Aipas A4 Gentry folding bike rear spokes broken
Posted by UpbeatBreadfruit8656@reddit | ebikes | View on Reddit | 6 comments
I bought this folding bike a year ago and put on 1070 miles during non-winter months. A few weeks ago I noticed a vibration during a ride. The next time I took it out it was a big wobble, so I inspected and the rear wheel was messed up, a dozen broken spokes. Their customer service was pretty bad, they wanted $250 for a new wheel. Nothing wrong with the motor.
Is is practical to try to replace the broken spokes? I’m 67 and ridden bikes since I was a kid and never had any bike start breaking spokes. I think their rear wheels have a defective design to break spokes after about 5 months of simple riding on paved roads.
Active_Ad_5322@reddit
E-bikes with rear hub motors are never “simple riding” The amount of torque created is undermined simply by the fact that the rider is not providing 50-80% of the power .
Anyway, I feel you also missed the fact that soles break one at a time, so you have been riding for a long time with multiple broken spokes and only felt a wobble after a dozen spokes broke. I think that should be recognized as just how strong cargo wheels are.
Get 13 or 12 gauge spokes and replace ALL the spokes. The remaining ones will break, don’t cut corners.
If your rim was drilled for 14g spokes (2.0 mm) you can drill the rim spoke holes wider . Just keep in mind that the holes in a double rim are angled and you need to follow that wangle.
Shiney_Metal_Ass@reddit
Lol that's a saddle of a bike that is propelled by throttle only
Relative-Display-676@reddit
rear hub motors are notorious for breaking spokes. i've replaced half a dozen on mine and it's only 500w motor. this happens because of 2 reasons: too much torque and undersized gauge spokes to cut corners where possible.
easiest thing to do is measure spoke in length in mm and gauge thickness. most likely gauge will be 13. go to amazon find same length spokes but get thicker 12g. i used to buy 10 of them for $3, now it will probably be double that. then just relace them and true the wheel with a spoke wrench. if you don't know how, take the wheel to local bike shop, won't be cheap but a lot cheaper if wheel is attached to the bike as our bike shop charges $75 just to touch the no name brand ebike.
UpbeatBreadfruit8656@reddit (OP)
I got confused by the last part of what you wrote” a lot cheaper if the wheel is attached to the bike”. Did you actually mean cheaper if NOT attached to bike? I’ve trued up a lot of narrow wheels on old 10 speeds but not fat tire wheels with motor hubs. I also have a Fiido cargo bike that doesn’t have wire spokes, but it is a heavy thing and sucked battery juice faster.
Relative-Display-676@reddit
yes, if you remove the wheel from ebike so they don't have to mess with wires they'll just charge you relacing fee instead of relacing + ebike charge.
Laserdollarz@reddit
The "defect" was one loose spoke. This put more force on the neighboring spokes. It broke, and a chain reaction followed.
Wheel work is an art. With a dozen broken spokes, call around to bike shops near you and offer to bring in just the rear wheel for rebuild (bike shops do not like dtc ebike batteries under their roof).