I appreciate it might seem a slightly slap dash approach but you may well find that the chain will continue to work without slipping or jumping for more miles than you imagine.

 

If the chain does not jump and you can push as hard as you want on the pedals then from my perspective the chain is doing its job.

 

Rather than change chains at their wear limit now I let the whole transmission wear out together and last time around that was 2200 miles

 

The problem I encountered initially on my Haibike Yamaha was that the top gear on my cassette (11 tooth) wore out very prematurely when I first started commuting on it.

 

Higher gearing, care changing gear and using less power in top gear has restored acceptable longevity.

 

The chain, chain ring and rear cassette I am using currently was changed on 24/11/17 and is consequently having to deal with a lot of wet and muddy winter conditions and may not do as many miles as the last set. It is up to 532 miles currently.

Haibike sDuro HardSeven SL 2015 Yamaha 3 Year update

 

Annual update now that the bike will be three years old on the 22nd of March 2018. As of my return trip from work last night I have covered 8592 miles with 2592 on the new motor. The previous motor was replaced under warranty at 6000 miles just after two years use.

 

 

Chain, Chainring, Cassette, wear and tear

 

I do get quite a variable milage out of my chain, chain ring and rear cassette as I have previously mentioned.

 

The transmission previous to the 24th of November 2016 lasted 1246 miles.

 

On 24th of November 2016 I put a new transmission on that turned out to be a record breaker in terms of miles covered and time lasted before it needed changing, lasting almost a year to the 13th of November 2017 and 2220 miles.

 

A New Chain, chain ring and rear cassette was duly fitted coming into service on the 17th of November 2017 but that one wore out in double quick time after just 776 miles on the 24th of February 2018 after just three months, although wet muddy winter months and with a little less cleaning and care than I have done previously.

 

Although with a 9 speed transmission the cost is not absorbent. The 42 tooth chainring that I use cost a particularly reasonable £15 off ebay in the short lasting example above with a cassette usually around £20 delivered and a KMC chain.

 

I have this time replaced the chainring with a garbaruk 42 tooth narrow wide chainring that I have to say looks wonderfully engineered and very pretty and is supposed to do away with the need for a chain guide and stop the chain coming off the front chainring in all circumstances. I only ever had chains coming off the front chainrings previously very occasionally or when the chian cassette and chain ring were approaching the end of their lives but it was always annoying and I will see if the narrow wide one keeps the chain on better.

 

The disparity in how long my transmissions last is a bit confusing as I use the same rear Shimano cassette and KMC chain each time.

 

 

 

Other bits and bobs that needed replacing

 

I noticed a bit of play in the rear wheel and replaced the wheel bearings as well on the 24th of Feb 18.

 

The hub body of the rear wheel was dismantled and replaced alongside other worn out bits on the 17th of February 2017 and the rear wheel felt a lot better afterwards.

 

 

Tyres

 

My tyres have now covered 3038 miles since I put them on, on 5th January 2017. They are Specialized Crossroads Armadillo 650B 27.6” Wired Clincher Tyres in 1.9” width. They are very tough and look like they can last a lot longer. More wear apparent on the rear than the front as you would expect. Fantastic protection and no punctures.

 

They are a classic compromise and more road orientated than I would like but with the miles I do on the road mountain bike tyres would wear out in no time and after getting used to them I have learnt that they are more effective than I had first thought they would be off road.

 

 

Battery

 

My battery still soldiers on with very little obvious sign of losing capacity although it must be. In the very cold weather I did see it drop to a low of 58% remaining on my fast 10 mile road trip home. On the road trip home I am aiming to cover those 10 miles in around 30 minutes at an average speed of up to 20 miles an hour +or- a bit and to do so need to use the middle standard higher power setting to climb the steeper hills quicker or maintain speed over the crest of longer hills without slowing down too much, otherwise I use eco for the level slightly up slightly down sections and off for the steeper descents.

 

Brakes

 

The Tektro brakes just require brake pads as and when and continue to work really well with no fuss or other more major adjustment.

 

Hopefully roll on the next 12 months of exercise and fun. The pictures are from a sunny ride to work on the 19th of January 2018. I feel I am beginning to get a smidgen of value out of my £1750 initial purchase cost now.

Edited March 9, 20188 yr by georgehenry

Today is the actual third year anniversary of ownership of my Haibike sDuro HardSeven

 

So it’s,

 

Happy Birthday to You,

 

Happy Birthday to You,

 

Happy Birthday dear Haibike, £1750, 8718 miles, original battery, second motor replaced under warranty, and various other wear and tear bits and bobs,

 

Happy Birthday to You.

 

Special mention to Martin at e-bikeshop Farnham and his team who I bought the bike from and who have provided truly excellent customer service on the relatively few occasions it has been required.

This is an excellent review. Keep up the good work. I look forward to the next instalment.

Just a post script to the chain, chain ring and rear cassette that wore out in 776 miles and 3 months from 17th of November 2017 to the 24th of February 2018.

 

Although it was a wet, muddy period where I did a little less cleaning and care than ideal I now realise that there was an issue with the rear mech where it had been very slightly bent leading to some hunting between gears and jumping out of gear. So although you could index the system the slightly bent rear mech meant that it did not change as it should. I think this probably was the main reason for the premature failure although the winter conditions probably did not help.

Bike bought 20th March 2015

 

Haibike sDuro HardSeven SL 2015 Yamaha,

 

7 Month Review, Commuter Special

 

I have now covered around 1600 miles on my sDuro HardSeven.

 

Part of my route to work[ATTACH=full]12738[/ATTACH]

 

What I wanted to achieve

 

When I bought the bike I wanted primarily a bike to ride to work on as often as possible, leaving my car at home as much as possible on a bike that could cope with a mainly off road route of between 12 and 14 miles to work and then get me home as quickly as possible on a hilly 10 mile B Road route.

 

To complicate matters I need to carry quite a bit of stuff to work and prefer to use a rear rack and panniers to do so. The tracks I use are too rough for the trekking style bikes so my choice was quickly reducing. I looked at a lot of bikes but in the end decided I needed a hard tail electric mountain bike that I could fit a rack to.

 

After a lot of research I found myself returning to the e-bikeshop site and focusing on the Haibike sDuro and xDuro HardSeven. I rang Martin the owner who was very helpful, and reassured me that they could fit racks to either bike and said I should come to the shop and try them out. In the end I attended the demo day and was able to ride both the yamaha and bosch systems on great tracks and meet some really friendly like-minded people.

 

After that I arranged to meet Martin at his shop in Farnham where I could see the whole range of bikes and make up my mind in a relaxed way. Martin also suggested a set of Moon lights that have proved to be excellent and fitted some Schwalbe Smart Sam plus puncture resistant tyres and slime filled tubes to avoid as many punctures as possible as a puncture when you have to be at work is no fun.

 

The Yamaha Motor

 

As other people have noted The Yamaha motor is a gem. The zero cadence works brilliantly off road and means it responds immediately to your input on the pedals and the torque of the motor will pull you up and over anything you aim it at. It will try and engage with any weight on the pedal and if you are at a road junction or set of lights I sometimes switch the assist off while I am waiting and back on again when it is time to set off. Either that or just take your feet off the pedals or un-weight the pedals.

 

Riding The Bike

 

I have now been riding the bike to and from work for seven months throughout the summer and hardly had to use the car at all. The off road route to work is a sheer pleasure and I have added more demanding tracks knowing that the bike can cope. I actually want the exercise and now predominantly only use the eco mode on the 13 mile off road route to work but know the bike can pick up the pace and fly at the push of a button. However even in eco mode the bike can still hit 20+ miles an hour for plenty of off road fun as the gentle power just keeps pushing without cutting out.

 

Getting home fast is also a pleasure. I use the second standard level of assistance and never use the highest assistance level even on the steep hills and turn the motor off on descents. The Moon lights mean that I can see where I am going now! The 9 speed gearing has a sweet spot for cruising around 20/22 miles an hour. Obviously the speed drops on the steeper hills and you just drop down through the gears until you find the best one for the effort you want to add to the pedals and the gradient you are climbing. However I still find myself climbing some long more gentle hills at an indicated 20mph. Even a fairly steep long hill is dispatched at 12/14 miles an hour. On the steepest hill my speed drops down to around 10 mph. Momentum is quickly regained when you crest the hill. With a crank motored bike you have to pedal and whatever the setting you end up exercising, which for me is a benefit not a curse.

 

Using eco on my 12/13 mile mostly off road ride to work I have about 62% battery left when I arrive at work. Blasting the 10 miles home on my hilly B Road at 20+ miles an hour in standard I have about 52% battery left when I get home. I top my battery up at work and am a 17 stone + guy with two loaded panniers.

 

I did manage 30 miles on a fun mostly off road leisure ride including lots of very challenging hill climbs and by managing the way I rode the bike found the controller telling me I was about to deplete the battery 200 yards from home.

 

After 7 months I have so far seen no noticeable degradation in the battery. I look after my battery by bringing it into the house after every ride and charging it if I am going to use the bike the next day. If I am not going to use the bike for a number of days it will have over 50% remaining after my ride home from work and I store it without topping it back up in a warm dry cupboard and then charge it up again on the day I next ride.

 

I was worried about spokes breaking in the back wheel being a heavy guy and carrying panniers but actually wrote off my rear wheel and rear mech after only a few weeks riding when a tree branch jammed in the rear spokes, so I cannot say whether the original rear wheel would have coped with the weight it was carrying as the miles increased. Martin made me up a strong back wheel based on a mavic rim that has so far taken everything that I have thrown at it. The beauty of a crank drive is that if you need a stronger rear wheel you can just build one up and slot it in.

 

A disadvantage of a powerful crank drive system is that it puts quite a strain on your cassette, chain and front sprocket. I would advise changing gear as gently as you can. I read Anthony Flemings excellent review and did find that I also damaged the original rear cassette by unsympathetically changing gear on a steep hill under full load. The system does interrupt power as you change gear but I would still recommend taking a gentle approach to changing gear. I followed Anthony’s advise and fitted a cheap £10 rear cassette from chain reaction Shimano Alivio HG400 9 Speed MTB CassetteSilver, 11-34t - sku431310 that has for me proved more durable than the original although I made sure my gears were perfectly indexed after it was fitted. The rack Martin fitted is working well in combination with my Ortlieb Panniers although for my own peace of mind I replaced the standard fitting bolts with much stronger ones that I sourced from the excellent Margnor Fasteners Ltd near Guildford.

 

Like any new bike you will probably want to put a more comfortable seat on and I have found the Velo Inclined Men's Plush Men's Saddle – Black sourced from Amazon the most comfortable saddle I have ever used and have now put this saddle on my other bikes.

 

The Smart Sam Plus Tyres with slime filled tubes have not punctured.

How do slime filled tyres work please?

How do slime filled tyres work please?

slime tubes

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/components/tubes/slime-presta-inner-tube-700c_104906?origin=pla_with_promotion&kwd=&currency=GBP&gclid=CjwKCAjw-6bWBRBiEiwA_K1ZDdpUOEGTtuSw_RErg8kpVAey3Hx7tERoPnlDuHGOX1-OjYXNu2tmGBoCQ8MQAvD_BwE

Thanks for your quick reply! thou I don't know why a video was posted of tubeless tyres was there was well !! (I thought that was your reply at first and I was confused lol !!!)

 

I have a SDURO Cross 4.0 Crossbar (2017) BTW.

you can run lower psi if you go full tubeless but slime tubes do work

Houston, we have a problem

 

Background to the problem

 

The plug that locks the charger lead into the Yamaha battery has always to me looked a little fragile.

 

I am lucky to be able to leave my bike in a room at work where I can also plug in my charger.

 

Some time ago when I returned to the room to ride home I found that the plastic locking mechanism of the plug had broken, probably by the bike being accidentally knocked over by someone who never made themselves known to me although may not have realized that any damage had been done after righting the bike.

 

Ironically it was probably the fact that the plug locks in place that made it vulnerable to damage when the bike fell over although if it had been a metal plug I do not think it would have broken. Part of the broken locking cap sheared off and remained lodged in the battery charging socket on the battery and remains there still.

 

I consider myself very lucky to have a room where I can leave my bike to charge at work and decided not to make a fuss about my broken plug. It did make me realize that the plug is definitely not the most robust design.

 

Anyway I found that the plug could still be connected and the battery charged although no longer held and it could easily fall out.

 

I use a neoprene battery cover all of the time and when pushed down to partly cover the charging port this helps to hold the plug in place now. It can occasionally fall out now, but mostly works well enough.

 

About three months ago at home when I tried to attach the charger I found that I could not. I inspected the battery and found that one of the four pins that the charger plug locates into was slightly bent. I very carefully and gently bent it back so I could attach the plug

and charge the battery.

 

Anyway on Tuesday night last week I got my battery ready to charge and found that the charger light did not come on. When I inspected the battery and charger I found that the pin that had been bent had totally detached which explained why the charging light had not come on.

 

A separate issue I had with my charger was that wires from the end that connects to the plug became frayed close to where the cable enters the charger inside the outer casing that led to a short circuit and loud bang and a dead charger. Luckily the fuse protected the charger and I was able to use insulating tape to effect a repair and after replacing the fuse it all worked again.

 

I carry my charger to work with me in my panniers and the connecting wires are wrapped around the charger to put it in a pannier and unwrapped to charge the battery when I arrive at work and this constant wrapping and unwrapping may not have helped.emente

 

Now as I have documented I bought my bike from Martin at Ebike shop in Farnham and have had nothing but top notch after sales customer service when I have required it and found them to be a nice and helpful crowd.

 

So I dragged out my old B bike (2011 Oxygen Emate City) and used that to get me too and from work for the four shifts I had to do making a note to ring Martin to explain the problem and ask for help. What I expected to be able to do was to give Martin the battery and charger to be sent off to Yamaha to have a new plug connector put on the battery and likewise new leads put on the charger and have to pay a reasonable sum for the repair now that the bike is out of warranty.

 

What actually happened was that I was told that there was nothing that could be done and I would have to buy a new battery, and that he as a dealer cannot open up the battery and would appear to have no facility to get it repaired.

 

Now I can understand that Martin may not be able to open up the Yamaha battery but I was taken aback that the battery cannot be sent away to be mended. It just does not sit well that a battery I know to be in good shape and that may have lasted a good deal longer has to be ditched just because it needs a new charging plug fitting.

 

I have been incredible impressed up to now by the quality of the battery after just over three years usage and just shy of 9000 miles. Right up to the time the plug broke it had performed almost like new although the capacity must have been reducing it was not at all noticeable.

 

I do not think I am the only person to have had this failure but due to my regular use of the bike to commute to work on might be more vulnerable to this sort of mishap.

 

Of course I could just slap down the cash and buy a new battery and charger for £800 and carry on, but would be very worried that the plug could break again and in so doing right off potentially both the battery and charger.

 

That plastic locking plug really worries me now and ironically is not be as strong as the metal plug on my oxygen and could fail again.

 

Martin did say that as the battery is out of warranty there was nothing to stop me effecting a repair myself, but I would be on my own.

 

So fellow pedalec members, what suggestions would you give me in the position I find myself. Do any of you know of someone or somewhere I could approach to effect a repair? Has one of you been in a similar scrape and got out of it? How did you manage it?

 

What precautions should I take if I have to open up the battery case?

 

I am going to take it to a mate of mine tomorrow afternoon who used to be a BT engineer and generally very handy to explain the problem. I have the pin that sheared off. The least intrusive repair is probably best, perhaps as simple as a dab of solder to re-attach the pin.

 

The battery has about a 60% charge so can last a relatively long time.

 

In every other regard up to this point Martin and Ebike shop Farnham have provided excellent service.

 

Maybe I have an antiquated attitude but it seems just plain wrong to ditch a perfectly good battery and charger that just needs a new plug and lead.

https://www.bga-reworking.co.uk/

 

they will even pick up the batt

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I guess if Raleigh are not going to fix it I am going to have to do it myself!

 

A mate and I took the plug at the charger end apart to find four colour coded wires. We soldered four appropriately coloured wires onto the wire pegs at the battery shrink wrapping each wire. We also managed to solder the yellow wire onto the metal base of the sheared of peg. We shrink wrapped all the wires together.

 

To see how we were doing we connected the wires individually to the four wires that we had exposed removing the broken charging plug from the charger.

 

We turned on the charger and the green light illuminated showing the battery was charging.

 

We will need to tidy things up now, probably silicon around where the leads enter the battery.

 

I will buy an appropriate four way connector so that the battery and charger can be easily connected and disconnected and that should be that allowing me to resume my ride to work and back on the Haibike and wear the battery out properly.

 

It has taken about half an hour so far and the bits will come to less than a tenner. A lot greener than throwing a good battery and charger away, as well as saving the odd £790.

 

Thanks for the useful suggestions and offers of help by lzzekerslik and soundwave in my other related thread Yamaha Battery / Charger Problem in the electric bikes section.

Well we ended up opening up the battery and soldering the wires directly inside where they cannot be bent or broken.

Nothing dreadful happened when we opened the battery case and the battery charged just as before when we had put it all back together.

We used external silicon sealant for where the wires exited the battery case.

The rather ugly generic four way connector that was less than a fiver hides inside the battery cover.

We also added the corresponding connector to my charger and opened it up and tidied up and replaced the wires that had become frayed over time.

My last ride to work on the sDuro was on the 13th of April with a short 20 mile return trip and the milage on the bike and battery reaching 8932. I was then off for four days and discovered my broken connector when I retrieved my battery to charge it on Tuesday evening the 17th April , not suspecting that I was in for a bit of a saga.

 

I used my trusty and in electric bike terms ancient Oxygen Emate City to get me to work for the ensuing four days of work.

 

Who knows if I would have bought a new battery and charger if I could not have overcome this problem, but I am still a little flabbergasted that if I was not able to effect this repair that would have been my only option.

 

I am not due back at work until around the 8th of May when the sDuro will resume service, but it might have to share the odd trip with the super sub Emate city now and then when the start time dictates a road trip too and from work rather than any off road. However I have always taken the old Oxygen on more forgiving off road tracks and found its unsuitability just adds to the fun!

A good inexpensive save, like you I would loath to out lay for an expensive replacement when now't really wrong with old battery and good cells. Sadly the world we now live in, a throw away society. Manufacture may be cheap but retail isn't and with a niche growing market these brand moguls know how to charge/rip off customers.

The sDuro returned to service for three return trips to work and 66 miles. Due to being early shifts these rides were on the road and did not involve any off road elements.

 

As expected the battery and charger worked as before and my 20 mph average speed 10 mile return trip on the last day (Friday 11/05/18) used 37% of the batteries capacity.

 

The amount of the batteries capacity that I use on my journeys to work and back has not really changed very much from when the bike was new, which I think shows that the battery and its management system must be pretty good.

 

Although I love my old Oxygen Emate City the battery on that needed replacing after two years of the same use.

 

Now that the wires to the charger have been properly tidied up and new connectors added to the charger and battery, connecting the charger to the battery is easier and more secure than before.

Nice hack.

 

In case it helps, I've seen them replacing connectors on batteries at Oxygen when they get worn out.The Emate MTB had a special connector on the battery, which you can't buy, so Andrew made a batch on one of his CNC machines. The replacements are more robust than the originals. It comes back to what we were saying earlier about looking after customers.

 

Mind you, if you had brought that battery and charger into the bike shop in Telford, I'd have probably done a similar repair to what you did, except I would have used a panel-mount connector to replace the original.

Thanks Dave.

 

My repair is not that pretty but it is working effectively at the moment. Just as important in some ways is the knowledge that it can be done without some big brother defeat technology shutting the battery down and locking you out.

 

I did not want to throw away a battery that obviously had life left in it. How much longer it will last I can at least now hope to find out.

 

I found Andrew at Oxygen really helpful and also John when I bought two motor wheels of him to future proof my bike, though of course John is even further away than Andrew was.

 

However 50 cycles just did not want to know despite buying the bike from them.

 

For my second electric bike I wanted to buy as close to me as possible from as high quality operation as I could find and and Ebike shop Farnham have thankfully turned out to offer really good after sales customer service that makes a tremendous difference.

 

In a perfect world I would have Woosh, Oxygen, et al on my doorstep.

 

I probably should reappraise what other electric bike shops I might have now in my area (Guildford Surrey) to help me with The Oxygen, as there might be a very good local shop that has come into existence that could help me with any future problems that I am unaware of.

 

Though it seems most of the new shops sell modern crank drive bikes and those dealing in bikes using Chinese components and hub drives are much thinner on the ground.

 

I did use the Electric Transport Shop in London to replace a broken throttle on my Emate, and they were fine, although trekking to London on the train with the bike was a bit of a faff.

 

As it was just the throttle the bike could still be ridden without it and with an old Tom Tom 1 gaffa taped to the handlebars I was amazed how quickly I reached their shop,

 

I don't remember now precisely how long it took but I do recollect being impressed how quickly I got there. They put the new throttle on while I had a coffee in the trendy place almost next door.

 

I briefly did a bit of motorcycle dispatch work as a student that took me into London and quite enjoyed the cut and thrust of weaving in and out of all the traffic and did so again peddling to The Electric Transport shop and back to Waterloo but could see how a moments indecision or getting in the wrong spot in relation to the cars and lorries could end in disaster and I would not want to do it regularly.

 

I only dispatch rode briefly and stopped when someone at a student party told me that the average life expectancy of a London dispatch rider at that time was around two years. He probably plucked that figure out of the air but it was enough to put me off.

There is a sort of height adjustment system on my rear rack where a rod with a screw hole in it slides inside the tube of the supporting leg which has a number of pre drilled holes allowing you to screw the rod firmly into the down tube using which ever pre drilled hole is appropriate.

 

Anyway out of the blue the rod that slides inside the tube broke where the screw hole attached it. I have effected a repair using a rod from a plastic coated coat hanger shoved up the tube and some good old gaffa tape. I am hoping that will work for my next three shifts so that I can enjoy my off road route to work on the Haibike rather than using my Oxygen Emate on the road.

 

However I think I will be buying a new rack soon depending of course on how well my bodge works. Vive la bodge. This rack was put on in August 28 2016 so has lasted just shy of two years before this failure. My off road route is 14 miles and I carry two ortleib panniers stuffed with stuff so I guess I should not complain too much.

 

My battery has now carried me 594 miles since the connector issues I had to overcome in April and yesterday I used 28% of my 400Wh battery to cover my 14 mile off road route to work and 34% on the faster 10 mile road trip home and these usage figures have remained largely the same since I bought the bike .

 

I am continuing to monitor my wearing rear tyre that has now reached 4186 miles, but it stll seems to have some life in it and the bike handles fine with most important of all no punctures.

 

I am putting a few less miles on the Haibike as I have decided to use my other bike when I am travelling to work and back on the road and the Haibike when I have the chance to travel cross country.

 

Oh and my total mileage has now reached 9740.

10,000 Mile Update

 

10.000 miles feels like a milestone on my Haibike Yamaha commuting to work odyssey.

Haibike sDuro HardSeven SL 2015 Yamaha 3 and a half Year update

 

As of my return trip from work last night I have covered 9954 miles with 3954 on the new motor. I return to work on Friday and will be comfortably over 10,000 miles by the 22nd of September when the bike will be three and a half years old. The previous motor was replaced under warranty at 6000 miles just after two years use.

 

There was nothing wrong with the functionality of that motor but the main bearing had developed play and a replacement motor seemed to be an easier course of action for the manufacturer than replacing the bearing that had worn. I cannot say I was unhappy to get a brand new motor free of charge.

 

When inevitably the bearing on my replacement motor develops play in the main bearing it will be interesting to see what options my dealer will be able to offer me. I know that they replace worn out bearings on Bosch motors. Hopefully by then they will be able to change the bearing for me or provide me with the correct bearing I can change myself. Perhaps there might be some kind of motor exchange deal.

 

Maybe they will only be able to offer a replacement new motor and I will have to find out myself how to change the bearing or bite the bullet on a new motor dependent on cost.

 

Chain, Chainring, Cassette, wear and tear

 

Top gear (12 tooth sprocket) started to jump under load a couple of times on the way home last night 10/09/2018 so I will be putting a new cassette and chain on before my next ride to work on Friday 14th September. I will not change the front Garbaruk 42 tooth narrow wide chain ring as it is still has plenty of life left.

 

I use KMC chains and cheap Shimano 9 speed cassettes.

 

This cassette, chain, and chain ring came into service on the 27th of February 2018 and together have completed 1462 miles in just under six months.

 

The narrow wide chain ring was my first experience of one and I have found it to be absolutely superb and would highly recommend them and this one in particular. No dropped chain since I put it on and beautifully engineered to be light and strong.

 

Over half the miles I do are off road in a sandy area which increases the wear rate of the chain, chain ring and rear cassette. With the best will in the world regular commuting means that the transmission does not get cleaned as often as it should as you just run out of time and energy to wash the transmission off before having to head off to work. Also it is my trip to work that is off road and gets everything dirty so that the transmission is dirty before my 10 mile road trip home.

 

Other bits and bobs that needed replacing

 

My rear rack support leg fastening on one side broke and I salvaged a rack I had fitted to a Marin Bobcat trail hard tail mountain bike that has been sitting unused in my garage. The old rack had lasted just shy of two years which I think was OK considering the battering it got off road loaded with two Ortleib panniers. The new one looks much better with the support legs closer fitting to the frame and therefore held more securely. The rack has already had a hard life fitted to my Marin, but I hope to get a lot more use out of it now it is fitted to the Haibike.

 

Tyres

 

My tyres have now covered 4400 miles since I put them on, on 5th January 2017. They are Specialized Crossroads Armadillo 650B 27.6” Wired Clincher Tyres in 1.9” width. They are very tough and look like they can last still longer. More wear apparent on the rear than the front as you would expect. Fantastic protection and no punctures.

 

When the rear needs replacing I will move the front tyre to the rear and put a new tyre on the front.

 

They are a classic compromise and more road orientated than I would like but with the miles I do on the road mountain bike tyres would wear out in no time and after getting used to them I have learnt that they are more effective than I had first thought they would be off road.

 

Battery

 

As documented my battery and charger connectors broke in April and I was shocked to find that my otherwise excellent dealer who I bought the bike from had no facility to get them fixed and that indeed no dealer has and all my dealer could do was offer to sell me a new battery and charger,

 

Fortunately with the help of a handy mate we were able to replace the connectors with generic ones bought off Ebay for less than a tenner. In order to do the job properly we did have to open the battery case but it all worked as before after we had put it back together.

 

The battery has powered the bike for 1022 miles since the connectors needed mending. The new cheap Ebay connectors are a bit chunky and remind me of chock block connectors but are easier to use than the original ones and have been completely reliable so far. Perhaps just as important is that I now know that they can be relatively easily changed if the need arises.

 

The battery which is the original one and now itself three and a half years old continues to work really well with still little obvious sign of a loss in capacity. On my 14 mile mostly off road ride to work on Monday it used 28% of its 400Wh capacity and 36% on the 10 mile road trip home. I use more battery going home as I use the motor more to travel faster and complete the journey in around 30 minutes to aim to achieve an average speed of around 20mph.

 

Perhaps in the forthcoming cold of winter I will begin to see some sign of the capacity reducing. Time and cold weather will reveal all.

 

The fact that the battery can be removed so easily and that I always do remove it and keep it in the house where it is warmer and dryer than a cold garage may be a factor in keeping it in good condition. After my ride home my battery is about 65% fully charged and is left like this until as near to the next time I intend to use the bike as possible before being charged up to full.

 

If I am on holiday from work the battery is left until I next go back to work and this gap can be up to three weeks.

 

Brakes

 

The Tektro brakes just require brake pads as and when and continue to work really well with no fuss or other more major adjustment.

 

Lights

 

My Sigma Buster 200 front light with the silicon handlebar attachment to allow it to be completely taken off the bike easily and used on another or as a torch is one and a half years old and still working well. I use it on its middle brightest setting of the three it has and you can connect it to a computer to charge or a plug in mains charger. Obviously you can spend a fortune on lights but for my B road commuting needs this light has been very good. Bright enough for me, weighs very little and very easy to attach and detach and held securely when attached. The beam, penetration and spread is all good. I have a second cheap battery light attached to my handlebars as a backup just in case

 

My first rear light was a Moon Comet which was good but failed inside my first year of ownership and Martin at the e-bikeshop where I bought my bike and the light replaced the Moon Comet with the updated Moon Comet MKII free of charge. Great customer service.

 

The updated Comet MKII is very bright and gets you noticed which is what you want. It is over two and a half years old and can also be attached and detached from the seat post very easily. I use it on its brightest flashing setting and refer to it as my rear gunner as it really gets me noticed by vehicles approaching me from behind day or night and I would definitely recommend it and buy another similar model from moon when I need to replace it. I also have a tiny but bright battery light also attached to the seat post as a back up were the moon to fail

Story to be continued

 

So after 3 and a half years now and 10,000 miles I am still very impressed with this bike.

 

I continue to find the Haibike frame and Japanese motor a great quality combination. I bought a crank drive bike to enable me to ride mostly off road to work using in places quite demanding single track routes while carrying panniers on a rear rack and then having the ability to morph into a fast road bike to get me 10 miles home quickly. I still find riding this bike is amazing fun and also get the benefit of plenty of exercise in the process.

 

What the future holds

 

I will be 57 soon and plan to retire when I am 60. Will this bike last till then? That would be pushing the mileage up towards 20,000 miles based on my usage so far. How much longer will this original battery last? Will the main bearing in this second warranty replacement motor develop play like the first motor or will it go further or not as far? Will there be an option to have the bearing replaced? Will I just want a different bike at some point? Will my knees hold out? They certainly ache and creak more than they used to. Time will reveal all but I am really enjoying riding this bike to work and back and the freedom from driving a car.

Edited September 12, 20187 yr by georgehenry

Is there a particular reason for not fitting a larger chainring to get more into the middle of the cassette?

Hi Chris,

 

I have been tempted to go for a front mech dual chain ring set up to enable me to do just what you suggest. I was very close to doing it but then just never actually did.

 

If you were at some time able to take a few pictures of your set up to post on this thread at some time it would be useful to see how you have done yours. How you have secured the front mech for example.

 

One of the reasons why not is that my current 42 tooth single front chain ring and 12/36 cassette does give me just the right gearing for my off road route combined with what would appear from what other people say on this site is a good 10 mile average speed (20 mph) and reasonable rear cassette longevity (Last one lasted 1462 miles). Remember the rear cassettes I use are cheap (16.99).

 

Although I have replaced my last cassette and chain after only six months I do a relatively higher mileage than many people and those riding ebike mountain bikes off road seem to imply that anything over 1000 miles is good,

 

However the temptation of a dual chain ring front mech set up would be to have a large enough (over geared) outer chain ring to be in the middle of my cassette at higher speeds on the road reducing the chance of it wearing out too quickly and also allowing me to go faster on the road using higher power settings from the motor and achieve a higher average speed than I am at the moment.

 

I achieve my current 20 mph average by only using eco at higher speeds in my top two gears. I use more power to climb steeper hills or to maintain speed over the top of longer hills to keep my average speed up.

 

I suppose I am pretty happy with the way my current gearing works for me but understand that a dual chain ring front mech set up would allow me to have potentially a significantly wider gear spread.

 

How far/often do you need to replace your rear cassette chain and chain ring?

I was thinking more of increasing the size of the single but hadn't realised you need all the gears. 11 - 40 9 speed cassettes are available but probably a lot more expensive than yout current ones!

My riding is considerably different to yours, nearly always on a 10% ave gradient up or down:). My system spends most of its time in the lower gears which massively reduces the chain and cassette wear, I guess 2nd gear is my most used climbing gear so should wear out first but as it is a 36 it will take a while. I have 44 / 32 front and 11-40 rear this set up had done about 2500km with no sign of wear (no sand!) though I havent had the chain gauge on as like you I will just replace it all.

As far as converting goes the front mech goes where the chain guide was fitted, there is already a guide for the cable above the mech and the cable entry covers in the frame need replacing or modifying for the extra cable. I fitted shorter chain ring bolts and you do loose the chain guard, no need to take the spider off but it was easier with the bottom motor cover removed.

 

Thanks for your reply and picture. If you are mostly in bottom gears climbing under load i think your cassette should last a long time. I ride in beautiful countryside but Austria must be something special. I have skied in a number of locations in Austria and ridden through parts with friends on motorcycles. When my daughter was young we had quite a special dad and daughter skiing holiday based in Kaprun.

 

I became aware of the Sunrace wide ratio 9 speed cassette quite recently and it is not too expensive, about twice the price of my cheap Shimano ones. It has a 40 tooth bottom gear as opposed to my 36 and I worked out that I would be able to use a 46 tooth chain ring and have marginally lower gearing in the 40 tooth bottom gear than my current 42/36, and have marginally higher gearing in the 13 tooth gear 8 than my current 42/12. But for all the trouble of doing it I was not sure that the 13 tooth sprocket on the Sunrace that I would be using for fast road work would be much more resistant to wear than the 12 tooth top gear I use now.

 

My current 42 tooth chain ring and 12/36 rear cassette does work really well for me and I think I just have to accept that with a single chain ring you have to compromise a bit about your lowest and highest gear.

Well after putting the new chain and cassette on I have started getting a noise that could be from the transmission but could be from the motor that was not there before and has just started to happen coincidentally with the change of the rear cassette and chain.

 

It is loudest when I am climbing in the lower gears. When I checked there was also a very small amount of play in the main bearing when I gently push and pull the pedal arms. However the motor is working just as it should.

 

I did also check the rear wheel, hub, cassette, wheel bearings etc.

 

Bearing in mind that I wore out my first motors main bearing after 6000 miles, this could be the beginning of wear starting to show.

 

I thought I would just check with my dealer what my options are now that the bike is three and a half years old.

 

As usual they replied to my email inquiry within minutes to advise that they do now have Yamaha main bearings in stock and when they need doing the job can be done by them with a same day turnaround for £80.

 

This I thought very good, as the bike would be out of action for just a day. I continue to be impressed by their efficiency.

 

They advised me that the main shaft on the motor is a floating shaft so it will have a little play anyway. The play I can feel is very slight.

 

They said a new motor if required would be £650.

 

They also advised that it was maybe worth waiting more time for it to get louder as it has no mechanical effect on the motor.

 

So that is what I am going to do, just keep riding and keep an eye on the noise/play knowing that it is not too inconvenient or expensive to change the main bearing when it becomes necessary.

Help!

 

We have two Haibike Sduro Hardsevens, whilst away on holiday one stopped working with the battery flashing E and F and would not switch on. Thinking this was a battery fault I swapped that battery for the other and that developed the same fault. I put one battery on charge to see if this would reset the problem, it didn't.

 

I rang the dealer about the problem and tried to reset the batteries with button presses as directed, no effect. On return to the UK I delivered the bikes and batteries to the dealer for assessment and hopefully warranty repair.

 

I've just heard that because the bikes are a few months outside the warranty Raleigh will not repair them for free. I was told the motors of the second bike has been damaged by putting a faulty battery onto that bike and switching it on so the cost I have been quoted for repair of both bikes for two motors and two batteries is .. £2280!

 

The bikes have not been hard used nor abused, mine has covered about 2500miles my partners (the original faulty one) only about 500miles. Both are stored inside the house when not in use.

 

This fault is nothing that we have done surely a motor should last longer than that and how on earth can a motor then take out the other motor via a faulty battery? This doesn't sound right to me.

 

Has anyone had a similar fault of batteries flashing E and F? Can the battery be repaired i.e. an internal fuse be replaced? Does anyone know of a place that could refurb them? Do I have any consumer rights under "Fit for purpose"?

 

I would be grateful for any help and advice as to what to do next. £2280 is more than I paid for one bike originally.

 

Thanks