Reliability

[Terence]

Trek Bikes…the equivalent to Jaguar/Landrover cars? Performance and Off-road capabilities second to none? But, when it comes to
“ Reliability ” these cars linger in the bottom third of consumer reliability league tables and if similar data existed in the bike world would Trek be in the lower third.? I have owned my Trek Rail 9.8 XT for 8 months and ridden 1150km (715 miles) I love the bike but! I , like many others on this forum I too have experienced ..
1) Clicking from my front wheel under load.
2) Sideways movement in the rear wheel hub.
3) Chain ring (crank) nut coming loose.
For me the serious fault is the left hand threaded Bosch chain ring nut.This is both potentially dangerous and costly if not identified to prevent a potential catastrophic failure..and in my humble opinion should be subject to a recall or safety alert to all owners!
My local bike shop is Blazing Bikes in Shropshire who have been excellent and so helpful in resolving this issues on my bike. It would be great if through this forum a consumer data base on on EMTB reliability could be constructed and published to see which manufacturer lingers at the bottom and top!

 

[Mteam]

3) Chain ring (crank) nut coming loose.
For me the serious fault is the left hand threaded Bosch chain ring nut.This is both potentially dangerous and costly if not identified to prevent a potential catastrophic failure..and in my humble opinion should be subject to a recall or safety alert to all owners!
My local bike shop is Blazing Bikes in Shropshire who have been excellent and so helpful in resolving this issues on my bike. It would be great if through this forum a consumer data base on on EMTB reliability could be constructed and published to see which manufacturer lingers at the bottom and top!

I get that the chain ring nut coming loose is annoying - but why do you think its potentially dangerous and costly if not identified? and whats the catastrophic failure that could occur?

 

[Terence]

One of my points on the reliability issue is in the car world there are a number of car magazines and Which for example that you can easily obtain data on the reliability and quality of products to help your decision making.For an example Which measures how many customers respond to their surveys if you only had 10 that responded and all 10 had the same issue then there maybe cause for concern. Landrover/Jaguar despite being in the lower third still sell lots of cars their customer service no doubt maintaining brand loyalty.? In my opinion I don’t believe the faults on my bike less than a year old are acceptable but the service I got from Blazing bikes will maintain my trust in the product..wel for now anyway.
There are many comments on this forum going back months about the Bosch chainring issue on a variety of bike brands. It is vital we continue to flag these problems if they continue to occur..It’s only by raising the problems that hopefully quality will improve .
Some of the pictures in past posts 2020 and 2021 show the damage to the chain stay as a result of a nut loosening.
This is potentially costly to remedy and I worry about a chain jamming or coming off in a tricky situation! This nut should not come loose and why should we accept it..

 

[R120]

The problem for me with the Bosch system is that whilst it is very good in terms of power, and generally speaking reliability, its also very obvious its made by a car parts company and not a company with a bicycle background when you look at integration and the overall system.

Its surprising given how Lon they have even in the ebike motor game now

 

[Mikerb]

People still buy Landrover etc because they are more interested in image than function. People buy completely unsuitable dog breeds because they are only interested in image rather than the breed characteristics.

I dont know what the main buying criterea are for EMTB buyers but Im pretty certain rather obvious design flaws and sub standard component parts are overlooked. In my opinion, knock blocks and the way many brands integrate the battery in the downtube are 2 examples.

It is also worth remembering that a fundamental part of a bikes reliability is how it is assembled..................and that is easilly checked.

 

[flash]

People still buy Landrover etc because they are more interested in image than function.

My new Defender is the best thing ever! It's the best behaved towing rig I've ever driven with over 10K kms on dirt and gravel so far.

The D3 and early D4 were pretty awful, reliability wise. Later D4 on and things have improved significantly. Annecdottaly my mates Prado spent wat more time in the shop than my D4.

Gordon

 

[Mikerb]

My new Defender is the best thing ever! It's the best behaved towing rig I've ever driven with over 10K kms on dirt and gravel so far.

The D3 and early D4 were pretty awful, reliability wise. Later D4 on and things have improved significantly. Annecdottaly my mates Prado spent wat more time in the shop than my D4.

Gordon

...the Defender is a proper Landrover...possibly the only one! I was thinking more of the Chelsea Tractors and Drug Dealer cars

 

[Gary]

I like mint kit kats

 

[Growmac]

I'm a wasabi Kit Kat convert