Bionx 350 rear axle broke

D

dgk02

100 W
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
148
Location
New York City
Riding up the Williamsburg bridge I started getting resistance that seemed like the regen was kicking in. My shop, Bicycle Habitat, says no, the axle broke. My second broken axle on my Trek Valencia+. I checked earlier threads over on BikeForums and that one broke in July 2011, so this one lasted almost a whole two years. Not good. I do ride it a lot, often 100 miles a week on roads that are not exactly pristine but aren't cobblestone either.

Just how often to Bionx wheels break an axle? Luckily BH has a spare wheel for my bike (gen 1 350 700c) but it's still going to cost $400. No, I'm not a pleased camper. Nothing wrong with my motor, but it's useless without an axle and that costs a lot to replace on these bikes.
 
I don't know about your weight and weight distribution, but a broken axle would suggest too much weight somehow, either that or a terrible product/engineering. Either way, maybe you might consider getting a suspension bike. I am sure that would reduce the shock being taken by you and the bike as a whole. Otherwise, you are likely to be stuck with this happening again with the same part involved.
 
I'm around 190 (mostly distributed in my gut). The Valencia is a commuter, mostly upright type of bike so much of the weight is towards the rear. The rackmount battery is also to the rear. Still, a fair number of people have this system and I was just wondering how often this happens, and whether it happens on other systems. Maybe it will break after another 18 months and I'll have to strongly consider a different bike/system. I expected to have to replace the battery after three or four years but actually that has held up very well. Still, it is starting to fade a bit, so when I need to replace that I have to look at the whole picture.

Maybe the side motor idea, like a Currie, isn't bad. At least a broken axle won't require replacing the hub motor.

I'm assuming the reason the wheel is so cheap ($400 is pretty cheap) is because they're planning on rebuilding a wheel with my motor, which is perfectly good. Just as well since I tend to be better at putting together software than hardware.
 
dgk02 said:
I'm around 190 (mostly distributed in my gut). The Valencia is a commuter, mostly upright type of bike so much of the weight is towards the rear. The rackmount battery is also to the rear. Still, a fair number of people have this system and I was just wondering how often this happens, and whether it happens on other systems. Maybe it will break after another 18 months and I'll have to strongly consider a different bike/system. I expected to have to replace the battery after three or four years but actually that has held up very well. Still, it is starting to fade a bit, so when I need to replace that I have to look at the whole picture.

Maybe the side motor idea, like a Currie, isn't bad. At least a broken axle won't require replacing the hub motor.

I'm assuming the reason the wheel is so cheap ($400 is pretty cheap) is because they're planning on rebuilding a wheel with my motor, which is perfectly good. Just as well since I tend to be better at putting together software than hardware.
Click to expand...
$400 is not cheap unless it includes hub, my local stor would be able to relace a hub for ~130 incl a wiiide rim and custom sapim 12g. You said the axle broke, which means the stator is useless for the most part. So unless they are merely replacing your stator then I would think that $400 is an entire hub wheel. Have you looked at other kits? 500W and 1000W kits are decently inexpensive. Good batteries are Turnigy LiPo for the brave and A123 lifepo4 for the reasonable.
 
What size wheel and what tire and pressure?

I have not seen any broken Bionx Axles in over 100 Bionx.

d
 
700C, and I had been keeping it at 100. I lowered it to 85, which I understand is more or less the ideal pressure for this bike/tire. Someone recommended trying a 35 tire instead of 32 but 32 is what it comes with.

I'm glad that not too many break but I do put a lot of miles on it.
 
What a joke! and overpriced, under performing joke!! this is just why we DIY here on these forums.

I'm 250 and bang potholes constantly on a non-suspended bike and i have never, ever had axle problems.
There are heavier riders riding bikes with the same motors and nobody has had problems like that.

The only time we see broken axles is when someone isn't using a proper torque arm or are dumping way too much power into the motor, like 2x-20x the rated power of the motor.
 
How many times can you read about broken Canadian BIONX axle on entire Internet?
There are tons of posts on this forum about bad China brand axles
The point is his case is ISOLATED
BIONX is not overpriced at all for what you get
 
miro13car said:
How many times can you read about broken Canadian BIONX axle on entire Internet?
There are tons of posts on this forum about bad China brand axles
The point is his case is ISOLATED
BIONX is not overpriced at all for what you get
Click to expand...
The thing is, they are overpriced considering 2 axles have been broken by the same person without any power mods whatsoever, their batteries are proprietary, and their controllers are IN the motor (usually?) which is a terrible terrible design. Let's put the two most heated and stressed parts together so the customer has to replace both in case of a malfunction in one. It all adds up to a genius way of making it a sort of subscription. I suspect his axle rusted through but who knows. Every day I wheelie, jump, and curb hop on a "1000W" hub.
 
ian.mich said:
miro13car said:
How many times can you read about broken Canadian BIONX axle on entire Internet?
There are tons of posts on this forum about bad China brand axles
The point is his case is ISOLATED
BIONX is not overpriced at all for what you get
Click to expand...
The thing is, they are overpriced considering 2 axles have been broken by the same person without any power mods whatsoever, their batteries are proprietary, and their controllers are IN the motor (usually?) which is a terrible terrible design. Let's put the two most heated and stressed parts together so the customer has to replace both in case of a malfunction in one. It all adds up to a genius way of making it a sort of subscription. I suspect his axle rusted through but who knows. Every day I wheelie, jump, and curb hop on a "1000W" hub.
Click to expand...

No evidence of rust on the broken axle.
 
Unfortunately what happens is that they are sold by shops that don't know any better, to people who don't know any better. Not everyone goes on the internet and researches everything to a T. Hard enough to even waltz this through forum as a newbie. When i came here i lost 3 months to hunting through the data here to try to find out what direction i wanted to go in for my first build.
 
It is not overpriced at all
It is all about statistics.
One person with broken axle BIONX.
You must admit if you hang around ebike forums with BIONX discussed BIONX broken axle is a rarity.
Unless you want to denay reality.
SHOW me link to any other case of BIONX broken axle.
you can never selfbuild something like BIONX.
You can overvolt China crap to death , maybe that your tech. standards.
 
miro13car said:
It is not overpriced at all
It is all about statistics.
One person with broken axle BIONX.
You must admit if you hang around ebike forums with BIONX discussed BIONX broken axle is a rarity.
Unless you want to denay reality.
SHOW me link to any other case of BIONX broken axle.
you can never selfbuild something like BIONX.
You can overvolt China crap to death , maybe that your tech. standards.
Click to expand...
http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=55597
http://averagejoecyclist.com/?p=537
http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-888495.html
http://jammienix.blogspot.ca/2013/04/bionx-broken-axle-2nd-time-and-warranty.html
http://www.sydneycyclist.com/forum/topics/the-bullit-cargochild-carrier?commentId=1321712%3AComment%3A423532

all report axle failure, a couple may be repeats. True you cannot easily build a bionx system, because no EE worth his salt knows that controller and motor are better separate, and proprietary batteries are unfair. We overvolt "china crap" and it doesn't brake axles, and has modular motor, controller and batteries.
 
miro13car said:
It is not overpriced at all
you can never selfbuild something like BIONX.
Click to expand...
The BIONX like PAS is now being sold by others. If you don't need PAS the price difference is huge. The bike shop said over $2000 plus installation and my kit was $550 for a 500w motor. I think the CA and PAS kit is around $350. It may have cosmetic differences but my kit delivers more power.
 
ian.mich said:
We overvolt "china crap" and it doesn't brake axles,.
Click to expand...

And this wasn't true even at the time it was posted. ;)

Even without overvolting...just normal usage, this has happened. Not often, but....
 
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