Will do

 

It's going to be doing 16 miles 5 days a week, so that'll be a good reliability test...

glad you got it sorted would be interested in what milage you get before recharging eco etc

glad you got it sorted would be interested in what milage you get before recharging eco etc

 

The battery/motor appears to be basically the same as the 2014 Prime (though as I mentioned, the 2015 motor does feel somehow better tuned). The 2014 model gave me between 25 and 30 miles of assistance. I mainly use the 'sport' setting (the highest) purely because it makes me that little bit faster accelerating.

 

The battery takes in the region of 5 hours to charge fully. Not sure how much power the charger draws.

Here she is

Well, I've been riding the 2015 Prime E+ for a month and a half now.

 

Still going strong, so far. A few little quirks:

 

1) Sometimes when pulling away from a standstill, the assistance doesn't kick in at all. This happened occasionally on the older model as well. It happens very rarely - maybe one in ten times (about once every couple of days). I do tend to keep the bike in a fairly high gear, so this may contribute.

 

2) The rearward weight does mean I have to be careful over bumps. Every so often I'll go over a little bump and there will be a 'slam' sound from the rear along with a vibration. The bike itself remains stable however, so not too big a deal.

 

The mileage. I'm fairly certain I can reach about 30 miles on a single charge at the moment, using 'Sport'.

 

It will be interesting to see how long the bike lasts. I'm cycling about 80 miles a week, so after a year or so it'll already have gone quite a long distance. Hoping it'll give me 2 years service at least... but lets see.

Well, unfortunately my more positive experience with the 2015 Giant Prime hasn't lasted long.

 

Less than 1,000 miles cycled. I've begun to notice flex in the pedals while peddling, in particular from the raised foot.

 

At first I thought it was just the pedals needing to be tightened, but no - those are secure.

 

The flex is actually coming from the MOTOR, which is moving about slightly relative to the frame. The motor itself is bolted on in about 6 places, I think, but I only have access to a couple of those without dismantling other parts of the bike first. I can't tell exactly where the problem is but suspect that in one or more places, the bolt has rubbed the frame, and this has worn slightly. Can't think what else it can be, other than perhaps the structural integrity of the motor itself deteriorating.

 

Back to JE James... really, thought an expensive bike like this would have better reliability

Wouldn't it be easier to find the loose bolts and tighten them? That's a lot less work and you won't be without your bike.

Wouldn't it be easier to find the loose bolts and tighten them? That's a lot less work and you won't be without your bike.

 

I would have to dismantle other areas of the bicycle in order to access these, which I believe risks me invalidating the warranty. I'd rather have it assessed/fixed by a qualified person and keep my warranty intact...

Why don't you ring JE James and ask them if you can sort it and keep your warranty intact? How would they know that you tightened the bolts, anyway?

Why don't you ring JE James and ask them if you can sort it and keep your warranty intact? How would they know that you tightened the bolts, anyway?

 

They would know if, for example, I were to dismantle that area of the bicycle and find myself unable to put it back together properly. There are a lot of bits, a lot of allen key screws (that shred easily) and everything requires quite a bit of force.

I thought that with a namevlike yours, you'd be ble to sort it.

I thought that with a namevlike yours, you'd be ble to sort it.

 

My ancestors, maybe :-D

 

Me, I'm a computer guy. Bikes on the other hand...

What's the "Abus chipSecurity device"? I still time for ebike manufacturers to put electronic ignition systems inside of their motors, like cars.

What's the "Abus chipSecurity device"? I still time for ebike manufacturers to put electronic ignition systems inside of their motors, like cars.

 

My 2014 Prime had this. It's basically a rear-wheel lock on the frame. The lock itself is pretty sturdy and quite convenient. The 'chip' being referenced is, as far as I can tell, just a little microchip somewhere in the device. I believe it should be possible to register the details with Abus (and then use to identify your bike if it is stolen), however the 2014 Prime I received had absolutely no information on this whatsoever so I was unable to make any use of this.

 

Incidentally, if you're considering the 2014 model I'd strongly advise against it from my own experience. The 2015 model seems a lot better, but I've unfortunately had some reliability problems with this too.

Just an update regarding the return process of my 2015 Giant Prime.

 

The bike was returned to the Bristol Giant Store on 25th September. The Giant Store advised that they were unable to work on the bicycle due to a couple of 'shredded' allen key screws around the motor. They asked whether I had tampered with the motor (I haven't).

 

I had noticed on inspecting the bike myself that one of the screw holes looked bigger, but it certainly was not something I had done.

 

Advised that this could affect the warranty status of my bicycle, which is obviously incredibly frustrating since I have taken great care in looking after the bike.

 

JE James then requested I return the bike to them. I had to pay them for a box (about £20) since the Giant Store claimed they didn't have one.

 

The bike was collected on 8th October, so would have been returned to JE James on 13th October.

 

JE James did not get back to me until 22nd October (they claimed the manager at Giant UK was on holiday so had not responded to their communications).

 

JE James went on to ask questions like:

 

* "Did you put thhe bike in self-diagnostic mode/factory rest?"

 

(I don't know what that is or how to do it)

 

* "Are you pedalling at all when you hit the power on/assist button?"

 

(Don't think so - I turn it on when I get on the bike. However, once the bike turned itself off with a low battery warning from 2 bars of battery while I was pedalling on a busy road. I did try and turn it back on then (unsuccessfully).

 

They then advised they were going to try a full reset of the settings, which would take some hours, then try the bike again in the morning.

 

Next day (23rd October) they advised the reset had made no difference, and they were getting back in touch with Giant UK: "at this stage we have not touched the motor or housing due to the rounded bolt heads".

 

I'm currently waiting to hear back.

 

Really disappointed so far. I'm worried that i am being blamed in an attempt to exclude me from the warranty, which would be awful for me as I've done nothing to the bike and ridden it carefully.

 

Hopefully it won't come to that but lets wait and see. I'll provide an update when I know.

Had an update from JE James over the past few days.

 

The allen key bolts came off just fine, so they were therefore able to check the motor and its attachment to the frame.

 

It looks as though the problem hasn't been the way it is bolted to the frame at all, but rather a problem on the motor itself.

 

Giant UK are sending JE James a new motor, which will be fitted today and check that it has resolved the problem.

An update on my 2015 Prime:

 

JE James shipped the bike back with its new motor. The bike is now running as new, so no more issues with peddle flex.

 

Happy that this was all resolved sensibly in the end.

The battery is what it is - small - so you will do well to get 30 casesam.co.uk miles out of it.

Edited November 13, 201510 yr by HJHdrYU

The battery is what it is - small - so you will do well to get 30 miles out of it.

 

I can hit 30 miles on one charge fairly comfortably (you do need to be fairly economical - not full power the whole time).

If it's any use I have a 2015 Prime E which has so far done 900 trouble free miles. It is very heavy with the battery installed. It came as standard with a 400W motor, and I can get about 30 miles range in sport mode (the highest power setting?

)