I upgraded my Bakfiets about two months ago and have been riding it regularly again. After some initial teething issues I have a good handle on how it will perform long term.

Issues

I had one main issue: The front brake kept going out of alignment.

I kept readjusting it and tried to figure out the cause. Slowly I realized the brakes became misaligned after driving over potholes or bumps – those are impossible to avoid on my route. I thought I was braking when running over them, causing the brake to move on the mount. I replaced the mounting hardware several times and readjusted it several times. After a few attempts it was clear that the wheel was tilting.

It turns out that the dropouts on my front forks are worn out after years of use as well as pitting and material loss due to rust. The lawyer lips were little bumps of their original selves and the overall surface was uneven.

The dropout slot was opened up a bit too. It looks like not having a torque arm originally resulted in the axle spinning and rounding out the slots.

The torque arm from Grin came with a slotted spacer that spaces the nut and torque arm out and avoids the lawyer lips to make sure the torque arm is perpendicular to the axle. I used this originally as intended but after looking at the wheel closely I realized that due to the uneven surface on the dropouts this spacer didn’t work as intended and instead acted like a wedge. So every time I tightened the axle nut, the axle would get pushed down on one side towards the opening of the slots in the dropout. This tilted the wheel. It wasn’t happening at low torque so it felt tight enough but was really just tilting the wheel and the wheel wasn’t secure. So every time I went over a bump it tilted the wheel one way or another.

I removed that spacer and was able to get the axle tight and brakes realigned.

It’s been over a month now and no further issues.

Things that work

Now that the wheel doesn’t get misaligned, the bike is a joy to ride.

The motor is responsive and powerful.

I think I’ll need to adjust the throttle response. It’s too responsive. I only like to put in 150W max when I need the assist or to fill in between gears (I am usually content with 50-80W) and I have a very narrow band where I reach 150W then can easily blow past it. I keep meaning to do this but just haven’t gotten to it.

The digital aux switch power button failed after a week but I contacted Grin and they sent me a replacement.

I have had no issues with the wire routing. It’s tidy and out of the way. No toddlers yanking on it.

The motor and controller have worked well in a week or so of relatively high temperatures (30 C). I was worried the controller would overheat with it behind the cradle but no issues so far. We shall see as the summer goes on.

Everything is tight now. The only rattles are from the bench seat on the box and there is some squeaking from the box mounted to the frame but that is pretty minimal.

Lights work well. No issues with the wiring. No issues with the DC-DC converter. Total power draw of the lights is 3W. I should have 12W to work with total (1A fuse * 12V = 12W) which leaves me 9W for any additional lights.

The kick stand has only dropped twice. It used to fall when going over pot holes but after tightening the mounts it doesn’t move as freely which seems to help.

The rear brakes are better but not great. Pedalling still feels a bit squishy sometimes. It feels like the rear hub might need some maintenance.

What next

I need to get the LED strips in for the winter. But that’s a future problem.

I would like to add some foam tape or something to the bench seat to stop it from rattling.

If the box squeaking gets bad I can use a rubber washer to isolate it from the steel frame at the mounting points.

Long term I’d like to replace the rear hub. It’s likely near the end of its life (15 years or so) and I’d really like an IGH with more gears. The 11 speed Alfine hub, maybe with a different sized crank, seems like an improvement over the current 8 speed Nexus that is on the bike.