June 20, 20169 yr I have a 4-month old Raleigh Motus Hub Gear Ebike which has suffered from gear problems (slipping gears) since purchase. The chain snapped last week - Raleigh sent me an email stating that they expect the chain to be replaced approximately every 300 miles. With a bike advertised as being capable of long-distance commutes of up to 100 miles (I don't think my commute of 20 miles per day is unreasonable for an Ebike) that would mean changing the chain every 15 days at additional significant cost and downtime off the bike. I think that is absolutely ridiculous and is something which Raleigh should warn their customers about before purchase. I know that my gear problems probably contributed to the chain snap, but I'm just putting it out there that Raleigh expect a chain replacement every 300 miles. My previous Ebike (an Ave Hub Gear) with a similar system managed over 900 miles on the original chain.
June 20, 20169 yr I have a 4-month old Raleigh Motus Hub Gear Ebike which has suffered from gear problems (slipping gears) since purchase. The chain snapped last week - Raleigh sent me an email stating that they expect the chain to be replaced approximately every 300 miles. With a bike advertised as being capable of long-distance commutes of up to 100 miles (I don't think my commute of 20 miles per day is unreasonable for an Ebike) that would mean changing the chain every 15 days at additional significant cost and downtime off the bike. I think that is absolutely ridiculous and is something which Raleigh should warn their customers about before purchase. I know that my gear problems probably contributed to the chain snap, but I'm just putting it out there that Raleigh expect a chain replacement every 300 miles. My previous Ebike (an Ave Hub Gear) with a similar system managed over 900 miles on the original chain. Wow! Every 300 miles I think what Raleigh told you was in error. The two problems you had with your new bike should have been dealt with by the dealer that sold you the bike. The adjustment on those gears are very straight forward. If setting it correctly did not cure the problem then a warranty claim must be made for a new gearset. As well as with the chain. The only way the chain could have broken, (under normal use) in 300 miles, is if it were defective. Again, warranty replacement. I have a customer with a 2015 Haibike Full Seven. He has over 3,900 miles on his original chain and gearset. It is just about worn out and he is replacing everything, cassette, chain and chain ring this week. This is a testament to the proper care he takes of his chain and regular servicing. I personally get 3,000 plus miles on a chain and cassette but never have I streched that far. The Motus is a great bike and you have some warranty issues. Once you are fixed up you should be able to enjoy it trouble free for many, many miles. Cheers
June 20, 20169 yr Well, may you wear out many more chains before hanging up you bike. This thread just got re-opened and we are both still here so the update after around 2000 miles is that I'm still on the original 2 chains and cassette with no signs of wear at all, (wish I could say the same for me). LordSnooty, your chain should last much longer than that, I'm built like a Brick S house and often stand on the pedals to get up some of the hills in these parts. May I suggest fitting a good quality chain, check the gears are adjusted properly, keep it clean and lubricated as you have been doing and it should last far longer than 300 miles. Welsome to the forum. Dave
June 21, 20169 yr The bike has already been returned to Raleigh (after 4 failed repairs by the dealer) and was returned on Saturday - a week without the bike - but after just over 2 miles on Sunday (first day of trying it after return from Raleigh) 4th and 5th gears started slipping again on a very moderate incline that even I can take in top gear with ease on a non-electric bike. I've had it with this Raleigh bike, so I've been in touch with the dealer to ask for a replacement bike or refund so I can purchase a different Ebike. Not had a response from him as yet. But I do have it in writing from a Raleigh Manager, in more than one email, that they expect chain replacement every approximately 300 miles. That's perhaps a good reason for not buying Raleigh in future. I have to say that the tone of Raleigh in their Emails is not what I would expect towards a customer who paid £2000 for an ebike and who has had nothing but trouble since purchase........................................
June 21, 20169 yr The bike has already been returned to Raleigh (after 4 failed repairs by the dealer) and was returned on Saturday - a week without the bike - but after just over 2 miles on Sunday (first day of trying it after return from Raleigh) 4th and 5th gears started slipping again on a very moderate incline that even I can take in top gear with ease on a non-electric bike. I've had it with this Raleigh bike, so I've been in touch with the dealer to ask for a replacement bike or refund so I can purchase a different Ebike. Not had a response from him as yet. But I do have it in writing from a Raleigh Manager, in more than one email, that they expect chain replacement every approximately 300 miles. That's perhaps a good reason for not buying Raleigh in future. I have to say that the tone of Raleigh in their Emails is not what I would expect towards a customer who paid £2000 for an ebike and who has had nothing but trouble since purchase........................................ Something's amiss here. A chain on a hub gear bike has a high line, always runs perfectly straight, and is never derailed, all of which adds to longevity. The chain and sprockets on the Raleigh will be of similar quality to any other Bosch bike, so should last a few thousand miles. I can't match Croxden's 8,000 miles, but my hub gear Rose/Bosch bike has done several thousand miles on its original chain.
June 21, 20169 yr As Rob says, there's definitely something amiss. I wonder if the chain fitted is too narrow and the cogs forcing the links apart? This happened to me once when I was sold the wrong chain, it's difficult to spot unless you are looking for it but the symptoms of jumping across the gears sound the same as yours. I hope you get the refund you deserve. Dave.
June 21, 20169 yr As Rob says, there's definitely something amiss. I wonder if the chain fitted is too narrow and the cogs forcing the links apart? This happened to me once when I was sold the wrong chain, it's difficult to spot unless you are looking for it but the symptoms of jumping across the gears sound the same as yours. I hope you get the refund you deserve. Dave. The OP says Its a hub geared bike, so the chain should last for a very long time. Also, slipping may mean a problem with the hub rather than the chain.
June 21, 20169 yr Thanks guys. I've asked the Retailer for a replacement or refund, so I'll let you know how I go on and whether Raleigh give out any more information about the possible cause of the problem on this particular bike.
June 22, 20169 yr I had a genesis mtb (not electric) with affine 11 gears and the chain stretched mercilessly and there wasn't enough adjustment to take up the slack so became a problem. Whichever brand I bought they just stretched for fun
June 22, 20169 yr My experience with the hub gears was that cable adjustment was the key to smoother running and the slightest miss adjustment would make the gears jump and slip on hills. Personally I wouldn't have another affine 11 hub
June 22, 20169 yr Although my Delite chain has functioned without incident, it's more than the Haibike has done. I had to renew the chain at 1500 miles as it did break on three occasions. I have just had another failure at 2800 miles, this time I think the joining link came adrift and caught the guide on the silly jockey wheel and part destroyed that. Without doubt, any replacement bike will have a Rohloff hub gear. So many once desirable hub motored bikes are now included out of list of possibilities.
June 22, 20169 yr Although my Delite chain has functioned without incident, it's more than the Haibike has done. I had to renew the chain at 1500 miles as it did break on three occasions. I have just had another failure at 2800 miles, this time I think the joining link came adrift and caught the guide on the silly jockey wheel and part destroyed that. Without doubt, any replacement bike will have a Rohloff hub gear. So many once desirable hub motored bikes are now included out of list of possibilities. I found the alfine 11gearing much too high.. what is the rohlof like
June 22, 20169 yr I found the alfine 11gearing much too high.. what is the rohlof like Alfine 11 gearing is high, I reduced mine on my Rose bike. I also agree about the hub's quality, it doesn't have a bomb proof feel to it. Madison/Shmano replaced mine out of warranty, which was good, but the fact it needed replacing says a lot. On the same cogs and sprockets, the Rohloff has three lower gears than the Alfine 11. I've done a 30-mile ride on Croxden's Delite/Rohloff. It does have a quality feel to it, although I'm not keen on the twist shifter which I think they all come with. Another Rohloff plus is some will take a quick release skewer, whereas the Alfine hubs all need a nutted axle.
June 22, 20169 yr We have moved away from the point. The modern powerful crank drive bikes need stronger e-bike specific chain, chain ring and rear cassettes. These do not need to be overly expensive. 7 widely spaced gears would be enough for most applications, geared in a way that there are no less than 14 teeth (The more the better) for the highest top gear and with a large enough bottom cog to be equivalent to a current 36 tooth bottom gear. You can achieve this yourself by putting a larger front chain ring on with a cassette that has a top gear with more than 11 teeth and a 36 tooth bottom gear (or larger if you can find one) to compensate for the larger chain ring. I recently replaced my front chain ring with the next size up, two more teeth bigger and a cassette with a 12 tooth top gear and this has been noticeable more resistant to wear than the previous 11 tooth one with still a low enough bottom gear for climbing off road. However although it has lasted longer it has still been susceptible to jumping under load as my mileage has increase. My only option is increase the size of the chain ring again (42 teeth) to have a 14 tooth 8th gear to achieve my 20 mph cruising speed with a probable mostly redundant overdrive cog above, ( I don't want to cruise at more than 20 mph ), but on my 9 speed set up the largest bottom gear I can find is 36 teeth which may not be low enough for off road climbing when combined with a yet bigger chain ring. It would be a lot better for a manufacturer to make one I could buy! Do the manufacturers actually ride their bikes? Surely if they did they would be aware that crank drive bikes need a more robust drive train. It cannot be that hard to get one made. Come on Col, steel a march on the opposition and grab the niche that clearly exists. After all good customer service is about providing what the customer needs and we need this. As D8veh has said my previous hub powered bike had no chain, chain ring cassette wear issues as the drive takes pressure off these components rather than adding to them. However I love my crank drive bike and have found this to be the only serious weakness and stronger e-bike specific cassettes and chains would sort it. Nuff said,Rant over.
June 22, 20169 yr http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/sram-launches-e-mountain-bike-specific-ex1-drivetrain-and-guide-re-brake-47061/ the cassette is £350
June 22, 20169 yr [quote="georgehenry, post: 312547, member: 15104" The modern powerful crank drive bikes need stronger e-bike specific chain, chain ring and rear cassettes. I can't see much evidence of that, certainly not for a legal crank motor. The chain takes the combined output of the motor and rider. Most ebike riders are not especially cycle fit, so that combined output is no more - and often less - than the output of a fit/strong cyclist on an ordinary bike. It's true for me, I can climb faster than a lot of push bike riders. But equally, it's not unusual for me to be passed by a strong roadie.
June 22, 20169 yr I found the alfine 11gearing much too high.. what is the rohlof like RobF has answered for me, I find third is as low as I need on a 20% incline, the highest gear (14) is to me very high. There is a super range of gears, no duplications you get with a three speed chain ring that reduces the 27 or what ever down to less usable where and when you want them. But when the battery is exhausted, those low gears are wonderful. I have never had to get off and push.
June 22, 20169 yr It seems to me that the power of a crank drive bike puts much more stress on chains and sprockets than on an ordinary bike. I find that an electric mountain bike does not need the number of gears that have evolved for non powered mountain bikes. On my 9 speed I often need to change up a couple of gears missing out the ones in between when accelerating from rest. My local bike shop wax lyrical about the older 7 speed Shimano XT mountain bike cassettes that seemed to last forever and give no problems. It seems that less wider spaces gears that are stronger would be more suitable for a electric crank bike. A de-restricted electric bike is no more powerful than a restricted bike and it is the power that causes the problems that ordinary bicycle components were not designed to cope with and other people seem to be having the same issues whether they are riding above the legal speed limit or not. Of course it might just be me but I don't think so.
June 22, 20169 yr I use pretty much every gear on both bikes fitted with11/42 rear cassette, with 15 tooth front sprocket, and like Rob don't see the need for an ebike specific chain either. With KMC and SRAM chains now only costing about £7.00 a pop, I'm not overly worried about binning them every 400 miles or so. The dirt has wrecked them by then anyway, and the dirt would have equally wrecked an expensive ebike specific chain. The only reason that I see an ebike specific chain has any benefit, is in very high torque motors. I don't consider the Bosch/Yamaha/Shimano motors to fit this category, and the only time that I have ever snapped a chain, is on my regular pedal mtb. Edited June 22, 20169 yr by EddiePJ
June 22, 20169 yr After 4000 miles and 3 x 9 speed chains ( usually cheap ones bought from Chain Reaction) I asked the bike shop to change the cassette and I bought a new front ring to go with it.. Mechanic said why do you want a new cassette and ring? Was 11-36 rear 42 front. Now 11-36 R 38 F and it is miles better. On my Boardman road bike the front ring and chain wore out after about 600 miles (cant just remember exactly, but it wasn't much)
June 22, 20169 yr With KMC and SRAM chains now only costing about £7.00 a pop Sorry to pop off topic briefly, but where are you getting SRAM / KMC chains for £7 from please?
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.