"Marc Travels" YouTube channel

[Seeker]

Marcus, aka Marc Travels on Y/T is a young German guy heading to New Zealand (from Europe) on a Zero electric bike which he bought in Berlin second hand. He is just about to leave Nepal and enter China.

He has a problem though - the bearings on the Zero's motor are very noisy and should be replaced but Zero, who don't offer any help, have said you cannot replace them in the field, you need to buy a new motor at about $4000 (something, something... need test gear to set the motor up),

Bearing in mind (ouch) Marcus has not been able to get tyres through customs the chance of getting a motor are slim to none. Plus the motor has the bikes VIN equivalent which means his exit paperwork would be invalid.

Zero don't seem like a customer oriented company, Marcus has been suffering through an error message for months which says his battery pack isn't valid which requires him to shut EVE (bike's name) down and restart it.
He has put 65000 km on the bike and has been a good ambassodor for Zero and electric bikes in general. Although his naturally optimistic temperament is wearing a bit thin with Zero more recently.

It's been suggested in the comments that his best bet might be to get a Chinese mechanic to swap the bearings since they have more experience with electric bikes and hope that the Zero diagnostic gear is simply to make the motor run most efficiently.
Here's his last video, still in Nepal but heading for China. He runs the motor without the belt so you can hear the bearings.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efPnkFipKs0

[admin]

That looks an interesting watch.

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[Seeker]

Originally Posted by admin

That looks an interesting watch.

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk

It used to be great but these days it seems more his issues with finding working chargers. Initially he was being accompanied with his New Zealander girlfriend (driving a Suzuki Jimny) but they split up a year or two back (devastating him). He has made friends with a German couple driving a Mercedes camper truck that have helped him a few times with maintenance and he crosses path with them many times since they're heading to China too.

I get the feeling though since meeting with them he now seems to show the country he's in less than what he himself is actually doing, if that makes sense. He has been in India for a year.

His riding seems to be getting "bolder" (!) maybe it's the camera distorting perspective but some of his overtaking makes me wince.

[Luckypants]

Wow! Is he still travelling? I got bored of his style quite a while back and stopped watching. I first picked him up on YT when he was travelling in the UK and charged up in Denbigh, just over the hill from here.

It's very unfortunate Zero are not being helpful. You would think that this kind of hard real world testing could provide Zero good feedback on the longevity of their product and that they would provide some technical support at the very least. IIRC he already had a replacement motor (or maybe batery?) a couple of years ago after touring the UK.

It is also unfortunate that the motor is packing up in a country Zero do not do business with, he's going to have a hard time fixing it. If he gets to China, I'm willing to bet the motor and transmission assembly is made in China and he has a better chance of having it fixed.

[Seeker]

Zero replaced his battery under (its 5 year) warranty which almost doubled his range. It's a heavy bike and a reverse gear setting is available if you pay Zero another $200+.
Zero don't tell you that when charge equals 0, there is about 3% remaining. Plus the existing battery can be configured for greater range - if you pay Zero yet more money for the software update.