Cautionary note connecting eTube app while riding....

[Eckythump]

I was out riding my E8000 equipped bike last Friday. During the ride I decided to change the assist levels using the eTube app as I had set the assist levels to low on my previous ride trying too eek out the inbuilt battery as far as possible.

As soon as I connected the app it automatically started an update of the Bluetooth module on the bike. I wasn’t asked if I wanted to update or given the option to cancel.
During the update the e side of the bike was inoperable and the update took 5min.

At best it could have been inconvenient on a group ride. If the update had failed rendering the bike inoperable it could prove somewhat problematic if it is late in the day or the weather poor. At least pedalling the Shimano system without the motor is an option.

I have raised this on Shimano’s e-bike Facebook page and they are looking into it as they can see it could be an issue.

The auto update only happened with the Bluetooth module, there were other updates for battery & motor which were queued as normal for manual update.

So I would suggest connecting the app to your bike at home in advance of a ride if you are planning to use the app out and about just to make sure you don’t get caught out.

 

[njn]

Soft bricked mine at home during a failed update. Restarted download and it was fine. The app is poorly designed, at least on android. I would never attempt a connection on a ride.

 

[Eckythump]

Hopefully they will get the auto update thing sorted. It is handy to be able to adjust things but nowhere near the tunability of Specialized’s app.

 

[Kernow]

Iam all new to this , not even found the app yet. What do you find your tuning . My levels are still set medium as standard .
Do you find setting to low better than just using eco all the time to conserve battery .
I must have a play with this but knowing my skills with computers etc I’ll probably end up messing it up

 

[Eckythump]

I normally leave it set to ‘dynamic’ and ride 90% of the time in trail mode. If you want to eek out the battery you can then drop to eco mode.
If I’m going to be riding somewhere with lots of technical climbs I will use the app to increase the ultimate assist level in trail. I hardly ever use boost as I don’t like the way the assistance comes in and the over run when you stop pedalling. There are one or two scenarios where it is useful but not many.....