A Year and 1,500 Miles on the Jasion EB5: Fun but Needs Repairs

I've had this bike since July 2024, so over a year, and have put over 1,500 miles on it so far. For people who simply do light commutes or for quick grocery/gym runs in the city or suburbs this bike should be good enough as long as you don't get unlucky with a defective bike. However, for people like me who frequently ride for long bike rides (10-20 miles) in sometimes rough trails you will definitely need to learn some bike maintenance to fix issues that will happen with the cheaper build of this bike. Though if you can learn how to maintain the bike when issues occur it can still be a viable use for a while. I was even able to take it on a 50 mile ride with a friend all the way from Milwaukee, WI to the Illinois border at Winthrop Harbor, IL on a single charge though I did ride on PAS mostly around the 0-1 range with some 2 on hills so I mostly relied on only a bit of assistance rather than full throttle or complete assistance like my friend had used on his bike (needing a second battery). One oddity with this e-bike that I had noticed compared to other e-bikes I have tried is that the throttle speed is based on the PAS level and not just the highest 20 mph speed of the bike. So I had to constantly push up the PAS to 3-4 when I was trying to quickly cross roads as PAS 1 only seems to throttle at ~8 mph. Another oddity was how the assist was a burst of movement which took a little getting used to compared to my friend's e-bike I had tested beforehand. The first issue I ran into with the bike was around a month after buying it in late August 2024. The rear tire had unfortunately somehow gotten a puncture and flattened so I had to walk the bike back home and buy the tools and a new inner tube to fix it along with a new, better tread (since the base one isn't the best). Unfortunately, the disc brakes and the gear shifter (derailleur) weren't aligned very well so when I first placed the rear wheel back on the bike the disc scrapped on the rear pads and the highest gear made strange clicking noises. After adjusting the wheel for a while I did get the rear brakes to eventually stop scraping though they were very loose (though considerably loose to begin with anyways) though I was able to still use it while mostly relying on the front brakes and the second highest gear. The second issue I ran into was shortly after my bike ride to Illinois (50 + 50 miles to and from) in October 2024 was that the pedal assist (cadence sensors) just would randomly stop working then other times work again randomly. So I had to manually apply assistance with the throttle when needed when it wouldn't work for some reason. At times this was kind of an annoyance though at times it was useful for an on-demand only use to better conserve battery. Most e-bikes (including this one) by design only allow use of the throttle when PAS is NOT at 0 and having an on demand throttle working at 0 PAS would be nice. The third issue I ran into which unfortunately also caused my second flat tire was the weak spokes breaking off over time. When the first one had broken off the main hub and was just swaying around I hadn't really thought of anything as it didn't cause any issues at first though eventually in April of this year that same broken spoke somehow managed to push itself into the inner tube and pop it so badly that not even my slime innertube replacement could stop the air leak. So, once again I had to pull off the rear tire but this time I just simply pulled out the spoke fully before replacing the inner tube with another one to fix it. Had the same issues with the scraping rear disc brakes that I had to adjust to get it just right again. Unfortunately this time the gear shifter (derailleur) somehow had gotten so misaligned that putting the bike in the highest gear knocked the chain into the hub so I had just continued using the second highest gear or lower.  The fourth issue I had ran into was when more and more of the rear wheel spokes broke off over time until the wheel became unsafe and wobbly to the point it would occasionally bump into the frame a bit. So I had to, once again, pull off the rear tire and replace the broken spokes with new ones I had ordered online (it seems to use 210mm spokes for those needing replacements) and had to buy a spoke wrench tool kit to tighten the spokes. I then had to true the wheel by placing the rear wheel back on the bike while the bike was upside down to  spin the wheel and tightened the spoke on the opposite side of the wobble whenever it wobbled too far off center. Shortly after the fourth issue I had bought a more expensive e-bike to replace this one for more reliability and range with a bigger battery though had kept it as a backup or used for friends staying over fThe fifth issue happened when a friend was staying over for three months starting in August this year and we went on bike rides together. At first when the battery was at a lower level putting the bike higher than PAS 1 would cause the bike to just shut down completely. Later whenever he rode on rough terrain or slightly steeper road hills with the bike the power would falter chasing the light and screen to flicker until it shut down. So I think the battery might be starting to fail. Unfortunately, they not only seem to pretend this bike doesn't exist on their company website (for some reason) but also don't seem to sell the battery for it on there either. I tried contacting support about this and they wanted me to check the voltage of it with a multimeter, of which I don't own (yet).... Though I wonder if it would even be worth it to buy a new battery for it considering how cheap a new bike is anyways and how the bike itself is kind of not in the best condition to be worth it to buy a replacement for even if I can get a Jaison one. There are similar looking batteries online though I am not sure how reliable or safe they are, or if they are even compatible.  Regardless, I still enjoyed the learning experience of bicycle maintenance and it still can run on a lower PAS for a lower distance. I think that most people who only lightly ride the bike could mitigate most of the issues I had which were likely caused by wear and tear of the cheaper parts.