After having owned the VX-1 for a week and clocking 410km on it, i have a few issues that i would like to compare with other owners.
1. Reffering to the throttle, i still have the re-gen system coming in whilst just letting go of the throttle abruptly, from acceleration. So i havent solved the problem with the new grips. Only partially. Now it happens 30% of the times less.
Another thing which happens to the throttle is that it feels loose and rattles over any small bumps. Yes,it rattles against its interior. If i hold it from the far end with two fingers and and move it up and down or font to back it simply travels too much in both ways,therefore hitting its interior!
2. Reffering to right LCD Battery Display,the black bars have uneven brightness, some of them are very dilute or dimm, they are simply not very clear and when its night time or i go into tunnels and the blue backlight of the LCD turns on, then they become even more dimm and i can hardly see the bars.
3. Reffering to the windshield, looking at the Vectrix from infront, i noticed that it leaves a space of 1cm from the left blinker but sits ontop of the right blinker and creates a wear on this blinker.
4. The 3 issues before are just little things that i can live with but this fourth one has me worried I have found that after 400km on it, when i accelerate (in a normal way, not maximum) i notice that the whine of the engine is not even, it sounds unregular and really ends up molesting. It happens from speeds between 20km/h and 40km/h and only happens while accelerating.If i glide downhill with the throttle in neutral it doesnt occur,therefore i really think it comes from the engine.
I have already called the dealer and will be giving it in, for the uneven engine whine thing. But i would really appreciate if any of you have had similar issues and might know how to adress them?
Thankyou.
1.) All throttles have some amount of end play built in. If they didn't they'd stick or be hardt to turn. "Letting go of the throttle abruptly from accelleration" is not normal behavior, so your regen issues are self induced for the most part. However, since your throttle has a spring which brings it back to zero, of course "letting go abruptly" or releasing the throttle intirely from a sprung position will trip the switch on the other end and put it in momentary regen. This is not a problem with the bike, it's simply the wrong way to operate a throttle.
2.)At night, the guage bars are unevenly lit on my bike as well, but evenly and smoothly black during the day, which is the optimum viewing light for any LCD panel. I can see the bars well enough to know what my level is, but I prefer to guage off my trip meter anyway, as I know how far the bike will go and I can see how far I've already gone.
3.)Both my bikes have had the windshield sitting against one of the turn signals. This is likely just a little quirk of the manufacturing process with leaves it ever so slightly off center. It's no big deal. If you are concerned about the turn signal getting a hole in it, gently file off the edge of the shield, but don't expect your dealer to be able to "fix" it.
4.) Since these bikes are relatively new technology for all of us, we really don't know how they are SUPPOSED to sound, but if you suspect a problem, go to your dealer and ask to ride his demo for comparison. That's the only way you're going to get a sense of whether or not yours is normal or different. Personally, I don't hear well enough to comment on the sound you are hearing, as I don't hear anything that sounds to me like it'd be a problem, but again, I've never owned an electric vehicle, so I have no clue what they are SUPPOSED to sound like.
I wish all my other bikes had had such minor issues to deal with! HAHA!! ;-)
The uneven noise you hear in the "engine" is comming from the planetary gearbox. Two things might be wrong. Many of the bikes have a slightly out of round ring gear in the planetary. This causes some of the "unregular" sound you hear. As the rear wheel turns, the clearance between the gears changes each revolution causing the noise. Also, there seems to be(at least on my Vectrix) a machining error in the spider that holds the planet gears in the gearbox. This causes different backlash between the gears to occur in the geartrain which contributes to a "clunking" sound you might hear at low speeds--just before you come to a stop or are pushing the bike (the motor magnets contribute most of the noise). This has been covered at length on this forum, and except for the noise, it doesn't (in most cases) cause any problems. As the gearbox breaks in, the sound may get a little less noticeable. I would suggest that you ask your dealer to change the gearbox oil at your first service and then forget about it. There is nothing special about the oil (it's synthetic motor oil) but there isn't much of it in the gearbox and a lot of material comes off the gears in the first 1000 km.
Hi RaDy,
the problems you describe seem to be fairly common, but they come in different grades of severity.
My first Vectrix had throttle problems from day one, the windscreen was straight and the panels fitted very well, the display was OK and the gearbox was noisy but even.
It was replaced because the main fuse blew and they did not know what it was or how to fix it!
The replacement Vectrix, now called the Vectux, had a crooked windscreen which rubs against one of the indicators, generally less than good fit and finish, an OK display, and a very noisy and uneven gearbox. Vectrix ignored all my complaints about the gearbox, then I found a way to improve it myself because it was totally unacceptable. Because of this they cancelled the warranty and blamed motor controller damage (which they themselves had caused) on my gearbox repair!
Details can be found at: http://visforvoltage.org/forum/3272-vectrix-real-world-testing-2-noise-levels , including this and other videos:
Is that the noise you hear?
You can also find many more related topics by searching VisforVoltage for keywords like:
"Vectrix noise levels"
"Vectrix gearbox repair" etc.
There are many detailed discussions, pictures, schematics etc. buried in the V posts of the last year about the Vectrix.
About the uneven appearance of the 17 bars on the right display: They worked on my bikes, but there have been a few reports about displays which needed to be replaced because of it. It also depends a bit on the angle from which you view it. The unevenness shows very clearly in some of my photos, but in real use it is not at all a problem with my bike.
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
1. That was same with mine. Throttle handle needs calibrating.
2. Same here at night. I don't worry.
3. Same here. I don't worry. It's just there and I accepted it.
4. Same here at the beginning. It broke-in after 1500km and there's no oscilating-uneven sound from the gearbox anymore. I guess the gearbox broke-in :-) I didn't worry, because, as sai said above me, the topic was well covered and he mentioned there, that the gearbox will break-in. And it did.
First of all, thankyou very much to all of you. Its a nice feeling having all of you involved in the adventure of owing a Vectrix and caring about eachothers problems.
Actually this is much faster for getting answers than the Vectrix dealer!!!
So, before going to the workshop this morning, i sat down and read all of your greatfull comments and reviewed your video(Mik).Yes thats the noise my Vectrix makes, i had already seen your video but was not an owner yet and didnt remember.
Reffering to the other 3 issues, which again i clarify that are not a problem for me to live with, but just wanted to know if it was common or if any had an easy solution,i am happy to know that they dont evolve in major problems.
Anyway after reading V, i went to the workshop and spoke to the mechanic and he said :
1. The throttle is fine and the loose feeling is common, the only thing is that he adjusted it to 246 in the workshop computer program which is equvalent to our 43 mark, because it was in 242.
2. The LCD, he told me, is also a common issue, but said that mine was abit more critical and had spoken to someone in Italy to know if he could fix it or change it. I checked 2 other Vecs and they also have this but are better than mine.
3. The windshield on the blinker is also common in most of Vecs.
4. Thankfully, he told me exactly the same thing as all of you have. The gearbox is getting in its place and will eventually reduce the uneven whine.
That was really worrying me and appreciate all of your help.So i will take good notice and not worry and simply make it to the 1.000kms ,give it in for its first revision ans ask for the oil change.
Hoping that maybe in another 1.000 or so kms the noise will be reduced.
Again, thankyou very much. All of you are the best service that Vectrix HAS!!!
I'm glad we could put your mind at ease.
Nice weather is coming to my part of the region and I have unpacked my Vectrix from winter sleep. I can't wait to get home, charge it and go riding. First thing I will do is go to Motoshop and buy Motul Dry cleaner spray as a thin film of dirt(humidity,...) built up on the bike in the underground garage.
I hope that is true! So far, I count this point 4 as speculative and unproven. The whine might get better when the gears wear, but the unevenness (due to the ring gear being oval) will at least take longer to resolve. It would be nice if it went away. Now that the Vectux is getting better and better in regards to reliability and battery management etc, I tend to notice that awful noise much more again...
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
I was very happy to get my Vectrix back, it was away one whole day and i already missed it. Its fantastic , i really enjoy it and love the ride. These little issues are nothing compared to the joy and satisfaction it gives in return.
AndY1 , i suppose the weather in Slovenia must be very very drastic, because i cant stop riding my Vec, no matter what weather there is, and we´ve been having some snow lately and really strong winds. There were a bunch of trees that have fallen all over the place lately because of wind.
I was doing highway at 80-90km/h and had to reduce speed and hold really hard to not get blown away, in one occasion.
Moccasin, when i am accelerating the throttle and then have to stop suddenly (because a car gets in the way or whatever) then its faster to let go of the throttle, reposition the hand at twist for re-gen.If i didnt do this and i would twist my throttle back to neutral and then re-gen, i wouldnt end up with a hand in a normal twisting position plus it wouldnt be as fast.Anyway i appreciate your comment, and its true that i have had many more problems in my ICE bikes.
Mik, i understand that you cant be too positive after everything youve gone through with the Vec and plus the warranty Void. If you need signatures from Vectrix owners, to try to pressure to get your warranty back, claiming that you have helped in solving or preventing problems and doubts of Vec owners all over the world, you have my support.
About the loudness of the whine of the engine,its very low compared to the demo and others that i have heard. I only have the uneven whine.