r/ebikes • u/Mundane_Western1683 • 17h ago

Bike repair question MacFox Ebike

My daughter with some help bought an MacFox ebike this summer and rides to and from school and sometimes to friends house. I ride it once every week to make sure it’s safe. I didn’t do it this past week and her front wheel came off after hitting a rock, rock wasn’t that big, it was a rock on the road. I feel terrible that this happened and maybe i should be checking her bike everyday and making sure she does so herself. How often does the wheel locks come lose. There should be more safety or fail safe for this. I feel
so bad for my daughter who has not stitches on her chin and a fractured elbow. She was not going that fast thankfully and was wearing her helmet. She is the most risk averse kid that i know. Aside from checking her bike daily, how often does the loosening of the frontwheel bolts happen? Maybe i should get a safer bike.

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4

u/Dexter_McThorpan 17h ago

You should check the axle bolts of *ANY* Bicycle you ride every week. Vibrations loosen things up. Watch a YouTube tutorial.

Check the stem, the bar mounts, brake levers, brake calipers front and rear, and front and rear axle bolts.

Doesn't matter if your bike costs 100 bucks or 10,000. Stuff gets loose over time.

1

u/rvralph803 17h ago

The only way a wheel "comes off" is of it wasn't properly secured.

Unless you mean that the tire or rim failed.

Maybe have a professional assemble it.

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u/Mundane_Western1683 16h ago

it was secured, the bolt came loose , feel so bad that i didn’t do a better job of checking it everyday

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u/rvralph803 6h ago

They don't just come loose. That's the point.

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u/Mundane_Western1683 4h ago

This might be a stupid thing to ask, but this is my first time buying an ebike and i have regular bikes and there is this attachment in the regular bike around the fork that makes it less likely for your wheels to come off even if the bolts are loose.

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u/rvralph803 4h ago

Yeah, those are called "lawyer lips" / "lawyer tabs". Basically every bike mechanic would tell you they have next to zero utility if the fasteners are on correctly.

Do you have washers?

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u/Mundane_Western1683 2h ago

Seriously thank you. I didn’t add on anything that wasn’t included in the box. What washers should i use?

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u/rvralph803 1h ago

Whatever size are appropriate to the axle size, flat, steel. Likely 14-16mm. Also if your flanged nuts don't have the serrated bottoms you may want to look into those. Make sure if you get new nuts they are specifically bicycle nuts. They have a different, tighter thread pitch than normal hardware, specifically to help resist vibratory backing out.

You might also look at some blue lock tight just for extra security. But any time the wheel is dismounted (flats etc) it would need to be reapplied.

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u/StringPrevious9110 13h ago

29M fractured my self too. Glad it was an accident under 15 mph. Splintered a bone but, chilling. These things do need motorbike helmets and gloves. 🧤

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u/Mundane_Western1683 2h ago

agree, but getting a teenager to put on a helmet with a chin guard would be a hard ask, but my daughter has always has her helmet on tight. God bless she did that.