Kiwi rider here...

[Bennyblanc0]

I have an eone sixty 900e on order. Wife currently has an one twenty 500. Son has... A balance bike (he's only 3).
Some things that I have figured out that are useful are plumbing in a light on the lighting circuit on the Shimano steps 8000. Also a non invasive speed hack using an arduino, hall sensor and electromagnet.

 

[R120]

One of the great things about the shimano is how easy it is to plumb lights in and control them through the head/display unit

 

[Bonz]

I have an eone sixty 900e on order. Wife currently has an one twenty 500. Son has... A balance bike (he's only 3).
Some things that I have figured out that are useful are plumbing in a light on the lighting circuit on the Shimano steps 8000. Also a non invasive speed hack using an arduino, hall sensor and electromagnet.

I have an 900e, my wife has an eone twenty 800. I hope your bike turns up soon, it is worth the wait.
Our local bike shop in Nelson has one large and apparently getting two mediums next week but I think they are both pre sold.
How did you hook up the light?

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Yeah, I hope it shows up soon... It's been a long wait!
Re lights: Under the plastic cover (held on by 3 screws) on the side of the e8000 motor there are 2 screw terminals that can deliver exactly 6v. To turn on the terminals you need to navigate to and select "lights" from the controller on the handlebars. If this doesn't work for you then it is probably because the light circuit hasn't been activated... But you can do this yourself with the etube app from Google play store or Apple store... Which is what I needed to do.

 

[Bonz]

Yeah, I hope it shows up soon... It's been a long wait!
Re lights: Under the plastic cover (held on by 3 screws) on the side of the e8000 motor there are 2 screw terminals that can deliver exactly 6v. To turn on the terminals you need to navigate to and select "lights" from the controller on the handlebars. If this doesn't work for you then it is probably because the light circuit hasn't been activated... But you can do this yourself with the etube app from Google play store or Apple store... Which is what I needed to do.

Thanks for the light info, may give it a go.

 

[R120]

 

[Bonz]

Just heard today the price of the E160 900e is soon to go up in NZ by a huge amount. Not sure when.

 

[Bonz]

Thanks for the lighting setup details.

 

[Bennyblanc0]

I've already put a 20% deposit down... So they can't shift the goalposts on me. Phew

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Weird that the price would go up though. Prob just a stinky supply and demand scenario. We are a bit at the whim of suppliers all the way down here in NZ?

 

[OldBean]

Hi ..Just heard you are going to increase the speed restrictions due to your hills ! Must say I loved riding in your redwoods....really introduced me to sensible MTB so when I got home bought my lovely Focus Jam 2.
Have fun....will be back in thesummer( yours) to Tauranga where daughter lives
Have fun

 

[Bonz]

Hi ..Just heard you are going to increase the speed restrictions due to your hills ! Must say I loved riding in your redwoods....really introduced me to sensible MTB so when I got home bought my lovely Focus Jam 2.
Have fun....will be back in thesummer( yours) to Tauranga where daughter lives
Have fun

Very nice bike.
Tauranga is a nice part of the world. I’m in Motueka.
Our speed limit in NZ is set at 32k’s for Shimano motors, I think the other brands haven’t caught up yet.
It’s a sensible limit on the flat, 25 is just a bit slow.
(Old fart on a Merida E160).

 

[Carlos Muralhas]

I have an eone sixty 900e on order. Wife currently has an one twenty 500. Son has... A balance bike (he's only 3).
Some things that I have figured out that are useful are plumbing in a light on the lighting circuit on the Shimano steps 8000. Also a non invasive speed hack using an arduino, hall sensor and electromagnet.

Welcome Benny I also have an eone sixty 900e on order and hope to get it this month I am not going for the light just because I want to have as much range as possible so, will use lights with its own battery, however I am curious about that assembly. Please share it in Merida forum when you do it

I will however change the front wheel for a 29" with a 29x2.5" maxxis DHF. Some pics and impressions will show there when I do it also.

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Finally here. It is a lot of bike!

 

[Carlos Muralhas]

Great looking !!!! I see you are going to take your child with you lol

 

[Bennyblanc0]

A thought on emtbs so far...

Go Di2. Having had experience with both manual and Di2 shifters now, I must say, with the extra power through the drivetrain on an ebike, you won't regret having the smooth shifting of Di2. Forget cable stretch and have full sureness of your shifts. You have a battery, may as well use it!

 

[Carlos Muralhas]

A thought on emtbs so far...

Go Di2. Having had experience with both manual and Di2 shifters now, I must say, with the extra power through the drivetrain on an ebike, you won't regret having the smooth shifting of Di2. Forget cable stretch and have full sureness of your shifts. You have a battery, may as well use it!

I received mine yesterday and noticed just that, how good the Di2 is. It's first time using it for me. Shifting while pedalling is fast, easy and smooth. I kept hiting the wrong lever though, have to get used to the placement of the smaller lever lol.

 

[Bennyblanc0]

I received mine yesterday and noticed just that, how good the Di2 is. It's first time using it for me. Shifting while pedalling is fast, easy and smooth. I kept hiting the wrong lever though, have to get used to the placement of the smaller lever lol.

Yeah, was same for me. The levers are much smaller/closer-together huh? ...starting getting used to it now
Between my wife and I, we managed to chew out the smallest gears on her bike (eone twenty 500) in 2 months-ish. I think this was due to a combination of a slight misconfiguration by the shop, our lack of appreciating the extra power in the drivetrain and it being non-Di2!

 

[Ebiker]

Guys - did anyone managed to un-restrict Shimano E8000 25km/h limitation?

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Guys - did anyone managed to un-restrict Shimano E8000 25km/h limitation?

Shimano reps can open up the assist limit to a max of 32kms. This is almost a natural limit for the e8000 steps motor. I have found that running a speed hack makes it feel the most natural though. This will require intercepting the signal from the existing speed sensor though.

 

[OldBean]

Er hum. Not on the road in England of course!
I have fallen off at10 mph I d hate to hit terra firma any quicker...in Uk at the moment is really Terra FIRMER now
Have fun

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Shimano reps can open up the assist limit to a max of 32kms. This is almost a natural limit for the e8000 steps motor. I have found that running a speed hack makes it feel the most natural though. This will require intercepting the signal from the existing speed sensor though.

Here is a link to some code I wrote/adapted to remove the limit with the use of an arduino... bennyblanc0/ebike_speed_sensor_interceptor

 

[ChrisB NZ]

Awesome hack Benny. But so many questions. Where have you put the arduino? How do you power it? How do you interface it with the motor control?

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Awesome hack Benny. But so many questions. Where have you put the arduino? How do you power it? How do you interface it with the motor control?

There is a little rubber block just behind the power cable that connects to the motor. If you remove this it is the perfect home for an arduino nano or micro pro. It can be powered of the light circuit of the steps e8000. There is a special Di2 cable that comes in from the existing sensor that has a notch on the plug. This is the one you need to intercept. I made up some custom plugs with wires and hot glue gun to POC this project and it worked pretty well. If I was going to go the full hog, I'd prob buy some actual di2 cables/adaptors and wire them up...

 

[Bennyblanc0]

There is a little rubber block just behind the power cable that connects to the motor. If you remove this it is the perfect home for an arduino nano or micro pro. It can be powered of the light circuit of the steps e8000. There is a special Di2 cable that comes in from the existing sensor that has a notch on the plug. This is the one you need to intercept. I made up some custom plugs with wires and hot glue gun to POC this project and it worked pretty well. If I was going to go the full hog, I'd prob buy some actual di2 cables/adaptors and wire them up...

 

[ChrisB NZ]

Very clever. So if I understand it right, the processor will pass through the speed pulses unchanged up to 30 Km/hr and then keep the pulses at the minimum width between pulses over 30Km/hr. So your speedo will top out at 30Km/hr but the bike won't?

 

[Bennyblanc0]

Very clever. So if I understand it right, the processor will pass through the speed pulses unchanged up to 30 Km/hr and then keep the pulses at the minimum width between pulses over 30Km/hr. So your speedo will top out at 30Km/hr but the bike won't?

Bang on
That chip on top of the arduino is a solid state relay... I found that sending my own 5v (logic high) from the arduino to the motor wouldn't register, so instead i just close the circuit with the ssr so the motor gets it's own 5v signal. This is exactly what the default magnet/sensor combo does so it is a nice mimic

 

[ChrisB NZ]

I'm tempted to give it a go

What's the ride like? It's probably not going to be any advantage off road (at least for me) but there are times on road where a few extra Km/hr would be useful (like when you get passed by road bikes).

 

[Bennyblanc0]

I'm tempted to give it a go

What's the ride like? It's probably not going to be any advantage off road (at least for me) but there are times on road where a few extra Km/hr would be useful (like when you get passed by road bikes).

Yeah, it prob doesn't add a huge amount of value on trail. I'm learning to jump atm and haven't always set the speed right going in, so it is nice to know the assist will always be on and it won't drop away at any point. Not that I'm hitting much of anything at 30km/hr!
On the road it is more noticeable... I think having the assist available all the time makes it feel way more natural. It's all about the power mode and the torque sensor then and will naturally spin out when your rpms get up there. The hack won't get you macking it around everywhere at +50km/hr though, as that would require some gearing changes too.

 

[Bennyblanc0]

I was recently trying to sesh a jump with my brother which required a fair amount of pedalling to get up to speed before hitting the kicker. I found that I was reaching 30km/hr and the pedal assist was dropping out... Annoying!! So my interest in the speed hack has been renewed and I feel like I have got it perfected with this latest revisit...