Emil Bergvall Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Hi all, I have a new V11, batch 4. received it last week and have gone around 100km so far. After yesterdays commute it started squeking when riding. It's a really high and annoying sound and i want to understand if this is the infamous bearing issue that many have reported about? Also some information on possible resolutions would be much appreciated. Is motor replacement the only way or can this be caused by some gravel or similar entering between case and wheel? https://photos.app.goo.gl/zdotnKzgEHyL1NmW6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/HPk1czYyuGURPtYN8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZTQ4UdhRyXkwwRWm7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tryptych Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 (edited) Sadly this is most likely the bearings, but first make sure nothing is caught up inside between the case and the wheel, there could be a branch or something caught in there causing the noise. Get a flash light and look around inside. If it is the bearings and you have a warranty then contact your retailer. If you don't have warranty you will need to replace the bearings (difficult), or the entire motor (more expensive but less difficult). You might consider hiring a bike shop or mechanic to swap the bearings for you. While your at it you should protect your next bearings/motor with the 3D printed rubber seals created by the community (find them on Thingiverse). Edited October 7, 2021 by Tryptych 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emil Bergvall Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 20 minutes ago, Tryptych said: Sadly this is most likely the bearings, but first make sure nothing is caught up inside between the case and the wheel, there could be a branch or something caught in there causing the noise. Get a flash light and look around inside. If it is the bearings and you have a warranty then contact your retailer. If you don't have warranty you will need to replace the bearings (difficult), or the entire motor (more expensive but less difficult). You might consider hiring a bike shop or mechanic to swap the bearings for you. While your at it you should protect your next bearings/motor with the 3D printed rubber seals created by the community (find them on Thingiverse). It's a brand new wheel used for 100km so far and the noise seems to increase. I have looked using a flash light but cannot see anything obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Smith Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Don't the new V11s come with some sort of dust cover between the bearings and the rim? If this is the case then the fix might be as simple as spraying some silicon oil between it. Certainly sounds like a very dry squeek to me, like rubber or plastic against metal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helsinki500 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Hello i have the same problem and i have 1 year warranty i will send message to warranty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forwardnbak Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 Can anyone confirm that the bearing issue is covered under warranty? I have a dealer telling me my bearings have had moisture and need a new motor which is not covered under warranty. $400 charge, after reading so many on here I thought it was covered for fowl bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emil Bergvall Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 21 hours ago, Forwardnbak said: Can anyone confirm that the bearing issue is covered under warranty? I have a dealer telling me my bearings have had moisture and need a new motor which is not covered under warranty. $400 charge, after reading so many on here I thought it was covered for fowl bearings. Of course they are covered under normal circumstances since the while is sold with IP classification. Unless you do something really extreme like submerging it in water i have a hard time seeing how they could deny warranty. Have you tried to contact Inmotion directly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emil Bergvall Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 So follow up on my original post. I recived a new motor i.e a complete rim with motor and tire. I installed the 3D printer seal that is available on Thingiverse and have now switched out my old rim/motor/tire. The whole process took about 2-3 hours all in all. My next project will be to switch the bearings on my old motor to have it as a spare. https://photos.app.goo.gl/cqTMmK7A9twk3fxM6 New "motor" https://photos.app.goo.gl/9wZZQ53wG9Q4vmdp7 New motor with the seal installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Smith Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Why would you need to swap the whole motor if it's just the bearings? If you definitely can't get it sorted under warranty then I would be inclined to try spraying a generous quantity of WD40 into the bearing regions on both sides of the wheel to see if that helps. Nothing to lose from trying if there's no warranty anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emil Bergvall Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 12 minutes ago, Lex Smith said: Why would you need to swap the whole motor if it's just the bearings? If you definitely can't get it sorted under warranty then I would be inclined to try spraying a generous quantity of WD40 into the bearing regions on both sides of the wheel to see if that helps. Nothing to lose from trying if there's no warranty anyway. Yuo don't need to do it of course but that is how Inmotion have been handling the warranty. I assume it is because most people are able to change the whole motor without to much trouble. Switching the bearing is more complicated and needs tools that are not provided with the EUC. Spraying WD40 is just a waste of time for most people. If you look on youtube you can see that people who have opened up their bearings have dirt and gravel inside the bearings. No amount of WD40 will fix that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan "nog3" Halliday Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Please, nobody spray wd-40 onto the bearings. It can compromise the rubber seal on the bearing and can end up introducing contaminants from outside the bearing to inside. It's also not a lubricant. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Smith Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 On 11/10/2021 at 10:13 PM, Emil Bergvall said: Yuo don't need to do it of course but that is how Inmotion have been handling the warranty. I assume it is because most people are able to change the whole motor without to much trouble. Switching the bearing is more complicated and needs tools that are not provided with the EUC. Spraying WD40 is just a waste of time for most people. If you look on youtube you can see that people who have opened up their bearings have dirt and gravel inside the bearings. No amount of WD40 will fix that. Agreed, I was thinking more along the lines if it was the new plastic bearing cover/seals causing the squeek. The bearings have a rubber seal covering the ball race - wonder how the gravel gets past that? Water I can understand. I swapped my bearings out for Japanese bearings and haven't looked back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Smith Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 On 11/11/2021 at 3:04 AM, Brendan "nog3" Halliday said: Please, nobody spray wd-40 onto the bearings. It can compromise the rubber seal on the bearing and can end up introducing contaminants from outside the bearing to inside. It's also not a lubricant. If the rubber seals on the actual bearing are intact then WD40 or say silicon oil won't reach the ball race (which should be packed with grease). I was thinking more along the lines of the new plastic seals I believe they use to add as an extra protection for the bearings. From listening to the video the noise didn't sound anything like the noise my bearings made when they failed. I guess it could still be the bearings themselves but they'd have to be as dry as a nuns one to make that much noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emil Bergvall Posted November 13, 2021 Author Share Posted November 13, 2021 8 hours ago, Lex Smith said: Agreed, I was thinking more along the lines if it was the new plastic bearing cover/seals causing the squeek. The bearings have a rubber seal covering the ball race - wonder how the gravel gets past that? Water I can understand. I swapped my bearings out for Japanese bearings and haven't looked back. The covers look ok but they sound really compromised. Look at the video i shot just a couple of minutes ago (https://photos.app.goo.gl/RtMHwYq1hmDtEXGZ8) this is my "old" motor. Started getting the issues after about 80km so 2-3 rides on a brand new batch 4 wheel. I will switch out the bearings on this motor, i have purchased quality bearings. I will open up the old bearings when removing them and post some pictures of the inside. It can be interesting to see but i agree with you on the part where you wonder how things can get inside to make this noise on RS bearings. Oh btw when replacing your bearings did you make a hole in the rim on the inside of the motor cover to avoid condensation as i have seen several people do when changing their bearings? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Smith Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 2 hours ago, Emil Bergvall said: The covers look ok but they sound really compromised. Look at the video i shot just a couple of minutes ago (https://photos.app.goo.gl/RtMHwYq1hmDtEXGZ8) this is my "old" motor. Started getting the issues after about 80km so 2-3 rides on a brand new batch 4 wheel. I will switch out the bearings on this motor, i have purchased quality bearings. I will open up the old bearings when removing them and post some pictures of the inside. It can be interesting to see but i agree with you on the part where you wonder how things can get inside to make this noise on RS bearings. Oh btw when replacing your bearings did you make a hole in the rim on the inside of the motor cover to avoid condensation as i have seen several people do when changing their bearings? I didn't. I don't believe it will be an issue with properly sealed and packed with grease bearings tbh. The old bearings appeared to be water damaged from assembly as if they'd been sitting around with water in them before the wheel was used (see photo below). I've done well over 1000 km on the new bearings and they're still completely silent. The original bearings started making a noise at the 200 km mark. Also I've been caught out in the rain many a time (Auckland gets a lot of rain!). The wheel has been dripping wet when I get home so it's been well tested :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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