EBike warranties, replacement services - is Specialized the only option?

[Mate]

I wish you all the luck with it mate. I’m 14 months in and hopefully soon to be on my 3rd motor. With a total down time due to warranty of around 3 months. They all go wrong, it’s the nature of the product evolution. It’s how things are handled when it goes wrong that shape the complete package. Sadly my own experience suggests that whilst Bosch have fixed the problems, it’s not what I would deem as a acceptable timeframe.

A Turbo levo is great if it stays intact. But if I have to take a bicycle with me for a holiday, that unreliability does gnaw at the Turbo levo. I see a lot of bikes with Bosche motors and they have never been to the dealer for motor problems.
If it is defective once and it is at the dealer for a few weeks, I will take that for granted.

 

[KnollyBro]

I guess my ideal bike is my Trek Rail designed for UK conditions (no ports open to the elements, better sealing etc. with Specialized dealer backup…it’s more of donkey than a Unicorn. If I was talking proper unicorn it’d be a Mullet optimised from Factory Rail, with inbuilt battery and about 5kg lighter . I like the Unno and we have a dealer nearby, but it’s likely the same problems over. I think I’m gonna have to buy a Specialized. My problem with them is the same with my new company car…which is a Tesla. I just find them lacking soul, it’s hard to describe in a succinct manner to be honest.

Well... the no soul part is why we spend an inordinate amount of money on changing all of the components on the bike. All of our bikes are setup mullet (including a decent fork), which we not only gain great confidence when riding, but also adds personality and soul to the otherwise generic and common place "Specialized" bike. To get a 5kg lighter bike is far less likely than most of us here, losing 5kgs or until Unobtanium becomes less expensive and finds its way into the bike industry.

 

[RustyMojo]

Yeah for sure, I was describing my unicorn. The world isn’t there yet, which I understand…in the mean time I’d just take decent service

 

[JP-NZ]

I cannot get my head around how so many people in the UK seem to have issues getting to a LBS or even getting decent service at a LBS. I live in a small (by world standards) city (450,000 population) within NZ which is isolated enough and Ive got 10 bike shops that sell Trek within a 15 mile radius from my house. 8 of them will repair/replace Bosch motors including the store I purchased my bike from.

I guess this sounds like more of an issue you should be raising directly with Trek, all of those authorised dealers should be helping rather than fobbing you off, regardless of where you purchased the bike.

 

[RustyMojo]

I cannot get my head around how so many people in the UK seem to have issues getting to a LBS or even getting decent service at a LBS. I live in a small (by world standards) city (450,000 population) within NZ which is isolated enough and Ive got 10 bike shops that sell Trek within a 15 mile radius from my house. 8 of them will repair/replace Bosch motors including the store I purchased my bike from.

I guess this sounds like more of an issue you should be raising directly with Trek, all of those authorised dealers should be helping rather than fobbing you off, regardless of where you purchased the bike.

I did, I mentioned that earlier up the post. They reached out to a dealer (who I didn’t even know sold MTB’s) and set up a relationship with them moving forward. They are excellent, but it’s not a trek problem. The Motor is faulty, it’s stuck in the Bosch process…again

 

[mastakilla]

i have around 2600 miles on my 15 month old bosch motor. It stopped working one time i took it into bosch dealer they plugged it and it magically started working again right there. another time the walk feature stopped working one ride but came back again after that without any intervention.

no other issues and the reliability of the motor and battery has been pretty stellar for me. and i have done probably 7x the mileage I would have ever done on a pedal bike.

it sucks bosch motor has not been good to you but I dont know how common your experience is? is the bike ridden in the wet alot or something?

i dont think i will buy another ebike until there is a significant performance improvement, but if i were buying an ebike now it would be another bosch. i would never even consider a specialized in general but if they keep discounting the bikes so steeply it might be something to think about