Riese & Müller Packster 70 - 2020

rigidftw said:
Nice. What are you thoughts on the front suspension?

The girlfriend and I got an E-Bullitt last year to haul around the kids and try to escape most of the chaotic traffic in town.

I'm pretty happy with the bike and the parts it came with (pedals and seat were changed immediately, though).
We opted for a 5s Shimano Nexus Di2 hub, belt drive and the E6100 motor.

The first motor died at about 1.500km. I could not find much info on the web, but the problem might have been a fairly large plastic cog that synchronizes the pedal and motor power onto the shaft that in the ende drives the belt.
Searching for other users problems, what came closest was the 'E8000 duck noise'.

The motor got replaced under warranty and soon started to produce the same noise again. Although it seemed like it tried to adjust itself several times. Until the noise stopped completely and did not return for the last 6-700km.

I like the brakes it came with. TRP Slate E-MTB 4pots. Decent stopping power and easy to change pads.

Belt drive was a good choice as well.

The Nexus hub has been working flawlessly. Although while changing tyres I discovered that the nuts adjusting the cup and cone bearings had come loose.


Initially we thought about getting an R&M Load, as you can order it with a footwell for the kids. But you need to buy a third seat to have that option. Quite unreasonable, imho.
So, now owning a Bullitt without a footwell, I made one myself. With the help of my then 2yo son.

I made a couple mistakes and we gained not a lot of room, but it was good fun!

p.s. The bike developed some quite severe steering wobble, if you exceed 40km/h. Does not happen too often, but it at least feels very dangerous.
So I am checking options on fitting a steering damper in the near future.
Click to expand...
My/the front suspension is garbage. This is the second fork, which was swapped within the first 9 months under warranty as the seals blew out. Really...putting a 20" basic Suntour kids suspension fork on a bike that weighs more than 50kg is pretty laughable. In all honesty, when the time comes for another bike, I'll likely pass on the R&M brand as they are too expensive and the components so-so. If you have a recommendation for a quality 20" front fork with a disc mount, please let me know!

Too bad for you and your motor, but lucky to get it swapped out under warranty. Same issue with the Bosch motors; some of the gearing is nylon or polycarbonate blah blah blah and the syncronization gets off a tiny bit then it just starts to eat its self. I have the same problem with my second motor for the last 10 months, but it's outside of warranty so I'll just ride it until it detonates and either sell the bike as-is or maybe swap in a donor motor/parts.

Hey...the box you made is tip-top. Did you cut all that out with an electric jig saw? I think for a DIY you did awesome. Speaking if which...this may be a winter project coming up: kids were 2/3 yrs old when the bike was purchased and thy fit in there snug as a bug. Now 5/6 and their legs are getting too long, so I may make the foot well extend around the front of the frame and to the side of the front wheel. Off-hand thought, but I can probably make it work.

The steering wobble is likely due to the front tire being out of alignment with the center-line of the frame. Or the frame has that center steering sleeve/tube there between your knees which the long steering tube runs between. On the top is your handlebar the bottom your steering linkage. I found that if the clamps which hold this steering tube firmly into this frame sleeve/tube, that can cause slop in the steering linkage which is amplified up front at the wheel. A dampener may help, but might be throwing a band-aid on a more persistent out of alignment issue. I went through the same thing after I had to disassemble my R&M to transport it back to the shop way back when for the new motor. Once I touched the linkage it was all screwy until I got it adjusted and dialed in.
 
MuchAlohaNui said:
My/the front suspension is garbage. This is the second fork, which was swapped within the first 9 months under warranty as the seals blew out. Really...putting a 20" basic Suntour kids suspension fork on a bike that weighs more than 50kg is pretty laughable. In all honesty, when the time comes for another bike, I'll likely pass on the R&M brand as they are too expensive and the components so-so. If you have a recommendation for a quality 20" front fork with a disc mount, please let me know!

Too bad for you and your motor, but lucky to get it swapped out under warranty. Same issue with the Bosch motors; some of the gearing is nylon or polycarbonate blah blah blah and the syncronization gets off a tiny bit then it just starts to eat its self. I have the same problem with my second motor for the last 10 months, but it's outside of warranty so I'll just ride it until it detonates and either sell the bike as-is or maybe swap in a donor motor/parts.

Hey...the box you made is tip-top. Did you cut all that out with an electric jig saw? I think for a DIY you did awesome. Speaking if which...this may be a winter project coming up: kids were 2/3 yrs old when the bike was purchased and thy fit in there snug as a bug. Now 5/6 and their legs are getting too long, so I may make the foot well extend around the front of the frame and to the side of the front wheel. Off-hand thought, but I can probably make it work.

The steering wobble is likely due to the front tire being out of alignment with the center-line of the frame. Or the frame has that center steering sleeve/tube there between your knees which the long steering tube runs between. On the top is your handlebar the bottom your steering linkage. I found that if the clamps which hold this steering tube firmly into this frame sleeve/tube, that can cause slop in the steering linkage which is amplified up front at the wheel. A dampener may help, but might be throwing a band-aid on a more persistent out of alignment issue. I went through the same thing after I had to disassemble my R&M to transport it back to the shop way back when for the new motor. Once I touched the linkage it was all screwy until I got it adjusted and dialed in.
Click to expand...

Bullitt forks should be available seperately: https://www.fourthfloordistribution.com/products/bullitt-front-fork-1-1-8-straight-steerer

I'd put the steering wobble down to general wear and tear and the way the steering is put together.
Unfortunately I must have missed a few nuts and bolts checking the bike over (most of the critical fasteners on the steering mechanism) and they loosened considerably. So the bushings may be slightly more worn than they probably should be.
I tightened them down again, but the steering wobble occurs fairly consistently.

Fixing/replacing the bushings properly would mean transporting the bike back to the shop we got it from. Which is considerably more faff than 'just' changing the upper headset cup and bearing for a CaneCreek Viscoset unit, I hope.

p.s. Yes, I cut the hole using a regular electric jig saw. Thanks! :)
 
rigidftw said:
Bullitt forks should be available seperately: https://www.fourthfloordistribution.com/products/bullitt-front-fork-1-1-8-straight-steerer

I'd put the steering wobble down to general wear and tear and the way the steering is put together.
Unfortunately I must have missed a few nuts and bolts checking the bike over (most of the critical fasteners on the steering mechanism) and they loosened considerably. So the bushings may be slightly more worn than they probably should be.
I tightened them down again, but the steering wobble occurs fairly consistently.

Fixing/replacing the bushings properly would mean transporting the bike back to the shop we got it from. Which is considerably more faff than 'just' changing the upper headset cup and bearing for a CaneCreek Viscoset unit, I hope.

p.s. Yes, I cut the hole using a regular electric jig saw. Thanks! :)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the fork link. I’ll keep that in mind. Worst case, I have a paint-stripped SID from around 2000/2001. Even though the geometry would be slightly off, I can transfer over all parts and get a 9mm through axel to QR adapter for a few bucks and be up and running until I source a proper 20” suspension front fork for your link related or whoever.

I think too, recumbent producers tend to have nice front forks…

GL your wobble. Make a thread about it if you solve the problem!
 
MuchAlohaNui said:
Thank you for the fork link. I’ll keep that in mind. Worst case, I have a paint-stripped SID from around 2000/2001. Even though the geometry would be slightly off, I can transfer over all parts and get a 9mm through axel to QR adapter for a few bucks and be up and running until I source a proper 20” suspension front fork for your link related or whoever.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I'd trust a 2000 SID to withstand an emergency stop with a 50kg cargo bike + rider attached :oops:
 
MuchAlohaNui said:
GL your wobble. Make a thread about it if you solve the problem!
Click to expand...
Problem solved. But there's not much to it, so no extra thread. I installed a Cane Creek Hellbender 70 Viscoset in conjunction with a headset cover/preload bolt assembly from Velution.
I got the Viscoset seperately, as I got a good deal on it.

p6pb25533319.jpg


p6pb25533317.jpg


p6pb25533321.jpg

adequate amounts of grease

p6pb25533323.jpg

That upper cup is a few millimeters taller. So in theory the steerer is now a few millemeters too short. But so far so good.

p6pb25533327.jpg


Tested it up to 51.3km/h yesterday. No wobble and a slightly heavier steering feel (feels nice) overall.
Definitely a good investment. I probably saved at least 60 to 120 seconds on my way back from work 😄
 
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