dickbris

Yes I agree and in fact UM are paying for the spokes to be fixed by a Bristol based cycle shop. I don't know which one yet, but previously it was Webb's at Warmley who seemed to know what they are doing well enough. The main frustration with this business is of course not the cost but the time off the road each time it happens together with the inconvenience and hassle of being left miles from anywhere. In this respect I was intrigued by Flecc's earlier advice that you could proceed with a broken spoke if carefull? I have been told by UM that I should not continue riding at all if a spoke breaks as it will distort the wheel and they will then have nothing to do with getting it fixed (ie. it is treated as misuse). Hence when a spoke goes during a journey I have been getting someone to pick me up, getting a bus and picking up later or walking dependent on circumstances. Am I being too cautious or should I heed UM's advice?

Spoked again Apologies I have not contributing to this thread for a while. After considerable rear wheel spoke problems during the second half of last year I was fed up enough with Urban Mover to try and get my money back. At that point we struck a deal of a new bike with a Li-Ion battery to replace the one with problems - which was hence deemed to be a rogue bike - for a small additional sum. As I basically liked the bike but not the problems I decided to give this a go. For around 6 months I then had trouble free cycling! You can guess what happened then. I had a puncture in the back wheel (itself unlucky as these are supposed to be quite puncture resistant tyes - but I guess nothing is perfect) and then when I went to fix the tyre...yes...back spoke gone. As I did not want to get into another period of get it fixed/it breaks again/get it fixed/it breaks again/etc as for the last bike I have not had it fixed yet but am (eventually after two weeks of threatening behaviour, which is not normally in my nature) in communication with Urban Mover again. They have agreed to pay to have the problem fixed but still deny anyone else has the problem or that there is a design fault. The former is patently not true as witnessed by this forum. The latter I still believe to be true. As everyone says Keith is a nice guy, but that is no excuse for not facing up to problems. Interestingly I have now been told that I should have the bike serviced every 6 months if I am using the bike 5 days a week. This is of course a sick joke as the bike it never on the road for more that about 4 months before a spoke goes and the back wheel has to be rebuilt. Also I assume this is a in reality a mileage recommendation which for me is around 500 miles. To me this seems very low and I was assuming around every 1000 miles. Can anyone advise? In any event the manual and documentation does not make any stipulation or guidelines for servicing in its maintenance section. In fact the only place it is mentioned is in the exceptions part of the guarantee where it says you are not covered if the bike has not been regularly serviced at an UM approved place. To then be told retrospectively that I am delinquent because I have not followed the servicing condition of which I was not aware has yet again got my back up. Interestingly the communications from UM suggests that at the servicing it important that the state of the spokes are checked. While is understand this would be normal at a service it may explain why the short period between services is suggested/mandated. So with no other option I am just about to let UM fix this bike again. Whether I decide to cut my losses, sell it for what I can get for it and buy another bike remains to be seen; at the moment it is very tempting.

Very interesting Jonathan. I'm looking at my bike this weekend so will bear your findings in mind. I have to say because the cutting out only seems to happen on in pedal assist mode I would suspect the sensor connections and not the battery issue as being the cause. In any event I hope you have fixed yours....and I can fix mine! The battery connection appears a bad design fault (I also have a list of things that Keith at UM "has not seen before"). Your mod sounds good if I hit the same issue.

UM cutting again.....yes mine too! Hi Jonathan, I don't have any details on which connections were re-made/tightened when it went into the shop. At that stage I only knew that the problem was no longer there when I got it back and I(we) assumed that it was this that had fixed it. Since then I have had a degree of downtime due to broken back spokes (another saga and another thread) but with those apparently fixed I am now using the bike again and guess what...it is starting to cut out intermittently again. My fault appears to be the same as yours in that the throttle control seems to work OK but the pedal assist does not. As you say this is most likely to be due to the pedal sensor or the connections to it. As I am fed up with returning the bike, it being fixed for a few weeks then playing up again I plan to look at it myself and try and fix the problem. Of course I should not have to do this but......... I'll post again within the next couple of weeks with progress.

Thanks for the very quick response. This is encouraging and hopefully after this re-build I'll have a long period of trouble-free cycling....it would be nice.

Has anyone had problems with broken spokes on an Urban Mover; specifically back wheel on an UM44. I had two go in July'07 and complained to UM (who take a lot of complaining before they agree to do anything). Eventually they replaced the complete back wheel with a new one (at least that is what I was told). Within 6 weeks spokes started going again. Apparently I am the only person in the world this has happened to and it defies the laws of physics. Now I have taken the bike to a local bike shop in Bristol to get it re-spoked (paid for by UM) and they have stopped selling UM because of the service support provided (not). According to the man in the shop, who seems to know what he is talking about, the hub on the UM44 (well anyway on mine) has a rim where the holes for the spokes are that is too thick. As a result the spokes move and where against rim, one goes and then it is curtains for several more. This does make sense as it is always the hub end of the spokes where then go, and right where they go through the hub rim. I understand that if spokes go due to misuses (eg. curb jumping) they tend to go at the rim end. In any event the shop has remade the wheel with a stronger pattern and have put washers where the spokes go through the hub holes to stop the rubbing. To me this all sounds like a design fault and/or poor design margins, and it is difficult to believe this has not happened before (a) with other users with a design that is now basically several years old (b) manufacturers design testing. Any similar experiences from other users?

Just to update that status of cutting out on my Urban Mover UM44. The bike went back to the shop in early July when two spokes failed on the back wheel, but it had an intermittent cutting out at the time under load at the time. The cutting out is believed to be due to loose connections, certainly all the shop did was to re-make and tighten the various connections. If it happens again I'll try this myself first but in this instance the bike had to go back for the back wheel repair. They also gave the bike the 2 month, post delivery check/maintainenance and the bike is now a dream to ride. In passing I should say that the bike shop (Kings in Taunton) have been an aobsolute star, including picking up the bike from Bristol and dropping it back when it was fixed. Urban Mover support has been dismal, including taking nearly 2 months to get some replacement spokes and a new rim together, and delivered to the bike shop. At least they've agreed to re-start the warranty from when I got the bike back....least they can do after 2 months down-time.

Thanks for the advice Stuart (and others). I'm talking to UM today anway as I had two spokes go on my way home last night (a definite fault!). Pity this had to happen as I was really enjoying the bike. I do a 6+6 mile commute each day in (very hillly) Bristol and am getting 18+miles to the charge. I'll post any updated information when I know what is going on. Dick

Jonathan, I have just joined the forum this morning when I had the same problem riding to work with my UM44. As your problem was last December I am interested to know if you found a satisfactory solution. For my case everything was fine until this morning, the battery was fully charged and the cutting out did not seem to have any particular periodicity, but did seem to be more prevalent under load, although it could still be slightly felt under normal running. Any information gratefully received. Dick