All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

News

EMTB 03/2018
Reading time 1:50 minutes

Reader’s question

Graduate engineer Dirk Zedler, bicycle and e-bike expert

Is there an accumulation of water damage on e-bike motors according to your experience as expert witness?

This is a specific problem that I am not really aware of. But the fact that this issue concerns e-mountain bike motors in particular makes me think immediately of the use of high-pressure cleaners. These are not yet good for bicycles, but still less for e-bikes. A water pressure of 100 bar washes out any grease and undermines every sealing. I have therefore always advised against using high-pressure cleaners on bikes.

Are current e-mountain bike drives sufficiently protected against moisture?
In terms of operational safety which also includes protection against moisture, drive manufacturers are usually rather modest to be on the safe side in case of damage. The conservative indication of IPX-4 that offers protection from a splash of water may well mean that the drive will survive, if shortly submerged when passing a stream. You can, however, never rely upon that as user. Your purchase decision should therefore not depend on the indications with regard to the waterproofness of a system.

Is such a generally formulated protection rating like the IP standard good at all to comprise the complex special topic e-mountain bike?
This is the general problem with standards. How are you to define a water jet from the garden hose, if you don’t have a constant fluid under laboratory conditions. For this reason it is so important to have well-researched and practice-oriented instructions for cleaning and care in the special-interest press.

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