Forum readers may well remember a thread I started last year called 'Shutdown at Speed'. In it I explained how I could be nipping along nicely on my V, then without warning it would lose power to the motor and I would coast to a stop. An ignition key restart would get me going again. This continued sporadically but as a known glitch (to me) annoyance, I could cope. Spin forward to last September, and now things were getting serious - I could not go faster than 25-26kph before the same thing happened, but now it was every time. Something needed to be done, but Vextrix had bigger problems, what was I to do?
Following the news of Hesketh's agreement to take over the warranty of UK Vectrix owners (reported here), I dropped them an email and explained the issue, and how the bike was now in storage because I could not realistically hope to use it whilst travelling no faster than balancing speed. The fact Hesketh had only two locations in the UK didn;t bode well - Manchester and the South Coast are all very well - but I was in Glasgow - 200 miles in the wrong direction!
Forum member Steve Scott (ex Vextrix UK) and his EV enterprise appear to be providing technical help to Hesketh, as I had a call from Steve wanting a run-doun to the history of the problem and to give him a chance to work out whether he could suggest a fix, or whether I would need a service visit. After ruminating overnight, Steve came up with a suggestion that was bang on the money - and got my VX1 back on the road, virtually instantly. So all credit to all concerned, and thanks!
For those interested - Steve felt the lack of warnings pointed to an issue with the encoder unit mounted on the rear wheel. Suggesting I remove the chrome cover and have a nosey within to see if there was anything untoward , the plastic decorative chrome cover was now off and the white plastic cap and screws removed to look at the connection block to the encoder socket. All appeared OK, until I spotted some iron filings within the compartment, and no obvious source. All became clear when the multiway plug was bent back, one of the wires (brown) had been cut through! The metal spindle was actually rotating and causing friction against one of the cables going to the plug, and this was initially shorting before the link was actually severed (resulting in mt 25kph enforced speed limitation). A quick phone consult to solder the wire and insulate it once more did the trick, along with re-routing the cable so that it went nowhere near the spindle and would not be near enough to be fouled again.
Once don,e on went the plastic and chrome covers, and my Vwas as good as new - and no need for a 400 mile round trip to south Manchester!
It appears this was a bit of innattention during the construction phase of my V at the factory in Poland, but Steve has agreed to get a new replacement cable loom prepared and replace it at my next standard service.
Just guess who'se a happy bunny? Thanks Guys, and there are no complaints from me! Vextrix Hesketh EV Rocks! :)
I registered with their warranty service the other day - got a friendly email back from a chap there saying my details are on.
I did mention that it currently has no problems, and that the excellent support from Steve and Doug has kept it that way to date - which they acknowledged.
I hope that if it does have thee misfortune to break during the warranty, they are as helpful as they were with you!
Happy riding!