The Subway E and other Carrera E bikes thread.

[bonzobanana]

I agree young Bonzo. During 2020 Halfords were claiming to sell mare Carrera ebikes in the UK than all other brands combined, yet surf the ebike specific forums and complains about HESC+ are nowhere near being in the majority, not by a long chalk.

My new Trek is Bosch, and it's zero Bosch that seems to get the most hits on the furms for faults, yet its the one they tell newbies to steer for with their wallets. Hmm.

But for daily use the Subwwy remains my hack.

There is much more money to promote Bosch and other proprietary mid-drive ebikes because of their high retail price. So shops are more motivated to sell them, there is more marketing budget and there are loads of youtube channels promoting them with sponsorship. I was in a bike shop where I overheard a Bosch mid-drive being promoted as ultra efficient and powerful but when I looked at it it had a Nexus 7 (very inefficient hub gear system) and Bosch mid-drive of 40Nm (low power output to prevent destroying the Nexus). I've seen someone bitterly complaining about a similar bike on the pedelec forum because it was so gutless going up hill. In this instance an ebike configured with a front hub motor would have been a far better solution, not only more powerful but minimal drivetrain wear and the Nexus 7 which isn't super reliable would have had its lifespan massively extended because of the front hub motor taking a huge amount of wear off the Nexus 7. I don't know if the salesman understood the spec of the bike or simply pushing normal marketing spiel. The beauty of a mid-drive is on e-mountain bike where you often have lower than 1:1 gearing so not only are they equipped with more powerful mid-drive motors the low gearing takes maximum advantage of it to give huge Nm for hills. Something often lost when you configure a bike with mid-drive for the road as both the motor is often lower power and the gearing is higher so as you have found the advantage is lost and then you are faced with inferior reliability, high cost parts and repair and no actual performance advantage. In my mind I have a very simple mid-drive for off-road, hub motor for the road mentality. I realise there may be specific exceptions here and there but generally that rule works best in most cases. If you are riding long distances on the road the benefits of hub motors are overwhelming I think.

 

[Drago]

I'd add to that a  geared hub motor, at least for legal assistance levels and speeds.

 

[gbb]

Well my Carerra e with around 3.5k miles on it has just failed, diagnosis incomplete ATM.
Turn battery on stays on for a few seconds and turns off. Nothing at the display, took display off....corrosion all around the pins.

Cleaned that off, no change , general checks found the cable entering the display mount looking a bit damaged. Will continue in due course.
It's been an all weather bike and hasn't been spared the weather... maybe its showing.

 

[Drago]

Ooh, that's not good. Let us know how it pans put.

 

[gbb]

Crossfire update, working.
Battery voltage 41v so assume ok.
Rechecked various plugs, all seem ok.
Return to the display and particually formerly corroded contacts....got an alcohol wipe and cleaned them thoroughly (even though they looked clean ), no difference.
Did the same again, a little more vigour, refitted the display....ooh, was that a momentary little flasho9f light on the display. Repeated process....boom, on it came
Test ride, all appears ok. I earlier quoted 3.5k miles on it, its actually 4.5k

 

[Drago]

Excellent news Gibbers.

 

[mtjnr]

Hi there, looking to get my first ebike for commuting to work and weekend tours. Done a ridiculous amount of research online l, started off thinking to go cheap and basic, talked myself into higher spec £3k gravel bikes and then talked myself back down again lol. I'm back to thinking the subway is the way to go which is pretty much where is started a couple of months ago. What I like about the subway is that it looks like it would be easy enough to replace battery/motor when it fails whereas the more expensive options come with built in batteries that will become obsolete. Only problem is now the subway is out of stock lol!

 

[bonzobanana]

Hi there, looking to get my first ebike for commuting to work and weekend tours. Done a ridiculous amount of research online l, started off thinking to go cheap and basic, talked myself into higher spec £3k gravel bikes and then talked myself back down again lol. I'm back to thinking the subway is the way to go which is pretty much where is started a couple of months ago. What I like about the subway is that it looks like it would be easy enough to replace battery/motor when it fails whereas the more expensive options come with built in batteries that will become obsolete. Only problem is now the subway is out of stock lol!

Doesn't surprise me, the Carreras are huge sellers for Halfords and Halfords have about 40% of bike sales in the UK by volume of which 11% are ebikes. Those figures are a year or so old but can't imagine it has changed much. As we become a poorer country I can't see the lower pricing of Halfords doing them any harm. I can't imagine them dropping market share. Anyway absolutely huge amount of Carrera bikes and ebikes sold.

 

[Drago]

Halfords reckoned during the pandemic they were selling more Carrera ebikes in the UK than every other rival brand combined. Its believable.

My own Subway is now in its 4th year and has proven faultless in 5500 miles now. It'll need a new chain (that'll be the 2nd replacement) and a new rear tyre soon, bit it's done very well.

 

[mtjnr]

Halfords reckoned during the pandemic they were selling more Carrera ebikes in the UK than every other rival brand combined. Its believable.

My own Subway is now in its 4th year and has proven faultless in 5500 miles now. It'll need a new chain (that'll be the 2nd replacement) and a new rear tyre soon, bit it's done very well.

Have you replaced the battery in that time?

 

[Drago]

Nope, niet, nein, non.

 

[Drago]

Passed 6000 miles today. Still going strong.

OK, I'm very careful of the optical torque sensor which is in a daft position and not at all robust, but other than that it gets no special favours. Looking forward to the next 6000.

 

[marshmella]

Passed 6000 miles today. Still going strong.

OK, I'm very careful of the optical torque sensor which is in a daft position and not at all robust, but other than that it gets no special favours. Looking forward to the next 6000.

Hi Drago, i bought a Carrera Subway e bike in March this year as my daily commuter to help since moving to Hilly Shropshire. I really want to love this bike but am having an issue with it not wanting to switch on. The blue bars are lit on the battery and the LED display appears normal but no matter which mode i select theres nothing.The obvious trick of switching it on and off again seems to cure it but i am doing this more
and more often.I think it came with a 12 month warranty so unless i'm doing something wrong will have to take it back to Halfords Any ideas? Cheers

 

[Drago]

Hah, my Bosch equipped Trek has been doing this of late as well.

My advice - just take it back, quick. Helfrauds do have a fair rep for just throwing parts at them, and if they can't fix it or can't get the part they generally don't quibble much about just replacing the entire bike.

Ultimately the supplier pays for it all so the part time minimum wage spodes generally don't faff about if they can't be fixed. That's not an ironclad rule, you'll find arrissholes everywhere if you look hard enough, but the general word is they're reasonable for either repairing or replacing.

IIRC they come with a 24 month warranty, but I could well have dreamed that.

Best of luck.

 

[marshmella]

Cheers for that. Also what mudguards have you got on the carrera? I bought some SkS beavertail and although the front one is ok the rear is just not fit for purpose. Cheers