My Bike died

Thing is Mik, while I agree it is dangerous, it is no more dangerous than my clutch on my bike / car going suddenly in traffic, or a wheelbearing collapsing while driving - all rare things but potentially fatal on any moving vehicle or device.

However a fuse going in such a new and moderately driven vehicle is worrying - especially since I really do ride mine to the limits quite often as part of my ride to work involves a fast carrageway.

Thanks Mik for confirming,

It was my first thought, and then, when I got to work and parked up, only 200 yards pushing, lucky me, I got online and have been trawling through all the relevent posts.

The more I read, the more it seemed that the main fuse was the cause.

Aren't forums the best thing ever!

I didn't leave it plugged in for much more than a few seconds, as I'm not allowed to park by the plug socket at work, but I left it enough time to see that the normal "GRRRRRRMMMMMM" wasn't happening. Or anything else for that matter.

It will just have to stay here over the weekend until the silly season is fully over. My dealer is still on holiday, but at least it's under cover in a warm garage, locked up with 24 hour security guards present and zero parking fee for bikes over the weekend :-)

It's going to be strange being on a bike with a noisy engine again, probably not as pleasant either, A noisy bike pulled up alongside me (just before it broke down)this morning and my handlebars were vibrating with his engine, and I thought, on an ICE bike, you wouldn't feel that because of its own vibes. Oooohhh, I'm going to miss the V. I hope they can fix it quickly!

Thanks again mate.

I rode the Fazer 600 in earlier (long journey later) - to be honest the vibration difference is not that much! Certainly harder work to ride than the V as you can practically ride the thing one handed with the right planning but they are both fun in their own different ways ;)

Hi Undead,

Do you have the new firmware installed?

I'll probably have mine upgraded as a matter of course when my fuse is fixed.

Reading the stuff here on the forum, do you think that the new upgrade is to help prevent this fuse from blowing by reducing possible high surges?

It does seem that performance is altered "down" when upgraded. It could be for that reason perhaps?

Exactly my thoughts - the overall performance is still the same, however it slowly degrades as the charge gets lower - before the upgrade, I could get the same power from pull the throttle back pretty much right down to the last 1 or two bars, then it degraded quickly into limp mode from there on

After I had the firmware installed, Once it gets below sort of halfway down the battery gague (depending on how it was ridden etc), you lost slightly more and more perforance - at 4 bars it will still get to 62, it just takes longer to get there.

I think it was altered down for that reason perhaps, and to make the range gague more realistic, if smoeone rides carefully for 3/4 of the total range, then rides it hard before the upgrade, it would be easy for it to drop rediculously as it seems hard acceleration is one of the biggest range killers.

I rode the Fazer 600 in earlier (long journey later) - to be honest the vibration difference is not that much! Certainly harder work to ride than the V as you can practically ride the thing one handed with the right planning but they are both fun in their own different ways ;)

Simon

Well, my old R1100RT, though quiet, is a bit lumpy on tickover as some horizontally opposed twins can be, not as bad as the old boxers I'll admit, and once over 1,500 rpm it's really quite nice due to it's low revs. It's redlined at only 7,500 rpm which is when the limiter cuts in. Loads of luverly torque though.

But my BMW-C1 is a right old buzz box. 18bhp from a 176cc 4 stroke single is a pretty highly tuned motor and it's noisy. What makes it worse noise wise is being inside the bike's cabin. In case any of you are wondering what this "cabin" is, as I know the C1 was never sold in the USA, please follow the link. (That's not me riding. LOL!)

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/cml/images/bmw_c1.jpg

Exactly my thoughts - the overall performance is still the same, however it slowly degrades as the charge gets lower

This is because when the battery is low, more current than normal is drawn when the throttle is opened fully? If this is so, then I can see the reason for doing the controller firmware upgrade.

It's just a shame it doesn't have a user resettable breaker.

I do have to climb a steep hill on the way home at the end of my commute, (done on the one overnight charge) but then, even in these current UK temperatures, I do still have 8 or 9 bars left.

Today when it went, I was on the flat going at 40kph as indicated by the frozen speedo. This was after only a 12 mile run over 45 minutes only and a lot of that is downhill. So as you can see, not thrashing it at all, and certainly not at low voltage as I still had 14 bars left.

The fuse must weaken. Which probably means it gets pretty hot under normal use anyway, you think? If this is all correct, then I deduce that the new upgrade is to help prevent the burn out of the fuse.

Well, that's fine. I don't mind beta testing, while it's still under warranty anyway.

Vectrix UK confirmed it must be the fuse if the speedo sticks where it was when the power goes.

The V is about to be recovered and taken to my dealer for a new fuse and firmware upgrade. It's taken so long as everywhere was closed for the holidays until now.

I really must get a bike trailer like the BikeLug folding trailer. It would be nice to be able to self recover and also to be able to take it long distance with no en route overnight charging stops, haha!

May I say that the problems I am having now over my broken down Vectrix is getting beyond the pale.

I used the Vectrix AA hotline to get my bike recovered after its main fuse failure.

I stressed that the bike was in an underground carpark with a height restriction of 2 metres, that it was very heavy and that a small recovery vehicle, preferably with a trailer would need to be used.

Now it wasn't the AA who were going to be recovering the bike, but a bunch of cowboy subcontractors. After many phone calls and lying all day about their arrival time, they finally pulled up 6 hours late in a 2 car recovery vehicle, nay, a blinking lorry!

Far too big and high to get into the carpark. So the two of us had to push it out. 200 odd Kgs up a 75 metre long 2 story slope. I nearly died.

By now it was far too late to get it to my dealer in time as it was late afternoon and they were closing, so the recovery guy said he'd store it overnight and deliver it first thing.

Umpteen calls to my dealer today confirmed that it had not been delivered yet, so I eventually called the AA, who told me that it HAD been delivered!

Alarm bells and the worry that the toerag recovery service had just dumped it outside the dealership and it had been stolen went through my mind, until they finally admitted that they had still got it in storage because they were too busy to get it to the dealership today!

So, here we go, how long does it actually take to get a Vectrix 8 miles across London. well, it will be 48 hours by tomorrow morning, IF they aren't too busy!

I'm not a happy bunny.

I really shall buy me a bike trailer now.

I may say that Vectrix UK are not at fault nor the AA, but this schlock recovery company called Haha "Friendly Motors" Probably best to avoid using them if you live in the London area.

I would write into them, the AA are very concious about their image and a possible threat of "Green Vectrix owner with AA cover cant even sort their own bikes" hitting any news may panic them a bit, since the AA themselves own vectrix vehicles!

Vectrix have been brillient with me so far - I do need to contact them about my daily CANBUS errors though - its wearing a bit thin...

I would write into them, the AA are very concious about their image and a possible threat of "Green Vectrix owner with AA cover cant even sort their own bikes" hitting any news may panic them a bit, since the AA themselves own vectrix vehicles!

Vectrix have been brillient with me so far - I do need to contact them about my daily CANBUS errors though - its wearing a bit thin...

The AA are dealing with this, they aren't too pleased either that the recovery company were still accepting calls even though mine was still outstanding.

The V is now with my very friendly Mottingham Motorcycles dealership and they had already requested a main fuse from Vectrix UK in preparation for the delivery of the bike.

The Vectrix is now with them, 50 hours after the call was made by me for its recovery. I'm glad I wasn't stranded on a motorway with it in this weather. I shall get a bike trailer, I really don't like being at the mercy of others.

The new firmware will be installed too.

Bless 'em, they offered me the loan of the demo bike, but I declined as I am running my spare scoot at present. I can't believe how horrid petrol engines are now!

I can't believe how horrid petrol engines are now!

I had exactly the same feeling when I had to start driving my Clio due to low winter temperatures we have here.

A shame the BikeLug isn't available in Europe, as it looked ideal for those odd moments when you needed some 'support'!

A shame the BikeLug isn't available in Europe, as it looked ideal for those odd moments when you needed some 'support'!

Well the Motolug seems to be the UK equivalent.

http://www.bikelug.myzen.co.uk/erol.html

It's a nice rig, if a little pricey. I've been lusting after one for a couple of years now.

I had a call from my dealer today. The fuse is fixed and the firmware upgrade is done. They are going to do 2 charge cycles in the shop before I pick it up on Saturday.

They said the guys from the main agent came to the garage to do the work actually. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the bike behaves with the new program.

I saw a Vectrix on the road on my way home tonight, I take that as a good omen. Although I am very glad to have a back-up bike, I'll be so pleased to be back on electric power again.

hi let us all know what the outcome is i/e what type of up grade are you having and is the top speed reduced to 50 mph or is it the acceleration tamed down a little .????
and let us know if there was a probblem with range before .if it made any change i/e range is increased to over 30 miles hahahah .. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???? thanks kev

I had a call from my dealer today. The fuse is fixed and the firmware upgrade is done.

Did they say why it happens and if the problem is now fixed?

hi let us all know what the outcome is i/e what type of up grade are you having and is the top speed reduced to 50 mph or is it the acceleration tamed down a little .????
and let us know if there was a probblem with range before .if it made any change i/e range is increased to over 30 miles hahahah .. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???? thanks kev

My best range was 49.9 miles, achieved twice. The worst range, absolutely caning it everywhere was 35 miles.

We'll see.

Simon

I had a call from my dealer today. The fuse is fixed and the firmware upgrade is done.

Did they say why it happens and if the problem is now fixed?

I will ask. I'm convinced it's the higher amp draw when volts are low that's causing it. In my case, also coupled with a hill climb at the end of it's daily run and the quite cold weather (further dropping voltage) we were having in the UK at the time.

Did you ever measure an increase in amps delivered on a hill climb on low charge Mik?

Did you ever measure an increase in amps delivered on a hill climb on low charge Mik?

No, never.

Quite the opposite, actually! Unless the battery is choc-a-block full, the RETAMPI never gets to 100%.

I believe that the fuse rating (of 125A) is insufficient for situations where a Vectrix is used in terrain which allows prolonged full-throttle uphill driving at between 60km/h and 80km/h. As long as the incline is no too steep to let you get above 40-50km/h, then the full power is available and gets delivered. That's why uphill mountain hairpin turns are such fun on a Vectrix! That's where you get to feel it's power.

I believe the 125A fuse can only handle so many minutes of full power Vectrix current. Once it has been used up it might then burn anytime....

I might be wrong, this is complex....but the people who might be able to explain it are gagged by the Vectrix non-disclosure-agreement.

hi simon wow am impressed with your total distance achieved of 49.9 was it at a snail pace of 25 mph !!??????????????????????????????? and what type of roads was you riding on and
was there hilles involeved and did you use lots of regaen ?? or did you try to coast to get the range ??
you say you was canning the vectrix scooter i/e not been economical with the throttle ? on what type of roads was this and was there hills and lots of traffic ?? or motaway use ?? did you get lots of regen in with this range
sorry to ask but its for all us vectrix riders hopfully to help us all ...
i actully think that if you have used this scooter as as little ecnomical as you can even with regen as to save on wear n tear on breaks as thats what regen is for save wear n tear and dump wasted power back in to the batteries
( 35 ) .... miles of total flat out riding aggressively was excellent as if you look at my total range is any thing to go-buy
my total miles range is 31 miles and thats it !!!!!!!! so thats why i think that you going flat out and doing range of 35 miles range is good !! as i have been sticking to speeds of 28 to 42 mph total thats
trying to regain any spaire regen at any given moment and accelerating very conservatively .. ok i was going over 25 mph as this speed is very dangerous or can/ be at at speed limits roads of 30 mph or 40 or 50 //!!!! and also i think that 25 mph at a range of 68 miles range is un atainable in england as at
some point you will be cosing a danger to your self and also has anybody thought of the scooter as
you need a certain speed to keep the momentom going as i think like a plain there is a stall speed dont no if you agree `???????????????????????
.... as vectrix say 68 miles is achievable at 25 mph sorry to say it but i no that basic figures should be min based on 30 mph real wold testing and give us all a real true meaing of tatal range test
i/e max possable range 45 miles ??? unless some one out there is averaging a better average range i await anybody's repliays ???????????????????? kevin

Hi Kevin,

Always full regen, in town careful use but keeping up with traffic, some decent hills with coasting whenever possible got me the 49.9 mile range. This was in the autumn.

The 35 mile range achieved was with good brisk acceleration all the time, in town use, so no top speed or sustained high speed and full regen. Coasting whenever possible.

I've never have the opportunity to hold top speed for more than a few seconds because the bike lives in London and all its work is in the city.