Ribble Ale - Failed Freehub, what's a reasonable response?

[kingrollo]

Good morning,

You are right it is a disappointment to me, but having bought it it acquired a rack and became the commute bike,

But even if I were in love with it I would still have been annoyed at Ribble's attitude.


Thanks for thoughts and effort, fortunately It's not quite this bad, there are some shops willing to sell the parts to people who didn't buy the bike from them. I ordered them from https://www.swinnertoncycles.co.uk/ and they arrived yesterday.

I can see why shops wouldn't want to tie up money in holding many in stock but still want to be able to support those who bought a bike from them. So it probably isn't that Mahle aren't making enough available to retailers but that retailers don't want to buy them on the off chance that they can sell them.

As nobody I would normally use stocks them it was case of picking a shop at random of the internet, fortunately it went well.

I do plan to make Ribble spend too much time answering me, :-) and I am happy to pick up the £70 for the tools but will be bugging them for the £70 part but I wanted to wait for an invoice to include. The part is actually good value, freehub, wheel bearing and heavily machined mounting plate, it is so obvious that ebikemotion/Mahle don't consider the freehub to be a 5,000 mile disposable part.

[Edit]
I have just started to get adverts for Swinnerton Cycles on YouTube, now that I am customer that are advertising to me .

Bye

Ian

An ebike that is no easier to ride uphill would be a red flag for me. I would have returned it as not fit for purpose/ Faulty there and then

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good evening,

An ebike that is no easier to ride uphill would be a red flag for me. I would have returned it as not fit for purpose/ Faulty there and then

The relatively low 40Nm max torque of the X35 is well publicised and there have been a number of reviews around for a long time that have questioned if it is enough for longer or steeper hills so it was not a total surprise.

But there are number of people here with X35 powered ebikes who love them, so it is much more complicated than it's good or bad. The low torque is probably the cost of the light weight, the Ribble comes in at around 14kg or a tad over the weight of a 5 speed racer from the 1970s.

I suspect that the legal requirements contributed to my feelings as well, the law is 25kph cut off and I think there is also a requirement for a power phasing out as well. Even if it isn't a requirement it is still there on the X35, this brings the level of assistance available on shallow hills to minimal as you can pedal over these speeds and on the steep 10% plus hills although I am under these speed limits the lack of torque shows up.

If I wanted to sell you the bike I would find a 200 yard 5% hill, put it on maximum assist and put the bike in a really low gear then the bike will take you up the hill with virtually no effort on your part.

But that doesn't reflect the way that I ride the commute, it is at its best when I really don't want to ride or when there is a 15,271mph headwind.

Bye

Ian

 

[kingrollo]

Good evening,

The relatively low 40Nm max torque of the X35 is well publicised and there have been a number of reviews around for a long time that have questioned if it is enough for longer or steeper hills so it was not a total surprise.

But there are number of people here with X35 powered ebikes who love them, so it is much more complicated than it's good or bad. The low torque is probably the cost of the light weight, the Ribble comes in at around 14kg or a tad over the weight of a 5 speed racer from the 1970s.

I suspect that the legal requirements contributed to my feelings as well, the law is 25kph cut off and I think there is also a requirement for a power phasing out as well. Even if it isn't a requirement it is still there on the X35, this brings the level of assistance available on shallow hills to minimal as you can pedal over these speeds and on the steep 10% plus hills although I am under these speed limits the lack of torque shows up.

If I wanted to sell you the bike I would find a 200 yard 5% hill, put it on maximum assist and put the bike in a really low gear then the bike will take you up the hill with virtually no effort on your part.

But that doesn't reflect the way that I ride the commute, it is at its best when I really don't want to ride or when there is a 15,271mph headwind.

Bye

Ian

Up to you of course. But it sounds like your building a justification for bike that wasn't fit for purpose in the first place.

An e bike should be easier going up a hill than a non ebike .... Period.

IMO there should never be formula where that isn't the case.

But it's you're money, your bike.

I will say no more on the matter.