Riese & Müller backs its e-bikes with a 2-year warranty against manufacturing defects in normal use. The battery promise is tighter than that headline.
Official pages say the pack should still hold at least 60% capacity after two years or 500 charging cycles, whichever hits first. Register fast if you want extras. A Premium Guarantee can add longer protection against frame and rear swing arm breakage, but only if the bike is added within four weeks of delivery. Is a cracked swing arm or a tired battery on the company, or on you?
Pull the written terms for your country. Then talk to an authorized dealer. Don't trust a forum diagnosis.
What the 2-year term covers
The 2-year clock is for manufacturing defects that show up in normal use, not crash damage or skipped service. Thing is, the official pages never isolate the motor the way they isolate the battery, so a drive-unit fault still has to go through the dealer.
Battery capacity: 60% and 500 cycles
Riese & Müller publishes a 2-year battery guarantee with a hard floor. After two years, or after 500 full charge cycles, the pack should still deliver at least 60% of original capacity.
That floor is not a like-new promise. Heat, storage, and charging habits all change how fast range falls. Follow the manual for your pack. Care steps depend on the battery in that frame, so don't copy a generic charging tip from another brand.
Sixty percent is still inside the written promise, even when the bike already feels tired on a long climb with cargo, and that mismatch between feel and policy is usually what blows up the conversation at the service counter. Photograph range readings if you plan to claim.
Premium Guarantee
The Premium Guarantee is the brand's extra layer, described on the U.S. English warranty page as a short, three-step process. It covers frame and swing-arm breakage for five years. You add the bike within four weeks of purchase or taking delivery.
To be honest, that window closes while the bike still has that new-shop smell. Eligibility and price depend on the selling dealer and the country on the invoice.
You'll need:
- Registration inside those four weeks
- A dealer that actually offers the option where you bought
Regional wording differs. The French garantie page is one example of how statutory language gets mixed in.
Coverage snapshot
| Item | Written term | Limit you should not ignore | | Battery capacity | 2 years or 500 cycles | 60% remaining is still in spec | | Frame and rear swing arm breakage | 5 years via Premium Guarantee | Bike must be added within 4 weeks | | Manufacturing defects | 2 years | Normal use; dealer has to confirm the fault |
Your invoice and local law still control the outcome.
File a claim without wrecking coverage
Contact an authorized Riese & Müller dealer before you order parts or open a motor. Do that first. Unauthorized repairs are a fast way to lose the argument. Use the dealer locator if you don't have a shop yet.
Work the claim in this order:
- Park the bike if the frame is cracked or the brakes don't work.
- Photograph the damage, the frame number, and the display mileage or error.
- Call the dealer, describe the fault, and book a drop-off. Don't show up unannounced.
- Bring proof of purchase, any registration email, and the bike logbook with inspection stamps.
- Let the dealer diagnose and file the claim. If the factory wants the frame or the cleaned complete bike, pack it the way they specify.
Keep the conversation in writing. Dates matter.
The logbook and registration
The four-week registration is the deadline people miss. The logbook is the paper trail shops ask for later. Inspections listed in the operating instructions need dealer entries, not just your own notes.
A dealer knowledge base that restates factory policy says a claim may require the completed logbook plus the frame, or a cleaned entire bike, sent in. It also says a warranty repair doesn't restart the original term. Entitlement on some protections ends two years after pickup.
Scan every stamped page. Paper in a wet pannier is useless.
Paying for service after year two
Labor and delivery fees usually fall on you once the 2-year term ends, even if a Premium frame term still covers a broken part. Shop time adds up. Shipping a longtail is worse.
Turns out many owners only notice that on the first invoice after month 24.
One U.S. retailer, Ebikes Hawaii, has used an assumed average service life of 10 years or 16,500-20,000 km, whichever comes first. That figure is the shop's planning number, not an official Riese & Müller lifetime rating. Heavy loads over 110 kg and rough roads can shorten it. Fleet managers can use it as a depreciation hint, then track their own chains, brakes, and batteries, because a rental bike that sits in the stand for three weeks waiting on a swing arm is a utilization problem, not just a warranty problem, and the logbook discipline above is how you keep claims from stalling when five bikes hit the shop in the same week.
If you bought in the United States
Brand terms sit beside whatever implied warranties your state already provides. The FTC warranty overview covers written warranties, the warranty of merchantability, and why a service contract is not the same thing. Those federal rules do not replace the dealer claim steps. They also do not match the statutory mix on German, Finnish, or French pages.
Dealer density is the practical limit. Some regions have trained shops in reach. Some don't. Confirm parts access before you buy, especially for a small fleet that cannot idle bikes for a month.
Open the official warranty page for your language, then call your dealer with the frame number, the purchase date, and a short description of the fault.