The Eskute e-Bike Fiasco

On our last major trip we had the intention of taking our bikes, I suppose we could have, but my experience purchasing my e-bike has been a little sullied by one particular company, Eskute.

Buying anything with a battery online in Northern Ireland is simply a nightmare. The carriers won’t ship them, or the sellers can’t be bothered with this weird customs thing we have with the Irish Sea Border. So, I couldn’t order the bike I wanted through normal channels. Instead, I had to sign up for an account on eBay Ireland, purchase a bike from Poland, and have it shipped to a friend’s house in Donegal. The benefits are, free shipping, buying in Euros and doing well on the conversion, and no pesky customs or battery problems, and FREE shipping! Meaning I could spend a bit more on the actual bike. Things we used to enjoy before Brexit..!

Having looked at various brands, watching countless YouTube videos about those branded bikes, and getting up-to-speed on all things “electric bike”, I finally chose my bike, the Eskute Netuno eBike. It comes with a 250w motor and 7 Shimano gears. The company looked legit, they had a UK-based website to purchase accessories from, specific to the bike, and get this, it even has its own Facebook Group for fellow Eskute owners to share tips and tricks with.

Now, a side note: Why do I want an eBike? I’m 52 years old and overweight (slightly, okay, a tad more than slightly), shouldn’t I be buying a standard bike and making use of that? Well, I thought the same, as does my bodybuilding son, but, in the videos I’ve watched they all say the same thing, an eBike isn’t a replacement for a bike, it’s a replacement for a car.

So, in the first instance, where we live is pretty flat (thankfully), but there are a few hills here and there as I’ve discovered, so having a small motor assist you enables you to travel much further than you might have done on a conventional bike, meaning you exercise more and are more likely to go out on the bike because it feels less of a chore, and more of a fun activity to embark on.

The second instance on why I wanted this bike is that we travel a lot. Every weekend you’ll find me and my beautiful wife in our motorhome in some part of Ireland. During the summer, we’re away a lot longer. However, my wife likes her sleep and I don’t sleep that much. Having the bike on the back of the motorhome means when I get up, I can lift the bike down and bugger off for a few hours exploring, mooching about, and take the drone up to capture more parts of the town we’re parked up in. Which is great for my stock portfolio and future sales.

This also meant I had to spend more money on a travel rack for the motorhome, which cost somewhere in the region of £350. I can tell you, my wife was not impressed.

Bike covered on the rear of the motorhome.Protecting my investment.

With all this new knowledge and confidence, I set about ordering my Netuno from eBay.

One of the very first updates I got from the shipping company (DPD) was that the box was damaged upon pick up. A bit suspect, told the seller about this and they said there shouldn’t be any issues and they didn’t get that damaged packaging notification on their end. Anyway, a week later the bike arrived and my friend called me to say, yes, the packaging looks like it’s been opened at the top but there is a bike in there.

I lifted the bike and brought it home for building, Didn’t take me too long to realise that the battery had been stolen. I told the seller and also mentioned that the keys had been snipped off the cable ties and were in the battery release mechanism, so someone had tampered with the package en route. The shipping company washed their hands of it saying that the box was damaged, and it would fall on the seller to resolve. Possibly a known tactic by the couriers, meaning if they instantly report it damaged on pick-up, they then can take their pick of the contents.

Eskute Netuno (with my own accessories attached)Finally getting this new bike out in the sunshine!

Now, to be fair, they have been a little slow in the responses, but there have been public holidays and stuff to work around, they shipped a new battery and a throttle, which was mentioned in the sale description but not in the box.

I had taken the bike out for a ride without the battery in the meantime, it’s heavy, but not too uncomfortably heavy to ride, and having pulled the rear gear disengager protection frame that had been buckled during shipping, everything ran smooth.

With the battery, riding this bike is a dream, and I’m so happy with it. Now for my next flurry of purchases:

1. Rear bike carrier frame - Eskute

2. Pannier bags - Eskute (returned, new links below)

3. Mudguards

4. E-bike Cover for Battery Protector

5. Gloves

6. Helmet

7. GoPro holder bracket

8. DJI RC1 holder

9. Phone holder

10. Travel bike rain cover

I thought it best to order the first 3 items from Eskute directly, as they obviously have been designed to fit this new bike, and again, issues arose.

The rear bike frame was shipped via FedEx and within 24 hours I got a tracking notification to say it had been refused by me and returned to Eskute. Looking at the tracking, it hadn’t even left Birmingham where it was initially shipped from. I informed Eksuke Support about this, and they asked why I refused delivery, completely ignoring the fact it hadn’t left Birmingham. This took nearly two weeks to sort out before they shipped it again. The same thing happened again and was returned to sender within 48 hours. Another two weeks to sort out!

It turns out, that due to Brexit, all shipments to Northern Ireland from GB have to have the invoice on the box, not inside it. What was strange was, that I’d ordered the pannier bags at the same time, and they arrived within the week (more about those in a bit) without any issue.

I told Eskute not to use FedEx, and they opted for DPD this time, and finally I got the frame, but it was missing the fixings! Argh!!!

After a week of going back and forth, they relented and offered me a £15 refund and told me what fixings I needed to attach to the frame, which meant a trip to the hardware shop.

With the frame finally attached, my pannier bags strapped on, off I set around Portrush one early Sunday morning. I’d packed my Mini Pro 3 drone in one pannier, a water bottle and the bike lock in the other. Life was good.

Once I’d done all my filming, enjoyed the view of the beach on East Strand, and scoffed my hot dog, I set off again back to our park-up spot only to then hear a rubbing sound coming from the back wheel. The side bags had split from the main bag as the stitching had given way, with one of the bags only holding on by 3 stitches. This one was holding my drone! This would have been a very expensive loss for me.

I emailed Eskute Support and asked for a full refund as these bags were not up to spec and I didn’t want anything more to do with them.

A couple of days later they finally replied offering my £25 refund and asking that I look at getting them repaired locally, which I didn’t want to do, I wanted a full Poor stitching on the Eskute Pannier bagsUsed for only 2 hours, and this bag started to fall apart. refund. They then offered to amalgamate the previous frame refund with the £25 they’d offered for the bags to the grand some of £35, £10 less than what was due. I’ve declined.

That was 3 days ago, I’m about to send them a reminder to resolve these issues, as to be honest, I’m a tad annoyed with this whole purchasing experience from Eskute.

I was waiting for their mudguards to come into stock before purchasing them, but since all of this has happened, I’ve used the Facebook Group for advice and bought some much cheaper ones from Amazon, and after a little angle grinding, they fit perfectly.

All the other things from that list have come from Amazon, and to be honest, despite the outstanding refunds from Eskute, I’m thrilled with the bike itself and all the accessories I’ve attached to it. I've already got the pannier replacements on the bike (in the picture at the top of the page), and they're amazing!

Would I buy from them again? I don’t know to be honest. Have I been unlucky? Probably, there are nearly 500 members in the Eskute Facebook Group, and the majority seem happy, however, there are a number who have experienced similar support issues, namely to do with the battery, so far, mine is working perfectly, fingers crossed I don’t have to deal with them in the future on this issue too.

Things I've learned

Gloves are very important. Why?

If you're flying down a steep hill and come off, there are two things you're gonna want to be wearing, a helmet, obviously, and gloves. The first thing you're going to do is put your hands out to try and break your fall. Gloves offer your skin some protection, but not only that, the ones I bought have silicone gel in them which makes gripping the handlebars a lot more pleasant as an experience. I found that cycling over rough ground did make the palms of my hands ache a bit, but with those gloves, there was no discomfort at all.

Mudguards, protect not only your clothes but your battery too!

I live in Northern Ireland, and it rains a lot! I'm sitting in my motorhome right now, and it's bloody raining. So, I need mudguards to stop myself from getting 'clattered' as they say in these parts, with dirt. I also bought a battery cover to protect the bike whilst in transit from road dirt. I always take the battery off whilst it's on the motorhome's bike rack, as I don't want to have the whole thing stolen, plus it reduces the weight on the frame, not that it should be a concern, as the frame can handle up to 60kg. The cover will also help in the winter, as cold weather impacts the running time of any battery.

What has been your experience of owning an Eskute bike? Let me know in the comments below!