El Topo
Member
No matter if I look at a M510, a M600, or the mighty M620, I just can't see how I could justify spending thousands of Euros on a bike with a controller/software and software support like that.
For me the power of a motor is not really relevant. For me, every recent motor, be it Bosch, Shimano, Brose, Yamaha, IMO has enough power and torque. To me the Shimano EP8 is pretty much perfect, it is light weight, you can adjust (=tune down) the power with an phone app and I could live with the limitation of only 25km/h.
My impression is that every new firmware has its own issues, there is no trail/adaptive mode available, and reprogramming the motor is a lot of hassle. I don't own a windows computer anymore and wouldn't want to spend half a day setting up Wine or whatever I would need. Also, there seem to be different softwares, and you need a crack for the (dealer?) version, that offers more tuning parameters. I rode the Innotrace M620 (admittedly in a suboptimal environment) and it didn't feel very "traily", more cadence than torque driven. It also was way too powerful - which I know could be tamed down with another Windows program, where I am at the mercy of the vendor, because I need a customer specific log-in.
Is all this this a false assesment? I would be happy to be proven wrong...
Say what you want about the established brands (pricing, closed systems, etc.) but a Bosch/Shimano *just works*, and that is important to me on a bike.
Also, am I really the only one who doesn't want more power but more finesse with a DIY bike?
Don't get me wrong, I want an EMTB and would love to build my own, especially with the fact that no big company still offers an up to date E-fat bike, but I don't have enough money lying around, to build up a bike that I could maybe sell for half it had cost in parts, if I come to the conclusion the Bafang motor/controller just isn't for me.
PS: Before anyone asks, there is a fat bike with an EP8 I would love to be able to buy, but it costs 8-9000€ in a good configuration - and they don't sell a frame only.
For me the power of a motor is not really relevant. For me, every recent motor, be it Bosch, Shimano, Brose, Yamaha, IMO has enough power and torque. To me the Shimano EP8 is pretty much perfect, it is light weight, you can adjust (=tune down) the power with an phone app and I could live with the limitation of only 25km/h.
My impression is that every new firmware has its own issues, there is no trail/adaptive mode available, and reprogramming the motor is a lot of hassle. I don't own a windows computer anymore and wouldn't want to spend half a day setting up Wine or whatever I would need. Also, there seem to be different softwares, and you need a crack for the (dealer?) version, that offers more tuning parameters. I rode the Innotrace M620 (admittedly in a suboptimal environment) and it didn't feel very "traily", more cadence than torque driven. It also was way too powerful - which I know could be tamed down with another Windows program, where I am at the mercy of the vendor, because I need a customer specific log-in.
Is all this this a false assesment? I would be happy to be proven wrong...
Say what you want about the established brands (pricing, closed systems, etc.) but a Bosch/Shimano *just works*, and that is important to me on a bike.
Also, am I really the only one who doesn't want more power but more finesse with a DIY bike?
Don't get me wrong, I want an EMTB and would love to build my own, especially with the fact that no big company still offers an up to date E-fat bike, but I don't have enough money lying around, to build up a bike that I could maybe sell for half it had cost in parts, if I come to the conclusion the Bafang motor/controller just isn't for me.
PS: Before anyone asks, there is a fat bike with an EP8 I would love to be able to buy, but it costs 8-9000€ in a good configuration - and they don't sell a frame only.
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