what does it cost to maintain an ebike

I leave you my video subtitled in several languages, I hope you like it.

More than my wife, children, grandchildren, house, car and needy friends………and not a penny wasted
or frivolously spent.

Ten months and 2,700 miles

Three chains
One cassette
One tyre
One set jockey wheels
Several tins of GT-85 and bike cleaner

However l've now found a way to make the chain last longer and the current one is on well over 1,000 miles.

lightning said:

However l've now found a way to make the chain last longer

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Don't keep it secret!

l posted a thread in here about it titled "interesting experiment with chain life"
You can find it by search "interesting experiment" on this forum

lt didn't get that much interest, which was a surprise after all the people moaning about having to replace their chain every few hundred miles.

Over £2000 in maintenance after 1 & a half years and 8000km. Turbo Levo Comp.

Is your local Rolls Royce dealer doing the servicing?

It's not the maintainence as much as taking off perfectly good parts and replacing them with expensive new ones.

Mabman said:

It's not the maintainence as much as taking off perfectly good parts and replacing them with expensive new ones.

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And don’t forgot crash repairs, replacing broken parts, which happens regularly with me!

lightning said:

Ten months and 2,700 miles

Three chains
One cassette
One tyre
One set jockey wheels
Several tins of GT-85 and bike cleaner

However l've now found a way to make the chain last longer and the current one is on well over 1,000 miles.

Click to expand...

Ten months and 2000 miles

Two chains
One cassette
Two tyres
One set of jockey wheels
Two sets of grips (crash damage)
Magura levers (crash damage)
Pair of crank arms (crash damage)
Pair of pedals (crash damage)
Dropper lever (thumb failure)
Rear wheel (jump damage)
Pot of grease
WD40 degreaser x many
Peaty’s lube x many
Muc Off cleaner x lost count
Silicone lube (for the shine, dropper, forks)
Fork service
Shock service
Bike service x 3
Bearings - wheel hubs & headset

Are you running a bike hire business Steve ?

The EMF said:

Are you running a bike hire business Steve ?

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That’s all I call think of on the top of my head. I’m sure there’s more too. Plus that’s only one bike, I have to maintain three!

Grannyjones said:

Over £2000 in maintenance after 1 & a half years and 8000km. Turbo Levo Comp.

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I'd love to see the break down of how that £2000 is made up, that cant just be maintenance? or you are doing mega mileage.....

I did not maintain my bicycle for a year and did 2400 miles during this period, and now I just changed the rear brake pads, cleaned the chain and changed gearhub oil.

The secret of such low maintenance is sintered brake pads, gear hub, thick durable tires with aggressive threads and tubes (the tires served me more than 8000 miles already).

As above, over 2,500 miles and only replaced wear and tear drivetrain parts.

l've crashed twice, on the last occasion damaged the rear mech, looked at the cost of a new SRAM one (£200, my Shimano 11 speed was about £50) and instead repaired it, then repainted the scratched cage.

Works perfectly and looks as good as new.

Headset has been stripped/greased twice, cost nothing as l did it myself. Brake pads are still okay.

I think I've replaced the following in 1300 miles, all off road in the peak District,Wales ,Scotland,and the lakes.

One chain ~£35
2 sets of brake pads on the rear ~£15
3 tyres ~£160
1 set of suspension bearings ~35
1 fox 36 wiper seal kit plus some suspension oil ~£35
1 Bosch cx gen4 motor ~free under warranty

Total £280

Sorry, I'm in France .. What is this "Maintain" word you use ?

Mteam said:

I'd love to see the break down of how that £2000 is made up, that cant just be maintenance? or you are doing mega mileage.....

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Some things you might not strictly class as maintenance. Such as having to replace the rear wheel (twice) due to clouting it against a rock or a stone bar!

Tubby G said:

That’s all I call think of on the top of my head. I’m sure there’s more too. Plus that’s only one bike, I have to maintain three!

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forgot brake pads. Loads of those too!

I'd love to see the break down of how that £2000 is made up, that cant just be maintenance? or you are doing mega mileage..

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Chains SRAM X1 - 6 X £30 = £180
Rear Wheels – 2 X £250 = £500 (replacements due to strike damage to the rims)
Cassettes SRAM NX – 2X £90 = £180
Chain rings – 2X £30 = £60
Brake Pads – 10 X £8 = £80 (some pads were replaced due to contamination)
Rock Guards – 2 X £60 = £120 (replacements due to strike damage)
Suspension servicing:
Fork lower leg service by mechanic £30 x 5 = £150
Shock air can service by mechanic £30 x 5 = £150
Added cost when new seals have been required in the fork and shock respectively – 2 x £40 = £80
Brake Bleeds by mechanic – 4x £15 = £60
New Headset bearings - £30
Dropper Post repairs after I damaged it trying to service it myself - £80
Dropper service by mechanic - £30
Foam inserts for wheels – 2x £15 - £30
Tubes and Sealant – say £40 total
Pedals - £45
Rear tyre replacements – 3x £45 = £130
Front tyre replacements – 1x £45
Replacement of outer gear cable by mechanic - £30
Say £80 for inner cables, cleaning materials, chain degreaser, replacement grips, mudguards and few other things
£90 upgrading the brakes to Shimano Z's minus the sale of crash damaged SRAM Guide RE
£80 for SRAM NX mech after striking the original GX mech
£130 for new SRAM GX Rear Mech after the clutch on the previous NX Mech failed
£120 for replacement pivot bearings and labour
£50 for replacing 2 bent disc rotors

Total - £2570

All maintenance done by myself apart from where I have said "By Mechanic" then I have included the price of labour.
Then I'm sure I've missed somethings.

In addition, I've claimed two motors, chainstays and various cables from warranty. Probably worth another £2K ?

This is after a year and half of use, and 8000km.

Grannyjones said:

Chains SRAM X1 - 6 X £30 = £180

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Six chains??????? My first chain lasted 2500ish miles. I had to change the cassette and chain ring at the same time because a new chain sounded and felt horrible. The old chain wasn't slipping in any gear and shifted fine but had 3 split links in it... I am now rotating chains every 500 miles to see if I can get 5000 miles out of a cassette.

Doomanic said:

Six chains??????? My first chain lasted 2500ish miles. I had to change the cassette and chain ring at the same time because a new chain sounded and felt horrible. The old chain wasn't slipping in any gear and shifted fine but had 3 split links in it... I am now rotating chains every 500 miles to see if I can get 5000 miles out of a cassette.

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I've had a chain last as little as 170 miles riding in Winter using plenty of Turbo mode. A few rides that were either very sandy or very muddy were responsbile for that.
I've replaced the first 2 when they get to 0.75% on the chain checker to protect the cassette then run the 3rd one much longer until the whole lot needs replacing.

Grannyjones said:

Chains SRAM X1 - 6 X £30 = £180
Rear Wheels – 2 X £250 = £500 (replacements due to strike damage to the rims)
Cassettes SRAM NX – 2X £90 = £180
Chain rings – 2X £30 = £60
Brake Pads – 10 X £8 = £80 (some pads were replaced due to contamination)
Rock Guards – 2 X £60 = £120 (replacements due to strike damage)
Suspension servicing:
Fork lower leg service by mechanic £30 x 5 = £150
Shock air can service by mechanic £30 x 5 = £150
Added cost when new seals have been required in the fork and shock respectively – 2 x £40 = £80
Brake Bleeds by mechanic – 4x £15 = £60
New Headset bearings - £30
Dropper Post repairs after I damaged it trying to service it myself - £80
Dropper service by mechanic - £30
Foam insert) for wheels – 2x £15 - £30
Tubes and Sealant – say £40 total
Pedals - £45
Rear tyre replacements – 3x £45 = £130
Front tyre replacements – 1x £45
Replacement of outer gear cable by mechanic - £30
Say £80 for inner cables, cleaning materials, chain degreaser, replacement grips, mudguards and few other things
£90 upgrading the brakes to Shimano Z's minus the sale of crash damaged SRAM Guide RE


All maintenance done by myself apart from where I have said "By Mechanic" then I have included the price of labour.
Then I'm sure I've missed somethings.

Total - £2190

In addition, I've claimed two motors, chainstays and various cables from warranty. Probably worth another £2K ?


This is after a year and half of use, and 8000km.

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If you take out the crash damage (wheels,mud guards,seatpost),and the upgrades (tyre inserts,brakes) , that's probably not an unreasonable maintenance cost for 5000 miles, about on the high side ,but not unreasonable.

Spent less than £150 on mine over its last 5000miles.

It really depends what your riding or how much maintenance you can be arsed with instead of paying a mechanic.

A forks service is an utter hassle at the best of times and I'd rather pay £30 than do it myself. I haven't even learned how to do the Rear shock, and my attempt at the X Fusion dropper post was a disaster.

Gary said:

Spent less than £150 on mine over its last 5000miles.

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Yeah but you are Scottish right?

I am impressed that granny came up with that list!

I don't measure my chains. I made a conscious decision to just run the chain until it no longer worked. I just keep the drive train clean and use Putolene hot wax as a lubricant.

Doomanic said:

I don't measure my chains. I made a conscious decision to just run the chain until it no longer worked. I just keep the drive train clean and use Putolene hot wax as a lubricant.

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Yeah,I used to measure my chain and changed it at between 0.5 and 0.7, which equates to about 500 miles,but after 1 chain I've decided to just run the whole thing into the ground, will be interested to see how long it goes for.