Disappointed with USA mode on Shimano E8000

[ebikerlancs]

Just been trying USA mode on my E8000 bike, which was previously set to EU mode.

In EU mode, some assistance was provided up to 15.9 mph. At this speed you could feel it being phased out but was easy to breeze along on the flat even in ECO mode and you could still hear the motor working.

In USA mode, after 18.5mph I'm finding the assistance go really limp, phase out massively and therefore require a lot of pedal effort to get beyond this, even in trail mode. ECO mode you're really struggling beyond 18.5. Whatever mode, the assistance stops dead at 20, unlike in EU mode where it's still active slightly above the 15.5mph.

Need to try upping the PSI in the tyres as have been doing some off roading over the weekend. But overall disappointed really, I thought I'd be able to sail along at 20 or 20.4 mph with minimal effort. As it turns out, I've gone from being able to do 15.9mph to 18.5mph which hardly seems worth the extra 2.6mph.

How do others find it?

 

[Zimmerframe]

For me personally, I really liked the change. 25kph felt just under the speed I felt I wanted to be going, in all modes.. 30-32kph just felt more natural. For reference, I'm meaning on fire roads and the flatter parts of some cross country trails. On technical and none technical climbs it made no real difference for me as I was rarely hitting the limiter anyway.

I suppose when it cuts out at 32 it might feel a bit like a harder cut as there's more resistance than there would be than at 25. Switching to DHR/DHF had a huge speed relative rolling resistance change for me.

Either way, in the "flat n fast" scenarios - fire roads/tow paths/easy's, if I was trying to push for speed I'd still push through and generally settle at 36kph as my comfortable max cadence/power. I always found that harder when I wasn't "hand held" upto 32 and had to crawl my way up from 25.

 

[RickBullotta]

Just been trying USA mode on my E8000 bike, which was previously set to EU mode.

In EU mode, some assistance was provided up to 15.9 mph. At this speed you could feel it being phased out but was easy to breeze along on the flat even in ECO mode and you could still hear the motor working.

In USA mode, after 18.5mph I'm finding the assistance go really limp, phase out massively and therefore require a lot of pedal effort to get beyond this, even in trail mode. ECO mode you're really struggling beyond 18.5. Whatever mode, the assistance stops dead at 20, unlike in EU mode where it's still active slightly above the 15.5mph.

Need to try upping the PSI in the tyres as have been doing some off roading over the weekend. But overall disappointed really, I thought I'd be able to sail along at 20 or 20.4 mph with minimal effort. As it turns out, I've gone from being able to do 15.9mph to 18.5mph which hardly seems worth the extra 2.6mph.

How do others find it?

I have a USA spec E8000 and that early boost cutout BOTHERS THE HELL OUT OF ME. I tried racing my eMTB and was getting my ass kicked on the flats/open areas by the dudes on Specialized Levos because they getting full boost to 20 MPH (and they probably hacked their drive systems too, but that's another topic).

And yes, I was pedaling my ass off too. ;-)

 

[ebikerlancs]

For me personally, I really liked the change. 25kph felt just under the speed I felt I wanted to be going, in all modes.. 30-32kph just felt more natural. For reference, I'm meaning on fire roads and the flatter parts of some cross country trails. On technical and none technical climbs it made no real difference for me as I was rarely hitting the limiter anyway.

I suppose when it cuts out at 32 it might feel a bit like a harder cut as there's more resistance than there would be than at 25. Switching to DHR/DHF had a huge speed relative rolling resistance change for me.

Either way, in the "flat n fast" scenarios - fire roads/tow paths/easy's, if I was trying to push for speed I'd still push through and generally settle at 36kph as my comfortable max cadence/power. I always found that harder when I wasn't "hand held" upto 32 and had to crawl my way up from 25.

Interesting I found when the assist cut off just over 15.5mph I could pedal to about 19mph on the flat and sustain that for a couple of miles, good workout and was fairly seamless after motor dropped out.

I don't think I have the strength/stamina currently to push beyond 20mph for any distance and hitting the limiter at that speed you really feel it because of the increased resistance.

Maybe as my fitness improves from riding this thing every day I will get used to it!

 

[ebikerlancs]

I have a USA spec E8000 and that early boost cutout BOTHERS THE HELL OUT OF ME. I tried racing my eMTB and was getting my ass kicked on the flats/open areas by the dudes on Specialized Levos because they getting full boost to 20 MPH (and they probably hacked their drive systems too, but that's another topic).

And yes, I was pedaling my ass off too. ;-)

Yeah it's disappointing how it goes off the boil before 20. Interesting some other brands don't.

I guess I could just set my wheel circumference to 10% smaller to achieve proper full assist to 20mph. Would be annoying for the bike display to then not show the proper speed though. Would have to attach my phone or GPS watch to the bars.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Yeah it's disappointing how it goes off the boil before 20. Interesting some other brands don't.

I guess I could just set my wheel circumference to 10% smaller to achieve proper full assist to 20mph. Would be annoying for the bike display to then not show the proper speed though. Would have to attach my phone or GPS watch to the bars.

If you're going that way, set the wheel size to 60% of actual, change the display to km and the number shown will be the actual ish.. speed in mph.

 

[ebikerlancs]

If you're going that way, set the wheel size to 60% of actual, change the display to km and the number shown will be the actual ish.. speed in mph.

Genius. I would never have thought of that!