I was going to blame it on cheap motors from unknown manufacturers, but this is Bosch. They have the most expensive, “premium” motors around.
That’s pretty bad if they can’t even handle being outdoors… on bikes designed for outdoors.
From personal experience buying certain car parts, sensors and electronic components… “Bosch”, “Premium” and “Quality” are words that shouldn’t be in the same sentence, and haven’t been for a bunch of years already…
In the e-bike space, I don’t think there are many other brands that are this “premium”, though.
Nearly every mid to high-end e-bike has a Bosch.
Any gasket will need to be replaced eventually, but these seem to be failing pretty fast if it’s gasket related. Seems more like a design flaw.
From the article:
“He says some of the first-generation motors had experienced problems caused by water, but later models had been enhanced with improved seals and bearings.”
I wonder if these owners simply kept getting gen 1 motors, or whether Bosch is just lying. LOL
Ironically, and anecdotally, I’m running a cheap motor from an unknown manufacturer in a very wet environment as a daily rider for years and I haven’t had any issues.
Yeah, my son was riding a Ninebot (e-scooter) through all kinds of weather, heavy rain, salted roads, summer heat, (Canadian winter cold) and that thing had at least 8000 km on it without any fail. Not to say that Ninebot are some unknown manufacturer, but I wouldn’t have considered them better than Bosch.
There’s a big difference between “UK e-bike owners” and “Bosch powered UK e-bike owners”
Brushless motors should be able to work even when under water. These must be some seriously shitty motors.
That is fucking nuts. Four or five motors is insane, and sounds like the manufacturer really cheaped out. My cheap bafeng motor (and entire rear wheel) costs $450. Same torque, and water resistant with an IP rating. $700+ for a motor that has bad bearings and no water resistance and a faulty PCB…
Make your shit more repairable, and don’t burn goodwill by churning out motors that fail and turn people off of biking.
Bafeng isn’t great on repairs outside of warranty, but at least there are sites that sell replacement motors, planar gears, etc.
