To anyone else out there with an Engwe ebike or any bike with a cheap fender: If your fender is not designed with breakaways on the mounts, you should either remove it entirely or replace the bolts with 5-10 lb zip ties to create your own breakaways and prevent a serious crash.
https://engwe-bikes.com/cdn/shop/products/Ep-2pro_5c418549-daf2-4cda-8994-6e4ac361cb9b.jpg
What happens is, if the fork mount fails and the front fender does not have breakaways, it wraps around the front wheel and sends you over the handlebars (quite possibly at great speed).
Engwe 100% does not care, did not cover my medical bills, replace my $300 helmet, warn their other customers, issue a recall, or even bother to fix the underlying issue.
To be clear, this fix literally costs a couple of zip ties. That is how little they care about their customers.
If I had not been wearing a quality helmet, my Engwe likely would have killed me or left me with life altering injuries.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive ebike, don’t buy Engwe. Get an REI Co-op, Ride1up, or Lectric. Any semi-reputable brand is a safer choice.
Also, as always: Wear your helmets every time! Be safe out there everyone.
Holy shit, thanks! I have an EP2 Pro. Time to get better fenders (or maybe a better bike…)
Glad you were able to fix it before it put you in the hospital. Broken bones suck!
For what it’s worth, it looks like they might actually be doing something finally. They just started posting on their subreddit again and when I told them about my crash they asked for a case number.
I guess we’ll see, but so far, I doubt my next bike will be from them.
Do you have any examples of what it should be like? I have a feeling what I am visualizing in my head is wrong.
Yes, the thing that connects the metal fender to the forks should have something that breaks instead of staying connected. Sheldon Brown highlights them here: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fenders.html
I should have known sheldon brown had the info. I didn’t know about these though, thanks.
Glad to help, Sheldon Brown is great!
I have been riding my new e-bike for last couple of days. And I was kinda bummed that I don’t have fenders. Your post just made me realize that now I don’t mind not having fenders!
Fenders are fine as long as they are well designed and have safety features built in. Just get some quality ones from a company like SKS and you’ll be OK.
