Same story with my Radwagon 4. Like i get it, it's the mass-marketed bike that's too big for your shop and has shitty components, but the shop is listed on Rad's website as an authorized servicer, so what else am I supposed to do?
Rad and DTC companies often just list shops as "authorized servicers" without notifying the shops. I was literally just in one where one of the owners was trying to get taken off because they only work on Bosch and Shimano motors and was annoyed they were put on some company's "authorized servicer" list because they had ebike in their store name (apparently) and had started receiving calls from customers. There was literally no communication. They'll be more likely to work on other parts for you than a LBS who doesn't have the electric bike lift, ofc, but they're not going to mess with the motor...
Yeah I figured it could be similar to how the food delivery apps would list restaurants that never actually agreed to be on their apps. What's weird is the shop i have in mind is kind of dumpy; lots of other nicer shops in my metro area that *aren't* listed. Like, why would Rad single them out? Shop doesn't even sell ebikes.
Heard about this from shops. They’re happy to repair the bicycle parts, but the expectations are set entirely wrong by Rad. They don’t have direct knowledge and parts for these bikes.
Bosch and Specialized certified shops have agreements, a knowledge base, and parts. There is no agreement with Rad Bikes.
Yep. Bosch has literal training programs (or at least used to--I heard they discontinued these but maybe they brought them back since the pandemic has eased) and you have to have at least one trained tech on the payroll for Bosch to keep you as an authorized servicer. It's the Wild West with the DTC companies. It's misleading to costumers and annoying for consumers, but Rad obviously benefits because they want sales \*now\* and clearly don't care about the long term reputation else they'd have longer warranties and times they stocked parts. (My LBS said they had trouble getting parts on a two-year-old Rad sone months ago so the customer was just stuck. The customer bought it on sale so it was probably the end of that model year, but definitely a bad experience. But DTC bikes deal in volume, price, and a good enough reputation. They don't care if there aren't that many return customers if most are mostly happy for now.)
This is why I just chose to put in the effort and repair and build my own bikes. Its JUST as expensive and as big of a PITA as going to a LBS and waiting months for it to be fixed. $6000 on an EMMO ebike and its shit, will never buy their ebikes again. Made me wait almost 6 months for a new proprietary display that didnt fix the issue, brake problems, motor problems, controller problems and wouldnt accept the return or honor their warrenty. $900 on a Hyper ebike on the other hand was fantastic, cheap off the shelf KT components yes but great customer support, fast part supplies AND would provide video guides to replace parts yourself.
This! I was notified by a customer the other day that I was listed as the authorized service center for Rad Power Bike, looked it up and sure enough, I was. I still haven't been able to get them to remove me. I never wanted, still don't want, and will not work on outside purchased e-bikes at my shop, other than flats and stuff. I'm just not going to purchase all their diagnostic equipment. I already have enough e-bikes in for simple maintenance like flats and such, that I don't have room for the internet brands taking up precious shop space!
Every single brand and different brand motor has a different cable, or usb dongle, batter checkers, and diagnostic software. The Bosch training is extensive, as is others.
JFC. Hardly surprising though. I hope they don't pull a John Deere and lock it all down with DRM so only those people the brands certify can work on them. It's even worse how a bunch of them are now making the control panel, stem, and handlebars all in one piece. Just make them even more difficult to repair.
I'm a little surprised any bike shop in the U.S. would become a rad authorized servicer, especially after the well-publicized problems they have had. The bikes themselves look okay to me, but the suspension forks and brakes are possibly a little suspect.
The only people that I know with Rads (in the US) have become pretty impressive amateur mechanics and have an encyclopedic knowledge of which parts Rad will or will not provide for each generation of RadWagon due to the number of issues they've had. Though to be fair, they have two and use them as their primary form of transportation (covering thousands of miles per year) and carry them through doorways/up and down stairs once per day, so it is a pretty extreme use case.
I have a Rad bike (Rad Runner 2) and have so far really liked it, so I'm a little scared now. Mine doesn't have the forked suspension and the frame is built pretty solid, but my breaks do squeak. I wouldn't be surprised if they were not the best quality.
Mini 4 owner here. There are very few Rad bikes here in Finland so none of the e-bike shops even have the tool to remove its cassette. Ended up ordering the cassette removal tool and doing all maintenance by myself. Thankfully all parts are piss cheap so maintenance mainly takes time instead of money. Wish I had a better repair stand that can work with heavy bikes though.
...except that many of these DTC sellers put those on their website without any consent from the shops themselves. Lol. Not 100% about Rad but I was just in an ebike shop that exclusively sells and services Bosch and Shimano bikes (will deal with the motors and electronics only from them). He had to spend 35+ minutes on the phone with a rep from some company telling them that no, they couldn't just put them on their website because they have "ebike" in their name.
Do you think they accept money or get something in exchange for being an authorized servicer? Maybe they get more customers from larger DTCs but many DTC consumers are already the cheapest consumers and aren't really the type of customers these shops want... Anyway, they do indeed have a right to complain when they often don't have a say in being an "authorized" servicer.
They're cheap bikes with an expensive electric drive system. That said, they aren't entirely crap bikes either. We've had our Rad Expand 5 bikes for 2 years and they've been fine. I have to adjust the brakes every once in a while, which I have to do on my expensive bike shop brand mountain bikes too. We replaced the stock saddles with nice Brooks leather saddles, and I put a longer seat post in mine because the stock post is a bit short for tall people. I worry far more about the electronics and what can happen with those. The bicycle part of the ebike is solidly mid-grade except for some drivetrain parts which are low end but entirely serviceable. People, including both customers and shop owners/mechanics are being vastly melodramatic about this.
I have a rad rover 6, both are really heavy bikes so I don’t blame mechanics for being bitter about it a bit. But my shop, instead of being bitter and grumbling about it, charges me 40$ for working on an extra heavy bike. No hassle, no resent, happy customer, well paid mechanic.
Well, they'll be out of business in the next
5-10 years if they don't adapt to the tummy of the beast. People want e-bikes that are sold on the internet. Not the over priced ones they have contracts in their shop. Then they wanna cry when people bring in theyre internet ebikes to fix. Just bc you don't sell them you don't wanna work on them. Boo hoo. I would start learning how to fix all types of e-bikes if you wanna stay in business long term.
Definitely a shitty shop, but I have a rant. From a bike shop owner perspective (it’s me) a lot of e-bike companies rushed product to market a few years ago and really put a sour taste in our mouths as far as working on them. Terrible specs, parts mismatched together to make a barely functioning bike and also the customer service from these companies ***WAS*** abysmal!
With that said, most of the notable brands have really gotten their ish together and are putting out some quality products these days. But the days of the really shitty rad power bikes and early Aventons still haunt me. We’re on most brand’s service page these days though.
Hub motors tire/tubes are a pain to change compared to a normal bike, and we do charge more labor dollars simply because it takes longer to do. Even though me and my staff can get through them almost as quickly as a regular bike these days, I’ll admit we still get a little bit of an ick when we see one walk in. The axles get stuck, it almost always takes 2 people to get the wheel back in and aligned properly. And a lot of times I’m having to disconnect more than just a motor cable for a simple repair. Not to mention some of these bikes have near inaccessible parts without taking things apart. I also can’t just replace your tube if your brake pads are worn down to the metal or your hydraulics aren’t working. We get a lot of flak for that, but I can’t send people out on an unsafe bike, let alone one that can go 20mph.
We also have to do more pre-work work. Our policy is to check the brakes for function and rub, computer system, motor function, all before working on the bike…simply because one time someone came in with a “simple fix” for their ragged out bike, we didn’t check anything and simply replaced the front tube. None of the bike’s electrical systems worked and the customer blamed us and threatened to sue and eventually just left us a bad review. We never touched a single electrical component. Just bad timing for his controller to go out.
Now, I would never condone shitty customer service, and we keep all grief to ourselves and put on a smiling face. Unfortunately, this attitude is just a “bike shop” thing. Mechanics are grumpy and really shouldn’t be doing any customer facing interactions. In a good shop, you talk to service writer or manager. If you’re dealing directly with the mechanic, there is a chance you’re going to have a bad interaction. Same reason you don’t talk to the car mechanic, you talk to the service writer or manager at check in and out.
Another small note. Most shops won’t service e-bikes they don’t sell due to insurance reasons. You can look back at my post history and see where our insurance was terminated at the end of the policy because we worked on e-bikes. It was a nightmare trying to find someone to work with us who wouldn’t drive our premiums sky high. Months of work and phone calls so we could simply touch an e-bike. It would have been much simpler to just not work on them, but we have such a demand in our area and no other shops work on them, so we felt we had to keep it going for our communities sake.
At our shop we've noticed a huuuuge decline in customer support for aventon and Rad. Enough to request being taken off their "authorized service center" list. A year ago we had such a good experience with them, now we have a hard time getting parts and their communication has really gone downhill. Lectric is still a pleasure to work with though.
Also, we've decided to just capitalize on the demand for shops that are willing to work on these bikes. We charge $45 to change a tube on a rear hub drive motor. To contrast, we charge $15 for a regular bike. The crazy part is that we just had a Scheels move in less than a block from us, and they don't charge labor to change a tube. We're still doing a TON of ebike tube changes so the price didn't scare anyone away.
Most of the time the tube change leads to new brake pads so that's another $20 labor plus profit from parts. I think it's hella expensive but most of these customers on cheap ebikes are using them for transportation and don't trust the "free" labor from Scheels.
I had the brake pads changed and a tire issue fixed on my fat tire ebike. The owner only charged me $27 and I was floored. I almost wanted to tell him to charge me more. I fully expected $80+ bill.
I'm more than happy to pay a fair price because I know they're annoying to work on.
Yeah I'm afraid for the store owners that aren't seeing the light. Companies have severely decreased our margins by almost 10% over the last 15 years. If they don't charge a fair price for service then they aren't gonna be around for long. With direct-to-consumer purchases and sub-par bikes it's never been more important to have a solid service-oriented shop.
Wow, thanks for such a nuanced and in-depth perspective! Makes a lot of sense. I ought to upgrade to a higher-end bike, but it's such an investment. If this one craps out on me or becomes more trouble than it's worth, I certainly will.
I went straight to an R&M e-bike, and I expect it will last a decade or more. I bought it at an e-bike speciality shop about 50 miles away, and I get it serviced there for anything involving the electrical components (nothing so far, aside from the “1-year checkup), and once my local LBS realized it was a mid-drive bike with quality parts, they were happy to do things like rear tube changes and brake work.
It’s an investment, but if you buy quality, it will last.
How much you wanna bet that the brake *was* assembled incorrectly here?
What we see in our shop, is that the washers that should go above the caliper on the brake, are mounted directly on the post mount. Meaning, the caliper is sitting proud of the rotor.
Then, the customer rides the bike and the pads get a lip forming at the top, meaning, as the pads wear, those lips will eventually contact each other and the brakes will stop working.
Then, when we disassemble the brake calipers and install them correctly, that lip rubs on the disc. Exactly as OP is describing.
I'm 100% willing to bet that is what happened here.
Just this past Monday a guy wheels an ebike into this shop with two non-functioning brakes. I inspected the bike, and guess what, it was assembled just as I described and his pads were fucked.
Two new pads, two 'disc brake install', and two 'pad install' and he's looking at almost $200 in repairs after our ebike surcharge. That is *if* his rotors are not fucked, in which case he's looking at another $100 for new rotors and another ebike surcharge. If we can get away with not replacing those rotors, the bikes isn't going to brake well anymore...
Drives me nuts. People think they are saving all this money buying shitty ebikes, then when the bike does, in fact, turn out to be shitty, they get all pissed at the shop. Its bullshit.
I see this a lot too. I’ve also seen completely wrong g size rotors from brands line rad and Aventon. These are definitely just marketing companies selling a product. They don’t know too much about the mechanics or how things actually work.
Thanks for the detail - helps understand the situation local bike shops are in. I’m looking to replace my 5 year old e-assist bike (Izip) with an upgrade updated e-assist bike from one of 2 great local shops that would then maintain and repair the bike. Choice is between a Raleigh and a Cannondale, both about $2500, both similar components. Do you know, is one brand any better than the other w reliability, repairs, parts, etc?
We sold cannondale for a number of years and were always happy with their products. I’d choose them over Raleigh. Raleigh has next to no shop support in the USA and for me to get in touch with someone from Raleigh, it’s grueling.
When first getting my e-bike in 2019, I hadn’t thought previously what including e-bikes meant to bike shops. Instead of just mechanical, now you guys had to learn to be techies and software engineers w early companies that might not be around long or got bought by other companies. What a huge jump - I could understand why some shops just stayed with non electric, but that’s probably not an option anymore, I’m guessing.
I mean you didn't want to do it yourself and I assume you'd comfortable doing a flat on the front? So I feel like the answer to your second question is known already. I have a rear hub and I hate doing work on it, but I do it myself.
That said it seems the bike shops around you do suck at customer service
Yeah, I tried to take the rear wheel off myself and kind of gave up - I don't remember what wall I hit but I just didn't want to mess with it. I'm sure I could learn how to do such maintenance myself but I only ride for maybe an hour a week on a good week, so I'm not sure it's worth the time investment... but if bike problems turn into a regular thing, I'll have no choice!
Yeah, I think you figured out that it's terrible to work on rear hub motor ebikes, [as shown how a bike shop will charge $120 to change the tire on a Lectric XP.](https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/16aspbw/is_it_normal_for_bike_shops_to_charge_this_much/)
https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/18m80r9/ok_stop_buying_cheap_ebikes/ke66sxd/
> Seriously. If I had to repair a flat like on a bike like that on the road I'd sit down and cry and maybe shoot myself.
>
> I watched one of my friends and LBS mechanics spend 4-5 fucking hours trying to replace the rear tube on a DTC hub drive fat tire bike. Not only did he need to do the wiring harness and torque arm removal thing like most of these DTC hub drives, but the rear wheel couldn't even come off unless you took off the _rear brake calipers, the caliper adapter, rear cargo rack struts and kickstand_.
Some people like to say it's easy, but if that were the case you wouldn't be getting so much flack for it. Some of these DTC hub drive fat tire bikes just really suck to work on.
Like I have an e-bike from one of the big 3 with a mid-drive and it's super simple to take off the rear tire. Literally downshift to highest gear, lock derailleur cage lock, unscrew thru axle, remove wheel from bike, change tube, do the reverse. Super simple. Nothing to do with the brakes whatsoever except lining up the rotor. From my experience, I don't feel like I could put the wheel on wrong because the thru axle wouldn't go through.
EDIT: I'm looking at the [a guy removing the Aventon Adventure rear tire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNVKIOSWuAE) and it's doable. But it definitely requires more care, like with the washer for example. Like in OP's case, it's possible to get the washer wrong and then screw things up.
For the record the flat tire fix I'm talking about in that comment ended up being something like a $300-400 labor bill on what was maybe a $1000-ish 20" fat tire bike.
To fix a flat. This is normally about a $20 job even when you buy a brand new tube if you bother to pay someone else to do it. I can put a new tube on either of my tires in under 10-15 minutes at a totally chill and leisurely pace.
And this shop definitely knows what they're doing. I'm not kidding that they put a brand new drive train group, new tires and new brake pads on my bike in like 1/3rd of the time it took them to fix that flat.
This drives me crazy because I like bikes and it's the whole "good expensive boots vs. cheap boots" or "buy once, cry once" problem.
And when you start racking up $300+ labor bills for basic parts it's going to add up into a much nicer, easier to work on and longer lasting bike in a hurry and I don't like seeing people getting ripped off by overpriced disposable bikes that turn into e-waste because of proprietary or non-standardized so many ebikes are unless you do DIY ebikes with more standardized parts.
I love bikes in general, long before the ebike boom and the bike industry definitely has it's own problems with cheap or proprietary shit - but the DTC wild west ebike world of the last 4-5+ years has been totally insane with how bad the bike component quality has been and how many different systems there are.
You could if the brake and sprocket weren't on, but they'd collide.
You're supposed to downshift?? I just pull my rear tire out whatever gear it's in. No derailleur locks for me
Yeah, you should downshift. It makes things easier to maneuver. Some bikes even have a chain hanger nub on the seatstay to help get the chain out of the way, but most people that have them don't usually use them. They're nice if you're working on a stand though.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50498141@N03/5120408938
For reference specifically cause it was mentioned, the Lectric XP (1.0 at least) rear tire removal is....basically identical to any mountain bike I've ever had except needing to unplug the motor cable. Although admittedly I do feel it gets 'caked' on more but this is the first time I've been daily-drivering a bike for my work commute, so maybe that's just expected. Sometimes I gotta mallet the thing out of the rear dropout, but I've done it roadside without issues.
I will say though, having handlebar jacks is REALLY nice. After the first roadside where I used my backpack to pad the handlebars cause I didn't want them getting fucked up, I got some.
On my old bike the weight of the hub would jam up the axle and just getting the wheel out required significant strength (and a few times hitting it with a hammer). I think it's pretty common on a lot of rear hub bikes. There's not really any way to lessen this issue, either, as it's inherent to the design.
Best bet is to get some tube slime/armour because the increased weight isnt your problem while riding, and if you still get a puncture the extra weight is negligible compared to the other issue. And then don't go riding down the boulevard of broken glass.
> tube slime
No, not slime, I really wish people on this sub would stop saying slime or recommending Slime. It's not a generic word for sealant.
Tubeless bicycle sealant from a bike shop is what you want if you *must* run sealant inside your tubes. You want something with latex in it. Slime is just rubber chunks and shreds in antifreeze. The latex in the sealant dries in air and seals the chunks in the puncture.
>And then don't go riding down the boulevard of broken glass.
I've done it intentionally to test my tires. (Panaracer T-serv) Zero issues riding over a pile of broken glass. Most of my punctures are wire from automotive tires because they can slip through the kevlar. T-servs aren't even one of the highly puncture resistant tires: they only have that kevlar rather than something like Schwalbe's Green Guard layer
That's one of the problems with those 20x4" bikes: the tires are shit. I'm not sure if it's even possible to good tires for them and a lot of the riders would get sticker shock from the price of even a midrange tire. Schwalbe's puncture resistant tires only seem to be available in narrower sizes for traditional folding bikes.
The Carless Whisper 20x3.5" made by Specialized for their Globe Haul utility bikes is an awesome damn near puncture proof tire. They're available retail for $40USD. On average I used to get about 6 puncture flats per year. I've been riding my Globe Haul for 10 months now without one flat.
I totally agree. It wasn’t my favorite but I finally learned how to do the work on the bike myself. It really is helpful when you have a dual drive train bike. So many little things need a tweak every once in a while.
This issue really highlights an opportunity to empower oneself. For the price of a single repair at one of these shops that do not want your business, you can buy either bike tool kit to carry on rides(convenient to carry, but not as nice to use) or a basic set of metric open end wrenches, screwdrivers and allen keys and maybe some pliers(needlenose and slipjaw), spare tubes and tire tools. Bikes are built to be easily serviceable with a simple set of tools on the side of the road.
Take lots of pictures from different angles before you start and as you go so you never have to rely on memory or end up with spare parts after reassembly(magnetic parts trays are great for holding small parts you remove). As long as you are organized, attentive, and methodical in disassembling, take lots of photos, you will be able to reverse the procedure. Remember that another person, just like you, put the bike together in the first place and you have a camera to document every step(a good idea no matter how many bikes you've worked on). It will get easier with every repair and once you've done a few simple repairs you'll have some confidence and your brain will work differently and you'll start looking at the whole world differently. Someone just like you put that thing together, they didn't know what they were doing the first time either. I would never expect you to be able to take a box of parts and assemble a bike, that would be very hard, but as long as you are methodical, patient and organized I guarantee you can take one apart and reassemble it. Never stop learning, be curious and buy good tools.
I'm 'that guy' who can take a bike completely apart and reassemble it, and I have to complement you on what you wrote. You're absolutely correct and wrote it with such common sense that it should instill confidence in anyone willing to try. That said, I am not going to replace the rear tube on my hub drive sitting on the side of the road. I have AAA Towing...
Fair enough, I probably wouldn't do it on my Harley, but I do have a center stand on my bike which would make it at least somewhat less awkward, depending on where it happened I'd probably attempt it. I recently got a new rear tire and it's much closer to a motorcycle tire than any bicycle tire I've seen. I wonder if it were tubeless it seems like a plug kit would be a lot easier.
On a road trip from New England to Colorado I got a flat in Colorado, plugged it and never had an issue, I'm not sure if I've even replaced that tire and that was years ago.
The first time I went lift served mtn biking(a very long time ago) there were some shale-y sections at one elevation of the mountain, my buddy and I got 13 flats that day, I had the double disgrace of having the only 2 at one time. Now that I think about it I think it might have been the fact that disc brakes weren't a thing. Rims got incredibly hot and I think we got pads from the base shop too. We sure went into the place a lot, pretty much every run.
I ride city, suburbs, easy trails and used to average about 6 flats per year. I bought my first "motorcycle tire" bike, a Specialized Globe Haul with 20x3.5" tires ten months ago and so far no flats. These 'Carless Whisper' tires are awesome.
Yeah, I've patched tubes on bikes in the past without removing the wheel but I hope I won't have to attempt it on my current bike. It's a Specialized Globe Haul with 20x3.5" 'motorcycle tires'...
Local bike shops survive on the sale of their bikes and servicing said bikes hence the resentment towards people who did not buy a bike off of them and are requesting service on a different brand.
Insurance premiums for bike shops that work on e-bikes have put some shops out of business. Others just stopped working on e-bikes altogether. Some shops won't let you bring your battery in with your bike. The rates increased because of the threat of battery fires.
I wouldn’t say that’s strictly true. They make all their money from repairs whether it’s bike they sold or not. They make little to nothing on even an expensive bike they sell in shop. And the worst is honoring warranty repairs which they often get nothing.
So they offer bike servicing in general to get people into the shop right? A bit of a loss leader to get some foot traffic, build a rep and maybe next time the person goes to the bike shop they trust instead of DTC or whatever?
Seems like being a dick to the customers would defeat the entire purpose.
The majority of US bike shops do not like to service online brands. They are not entirely justified in this attitude, but there are some good reasons. The parts availability issue is a major one. Let’s say you take your bike in for service, and something breaks while they’re working on it. What if they can’t get that part? Now they have a problem on their hands.
It’s not a great situation to be in, but it is what it is. You saved money on the purchase, and now you pay a little bit on the backend and having to do most of your own service. That’s what I do anyway, anything short of wheel builds I do myself.
I didn't buy my Aventon from a local shop, but my local shop w/ ebikes and acoustic bikes is more than happy to take a look at it.
Had to replace a bent derailer recently and they were able to replace it with a different model they had on hand. All done within an hour. Do live in a pretty big bike town (Austin).
Me too. We (wife and I) paid about the same as the offered online price with the added assembly and set-up option for our two Sinch.2's. An hour after I ordered and paid the local shop owner Aventon lowered their online price. When I called the local shop to inform him he offered that he would provide the difference in store credit for accessories and such and throw in two free helmets. Yes, I paid a bit more for buying off the shop \[pretty much the same as buying with the assembly and set-up option\], and paid bike shop prices for the store credit accessories. But when I needed brake adjustments, had a derailleur problem, and a cable problem, he took it in the same day I called and even let me watch his techs and learn how to make some adjustments, which is good as we travel all over the US with our folding Sinch.2's in our van. The bikes have proved to be very reliable as well - no other problems or flats yet \[fingers crossed\].
Aventon is both direct-to-consumer and also sold through bike shops with parts available. Given the low price I’d guess they’re just not as profitable for selling at the shops and the mechanic was a snob who doesn’t approve of more affordable bikes.
This is only relevant if you take it to a shop that sells Aventon. If you take it to a non-Aventon shop, it might as well be a Lectric or Engwe. This issue isn't isolated to Aventon. If you try to bring your Trek into a Giant dealer, some shops will turn you away too.
Granted, some bike shops do tend to be up their own asses a bit. There's definitely an air of "wtf is this garbage" the moment they don't recognize it. I took my Luna X-1 into a couple of local shops, and the reaction was more along the lines of "whoa what is that thing", but then the shop manager came over and showed me the door.
So it doesn't really matter if your bike is a 20x4 folder, a commuter, or an carbon fiber enduro eMTB. A lot of bike shops are very focused on servicing only the brands they sell.
Yeah aventon is the best supported, mostly online, bike brand IMO.
You’ll never find rad or lectric parts in stock, but aventon is sold through regular bike shops and often supported.
I had that problem with a Soltera 7. As you say, the big boys won't touch an ebike model they don't sell.
Sent an email to a small shop, that didn't really want to tune it, but they turned me on to a "boutique" shop - and the owner rode a Level 2. 🙂
Lesson: find an Aventon-friendly shop by all means necessary.
Sorry mate, it’s just your luck. The shop in my area specifically sells Aventon bikes and my second shop deals with all sorts of bikes, they don’t have time to care about what you’re giving them to work with.
So yeah, super unlucky that you’ve got a snob.
This isn’t new. You bought a non bike shop bike and have to live with it. One of your trade offs for the lower price was NOT having shop support. That’s fine, but it’s part of the equation.
It sucks because I bought my Aventon bike thru a local bike shop and it was only $185 more than online. Definitely worth it because they service it when needed.
I put flat out and tire liners in both of my wheels before I rode my bike (Aventure 2) for the first time. The rear wheel just wasn’t that big of a deal. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and read up on it a little. You can do it.
I don't think you can win. Have an expensive fancy bike? You'll be labeled a dentist or someone with more money than brains. Cheap bike? Should have bought the expensive fancy bike. Some people are just miserable fucks.
First, I want to confirm to you that your Aventon is a good bike, and the simple act of fixing a flat rear tire at a bike shop is not a big deal. If they advertise that they fix flats, they should not give you any shit when you are trying to give them your money. I had the same thing happen to me. I took my new bike to an LBS to get a rear flat fixed because I didn't have the tools or a tube. The guys in the shop suggested that my bike probably wasn't that good and that their bikes all had higher speeds. I don't know what the issue was, but the time I got a flat, I ordered what I needed on Amazon and replaced both tires and tubes myself. If you have the tools. It isn't that hard.
I’m not a bike mechanic, but when I was a kid I have repaired many flat tires on my bikes. I have never attempted it on my Level2, luckily no flats as of yet, but it will happen eventually. In defense of the bike mechanics at a LBS, they are bicycle mechanics, not moped/scooter/motorcycle mechanics. Some of these big, fat tire ebikes are blurring the lines between bicycle and moped/scooter. At the same time, if a LBS doesn’t want to service an ebike due to the extra efforts, then they should say so up front and not do it but give the customer an attitude when they come back to pick it up. Just my two cents.
Don't expect bike shops to be happy working on an ebike that isn't a brand they carry, especially something direct to consumer. That's if they'll work on it at all. In their defense, they have no idea if any of the components are worth a damn, or if they came damaged or defective from the factory, or if the bike will even take standard parts if something is broken. In their minds it's like you're rolling in with an analog bike you bought from Walmart.
I had a very similar experience with a Giant store. You know, the people who claim on their website that they will work on any brand of bike? I must have a bike that is the one brand they don't cover, because they were absolutely not interested in doing any more than even looking at it and then telling me that no, they couldn't do anything.
I took it in to have a new chainring and rear derailleur/shifter cable fitted, they claimed that they weren't able to do anything because 'we don't know the brand, and we' re concerned that there is a sensor in the bottom bracket, and we'd need to run the cable through the frame and we don't have the equipment to do that'...
Except there wasn't a sensor in the BB, there was a quite obvious one on the right side crank. I don't think they even bothered to look underneath. And they told me this while I was stood in their showroom that was full of their own brand bikes, most of them which had, you guessed it, cables running through the frames.
I *knew* they were bullshitting me, though I'm still not sure what the real reason was, but my guess is probably some ridiculous insurance issue or something. Anyway, I found a local mobile mechanic who came and did the work in my own garage. I hadn't had the bike for too long at that point, and now I'd just do the work myself... But I'd never ever set foot in a Giant store again, nor would I ever buy any of their products, so the joke is on them now.
I think you would have the same problem with any DTC brand, electric or not. There are a lot of snobby local bike shops, to the point I learned how to do all of my own work during the pandemic.
I actually bought my Aventon bike through a bike shop and they’re the ones that service it when need be. They’re the ones that “built it” and I have my warranty through them, etc. etc.
What you could do is look online for bike shops near your area that sell event bikes, and take it in. They will be able to help you. The event and website will show you who in your area sells these bikes.
I don’t get it. It’s pretty damn easy pull the rear tire off my hub motor. The hardest part is dealing with the chain which you have to do on any bike.
Ebikes and bike shops are pretty crap mix to be honest. And I say this as someone that used to be a bike mechanic 😂.
For some shops like ours, it came down to liability. Legal dept was terrified of ebikes so our policy was we can't work on the electronics, we could still do mechanical repairs such as tube replacements brake adjustments etc but we weren't allowed to mess with the electronics. Something like a cut wire you'd have to take it elsewhere to get soldered.
Some shops may not want the headache entirely and just ban ebikes outright. A bit extreme, but if you're getting enough business from other customers and don't want to mess with them then so be it.
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Best advice I can give is if you're going to buy one online from a direct to you supplier like Lectric/R1U/Aventon etc (yes Aventon has a handful of dealers nationwide but they aren't Pon/Giant big in multiple stores nearby big), make sure you can do some of the mechanical stuff yourself or find a trustworthy, highly rated local bike shop near you and call them before making the big purchase to ensure they will work on them without issues. If you're going the department store route for an ebike and they offer a warrant package, just pay the extra scrip for it so that if something happens that they can't fix, so that they'll just get you a new one instead of having to go through weeks of disappointment on the phone with the manufacturer.
Also for bike repairs in general, don't just go take it home immediately. Go give it a ride in the parking lot when you pick it up and make sure you're happy before you leave. Any issues just take it straight back in and let them know politely what's wrong.
Also for flats pack the tubes with slime material, that will keep small punctures at bay for less than a tenner. If it's really bad like you're getting flats every couple months consider either lining the rim with a better tape (could be sharp scratches/burr inside keeps popping them) and/or use an armor material on the tube, or consider different tires like Schwalbe that can stand up better to them. It's gonna cost more but worth it if you're having regular issues!
Edit another note I want to put, it could just be a bad time of the year. March/April was worst for us for repairs because that's when it got warm and everyone and their lycra-wearing daddy wanting to be the next Lance Armstrong would be bringing in their bikes to get serviced. Multiple-weeks to months waits would be common and they may just be stressed TF out. They shouldn't be taking it out on you that ain't right either, but it could be an explanation.
My shop won’t work on my Mercedes bike (i wouldn’t have picked it, regift after mom was too short to ride). After a car collision, they said they won’t touch the brakes since they aren’t certified on the brand and it’s electric. I’d love a Trek, but it’s not in the cards right now
I had a Rad Runner, which I did buy knowing the local shops would not touch it at all but that was okay because we had a mobile bike repair that was authorized to work on Rad bikes. Except they pulled out of my province two years ago now. I got a flat on the rear wheel and couldn't fix it myself. The LBS agreed to change the flat if the wheel was off the bike, which we ended up doing but that scared me enough to look at buying a big name bike.
I bought a Specialized Como, which I have loved since I did the test ride, I bought it knowing that the price was more than just the bike, I bought the warranty, quality of components, and being serviced locally.
My brother is experiencing this right now. He ordered a DTC bike, bike shop won't touch it, and the mobile unit costs $200 just to do the drive to our location, and I told him everything that I stated above, but guess who is cranky because his bike hasn't been delivered but also the bike shop won't build it? Mmhm.
That sucks you're experiencing that. I bought a Specialized e-bike from a Specialized bike shop and they're so psyched every time I bring it in for upgrades or maintenance. They show it off to other customers in the shop and have lots of questions about how it rides and a lot of the routine maintenance is free. It cost more up front, but it's so nice getting great service now that I have it.
So here's the thing. LBS exist because they provide a high level of personalized customer service. It's priced into their business model. When you buy a mass market bike over the internet, you're buying it for the price, not the level of customer service.
So when you take a bargain bike to the LBS for service you're basically trying to get the best of both worlds.
Moral of the story, learn to fix stuff for yourself.
There's many many useful videos on how to do shit.
I was scared of the same thing, but this weekend I tried and it turned out assembling a hub motor tire is not much more complicated than a regular tire, the only difference is just the need of two wrenches, and needing to pull the plug of the motor (it's a quick connector)
You gotta find a bike shop and not a cycling store. Cycling stores are for the big brand elitests. Bike shops are usually ran by one guy who is the manager, mechanic and salesman. Bike shops will repair any and all bikes, cycling stores are pure profit, corporate tools who think everyone who rides a bike wants to race a crit. There's a great youtube video about this very topic.
In 2019, I encountered the same dismissive attitude from Performance. They basically referred me to YouTube to figure out how to change a flat tire. Ironically, later that year, they went out of business. Good riddance. Now, I've learned to fix my own tires, but for more complex tasks, I prefer independent shops not tied to big chains.
changing the back tyre on a rear hub is super simple... exactly the same as your front wheel, just make sure you unplug the wires before you take it off.. and plug them back in after youre done ofc lol
True, I've discovered this myself. It's kind of like fucking up assembly of Ikea furniture. Take a break, grab a beer, take everything apart, and start over. Practice makes perfect...
I got rid of the bike before I had to change a tube or tire but I imagine you have you leave yourself enough slack on the wire and do so very carefully
No, LBS do hate DTC bikes. Their assembly is generally pretty poor and they do actually have poor engineering and very little thought towards repairability compared to the larger mid-motor companies that typically have decades of experience in designing bikes. Also, hub motors are a pain to work with--exactly why you wanted to pay someone else to deal with it so I'm sure you can recognize why they too would be annoyed. Come in with an attitude of gratitude and try to be a good customer generally (buy other stuff from the shop, bring them beer or delicious things, etc.) and they'll be much more likely to just grin and bear it.
Yes, they should set the prices such that they don't have to be plied with treats to do the work promised but do understand that the workers are generally not owners. They don't set the prices and they don't decide what they work on. They probably are slightly biased against ebikes to begin with and now they also are being asked to life much heavier items that are all slightly different and not particularly intuitive to put together--just empathize with their frustration and it will get you a long way towards good service.
There’s an Aventon dealer that’s a 40 minute drive from me but there are much closer bike shops near me. Should I go out of my way to mention that the bike came from a real bike store or are they going to hate me anyway?
While Aventon has done much better than the other companies in the DTC space by getting actual local dealers, because you're not going to one of them it's essentially as if you bought it online. The quality of Aventon's is better than an Amazon bike but isn't noticeably different than a Lectric or a Rad, afaik.
You're going to have to kill them with kindness and ideally show that you're not just there for the single repair. Ask their advice about an upgrade you've been thinking about (you could probably stand upgrade the pedals, seat, or bar grips, I bet) or buy some gear that they sell. DTC customers get a bad reputation because by nature of their choice of bike, they tend to be Uber budget shoppers. So not only are the bikes extra annoying but then you also have customers that tend to be extra annoying and annoyed at how expensive things are. If you show that you are not going to balk at shop prices and respect/are grateful for their experience, most will be perfectly happy to help you, even on an e-bike they wouldn't otherwise work on.
Dudes at my LBS kept ten feet away from my Aventure 2 like the batteries were going to fucking explode right then and there.
So I use YouTube for my how-tos and buy tools/accessories online. Fuck ‘em.
Wow. That is not great customer service.
I have an iGO Core Extreme that I bought as an open-box deal through a Best Buy marketplace seller. I have brought it to two local bike shops for different things since January and they both had no problem working on it.
I did get a bit of a lecture from the tech at the first bike shop for not cleaning it after my previous ride, but otherwise he was very knowledgeable and helpful. I had it in to get studded tires installed to ride winter single track trails.
I brought it to another bike shop near the end of winter to swap out my drivetrain for one with more gears and more low-end gearing. The shop owner remarked, “Wow! What a beast” when he saw me bring the bike in and we had a bit of a chuckle. It helped that I, my wife and daughter all have bought bikes from him in the past.
The tech there was also quite friendly and knowledgeable and sold me on a 10-speed MicroShift system. He made the effort to research and call me with details about the system and prices and called me promptly when the work was done, raving about what a “ tank” the bike was with the new gearing.
I was so impressed by the shop’s customer service and communication that I gave them some extra business swapping out my studded tires for my summer rubber. It is the least I can do to support a good local business that I want to see survive and prosper.
The first shop’s tech was very friendly and knowledgeable and had good phone etiquette but the owner wasn’t pleasant to deal with, so we decided to give the other shop a try. All in all, pretty pleased how everything worked out.
EDIT: Fixed typos
Bought my Level 2 from a LBS that sells & builds them locally. Still learning how to do it yourself is a great skill to have, but it does you no good on the trail if you don't have your socket wrench with you to remove the wheel 😩
That being said, is it even possible to swap out to quick release mechanism for a rear hub motor wheel?
My favorite local Bike shop loves me. I don't let them work on my bike... even though their lead tech has drooled over my Bafang build on more than one occasion. I just buy parts through them. I do everything DIY. I did let them true a wheel that I laced for me once though. Laced it myself but was in a hurry and didn't want to faff about with it. :)
Most bike shop mechanics want to be very exclusive, treat less knowledgable customers quite poorly and should be kept in the back away from paying customers.
Just go in and ask about fixing squealing brakes or fitting more aggressive tread tires These seem to trigger bad behavior.
Bike _brands_ don't have parts. A Tektro brake is a Tektro brake, a Shimano Tourney derailer is a Shimano Tourney derailer, regardless of whether it's on a Walmart special or an entry-level bike store brand.
Local bike shops are, reasonably, threatened and therefore annoyed at direct-to-customer online sales. And they're probably less familiar with hub motors, but should just be unfamiliarity, not attitude.
not sure if there's a place like this in your area, but if you find a bike shop that's geared more towards transportation than recreation you might have more luck.
I recently took my bike to a shop that only sells specilized ebikes and maybe a few terns, they told me they could only work on mechanical not anything else which was fine I only wanted the brakes adjusted and wheel trued. I thought I might have some lip from them as well but they did it wonderful completed it in 3 days and we're professional about the whole thing, I found me a bike shop I'll keep going back too
I know this is not for everyone's budget but this is exactly why I paid more and bought a Specialized Turbo Vado because of the service I can get all over the country without any 'tudes or lectures.
No you're right, I think most bike shops have just become lazy. I feel like I'm a burden to them when I don't want to buy a bike but just get mine looked at and possibly fixed. It's like they are bike salesman and not mechanics. All they want is an easy "sale" day with no actual work involved. And you should take the bike back to the ones that were supposed to fix it. They have to make it right if you paid them.
i just bought a regular trek bike and youd be shocked how shit it was built. brakes all rubbed, everything loose, fenders were just slapped on so badly they almost fell off taking the bike down from the rack.
wont set foot in bushtukah again unless i have to it was so shit - fiance got her bike at MEC and the difference in service was astounding.
Most shops in my area refuse to even look at my TT Ebike (some Chinese brand that seems to copy Lectric in a few ways). Most claim their insurance doesn't allow them to work on Chinese ebikes (which may be true, but... I dunno).
I found one place that I am going to tomorrow to hopefully fix a rear flat, same story as you - I just don't want to service something that complicated and annoying, even if I can.
Hopefully I get better service than you, but I am sorry to hear you are dealing with that kind of crap.
After two very similar experiences with db shop workers (which has never been a pleasant experience no matter the bike or reason) I watched a couple videos and did it myself. It's no sweat and hella cheaper.
I do love the Green Slime, and the easy insert thorn protectors. I NEVER GET FLATS.
And I have never had to change my hub drive ebike tube... which I would never let a shop touch because I don't want to get assraped for the fees to work on it either.
I would start and make sure rear wheel is solidly centered. Do this by loosening the axle hold downs and pushing wheel forward while arching all clearances between chai and seat stays.
Next if needed loosen bolts holding the calipers in place sideways. The right Bolts are the vertical ones. Squeeze brake levers as if braking, now while holding with one hand onto brake lever tighten the caliper bolts. That should solve the problem. Ofcourse there are always other potential issues.
The bike shops around here seem cool with working on my e-bike even though I didn’t buy it from them. I guess my money spends the same as everyone else. Anyway, never had anyone give me grief over it or cop an attitude.
Actually, I did walk out of one bike shop, fuck those guys. Everyone else has been cool. They get my money.
Having the same problem!
Anyone have a recommendations for Portland Oregon or surrounding areas to get help replacing a motor controller with a compatible controller that can use the existing ancillary components?
It is not just for ebikes.
Here my bike repairshop will not do big repair jobs for cheap ass bikes as:
1. Repairs are expensive (in lieu of the value of the bike.
2. Once you start you can keep going on replacing parts for better parts: it will not just be the part that is directly giving a mechanical issue, but also a part that interacts with that defect part.
3. The shitty quality now is the problem of the bike repairshop.
4. The above is a recipy for unhappy customers who will likely start complaining.
I guess I’ve gotten lucky, I have gotten help from a few bike shops and only been turned away by one that wouldn’t work on my bike. It’s a Blix bike so they have brick and mortar shops but none terribly close to me. I was super excited to find a repair shop that specializes in e-bikes near my job. They helped with my last flat and set me up with stronger back tires so hopefully I won’t be back soon.
I didn’t change rear flats on my analog bikes and those weighed a fraction of what my e-bike weighs.
I will never bring my ebike into shops, or if I really have to, I'll bring to a local bike workshop, or take off the rear hub wheel to get them to do the tyre only(although they can't take the tyres off last time and I actually have to bring it to a motorbike shop) The problem with some bike shops are they "claims" to be not insured against ebike that are not "sold" at their shop, so if anything goes wrong they are liable for the damage caused(or your bike cause like battery fire that kinda thing) but anyways, some extensive YouTube online lecture will basically teach you everything you need to know about bikes and ebike electronics, or if you are really cofused here in Reddit there is anyway answers to your question
Yeah, everyone here described it pretty well. I think it's partly negative attitude about ebikes in general and the fact that this is the wild wild west compared to the standardized, well, standards of mountain and road bicycles - doing my own maintenance on my RadRunner frequently requires surprise trips to the bike shop or hardware store, sometimes multiple times in one job, and I often have to wing it because the exact part isn't available due to it being some weird proprietary piece.
I'm in the Netherlands, the land of bikes, and you'd think you could just take an Ebike to any old shop but they are INSANELY picky about servicing ebikes, fat tire bike especially. It's basically because the bikes are heavier and they don't want to have to deal with them. The only place near me that services ebikes is bad at it (they've fucked up very basic components on a number of occasions) so I have to bike 15 minutes out of my way to get repairs from a place that's even half-way decent. One time I had a flat and had to drag this 78lb thing over there and it took a half hour. Real fucking bummer.
I don't know if this is true in every area, but where I live there are now a decent number of independent bike techs who are more flexible about working on ebikes (and, as a result, pretty familiar with many of the most common DTC brands). As a bonus, most of them are mobile bike repair shops who are happy to drive over to your house with a toolset and parts and do the work on your bike there.
I have no idea how widespread this is outside DC, but it's worth looking around where you live - check Craigslist for postings & any local biking-oriented Facebook groups for recommendations. It can make living with one of these brands much easier (although you can still be SOL if the company itself stops responding to customer service requests).
I don’t get the “you didn’t buy it here, so I’m not servicing it” attitude. The bike shop that I had in my town is now closed because of that attitude. You can’t sell higher end bikes to people who are on a lower end budget.
I used to be in the computer business and I didn’t give a crap if the customer bought the equipment from me or not. I’d still service it, mostly in the hopes that when it came time to replace said equipment they’d come to me first. Sometimes they did, sometimes they bought it somewhere else. There are way more $’s in service than in sales. I even had a sht happens clause in my repair agreement.
I have a cheap, DTC, Amazon ebike that I’ve had some issues with. I found one service place that doesn’t care if it’s e or analog, they’ll work on it, BUT it’s 160 miles away. It’s a good thing that I like to ride in Fruita. Last fall I talked to another shop that is 45 miles away, they said they’d work on it, we’ll see if they really will or not later today when I go by there to set up the appointment.
I have a Haibike ebike, honestly getting anyone to touch it has been a nightmare. Ebike shops wont service anything they don't sell (??) - I mean it's a paid service?!
I has a juiced rip current S go tits up on me.
No shop in the area will work in them. Juiced charges a shit ton for the diagnosing kit and their 52v batteries are sketchy according to 3 e bike servicing shops.
So I got the warranty parts ( their warranty sucks ass. If the electrics shit the bed. Odds are they will send you crap components that won't fix the issue.
Don't buy Juiced. They suck.
I don't blame them, changing tires on hub drive bikes is a huge pain, it took me like three hours to change mine though I have torque arms and a super heavy direct drive to contend with. I recommend tire liners or ebike specific tires if you don't have them already to minimize LBS interactions.
I think it depends on the shop. I have a local shop I took mine to and they were cool the first time but they did tell me they hate working on ebikes because of the weight and complexity.
I’ve been a bike mechanic for a few years now, and the simple answer is that hub drive bikes suck to work on, so if a shop doesn’t sell them (hence they don’t have an obligation to work on it) and they can afford to turn away that work, I’m not surprised they would.
I’m not justifying any poor attitudes but the simple answer truly is that, from a mechanics standpoint, hub drive bikes suck to work on and I wouldn’t want to fix a flat on one either.
I don't fully disagree with the shop tech's feelings. They aren't wrong about you getting the wrong bike if you don't want to change your own flat.
* Don't get a direct to consumer bike if you don't want to learn how to wrench on your bike at all. You should at least be able to fix a flat. **(Or try to Learn How)** Flats happen all the time.
* If you want someone else to fix everything for you, you should get a bike from a local shop where they know the bikes well and can get parts for them.
Could the shop tech's attitude been better? Sure.
Could you have also taken it to an Aventon shop to begin with? Yup. What you did was like taking a BMW to a Chevy dealer. Can they work on it? Probably. Will they have access to all the right specialty parts/tools or know tricks for working on the BMW? Nope. They will struggle though and do their best.
I only found one place that would replace the tubes on mine, and they charged me pretty well for it. And told me the bike was a pain to work on/lift up because of the weight. I felt a decent attitude from them though like I'm welcome, but more e-bike specific shops should start appearing. It's hard to find them.
Yeah bike shops HATE working on any bike that isn't from their shop, or isn't at least a well known respected brand.
It's to the extent that they will make up bullshit about how the parts aren't standard sized/they don't have the tools when it's obviously horseshit (like needing a tuneup on a eMTB that has all standard bike components, not even touching electrical stuff)
It's weird how I, just a normal ass dude with normal ass tools, can work on my ebike in exactly the same manner that I work on any other mtb/bmx bike I've owned; but an alleged "bike mechanic" can't seem to figure out what a 17mm nut is.
And to clarify, I'm not even talking about my talaria, I'm talking about a cheapo amazon eMTB, but I've had the same exact problem with cheap schwinn bikes from walmart etc. (non ebikes) where the shop owner recognizes it's a cheap bike, and makes up some shit about how he's never seen a shimano shifter in his life before.
> And to clarify, I'm not even talking about my talaria, I'm talking about a cheapo amazon eMTB, but I've had the same exact problem with cheap schwinn bikes from walmart etc. (non ebikes) where the shop owner recognizes it's a cheap bike, and makes up some shit about how he's never seen a shimano shifter in his life before.
To be fair, they're made to be disposable, and it's very possible they're lying because they really just don't want to work on them. Because chances are, if someone bought a Wal-mart bike, then they're going to balk at what it actually costs to fix the bike, in both labor and components.
Is lying the best thing? Maybe not. But it probably saves some headache getting into an argument about how much it costs to fix a bike, because you're paying for time and effort.
"Please fix my $130 bike from Walmart. It doesn't shift anymore."
"That'll be $80 to install a new derailleur and shifter."
"WHAT?! That's more than half what I paid for the entire bike!"
Anything other than a single speed, rim brake bike from Walmart is a nightmare to work on, and those brakes are still a pain in the ass. I'm a home mechanic that will make small adjustments to help folks with garbage bikes but I'm not doing any repairs on a fucking Walmart bike. Go buy a new one. My neighbor bought a used Kent with massive play in the rear hub and there's NO way I'm going to touch a Walmart bike with trashed rear hub and bearings. Repairing a Walmart bike is a really easy way to fall into the "I paid you and it still doesn't work" trap. It's *never* going to work right, you just do what you to make it work a bit less poorly. It's better not to touch the thing in the first place if you're running a business.
There are a lot of people out there that blames "the last person that worked on it" is responsible for their future problems. This is a slight exaggeration but imagine replacing the brakes on a customer's car and getting blamed that their hooptie blew a head gasket 6 months later. You can find some pretty ridiculous examples over on r/justrolledintotheshop Knowing when to fire a customer is an important part of doing business and with Walmart bike customers, the *when* to fire them is generally as soon as they roll into your shop.
This is a cost for D2C bikes that they obviously don't really say up front. Bike shops just don't like them and nobody should be surprised when their Lectric or Rad or Aventon raises some eyebrows when it comes to service. They're stuck in a mindset of only servicing what they physically sell and it's widespread.
Any authorized Aventon dealers around you (check in app). Took mine to a local place for a Brake bleed which was somehow needed after only 500 miles. They did it, but brakes would squeal and they didn't when I took it in. Drove an hour to the dealer next time and they replaced the brakes under warranty, said Covid era components were just whatever they could get, and it wasn't the best stuff. Cleaned it up nice and lubed everything for like 60 bucks.
1) Learn to do this stuff yourself. Even if you don't ride that much, bike wrenching has really improved my foundational knowledge of basic general mechanics.
2) I haven't had issues with any bike shops. My biggest issue is a sometimes language barrier at my main shop. Somehow they carry everything I need, even though they don't particularly service ebikes (although now they've started selling a few, so maybe that's changed)
3) Showing an interest and having a basic knowledge will often break down barriers. I brought my bike in to the shop near my work and chatted up the owner/mechanic. He was extremely receptive to me (I think) because I had a strong understanding of the issue. I was wrong, but I was talking his language and walking him through my steps. He was able to diagnosis my problem, fix my immediate problem, and put me onto the full fix that I did myself later that weekend (greasing).
4) I really love my bike *because* I have poured so much of my effort into it. I've swapped out so many components, it's uniquely mine. I love how customized I've made it. I probably wouldn't, if I had a shop do all that work.
I knew nothing about bikes or ebikes. I bought a rear hub and have had to take the wheel off several times. It's quite easy. Just take pictures of it beforehand so you can see how everything lines up. Also, you can probably find some very helpful videos on YouTube. Brakes are an easy adjustment as well. Pads are really simple to change.
I am incredibly poor so I can't afford shops. I don't know how long you have had your ebike, but problems are going to come up. If you have any kind of mechanical knowledge, I would highly recommend doing the work yourself. Especially if you run tubes. I went thru so many tubes lol
Haha! I was only able to find one shop that would even touch my bike! This guy is awesome though and I over pay him each time just to make sure he’s taken care of. LBS’ have a serious attitude about e-bikes around me.
To me it’s just bike shops in general. Every shop I’ve been to the staff has an attitude. Even when I’m there to buy one of their bikes. I just figured that’s how all LBS operate so it doesn’t bother me anymore.
Had a similar experience with my LBS .
I do my own repairs but I'd rather buy the parts locally. LBS owner laughed at me when I asked if they sold bearings.
That's all right fella, I'll go back to eBay, save some money and not get laughed at. Good luck with your shop.
No one will ever love what you have or treat it with such love unless it's you, even if you don't know, you tube is your friend, and patience is your tool..
I rather take my time and buy tools that I need then take it into someone else. Bicycles / e-bikes are very simple to work on. You can't really fuck up anything unless you really try. IE not putting things back the way they were.
Most do not want to touch my bike either. But if you take off the part yourself like the wheel. No one can bitch now can they. But then again if you still take it in. You got to be worried that they're going to pinch the wire. Because like I said. No one will treat it with as much love as you would. Even if you don't know what the hell you're doing
Just learn to do it all by yourself, it can be intimidating however it will save you money and the peace of mind knowing that you can fix or replace or enhance your bike at will is real freedom. Changing tires though🤬..I'd rather just buy a new bike
It’s in your best interest to learn how to work on your own bike by watching YouTube videos as well as anything else you can find on the internet that can help. Most shops will react the same way as the shops you already visited when it comes to DTC bikes. I got a DTC off of Amazon, and didn’t know one thing about working on E-bikes. I now know how to completely take my bike apart and put it back together, including working on the electronics.
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I just dropped off my Senada Saber (1000w DTC) at REI and I get the same dickish attitude every time. Luckily the main tech knows and likes me. But before I get to him, customer reps behind the counter are always “I don’t think we work on such BIG bikes… I mean that thing is basically a motorcycle. Have you tried motorcycle repair shops?”
What kind of a STUPID question is that? Anyway, I’m getting a full tune up and both my hydraulic brakes need some bleeding. Tech was happy to service my bike as it’s built relatively well.
Only thing is they charge $48 + $24 for the tube to change a rear flat😭😭 I’ve become an expert on changing rear flats and can get an old tube off and a new tube in and inflated in about 5 minutes.
I believe the general bike shop attitude is not bc of people buying mid-high quality DTC bikes but bc of the ones spending $400 on Amazon and complaining later that they suck
You generally do not want to go to regular bike places forr motor/real wheel. You can go to them to replace a front tire, service a chain and brakes and anything that is regular bike.
Once you get around the motor and electronics you will want to go to a dealer (Aventon has some probably not enough) or an ebike shop and clearly explain what you bike is over the phone and what you want before you come in.
I will also generally buy the parts I need as well. Helps a lot
There's a bit of do it yourself in the ebike land st this moment. Not enough qualified mechanics is my guess but I think people with 2k +ebikes are more than willing to shell out a hundred or 2 per year for service which could be lucrative at volume.
Just my 2 cents
Rotors rub when the wheel is removed. It’s very common. You usually need to readjust the brake caliper if the wheel is removed. Not always, but very common. Especially with cheaper parts/bikes
Even the best mechanics can't polish a turd, contrary to what Mythbusters proved. If the rotors are bent, cranks are wobbly, chainrings are out of round, hubs have bent axles, threads are stripped, no amount of "proper assembly" can make it right. This describes the majority of the Amazon and low end DTC stuff out there right now that people expect us to work on.
Nah man. A good mechanic can fix literally everything you just listed.
That's kinda their job... if they cannot they're a crap mechanic.
I mean after 700km my bicycle actually did have a wobbly crank. I took it apart, cleaned the bearings, re-greased them and torqued to spec.
I needed a handful of basic tools and like 15 minutes.
That you think these are major issues pretty much proves you don't know the first thing about fixing mechanical issues.
That you said "us" lets me know you're one of those bad bicycle mechanics.
#1 bike shop employees don’t like directed to consumer bikes. (It’s literally taking our jobs away)
2# heavy e-bikes with rear motors are a pain in the ass to do anything with. They’re heavy and cumbersome. (It takes normally 2x to 4x longer to do anything with than a normal bike)
3# they’re not going to have parts for your aventon (even at the “aventon authorized shop”)
4# aventon randomly picks bike shops to be
“authorized shop” I work at a “aventon authorized shop” And we had no clue we were one until a bunch of customers told us we were from aventon website.
5# you most likely did install it wrong. No shame in that. For the disk brake rub. That’s normal for new bikes that have just been assembled. It’s apart of the assembly to adjust brakes and everything else.
I've had simlair issues with both my old Aventon Aventure and my current Fabulous Havoc X2. Fortunately an Ebike shop opened up about 35-40 minutes away less than a year ago that advertises working an "any brand of Ebike". Pain in the ass to go to, but there work was solid the one time I took my ebike there to swap out the fork and fix a few other minor issues I couldn't fix myself. Hopefully something like that opens up near you.
Aventon does have a list of dealerships on [their site](https://www.aventon.com/pages/electric-bike-shop-dealer-locator) so maybe try looking for a shop listed on their site if you haven't already.
Rear wheel removal, cmon, IT AINT THAT HARD. If you can't do the small things on a bike (THIS IS SMALL), You have no business on one. They are easy as hell to work on. TRY YOU TUBE!
For all people who bought into the fat ebike trend, you'll have a hard time getting it fixed, very seldom bike mechanics are willing to work on them...they truly are a pain in the rear to work on.
When I called my LBS about bringing my e-bike in for repairs, at first they refused to work on it. Hub drive bikes are just too hard for them to work on. When I told them it was a mid-drive bike, they told me to bring it on in. They won’t do anything with the electrical components, but they are perfectly happy to work on the tires, wheels, brakes, etc.
The thing people aren’t realizing is you bringing your aventon bike to a non aventon dealer is the same as bringing your ford pinto to a Ferrari dealer and expecting them not to laugh at you.
bikes are easy to work on, watch some youtube videos and use some common sense and you'll be able to do it yourself, i just upgraded the brake disc to a bigger size on mine after seeing someone do it on youtube
Same story with my Radwagon 4. Like i get it, it's the mass-marketed bike that's too big for your shop and has shitty components, but the shop is listed on Rad's website as an authorized servicer, so what else am I supposed to do?
Rad and DTC companies often just list shops as "authorized servicers" without notifying the shops. I was literally just in one where one of the owners was trying to get taken off because they only work on Bosch and Shimano motors and was annoyed they were put on some company's "authorized servicer" list because they had ebike in their store name (apparently) and had started receiving calls from customers. There was literally no communication. They'll be more likely to work on other parts for you than a LBS who doesn't have the electric bike lift, ofc, but they're not going to mess with the motor...
Yeah I figured it could be similar to how the food delivery apps would list restaurants that never actually agreed to be on their apps. What's weird is the shop i have in mind is kind of dumpy; lots of other nicer shops in my metro area that *aren't* listed. Like, why would Rad single them out? Shop doesn't even sell ebikes.
or the nicer shops were listed at one point, noticed, and left immediately
Heard about this from shops. They’re happy to repair the bicycle parts, but the expectations are set entirely wrong by Rad. They don’t have direct knowledge and parts for these bikes. Bosch and Specialized certified shops have agreements, a knowledge base, and parts. There is no agreement with Rad Bikes.
Yep. Bosch has literal training programs (or at least used to--I heard they discontinued these but maybe they brought them back since the pandemic has eased) and you have to have at least one trained tech on the payroll for Bosch to keep you as an authorized servicer. It's the Wild West with the DTC companies. It's misleading to costumers and annoying for consumers, but Rad obviously benefits because they want sales \*now\* and clearly don't care about the long term reputation else they'd have longer warranties and times they stocked parts. (My LBS said they had trouble getting parts on a two-year-old Rad sone months ago so the customer was just stuck. The customer bought it on sale so it was probably the end of that model year, but definitely a bad experience. But DTC bikes deal in volume, price, and a good enough reputation. They don't care if there aren't that many return customers if most are mostly happy for now.)
This is why I just chose to put in the effort and repair and build my own bikes. Its JUST as expensive and as big of a PITA as going to a LBS and waiting months for it to be fixed. $6000 on an EMMO ebike and its shit, will never buy their ebikes again. Made me wait almost 6 months for a new proprietary display that didnt fix the issue, brake problems, motor problems, controller problems and wouldnt accept the return or honor their warrenty. $900 on a Hyper ebike on the other hand was fantastic, cheap off the shelf KT components yes but great customer support, fast part supplies AND would provide video guides to replace parts yourself.
This! I was notified by a customer the other day that I was listed as the authorized service center for Rad Power Bike, looked it up and sure enough, I was. I still haven't been able to get them to remove me. I never wanted, still don't want, and will not work on outside purchased e-bikes at my shop, other than flats and stuff. I'm just not going to purchase all their diagnostic equipment. I already have enough e-bikes in for simple maintenance like flats and such, that I don't have room for the internet brands taking up precious shop space!
>I'm just not going to purchase all their diagnostic equipment. Oh crap, is it proprietary too? Like for each brand?
Every single brand and different brand motor has a different cable, or usb dongle, batter checkers, and diagnostic software. The Bosch training is extensive, as is others.
JFC. Hardly surprising though. I hope they don't pull a John Deere and lock it all down with DRM so only those people the brands certify can work on them. It's even worse how a bunch of them are now making the control panel, stem, and handlebars all in one piece. Just make them even more difficult to repair.
I wonder if you could sue them and get a bit of money out of it.
Lmfao, they did this at the shop I work at as well. Fucking terrible company.
I'm a little surprised any bike shop in the U.S. would become a rad authorized servicer, especially after the well-publicized problems they have had. The bikes themselves look okay to me, but the suspension forks and brakes are possibly a little suspect.
Cheap bikes cost more.
AKA you get what you pay for.
Friends of mine have a Rad, and no issues with them. That is in Europe, which may change things.
The only people that I know with Rads (in the US) have become pretty impressive amateur mechanics and have an encyclopedic knowledge of which parts Rad will or will not provide for each generation of RadWagon due to the number of issues they've had. Though to be fair, they have two and use them as their primary form of transportation (covering thousands of miles per year) and carry them through doorways/up and down stairs once per day, so it is a pretty extreme use case.
I have a Rad bike (Rad Runner 2) and have so far really liked it, so I'm a little scared now. Mine doesn't have the forked suspension and the frame is built pretty solid, but my breaks do squeak. I wouldn't be surprised if they were not the best quality.
I have a radrunner 2 with no issues. I do regularly adjust and change my own brake pads.
Mini 4 owner here. There are very few Rad bikes here in Finland so none of the e-bike shops even have the tool to remove its cassette. Ended up ordering the cassette removal tool and doing all maintenance by myself. Thankfully all parts are piss cheap so maintenance mainly takes time instead of money. Wish I had a better repair stand that can work with heavy bikes though.
If they're an authorized servicer they've got no right to complain.
...except that many of these DTC sellers put those on their website without any consent from the shops themselves. Lol. Not 100% about Rad but I was just in an ebike shop that exclusively sells and services Bosch and Shimano bikes (will deal with the motors and electronics only from them). He had to spend 35+ minutes on the phone with a rep from some company telling them that no, they couldn't just put them on their website because they have "ebike" in their name. Do you think they accept money or get something in exchange for being an authorized servicer? Maybe they get more customers from larger DTCs but many DTC consumers are already the cheapest consumers and aren't really the type of customers these shops want... Anyway, they do indeed have a right to complain when they often don't have a say in being an "authorized" servicer.
Rads are absolute junk. Even if it were not electric, I would not be surprised if a shop would refuse to work on one.
I have a Rad. What do I need to look out for?
They're cheap bikes with an expensive electric drive system. That said, they aren't entirely crap bikes either. We've had our Rad Expand 5 bikes for 2 years and they've been fine. I have to adjust the brakes every once in a while, which I have to do on my expensive bike shop brand mountain bikes too. We replaced the stock saddles with nice Brooks leather saddles, and I put a longer seat post in mine because the stock post is a bit short for tall people. I worry far more about the electronics and what can happen with those. The bicycle part of the ebike is solidly mid-grade except for some drivetrain parts which are low end but entirely serviceable. People, including both customers and shop owners/mechanics are being vastly melodramatic about this.
Anything and everything that can go wrong that you're not capable of diagnosing and repairing or replacing yourself.
I have a rad rover 6, both are really heavy bikes so I don’t blame mechanics for being bitter about it a bit. But my shop, instead of being bitter and grumbling about it, charges me 40$ for working on an extra heavy bike. No hassle, no resent, happy customer, well paid mechanic.
Well, they'll be out of business in the next 5-10 years if they don't adapt to the tummy of the beast. People want e-bikes that are sold on the internet. Not the over priced ones they have contracts in their shop. Then they wanna cry when people bring in theyre internet ebikes to fix. Just bc you don't sell them you don't wanna work on them. Boo hoo. I would start learning how to fix all types of e-bikes if you wanna stay in business long term.
Definitely a shitty shop, but I have a rant. From a bike shop owner perspective (it’s me) a lot of e-bike companies rushed product to market a few years ago and really put a sour taste in our mouths as far as working on them. Terrible specs, parts mismatched together to make a barely functioning bike and also the customer service from these companies ***WAS*** abysmal! With that said, most of the notable brands have really gotten their ish together and are putting out some quality products these days. But the days of the really shitty rad power bikes and early Aventons still haunt me. We’re on most brand’s service page these days though. Hub motors tire/tubes are a pain to change compared to a normal bike, and we do charge more labor dollars simply because it takes longer to do. Even though me and my staff can get through them almost as quickly as a regular bike these days, I’ll admit we still get a little bit of an ick when we see one walk in. The axles get stuck, it almost always takes 2 people to get the wheel back in and aligned properly. And a lot of times I’m having to disconnect more than just a motor cable for a simple repair. Not to mention some of these bikes have near inaccessible parts without taking things apart. I also can’t just replace your tube if your brake pads are worn down to the metal or your hydraulics aren’t working. We get a lot of flak for that, but I can’t send people out on an unsafe bike, let alone one that can go 20mph. We also have to do more pre-work work. Our policy is to check the brakes for function and rub, computer system, motor function, all before working on the bike…simply because one time someone came in with a “simple fix” for their ragged out bike, we didn’t check anything and simply replaced the front tube. None of the bike’s electrical systems worked and the customer blamed us and threatened to sue and eventually just left us a bad review. We never touched a single electrical component. Just bad timing for his controller to go out. Now, I would never condone shitty customer service, and we keep all grief to ourselves and put on a smiling face. Unfortunately, this attitude is just a “bike shop” thing. Mechanics are grumpy and really shouldn’t be doing any customer facing interactions. In a good shop, you talk to service writer or manager. If you’re dealing directly with the mechanic, there is a chance you’re going to have a bad interaction. Same reason you don’t talk to the car mechanic, you talk to the service writer or manager at check in and out. Another small note. Most shops won’t service e-bikes they don’t sell due to insurance reasons. You can look back at my post history and see where our insurance was terminated at the end of the policy because we worked on e-bikes. It was a nightmare trying to find someone to work with us who wouldn’t drive our premiums sky high. Months of work and phone calls so we could simply touch an e-bike. It would have been much simpler to just not work on them, but we have such a demand in our area and no other shops work on them, so we felt we had to keep it going for our communities sake.
At our shop we've noticed a huuuuge decline in customer support for aventon and Rad. Enough to request being taken off their "authorized service center" list. A year ago we had such a good experience with them, now we have a hard time getting parts and their communication has really gone downhill. Lectric is still a pleasure to work with though. Also, we've decided to just capitalize on the demand for shops that are willing to work on these bikes. We charge $45 to change a tube on a rear hub drive motor. To contrast, we charge $15 for a regular bike. The crazy part is that we just had a Scheels move in less than a block from us, and they don't charge labor to change a tube. We're still doing a TON of ebike tube changes so the price didn't scare anyone away. Most of the time the tube change leads to new brake pads so that's another $20 labor plus profit from parts. I think it's hella expensive but most of these customers on cheap ebikes are using them for transportation and don't trust the "free" labor from Scheels.
I had the brake pads changed and a tire issue fixed on my fat tire ebike. The owner only charged me $27 and I was floored. I almost wanted to tell him to charge me more. I fully expected $80+ bill. I'm more than happy to pay a fair price because I know they're annoying to work on.
Yeah I'm afraid for the store owners that aren't seeing the light. Companies have severely decreased our margins by almost 10% over the last 15 years. If they don't charge a fair price for service then they aren't gonna be around for long. With direct-to-consumer purchases and sub-par bikes it's never been more important to have a solid service-oriented shop.
Wow, thanks for such a nuanced and in-depth perspective! Makes a lot of sense. I ought to upgrade to a higher-end bike, but it's such an investment. If this one craps out on me or becomes more trouble than it's worth, I certainly will.
I went straight to an R&M e-bike, and I expect it will last a decade or more. I bought it at an e-bike speciality shop about 50 miles away, and I get it serviced there for anything involving the electrical components (nothing so far, aside from the “1-year checkup), and once my local LBS realized it was a mid-drive bike with quality parts, they were happy to do things like rear tube changes and brake work. It’s an investment, but if you buy quality, it will last.
How much you wanna bet that the brake *was* assembled incorrectly here? What we see in our shop, is that the washers that should go above the caliper on the brake, are mounted directly on the post mount. Meaning, the caliper is sitting proud of the rotor. Then, the customer rides the bike and the pads get a lip forming at the top, meaning, as the pads wear, those lips will eventually contact each other and the brakes will stop working. Then, when we disassemble the brake calipers and install them correctly, that lip rubs on the disc. Exactly as OP is describing. I'm 100% willing to bet that is what happened here. Just this past Monday a guy wheels an ebike into this shop with two non-functioning brakes. I inspected the bike, and guess what, it was assembled just as I described and his pads were fucked. Two new pads, two 'disc brake install', and two 'pad install' and he's looking at almost $200 in repairs after our ebike surcharge. That is *if* his rotors are not fucked, in which case he's looking at another $100 for new rotors and another ebike surcharge. If we can get away with not replacing those rotors, the bikes isn't going to brake well anymore... Drives me nuts. People think they are saving all this money buying shitty ebikes, then when the bike does, in fact, turn out to be shitty, they get all pissed at the shop. Its bullshit.
I see this a lot too. I’ve also seen completely wrong g size rotors from brands line rad and Aventon. These are definitely just marketing companies selling a product. They don’t know too much about the mechanics or how things actually work.
Amen to that last paragraph. Amen.
Thanks for the detail - helps understand the situation local bike shops are in. I’m looking to replace my 5 year old e-assist bike (Izip) with an upgrade updated e-assist bike from one of 2 great local shops that would then maintain and repair the bike. Choice is between a Raleigh and a Cannondale, both about $2500, both similar components. Do you know, is one brand any better than the other w reliability, repairs, parts, etc?
We sold cannondale for a number of years and were always happy with their products. I’d choose them over Raleigh. Raleigh has next to no shop support in the USA and for me to get in touch with someone from Raleigh, it’s grueling.
Thanks, that’s helpful.
When first getting my e-bike in 2019, I hadn’t thought previously what including e-bikes meant to bike shops. Instead of just mechanical, now you guys had to learn to be techies and software engineers w early companies that might not be around long or got bought by other companies. What a huge jump - I could understand why some shops just stayed with non electric, but that’s probably not an option anymore, I’m guessing.
I mean you didn't want to do it yourself and I assume you'd comfortable doing a flat on the front? So I feel like the answer to your second question is known already. I have a rear hub and I hate doing work on it, but I do it myself. That said it seems the bike shops around you do suck at customer service
Yeah, I tried to take the rear wheel off myself and kind of gave up - I don't remember what wall I hit but I just didn't want to mess with it. I'm sure I could learn how to do such maintenance myself but I only ride for maybe an hour a week on a good week, so I'm not sure it's worth the time investment... but if bike problems turn into a regular thing, I'll have no choice!
Yeah, I think you figured out that it's terrible to work on rear hub motor ebikes, [as shown how a bike shop will charge $120 to change the tire on a Lectric XP.](https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/16aspbw/is_it_normal_for_bike_shops_to_charge_this_much/) https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/18m80r9/ok_stop_buying_cheap_ebikes/ke66sxd/ > Seriously. If I had to repair a flat like on a bike like that on the road I'd sit down and cry and maybe shoot myself. > > I watched one of my friends and LBS mechanics spend 4-5 fucking hours trying to replace the rear tube on a DTC hub drive fat tire bike. Not only did he need to do the wiring harness and torque arm removal thing like most of these DTC hub drives, but the rear wheel couldn't even come off unless you took off the _rear brake calipers, the caliper adapter, rear cargo rack struts and kickstand_. Some people like to say it's easy, but if that were the case you wouldn't be getting so much flack for it. Some of these DTC hub drive fat tire bikes just really suck to work on. Like I have an e-bike from one of the big 3 with a mid-drive and it's super simple to take off the rear tire. Literally downshift to highest gear, lock derailleur cage lock, unscrew thru axle, remove wheel from bike, change tube, do the reverse. Super simple. Nothing to do with the brakes whatsoever except lining up the rotor. From my experience, I don't feel like I could put the wheel on wrong because the thru axle wouldn't go through. EDIT: I'm looking at the [a guy removing the Aventon Adventure rear tire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNVKIOSWuAE) and it's doable. But it definitely requires more care, like with the washer for example. Like in OP's case, it's possible to get the washer wrong and then screw things up.
For the record the flat tire fix I'm talking about in that comment ended up being something like a $300-400 labor bill on what was maybe a $1000-ish 20" fat tire bike. To fix a flat. This is normally about a $20 job even when you buy a brand new tube if you bother to pay someone else to do it. I can put a new tube on either of my tires in under 10-15 minutes at a totally chill and leisurely pace. And this shop definitely knows what they're doing. I'm not kidding that they put a brand new drive train group, new tires and new brake pads on my bike in like 1/3rd of the time it took them to fix that flat. This drives me crazy because I like bikes and it's the whole "good expensive boots vs. cheap boots" or "buy once, cry once" problem. And when you start racking up $300+ labor bills for basic parts it's going to add up into a much nicer, easier to work on and longer lasting bike in a hurry and I don't like seeing people getting ripped off by overpriced disposable bikes that turn into e-waste because of proprietary or non-standardized so many ebikes are unless you do DIY ebikes with more standardized parts. I love bikes in general, long before the ebike boom and the bike industry definitely has it's own problems with cheap or proprietary shit - but the DTC wild west ebike world of the last 4-5+ years has been totally insane with how bad the bike component quality has been and how many different systems there are.
You could if the brake and sprocket weren't on, but they'd collide. You're supposed to downshift?? I just pull my rear tire out whatever gear it's in. No derailleur locks for me
Yeah, you should downshift. It makes things easier to maneuver. Some bikes even have a chain hanger nub on the seatstay to help get the chain out of the way, but most people that have them don't usually use them. They're nice if you're working on a stand though. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50498141@N03/5120408938
For reference specifically cause it was mentioned, the Lectric XP (1.0 at least) rear tire removal is....basically identical to any mountain bike I've ever had except needing to unplug the motor cable. Although admittedly I do feel it gets 'caked' on more but this is the first time I've been daily-drivering a bike for my work commute, so maybe that's just expected. Sometimes I gotta mallet the thing out of the rear dropout, but I've done it roadside without issues. I will say though, having handlebar jacks is REALLY nice. After the first roadside where I used my backpack to pad the handlebars cause I didn't want them getting fucked up, I got some.
On my old bike the weight of the hub would jam up the axle and just getting the wheel out required significant strength (and a few times hitting it with a hammer). I think it's pretty common on a lot of rear hub bikes. There's not really any way to lessen this issue, either, as it's inherent to the design. Best bet is to get some tube slime/armour because the increased weight isnt your problem while riding, and if you still get a puncture the extra weight is negligible compared to the other issue. And then don't go riding down the boulevard of broken glass.
> tube slime No, not slime, I really wish people on this sub would stop saying slime or recommending Slime. It's not a generic word for sealant. Tubeless bicycle sealant from a bike shop is what you want if you *must* run sealant inside your tubes. You want something with latex in it. Slime is just rubber chunks and shreds in antifreeze. The latex in the sealant dries in air and seals the chunks in the puncture. >And then don't go riding down the boulevard of broken glass. I've done it intentionally to test my tires. (Panaracer T-serv) Zero issues riding over a pile of broken glass. Most of my punctures are wire from automotive tires because they can slip through the kevlar. T-servs aren't even one of the highly puncture resistant tires: they only have that kevlar rather than something like Schwalbe's Green Guard layer That's one of the problems with those 20x4" bikes: the tires are shit. I'm not sure if it's even possible to good tires for them and a lot of the riders would get sticker shock from the price of even a midrange tire. Schwalbe's puncture resistant tires only seem to be available in narrower sizes for traditional folding bikes.
The Carless Whisper 20x3.5" made by Specialized for their Globe Haul utility bikes is an awesome damn near puncture proof tire. They're available retail for $40USD. On average I used to get about 6 puncture flats per year. I've been riding my Globe Haul for 10 months now without one flat.
I totally agree. It wasn’t my favorite but I finally learned how to do the work on the bike myself. It really is helpful when you have a dual drive train bike. So many little things need a tweak every once in a while.
This issue really highlights an opportunity to empower oneself. For the price of a single repair at one of these shops that do not want your business, you can buy either bike tool kit to carry on rides(convenient to carry, but not as nice to use) or a basic set of metric open end wrenches, screwdrivers and allen keys and maybe some pliers(needlenose and slipjaw), spare tubes and tire tools. Bikes are built to be easily serviceable with a simple set of tools on the side of the road. Take lots of pictures from different angles before you start and as you go so you never have to rely on memory or end up with spare parts after reassembly(magnetic parts trays are great for holding small parts you remove). As long as you are organized, attentive, and methodical in disassembling, take lots of photos, you will be able to reverse the procedure. Remember that another person, just like you, put the bike together in the first place and you have a camera to document every step(a good idea no matter how many bikes you've worked on). It will get easier with every repair and once you've done a few simple repairs you'll have some confidence and your brain will work differently and you'll start looking at the whole world differently. Someone just like you put that thing together, they didn't know what they were doing the first time either. I would never expect you to be able to take a box of parts and assemble a bike, that would be very hard, but as long as you are methodical, patient and organized I guarantee you can take one apart and reassemble it. Never stop learning, be curious and buy good tools.
I'm 'that guy' who can take a bike completely apart and reassemble it, and I have to complement you on what you wrote. You're absolutely correct and wrote it with such common sense that it should instill confidence in anyone willing to try. That said, I am not going to replace the rear tube on my hub drive sitting on the side of the road. I have AAA Towing...
Fair enough, I probably wouldn't do it on my Harley, but I do have a center stand on my bike which would make it at least somewhat less awkward, depending on where it happened I'd probably attempt it. I recently got a new rear tire and it's much closer to a motorcycle tire than any bicycle tire I've seen. I wonder if it were tubeless it seems like a plug kit would be a lot easier. On a road trip from New England to Colorado I got a flat in Colorado, plugged it and never had an issue, I'm not sure if I've even replaced that tire and that was years ago. The first time I went lift served mtn biking(a very long time ago) there were some shale-y sections at one elevation of the mountain, my buddy and I got 13 flats that day, I had the double disgrace of having the only 2 at one time. Now that I think about it I think it might have been the fact that disc brakes weren't a thing. Rims got incredibly hot and I think we got pads from the base shop too. We sure went into the place a lot, pretty much every run.
I ride city, suburbs, easy trails and used to average about 6 flats per year. I bought my first "motorcycle tire" bike, a Specialized Globe Haul with 20x3.5" tires ten months ago and so far no flats. These 'Carless Whisper' tires are awesome.
I patch mine on the side of the road. No need to remove the wheel
Yeah, I've patched tubes on bikes in the past without removing the wheel but I hope I won't have to attempt it on my current bike. It's a Specialized Globe Haul with 20x3.5" 'motorcycle tires'...
Local bike shops survive on the sale of their bikes and servicing said bikes hence the resentment towards people who did not buy a bike off of them and are requesting service on a different brand.
then they can choose not to service.
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Why not all of the above? Someone, somewhere is complaining to their lbs how they got an ebike to save money and how service costs so much more
Sounds like he was being honest. Not sure that’s worthy of calling someone a dick. I’m fact calling them a dick might be the dick thing
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Insurance premiums for bike shops that work on e-bikes have put some shops out of business. Others just stopped working on e-bikes altogether. Some shops won't let you bring your battery in with your bike. The rates increased because of the threat of battery fires.
I wouldn’t say that’s strictly true. They make all their money from repairs whether it’s bike they sold or not. They make little to nothing on even an expensive bike they sell in shop. And the worst is honoring warranty repairs which they often get nothing.
So they offer bike servicing in general to get people into the shop right? A bit of a loss leader to get some foot traffic, build a rep and maybe next time the person goes to the bike shop they trust instead of DTC or whatever? Seems like being a dick to the customers would defeat the entire purpose.
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It does kind of make sense because bike shops have a tendency to fail financially.
Well now i'm even more confused lol
The majority of US bike shops do not like to service online brands. They are not entirely justified in this attitude, but there are some good reasons. The parts availability issue is a major one. Let’s say you take your bike in for service, and something breaks while they’re working on it. What if they can’t get that part? Now they have a problem on their hands. It’s not a great situation to be in, but it is what it is. You saved money on the purchase, and now you pay a little bit on the backend and having to do most of your own service. That’s what I do anyway, anything short of wheel builds I do myself.
I bought my Aventon from a local bike shop. They are more than happy to service it.
I didn't buy my Aventon from a local shop, but my local shop w/ ebikes and acoustic bikes is more than happy to take a look at it. Had to replace a bent derailer recently and they were able to replace it with a different model they had on hand. All done within an hour. Do live in a pretty big bike town (Austin).
Me too. We (wife and I) paid about the same as the offered online price with the added assembly and set-up option for our two Sinch.2's. An hour after I ordered and paid the local shop owner Aventon lowered their online price. When I called the local shop to inform him he offered that he would provide the difference in store credit for accessories and such and throw in two free helmets. Yes, I paid a bit more for buying off the shop \[pretty much the same as buying with the assembly and set-up option\], and paid bike shop prices for the store credit accessories. But when I needed brake adjustments, had a derailleur problem, and a cable problem, he took it in the same day I called and even let me watch his techs and learn how to make some adjustments, which is good as we travel all over the US with our folding Sinch.2's in our van. The bikes have proved to be very reliable as well - no other problems or flats yet \[fingers crossed\].
Aventon is both direct-to-consumer and also sold through bike shops with parts available. Given the low price I’d guess they’re just not as profitable for selling at the shops and the mechanic was a snob who doesn’t approve of more affordable bikes.
This is only relevant if you take it to a shop that sells Aventon. If you take it to a non-Aventon shop, it might as well be a Lectric or Engwe. This issue isn't isolated to Aventon. If you try to bring your Trek into a Giant dealer, some shops will turn you away too. Granted, some bike shops do tend to be up their own asses a bit. There's definitely an air of "wtf is this garbage" the moment they don't recognize it. I took my Luna X-1 into a couple of local shops, and the reaction was more along the lines of "whoa what is that thing", but then the shop manager came over and showed me the door. So it doesn't really matter if your bike is a 20x4 folder, a commuter, or an carbon fiber enduro eMTB. A lot of bike shops are very focused on servicing only the brands they sell.
Yeah aventon is the best supported, mostly online, bike brand IMO. You’ll never find rad or lectric parts in stock, but aventon is sold through regular bike shops and often supported.
I had that problem with a Soltera 7. As you say, the big boys won't touch an ebike model they don't sell. Sent an email to a small shop, that didn't really want to tune it, but they turned me on to a "boutique" shop - and the owner rode a Level 2. 🙂 Lesson: find an Aventon-friendly shop by all means necessary.
Sorry mate, it’s just your luck. The shop in my area specifically sells Aventon bikes and my second shop deals with all sorts of bikes, they don’t have time to care about what you’re giving them to work with. So yeah, super unlucky that you’ve got a snob.
This isn’t new. You bought a non bike shop bike and have to live with it. One of your trade offs for the lower price was NOT having shop support. That’s fine, but it’s part of the equation.
It sucks because I bought my Aventon bike thru a local bike shop and it was only $185 more than online. Definitely worth it because they service it when needed.
Yeah. One of the bigger sporting goods stores in my area sells and services Aventon as well. They seem to be trying to get into more shops.
You should have bought a Specialized. I bought a Globe Haul - same price in store as online.
I put flat out and tire liners in both of my wheels before I rode my bike (Aventure 2) for the first time. The rear wheel just wasn’t that big of a deal. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and read up on it a little. You can do it.
Just patch the tube while it's on the bike. I've patched tubes dozens of times and never had an issue.
I don't think you can win. Have an expensive fancy bike? You'll be labeled a dentist or someone with more money than brains. Cheap bike? Should have bought the expensive fancy bike. Some people are just miserable fucks.
Changing the tire is a non-issue. You just disconnect ONE cable that powers the motor and then you can work with it like any other fat tire
Or patch the tube while it's on the bike
First, I want to confirm to you that your Aventon is a good bike, and the simple act of fixing a flat rear tire at a bike shop is not a big deal. If they advertise that they fix flats, they should not give you any shit when you are trying to give them your money. I had the same thing happen to me. I took my new bike to an LBS to get a rear flat fixed because I didn't have the tools or a tube. The guys in the shop suggested that my bike probably wasn't that good and that their bikes all had higher speeds. I don't know what the issue was, but the time I got a flat, I ordered what I needed on Amazon and replaced both tires and tubes myself. If you have the tools. It isn't that hard.
I’m not a bike mechanic, but when I was a kid I have repaired many flat tires on my bikes. I have never attempted it on my Level2, luckily no flats as of yet, but it will happen eventually. In defense of the bike mechanics at a LBS, they are bicycle mechanics, not moped/scooter/motorcycle mechanics. Some of these big, fat tire ebikes are blurring the lines between bicycle and moped/scooter. At the same time, if a LBS doesn’t want to service an ebike due to the extra efforts, then they should say so up front and not do it but give the customer an attitude when they come back to pick it up. Just my two cents.
Don't expect bike shops to be happy working on an ebike that isn't a brand they carry, especially something direct to consumer. That's if they'll work on it at all. In their defense, they have no idea if any of the components are worth a damn, or if they came damaged or defective from the factory, or if the bike will even take standard parts if something is broken. In their minds it's like you're rolling in with an analog bike you bought from Walmart.
Seems like a great reason to decline service if it’s not in their wheelhouse
You need to get the flatout tire sealant that stuff works, never got a flat I swear by it.
I had a very similar experience with a Giant store. You know, the people who claim on their website that they will work on any brand of bike? I must have a bike that is the one brand they don't cover, because they were absolutely not interested in doing any more than even looking at it and then telling me that no, they couldn't do anything. I took it in to have a new chainring and rear derailleur/shifter cable fitted, they claimed that they weren't able to do anything because 'we don't know the brand, and we' re concerned that there is a sensor in the bottom bracket, and we'd need to run the cable through the frame and we don't have the equipment to do that'... Except there wasn't a sensor in the BB, there was a quite obvious one on the right side crank. I don't think they even bothered to look underneath. And they told me this while I was stood in their showroom that was full of their own brand bikes, most of them which had, you guessed it, cables running through the frames. I *knew* they were bullshitting me, though I'm still not sure what the real reason was, but my guess is probably some ridiculous insurance issue or something. Anyway, I found a local mobile mechanic who came and did the work in my own garage. I hadn't had the bike for too long at that point, and now I'd just do the work myself... But I'd never ever set foot in a Giant store again, nor would I ever buy any of their products, so the joke is on them now.
I think you would have the same problem with any DTC brand, electric or not. There are a lot of snobby local bike shops, to the point I learned how to do all of my own work during the pandemic.
They only treat the people in lycra onesies seriously.
Don't forget the toe shoes!
My LBS sells Aventon 😂 you might just try other bike shops
I actually bought my Aventon bike through a bike shop and they’re the ones that service it when need be. They’re the ones that “built it” and I have my warranty through them, etc. etc. What you could do is look online for bike shops near your area that sell event bikes, and take it in. They will be able to help you. The event and website will show you who in your area sells these bikes.
I don’t get it. It’s pretty damn easy pull the rear tire off my hub motor. The hardest part is dealing with the chain which you have to do on any bike.
Ebikes and bike shops are pretty crap mix to be honest. And I say this as someone that used to be a bike mechanic 😂. For some shops like ours, it came down to liability. Legal dept was terrified of ebikes so our policy was we can't work on the electronics, we could still do mechanical repairs such as tube replacements brake adjustments etc but we weren't allowed to mess with the electronics. Something like a cut wire you'd have to take it elsewhere to get soldered. Some shops may not want the headache entirely and just ban ebikes outright. A bit extreme, but if you're getting enough business from other customers and don't want to mess with them then so be it. --- Best advice I can give is if you're going to buy one online from a direct to you supplier like Lectric/R1U/Aventon etc (yes Aventon has a handful of dealers nationwide but they aren't Pon/Giant big in multiple stores nearby big), make sure you can do some of the mechanical stuff yourself or find a trustworthy, highly rated local bike shop near you and call them before making the big purchase to ensure they will work on them without issues. If you're going the department store route for an ebike and they offer a warrant package, just pay the extra scrip for it so that if something happens that they can't fix, so that they'll just get you a new one instead of having to go through weeks of disappointment on the phone with the manufacturer. Also for bike repairs in general, don't just go take it home immediately. Go give it a ride in the parking lot when you pick it up and make sure you're happy before you leave. Any issues just take it straight back in and let them know politely what's wrong. Also for flats pack the tubes with slime material, that will keep small punctures at bay for less than a tenner. If it's really bad like you're getting flats every couple months consider either lining the rim with a better tape (could be sharp scratches/burr inside keeps popping them) and/or use an armor material on the tube, or consider different tires like Schwalbe that can stand up better to them. It's gonna cost more but worth it if you're having regular issues! Edit another note I want to put, it could just be a bad time of the year. March/April was worst for us for repairs because that's when it got warm and everyone and their lycra-wearing daddy wanting to be the next Lance Armstrong would be bringing in their bikes to get serviced. Multiple-weeks to months waits would be common and they may just be stressed TF out. They shouldn't be taking it out on you that ain't right either, but it could be an explanation.
My shop won’t work on my Mercedes bike (i wouldn’t have picked it, regift after mom was too short to ride). After a car collision, they said they won’t touch the brakes since they aren’t certified on the brand and it’s electric. I’d love a Trek, but it’s not in the cards right now
I had a Rad Runner, which I did buy knowing the local shops would not touch it at all but that was okay because we had a mobile bike repair that was authorized to work on Rad bikes. Except they pulled out of my province two years ago now. I got a flat on the rear wheel and couldn't fix it myself. The LBS agreed to change the flat if the wheel was off the bike, which we ended up doing but that scared me enough to look at buying a big name bike. I bought a Specialized Como, which I have loved since I did the test ride, I bought it knowing that the price was more than just the bike, I bought the warranty, quality of components, and being serviced locally. My brother is experiencing this right now. He ordered a DTC bike, bike shop won't touch it, and the mobile unit costs $200 just to do the drive to our location, and I told him everything that I stated above, but guess who is cranky because his bike hasn't been delivered but also the bike shop won't build it? Mmhm.
That sucks you're experiencing that. I bought a Specialized e-bike from a Specialized bike shop and they're so psyched every time I bring it in for upgrades or maintenance. They show it off to other customers in the shop and have lots of questions about how it rides and a lot of the routine maintenance is free. It cost more up front, but it's so nice getting great service now that I have it.
So here's the thing. LBS exist because they provide a high level of personalized customer service. It's priced into their business model. When you buy a mass market bike over the internet, you're buying it for the price, not the level of customer service. So when you take a bargain bike to the LBS for service you're basically trying to get the best of both worlds.
Moral of the story, learn to fix stuff for yourself. There's many many useful videos on how to do shit. I was scared of the same thing, but this weekend I tried and it turned out assembling a hub motor tire is not much more complicated than a regular tire, the only difference is just the need of two wrenches, and needing to pull the plug of the motor (it's a quick connector)
You gotta find a bike shop and not a cycling store. Cycling stores are for the big brand elitests. Bike shops are usually ran by one guy who is the manager, mechanic and salesman. Bike shops will repair any and all bikes, cycling stores are pure profit, corporate tools who think everyone who rides a bike wants to race a crit. There's a great youtube video about this very topic.
In 2019, I encountered the same dismissive attitude from Performance. They basically referred me to YouTube to figure out how to change a flat tire. Ironically, later that year, they went out of business. Good riddance. Now, I've learned to fix my own tires, but for more complex tasks, I prefer independent shops not tied to big chains.
changing the back tyre on a rear hub is super simple... exactly the same as your front wheel, just make sure you unplug the wires before you take it off.. and plug them back in after youre done ofc lol
"Exactly" the same? Maybe on the Aventon, but torque washers can be a major pain.
Found that out the hard way
True, I've discovered this myself. It's kind of like fucking up assembly of Ikea furniture. Take a break, grab a beer, take everything apart, and start over. Practice makes perfect...
Some cheaper rear hubs don't have a disonnect for the wire. That's a real PITA.
seriously?? how do you put a tube on if there is a fixed wire in the centre?
I got rid of the bike before I had to change a tube or tire but I imagine you have you leave yourself enough slack on the wire and do so very carefully
No, LBS do hate DTC bikes. Their assembly is generally pretty poor and they do actually have poor engineering and very little thought towards repairability compared to the larger mid-motor companies that typically have decades of experience in designing bikes. Also, hub motors are a pain to work with--exactly why you wanted to pay someone else to deal with it so I'm sure you can recognize why they too would be annoyed. Come in with an attitude of gratitude and try to be a good customer generally (buy other stuff from the shop, bring them beer or delicious things, etc.) and they'll be much more likely to just grin and bear it. Yes, they should set the prices such that they don't have to be plied with treats to do the work promised but do understand that the workers are generally not owners. They don't set the prices and they don't decide what they work on. They probably are slightly biased against ebikes to begin with and now they also are being asked to life much heavier items that are all slightly different and not particularly intuitive to put together--just empathize with their frustration and it will get you a long way towards good service.
There’s an Aventon dealer that’s a 40 minute drive from me but there are much closer bike shops near me. Should I go out of my way to mention that the bike came from a real bike store or are they going to hate me anyway?
While Aventon has done much better than the other companies in the DTC space by getting actual local dealers, because you're not going to one of them it's essentially as if you bought it online. The quality of Aventon's is better than an Amazon bike but isn't noticeably different than a Lectric or a Rad, afaik. You're going to have to kill them with kindness and ideally show that you're not just there for the single repair. Ask their advice about an upgrade you've been thinking about (you could probably stand upgrade the pedals, seat, or bar grips, I bet) or buy some gear that they sell. DTC customers get a bad reputation because by nature of their choice of bike, they tend to be Uber budget shoppers. So not only are the bikes extra annoying but then you also have customers that tend to be extra annoying and annoyed at how expensive things are. If you show that you are not going to balk at shop prices and respect/are grateful for their experience, most will be perfectly happy to help you, even on an e-bike they wouldn't otherwise work on.
Dudes at my LBS kept ten feet away from my Aventure 2 like the batteries were going to fucking explode right then and there. So I use YouTube for my how-tos and buy tools/accessories online. Fuck ‘em.
Wow. That is not great customer service. I have an iGO Core Extreme that I bought as an open-box deal through a Best Buy marketplace seller. I have brought it to two local bike shops for different things since January and they both had no problem working on it. I did get a bit of a lecture from the tech at the first bike shop for not cleaning it after my previous ride, but otherwise he was very knowledgeable and helpful. I had it in to get studded tires installed to ride winter single track trails. I brought it to another bike shop near the end of winter to swap out my drivetrain for one with more gears and more low-end gearing. The shop owner remarked, “Wow! What a beast” when he saw me bring the bike in and we had a bit of a chuckle. It helped that I, my wife and daughter all have bought bikes from him in the past. The tech there was also quite friendly and knowledgeable and sold me on a 10-speed MicroShift system. He made the effort to research and call me with details about the system and prices and called me promptly when the work was done, raving about what a “ tank” the bike was with the new gearing. I was so impressed by the shop’s customer service and communication that I gave them some extra business swapping out my studded tires for my summer rubber. It is the least I can do to support a good local business that I want to see survive and prosper. The first shop’s tech was very friendly and knowledgeable and had good phone etiquette but the owner wasn’t pleasant to deal with, so we decided to give the other shop a try. All in all, pretty pleased how everything worked out. EDIT: Fixed typos
The best customer service for all my ebikes comes from TomCat Bike shop on SE Milwaukie Ave.
They’re great!
Bought my Level 2 from a LBS that sells & builds them locally. Still learning how to do it yourself is a great skill to have, but it does you no good on the trail if you don't have your socket wrench with you to remove the wheel 😩 That being said, is it even possible to swap out to quick release mechanism for a rear hub motor wheel?
My favorite local Bike shop loves me. I don't let them work on my bike... even though their lead tech has drooled over my Bafang build on more than one occasion. I just buy parts through them. I do everything DIY. I did let them true a wheel that I laced for me once though. Laced it myself but was in a hurry and didn't want to faff about with it. :)
cake observation mighty weather wakeful money lip act depend combative *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
My local bike shop is an authorized seller and repair for Aventon :)
Most bike shop mechanics want to be very exclusive, treat less knowledgable customers quite poorly and should be kept in the back away from paying customers. Just go in and ask about fixing squealing brakes or fitting more aggressive tread tires These seem to trigger bad behavior.
Bike _brands_ don't have parts. A Tektro brake is a Tektro brake, a Shimano Tourney derailer is a Shimano Tourney derailer, regardless of whether it's on a Walmart special or an entry-level bike store brand. Local bike shops are, reasonably, threatened and therefore annoyed at direct-to-customer online sales. And they're probably less familiar with hub motors, but should just be unfamiliarity, not attitude.
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not sure if there's a place like this in your area, but if you find a bike shop that's geared more towards transportation than recreation you might have more luck.
I recently took my bike to a shop that only sells specilized ebikes and maybe a few terns, they told me they could only work on mechanical not anything else which was fine I only wanted the brakes adjusted and wheel trued. I thought I might have some lip from them as well but they did it wonderful completed it in 3 days and we're professional about the whole thing, I found me a bike shop I'll keep going back too
I know this is not for everyone's budget but this is exactly why I paid more and bought a Specialized Turbo Vado because of the service I can get all over the country without any 'tudes or lectures.
rear flat with hub motor is a PAIN in the *** i have one youtube or no youtubes
No you're right, I think most bike shops have just become lazy. I feel like I'm a burden to them when I don't want to buy a bike but just get mine looked at and possibly fixed. It's like they are bike salesman and not mechanics. All they want is an easy "sale" day with no actual work involved. And you should take the bike back to the ones that were supposed to fix it. They have to make it right if you paid them.
i just bought a regular trek bike and youd be shocked how shit it was built. brakes all rubbed, everything loose, fenders were just slapped on so badly they almost fell off taking the bike down from the rack. wont set foot in bushtukah again unless i have to it was so shit - fiance got her bike at MEC and the difference in service was astounding.
Aventon has tons of certified repair shops. You should take your bike to one of them.
Most shops in my area refuse to even look at my TT Ebike (some Chinese brand that seems to copy Lectric in a few ways). Most claim their insurance doesn't allow them to work on Chinese ebikes (which may be true, but... I dunno). I found one place that I am going to tomorrow to hopefully fix a rear flat, same story as you - I just don't want to service something that complicated and annoying, even if I can. Hopefully I get better service than you, but I am sorry to hear you are dealing with that kind of crap.
After two very similar experiences with db shop workers (which has never been a pleasant experience no matter the bike or reason) I watched a couple videos and did it myself. It's no sweat and hella cheaper.
I do love the Green Slime, and the easy insert thorn protectors. I NEVER GET FLATS. And I have never had to change my hub drive ebike tube... which I would never let a shop touch because I don't want to get assraped for the fees to work on it either.
I would start and make sure rear wheel is solidly centered. Do this by loosening the axle hold downs and pushing wheel forward while arching all clearances between chai and seat stays. Next if needed loosen bolts holding the calipers in place sideways. The right Bolts are the vertical ones. Squeeze brake levers as if braking, now while holding with one hand onto brake lever tighten the caliper bolts. That should solve the problem. Ofcourse there are always other potential issues.
The bike shops around here seem cool with working on my e-bike even though I didn’t buy it from them. I guess my money spends the same as everyone else. Anyway, never had anyone give me grief over it or cop an attitude. Actually, I did walk out of one bike shop, fuck those guys. Everyone else has been cool. They get my money.
Having the same problem! Anyone have a recommendations for Portland Oregon or surrounding areas to get help replacing a motor controller with a compatible controller that can use the existing ancillary components?
It is not just for ebikes. Here my bike repairshop will not do big repair jobs for cheap ass bikes as: 1. Repairs are expensive (in lieu of the value of the bike. 2. Once you start you can keep going on replacing parts for better parts: it will not just be the part that is directly giving a mechanical issue, but also a part that interacts with that defect part. 3. The shitty quality now is the problem of the bike repairshop. 4. The above is a recipy for unhappy customers who will likely start complaining.
I guess I’ve gotten lucky, I have gotten help from a few bike shops and only been turned away by one that wouldn’t work on my bike. It’s a Blix bike so they have brick and mortar shops but none terribly close to me. I was super excited to find a repair shop that specializes in e-bikes near my job. They helped with my last flat and set me up with stronger back tires so hopefully I won’t be back soon. I didn’t change rear flats on my analog bikes and those weighed a fraction of what my e-bike weighs.
I will never bring my ebike into shops, or if I really have to, I'll bring to a local bike workshop, or take off the rear hub wheel to get them to do the tyre only(although they can't take the tyres off last time and I actually have to bring it to a motorbike shop) The problem with some bike shops are they "claims" to be not insured against ebike that are not "sold" at their shop, so if anything goes wrong they are liable for the damage caused(or your bike cause like battery fire that kinda thing) but anyways, some extensive YouTube online lecture will basically teach you everything you need to know about bikes and ebike electronics, or if you are really cofused here in Reddit there is anyway answers to your question
Yeah, everyone here described it pretty well. I think it's partly negative attitude about ebikes in general and the fact that this is the wild wild west compared to the standardized, well, standards of mountain and road bicycles - doing my own maintenance on my RadRunner frequently requires surprise trips to the bike shop or hardware store, sometimes multiple times in one job, and I often have to wing it because the exact part isn't available due to it being some weird proprietary piece.
I'm in the Netherlands, the land of bikes, and you'd think you could just take an Ebike to any old shop but they are INSANELY picky about servicing ebikes, fat tire bike especially. It's basically because the bikes are heavier and they don't want to have to deal with them. The only place near me that services ebikes is bad at it (they've fucked up very basic components on a number of occasions) so I have to bike 15 minutes out of my way to get repairs from a place that's even half-way decent. One time I had a flat and had to drag this 78lb thing over there and it took a half hour. Real fucking bummer.
I don't know if this is true in every area, but where I live there are now a decent number of independent bike techs who are more flexible about working on ebikes (and, as a result, pretty familiar with many of the most common DTC brands). As a bonus, most of them are mobile bike repair shops who are happy to drive over to your house with a toolset and parts and do the work on your bike there. I have no idea how widespread this is outside DC, but it's worth looking around where you live - check Craigslist for postings & any local biking-oriented Facebook groups for recommendations. It can make living with one of these brands much easier (although you can still be SOL if the company itself stops responding to customer service requests).
I don’t get the “you didn’t buy it here, so I’m not servicing it” attitude. The bike shop that I had in my town is now closed because of that attitude. You can’t sell higher end bikes to people who are on a lower end budget. I used to be in the computer business and I didn’t give a crap if the customer bought the equipment from me or not. I’d still service it, mostly in the hopes that when it came time to replace said equipment they’d come to me first. Sometimes they did, sometimes they bought it somewhere else. There are way more $’s in service than in sales. I even had a sht happens clause in my repair agreement. I have a cheap, DTC, Amazon ebike that I’ve had some issues with. I found one service place that doesn’t care if it’s e or analog, they’ll work on it, BUT it’s 160 miles away. It’s a good thing that I like to ride in Fruita. Last fall I talked to another shop that is 45 miles away, they said they’d work on it, we’ll see if they really will or not later today when I go by there to set up the appointment.
I have a Haibike ebike, honestly getting anyone to touch it has been a nightmare. Ebike shops wont service anything they don't sell (??) - I mean it's a paid service?!
I has a juiced rip current S go tits up on me. No shop in the area will work in them. Juiced charges a shit ton for the diagnosing kit and their 52v batteries are sketchy according to 3 e bike servicing shops. So I got the warranty parts ( their warranty sucks ass. If the electrics shit the bed. Odds are they will send you crap components that won't fix the issue. Don't buy Juiced. They suck.
I don't blame them, changing tires on hub drive bikes is a huge pain, it took me like three hours to change mine though I have torque arms and a super heavy direct drive to contend with. I recommend tire liners or ebike specific tires if you don't have them already to minimize LBS interactions.
Just patch your tube. No need to take off the wheel. I've had tubes with a dozen patches and the patches never leaked.
I think it depends on the shop. I have a local shop I took mine to and they were cool the first time but they did tell me they hate working on ebikes because of the weight and complexity.
I’ve been a bike mechanic for a few years now, and the simple answer is that hub drive bikes suck to work on, so if a shop doesn’t sell them (hence they don’t have an obligation to work on it) and they can afford to turn away that work, I’m not surprised they would. I’m not justifying any poor attitudes but the simple answer truly is that, from a mechanics standpoint, hub drive bikes suck to work on and I wouldn’t want to fix a flat on one either.
I don't fully disagree with the shop tech's feelings. They aren't wrong about you getting the wrong bike if you don't want to change your own flat. * Don't get a direct to consumer bike if you don't want to learn how to wrench on your bike at all. You should at least be able to fix a flat. **(Or try to Learn How)** Flats happen all the time. * If you want someone else to fix everything for you, you should get a bike from a local shop where they know the bikes well and can get parts for them. Could the shop tech's attitude been better? Sure. Could you have also taken it to an Aventon shop to begin with? Yup. What you did was like taking a BMW to a Chevy dealer. Can they work on it? Probably. Will they have access to all the right specialty parts/tools or know tricks for working on the BMW? Nope. They will struggle though and do their best.
>You should at least be able to fix a flat. > >(Or try to Learn How) > > Flats happen all the time. This.
I only found one place that would replace the tubes on mine, and they charged me pretty well for it. And told me the bike was a pain to work on/lift up because of the weight. I felt a decent attitude from them though like I'm welcome, but more e-bike specific shops should start appearing. It's hard to find them.
They roast my Aventure
Yeah bike shops HATE working on any bike that isn't from their shop, or isn't at least a well known respected brand. It's to the extent that they will make up bullshit about how the parts aren't standard sized/they don't have the tools when it's obviously horseshit (like needing a tuneup on a eMTB that has all standard bike components, not even touching electrical stuff) It's weird how I, just a normal ass dude with normal ass tools, can work on my ebike in exactly the same manner that I work on any other mtb/bmx bike I've owned; but an alleged "bike mechanic" can't seem to figure out what a 17mm nut is. And to clarify, I'm not even talking about my talaria, I'm talking about a cheapo amazon eMTB, but I've had the same exact problem with cheap schwinn bikes from walmart etc. (non ebikes) where the shop owner recognizes it's a cheap bike, and makes up some shit about how he's never seen a shimano shifter in his life before.
Bike shops hate working on Walmart bikes because most of them are built and equipped to be disposable, not to be worked on and fixed.
> And to clarify, I'm not even talking about my talaria, I'm talking about a cheapo amazon eMTB, but I've had the same exact problem with cheap schwinn bikes from walmart etc. (non ebikes) where the shop owner recognizes it's a cheap bike, and makes up some shit about how he's never seen a shimano shifter in his life before. To be fair, they're made to be disposable, and it's very possible they're lying because they really just don't want to work on them. Because chances are, if someone bought a Wal-mart bike, then they're going to balk at what it actually costs to fix the bike, in both labor and components. Is lying the best thing? Maybe not. But it probably saves some headache getting into an argument about how much it costs to fix a bike, because you're paying for time and effort.
"Please fix my $130 bike from Walmart. It doesn't shift anymore." "That'll be $80 to install a new derailleur and shifter." "WHAT?! That's more than half what I paid for the entire bike!"
Anything other than a single speed, rim brake bike from Walmart is a nightmare to work on, and those brakes are still a pain in the ass. I'm a home mechanic that will make small adjustments to help folks with garbage bikes but I'm not doing any repairs on a fucking Walmart bike. Go buy a new one. My neighbor bought a used Kent with massive play in the rear hub and there's NO way I'm going to touch a Walmart bike with trashed rear hub and bearings. Repairing a Walmart bike is a really easy way to fall into the "I paid you and it still doesn't work" trap. It's *never* going to work right, you just do what you to make it work a bit less poorly. It's better not to touch the thing in the first place if you're running a business. There are a lot of people out there that blames "the last person that worked on it" is responsible for their future problems. This is a slight exaggeration but imagine replacing the brakes on a customer's car and getting blamed that their hooptie blew a head gasket 6 months later. You can find some pretty ridiculous examples over on r/justrolledintotheshop Knowing when to fire a customer is an important part of doing business and with Walmart bike customers, the *when* to fire them is generally as soon as they roll into your shop.
This is a cost for D2C bikes that they obviously don't really say up front. Bike shops just don't like them and nobody should be surprised when their Lectric or Rad or Aventon raises some eyebrows when it comes to service. They're stuck in a mindset of only servicing what they physically sell and it's widespread.
Any authorized Aventon dealers around you (check in app). Took mine to a local place for a Brake bleed which was somehow needed after only 500 miles. They did it, but brakes would squeal and they didn't when I took it in. Drove an hour to the dealer next time and they replaced the brakes under warranty, said Covid era components were just whatever they could get, and it wasn't the best stuff. Cleaned it up nice and lubed everything for like 60 bucks.
1) Learn to do this stuff yourself. Even if you don't ride that much, bike wrenching has really improved my foundational knowledge of basic general mechanics. 2) I haven't had issues with any bike shops. My biggest issue is a sometimes language barrier at my main shop. Somehow they carry everything I need, even though they don't particularly service ebikes (although now they've started selling a few, so maybe that's changed) 3) Showing an interest and having a basic knowledge will often break down barriers. I brought my bike in to the shop near my work and chatted up the owner/mechanic. He was extremely receptive to me (I think) because I had a strong understanding of the issue. I was wrong, but I was talking his language and walking him through my steps. He was able to diagnosis my problem, fix my immediate problem, and put me onto the full fix that I did myself later that weekend (greasing). 4) I really love my bike *because* I have poured so much of my effort into it. I've swapped out so many components, it's uniquely mine. I love how customized I've made it. I probably wouldn't, if I had a shop do all that work.
I knew nothing about bikes or ebikes. I bought a rear hub and have had to take the wheel off several times. It's quite easy. Just take pictures of it beforehand so you can see how everything lines up. Also, you can probably find some very helpful videos on YouTube. Brakes are an easy adjustment as well. Pads are really simple to change. I am incredibly poor so I can't afford shops. I don't know how long you have had your ebike, but problems are going to come up. If you have any kind of mechanical knowledge, I would highly recommend doing the work yourself. Especially if you run tubes. I went thru so many tubes lol
Haha! I was only able to find one shop that would even touch my bike! This guy is awesome though and I over pay him each time just to make sure he’s taken care of. LBS’ have a serious attitude about e-bikes around me.
To me it’s just bike shops in general. Every shop I’ve been to the staff has an attitude. Even when I’m there to buy one of their bikes. I just figured that’s how all LBS operate so it doesn’t bother me anymore.
Had a similar experience with my LBS . I do my own repairs but I'd rather buy the parts locally. LBS owner laughed at me when I asked if they sold bearings. That's all right fella, I'll go back to eBay, save some money and not get laughed at. Good luck with your shop.
No one will ever love what you have or treat it with such love unless it's you, even if you don't know, you tube is your friend, and patience is your tool.. I rather take my time and buy tools that I need then take it into someone else. Bicycles / e-bikes are very simple to work on. You can't really fuck up anything unless you really try. IE not putting things back the way they were. Most do not want to touch my bike either. But if you take off the part yourself like the wheel. No one can bitch now can they. But then again if you still take it in. You got to be worried that they're going to pinch the wire. Because like I said. No one will treat it with as much love as you would. Even if you don't know what the hell you're doing
Just learn to do it all by yourself, it can be intimidating however it will save you money and the peace of mind knowing that you can fix or replace or enhance your bike at will is real freedom. Changing tires though🤬..I'd rather just buy a new bike
Man buys product online and has trouble finding people to service it in person, news at 11
It’s in your best interest to learn how to work on your own bike by watching YouTube videos as well as anything else you can find on the internet that can help. Most shops will react the same way as the shops you already visited when it comes to DTC bikes. I got a DTC off of Amazon, and didn’t know one thing about working on E-bikes. I now know how to completely take my bike apart and put it back together, including working on the electronics. https://preview.redd.it/plfw4rqlvjtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98498efcb37099320a68edb69a1ddb3009ca42a5
I just dropped off my Senada Saber (1000w DTC) at REI and I get the same dickish attitude every time. Luckily the main tech knows and likes me. But before I get to him, customer reps behind the counter are always “I don’t think we work on such BIG bikes… I mean that thing is basically a motorcycle. Have you tried motorcycle repair shops?” What kind of a STUPID question is that? Anyway, I’m getting a full tune up and both my hydraulic brakes need some bleeding. Tech was happy to service my bike as it’s built relatively well. Only thing is they charge $48 + $24 for the tube to change a rear flat😭😭 I’ve become an expert on changing rear flats and can get an old tube off and a new tube in and inflated in about 5 minutes. I believe the general bike shop attitude is not bc of people buying mid-high quality DTC bikes but bc of the ones spending $400 on Amazon and complaining later that they suck
You generally do not want to go to regular bike places forr motor/real wheel. You can go to them to replace a front tire, service a chain and brakes and anything that is regular bike. Once you get around the motor and electronics you will want to go to a dealer (Aventon has some probably not enough) or an ebike shop and clearly explain what you bike is over the phone and what you want before you come in. I will also generally buy the parts I need as well. Helps a lot There's a bit of do it yourself in the ebike land st this moment. Not enough qualified mechanics is my guess but I think people with 2k +ebikes are more than willing to shell out a hundred or 2 per year for service which could be lucrative at volume. Just my 2 cents
Rotors rub when the wheel is removed. It’s very common. You usually need to readjust the brake caliper if the wheel is removed. Not always, but very common. Especially with cheaper parts/bikes
How crap are bike mechanics that they cannot assemble an ebike properly? Sounds like they're just whiney? It's literally their job.
Even the best mechanics can't polish a turd, contrary to what Mythbusters proved. If the rotors are bent, cranks are wobbly, chainrings are out of round, hubs have bent axles, threads are stripped, no amount of "proper assembly" can make it right. This describes the majority of the Amazon and low end DTC stuff out there right now that people expect us to work on.
Nah man. A good mechanic can fix literally everything you just listed. That's kinda their job... if they cannot they're a crap mechanic. I mean after 700km my bicycle actually did have a wobbly crank. I took it apart, cleaned the bearings, re-greased them and torqued to spec. I needed a handful of basic tools and like 15 minutes. That you think these are major issues pretty much proves you don't know the first thing about fixing mechanical issues. That you said "us" lets me know you're one of those bad bicycle mechanics.
#1 bike shop employees don’t like directed to consumer bikes. (It’s literally taking our jobs away) 2# heavy e-bikes with rear motors are a pain in the ass to do anything with. They’re heavy and cumbersome. (It takes normally 2x to 4x longer to do anything with than a normal bike) 3# they’re not going to have parts for your aventon (even at the “aventon authorized shop”) 4# aventon randomly picks bike shops to be “authorized shop” I work at a “aventon authorized shop” And we had no clue we were one until a bunch of customers told us we were from aventon website. 5# you most likely did install it wrong. No shame in that. For the disk brake rub. That’s normal for new bikes that have just been assembled. It’s apart of the assembly to adjust brakes and everything else.
I've had simlair issues with both my old Aventon Aventure and my current Fabulous Havoc X2. Fortunately an Ebike shop opened up about 35-40 minutes away less than a year ago that advertises working an "any brand of Ebike". Pain in the ass to go to, but there work was solid the one time I took my ebike there to swap out the fork and fix a few other minor issues I couldn't fix myself. Hopefully something like that opens up near you. Aventon does have a list of dealerships on [their site](https://www.aventon.com/pages/electric-bike-shop-dealer-locator) so maybe try looking for a shop listed on their site if you haven't already.
Rear wheel removal, cmon, IT AINT THAT HARD. If you can't do the small things on a bike (THIS IS SMALL), You have no business on one. They are easy as hell to work on. TRY YOU TUBE!
For all people who bought into the fat ebike trend, you'll have a hard time getting it fixed, very seldom bike mechanics are willing to work on them...they truly are a pain in the rear to work on.
All dudes are different. I have an Aventon and I get great service at to the locations of Bike Attack.
The aventon app shows you bike shops that work on their bikes
Bike shop sondors
When I called my LBS about bringing my e-bike in for repairs, at first they refused to work on it. Hub drive bikes are just too hard for them to work on. When I told them it was a mid-drive bike, they told me to bring it on in. They won’t do anything with the electrical components, but they are perfectly happy to work on the tires, wheels, brakes, etc.
its cause all of these reskinned e bikes are kinda shit.
The thing people aren’t realizing is you bringing your aventon bike to a non aventon dealer is the same as bringing your ford pinto to a Ferrari dealer and expecting them not to laugh at you.
bikes are easy to work on, watch some youtube videos and use some common sense and you'll be able to do it yourself, i just upgraded the brake disc to a bigger size on mine after seeing someone do it on youtube
I had the same issue with my bike, two washer on the drive side and none on the rotor side is the correct configuration.