Electric Bikes - Brakes are rubbing

Hi

My brakes are starting to do the pulsating thing when I apply them. It's like it grabs more on certain parts of the wheel. Is it just as simple as taking some cleaning compound and cleaning the metal on the rim where the brake contacts, or is it something worse, like tire out of round? I have the Schwinn Izip, with the standard brakes, I guess you call them the V-brakes. Bike is pretty new.

Thanks

Cleaning your rims might solve the problem. If so, it's likely that you will have to clean your rims regularly to keep the problem from coming back. Switching brands of brake pads may or may not solve the problem.

Often the root of the problem, when this happens, is that the bike has been ridden with low tire pressure, and the rider hit a bump, bottomed out the tire, and dented the rim. If that's true there is no way to take the dent out of the rim.

Thanks for the info. But all might be academic. Took the bike out this afternoon, went a few blocks and the led's went blank and the bike was dead.

Help Karma!!

I put the bike in the trunk and took it to Canadian Tire and all they said was to call Dorel. Since it is Sunday, I will have to wait until tomorrow to do that. In the mean time, is there anything I can check on the Schwinn I-zip? Took the plate off the controller, but didn't see any fuses. The battery is fully charged. I do notice when I plug the battery in and turn it on, I can see the bottom LED faintly light up for a second before going dark again. Hopefully I will get some help from Dorel tomorrow, but I am not too hopeful. I bought the bike on the 4th of April, so still under warranty.

theres a blade fuse in the battery pack that goes bad and melts. thats one of the problems i had.

do a test with a volt meter with the pack on, test the pins on the plug off the pack center pin is negative end pins are positive.
with the power on there should be 24volt on each end pin.

theres a blade fuse in the battery pack that goes bad and melts. thats one of the problems i had.

do a test with a volt meter with the pack on, test the pins on the plug off the pack center pin is negative end pins are positive.
with the power on there should be 24volt on each end pin.

Thanks Karma. I don't have a voltmeter right now. I will probably go out and grab one. I called Dorel and they said to take it to Canadian Tire and they will fix it under warranty. So that lady totally wasted my time :notamused: Hopefully I can get it fixed soon, so I can start riding it to and from work again.:thumb:

I opened my replacement (second) battery pack yesterday and it is wired differently. The centre pin is positive. Live when the on/off switch is on, dead when off. From the outside, the left pin is negative and the right pin is positive. The connections can be seen in the pic. The fuse is the round type.

I haven't opened the original battery that came with the bike, but from testing with the voltmeter it shows the centre pin is positive with on/off too.

my model was one of the ones first out, looks like thay made changes. i just had had a cheap car blade fuse in mine.

I opened my replacement (second) battery pack yesterday and it is wired differently. The centre pin is positive. Live when the on/off switch is on, dead when off. From the outside, the left pin is negative and the right pin is positive. The connections can be seen in the pic. The fuse is the round type.

I haven't opened the original battery that came with the bike, but from testing with the voltmeter it shows the centre pin is positive with on/off too.

Hey cool. :thumb: I wasn't thinking about opening it up, (because of the warranty). But I think I will, and see if it is just the fuse. Save me from packing my bike down there in the car.

Thanks for the pics.

EDIT: Well I took it apart and the fuse is good. So looks like I will have to take the bike down and have them repair it.

Well dropped the bike off, and the guy called today saying the battery was dead:eek: Don't know how that happened, only really had about 20 charges on it, and no real deep discharges. And always faithful to put it on the charger right after a ride. Anyway, will be replaced with a new one for free under warranty. Hope to pick it up first thing in the morning and get riding again. Wouldn't you know it. The week I didn't have it was the coldest and wettest weather on record for June, so didn't miss much.:rolleyes:

UPDATE: Well took the bike out today on the new battery, and it is like a whole new bike. I guess the other one was fried, because this one pulls twice as hard. Rode it full out for almost an hour, and was still showing full charge. I noticed looking at the new battery, that it looks so... NEW. I mean the other one must have been kicking around for a while, because it was beat up looking compared to the new one. I am keeping a tally of the charges to see how many I get out of it.