I have a Whyte 180 RS equipped with the Bosch Gen 4 motor which has had the 85nm software upgrade. The bike is relatively new to me having only covered 200 miles on it so far and most of that mileage has been gravity runs, plus of course the climbs back up. So the only time I really get to understand how the motor is working is on a climb. For rides with more pedalling involved I typically use my Levo Comp, but today I did a 16 mile XC type loop ( farmtracks/bridleways/singletrack) on the Whyte and had a chance to really feel the level of support from the motor in different scenarios.
I was mostly using EMTB mode with a few bursts of Turbo, and for a lot of the ride I was maintaining a speed close to, or in excess of, the motor shut off. That shut off on my bike occurs at 16.7mph according to the Purion display. There was also very little noticeable resistance from the motor beyond that cut off.
It seemed to me that EMTB places a big bias on cadence within the controlling software, whereas it seems far less so when in turbo.
For example in EMTB mode, if I freewheeled for a while, and then began to pedal again, the amount of power support from the motor then to avoid having to increase crank torque, only returned once cadence had been increased. I found I could smooth this out by changing to a lower gear after freewheeling before pedalling again.........even if that gear was only used briefly before changing up again. That does not seem to happen in Turbo suggesting that Turbo mode has a bigger cadence range, or at least delivers proportionately more power at a lower cadence. It also has the motor overrun feature meaning a very short cessation of pedal input does not destroy the flow.
For those only experienced in use of the Bosch Gen 4 all of this might seem obvious and normal but my comparison is with the Brose motor in the Levo...on which I have done significantly more time and miles.
On my more normal type of forest trail/ downhill type rides I have always found the Whyte somewhat harder work over the full ride duration ( taking into account it is a slacker, longer, longer travel and heavier built bike than the Levo!) and I think todays ride has help me understand why...and how to get it closer to the amount of effort I expend for the same ride on the Levo. That said, I do find the EMTB mode makes the need to use Turbo far less common than using Trail mode on the Levo.
What I learnt today also makes it more enjoyable to use the Whyte for a wider range of riding terrain whereas I have typically reserved it for the steeper more gnarly stuff!
I was mostly using EMTB mode with a few bursts of Turbo, and for a lot of the ride I was maintaining a speed close to, or in excess of, the motor shut off. That shut off on my bike occurs at 16.7mph according to the Purion display. There was also very little noticeable resistance from the motor beyond that cut off.
It seemed to me that EMTB places a big bias on cadence within the controlling software, whereas it seems far less so when in turbo.
For example in EMTB mode, if I freewheeled for a while, and then began to pedal again, the amount of power support from the motor then to avoid having to increase crank torque, only returned once cadence had been increased. I found I could smooth this out by changing to a lower gear after freewheeling before pedalling again.........even if that gear was only used briefly before changing up again. That does not seem to happen in Turbo suggesting that Turbo mode has a bigger cadence range, or at least delivers proportionately more power at a lower cadence. It also has the motor overrun feature meaning a very short cessation of pedal input does not destroy the flow.
For those only experienced in use of the Bosch Gen 4 all of this might seem obvious and normal but my comparison is with the Brose motor in the Levo...on which I have done significantly more time and miles.
On my more normal type of forest trail/ downhill type rides I have always found the Whyte somewhat harder work over the full ride duration ( taking into account it is a slacker, longer, longer travel and heavier built bike than the Levo!) and I think todays ride has help me understand why...and how to get it closer to the amount of effort I expend for the same ride on the Levo. That said, I do find the EMTB mode makes the need to use Turbo far less common than using Trail mode on the Levo.
What I learnt today also makes it more enjoyable to use the Whyte for a wider range of riding terrain whereas I have typically reserved it for the steeper more gnarly stuff!
