Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Video: Battery of aftermarket motor fitted to Pinarello explodes, sending flames 10 feet into the air

Rider escapes serious injury in incident in Adelaide Hills which also sparked fire in roadside scrubland

A cyclist in South Australia had a lucky escape when the battery of an aftermarket motor fitted to his Pinarello Dogma F8 bike exploded while he was riding it in the Adelaide Hills, sending flames shooting 10 feet into the air.

The incident, on Corkscrew Road, Montacute - a climb that features each year in the Tour Down Under, meaning it will have been particularly popular with amateur riders this weekend - also started a scrub fire by the roadside that spread 30 metres.

Fortunately, a fire crew attending a separate incident nearby were able to extinguish the flames despite the hazards posed by the exploding lithium battery as well as CO2 canisters in the rider’s saddlebag, which one witness said were acting “like bloody bullets.”

The bike’s rider, 79-year-old Gary Ryan, had his shorts burnt in the incident and was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to be checked over.

 

He told Channel 9 News that he was “coming up the hill and my electric bike caught fire, so I threw it down.”

He added that he had telephoned the man who had built the bike to tell him about the explosion and fire.

“He said I must have got a short [circuit] in it, because he said that doesn’t happen.”

A friend of Mr Ryan’s, Keith Harris, said: “He managed to get off the bike before it actually burst in flames,” adding that he estimated the flames had reached a height of around 10 feet.

The incident is reminiscent of one we reported on in 2017 when the battery of a mountain bike fitted with an aftermarket motor exploded in Wandsworth, London, with one witness saying: “We couldn’t believe how big the fire was.

“Flames were shooting into the air and there was popping and banging, like a fireworks display.”

The rider of that bike was unhurt.

> London cyclist's lucky escape as e-bike battery explodes

In a comment on that article, Dave from our sister site ebiketips.co.uk shared the following advice “There are a lot of aftermarket e-bike kits readily available in the UK, some of which are legal for use on UK roads and some which are not: if it's over 250W, has a throttle instead of being pedal-assist, or doesn't have a speed sensor to cut the motor above 25km/h, it's not legal.

“Obviously when you're buying direct and cheap you're putting yourself at the mercy of a manufacturer's quality control, and it's often difficult to know what the build quality of a system is even after it arrives.

“Lithium-Ion e-bike batteries are generally made up of an array of smaller cells, usually 18650 cells of which you need around 40 for a standard e-bike battery.
“They're well-known for being flammable if they short-circuit or if there's a weak point in the system where heat can build up, and it's not only budget manufacturers that have issues: look at Samsung's problems with the Galaxy Note in 2016.

“But the lower the price, the more you can expect corners to have been cut.

“Our advice would be to choose carefully, and not just to go for the cheapest system you can find.

“If you do want an inexpensive e-bike then there are manufacturers of both full bikes (B'Twin, Cyclotricity, Powacycle) and retrofit kits (Panda, Dillinger, Woosh) that will back up their bikes or systems with a full UK warranty.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

15 comments

Avatar
matthewn5 | 5 years ago
0 likes

There's some very scary videos of exploding 18650 batteries...

Avatar
OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
0 likes

double post - dunno how that happened - sigh

Avatar
DaveE128 replied to OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
0 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

Jeez, that's scary. I hope I'm still riding at 79 though. I think I'd go nuts if I couldn't get out and exercise. Cycling, running and walking the dog (and riding a motorbike too) all serve to keep my head straight.

Seems you're already at the stage of repeating yourself, it's only downhill from here!  3

It amazes me that people are so surprised that battery fires are so energetic - where do they think the energy in a battery comes from? Magic? Perhaps e-bike manufacturers really should be using LiFePO4 batteries which are more stable when abused. Slightly heavier for same energy storage but longer cycle life, and given cost of replacement battery packs, that's a big benefit.

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to DaveE128 | 5 years ago
0 likes
DaveE128 wrote:
OldRidgeback wrote:

Jeez, that's scary. I hope I'm still riding at 79 though. I think I'd go nuts if I couldn't get out and exercise. Cycling, running and walking the dog (and riding a motorbike too) all serve to keep my head straight.

Seems you're already at the stage of repeating yourself, it's only downhill from here!  3 It amazes me that people are so surprised that battery fires are so energetic - where do they think the energy in a battery comes from? Magic? Perhaps e-bike manufacturers really should be using LiFePO4 batteries which are more stable when abused. Slightly heavier for same energy storage but longer cycle life, and given cost of replacement battery packs, that's a big benefit.

 

Lol - dunno how the double post occurred.

I'm not surprised about the intensity of the fire. I studied engineering after all, many moons ago. What I find of concern is that products that probably feature poor quality control are on the market. Someone near where I live bought one of those step on wheelies/hoverboard things when they were popular a couple of years back, and it burst into flames.

Avatar
burtthebike replied to OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
2 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

double post - dunno how that happened - sigh

Just hit the delete button.

Avatar
burtthebike replied to OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
3 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

double post - dunno how that happened - sigh

Just hit the delete button.

Avatar
OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
0 likes

Jeez, that's scary. I hope I'm still riding at 79 though. I think I'd go nuts if I couldn't get out and exercise. Cycling, running and walking the dog (and riding a motorbike too) all serve to keep my head straight.

Avatar
Beatnik69 | 5 years ago
2 likes

I just hope I'm still able to ride a bike when I'm 79 - e-bike or otherwise.

Avatar
Nick T | 5 years ago
3 likes

On the bright side, his melted F8’s wobbly frame can still pass for a slightly older Dogma 65.1

Avatar
HoarseMann | 5 years ago
4 likes

Gap in the market for e-bike specific flame retardant Lycra pants.

Avatar
Nick T | 5 years ago
1 like

Let this be a warning to anyone who thinks wearing full Pinarello kit in public is ok

Avatar
Organon replied to Nick T | 5 years ago
0 likes
Nick T wrote:

Let this be a warning to anyone who thinks wearing full Pinarello kit in public is ok

I think his jersey was as genuine as the battery.

Avatar
Welsh boy | 5 years ago
6 likes

Just an unlucky one-off, all the other times a concealed motor has been fitted to a Pinarello things have been fine.  Allegedly. cheeky

Avatar
Dingaling | 5 years ago
1 like

Definitely. Should be a law against it if there isn't one already.

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
8 likes

Would this be a judgment from the great god of cycling for fitting a motor to a Pinarello?

Latest Comments