves 2 purposes, rattle reduction and a handy, err, duster. But that is where the bike lives, day and night, uncovered, and it looks not bad for 2.5 years old.

Well alright, my bike is not an offroader, but where it lives gets mucky and I'm brave and sometimes do the meon valley trail, I'll do a before and after photo... This is today, after cleaning...