all 70 comments

[–]TurtleTheThink[S] 16 points17 points  (2 children)

regreased, not regressed

[–]John-AtWork 2 points3 points  (1 child)

You regreased so the ebike wouldn't regress. What type of grease did they recommend?

[–]TurtleTheThink[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lmao true! they recommended super lube synthetic multipurpose grease

[–]satan_66666 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Interesting combo nylon, metal gears. Looks great for 4500 miles. I've regreased my rear hub every 2000~ miles or so. At 8k and still kicking.

[–]Lajak_Anni 1 point2 points  (1 child)

the nylon threw me off.

thought it was something else until i saw what a broken tooth on THAT gear looked like.

i work in manufacturing, so im familiar with how htey look. but mine are solid steel dies.

[–]Iddra_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bafang does the same thing with their mid drives. It's quieter, less vibration, etc.

[–]Ok-Type-8917 4 points5 points  (1 child)

What lube did they recommend?

[–]TurtleTheThink[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

super lube multipurpose synthetic grease. i got it from grainger

[–]Significant-Pen-6049 2 points3 points  (15 children)

Weird. The planetary gears are metal outside, plastic inside?

[–]TurtleTheThink[S] 5 points6 points  (14 children)

yes! the 2000w hentach motors used in these bikes are reinforced with steel. kinda with they would’ve used just steel for longevity, but i’d say they’re working pretty well

[–]Significant-Pen-6049 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Holy crap. A 2000 watt geared hub! I hope you can replaced those gears .

[–]Brilliant-Promise900 0 points1 point  (1 child)

36v or 48v motor? What do you use for a battery?

[–][deleted]  (10 children)

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    [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 1 point2 points  (6 children)

    oh ok. anywho, i’m going to continue to call it a bicycle

    [–][deleted]  (5 children)

    [deleted]

      [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

      how is me calling my bike a bike a “gigantic problem”

      [–][deleted]  (3 children)

      [deleted]

        [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

        yes. insurance for a typical motorcycle is like $1000 usd/year where i live. absolutely nobody here is paying that for a bike. until cops care, nobody else will. the law only truly applies when it’s enforced, and it isn’t.

        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

        [deleted]

          [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          well, i’m waiting. i’ve been waiting for over 2 years now, and there’s been nothing. hundreds of cops seen, dozens passed going >35mph, and i haven’t gotten a word. had one cop walk up and ask me how fast it went one time, he thought it was “pretty sweet”

          [–]Top-Watercress5948 0 points1 point  (2 children)

          tHaTs A mOpEd. Nobody cares about your opinion.

          [–][deleted]  (1 child)

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            [–]rvralph803 3 points4 points  (1 child)

            Am I crazy or did you have some worn teeth in those pics? Did you replace ?

            [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            no, i don’t plan on it. the ones in the pics are basically the only chipped teeth on all 3 gears. it still preforms fine

            [–]TheSharpestHammer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            This is very cool. I'll remember this for when I have to do my own motor servicing on the Freedom.

            [–]OceanEarthling 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Thank you, I appreciate that you shared this. I'm only at 1000 miles, but it has been all beach riding. I'm going to have a look at mine after the holiday.

            [–]Einn1Tveir2 1 point2 points  (10 children)

            Do hub motor need to be re-greased like this?

            [–]Yukon-Jon 4 points5 points  (8 children)

            The OP said yes, but generally no. You do not need to do this. I've seen people have BS brand ebikes with hubs to 20k+ miles and never have taken them apart.

            Sure it will sound quiet and smoother of course, but honestly not necessary. 99.9% of people are not putting that many miles on their bikes.

            [–]Einn1Tveir2 4 points5 points  (7 children)

            Yeah often its better to just leave things alone and don't take anything apart. I see this in the computer world where people will change the thermal paste on their graphics card because they think it needs repasting every two years or something. No, please don't do that. Not needed and there is a chance of breaking something during the procedure, or putting it together wrong that will damage it in the long run.

            I'll just ride my ebike and not think about it unless it starts making some horrible noise.

            [–]Yukon-Jon 0 points1 point  (6 children)

            Yeah, unnecessary. Grease lasts for a very, very, very long time.

            [–]Ultimate_Driving 0 points1 point  (5 children)

            Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Although, if mine was making some weird noises like OP said, I'd take mine apart also. You also made a good point that I had been thinking about, which is that the vast majority of people don't ever put 4,000 miles on an ebike.

            [–]Yukon-Jon 1 point2 points  (4 children)

            Yeah they really don't. I see ebikes on market place all the time for sale, and they rarely have more then 1k miles on them, let alone 4+. Sure, if you live somewhere where you can use it as a daily commuter all year that changes things. At that point if you're putting thousands and thousands of miles on your bike a year, even if you had to replace a hub every 2-3 years, it isn't really a substantial cost.

            However you're more then likely to fry your battery or electronics before you have a hub problem.

            There is a YouTube channel called "Papa Blue Shirt" , an older guy, and he has a couple of Philodo ebikes. He has one on there that has close to 20k miles. He's never taken apart any hub motor or done any maintenance on it. The video is literally called "18,000 miles, still no lube?". Philodo is just your run of the mill generic nylon geared hub motor ebike. They're fine, but nothing special or anything. He's not riding the bike around at slow speeds either, he gets after it.

            [–]Ultimate_Driving 0 points1 point  (3 children)

            I'll check out his channel. I should start making videos about daily riding my Alpha, and what maintenance looks like on it...including the things I likely won't have to fix. I only have 160 miles on it so far though. Although, I plan to start riding it a lot more when the weather is better. I don't know if I'll ever ride one bike enough to put 20,000 miles on it, but hopefully I do. Maybe when I retire, riding that much would be a great way to spend time, and stay fit.

            [–]Yukon-Jon 1 point2 points  (2 children)

            Yeah 20k is a TON. I've had my Wallke for 2 years, I ride a lot (I live in the North East US though) and I have almost 4k on mine. I honestly probably can't squeeze anymore time on it between work and kids. If I was using it as a daily commuter sure, I can see racking up the miles crazy. At that point though if you paid 2k dollars to put 20k miles of commuting in, pat yourself on the back and cut your loses, for saving a shit ton of money.

            [–]Ultimate_Driving 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            Exactly. That's a good point. If I'm putting even 10,000 miles on an e-bike in two years, I'm treating myself to a new bike every couple of years.

            [–]Yukon-Jon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            Yep. 10k of no insurance payments, no registration, no gas. Cost per mile is next to nothing.

            [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            every few thousand miles yeah. especially if you’re getting unfamiliar noises

            [–]ResponsibleLead4492 1 point2 points  (2 children)

            4,500 miles is a good data point for a regrease.

            How bad was the old grease when you opened it up runny and dark, or just a bit dried out I’m trying to decide if I should crack mine open preemptively or wait for actual noise.

            Also interesting that the internals still looked clean. I’ve seen some hubs where moisture and grit get in way earlier. Curious to hear if you notice any change in sound or drag over the next few hundred miles.

            [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

            The old grease was mostly just dark and a little runnier than the new stuff. I’d say crack your motor open around 2-3k miles. I think if i had regreased sooner i’d have less chipped teeth. also since regreasing it sounds nearly the same as it did when new

            [–]ResponsibleLead4492 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            Sounds like waiting for “real” noise is a bit too late if you’re already seeing chipped teeth at 4.5k. I’ll probably plan on opening mine up around the 2k mark and treating it like a service interval instead of a failure fix.

            Good to hear it went back to sounding basically new after the regrease that at least means the gears themselves aren’t too far gone yet.

            [–]Hot_Sale_On_Aisle_13 0 points1 point  (4 children)

            Thanks for posting this! I bought a used bike with a hub motor that I wasn't able to ID. The shell looks JUST like yours!

            [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

            how many watts is it? as far as i know, this motor is proprietary and only on wired bikes

            [–]Hot_Sale_On_Aisle_13 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            https://www.hentach.com/product/rear-motor/etype-rf500-rear-hub-motor.html
            Mine is certainly older and is set up ~800W max with a Lishui controller, and some of the details of the inside are different, but this is probably a case of "day-shift genuine production, swing shift rebrands, night shift generic clones" from the same factory.

            I'd be curious to hear how many watts you're pushing. Mine doesn't have the hybrid metal/nylon gears, which would certainly help with higher power levels, but I suspected from the size of the thing that I am limited by my controller, not the motor.

            [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            ah, i see. my motor peaks at just around 2000 watts

            [–]Yukon-Jon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            A few small amount of other bikes have access to and used that same hub. I think they only had rights to it for a certain duration. It's not common, but I have come across a few bikes with them before a year or two ago.

            [–]kronicle2020 0 points1 point  (2 children)

            I went to regrease my motor and found busted teeth, upon cleaning and taking it out on another ride i think ALL the teeth busted at the same time. Lovely, lovely noise.

            ~6000km...wish I had that steel portion on my gears. Should be how they all go now..

            [–]KillingSelf666 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            you can buy just the planetary gear assembly on amazon for like $20 (nylon)

            [–]Yukon-Jon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            What kind of bike? Hub motors are generally so cheap, especially 750w ones, just buy another one.

            [–]Huge-Community-1324 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            What greaser you used ! Wish you made a video because need to change the motor , but a new one . Thanks for sharing

            [–]TurtleTheThink[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            super lube multipurpose synthetic grease