nelsonk1969
100 mW
Hi all I haven't been checking out this site in a while as I have been busy trying to pedal myself back in shape.
I wanted to stop in and let you fine folks know more about the good bad and ugly of my ( admittedly over price A2B E bikes )
Some of you know I purchased two of these bikes one for my wife and I My bike is Black my wife's is the Grey one. ( hopefully one day I will remember to upload some pictures).
My bike is the Black one, I have managed to put just over 800-900 miles on it so far. My Wife has around 600-700 miles on it. ( she has to work sometimes :lol: )
I have to admit I absolutely love Our A2B Alva + bikes, But be warned I now completely regret buying them. The reason for my discontent towards My A2B e bikes are pointed directly at the A2B Company and the Bicycle shops that sell and service these e bikes.
When I purchased these bikes I made the huge mistake of assuming I could purchase a factory service manual and learn more about the bike and perhaps if it was a repair that I felt comfortable to do with my bad back and neck I would have the information and data to do so. at very least I could know what needed to be done so I could insure that the bike was repaired properly by the Authorized service center.
To my surprise and disbelief my local authorized service center not have any factory documents let alone a service manual for their use or for sale.
So I called up A2B and spoke with my local rep and tried to get a reasonable explanation as to why they haven't provided their authorized service center with the needed manual so they could properly repair my bike.
I figured perhaps the Dealer didn't work on them enough to warrant the expense, but I was shocked to find out that no such manual exist.
What prompted the need for the manual in the first place was my Black A2B Alva + broke a rear spoke and of course not one dealer in the whole United States had one stinking new spoke. Heck I was happy to pay for it and the manual so I could get the spoke tension data.
First they told me I could not replace spoke on my own without voiding the warranty then they promptly told me spokes are not covered under the two year warranty.
This is copied right from their own website explaining my warranty.
Our standard warranty covers you for:
•Five years on your frame.
•Two years on components – covering all parts of your bike except wear on brake pads, chain, freewheel and tyres.
•One year on battery.
I ask any of you do you see anything that excludes spokes? No me neither I also ask how they can say immediately that a spoke is not covered
unless it is a factory defect. ( at this point they haven't even seen my bike yet so they cant claim it is not a defect ) especially since it broke while parked overnight.
Then the Jerk asked me if I brought my bike in for a tune up yet? I said no of course not as my factory owners manual suggest doing a tune up after one year.
So right away the customer is wrong not matter what! I guess I should have been born knowing what A2B expects out of their customers yet they do not feel the need to print it or at least mention it when you buy the bike.
At this point my hands are tied they wont let me repair it as it would void the warranty one the entire wheel which includes the hub motor.
they also stated to me that the wheel doesn't require to be trued using a spoke tension gauge therefor they don't feel the need to publish or provide anyone including the authorized service center with the spoke tension parameters ( from what I have learned this information is critical in diagnosing and getting a properly trued rim. Sure their is other methods but when your dealing with a heavy electric hub which was custom made for this bike and the installation is so critical that it has to be done by and authorized service center you would think they would hold the repair shop to some sort of industry standard at a minimum quality that a standard bicycle rims gets.
One would think that after they learned Both bikes have front and rear rims that are way out of true that they would try and get the data and admit perhaps that Barnett Bicycle Institute and every single wheel builder out there that cares about the art of wheel building couldn't possibly be wrong in suggesting that a spoken tension gauge is used as part of getting the rims right and to hold the adjustment for a reasonable amount of time.
I was so mad from being fed misleading and just plain out wrong information from A2B and the local authorized service center I agreed to let them repair it.
I was prepared to pay parts and labor but the A2B insisted that they were going to cover the repairs parts and labor heck the Local shop even insisted on picking up the bike as they knew I had no way of getting it there as a heavy bike like the A2B requires a heavy duty Bike rack that is hitch mounted .
Not to mention even if I had a rack I couldn't lift the bike on it.
Well the service center showed up after I got my e bike ready by covering anything that could get damaged if it got wet for transport once again assuming they would use a rack similar to the one they were trying to sell me.
But instead they rolled my bike down my driveway and tossed it in the back of a mini van.
Are you kidding me? I would never do that to a customers very expensive still like new e bike.
I had waited for about a week or longer for the New spokes to arrive this is when they picked up my bike. they kept it another 5 days of so
it wasn't till the 5th day that they actually worked on it. Banging it out in less than an hour. All along I am telling them to take their time and work on it when they can as I wanted it right.
I picked it up and rode it home perhaps 5 miles or so. I couldn't believe how fun it was to drive again until I got it close to home the bike used to shake really bad if I let go of the bars at 18 to 20 mph now it does the shopping cart wheel wobble at just about any speed.
you can even feel it while holding the bars lightly.
so when I got home I leaned the bike up on the kick stand and accelerated the rear wheel while it was in the air to find the rim was completely screwed
really I think a blind man could have trued the rim better. ( really no surprise since this shop doesn't even own or have a spoke tension tool for sale)
This is when I checked and found out both bikes and all the rims are out of round.
what really bugs me besides all of this when I was checking the rear rim and found it was not trued properly I looked closer at the techs work and I found the new spoke was all scratched up the other spokes near the replaced one were now bent as this idiot never took the tension off the other spokes to install the broken one. He just ran a muck bending spoke until he jammed in the used scratched up spoke that was sent to him by A2B .
Yes these nasty people put a used scratched up bent spoke on my very expensive bike then mangled a handful of my existing spokes to half ass install this used piece of crap.
I wouldn't have noticed this except my spokes are powder coated black.
the tire is supposed to have 40 Psi max in it I checked it also when I got home to find 75 Psi in it.
So as it is I have Two E bikes that I don't feel safe riding the shop that I have to bring them to keep the useless warranty good is pathetic
At this point I don't know what to do with them as A2B wont deal with me directly because they pissed me off so bad sure I got aggressive and mean toward them.
I could just bring it to another bike shop and have them install new Heavy Duty Rhyno Lite Xl rims with the Camo design and re spoke them using custom built spokes and not having them powder coated. but to do it right and buying a spoke tension gauge myself I will have 8-9 hundred bucks in bikes that I cant
a service manual for. I surly do not intend on letting my local shop touching any of my bikes ever again.
So this means I have not warranty at all and no way of fixing the electronics if they ever fail.
I think the best thing to do is Bail on the A2Bs completely offer up full disclosure and post them for sale as is and let some other poor bastard deal with them.
So if you even considering a A2B e Bike go straight to the bank withdraw a boat load of dollar bills then light them on fire as you will likely accomplish the same thing buy purchasing any A2B e bike.
After recovering from this staggering financial loss I will be looking into making my new Giant Roam 1 into a mid powered e bike and more comfortable with the help of my friends as I cannot even attempt it physically.
I would offer up my A2B e bikes for sale on this forum but I have way too much respect for the members here.
I hope this clears up any and all temptation to by from A2B as this company never should have reopened after bankruptcy as they clearly learned nothing from their first failure.
I wanted to stop in and let you fine folks know more about the good bad and ugly of my ( admittedly over price A2B E bikes )
Some of you know I purchased two of these bikes one for my wife and I My bike is Black my wife's is the Grey one. ( hopefully one day I will remember to upload some pictures).
My bike is the Black one, I have managed to put just over 800-900 miles on it so far. My Wife has around 600-700 miles on it. ( she has to work sometimes :lol: )
I have to admit I absolutely love Our A2B Alva + bikes, But be warned I now completely regret buying them. The reason for my discontent towards My A2B e bikes are pointed directly at the A2B Company and the Bicycle shops that sell and service these e bikes.
When I purchased these bikes I made the huge mistake of assuming I could purchase a factory service manual and learn more about the bike and perhaps if it was a repair that I felt comfortable to do with my bad back and neck I would have the information and data to do so. at very least I could know what needed to be done so I could insure that the bike was repaired properly by the Authorized service center.
To my surprise and disbelief my local authorized service center not have any factory documents let alone a service manual for their use or for sale.
So I called up A2B and spoke with my local rep and tried to get a reasonable explanation as to why they haven't provided their authorized service center with the needed manual so they could properly repair my bike.
I figured perhaps the Dealer didn't work on them enough to warrant the expense, but I was shocked to find out that no such manual exist.
What prompted the need for the manual in the first place was my Black A2B Alva + broke a rear spoke and of course not one dealer in the whole United States had one stinking new spoke. Heck I was happy to pay for it and the manual so I could get the spoke tension data.
First they told me I could not replace spoke on my own without voiding the warranty then they promptly told me spokes are not covered under the two year warranty.
This is copied right from their own website explaining my warranty.
Our standard warranty covers you for:
•Five years on your frame.
•Two years on components – covering all parts of your bike except wear on brake pads, chain, freewheel and tyres.
•One year on battery.
I ask any of you do you see anything that excludes spokes? No me neither I also ask how they can say immediately that a spoke is not covered
unless it is a factory defect. ( at this point they haven't even seen my bike yet so they cant claim it is not a defect ) especially since it broke while parked overnight.
Then the Jerk asked me if I brought my bike in for a tune up yet? I said no of course not as my factory owners manual suggest doing a tune up after one year.
So right away the customer is wrong not matter what! I guess I should have been born knowing what A2B expects out of their customers yet they do not feel the need to print it or at least mention it when you buy the bike.
At this point my hands are tied they wont let me repair it as it would void the warranty one the entire wheel which includes the hub motor.
they also stated to me that the wheel doesn't require to be trued using a spoke tension gauge therefor they don't feel the need to publish or provide anyone including the authorized service center with the spoke tension parameters ( from what I have learned this information is critical in diagnosing and getting a properly trued rim. Sure their is other methods but when your dealing with a heavy electric hub which was custom made for this bike and the installation is so critical that it has to be done by and authorized service center you would think they would hold the repair shop to some sort of industry standard at a minimum quality that a standard bicycle rims gets.
One would think that after they learned Both bikes have front and rear rims that are way out of true that they would try and get the data and admit perhaps that Barnett Bicycle Institute and every single wheel builder out there that cares about the art of wheel building couldn't possibly be wrong in suggesting that a spoken tension gauge is used as part of getting the rims right and to hold the adjustment for a reasonable amount of time.
I was so mad from being fed misleading and just plain out wrong information from A2B and the local authorized service center I agreed to let them repair it.
I was prepared to pay parts and labor but the A2B insisted that they were going to cover the repairs parts and labor heck the Local shop even insisted on picking up the bike as they knew I had no way of getting it there as a heavy bike like the A2B requires a heavy duty Bike rack that is hitch mounted .
Not to mention even if I had a rack I couldn't lift the bike on it.
Well the service center showed up after I got my e bike ready by covering anything that could get damaged if it got wet for transport once again assuming they would use a rack similar to the one they were trying to sell me.
But instead they rolled my bike down my driveway and tossed it in the back of a mini van.
Are you kidding me? I would never do that to a customers very expensive still like new e bike.
I had waited for about a week or longer for the New spokes to arrive this is when they picked up my bike. they kept it another 5 days of so
it wasn't till the 5th day that they actually worked on it. Banging it out in less than an hour. All along I am telling them to take their time and work on it when they can as I wanted it right.
I picked it up and rode it home perhaps 5 miles or so. I couldn't believe how fun it was to drive again until I got it close to home the bike used to shake really bad if I let go of the bars at 18 to 20 mph now it does the shopping cart wheel wobble at just about any speed.
you can even feel it while holding the bars lightly.
so when I got home I leaned the bike up on the kick stand and accelerated the rear wheel while it was in the air to find the rim was completely screwed
really I think a blind man could have trued the rim better. ( really no surprise since this shop doesn't even own or have a spoke tension tool for sale)
This is when I checked and found out both bikes and all the rims are out of round.
what really bugs me besides all of this when I was checking the rear rim and found it was not trued properly I looked closer at the techs work and I found the new spoke was all scratched up the other spokes near the replaced one were now bent as this idiot never took the tension off the other spokes to install the broken one. He just ran a muck bending spoke until he jammed in the used scratched up spoke that was sent to him by A2B .
Yes these nasty people put a used scratched up bent spoke on my very expensive bike then mangled a handful of my existing spokes to half ass install this used piece of crap.
I wouldn't have noticed this except my spokes are powder coated black.
the tire is supposed to have 40 Psi max in it I checked it also when I got home to find 75 Psi in it.
So as it is I have Two E bikes that I don't feel safe riding the shop that I have to bring them to keep the useless warranty good is pathetic
At this point I don't know what to do with them as A2B wont deal with me directly because they pissed me off so bad sure I got aggressive and mean toward them.
I could just bring it to another bike shop and have them install new Heavy Duty Rhyno Lite Xl rims with the Camo design and re spoke them using custom built spokes and not having them powder coated. but to do it right and buying a spoke tension gauge myself I will have 8-9 hundred bucks in bikes that I cant
a service manual for. I surly do not intend on letting my local shop touching any of my bikes ever again.
So this means I have not warranty at all and no way of fixing the electronics if they ever fail.
I think the best thing to do is Bail on the A2Bs completely offer up full disclosure and post them for sale as is and let some other poor bastard deal with them.
So if you even considering a A2B e Bike go straight to the bank withdraw a boat load of dollar bills then light them on fire as you will likely accomplish the same thing buy purchasing any A2B e bike.
After recovering from this staggering financial loss I will be looking into making my new Giant Roam 1 into a mid powered e bike and more comfortable with the help of my friends as I cannot even attempt it physically.
I would offer up my A2B e bikes for sale on this forum but I have way too much respect for the members here.
I hope this clears up any and all temptation to by from A2B as this company never should have reopened after bankruptcy as they clearly learned nothing from their first failure.
Don't think loose kick stand was on A2B? That was a different bike.
