Bosch update

[briantrumpet]

I'd not used my Bosch Flow app for ages, but when I turned it on yesterday, it did an update that tweaked all sorts of little things https://www.bosch-ebike.com/us/performance-upgrade

Not quite sure how they'll all work in practice, not least as there seem to be a lot more options than when I last tweaked the individual power levels. Has anyone been using these much and got any practical advice/opinions?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Every year that I take my ebike to the LBS it does an update

never seen any difference - except on year maybe the Walk Assist - which is hopeless - worked a bit better

Bosch seem to like doing update - although mine is the cheap on and over years old so doesn;t have an App connection

 

[briantrumpet]

Every year that I take my ebike to the LBS it does an update

never seen any difference - except on year maybe the Walk Assist - which is hopeless - worked a bit better

Bosch seem to like doing update - although mine is the cheap on and over years old so doesn;t have an App connection

OK, thanks.

For some reason it went through the update process again this morning, and I just let it get on with it, and not fiddled with the settings since. Seems to work fine.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

I’ve had my Bosch Cargoline powered bike for a bit over a year now and done three updates. None of them had any effect on my use of the bike although I notice I can now turn my maximum assistance level up quite a bit. I haven’t used it though as I never use the maximum setting anyway.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

It would be helpful if Bosch published some sort of list of what is in the updates

Even "security update" would help

btu they just say there is an update ad you get it

I think I am supposed to pay for them - but the LBS just does them


but if I WAS saying for them, then I would be very reluctant to do so if I have no idea whether it will do anything useful or not!!
When I checked - it seemed like it was a case of "Bosch say you need it so you do" attitude

 

[Rusty Nails]

A friend of mine has a five year old Trek road bike with a Bosch motor.

He recently had a lot of noise and a quite unnerving knocking from the motor so took it back to the dealer (Tredz) who said that it would need to be sent off as they couldn't do that sort of repair at their workshop, and would probably have to have a new motor at a total cost of more than £1500.

Alarmed at this he contacted a local bike shop repairers he had been recommended, which did repair e-bikes. He took it to them, they contacted him a few days later saying that they had fixed it...it was just some loose fixing bolts within the motor...and charged him less than £50, including trueing his wheels.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

A friend of mine has a five year old Trek road bike with a Bosch motor.

He recently had a lot of noise and a quite unnerving knocking from the motor so took it back to the dealer (Tredz) who said that it would need to be sent off as they couldn't do that sort of repair at their workshop, and would probably have to have a new motor at a total cost of more than £1500.

Alarmed at this he contacted a local bike shop repairers he had been recommended, which did repair e-bikes. He took it to them, they contacted him a few days later saying that they had fixed it...it was just some loose fixing bolts within the motor...and charged him less than £50, including trueing his wheels.

Mine started making noises a while after I got it - especially when I was putting some "power" through the pedals

It started getting worse over COVID - when the LBS was closed
He looked at it a couple of times with no success but admitted that he didn;t have the right tools to get through to the motor itself
the reason was quite sad as his mechanic - that he had been working with for avery long time - had died during COVID, and he was the sort who bought tools himself to do things even if it was at work
then kept them at home in case he needed them again

so they were at his house and the manager of the LBS didn;t want to disturb the bloke widow to try to get the right bits and pieces

eventually he just got his own and found that the motor was coming loose as you say
and since then he has checked them when I take it in every year and it has been fine

so I reckon the bolts coming loose is just a thing with them possibly

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Mine started making noises a while after I got it - especially when I was putting some "power" through the pedals

It started getting worse over COVID - when the LBS was closed
He looked at it a couple of times with no success but admitted that he didn;t have the right tools to get through to the motor itself
the reason was quite sad as his mechanic - that he had been working with for avery long time - had died during COVID, and he was the sort who bought tools himself to do things even if it was at work
then kept them at home in case he needed them again

so they were at his house and the manager of the LBS didn;t want to disturb the bloke widow to try to get the right bits and pieces

eventually he just got his own and found that the motor was coming loose as you say
and since then he has checked them when I take it in every year and it has been fine

so I reckon the bolts coming loose is just a thing with them possibly

I worked at a Trek dealer for four years. Bosch powered bikes in for routine service often had one or more loose motor mounts. I got in the habit of checking them every time one passed through the shop.

I then got in the habit of checking them on new bikes and found loose mounts pretty regularly.

My own cargo bike worked its mounts loose after about 400km.

I think part of the issue is that they ride so nicely with the power off that people just treat them like a normal bike, but they really do seem to work better if the power is on and high gears avoided. Selecting a lower gear and spinning the pedals a bit faster, letting the motor do more of the work seems to make life easier for the motor and it’s mounts.

for those who want to check their mounts the torque figure is 9-11Nm on precut (used) threads. When checking a bike I always go right up to 11Nm because of the tendency to loosen.

On a new installation the mounts should be torqued to 13-15Nm. Why the difference? Because some twit at Bosch decided the mounts should be self tapping so you are cutting fresh threads into the case on a new motor installation. WTF! Self tapping is great if you never have to have something apart but hanging a magnesium cased motor in an aluminum frame… something could maybe work loose right?! Admittedly, Bosch figures the motors should go 50000km between services but if you have to drop the motor to replace a brake line ( yup! ) you are recycling a self tapping hole… never a good idea.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think part of the issue is that they ride so nicely with the power off that people just treat them like a normal bike, but they really do seem to work better if the power is on and high gears avoided. Selecting a lower gear and spinning the pedals a bit faster, letting the motor do more of the work seems to make life easier for the motor and it’s mounts.

The LBS I bought mine from forewarned me always to drop a gear or two or three before changing the power up a notch - said that they get so many trashed drive-chains because people use the power settings like gears, not realising just how much torque is going through the system.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

The LBS I bought mine from forewarned me always to drop a gear or two or three before changing the power up a notch - said that they get so many trashed drive-chains because people use the power settings like gears, not realising just how much torque is going through the system.

Yeah, we always told customers to drop it down a few gears and let them spin. It’s kind of tough advice to hear when you’re 60+ and have clapped out knees though. ( like me )