linberl

I washed my trike today and cleaned and relubed the chain. Now the rear wheel (hub motor) squeaks when coasting. The minute I pedal, powered or not, it stops. Nothing appears to be rubbing. I'm thinking maybe some degreaser got somewhere, although i flushed it with water after i cleaned it. I've done this a million times on my 2 wheelers and never had an issue, but they didn't have rear hub motors, either. It's got less than 3k miles so hard to think it is a bearing. What should i check? Since i can hold it up and turn the wheel and hear it, it's not the jockey wheels because the chain isn't moving when I do that.

Leisesturm

Although motors are designed to take some rain, they don't want to be drenched. I suspect in your trikewashing you crossed that line that separates getting wet and getting drenched. Once the seals dry out you'll probably be good. If you have some WD-40 handy I'd put some everywhere a moving part of your motor interfaces with a non-moving part. I would remove the rear wheel before washing the trike going forward.

linberl

Ahh....thanks, I hope so. Sounds like little birds, lol. Learning the differences between my bikes and the trike - i used to put my Bike Friday in the bathtub! I'll be more careful with the trike. Taking the rear wheel off is a giant pain, so I will just use a damp rag around the rear wheel in the future and be more careful. it's amazing how much dirtier the trike gets being so close to the ground. Still love it though.

linberl

Well no luck. It still squeaks when coasting and now it is clattering when I pedal. I can't tell if it is the motor but I think it's a jockey wheel issue. A month ago some a.h. left green fishing line on the trail and I got caught in it. I thought i had removed it all and things were fine until i washed the trike. Now there is still some line around the upper jockey wheel. I can't get it all out. And I don't know if that is the whole problem. I think it is the cause of click/clatter because I can feel something in the chain when I pedal (I think). I may just have to call the Velofix guys ( since no lbs will work on trikes anywhere near me) to see if they can fix it. Their minimum is $150 though, so bummer.

Edited to add: I removed the jockey wheels and got the filament off them. Did not eliminate either noise. Sigh. Velofix coming Monday but I'm totally bummed I won't be able to participate tomorrow in the San Rafael bikeway anniversary ride :-(.
Really frustrating because I never had to get help fixing up my 2 wheelers, I did everything myself. New learning curve, I guess.

BlazingPedals

I'm not surprised that cleaning the jockey wheels didn't fix it. Jockey wheels only turn when you're pedaling. It's more likely a seal on the wheel itself. Did you hit the hub with high-pressure spray? If you did, it may have washed some grease out of the hub bearings and require repacking. This might be more of an e-assist question rather than a recumbent questions since it's not really recumbent-specific. I get that some shops may not have a stand for working on trikes. The mechanicals, though, are all the same.

linberl

My local shops won't work an anything that is electric unless they sell it to you, period. Even if I remove the battery and disconnect the hub motor and tape it off myself, they won't touch it for any reason, not even to fix a flat! I guess they've gotten burned by people bringing in bikes for something and then getting blamed if something is wrong with the e-assist later, sigh. Yes I maybe got some water or degreaser where it shouldn't have gone. I treated it like I always did my 2 wheelers and didn't think about the differences in the motorized wheel, dumb of me. I'm hoping it will just need repacking with grease when Velofix comes out. Lesson learned the hard way/expensive way. In the days before I got sick with myasthenia gravis (the reason for the trike) I would have just pulled it off and watched videos and done it myself. Can't really do that now, but fortunate I can afford to get it done. First world problem.

zandoval 

I did not know of this new thing about not working on e-bikes that you did not sell. There is most likely a longer story to this problem. Do know that I will keep a note of your dilemma for my personal future use...

linberl

It's entirely possible it is different where you live. I live in the Bay Area and bike shops can be very picky about what they work on, there aren't enough shops and mechanics so they don't have to do work that might involve any added liability. My local shops mostly sell non-motorized bikes, with one that sells cargo e-bikes as well. If we had shops that specialized in e-bikes, but weren't brand owned like the Rad Bike shop that opened, it might be okay. It's possible in an area where there are more shops than demand that it might not be an issue.

linberl

Well, in case anyone is interested Velofix came out and it was instructive. There's a rubber seal behind the biggest cog and it lost it's grease thanks to me, lol. He showed me how to lube it next time. He also helped me cut back the chain guard up front so I can use my park chain tool container to clean the chain. And I got some education on some other things that are different than my 2 wheelers. So an expensive lesson, but knowledge is priceless ;-).