steve_sordy
Wedding Crasher
I met a guy on Pivot FS eBike today, with the Shimano Steps e8000 motor. He told me that he changed his front ring from the standard 34 to a 36 to make better use of his cassette. The bike started behaving oddly when on swooping terrain, as though the motor was lagging behind and then catching up. He mentioned to his bike shop and they contacted Pivot. Pivot said that the software needs changing to deal with the larger front ring. They sorted it out at Pivot and sent the patch to the bike shop, who then loaded it into the guy's bike. Apparently, his phone app could not do the job. And the bike shop guy was surprised too, he'd never heard of it! The patch fixed the problem.
I didn't get chance to ask him these questions, so I'm hoping you guys can answer them , or ask and answer better questions!
Is this really a Pivot thing, as I would have thought it was a Shimano thing?
Maybe Pivot answered the question by going to Shimano?
What other simple things can you do that will affect the way the motor delivers its power? For example, the ring change altered the gearing by 36/34 ie 5.9%. A change of crank length from 175 to 165 is 5.7%. Does that also need a software change? Tyre changes would also affect the overall gear ratio, although by a smaller amount unless you do something truly unusual, does that need a software change? What about a tyre change and a crank length change by 5mm instead of 10mm. That may add up to something heading towards 5%, maybe. Would that require a software change?
Is this a Shimano thing or does this affect all eBike motors?
I'm so new to eBikes that I don't even have one yet (on order), so I have no real understanding of what sensors there are that would require such a software change. I am aware of a rev counter on the rear wheel, a torque sensor in the motor area, maybe a few temperature sensors. I believe that the location of the torque sensor would be very important, so where is it? Is it inside the motor (where I'd put it), which should make crank length and ring size unimportant. Or is it somewhere else?
I didn't get chance to ask him these questions, so I'm hoping you guys can answer them , or ask and answer better questions!
Is this really a Pivot thing, as I would have thought it was a Shimano thing?
Maybe Pivot answered the question by going to Shimano?
What other simple things can you do that will affect the way the motor delivers its power? For example, the ring change altered the gearing by 36/34 ie 5.9%. A change of crank length from 175 to 165 is 5.7%. Does that also need a software change? Tyre changes would also affect the overall gear ratio, although by a smaller amount unless you do something truly unusual, does that need a software change? What about a tyre change and a crank length change by 5mm instead of 10mm. That may add up to something heading towards 5%, maybe. Would that require a software change?
Is this a Shimano thing or does this affect all eBike motors?
I'm so new to eBikes that I don't even have one yet (on order), so I have no real understanding of what sensors there are that would require such a software change. I am aware of a rev counter on the rear wheel, a torque sensor in the motor area, maybe a few temperature sensors. I believe that the location of the torque sensor would be very important, so where is it? Is it inside the motor (where I'd put it), which should make crank length and ring size unimportant. Or is it somewhere else?
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