evilmtb
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- #31
The long and short of it is that the battery mounts in the Rail are very poorly designed.
I had loads of noise from my battery (brand new 9.8) and it did cut out on several occasions going through the trail chunder. I read the new battery alignment procedure but ended up taking the bike back to the shop to be fixed.
the battery alignment document states that you must make sure the plate is flat and not bowed in any direction. This, I think, is still the cause of the issue.
this is how the tech has fixed my rattle and I can report it works and I can also report that the bike no longer powers off. This is not an official Trek fix, but the tech at my local shop is a Trek Rail rider/owner and knows his shit when it comes the Trek bikes.
View attachment 97135 View attachment 97136 View attachment 97137
look how much bow there is in the plate. To me this is a sure sign that the mounts (with a flat plate) are too far apart. I am still using the foam damper on the lower mount.
my battery is now held tight and does not move. Note the thick solid rubber pads that the tech installed to support the rigidity of the top plate.
the battery installs in the same way, but requires a very solid push to get it past the latch and you have to use the key to close the latch down.
i rode over very Rooty trails with this new fix and it held firm with zero issues.
Thanks for the detailed info and images.
It's kind of nuts that we have to hack the bike to get it working properly for the kind of trails this bike is designed and sold for. Oh well.. I like hacking
One of the local techs here usually takes that plate out completely and then does the battery alignment. He said he's done it to more than a dozen of these models. I might try your technique first. I'll also find some high density foam with double sticky tape and give that a try above the top plate. The black duct tape on the cables seems to be a good idea as well. Those cable clamps have all pulled away and aren't properly sized to hold the wires anyhow.
Someone with an audience needs to do some durability reviews on this bike and other E-Bikes. This is a great bike, but the durability of the Bosch system clearly needs some work. Bosch's support for riders is really making Trek look bad in my opinion. I wonder if Shimano, Porsche or others is any better.