3 Cycling shops refuse to work on disc brakes of electric bike due to motor size???

[slowmotion]

The regen braking is sufficient for most situations and just slowing for junctions etc

As far as I'm aware, slowing down for junctions is something of a novel concept for ebike riders.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Surely, if a person is competent in this sort of thing, that is all that matters. What do others think?

Surely it is the prerogative of any competent cycle service technician/engineer/mechanic to refuse work which they consider unethical or illegal.
And I would think that any decent motorcycle garage would be more than willing to adjust the brakes and perform type testing for subsequent licencing, registration, insurance etc.

 

[Sixmile]

Free the hub! Surely if we legalize these motorised pedal cycles it would bring down the misuse, fill the tax kitty and make the users safer? Otherwise, these bikes will be pushed underground or worse, stored in roofspaces across the country!

 

[Chislenko]

Surely it is the prerogative of any competent cycle service technician/engineer/mechanic to refuse work which they consider unethical or illegal.
And I would think that any decent motorcycle garage would be more than willing to adjust the brakes and perform type testing for subsequent licencing, registration, insurance etc.

Takes me back to when I briefly worked at our Rolls Royce / Bentley dealership.

A chap came in complaining of "steering wobble" at 90mph and asked for a technician to take it out and test it.

The technician said no as obviously anything above 70 mph was against the law. Customer called technician some "names' and left in a huff.

 

[cougie uk]

I've had 110+ kg of bike + self slowed from 50 mph on numerous occasions. Never a problem with rim brakes, be they Sora or whatever Brompton use.

Woah - you're doing 50 on a Brompton ? Amazing speeds.

 

[DRM]

Woah - you're doing 50 on a Brompton ? Amazing speeds.

Next stop, Brompton world championships!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Woah - you're doing 50 on a Brompton ? Amazing speeds.

and it was uphill

 

[Tight Git]

Takes me back to when I briefly worked at our Rolls Royce / Bentley dealership.

A chap came in complaining of "steering wobble" at 90mph and asked for a technician to take it out and test it.

The technician said no as obviously anything above 70 mph was against the law. Customer called technician some "names' and left in a huff.

Had the same answer in about 1989 with a new Golf GTI at a VW dealer. My reply was I was going to Germany next week and would be on unrestricted autobahns and they weren't prepared to investigate a potentially dangerous issue!?

With very bad grace they did check it out. Terrible attitude and customer service and probably more snooty than your RR dealership!

 

[TheDoctor]

Woah - you're doing 50 on a Brompton ? Amazing speeds.

Down bloody great hills. Col de Mort d'Imbert and Ventoux, when I went touring in Provence.

Next stop, Brompton world championships!

Pffft! Not a chance. I time-trial with all the grace and speed of a beached walrus.

and it was uphill

The only time my bike has done that speed uphill, it was in a car. Or possibly a bus.
Although I have nascent plans for the Col de Mont Cenis that involve a chairlift to do the tedious uphill bit.
The way I see it, I've ridden up Ventoux twice. I've proved I can climb, I just don't want to.
But lo! we have wandered far off topic...

 

[matticus]

Had the same answer in about 1989 with a new Golf GTI at a VW dealer. My reply was I was going to Germany next week and would be on unrestricted autobahns and they weren't prepared to investigate a potentially dangerous issue!?

With very bad grace they did check it out. Terrible attitude and customer service and probably more snooty than your RR dealership!

But did you ask the guy to road-test the 90mph problem? (As Chislenko's customer did).

 

[Chislenko]

But did you ask the guy to road-test the 90mph problem? (As Chislenko's customer did).

Yes, that is the point, why should the technician risk a fine, ban, invalidating the company insurance to fix someone's car?

 

[matticus]

Down bloody great hills. Col de Mort d'Imbert and Ventoux, when I went touring in Provence.

Are they generally good on fast descents? I would hate to lose out on one of cycling's great joys!

 

[bonzobanana]

Surely it is the prerogative of any competent cycle service technician/engineer/mechanic to refuse work which they consider unethical or illegal.
And I would think that any decent motorcycle garage would be more than willing to adjust the brakes and perform type testing for subsequent licencing, registration, insurance etc.

How do they determine it though. You get complete legal ebikes based around direct drive motors that are no different really to the kits. The kits have a legal mode where the motor only operates while you pedal and its restricted to 15.5mph in fact typically pre-built mid-drive motor ebikes exploit the law more with far higher peak output. Bosch motors have been shown to peak over 700W which gives them great climbing ability but the law states 250W nominal or rated power. In fact the original UK law was 200W but we accepted the EU 250W limit but I'm not sure we have our own legislation for that. A direct drive motor as a legal ebike is probably peaking closer to 400W. Unless they ride the bike how do they determine the legality and that applies to both mid-drive pre-built ebikes and ebikes based on kits or pre-built ebikes using geared hubs or direct drive hubs. A kit does not necessarily have to be more illegal than a pre-built ebike and in fact could actually be closer to the legislation not further away.

Reasons why they refuse could be making false assumptions about an ebike, they could want to deter people buying kits for their commercial interests or they may simply not have the technical skills to fully understand such ebikes and are not comfortable dealing with them. I've spoken to sales people in shops who only sell high end ebikes and they will often tell you absolute nonsense about their ebikes in order to promote their products. I mean with a £6k ebike I assume there is a lot of sales commission if they make a sale which leads to a lot of manipulation in the sales patter. No sales person wants to miss out on commission so all the positives about their bikes are huge positives and all the negatives are tiny issues of little importance that probably won't effect you etc. To be honest if I was in that situation where selling ebikes adds hugely to my income I would not be the most honest or fair person. I used to be a hifi salesperson at first I tried to match people to products I think best suited them but it wasn't long before I was shown the errors of my ways and tried to upsell to everyone unless I met any resistance and then would sell them products at prices they were happy to pay. Products we didn't sell of course were awful and we would view them negatively and not want to deal with them or repair them even if at home I had such products which were better than the products we sold.

https://hawkwheels.co.uk/products/copy-of-elysium-relay-17-250w-16ah-battery

 

[TheDoctor]

Are they generally good on fast descents? I would hate to lose out on one of cycling's great joys!

I think so. You do have to be used to the handling, but they are quite sure footed.

 

[Donger]

I like to think that most respectable bike mechanics would refuse to work on the brakes on my nephew's home-made jet bike too. OK, it's an extreme example, but just a question of degree.