Decathlon Stilus Bosch Warranty

[Ken]

Acquired my Stilus in April by pressing the BUY button repeatedly on the stroke of midnight. Since covered 1200mls of mainly unsurfaced bridleways and byways, Pennines and Cheviots, and loved every minute. Before the purchase I did see reports of Bosch gen4 motor noise but mine was virtually silent from the off.
Recently a noise has appeared, very noticeable, on stony stuttery tracks which I believe is from the motor.
Questions please:
1) has anybody put the Decathlon 2 year warranty to the test.
2) Do they have sufficient expertise in the local Decathlon store ( Team Valley Gateshead) to diagnose the noise and cause.?
3) Anybody been referred by Decathlon to another Bosch specialist?

 

[Zecalama]

Acquired my Stilus in April by pressing the BUY button repeatedly on the stroke of midnight. Since covered 1200mls of mainly unsurfaced bridleways and byways, Pennines and Cheviots, and loved every minute. Before the purchase I did see reports of Bosch gen4 motor noise but mine was virtually silent from the off.
Recently a noise has appeared, very noticeable, on stony stuttery tracks which I believe is from the motor.
Questions please:
1) has anybody put the Decathlon 2 year warranty to the test.
2) Do they have sufficient expertise in the local Decathlon store ( Team Valley Gateshead) to diagnose the noise and cause.?
3) Anybody been referred by Decathlon to another Bosch specialist?

Mine just went to shop (Decathlon) assistance to upgrade the software, but they had some problem trying to do it.
It looks like they have no experience with it yet.
They say they are in communications with Bosch to solve the problem.
Until now have no weird noises on the motor, but I only have 200Km on mine (almost new still).

 

[PhilBaker]

You could try posting the video somewhere and linking it here for people to help diagnose, there definitely a lot of expertise here.

Agree Decathlon are not heeded up for this level of bike in terms of diagnostics. They sent me to a LBS to get my SW update and that was a relatively simple job.

With regards to the generic Bosch motor rattle that everyone talks about, I don’t think it’s there in the beginning. I was looking for it from day one after watching videos of it so knew what to expect and it just wasn’t there!

After putting some miles in though it does creep in. To be fair though I found it came in after a few hundred miles not 1200...

 

[Ken]

You could try posting the video somewhere and linking it here for people to help diagnose, there definitely a lot of expertise here.

Agree Decathlon are not heeded up for this level of bike in terms of diagnostics. They sent me to a LBS to get my SW update and that was a relatively simple job.

With regards to the generic Bosch motor rattle that everyone talks about, I don’t think it’s there in the beginning. I was looking for it from day one after watching videos of it so knew what to expect and it just wasn’t there!

After putting some miles in though it does creep in. To be fair though I found it came in after a few hundred miles not 1200...

 

[Ken]

Thanks to Zecalama and Philbaker. I have contacted Decathlon and they advise, as you would expect, bringing the bike in to store after Dec 7th.for a diagnostic which I will do. I did query how that would identify a mechanical fault but they assured me the warranty would cover it. I plan to enlist the Mrs to catch the noise on her Iphone as I ride past on a stony track. Don't think my old Nokia would help much.
I did get the 85nm update at a time when Decathlon were shut and the LBS were open. Will keep you posted chaps.

 

[PhilBaker]

You could always take a look at this thread, but surely your not that lucky ;-)

Another noisy Gen4 thread

Today I noticed the noise in the following video. The first video is my Rail, second is the wife’s Powerfly. It happens at the same speed as I crank and doesn’t matter if the assist is on or off. Has anyone experienced similar noise?

www.emtbforums.com

 

[Ken]

Oh the Shame!! Had recently zip tied an extension to the rear Mudhugger, seemed quite secure but out on a stony track I cut it off. You guessed it, silence again. Obviously this is not the answer for the many Gen4 clanky motors out there and my sympathies go with you.

 

[Zecalama]

Mine is pretty silent, but (as I said before) only have 200Km on it.
Hope that they (strange noises) don`t come in the future...

 

[PhilBaker]

Oh the Shame!! Had recently zip tied an extension to the rear Mudhugger, seemed quite secure but out on a stony track I cut it off. You guessed it, silence again. Obviously this is not the answer for the many Gen4 clanky motors out there and my sympathies go with you.

Sounds about right ?

Congrats on fixing it, I was just about to say "Have you recently tied an extension onto your read Mudhugger, as it's probably that"...

 

[Ken]

Actually my better half said the same as you Philbaker and I half sneered at her idea. On a very different tack for the Stilus brethren don't be misled by the Smart Sam "tube type" tyres. They are death grip tight on the rims but get the tubes out and they run tubeless 100%.

 

[PhilBaker]

Yeah, they are a real bitch to get off. I could only do it by standing on the tyre to get it to unseat the bead. Held pressure tubeless well though as you say Ken (and inflated easily with just a track pump).
They also rolled really well.
Now if they only gripped in the loose/mud offload trails I ride, but you can't have everything right

 

[Ken]

Yeah, they are a real bitch to get off. I could only do it by standing on the tyre to get it to unseat the bead. Held pressure tubeless well though as you say Ken (and inflated easily with just a track pump).
They also rolled really well.
Now if they only gripped in the loose/mud offload trails I ride, but you can't have everything right

To right Phil, for the winter fitted a Nobby Nic front and Michelin E wild on the rear. To remove the Smart Sams I gripped the buggers in a Workmate vice, that worked.

 

[Pigin]

Having a bit of time on my hands I decided to have a look at what the next iteration of the magnificent Stylus might be.

We know that they are made by Lombardo and with a bit of tinterwebery I have come up with the following info. I used a conversion of £1:33 to the euro but who knows where we will be in a few weeks time and I have also used a average retail price. As we all know there can be a larger variance in just how much profit a shop wants / needs to make.

All the bikes run a Bosch Gen 4 in a frame that looks the same as the current model but some of the listed weights do vary. All bar the Sport use a 625 battery which weigh heavier that the current 500 so there has been some weight saving somewhere as they are still alloy construction. Here are just the headlines:

 

[PhilBaker]

Interesting analysis Pigin! Love your style in regards to your future consipracy theorising of what it might be .

Seems strange how the bottom two Sempione's are 120mm travel up front given the current Decathlon budget bike had 150mm. I remember when I did a comparison of the Sempione before I brought my Stilus (as they had better geometry stats than Decathlon) and recall I thought it was most like the Pro...