Brakes Lectric XP 3.0 Brakes...or lack of.

I don’t know if it will apply to the 2.0 because the rotor size is larger on the 3.0. I am assuming that the caliper is also different. Not sure I have both the 3.0 and 2.0. It sure would be nice to convert 2.0 to hydraulic at no cost.
 
Thanks for the follow up. Will stick with my current brakes......$200 is more than 20% of what I paid for my ebike.......pretty steep!
I agree with you. There may be cheaper options on Amazon but I really haven’t looked into it. The brakes seem to work fine if you keep them adjusted.
 
Aside from having to clean them with alcohol about once a month so they don't squeak......they do work fine.....takes about two minutes.
The widely-reported issue is cables stretching, which is not a shock on a bike twice as heavy or more as an analog bike that the brakes were manufactured to be put on, plus speed is about doubled, and riders tend to be non-cyclists and heavier, and less-inclined to accept or even understand that adjusting stretched cables should be considered normal maintenance. This is by no means a problem that belongs to Lectric but rather to the entire low-cost ebike marketplace.

The squeak can happen to any kind of brakes including hydraulic. It *should* be addressable via bedding the brakes. Oftentimes noisy pads are a sign they aren't getting up to their needed temperature (metallic race pads in particular). But it could also be the opposite: Going over their temp range, glazing and the glazed (now-sort-of-polished) pads become noisy. Thats what bedding should fix; re-surfacing the pad and re-depositing a layer of pad material on the rotors to shut them up. Alcohol actually wipes that away. It could also be squeal from vibration between the caliper and the pad although I have never seen that on a bicycle. Thats usually on a car.
 
The widely-reported issue is cables stretching, which is not a shock on a bike twice as heavy or more as an analog bike that the brakes were manufactured to be put on, plus speed is about doubled, and riders tend to be non-cyclists and heavier, and less-inclined to accept or even understand that adjusting stretched cables should be considered normal maintenance. This is by no means a problem that belongs to Lectric but rather to the entire low-cost ebike marketplace.

The squeak can happen to any kind of brakes including hydraulic. It *should* be addressable via bedding the brakes. Oftentimes noisy pads are a sign they aren't getting up to their needed temperature (metallic race pads in particular). But it could also be the opposite: Going over their temp range, glazing and the glazed (now-sort-of-polished) pads become noisy. Thats what bedding should fix; re-surfacing the pad and re-depositing a layer of pad material on the rotors to shut them up. Alcohol actually wipes that away. It could also be squeal from vibration between the caliper and the pad although I have never seen that on a bicycle. Thats usually on a car.
Here's the thing.......I enjoy my ebike a lot.....I am not a professional ebiker like you......I respect your opinion but my bike is for some enjoyment and exercise.....it fully meets my needs. I clean my brakes with alcohol......I did tighten my front brake cable becasue I didn't like the feel when the bike arrived......aside from that......the brakes work great.......they stop me when needed..........they do the job well.......like the saying says....if it ain't broke.....don't fix it. BTW......I just put new pads on my 85 Honda......all is well.
 
Uh... ok?

I'm not a professional. I've just been riding for transportation since the 1970's, build my own bikes etc. etc. You learn stuff over time. Wasn't saying anything against you or your bike. Its just that cabled brakes require adjustment. For some people thats an issue. We've seen it become a much bigger one recently thanks to the Rad lawsuit. A LOT of people are now riders for whom the need for mechanical brake adjustments are too much to wrap their heads around... let alone deal with.


I've never needed to clean brake pads. If you like doing it, I guess thats great.
 
Uh... ok?

I'm not a professional. I've just been riding for transportation since the 1970's, build my own bikes etc. etc. You learn stuff over time. Wasn't saying anything against you or your bike. Its just that cabled brakes require adjustment. For some people thats an issue. We've seen it become a much bigger one recently thanks to the Rad lawsuit. A LOT of people are now riders for whom the need for mechanical brake adjustments are too much to wrap their heads around... let alone deal with.


I've never needed to clean brake pads. If you like doing it, I guess thats great.
I agree. The problem, I think, started with Lectric's choice of pads, which seem heavy on the metal side of things. They're pretty noisy and wear fast. The mechanical brakes must be adjusted precisely on the 3.0. First you must align the calipers over the rotors for even pad application and without the calipers interfering with the wheel spokes. Then you must make sure the cable is set properly. If you have too much slack in the cable, you won't get enough braking before the pads are fully engaged and the handles run out of room and bottom out. Too little cable slack and the calipers run out of room before the pads are fully engaged. And on top of all that, you have the stationary piston on the wheel side that must be set accordingly and moved in towards the rotor as the pads wear down. There's a set screw you must loosen first, accessible from the top. To do these things, you'll need two different size hex wrenches - 5mm and 2mm and you have to pay attention to proper torque settings (in the manual), so there's that tool as well.

But wait, there's more. You must also first ensure your rear wheel is set properly in the forks to allow the pads to set down far enough over the rotor to fully engage or you will certainly form override lips on the pads which will also render your brakes useless at some point. And doing so might not eliminate the pad lips forming. But there are special parts (unique washers and brackets) you can buy to adjust the pads up and down precisely, but that information has been posted here already. You need some mechanical ability and acquired knowledge to do all of these things correctly. Otherwise you can run out of brakes and that's never a good thing. Sadly, these mechanical skills are no longer the norm. I know lots of people who can play video games quiet well, but cannot change a flat tire.

True story - I helped a guy plug a tire on his car the other day who had stuck duct tape over the nail hole, expecting it to get him to a repair facility. He was clueless. It's sad we haven't passed basic mechanical skills on from generation to generation. But the one salvation is likely the plethora of online videos showing these skills, so you can indeed still learn these things from others. I suggest you do.

In the meantime, you might be able to request new pads from Lectric. They sent me a free set for each of my two 3.0 bikes. They look identical to the ones I recently bought on Amazon (4 sets for $10 and change). These pads have a more uniform metal bit matrix and are quiet compared to the original pads. They seem to brake and wear better, but I'm still looking forward to the hydraulic system upgrade to eliminate most of the above maintenance protocol.
 
I think they're doing it because of all the brake complaints and since they have hydraulics on the trike, they might as well go ahead and do this. There should be fewer required mechanical adjustments with the hydraulic brakes, meaning fewer incidents resulting from user adjustment errors, in my opinion. Also, they will be offering some manner of free controller upgrade, maybe just software, that will give a smoother take-off (according to an email my wife received today).

By the way, I just received replacement pads at no cost from Lectric and they look exactly like the pads I bought on Amazon. The Amazon pads have been quiet and a vast improvement over the factory pads in stopping power (200 miles in). The metal bits in the pad matrix on these new pads are much smaller and more uniform, unlike the mishmash of different sized metal flakes in the factory pads.
Now we know why they are doing it. Today I received a Lectric Bikes' Safety Alert about my 3.0 brakes. They claim in that alert that fewer than 10 bikes in 45,000 experienced a failure when not adjusted properly. I think they may be off in their numbers and will leave it at that.

Lectric sent me two new calipers when I first complained to them of my braking problems. They said nothing about these being different from the originals. But Lectric has changed the caliper to one that activates the piston fully with about half of the arm movement. So the factory calipers on my two bikes can, if not adjusted perfectly, bottom out the cable actuator arm against the barrel adjustment screw housing before the piston fully pushes out on the brake pad against the rotor. This also can lead to an over rotation of the arm, dislocating parts in the caliper according to the alert. Early on with this bike, I actually heard as well as felt this over-rotation and alleged parts dislocation, along with zero braking, which of course all alerted me to an adjustment problem.

In my opinion, the reason the brakes are difficult to adjust is that the brake cable has to move the arm through a really wide arc to fully activate the piston. Unless you have picked the sweet spot with your cable attachment to the arm, you will bottom out the arm or bottom out the brake lever without fully activating the brakes. And even if you get it right, which can be done, it doesn't last long before you have to re-adjust everything.

With the replacement calipers, I would estimate this movement has been reduced by half, making it much easier to adjust, maintain that adjustment, and to apply these brakes to safely stop your bike. And as I've mentioned before, they have also changed the pad to incorporate a finer metal matrix, which I think is much improved.

By the way, I should also mention that the new calipers that I measured seem to allow them to sit about 20 mm lower on one end and 10 mm on the other, which should also fix the break pad lip formation issue.

Will they send you replacement calipers? Maybe; maybe not. They are, after all, offering a complete braking system upgrade to hydraulics, which will also solve this problem. In the meantime, please read the alert and adjust your brake cable according to their instructions.

OLD Calipers:
Old Calipers.png


NEW Calipers:

New Calipers.png
 
my 3.0 wore out the pads at 600 miles, no brakes at all and yes i've adjusted them 3 times, just wore out, ordered new pads, hope the last a bit longer
 
New to this forum. 1st Post.
I just received my Upgrade Kit kit for my XP 3.0 from Lectric yesterday.
In the Box:
2 sets of decent looking hydraulic brakes totally assembled and new adapter mounts w/2 bolts.
1 Complete New Front Wheel with disc mounted.

I don't get it..... Why the new wheel???:oops:
Is there an official word on this?

It's at ~200 miles and is wearing the brake pads with that step forming.
As I see it all that was needed is a new adapter mount to reposition the caliper so that the pad is at the right place on the disc.
I saw this pad situation from my first pre-ride inspection.
 
New to this forum. 1st Post.
I just received my Upgrade Kit kit for my XP 3.0 from Lectric yesterday.
In the Box:
2 sets of decent looking hydraulic brakes totally assembled and new adapter mounts w/2 bolts.
1 Complete New Front Wheel with disc mounted.

I don't get it..... Why the new wheel???:oops:
Is there an official word on this?

It's at ~200 miles and is wearing the brake pads with that step forming.
As I see it all that was needed is a new adapter mount to reposition the caliper so that the pad is at the right place on the disc.
I saw this pad situation from my first pre-ride inspection.
Hey Welcome to the forums :cool:

Have you checked the original wheel for trueness and or any other deforities?

You might just have gotten a free new replacement wheel :)
 
Hey Welcome to the forums :cool:

Have you checked the original wheel for trueness and or any other deforities?

You might just have gotten a free new replacement wheel :)
I just gave the original a spin and it is 'true'.

I like the bike and the company, but I don't get the Free New Front Wheel.
Why are they doing this?
Will every XP 3.0 owner be getting a new front wheel?
When all that was really needed was a new Mount Adaptor and a new set of pads for after reposition the caliper.

I just read that Lecrtric has new programming for the controller coming out soon also!
That PAS could be smoother....:rolleyes: (And why isn't Regen Braking part of this hub motor design?)
(I have ideas for the UI, Pedal backwards, 1 or 2 brake levers moved a bit, configurable.)

I want that new SW ASAP! (So I won't be talking about selling this new wheel..yet...):cool:
 
I just gave the original a spin and it is 'true'.

I like the bike and the company, but I don't get the Free New Front Wheel.
Why are they doing this?
Will every XP 3.0 owner be getting a new front wheel?
When all that was really needed was a new Mount Adaptor and a new set of pads for after reposition the caliper.

I just read that Lecrtric has new programming for the controller coming out soon also!
That PAS could be smoother....:rolleyes: (And why isn't Regen Braking part of this hub motor design?)
(I have ideas for the UI, Pedal backwards, 1 or 2 brake levers moved a bit, configurable.)

I want that new SW ASAP! (So I won't be talking about selling this new wheel..yet...):cool:
Free stuff is always nice :)
 
my 3.0 wore out the pads at 600 miles, no brakes at all and yes i've adjusted them 3 times, just wore out, ordered new pads, hope the last a bit longer
Did your brake pads have that step worn into them as seen in post #6?
Are you registered to get the Hydraulic Upgrade Kit?
 
I just installed my new hydraulic brakes on both of the 3.0s I have. Pretty simple. They say the new wheel is so the spokes won't interfere with the caliper. The brakes work great, by the way. Took me a couple hours per bike because I had to remove their tires from the new wheels and install instead my recently purchased tires with the new tubes (filled with FlatOut).

I used a brake disc shim slipped onto the rotor when setting the caliper and that worked flawlessly.
 
Does this apply to only the 3.0.....what about the 2.0?
I think the free kit is only for 3.0. Because there were so many brake specific complaints within the first 6 months of its release. But if you want to upgrade a 1.0 or 2.0 you can buy a upgrade kit on Lectrics website for $200. Which if you ONLY want hydraulic brakes you can find much MUCH cheaper options from well known brands for under $80. The only thing is if you buy hydraulic breaks NOT from Lectric you won't have the feature of the motor being cut off when you pull the brakes.
 
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