Buying E8000 in 2022 ?

[unclezz]

I found a new bike at a good price in one LBS close to where I live.
All good but the bike has an old e8000 unit.... do you think is it worth to buy such a old unit in 2022?

 

[Rickster]

Nope

 

[birdy]

Nope

Why no?

 

[flash]

e8000 bikes sell second hand for good resell prices. That's what a global supply shortage does for bike prices. Tons of Merida's sell here to new owners and I haven't heard any horror stories.

Is the LBS offering any warranty or guarantee on the bike? If it is then, why not? The e8000 is a decent motor. Not as powerful as an EP8 but not miles behind either. Ride feel is good and it doesn't make any noise going downhill like the EP8 does.

Gordon

 

[unclezz]

Thanks for all replies.

Agree, @flash
I will check with the LBS and then decide!

 

[Peaky Rider]

Don't just dismiss it as a motor. I have a Spectral On and a Jam 2, both with E8000 motors, both over four years old and both with over 4000 miles on them. I also have a Rail with the Bosch motor. The Shimano motors provide just as much fun as the Bosch one and are much quieter both under power or when coasting.

The obsolencence of the motor should be reflected in the purchase though.

 

[robbydobs]

I'm pretty sure both the EP8 and E8000 are 500 watts max power, though the EP8 has slightly more torque. There isn't a huge difference in performance.

The lack of serviceability and cost of replacement is the similar for both motors. I am not sure how other manufacturers compare.

 

[Spiff]

Before buying, besides checking the bike overall condition, you should pay special attention to:

• Motor condition: Km, bearing noise, uneven crank rotation while ON and OFF (clockwise and counter clockwise), cranks excessive play, connector pins condition and corrosion.
• Battery condition: Number of cycles and Battery Health, this can be checked with old versions Etube Tablet or STUNLOCKER (but this will void warranty in case it still has it)

 

[steve_sordy]

I'm pretty sure both the EP8 and E8000 are 500 watts max power, though the EP8 has slightly more torque. There isn't a huge difference in performance.

The lack of serviceability and cost of replacement is the similar for both motors. I am not sure how other manufacturers compare.

The EP8 has 21.4% more torque then the e8000. That difference is not "slightly more".

I went from an e8000 motor to an EP8 motor and I found that there was a big difference in performance. But I had to tune the EP8 with the Shimano ETUBE app, which is standard. I know from meeting other riders and also from reading posts on here that some don't realise that you can do this and they just ride with the factory settings and are disappointed as a consequence. By "factory settings" I don't mean that the motors all leave the factory with the same settings. I mean with whatever they have when they leave the factory, which appears to be a lottery.

 

[jbrown15]

The EP8 has 21.4% more torque then the e8000. That difference is not "slightly more".

I went from an e8000 motor to an EP8 motor and I found that there was a big difference in performance. But I had to tune the EP8 with the Shimano ETUBE app, which is standard. I know from meeting other riders and also from reading posts on here that some don't realise that you can do this and they just ride with the factory settings and are disappointed as a consequence. By "factory settings" I don't mean that the motors all leave the factory with the same settings. I mean with whatever they have when they leave the factory, which appears to be a lottery.

Did you ever tune your E8000 motor? I still have one bike with a E8000 and have ridden it back to back with my buddy who has a Husky ebike with the EP8. To me it definitely didn't feel like a big difference, but I changed the settings in my E8000.

And the EP8 has allot of reliability issues, I know of 5 friends that have all had their EP8 motors replaced due to faulty torque sensors. One of my riding buddies is on his 4th EP8 motor now.

 

[steve_sordy]

Did you ever tune your E8000 motor? I still have one bike with a E8000 and have ridden it back to back with my buddy who has a Husky ebike with the EP8. To me it definitely didn't feel like a big difference, but I changed the settings in my E8000.

And the EP8 has allot of reliability issues, I know of 5 friends that have all had their EP8 motors replaced due to faulty torque sensors. One of my riding buddies is on his 4th EP8 motor now.

For the e8000 motor I did what I could with the ETUBE app, but I wouldn't call it "tuning". I didn't use Stunlocker or anything similar either. So I was comparing standard Shimano motors modified only with Shimano delivered standard "apps".

I have been lucky in my Shimano experience. No motor problems at all.

My only problem was with a Shimano charger that would not charge a low state of charge (Focus) battery when the temperature was below 10degC. Replaced under warranty.

 

[flash]

I still have bikes with each motor, so I can compare them directly. A 2019 e160 900 and 2021 e160 9000. There is a difference. It's noticeable. But it's not *vastly* different. At full power up a fire road an EP8 motor will leave behind an e8000, slowly. It's about the same difference as my Levo vs my e160 9000.

On the trail the difference is smaller because you adjust to the bike with cadence and how much you put in, as well as the fact you don't need all the power all the time. An e8000 and EP8 can ride normal trails together just fine. And the e8000 is a joy on the downhill when you hear nothing but the tyres.

I have three Shimano bikes. Thousands of kms. No issues, ever. But, the local warranty situation is awful as the local supplier sometimes denies warranty with spurious claims of *modded* motors. Might be different in other parts of the world. As someone who thinks good support is more important than absolute reliability this is a concern to me and affects my purchasing decisions.

Gordon

 

[jbrown15]

I still have bikes with each motor, so I can compare them directly. A 2019 e160 900 and 2021 e160 9000. There is a difference. It's noticeable. But it's not *vastly* different. At full power up a fire road an EP8 motor will leave behind an e8000, slowly. It's about the same difference as my Levo vs my e160 9000.

On the trail the difference is smaller because you adjust to the bike with cadence and how much you put in, as well as the fact you don't need all the power all the time. An e8000 and EP8 can ride normal trails together just fine. And the e8000 is a joy on the downhill when you hear nothing but the tyres.

I have three Shimano bikes. Thousands of kms. No issues, ever. But, the local warranty situation is awful as the local supplier sometimes denies warranty with spurious claims of *modded* motors. Might be different in other parts of the world. As someone who thinks good support is more important than absolute reliability this is a concern to me and affects my purchasing decisions.

Gordon

Your post reflects what I felt out on the trail comparing the two. Shimano has been good in our area with handling the warranty claims, it's just been a shocking amount of riding buddies with issues. Three of my buddies bought the Husky ebikes when they launched in Canada, one of them in on his 4th EP8 motor, another is on his 3rd and the other just has his first motor replaced.

Another buddy on a new Norco range just had his EP8 replaced and a friend on a Santa Cruz Bullit is getting the dreaded torque sensor error code which requires the motor to be replaced.

I have 3000km's on my E8000 motor with not a single issue, and like you said nice and quiet when the trail points downhill. I realize no motor is perfect but it is alarming the amount of EP8's that I personally know of that have been replaced.

 

[Cyclopath1000]

My e8000 motor on my 2018 COMMENCAL is making a variety of noises at 4500 miles. It’s most likely needing a mechanical overhaul with bearings and lube. Supposedly Shimano USA will have fresh e8000 motors stocked around October. While I’m thinking second ebike, I’m going for a new motor at $1000 plus labor because the rest of the bike, other than cosmetics, is solid. I’ve adjusted my concept of a durable product lasting many years to less but 5000 miles per motor doesn’t sound quite that unreasonable if and only if a replacement is easily obtained. COMMENCAL claims to be willing to replace the motor for a reasonable cost and make sure no error codes show up. I can live with that as I await the latest and the greatest ebikes to evolve. $1500 vs $10,000 is a bit of a difference.

 

[Strindberg]

E8000 is servicable without problem.

If somebody intend to do that on his own, he has to let for some couples of days the engine in a corner,
and he must reed the thread onwards and backwards and vice versa,
to understand and to FEEL what we are meaning and what we describe !!!

 

[franciscoasismm]

My two EBike with 30,000 km and 16,000 km, and E8000 did not give me any problems so far, I do not know ebike with EP8 with this mileage. If it is well priced I would buy an ebike with E8000.

 

[Lee Dove]

I have done 12k km on my bike and am just fitting the 4th E8000. All 3 bearing failures.

 

[Cyclopath1000]

There is a great YouTube on the bearing replacement unfortunately Shimano doesn’t respect the right to repair ethos.

 

[franciscoasismm]

 

[Cyclopath1000]

Serious numbers!!

 

[franciscoasismm]

Cifras serias!!
[/COTIZAR]
I always clean the motors with a damp cloth and I was lucky

 

[SEBA]

The EP8 has 21.4% more torque then the e8000. That difference is not "slightly more".

I went from an e8000 motor to an EP8 motor and I found that there was a big difference in performance. But I had to tune the EP8 with the Shimano ETUBE app, which is standard. I know from meeting other riders and also from reading posts on here that some don't realise that you can do this and they just ride with the factory settings and are disappointed as a consequence. By "factory settings" I don't mean that the motors all leave the factory with the same settings. I mean with whatever they have when they leave the factory, which appears to be a lottery.

with stunlocker you can raise e8000 torque and power, mine is 75nm and 600w

 

[Lee Dove]

with stunlocker you can raise e8000 torque and power, mine is 75nm and 600w

That was clever as I don't see any settings in STUnlocker to change Max torque and Power.

 

[SEBA]

That was clever as I don't see any settings in STUnlocker to change Max torque and Power.

only with 4.3.2 fw , and sc-e8000 display, it display correct speed too.