eBike motor servicing?

Bought my wife a Cube eBike touring hybrid pro 500 step through in April 2019. It uses the Bosch cx motor and Bosch battery, it’s all standard and hasn’t been upgraded in any way.

It’s been faultless. Only things I’ve done are tighten bolts, mudguards, lube everything periodically and replace brake pads. Battery is still working really well and has almost perfect health.

Now it’s two years old, I’m wondering if it’s time to buy the Bosch service pack and fit it, had a watch on YouTube and looks easy enough if you’re careful.

The thing that’s stopping me, is there’s nothing wrong with the bike and motor at the moment, so I guess my question to the STW hive mind is do I service the motor, or just run it as it is until it makes a noise, or something needs repairing ?

As if it ain’t broke and all that ?

That’s a tricky issue, you can definitely cause reliabily issues by servicing kit that’s otherwise working OK. Case in point, one of our lifts at work broke down yesterday after having the hydraulic control block refurbished last week, same component.

If there’s really no noise, no play in the cranks and no vibration on a really careful inspection I’d be tempted to leave well alone. Doubly so if it’s not used in wet or filthy conditions. Have. The kit around and do it ASAP at the first signs of wear.

As above
I would not take it apart untill it gets noisy or gets play in the shafts.
As long as it’s not been washed a lot or extremely wet then it’s likely to not need anything doing.

It’s fairly straightforward to do the service but it is a risk that you’ll damage something doing it so unless you know something is wrong you’ll not gain anything.

How many miles has it done?

@chiefgrooveguru @K @tthew

The bike has done 1675 miles.
The bike gets ridden on light XC trails and routinely through the sand grit of Richmond Park, but a quick wash with the hose (and occasionally muc off for the rear mech / cassette) and all good again.

Thanks for the advice, I agree I’ll get the kit – but won’t fit it until its needed.

My only reason for asking, is if there was a reason (that I’m not aware of) you needed to service an ebike motor more regularly.

What’s in the kit? Unless there some kind of oil bath lubrication in the reduction gears, (I’m guessing here, I have no clue specifically how they are constructed) there’s nothing much consumable in a simple motor and gearbox. If it’s bearings, seals, grease etc. kind of parts that’s more a refurbishment kit than a routine service kit that you would use after a time or milage interval.

I’m sticking with my first suggestion for now, I realise it sounds like I’m back pedaling a bit here! 😁

Just leave it alone, it’s not like a car engine 😁

I’ve been thinking about electric motor life recently as we have quite a few at work, and they get used a lot. With brushes and commutators, we have to replace the former on our CNC extraction a few times a year and then the whole motor about every year or two. That’s probably only a few thousand hours.

However, brushless motors are good for over 30,000 hours. So if you ride your ebike for two hours a day, every day, then the motor will need replacing after about 40 years!

Dont poke the bear

Unless its out of warranty what are you going to do to it , they are pretty much factory sealed LRU s with a return of defective assembly , unless you have been in one i would leave well alone

The bosch service kit (for the previous gen2 motor, which I think is what we’re talking about here) is essentially just new crank bearings and seals, and grease, nothing to do with the motor parts of it.

This is what the op is talking about I think

https://www.performancelinebearings.com/product/bosch-motor-service-repair-kit-bdu2xx/

Thanks guys

It is out of warranty

The bosch service kit (for the previous gen2 motor, which I think is what we’re talking about here) is essentially just new crank bearings and seals, and grease, nothing to do with the motor parts of it.
This is what the op is talking about I think
https://www.performancelinebearings.com/product/bosch-motor-service-repair-kit-bdu2xx/

@julians That is the kit I was referring to.

@chiefgrooveguru @tthew am going with this, have already informed my wife the motor will be looked at in about 40 years.

I’ve no intention of poking the bear.