Bosch motor - problems???

[CXRAndy]

No Ebike is water proof. They are water resistant. Don't ride through water deep enough to submerge the motor or water will get inside.

I tend to ride when it's dry and use mudguards that are long enough to reduce water spray against the motor.

Oh and have mechanical sympathy for your equipment

 

[CXRAndy]

No Ebike is water proof. They are water resistant. Don't ride through water deep enough to submerge the motor or water will get inside.

I tend to ride when it's dry and use mudguards that are long enough to reduce water spray against the motor.

Oh and have mechanical sympathy for your equipment

 

[Tenkaykev]

Do you think mid drive motors in general get a harder life than hub drives.There right in the firing line of water spray coming off the front wheel.A hub drive is a little more protected cycling in wet weather

Your mention of " firing line " reminded me that I once repaired a Bosch electric motor with integrated gearbox. It was part of the undercarriage assembly mounted in a Focke-Wulf 190 shot down over Russia during the second World War. There was no data plate on the unit but when inspecting it I spotted the Bosch logo stamped onto the stator frame.

 

[presta]

this would lead to added friction and lower battery range

My hubs have rubber seals, I don't have any complaints about the losses on those.

No Ebike is water proof.

Motorbikes are, they don't all croak every time it rains.

 

[bonzobanana]

The article doesn't clarify that the effected motors are mid-drive motors and proprietary versions too. Many Bafang and other brand mid-drive motors do have easy access to spares and of course hub motors are typically much more reliable especially direct drive hub motors which gig economy riders use for 10s of 1000s of miles sometimes. Mid-drive motors are always going to be less reliable as a much more complex design with more internal gears, sometimes belts and lots of different sealed bearings, they also contain the controller unit and its in an area exposed to water down in the bottom bracket area and fully sealing the motor could lead to thermal issues. They are also typically the most powerful ebike motors often delivering up to 900W of power despite their 250W rating so that is a lot of extra power compared to hub motors. It's a recipe for a short life product with a high level of failures.

However that is not to say all proprietary mid-drive motors fail all the time. It's all down to rider weight, how many hills, how they are used, how they are mainted, how powerful the rider is, how often they are used, what weather you cycle in etc, lots of variables.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Some one else has posted about this and can't work out how to.delete my post

Mod Note:
Threads merged.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I'm sure I'm jinxing myself now....

I have a Bosch Active Line 2020, it's the entry level model, after 1500ish miles so far no issues. It's been briefly submerged when I overestimated my ability to ride through a ford, and had several wet and very wet rides but it's ok.

I've definitely over exerted itself on a few times, and I'm more conscious of how much weight I try to pull in my trailer.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

I work at a Trek dealer and have attended Bosch‘s service training. I was a bit miffed to find how unserviceable these Bosch units are and the lack of compatibility between hardware versions, but I rarely see any of these thing needing any real repair unless something silly has been done to them ( ie: battery dead after being fully discharged and then stored outdoors at -15C for a week. ) and we do see some really high mileages being covered, like 25,000 to 40,000km in under two years.

IP54 is the minimum I would expect for a water resistance rating, but given the life an e-bike can expect to see I would think Bosch could up their game on both the environmental resistance rating and the availability of parts for the motors significantly. These things get fitted to mountain bikes and thrashed hard in the mud. All of the wearing parts should be available, period.

 

[Slick]

I work at a Trek dealer and have attended Bosch‘s service training. I was a bit miffed to find how unserviceable these Bosch units are and the lack of compatibility between hardware versions, but I rarely see any of these thing needing any real repair unless something silly has been done to them ( ie: battery dead after being fully discharged and then stored outdoors at -15C for a week. ) and we do see some really high mileages being covered, like 25,000 to 40,000km in under two years.

IP54 is the minimum I would expect for a water resistance rating, but given the life an e-bike can expect to see I would think Bosch could up their game on both the environmental resistance rating and the availability of parts for the motors significantly. These things get fitted to mountain bikes and thrashed hard in the mud. All of the wearing parts should be available, period.

Any tips on dealing with a slightly noisy motor?

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Any tips on dealing with a slightly noisy motor?

Sorry no… the one I worked on was caused by an iffy bearing. As Bosch has decided not to sell this as a spare and as I’m told it is a proprietary design you are stuck with hunting aftermarket parts.

I recently retired from the automotive industry to enjoy the far more pleasant life of a part time bike mechanic. Much of my working life was in the production of bearings so I’m just waiting for a dead drive unit I can tear apart to see if I can find a suitable bearing from somewhere else. Should be fun.

 

[CXRAndy]

Should be no problem for a bearing specialist to find replacements.

Very much doubt Bosch had a new size bearing made for their Ebike motor.

 

[chriswoody]

Sorry no… the one I worked on was caused by an iffy bearing. As Bosch has decided not to sell this as a spare and as I’m told it is a proprietary design you are stuck with hunting aftermarket parts.

Bosch do sell the bearings as a spare part, there included with the Bosch service kit which is only available to authorised repair centres, they cost around 130 pounds.

The video I linked too is really interesting, the mechanic is an authorised Bosch repair centre and he stripped this motor apart and showed the problems it had due to the collapsed bearings. The issue mainly came down to the fact that Bosch won't supply new PCB's to anyone and as such the motor was only fit for landfill, which is pretty shameful on Bosch's part.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

the motor was only fit for landfill, which is pretty shameful on Bosch's part.

This is becoming a major factor in both my personal and professional life. In the latter we are even bringing in substantially as part of procurement excercises.

There needs to be an easily searchable system for the public to know the repairability of what they intend to purchase and then vote with their cash / credit card and buy something elsewhere when companies are performing poorly in such respects.

 

[CXRAndy]

I used to be in the TV home entertainment repair industry. Its shocking the throw away society since when I gave up the trade. It was one of the main reasons I left, people were just throwing away and buying new.

Since then the readily available spares for many pieces of electronic kit has almost disappeared. No company keeps spares for 10+ years, this goes for automotive too. Its different a bit in USA where they do keep spares for longer and have large aftermarket/used parts industry.

 

[CXRAndy]

Bosch motor repair.


View: https://youtu.be/2As4Lqqh7KQ?si=_MjxHwu5EAEatAUb