New Zodiac With problems By seniorcit (Read 2,877 times)

[crwford]

Did they tell you how long your repairs will take? As far as the reverse jerking my wife's did that also if they do have a fix let me know I never really got that worked out. How she worked it she held on to brake till she felt it ready to move then let go of brake. I'm putting sliders in cvt to see if will help that problem.

[seniorcit]

crwford - I have not heard anything from BC Cycles. I intend to contact them tomorrow for an update. I will keep you posted. Let me know how the sliders work. I might do the same with mine - when I get it back - but I may need some expert help.

[crwford]

If it stops raining here I can finish the rest of job and test out the improvements I did with sliders.

[crwford]

We are done everything turned out great no shaking and reverse goes in good I think the sliders helped on the going into gear and reverse much smoother on take off. As far as speed nothing changed much still about the same as before just engages much smoother then before. Before putting it in reverse you better hang on for dear life now nothing much just goes in smooth my wife is ready to go now, now she will never stay off the trike LOL You know what they say about a happy wife yet a happy life LOL

[cyborg]

Great!!!! Glad you got it sorted,,,yes you are right,,,there is nothing better than a happy wife

[seniorcit]

Interesting that nothing has changed with the speed. It is good to know about the reverse being smooth. BC Cycles insists that it is normal for the reverse to go in with a jerk - which - according to them - means that it is in reverse and ready for some throttle. I still think that the reverse cable can be adjusted so that the reverse is as smooth as forward.. Guess I will see. I go to pick up my Zodiac this Wednesday.

[crwford]

What about the complaint about wobble what did they do to get rid of it? and bead of tire not on rim right did they get those right?

[seniorcit]

I got the Zodiac back this Wed - 9/30 . The rear wheels were balanced and the trunk switch was repaired. To fix the trunk so that it would open with the ignition key, the mechanic had to take off both the front and rear plastic. It now works as it should. As far as fixing the wobble - well - I will wait for the the rain to stop before I test that out. I did see some weights on the rear wheels so I hope the wobble is fixed - or at least a lot better. We shall see! I am really anxious to ride this bike - I think it will be a blast! After I have given the Zodiac a good ride, I will report my impressions back .

[ellpee]

I have to say, your saga has made me roll my eyes about Ice Bear. Certainly your local dealer and RapidJim were righteous, but it seems like their flagship product arrived at your house with a lot of egregious problems. I admire your patience through all this.

[rapidjim]

Aug 21, 2015 13:32:30 GMT -6 seniorcit said:

Ordered a new Zodiac and picked it up Sat - 8/15.  While it came with some problems IceBear is working to correct them.  The first was a throttle problem - it would not work properly and I found that the dealer doing the PDI had left out a screw holding the fixture in place.  Installed the missing screw and the throttle works just fine.

The seat will not open using the switch key.  I finally took the hold down bracket off  and am using a bungee cord to hold the seat in place.  Bummer!  Again IceBear is working to correct the problem.

Worse - there is a major vibration in the front end - the whole front end wobbles badly.  It smooths out a little when the speed is about 25 mph - but I am afraid to ride it with this bad wobble.

So - I have new Zodiac - a real beauty of a bike - but I cannot ride it.  Hope IceBear comes with the solutions soon.

John

When I read this, I assumed that the machine was delivered to you by drop ship, I did not realize till after reading more posts, that you actually took delivery from a local Dealer who assembled it and PDIed it.

Honestly, I have to question if they actually test drove the trike before delivering it to you. The issues you are having should not have been there. Every trike that I sell off my lot, has been completely gone through. The first thing that is done is that the rear tries are inspected and spun balanced before they are ever put on the trike for the first time. During spin balancing, you can see if there is an issue with the tire itself. When I sell a trike by drop shipping to my customer, one of the first things I tell them is to have the rear tires spun balanced. This way if there is an issue, I know to look at something else or in the case of a drop ship be able to tell my customer what to look for. I am also surprised that they did not adjust the seat latch or the shifter leakage. One other thing that I have seen, when you have a violent jerk going into reverse, sometimes this is that the idle is set to high, causing the CVT to be partially engaged. It may not be as noticeable in forward due that the reverse gearing is a higher ratio.

Hope they got your issues fixed.

[seniorcit]

Jim - Yes, I took delivery from a dealer who was supposed to assemble and PDI it. I have had nothing but trouble since delivery. Now - because of the rain - I am not able to test ride it to see if - in fact - they corrected everything. The seat latch does work fine now - and I see weights on the wheels. When I picked the bike up on Wed I was told that the wheels were spun balanced - that should have been done prior to delivery. Reverse continues to be a problem - the dealer insists that the reverse is normal as it is. I disagree and I still think a jerky reverse is a linkage adjustment problem and I will try to work on that myself.

Thanks for your comments - they are very helpful.

[ellpee]

Well, seems to me just putting it in reverse there's no way that would cause it to jerk, UNLESS power is somehow getting from the engine to the tranny, which can only happen if the clutch is engaging, which can only happen if the RPM gets high enough to swing the clutch arms out to where the pads engage the bell. Just my opinion from my understanding of trannys in general.

[crwford]

Rapid Jim what would be a good idle speed be for the Zodiac more so for reverse.

[crwford]

By the way I received a complete gear box for my Zodiac for # 2 which was shipped with out gear fluid and driven over 100 miles very complicated system. Then it should be after all it's manly for forward and reverse when I leave yogi bear campground in Cosby TN, I will post a picture of it. And yes we are true campers wet and real soggy LOL If you camp when I do you will get wet and more wet. Oh no Yogi just stole my food basket got to go Boo Boo is now trying Bye.

[seniorcit]

It is hard for me to explain the reverse problem. It goes into reverse easily - no jerk - but it does take some pressure to get it into reverse. Now, whenever some throttle is given - then it jerks - and goes back at a high speed - really fast. When breaks are applied and the Zodiac stops - then give it some throttle and it goes back in reverse at a reasonable and safe speed.

The idle: When I got the Zodiac and tried to ride it - every time I came to a stop sign - it would die - so I had to set the throttle a higher to keep it running. Now maybe it is, in fact - too high. I will need to keep that in mind when I get to ride again. Maybe with a throttle adjustment along with the possible reverse linkage adjustment I will be able to get the reverse issue resolved.

I have been the owner of the Zodiac for 6 weeks now - and have not been able ride it much at all. Bummer!