Priority Current Whistle

[teaman]

Hi, New to this forum. My wife just bought a Priority Current and less than a week later, received it. After assembling it, I took it for a ride to see how it handles and performs. Right off the bat, I noticed a high pitched whistle coming from the motor. It is not the usual electric motor whine but it most closely resembles the whistle you hear from a tea pot as it comes to a boil. It is shrill and very noticeable riding the bike. It only occurs while pedaling so it is not brakes related. It changed frequency with the pedal rotation frequency, the higher the pedal rate, the higher the pitch but still a teapot whistle pitch.

Has anyone noticed this with their Current? Can anyone explain it as I have ridden two other e-bikes and they do not produce this sound, only normal e-bike motor sounds.

 

[msd]

their support folks seem pretty responsive, have you asked them? Love to hear what they say, since mine is coming in a few weeks .

 

[teaman]

their support folks seem pretty responsive, have you asked them? Love to hear what they say, since mine is coming in a few weeks .

Yes I contacted them right away. At first they thought it was related to the brakes and that a quick adjustment would resolve it. But when I sent video and demonstrated it is there when not braking and only when pedaling, they then imply that it is "normal" and even provided me a video of a bike or two they had there that did the same thing.

So just know that if you are ok with it, no problem. If it bothers you, plan to send the bike back with a hefty return fee. They will charge you shipping charges for both directions (the shipping for sending the new bike to you and for shipping it back to them.) For me that is like a $225 fee to have received a bike I couldn't try out first and then change my mind about keeping the bike due to an annoyance they didn't mention anywhere in their specs. I will point out I've been around/ridden several other brands of e-bikes and none make this tea-kettle whistle while pedaling.

Please let me know if yours does not make this sound.

 

[ronniebellie]

I purchased the Priority Current last fall. I have not experienced at all such a sound. Are you sure the sound is coming from the electric motor? Are you able to upload the video to this forum for us to listen to the sound?

I would continue to talk to Priority support. My experience is that they are very responsive.

Did you by any chance purchase the Current via Costco Next? Return shipping in such a case should be free.

 

[Snoop]

Bad bearing maybe?

 

[Snoop]

@teaman, you said it only occurs when pedaling.

Are you fully sure it is coming from the motor? Sometimes sounds can trick the ears.

Do you have a throttle on your bike? If so, does it whistle when on full throttle with no pedaling?

Is your motor mid drive or hub?

 

[teaman]

@Snoop Yes it is from the motor. The Priority Current does not have a throttle. When I stop pedaling, whistle stops but so does the motor as it is torque sensing. Motor is a mid drive bafang motor, 500W.
Given the bike is brand new I wouldn't think it would be a bad bearing. What is interesting is the Priority support staff said their bike on the show room floor used to let people test ride it makes the same sound. So I asked if someone else could check theirs. Someone who works there who has the Current took a video of their bike and it too has that teapot whistle.

@ronniebellie Are your sure yours does not make this sound? I did buy mine from Costco Next online.

 

[ronniebellie]

@Snoop Yes it is from the motor. The Priority Current does not have a throttle. When I stop pedaling, whistle stops but so does the motor as it is torque sensing. Motor is a mid drive bafang motor, 500W.
Given the bike is brand new I wouldn't think it would be a bad bearing. What is interesting is the Priority support staff said their bike on the show room floor used to let people test ride it makes the same sound. So I asked if someone else could check theirs. Someone who works there who has the Current took a video of their bike and it too has that teapot whistle.

@ronniebellie Are your sure yours does not make this sound? I did buy mine from Costco Next online.

Yes, mine has somewhat of a similar sound, but it's definitely, not a "a high pitched whistle" as you are experiencing. It's just the sound of the electric motor wining some, but nothing seemingly out of the ordinary.

Can you try recording the sound and posting the audio file in this thread? If you have an iPhone, Apple provides the app Voice Memos on every iPhone that works well for this. Listing to the audio might help.

Correction on something I said above. I'm looking over again the email I received from the Costco Next buyer. The return shipping if necessary is not covered. I mistakenly said it was. Sorry.