Went to Gwydir on Wednesday with my daughter, epic conditions yay 😀 broke my bike on the first full descent boo 🤣
It teased me initially and made itself known by snapping my nearly new KMC ebike chain, thought it was that and repaired it, but then once fixed, the chain kept jumping off the chainring so I checked for crank / motor play and the motor (Bosch gen 4) was rotating slightly. The noise was really loud and I probably know why, the motor cage snapped in two places and took a frame bolt with it, the thread in the frame is ruined and hard to tell, but the tab could be bent too. As it’s pretty new, just waiting to hear back from Paul’s cycles re getting it sorted.
Seems an odd thing to happen?!? Although that said, the anchor points could be better! Pics attached…
OOoh, nasty… obvious question: what bike is it?
OOoh, nasty… obvious question: what bike is it?
Sorry, should have said, La Pierre Overvolt AM. Absolutely cracking (sorry) bike! Serves me right, just before it happened I was thinking how perfect it was and good it felt floating down the trail at speed 🤣 I would be interested to know why it happened but I guess I won’t find out as I can’t seem to find other reports of something similar. It would be nice if I could just get a new cage and that insert helicoiled or bolted but I suspect that won’t be recommended and as it’s under warranty I will go with whatever La Pierre recommend…
Does look like a part that could be replaced. Lapierre need to know about it… not good. there’s a recall notice for some of their bikes, but not ebikes.
New one on me too... 🤔
Best of luck getting it sorted ASAP...
I stopped going to my lbs because the owner kept referring to my zesty as a snapierre. Almost amusing once.
Mate then went in once with his older zesty, same thing that shop is shut now.
Sorry no help, hopefully it'll get sorted.
@steamtb can you post a picture from each side? I’m trying to work out the role that the chunky metal bracket plays. I.e. is it just to support the motor or or is it part of the strength of the frame?
Looking at that diagram and the damage it makes me think that the frame has bent or twisted, or both. The cradle has not coped well with the resulting forces of being under tension? Is the cradle steel or aluminium?
Looking at that diagram and the damage it makes me think that the frame has bent or twisted, or both. The cradle has not coped well with the resulting forces of being under tension? Is the cradle steel or aluminium?
I said that when I contacted them, I suspect the frame, and at least the insertion tab, may be bent but hard to tell. Aluminium I believe…
That aluminium cradle looks like it would be a very weak point. All those bends are very exposed. Unless, of course, the cradle isn't a supportive structure and is designed to protect the motor? And purposefully fail if struck? Hard to tell from the pictures.
The metal, which is fairly thick has failed at the points where it’s been bent, the points where the material has already been stressed during the process. Either the grade of metal was unsuitable or the treatment process after was not correct?
The majority of the rider’s weight will be on the motor mountings (through the cranks), this weight is magnified during jumps and landings. This failed bracket appears to be part of the load bearing “structure”, I think the OP has been very lucky not to get injured!
Looking at this, and the parts diagrams online, the mount to the bike at the front (4 bolts) does look bent. The purpose of this metal frame is to adapt the Bosch motor to fit the frame. Some of the bolts labelled 43, I think the ones with threadlock, go into the motor, and are an integral part to holding the motor into the frame. My expectation would be new frame, and potentially new motor casing. Easiest to give new bike. What caused it crack like that though? The bends in the bracket are clearly the point of failure. Yikes. Good luck getting it sorted.
The more I think about it the more I wonder how / why it happened?!? Design fault? Given I’ve not found another instance of it, I guess not, and I’m not exactly riding rampage features 🤣 Or just unlucky and there was a weakness in the motor cage? I check everything for play every ride without fail, so there was nothing detectable amiss before the sudden failure.
It’s also pretty clear after further reflection and the comments above, that the frame is lunched which is a slight pain as I want a working bike, not a refund. But if wishes were fishes I’d be drowning in cod 😆
I don’t know if it could have been a catastrophic failure, the motor still seemed really well anchored into the frame, but with the load from a drop or a fast berm, who knows what could have happened… am I paranoid to think maybe I don’t want the same frame, even if there are any around somewhere?!? There aren’t any of this model for sale new anymore.
I had just done a normal internet search, but asking Gemini Pro to search and see if this has happened before on other people’s bikes, it has, with the motor cage snapping in two places as per mine, that sucks a bit. Searching other manufacturers, it seems it happens to other brands as well. Interesting to know!
Just as an update, Paul’s Cycles have done well and a new frame from the Lapierre factory should be with me in 14 days. It’s Ghost branded but exactly the same apart from a slight colour change, I’ll just need to swap everything over. I intend to ensure the cage is bolted with washers so it’s not mounted under pressure! 🙂 looking forward to getting it back on the trails 🙂
Good stuff 👍