Will My E-bike Have Support?
The electronics on an e-bike are incredibly reliable. There are really only a few mfg’s of motors, controllers and battery cells (with batteries being the most questionable piece of the puzzle). You will often find the same motor on a $1k bike as on a $5k bike. Once up and running, you aren’t likely to have an e-related problem for years. The problems begin when you have an accident, a battery gets old or the bike is ill suited to the application (hence $1k bikes vs $5k).
You need to be sure your e-bike is from a reputable and established mfg. The fella in the opening photo is a good example. That company is out of business. I can replace his battery. Most likely I could find a replacement controller to work with his display, or replace that as well. What I don’t have are the schematics that tell me how the bike mfg ran the wires! This is typical for small brands and online retailers. This may be nothing more than a boat anchor.
I have in the shop right now a very expensive and massively over powered bike sold by a company that just marks up and rebrands bikes from other companies. It has a serious brake issue that may or may not be causing an error in the electronics. I THINK I MAY have found a broken wire in the bike’s wiring loom as well.
It has been a week and the company has not gotten back to me with any information. They have no phone numbers. Other off brands I have called are seldom answered. Often those answering know nothing about repairing their products and never do return a call with an answer! In this case, I have promised the owner I will TRY flushing and bleeding her brakes ($90) as well as repairing the wire, BUT I may make matters worse. She could be paying me $135 to find out her $2500+ bike is toast.
Whether you buy from Ruby’s or elsewhere, make sure you have a number where you can reach a real person. Be sure you can get parts and your repair person can get schematics. You may also wish to know if any parts or designs are proprietary (proprietary parts, like batteries, tend to run two to four times the price).
Whether you purchase a conversion or a factory bike at Ruby’s, you will get U.S. support, even if you never bring it back to us. Any LBS will be able to provide before or after warrenty support. Our suppliers must stock replacement batteries. You can find multiple pages of replacement batteries, parts and components for our conversions on e-bay and Amazon. Yes, our prices are affordable, but we still provide support superior to anyone anywhere. Try us!