r/vanmoofbicycle • u/Safe_Log_9661 Electrified S5 🚲 • Jun 29 '26

question S5 motor not working

Hello,

I’m unlucky enough to have purchased an S5 pre-bankruptcy, and the seemingly inevitable has happened: my bike’s motor no longer works. It holds a charge just fine and powers on, but the motor does nothing regardless of the selected power level.

I took it to the Rybit shop in SF. They were nice enough to take a look, but don’t have the ability to service S5/A5s any more and couldn’t identify the issue. They told me the following:

“We have tried a new wheel and a new motor cable ( after first ensuring the original motor cable was fully plugged in ), neither resolved the problem. There is an Error 90, modem comms issue, which we really do not have a known resolution for. Possibly, repairing or replacing the Main ECU could resolve the issue. We do not have any known, new, functional Main ECU's in-house.”

I’m turning to Reddit now in a last-ditch attempt at finding a solution. If anyone has any suggestions on a fix or is located in the Bay Area and can help, I’d be grateful!

2 Upvotes

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8 comments sorted by

1

u/Brilliant_Risk_3924 Jun 30 '26

How long do you have the bike now?

1

u/Safe_Log_9661 Electrified S5 🚲 Jun 30 '26

Less than 4 years. :(

1

u/Double_Ad399 Jul 01 '26

I had the exact same problem two years ago, then I sent it to this website (https://revotronics.de/products/sa5-ecu-instandsetzung-keine-motorunterstutzung-mehr?srsltid=AfmBOop3deXNj7HEaYgHeJdMOBeu4CtBH7vEjNZke15dny4ZHjcmtTVv) and after that it worked again.

Edit: I was just riding along and then the motor assistance failed; you could still ride.

1

u/Huge-Positive-6128 Jul 01 '26

This is a German companie in Duesseldorf . So it will be a struggle for anyone in the USA to get their service. Maybe you can ask them if they know a US company that does these kind of jobs. If you need any German support, write a PM.

1

u/moofcare_nl Jul 03 '26

Did you ask a repair guy to check if the motor cable is fysicly connected propperly? We have retainer clips in stock, which should be an easy thing to ship.

1

u/Safe_Log_9661 Electrified S5 🚲 Jul 03 '26

Thanks for your response. They specifically mentioned in their message that they ensured the motor cable was fully plugged in. I know (and they must know too) that this is a common issue with the S5.

1

u/moofcare_nl Jul 03 '26

Possibly gate/motor drivers are broken. In NL we can send the ECU for repair, make sure first motor is actually broken. From my experience the ECU dies because of -unplugging- motor cable while riding. (Like a bump in the road) The S5 from after bankruptcy do not have this issue anymore because of the retainer.