holy grail of battery range with a Shimano e8000 steps motor attained. AKA: how to get 10+ miles and 2200+ ft out of one battery bar

[Nifty 56]

Chalk and cheese I know but in the summer I can get 100km out of an 8000 battery on m e hybrid with the lower torque e6000 motor

The E6000 has max torque of 50Nm which helps alot.

A few emtbs now have E7000 motors which only give 60Nm compared to 70Nm of the E8000. You should get more mileage with E7000 (depending on how you ride) as it uses the same BT-E8010 504Wh battery.

 

[Kernow]

If only the eco mode could be turned down on the shimano , or better still maybe 4 levels of power would be useful , although too many power modes would be a pain , I like that ability to instantly hit trail if you need a little extra at short notice .

 

[highpeakrider]

Mine last for ages when I ride with someone on a MTB, but boy does it feel slow and it’s hard to keep warm.

 

[Stevfro99]

Yeah I have noticed the battery drop off this week, done a couple of morning rides and 20 miles prob the limit without having to worry about running out

I did 21 mile on Sat at Dolby Forrest and my batt was just about dead. Did the majority of my ride in eco. I've no idea what the levels are set at via the app. If you lower the levels that may give more battery too

 

[thebarber]

I've dropped all my levels of assistance.
Boost which I hardly use is 90% @ 70nm
Trail is 60% @ 60nm
Eco I think is 40% @ 30nm
It's got me to around 25mls at my local trails, hamsterly and rekon I could reduce them a bit more but wanna get to glentress first.

 

[Gary]

but wanna get to glentress first.

Geez a shout if you want company (or showing around the less obvious trails)

 

[thebarber]

Yeah cheers, I thought that, need to get this shite weather out the way and lighter nites.
Come summer were talking about using the pods in glentress.

 

[Gary]

need to get this shite weather out the way

Conditions have actually been pretty prime down the Valley for months. I've been riding trails that are usually a puddle fest and getting to the end bone dry. it's actually a pity it's warmed up now and the thaw has turned the lower slopes to peanut butter in places.
With you 100% on the lighter nights. but only because I generally don't like riding before noon

 

[R120]

I hadn't updated my Sommett in ages, but did so before the forum ride, and found that I pretty much road solid in Eco with a bit of trail, and ECO seemed much better than before in terms of I was using ECO on some steeper stuff when I would use Trail normally. Ended up only using 3 bars over 15 miles and 2000k of climbing

 

[Kernow]

I've dropped all my levels of assistance.
Boost which I hardly use is 90% @ 70nm
Trail is 60% @ 60nm
Eco I think is 40% @ 30nm
It's got me to around 25mls at my local trails, hamsterly and rekon I could reduce them a bit more but wanna get to glentress first.

Rode all the marked trails at Glentress last April and found the shimano battery coped ok on normal settings even on the longest black run , although there wasn’t a lot in reserve on that route for okaying with higher power on climbs etc , but Iam a fat bloke

 

[thebarber]

Rode all the marked trails at Glentress last April and found the shimano battery coped ok on normal settings even on the longest black run , although there wasn’t a lot in reserve on that route for okaying with higher power on climbs etc , but Iam a fat bloke

Did you eco?

 

[Gary]

Rode all the marked trails at Glentress last April and found the shimano battery coped ok on normal settings even on the longest black run , although there wasn’t a lot in reserve on that route for okaying with higher power on climbs etc , but Iam a fat bloke

do you mean doing Green then Blue, then Red then Black separately and re-charging inbetween each loop or doing Green, Blue, Red & Black back to back on one charge?
if the latter I'm massively impressed.
If the former i'm not surprised. GT Black (withoiut detours/extras) is about 15miles and not much over 3000ft total elevation gain and I'd have thought possible for me if using trail the whole way at a decently quick climbing pace.
I don't often do the standard full routes but often do more than 3500 and 18miles there (using all modes)

 

[thebarber]

Last time we were there we did the black to the mast, took the steep 'unofficial' trail then back up to the mast and onto the official trail for the rest of the day.
I think my battery popped up past deliverance, looking for off piste stuff

 

[Kernow]

do you mean doing Green then Blue, then Red then Black separately and re-charging inbetween each loop or doing Green, Blue, Red & Black back to back on one charge?
if the latter I'm massively impressed.
If the former i'm not surprised. GT Black (withoiut detours/extras) is about 15miles and not much over 3000ft total elevation gain and I'd have thought possible for me if using trail the whole way at a decently quick climbing pace.
I don't often do the standard full routes but often do more than 3500 and 18miles there (using all modes)

This was a typical day there , it’s too long ago now to remember exactly what I was getting on one battery , because we returned for and lunch and always changed to a fresh battery . All I remember was using eco as much as poss on the black all the way to the mast then allowing a bit of trail on the long climb on the return and we did closer to 20 miles the two times we did that . We did go in search of a new decent on the far side on one run of the black

 

[Gary]

Last time we were there we did the black to the mast, took the steep 'unofficial' trail then back up to the mast and onto the official trail for the rest of the day.
I think my battery popped up past deliverance, looking for off piste stuff

a better way to do that is to ride the red climb instead of Black but take the last fork to the left just before spooky wood and head straight to the mast. Then head down 5yr plan (the steeper trail from the mast), and then you also have the option to do the following race link off that fireroad. (forget it's name) then follow the standard Black climb.
This way you're effectively riding a loop rather than re-tracing your steps,
You've also got gems like "mast of Zorro", "Hush hush", "mild Peril", and "broon troot" as options instead of the standard black. They all link back to the standard Black route.
Happy to show you them all sometime if I'm free when you're heading up again.

 

[Gary]

@Kernow totally forgot you had two batteries. sounds a great day out!

 

[Gary]

and here's the flipside:
How to drain an entire 504wh in less than an hour

BOOST and high cadence.

There's no real pedalling on any of the descents so that's really more like a full battery done in about 6.5 miles of climbing.
Half of all climbing was in soft conditions and combined with gradient parts would have been nigh on impossible to climb on a standard bike for anyone other than maybe by Chris Akrigg with a few toots from Lance armstrong's bong.

 

[Sophie777]

And I'm not talking about riding with the motor off at all for once.

Ok. Firstly a little background.
I don't have range anxiety and never have. I just like to know how things work and happen to b such a nerd I have pretty much the opposite trait to gullability when it comes to new information if not backed up by solid science and experience. This means I like to figure stuff out for myself rather than blindly follow advice. (I also happen to hate rules but that's a whole other trait)

So... when watching embn on youtube I generally need to take a deep breath and just roll my eyes at some of the utter bollocks they so often put across. Last night I watched an episode and a read out comment from a viewer that actually sounded feasable got me thinking...

Curious, what are some of the utter bollocks they so often put across?

 

[HikerDave]

a better way to do that is to ride the red climb instead of Black but take the last fork to the left just before spooky wood and head straight to the mast. Then head down 5yr plan (the steeper trail from the mast), and then you also have the option to do the following race link off that fireroad. (forget it's name) then follow the standard Black climb.
This way you're effectively riding a loop rather than re-tracing your steps,
You've also got gems like "mast of Zorro", "Hush hush", "mild Peril", and "broon troot" as options instead of the standard black. They all link back to the standard Black route.
Happy to show you them all sometime if I'm free when you're heading up again.

Sorry no experience with Shimano, but I have to butt in:

Nice country you have there. I bought some custom bow limbs from Border Archery and had to google map to see if their Mellerstain address was real. They have a field archery range in the forest so now maybe I have two reasons to visit. Living in Arizona sometimes I crave the color green. (Grandmother highlander by way of Nova Scotia).

 

[Gary]

so now maybe I have two reasons to visit.

Three! message me and i'll happily show you around

 

[Gary]

Curious, what are some of the utter bollocks they so often put across?

Depends which presenter opens their mouth Sophie.

 

[Nifty 56]

Curious, what are some of the utter bollocks they so often put across?

If you mean EMBN, yeh, it's like 'The idiots Guide to Mountain Biking'. They think every person who rides an emtb has never ridden an normal mtb before and has no clue how to ride a bike. GMBN is a lot better and does give more proper riding tips & more entertainment.

I have given them negative comments a few times but no change. I unsubscribed a couple of months back but do still watch the odd video of theirs. Still crap!

I love it when Martyn Ashton from GMBN helps present. Makes the channel seem more credible!

 

[Gary]

I love it when Martyn Ashton from GMBN helps present. Makes the channel seem more credible!

Yeah definitely! Martyn is awesome! Blake is great and the Don knows what's what.
Doddy and Jonesey talk the most pish.
Doddy mainly because his info is a little too reguritated and because of this it's often out of date.I find Steve far too blinkered in his views even when it's obvious the guy sat next to him's riding alone disproves a lot of what he keeps saying.

the overly explaining the obvious beginner articles i see as filler, there's only so much content you can put out before you're repeating yourself. And seeing it from a beginners point of view it's probably quite useful. i know when all my mtb friends hit middle age and went out and bought carbon roadbikes GCN helped a lot of them with stuff I'd always thought obvious. I've been riding road bikes for about 40 years though.
GCN is a really polished chanel but they have the advantage of competitive road cycling being a far more structured/professional/long standing sport so don't actually require quite as much beginner filler to get by.

 

[R120]

I love GMBN but find EMBN annoying.

I always feel like Steve has just taken the job after Dirt went under to get some work.

 

[Sophie777]

If you mean EMBN, yeh, it's like 'The idiots Guide to Mountain Biking'. They think every person who rides an emtb has never ridden an normal mtb before and has no clue how to ride a bike. GMBN is a lot better and does give more proper riding tips & more entertainment.

I have given them negative comments a few times but no change. I unsubscribed a couple of months back but do still watch the odd video of theirs. Still crap!

I love it when Martyn Ashton from GMBN helps present. Makes the channel seem more credible!

So maybe the EMBN channel just targets a different audience.

 

[Kernow]

Back to batteries , Iam noticing some very erratic info when it gets down to 2 bars , the other day I did a lot of climbing in trail and eco , got to a climb with 2 bars and suddenly it just went red and cut out . Second day out it dropped to one red after being on two bars for a while showing 7 miles Range , I was still able to use all the modes and it got me home ok . After washing the bike and oiling etc the gauge was showing it was back to 2 bars .
I can only put it down to colder weather , but it’s not that cold and I don’t remember it behaving like this when it was really cold last year before the recent updates .

 

[nickB]

Lately I have been messing around with battery settings in Eco (on a Levo) to find the min % that feels like a regular bike.
I do a 13 mile 2300 ft ascent & descent fire rd/trail loop about twice a week mainly for fitness training.
I figure about 27 % felt similar but it's hard to keep swapping from a normal bike to the Levo - so more research is needed.
Anyone else stupid enough to be trying this?

 

[Nifty 56]

Lately I have been messing around with battery settings in Eco (on a Levo) to find the min % that feels like a regular bike.
I do a 13 mile 2300 ft ascent & descent fire rd/trail loop about twice a week mainly for fitness training.
I figure about 27 % felt similar but it's hard to keep swapping from a normal bike to the Levo - so more research is needed.
Anyone else stupid enough to be trying this?

I've got a bit of spare time and was going to do a similar thing with my E8000 on my Vitus.

I have software that can fine tune/tweek all three modes a lot more than the ETube app. The adjustments aren't quite as precise as the Mission Control app but saves time messing about with 1% changes.

I can only reduce Eco from the default 30nm to 20nm but can change the assistance level from the default 60% to 20% min. I rode it a short distance at 20nm/20% in Eco and it still felt good. I will try a longer ride when the weather dries up next week.

 

[Gary]

What software is that?
And what else can it do?

 

[Nifty 56]

So maybe the EMBN channel just targets a different audience.

Well, maybe they consider people who ride ebikes to be a different audience? It seems like it's people who are buying their first bike and aren't fit/skilled enough to ride a normal mtb.

It would be a better channel with different lead presenter (Chris is OK). Steve winds me up good style!