r/GlobeHaul

I am considering buying a Haul LT to ditch and replace my primary car for this cargo bike as my daily errand runner around town. I also own a Jeep for my long-distance, inclement weather trips and as an adventure vehicle where I would occasionally want to take the Haul LT camping to use on unimproved gravel roads and dirt trails.

I prefer and like this cargo bike in comparison to the other alternatives for its larger durable tube-structure frame, thick wide tires, and maximum storage area.

However, I have some concerns. I am interested to know if current/past Haul LT owners regret their purchase from the widespread problems being reported relating to battery, connectivity, app issues and reliability.

My worry is that the super-proprietary nature of the electronics and lack of compatibility with aftermarket parts to repair the bike's buggy flaws, combined with the eventual lack of software support from Globe and Specialized, will leave me with an 80lb bike that I can only peddle around without its electronic benefits after the warranty expires. I am pretty handy with tools and tinkering with electronics, but from what I read, even folks like me trying fix their own Hauls run into problems because working around the software is the prohibitive factor.

What feedback and advice would current and past Haul owners have for me?

Thanks in advance.

Hey Everyone!!

My charger keeps telling me it's done way before the battery actually is. I plug it in and the LED goes red like normal, but then it flips to green before the battery hits 100%. If I unplug it and plug it back in, it goes red again and keeps charging. I can eventually get it to a true 100% just by doing that over and over and sometimes I don't have to do it at all and will charge to 100% on it's own.

Happens whether the battery is in the bike or off charging by itself. I've also run it all the way down to 0% with no weird behavior on that end, so it seems like the battery itself is fine with taking and holding a charge, it's just the charger cutting out early and reporting done when it's not.

No error codes on the display when this happens. Tried a different outlets too, same result.

Really hoping this is just a flaky charger and not something wrong with the battery or BMS. Has anyone run into this? Did a new charger fix it, or did you end up needing a battery/connector swap? Trying to figure out what to expect before I deal with Specialized support.

Does the haul use a specific kind of air pump or any air pump will do?I am about to buy one and I don’t know if I need a specific one

[[ Edit: instructions in comments if you are able to help! ]]

I like to have full control over the things that I purchase, and as an engineer I very much enjoy the process of figuring out how things work. Through past jobs, I gained experience with eBikes, CAN communication, and some reverse engineering, and I have been putting my skills to work over the last week (and Claude, of course).

I've made some good progress so far: I have fully reverse engineered the BLE protocol that the HMI speaks and can trigger actions and see data coming off of it, replicating what the app can show, and a bit more. I also have been analyzing various apps out there to see what deeper control they may expose (pedal assist sensitivity, etc) with some luck, but it is slow going.

There's plenty more to uncover, but the one big "unlock" I am looking for right now is a firmware image for the bike. With that, a LOT more can be learned. My first thought was to pull the firmware image from the app, given it comes from some OTA server somewhere. Well, bad news: Xplova, the HMI manufacturer, seems to no longer be in business and all the firmware images their servers had on them are dead. I would guess this is a likely reason why the app was shut down. I have done some deep research trying to find those images elsewhere, but I have had no luck.

However, not all is lost just yet — and that's where you come in...

I am looking for people who may have firmware images cached on their phones. You may be able to help if you:

• Have a rooted Android phone (it may work without root, but it makes things considerably easier)
• Used your phone to do a firmware update to the bike. The more recently the better.
• Are comfortable running some debug commands to read various cache folders on your phone (using "adb")

Anyone out there willing to help?

Disclaimer:

My ongoing work is currently a private effort and I make no promises around what I will release, or when. I may choose to release specific tools or documentation in the future to allow others to change settings on their bikes or replace other app functionality that is currently lost. I am more than happy to discuss my work while I explore this effort, so please help me understand what would be useful or helpful. However, I will not discuss the speed limiter on the bike for legal reasons (also, I do not know how it works!).

I'm in Vancouver, BC - the Globe accessories are seemingly harder to come by. Have had the bike for a year but just added a second kid to the family.

What are good front panniers? Can't do rear anymore as we have the footpegs for one kid and the Yepp seat for the other.

What are my options for a canopy? Do I need to get the rails first?

Thanks!

I got a Globe Haul ST new from a Specialized dealer last year and rode it until the winter without issue. It sat in my basement all winter. The first time I charged it and tried to ride it in the Spring, the screen showed no charge, and I got the B032 error. Strangely I could still use the bike, the throttle and pedal assist worked for awhile, but then stopped working. I could turn it off and on to get it to work for a few minutes but it always stopped, and the screen always showed the B032 error.

First Specialized had the dealer try a shim, but that didn't work. Now Specialized wants to replace the entire battery cradle, but the part is out of stock with no ETA. It's been in the shop for nearly two months now. Obviously this is very frustrating. I got a Specialized specifically for the dealer support. My Radwagon has been flawless for 4 years but I got one season out of a more expensive Specialized. I will wait a few more weeks in the hope that the part comes in. Has anyone had any luck with a buyback or full refund in this situation?