Uber acknowledged Monday that it had fixed some of its electric bikes recently after the company encountered a braking problem like the one which prompted rival Lyft to recall its electric bicycles in several cities over the weekend.
Uber, which operates a popular electric-bike-share service called JUMP, said that the brakes on its JUMP bikes were modified over a year ago to smooth out the brake reaction and make the procedure more gradual. Lyft moved this weekend to recall its electric bicycles after some riders reported that the front wheels could grab up, causing them to fall or slip.
Lyft explained that up to 15 per cent of its extensive bike-share fleet would be remembered and that manual bicycles would be used to complete the fleets.
Uber and Lyft bicycles both rely upon a braking system from Japanese manufacturer Shimano. However, a spokesman for Shimano said Tuesday its braking system, the Shimano BR-C6000-F front brake, wasn’t to blame, raising the question of whether the part itself was the issue or whether it wasn’t deployed to manufacturer specification.
Users of the electric bikes had complained on social media of cases once the brakes seized up while in operation, resulting in accidents and even some instances where riders flipped over the bicycles’ handlebars after sudden unexpected stops.
