Broken “bottom bracket” like part on EP8 RS on my M10
- Thread starter BobR
- Start date
luna87824
E*POWAH Master
E-13 blames Shimano and Shimano blames E-13...Do a search you will find several have hade the same problem!! Where are you located?
Rod B.
Well-known member
BobR,
Unfortunately, your EP8 motor spindle is broken. It cannot be fixed. If your motor is less than two years old, it is covered under warranty. Take the bike back to your place of purchase or an Orbea dealer to have the motor replaced.
Shimano does not currently offer parts replacement for the EP8, they will replace the entire motor.
At issue is the safety locking hole which shimano machines into the spindle to lock/retain Shimano crank arms in place. E13 does not utilize this hole to lock E13 crank arms.
Incorrect tightening I.e. over tightening the crank arm bolts or possibly just plain old wear, can fatigue the spindle at the bolt hole and cracking will develop that leads to the spindle fracturing.
Here is a tech article produced by E13 which discusses the issue.
Unfortunately, your EP8 motor spindle is broken. It cannot be fixed. If your motor is less than two years old, it is covered under warranty. Take the bike back to your place of purchase or an Orbea dealer to have the motor replaced.
Shimano does not currently offer parts replacement for the EP8, they will replace the entire motor.
At issue is the safety locking hole which shimano machines into the spindle to lock/retain Shimano crank arms in place. E13 does not utilize this hole to lock E13 crank arms.
Incorrect tightening I.e. over tightening the crank arm bolts or possibly just plain old wear, can fatigue the spindle at the bolt hole and cracking will develop that leads to the spindle fracturing.
Here is a tech article produced by E13 which discusses the issue.
- Thread starter
- #8
My current status is that it looks like Orbea is replacing my motor and cranks but not clear yet if labor is going to be covered.. my LB has been very good about keeping me up to date on communication with Orbea. Hoping for the best but I don’t have the bike back yet…
Rod B.
Well-known member
BobR, that's good news. The cost of labor to replace a defective motor is usually covered under warranty. The only time I've heard of it not being covered under warranty is if the bike is taken to a shop different from the shop where the bike was originally purchased. The bike shop performing the warranty will sometimes charge a nominal labor fee.
If your bike has some miles on it, you may want to have the shop give the shifter and dropper cable/housing a check for wear. The cable housings tend to rub on the motor. Replacement of the cable and cable housing wouldn't be covered under warranty, but with the motor out, it's a relatively quick and easy replacement process.
Hopefully, your local Shimano distributor will have a replacement motor in stock. Usually they will. If they do not, it may take a week or so to receive the replacement motor.
Be safe,
Rod
- Thread starter
- #10
Thanks Rod,
The shop I purchased it from does not sell Orbea anymore and is in another state anyway... I am getting a motor from Orbea according to the LB since it has to be programmed down to 60nm max... Thanks for the tip on the dropper post/shift cables, I will have them look at it and replace if warn.
TtheArab
Member
That is a win TBH. A lot of other manufacturers would not have been so good.
Off to order Shimano cranks....
- Thread starter
- #13
I agree with you that it is a win for sure, but the bike is in use for a little over a year and breaks and you spend this kind of money you expect to be taken care of.. you should not have to worry about it. One of the reasons I posted this follow up so that if it happens to someone else they have something to reference to hopefully give them a little piece of mind
Last edited:
I'm with you. While you had a pleasant CS experience overall, Orbea should pick up the cost of repair if under warranty.
I'm glad you're at least now good to go and it was taken care of quickly for not "too much"
Rod B.
Well-known member
BobR,
That's good news on getting your bike fixed and back on the trail. Hopefully your local trails don't get blown away with the latest storm. What did you guys do to piss off mother nature.....Two in a row....
$100 is slightly more than what my local bike shop charges to warranty a non-customer motor. Unfortunately for you, the bike couldn't be taken back to the original purchasing dealer. The labor would have then been included in the warranty service. On a positive note, you now have a relationship with the shop and that's not a bad thing when you need something done immediately. Bike shops need to make money, so I wouldn't begrudge them too much the $100.
If you own the Rise for extended miles, i.e. I have 3,100 miles on my Rise, there will come a time where you will need to drop the motor to check things out internally. If you are comfortable with working on things, do the work yourself and save $100. Dropping the motor is not at all difficult and takes about 10-20 minutes depending upon mechanical ability. You will need several special tools, i.e. Nm torque wrench and chain ring spindle nut tool.
I cover in detail how to drop the Rise motor in this thread:
Orbea Rise - Charging/Cabling Fault Finding
Post Article Update: I’ve added some additional information for those encountering electrical issues with their Rise. The EP8’s wiring system is an enclosed loop system. If there’s a break, i.e. lack of connection or severed wire anywhere in the the wiring system, the bike will not work. As an...
www.emtbforums.com
One of the weak spots on the carbon Rise is that Orbea did not make a separate channel in the down tube and bottom bracket shell to route cable and brake hose through. Instead, the rear brake hose and cable housings make direct contact with the wiring loom and the motor.
With enough miles and shaking, the cables and brake hose will rub through the protective sheathing Shimano uses on the EP8 wiring loom. Some of the wires in the loom are very small and easily broken. You will need to repair the sheathing if it's damaged from rub through. I use cloth friction tape made for use on wiring looms. You can buy it on Amazon.
I've also found that with enough long term water exposure into the frame, it will cause the plug connection between the battery and the wring loom to break contact. It's an easy fix. Just unplug the wiring loom connection at the battery. Clean with electrical contact cleaner and plug back in. You're good to go.
You will also need to occasionally inspect the rear brake hose, derailleur and dropper housings for rub through damage.
Here is an example of damaged wiring loom sheathing on a Rise Carbon.
Be safe,
Rod
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- Thread starter
- #16
L
If I could have processed the warranty myself I would have.
Hey Rod, I am very much a do it yourself person and have all the tools accept the bottom bracket wrenches. As I own two of these bikes I am going to buy those too… The LBS are nice people but very tight… I purchased a Norco Fluid from them when I learned the motor was cover and I could not even get a discount on a set of pedals from them… I have purchased many bikes and that is the first one that I did no it get a free set of pedals. They really squeak!BobR,
That's good news on getting your bike fixed and back on the trail. Hopefully your local trails don't get blown away with the latest storm. What did you guys do to piss off mother nature.....Two in a row....
$100 is slightly more than what my local bike shop charges to warranty a non-customer motor. Unfortunately for you, the bike couldn't be taken back to the original purchasing dealer. The labor would have then been included in the warranty service. On a positive note, you now have a relationship with the shop and that's not a bad thing when you need something done immediately. Bike shops need to make money, so I wouldn't begrudge them too much the $100.
If you own the Rise for extended miles, i.e. I have 3,100 miles on my Rise, there will come a time where you will need to drop the motor to check things out internally. If you are comfortable with working on things, do the work yourself and save $100. Dropping the motor is not at all difficult and takes about 10-20 minutes depending upon mechanical ability. You will need several special tools, i.e. Nm torque wrench and chain ring spindle nut tool.
I cover in detail how to drop the Rise motor in this thread:
Orbea Rise - Charging/Cabling Fault Finding
Post Article Update: I’ve added some additional information for those encountering electrical issues with their Rise. The EP8’s wiring system is an enclosed loop system. If there’s a break, i.e. lack of connection or severed wire anywhere in the the wiring system, the bike will not work. As an...
One of the weak spots on the carbon Rise is that Orbea did not make a separate channel in the down tube and bottom bracket shell to route cable and brake hose through. Instead, the rear brake hose and cable housings make direct contact with the wiring loom and the motor.
With enough miles and shaking, the cables and brake hose will rub through the protective sheathing Shimano uses on the EP8 wiring loom. Some of the wires in the loom are very small and easily broken. You will need to repair the sheathing if it's damaged from rub through. I use cloth friction tape made for use on wiring looms. You can buy it on Amazon.
I've also found that with enough long term water exposure into the frame, it will cause the plug connection between the battery and the wring loom to break contact. It's an easy fix. Just unplug the wiring loom connection at the battery. Clean with electrical contact cleaner and plug back in. You're good to go.
You will also need to occasionally inspect the rear brake hose, derailleur and dropper housings for rub through damage.
Here is an example of damaged wiring loom sheathing on a Rise Carbon.
View attachment 101261
View attachment 101262
Be safe,
Rod
If I could have processed the warranty myself I would have.
Murphius
Active member
Similar to you, I had my EP8 motor replaced under warranty by a shop that I did not purchase the bike from and they charged $200 to swap the motors. Feel good about the $100, relative to what I paid.
Rod B.
Well-known member
YokoOno,
I have a Shimano SC-E7000 display which keeps track of my mileage.
I used the EW-EN100 junction box that comes with the Rise for the first 500 miles of the bike's life. When I installed the SC-E7000 display, the correct mileage appeared on the display.
The EP8 motor will keep a running mileage count unless the motor has been reprogrammed and information deleted via a Shimano SM-PCE02. As a side story, my buddy bought a used Rise M10 in very good condition. The owner told my buddy the bike had a few hundred miles on it. When I installed a SC-EM800 display on the bike, the correct mileage appeared on the odometer, 1,025 miles.
Shimano's E-Tube app does not display the motor's mileage. I don't understand why Shimano does not include this information. It would be useful to know, especially when purchasing a used Rise.
There are other ways to keep track of your Rise's mileage. My buddy Steve, aka Chicane on eMTB Forum uses a Garmin device. I am not familiar with Garmin. Steve tells me his Garmin contains an odometer feature that displays his Rise M10 mileage.
If you are not into displays or other devices, there is another way to keep track of your Rise's mileage. You can do this by using Strava on every ride. When you setup your Strava user profile, it allows you to designate which bike will be used for a ride. If you enter the bike into your equipment profile, it will automatically use this same bike for every ride. You can manually switch between bikes if a different bike is occasionally used. Strava will keep a running mileage total for each bike you use.
My SC-E7000 display states my Rise has 3,121 miles and Strava states my Rise has 3,107 miles on it. Strava can be a fairly accurate way of keeping tabs on your Rise's mileage.
Note: If you use Strava but never designated a bike for a ride, you can manually edit your activities and add a bike to the rides.
It's definitely somewhere in the E tube app as I've seen it (and it's different to my Strava because of misclassified/unrecorded rides).
Will have a look and post where if I remember.
It’s in the E-TUBE RIDe app. reads total distance from the motor
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