myexcursion

I just got an new ebike today ( fat tire ) and loving it. My problem though is when I went to adjust the front fork preload ( not the lockout side ) - the actual knob snapped off.. Not sure what is involved in replacing it since it looks like the know just snapped. Can I just replace it with a standard 30mm one from amazon using the slotted tool ? Do i need to decompress anything or is it basically just unscrew old one and screw in new one ? Appreciate any help !

it's a Zoom Fork btw 80mm travel ( 879 HL ).

Thanks !

what I have now -- an open hole.

curbtender

https://www.bikeforums.net/g/picture/32870637

myexcursion

Thanks ! Looks a lot like the piece. The cap/knob looks like it snapped off from the base.

Do I just order one from Amazon ? Does it just unscrew and screw new one in ? Do I have to release spring tension before unscrewing that piece ?

veganbikes

If you can still return the bike to Amazon, do that instead. Take some extra time and do some research and ride some actual e-bikes at a shop or shops., you will get a better product and better support which is crucial in the end the amount of dead fat tire e-mopeds at my old shop was staggering so many that needed quite a bit of work that the customers didn't want to deal with or stuff that needed warranty that the company had no interest in supporting,

If you are dead-set on keeping this thing then get the Billionaires at Amazon or the OEM or Zoom to send you a new fork as this one is broken and also ask you local shop what labor would be to replace the fork and have them cover that as well. A new bike should not break out of the box but it is a good sign of more to come.

Zoom is not a company I want for a fork. Fox, Rockshox, MRP, Öhlins, SR Suntour (on their air forks to a degree) and DVO are companies I would happily run forks from but if you find stuff like Zoom and similar stuff it is a good sign to be careful as those parts are designed to be very very very low initial cost and of as little quality as they can really get away with.

If you want you can pay for a piece but I wouldn't spend your hard earned money on something that was broken near out of the box.

myexcursion

Thanks … I did hear back from Ariel, it’s an Ariel Rider Kepler and they offered to swap out the fork… just not sure I want to go through sending it back and forth. I was hoping I could just swap out the part myself. I have a feeling it likely got damaged in transit from west coast to east coast through fedex, but no way to be sure.

veganbikes

Oh...Ariel Rider does not know a thing about their bikes, we had one in the shop for over 6 months and from basically day one we told them what we needed and what the problem was and they sent the wrong part after the wrong part over and over and over again till finally they said "ok we will ship that part" and it fixed it right away and they of course didn't cover all of the labor taking that thing apart and putting it back together at least 8 times (and probably more). Our poor mechanic put so much time and effort into that thing.

In the case of the fork you would not be sending anything back they would send you the new fork and you would ask your local shop to install it and then have Ariel Rider send you money for the cost to install it and maybe also tune the bike and make sure it is as good as possible if you intend to keep it. Make AR go through all the major hassles and if they want their fork back, say you need to provide a shipping label and then just repack it in the new fork box and ask nicely if the shop can give it to their UPS or FedEx person to send back.

Regardless of where it was damaged it was a faulty part before it was yours so you shouldn't be paying for any of it or at least you should be compensated for the full amount potentially plus a tune up for the trouble. This isn't on you and on a brand new part unless you were going well outside of specs and instructions and say using a impact wrench which I would doubt happened.

myexcursion

Wow great insight and being that I was in IT also doing warranty work for quite a few years - completely understand and can appreciate where you're coming from... I also know all too well about having to replace part after part before a company would give the actual part we needed and had asked for from day one - lol...

Let's see what play's out with the replacement and what they can do. So far they've been very responsive to emails through out the day ( actually just got another email a few minutes ago ). They expect to get me some more answers after the weekend to see best way to get it taken care. At least in the meantime the bike rides fine... I'm not worried about the front suspension as much not having the preload since it's really mostly 99% paved roads I'm on out here, no real offroading at all. I can still lock it if i want.. Wish it was a little easier fix than having to pull the fork , but let's see what happens... could be worse I guess. Thanks !

veganbikes

No worries, good luck. If they are being responsive they should be able to send you the parts and cost for labor and I would work a tune up into that as well, keep them on the hook so you can have confidence in your bike!

Duragrouch

Get things resolved *promptly*, as amazon has a time limit on returns. Some companies try to run out the clock. Keep a record of all communications, nothing by phone voice, all in writing. Once return period is within a week, don't take the chance, get a return label and ship it back at their expense. Check with amazon now on time limit for return and final date. Assuming this was bought on amazon.

myexcursion

So quick update - The bike is not from Amazon, and I was a bit weary since some ebike companies are not all that responsive - but can't complain at all about Ariel's service. Getting them on the phone -- no answer... however after emailing to get in touch with them (not all that different though from what most companies nowadays are like ie Tesla etc ! ) they called me back same day within an hour or so. I explained the issue and they offered to swap the entire fork, but I couldn't see doing all that work for just the knob/insert. I asked if they could just send me the knob and threaded insert and that I could try taking it to a local shop to have them remove the old one and replace it. The new part arrived in about a week and I was able to unscrew the broken one and screw in the new one in about 2 minutes time. Luckily I've been working on cars etc for a while so I have most of the tools you need to work on a bike too... so in the end -- Ariel customer service came through and I got my bike setup with a new knob

In the meantime I did swap the pretty bad seat it came with for a C9 and WOW I put about 10 miles on it today - what a world of difference !