2019 Motor Distance/Failure Survey

High Rock Ruti

Active member
May 13, 2019
420
329
Massachusetts
High Rock Ruti

Ode to ZImmerframe for at least trying to quantify Brose failures.

Kudos to Specialized for standing behind their products.

Shame on Brose for not working to reduce failures. (3 belt failures 1 Sprague clutch failure)

I ride in Turbo almost all the time, so yes I'm harder on the drive system than those who ride in lower support levels. That being admitted too, however does not relieve Brose of responsibility. How many times have heard the "Brose's been in the "automotive industry manufacturing, windshield wiper motors for decades?" Clearly there is a disconnect between a wiper motor and a mountain bike motor. Specialized is guilty of flaunting the concept of "proprietary" information , forcing curious and good minded folks like "Zimmerframe" to try to quantify, how many failures there have been. While I was waiting 6 weeks (in the prime summer months) for a replacement motor, the shop was told by Specialized warranty that 1) the motors were backordered, 2) that Specialized was sending a new bike to salvage a motor from and straining all credibility "that the shipping container with the motors had been lost". Then voila a few days later motor appears. I focus on "motors" backordered in the same season as the Brose S Mag's release, perhaps the motors were already installed in new bikes, or perhaps a credible conclusion, a combination of huge sales and an onslaught of motor failures leading to shortages.

I miss my Turbo Levo S works a lot, I will continue to loyally buy from Specialized because of their high loyalty to customers.

Oh that's right, it is only a mountain bike after all.
 

High Rock Ruti

Active member
May 13, 2019
420
329
Massachusetts
High Rock Ruti

E13 is a pedal force error code restart

E10 is power interruption, my E8000 was the power from battery to motor, at 18 months you should be warranty most warranties are 24 months

Warm Regards Ruti
 

downhilllister

Active member
Dec 26, 2019
31
23
nelson new zealand
High Rock Ruti

E13 is a pedal force error code restart

E10 is power interruption, my E8000 was the power from battery to motor, at 18 months you should be warranty most warranties are 24 months

Warm Regards Ruti
Have read all the books that come with the 2019 6.8 jam and the only warranty offered is on the frame. But it seam others with problems are being covered for at least 24 months on none frame parts. Hop that's the case.:)
 

High Rock Ruti

Active member
May 13, 2019
420
329
Massachusetts
Have read all the books that come with the 2019 6.8 jam and the only warranty offered is on the frame. But it seam others with problems are being covered for at least 24 months on none frame parts. Hop that's the case.:)

High Rock Ruti

Fortunately, the motor and battery are warrantied the manufacturer Shimano, your shop should handle it. My shimano has been really dependable except for the battery cable to the motor, which as an easy fix out of warranty. I'd bet that yours is a similar connection problem also covered by warranty.

By the way how's that bike ride?

Warm Regards Ruti
 

Theterrorwheel

New Member
Sep 13, 2020
4
2
Plymouth uk
Vitus e-sommet E8000 motor, 4.7k miles in 18months, in all weather including water upto middle of wheel, winter is my fave cycling season.
Thats mostly xc, I never connected bike to the steps app, so updates couldn't spoil things, was all good until the dreaded wo10 & wo13 appeared, once that appears its only a very short time before a replacement motor is needed, got a refund & now searching out a reliable model to replace it.
 

Mteam

E*POWAH Elite
Aug 3, 2020
1,866
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My august 2020 bosch gen 4 cx has just broken at 350 miles. The motor itself seems fine, but the kiox display has just started showing a 'kiox overheating' error and won't switch on, so the whole bike is currently useless.
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
14,017
20,775
Brittany, France
My august 2020 bosch gen 4 cx has just broken at 350 miles. The motor itself seems fine, but the kiox display has just started showing a 'kiox overheating' error and won't switch on, so the whole bike is currently useless.
Sounds like it can't keep up with your hot talent ! :cool: A rare error, be interesting to see what the outcome is.
 

Mteam

E*POWAH Elite
Aug 3, 2020
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Sounds like it can't keep up with your hot talent ! :cool: A rare error, be interesting to see what the outcome is.

Not that rare - someone else on the bosch motor section of this forum had the same problem a couple of weeks ago.....except his said it was too cold, then too hot, then too cold again..... Goldilocks and the 3 kiox displays?
 

High Rock Ruti

Active member
May 13, 2019
420
329
Massachusetts
I can't do this as a poll, so I'll have to update the first post manually, so either put your information in the thread or PM me if you don't want it on the main thread..

This isn't a competition so there's no need to make anything up and there's so many other possible variables that it won't be conclusive but it should give some general ideas of what the motors are capable of life wise - in ideal circumstances (the ones with the highest distances presumably were made without defects and looked after perfectly).

When I say other possible variables, for instance, it might be that 80% of yamaha type buyers only ride up gnarly steep stuff and only ride once a month, so they don't cover huge distances. This information hopefully will just give an overall guide for comparison and it's upto you how you interpret the information.

I'll work it in KM's (just because), so if you have miles either divide it by 5 and multiply by 8 to get KM's or put it in Miles and say Miles and I'll convert it.

This is only for Mountain bike orientated motors. If you accurately (not made up over a beer) know of other distances of friends/family and likewise - failures include that also.

In the Failure section, also include failures caused by physical incident. Whilst every circumstance is different, at some point we will all be throwing our bike down a mountain or hitting a rock and ideally you'd like the motor to survive.

If I've missed a motor off or a motor type you think should be listed separately, just name it as such and I'll edit the list.

For distance covered, I won't bother with anything less than 1000km or I'll be spending all my time updating it :) It won't include any of the new 2020 motors like the new Yamaha or Bosch. These can go on next years and the information from this year can be compared.

View attachment 17692

High Rock Ruti

2019 S Works, 4 motor failures in 1000 mile and one REFUND! Utter SHIT motors, however Specialized world class warranty. I'm seriously thinking about buying another, based on Specialized as a company and the claim of updated, drive belt, and software.

Thanks Zimmer

Warm Regards

Ruti
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
8,966
9,341
Lincolnshire, UK
2250 miles on my Shimano steps e8000, no unpleasant noises, no problems. My mate has a 300 miles new motor (warranty after over 5000 miles) and mine is quieter than his!
 

Endurip

Member
Jan 9, 2021
62
16
Sweden
I Read this thread with big interest since I'm about to purchase a second hand emtb. During 2018 I owned a Merida eone-sixty Smith E8000 motor, without issues. It seems a lot of people have bad luck with the reliability of most common motor brands, and therefore my questions are:

is there a way to buy a new motor if the one I choose to buy happen to fail and be beyond repair (and no warranty left)? If so, which brands?

The reason I sold my emtb was the speed limit. So Now It must be able to rise the speed limit to at least American 32 km/h. Any input of motors that is easy to restrict and won't be much affected by decreased reliability?
 
Last edited:

Flatslide

E*POWAH Master
Jul 14, 2019
265
250
Dunedin NZ
I'll add that my Powerplay has just gone in for a motor replacement at 8000km. Not that there's anything wrong with the motor, in fact I was hoping to rack up tens of thousands of k's on it. It needs a new motor drive pinion but according to the LBS, the importer hasn't seen one with so many k's on it so decided just to replace my motor unit. I can only guess he wants to use mine for investigative purposes.
 

High Rock Ruti

Active member
May 13, 2019
420
329
Massachusetts
I can't do this as a poll, so I'll have to update the first post manually, so either put your information in the thread or PM me if you don't want it on the main thread..

This isn't a competition so there's no need to make anything up and there's so many other possible variables that it won't be conclusive but it should give some general ideas of what the motors are capable of life wise - in ideal circumstances (the ones with the highest distances presumably were made without defects and looked after perfectly).

When I say other possible variables, for instance, it might be that 80% of yamaha type buyers only ride up gnarly steep stuff and only ride once a month, so they don't cover huge distances. This information hopefully will just give an overall guide for comparison and it's upto you how you interpret the information.

I'll work it in KM's (just because), so if you have miles either divide it by 5 and multiply by 8 to get KM's or put it in Miles and say Miles and I'll convert it.

This is only for Mountain bike orientated motors. If you accurately (not made up over a beer) know of other distances of friends/family and likewise - failures include that also.

In the Failure section, also include failures caused by physical incident. Whilst every circumstance is different, at some point we will all be throwing our bike down a mountain or hitting a rock and ideally you'd like the motor to survive.

If I've missed a motor off or a motor type you think should be listed separately, just name it as such and I'll edit the list.

For distance covered, I won't bother with anything less than 1000km or I'll be spending all my time updating it :) It won't include any of the new 2020 motors like the new Yamaha or Bosch. These can go on next years and the information from this year can be compared.

View attachment 17692
High Rock Ruti

Happy New Year Zimm

I am to understand that I represent the entirety the 4 motors (I Lost)at less than 1000 KM, I feel so "special"

Warm Regards

Ruti
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
14,017
20,775
Brittany, France
High Rock Ruti

Happy New Year Zimm

I am to understand that I represent the entirety the 4 motors (I Lost)at less than 1000 KM, I feel so "special"

Warm Regards

Ruti
Happy New Year Ruti.

Nope sorry, your magical ability to go through motors like bambam goes through ladies was not noted on the fails. Only ones reported in the thread were.

I did a parallel private survey where I took all the failures reported on the whole forum over a year and used that to work out what % of motors actually failed. Have deleted it all now though as there was quite a lot of information on people which wasn't fair to keep. I stuck the stats up here somewhere .. can't remember where though ! :)

From what I recall, at the time you were winning, the next highest was only 3. There was obviously an incompatibility with certain people's riding styles/environments which just didn't work with the brose 2.1 motors. Might be fixed now ... who knows ! :) Maybe next time try your pedals/cranks at 180 degrees to each other rather than parallel -it will be far easier to pedal !! o_O :ROFLMAO:

Are you going to try another one ?
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
14,017
20,775
Brittany, France
Wasn't it at the top of page 1?
No .. that was just the stats from this thread which relied on people reporting failures - which most people didn't.

I did a separate one which was based on me farming the information from threads as people had failures - so the numbers were all considerably higher, but gave a much better idea of failures. At the same time I logged all users and what bikes/motors they had to get an indication of % of failures for how many motors were in use.
 

High Rock Ruti

Active member
May 13, 2019
420
329
Massachusetts
Happy New Year Ruti.

Nope sorry, your magical ability to go through motors like bambam goes through ladies was not noted on the fails. Only ones reported in the thread were.

I did a parallel private survey where I took all the failures reported on the whole forum over a year and used that to work out what % of motors actually failed. Have deleted it all now though as there was quite a lot of information on people which wasn't fair to keep. I stuck the stats up here somewhere .. can't remember where though ! :)

From what I recall, at the time you were winning, the next highest was only 3. There was obviously an incompatibility with certain people's riding styles/environments which just didn't work with the brose 2.1 motors. Might be fixed now ... who knows ! :) Maybe next time try your pedals/cranks at 180 degrees to each other rather than parallel -it will be far easier to pedal !! o_O :ROFLMAO:

Are you going to try another one ?

High Rock Ruti

Happy New Zimm

Yes I'm afraid I am considering another Specialized, great riding bike, although so are Orbea, Trek and Pivot. However it's Specialized the company that keeps me coming back, they really stand behind what they sell and their loyalty to customer's fosters my loyalty as consumer.

It's 25 degrees F about to go riding, remember

"if your not cold in the parking lot; your hot on the trail"

Warm Regards

Ruti
 

cjm_wales

Member
Mar 19, 2019
102
86
Cardiff
I dropped my Vitus E-sommet off at my local Shimano dealership last night.

It had covered 1600kms from new, purchased June 2019, before this failure - the first and only issue I've had with the system (aside from battery degradation).

It started throwing E010 errors, and eventually persistent E010 errors that turned into W013 errors when power cycled. The tech in the Shimano centre hooked his laptop up to the display unit and read the error codes off to confirm. He was also able to tell that the bike had never been de-restricted (he remarked as such) - so they DO check :D

I had to laugh when he pointed to the bike he was working on when I arrived - another E-sommet (with the E7000 motor, same fault).

He seemed to think I'd have my bike back by the weekend, which would be quite a result. And the motor picked the best time to go pop, to be honest :)

I've been bikeless for a fortnight and it's been tough. But I think I'm sticking with the E-sommet VR, a) because it's a great bike & b) upgrading is going to cost me at least £2k - and there's pretty much zero stock anywhere, apart from Specialized.

The diagnostic & motor swap is going to cost £60, of which CRC have offered to cover £50. I will admit, it was tempting to send it straight back to CRC for a full refund as others have done. But then I'd be bikeless until June at the earliest.

The new motor will come with its own 2 year warranty, so my bike might turn into triggers' broom.
 

cjm_wales

Member
Mar 19, 2019
102
86
Cardiff
Update: I've been without my bike for over a fortnight now.... the motor is with Madison & they're taking forever to even look at it, despite my local shimano dealer confirming what the problem is. Just swap the motor for crying out loud!
 

sunstoner

Active member
Aug 2, 2020
173
102
Nottinghamshire
Having only picked up my first emtb last August, a Bosch powered Hardtail where I covered 500 miles without an issue before swapping it for a bosch Allmtn Haibike bike where Ive covered nearly 300 miles, again without an issue (so far)...should I be expecting some pain soon?
 

Mteam

E*POWAH Elite
Aug 3, 2020
1,866
1,804
gone
My bosch cx gen4 was replaced a couple of months ago, started showing error 550 at around 6 months old/550miles.

No feedback from bosch as to the problem, but I suspect moisture had found its way in some how.
 

Easy E

Member
Oct 7, 2019
5
2
Australia
2018-2020 Merida e160 E8000 Shimano - 5500km no problems
2020 NORCO Range VLT C1 E8000 Shimano - 2000km then failed due to water in battery compartment (warranty replacement frame / motor)
Warranty replacement currently 4200km - no problems

Can't complain about shimano motors !!
 

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