New Strive On CFR (and first time ebike) owner - thoughts and questions

[spleenexploded]

Received my Strive On a few days ago and finally had a chance to get it out to the trails. It's a beast! I've upgraded from a Calibre Bossnut Evo (£1000 go outdoors bike, full sus but budget tier rockshox/SRAM/shimano parts) so there's a lot of new stuff here over and above the "e" aspect.


I have a few questions -


1) Pedal strike anxiety. This is going to end in disaster unless I do something. My pedals/shoes/crank arm hit the floor several times during my first few rides. Is this a skill issue? Configuration issue? I've set my sag to what is recommended though I'm considering putting a bit more air in to lift the bike. Alternatively, looking into shorter crank arms. Or just riding it more and try to overcome the issue?


2) Suspension tuning. Anyone documented their fork/shock setup? My forks have been setup as per the Fox documentation but don't feel as plush as I'd expect - bit firm going over bumpy sections. My previous forks had two adjustments so I'm a bit overwhelmed. And just to confirm, the x2 should only have LSC and LSR adjustment? When I followed the fox documentation it suggested there was HSC/HSR adjustments too.


3) I use a roof rack carrier so I've had to take the battery in/out a few times when transporting. I've already rubbed a small bit of paint off the down tube where the skid plate ends. It seems dirt was getting trapped there and then rubbed into the frame. I don't mind the paint damage but is this something I need to worry about on a carbon frame if it happens continually?


4) I was considering taking it to a bike shop for a full initial service - the bike seems fine so I'm not sure its worth the £120 I was quoted. Is Canyon usually pretty good at greasing all the parts that need greased, other basic setup etc?


5) Cable routing - my god. I'm new to internally routed cables and dreading ever having to change anything. Any tips/advice here?


6) The underside of the motor (cables, connect module) seems rather exposed with the loosely fitting skid plate. What is the best way to clean this area when it becomes full of mud? What washing/upkeep do I need to be doing in the motor area? My last bike I'd remove the BB and give everything a proper clean/grease - is there comparative maintenance required here?


7) No back pedal! Noticed this is an issue for drivetrain/chain cleaning/maintenance. Any tips here? Should I just turn the bike upside down (or put in stand when at home) if I need to clean the chain/cassette so I can manually pedal it?


I'd also be grateful to hear about anything else I may not have considered or experienced yet. Apologies for the barrage of questions, and I appreciate not all of them directly related to this bike.

 

[Lazy Clydesdale]

1) While the penalty for a short power stroke is surely less when you have a motor helping, I don't think short cranks are the way to handle this.

Pedal position awareness is a critical skill. Invest a portion of your attention to getting a better sense of where they are and where they will be. The competence will arrive quickly, no need for particular talent.

That said, the clearance on our bikes isn't impressive. You can help yourself by setting up less sag in your shock, if you can otherwise cope with its behavior. (I am a hardtail rider at heart, so it doesn't bother me to run it firm)

 

[Lazy Clydesdale]

3/6) Our skidplate could be better. Another thing you may find it does is let dirt come down the downtube to those mounting "buttons" and jam it tight. My solutions have been: fill the skidplate mounting slots with some grease so that it fills any space between itself and those "buttons." Also, our skidplate has gaps along the sides that can let water in- I applied duct tape to cover them. If you are expecting some nasty conditions, you could also run tape along the top edge of the skidplate to seal it against the frame.

 

[Lazy Clydesdale]

4) If not you, someone should look the bike over as soon as possible. Poor torquing and greasing by the canyon assembler caused me to rapidly experience a frame bolt back out, the axle back out, 2 battery bracket bolts to disappear (1 more almost escaped by the time I noticed), and my chainguard disappeared.

I retorqued every bolt and put pairs of reference marks at each so I could spot check them at any time during a ride. Also makes it easy to tighten them back up without having a torque wrench on hand.

Oh, and that little plastic Bosch cover on the motor started coming off soon as well. I put it away before it could disappear, and placed a sticker in its place (which isnt taking damage so far).

As an extra reference, I also painted the edge of the rear axle bolt so it will be easier to see if it starts backing out during a ride- Torque spec was not marked on my bike so I added it (15nM)

 

[Lazy Clydesdale]

7) Compared to my other mtbs, this ebike seems far more sensitive to drivetrain maintenance. I think you will appreciate a robust method of raising and working on it. My setup is a bit absurd because it is a leftover from motorcycle racing. It allows me to raise it up high enough to hang the chain into an ultrasonic cleaner and then finish with a hotpot of speedwax (both are on a wheeled cart that I bring over), thus not needing to break the chain.

 

[Lazy Clydesdale]

X) I also recommend you take a bunch of detail pictures of your bike while it is fresh and new. You never know what will have you asking "was my bike always like this?" until it is too late.

 

[Bndit]

Received my Strive On a few days ago and finally had a chance to get it out to the trails. It's a beast! I've upgraded from a Calibre Bossnut Evo (£1000 go outdoors bike, full sus but budget tier rockshox/SRAM/shimano parts) so there's a lot of new stuff here over and above the "e" aspect.


I have a few questions -


1) Pedal strike anxiety. This is going to end in disaster unless I do something. My pedals/shoes/crank arm hit the floor several times during my first few rides. Is this a skill issue? Configuration issue? I've set my sag to what is recommended though I'm considering putting a bit more air in to lift the bike. Alternatively, looking into shorter crank arms. Or just riding it more and try to overcome the issue?


2) Suspension tuning. Anyone documented their fork/shock setup? My forks have been setup as per the Fox documentation but don't feel as plush as I'd expect - bit firm going over bumpy sections. My previous forks had two adjustments so I'm a bit overwhelmed. And just to confirm, the x2 should only have LSC and LSR adjustment? When I followed the fox documentation it suggested there was HSC/HSR adjustments too.


3) I use a roof rack carrier so I've had to take the battery in/out a few times when transporting. I've already rubbed a small bit of paint off the down tube where the skid plate ends. It seems dirt was getting trapped there and then rubbed into the frame. I don't mind the paint damage but is this something I need to worry about on a carbon frame if it happens continually?


4) I was considering taking it to a bike shop for a full initial service - the bike seems fine so I'm not sure its worth the £120 I was quoted. Is Canyon usually pretty good at greasing all the parts that need greased, other basic setup etc?


5) Cable routing - my god. I'm new to internally routed cables and dreading ever having to change anything. Any tips/advice here?


6) The underside of the motor (cables, connect module) seems rather exposed with the loosely fitting skid plate. What is the best way to clean this area when it becomes full of mud? What washing/upkeep do I need to be doing in the motor area? My last bike I'd remove the BB and give everything a proper clean/grease - is there comparative maintenance required here?


7) No back pedal! Noticed this is an issue for drivetrain/chain cleaning/maintenance. Any tips here? Should I just turn the bike upside down (or put in stand when at home) if I need to clean the chain/cassette so I can manually pedal it?


I'd also be grateful to hear about anything else I may not have considered or experienced yet. Apologies for the barrage of questions, and I appreciate not all of them directly related to this bike.

7) Hex key into chainring and you have backpedal for chain servicing and lubing.