Rise motor weird "draggy" behaviour, losing power

[Longfellow78]

I've ridden my H15 about 70 miles so far and on my last ride I noticed some strange behaviour.

It seemed that when switching from boost (which is maxed out in the app) to trail or eco the motor feels very very "draggy". Like it is holding me back instead of assisting. I thought at first it was a placebo or just the comparison with boost, but it was so that in profile 2 eco mode, I couldn't even hit the limiter of 15.5 mph when pedalling moderately hard, I literally had to get out of the saddle and "sprint" to get to that speed.

Later in my ride when i was more tired it wasn't doing it, and eco felt fine so I'm sure it wasn't my imagination.

Aditionally my motor is DEAD quiet when descending at speed, and the EP8 is meant to be notoriously noisy due to I believe a clutch that disengages so that the bike gets less drag from the motor when pedalling over 15.5 or with motor off. As my motor is the only one I have heard of that is silent, my ignorant guess might be that somehow there is additional drag from the motor in some way.

I think I read a couple of similar threads on here, but can't find them. any ideas?

Thanks.

p.s. it is not turning off and boost feels fine....

 

[Longfellow78]

I wonder actually if my experimenting was inconsistent and if it is something else, because when I first noticed this behaviour it was on climbs, and obviously the max torque supplied by eco is very low. Perhaps it was the torque assist topping out, and not helping me any more and hence that's why it felt so draggy, and later when i noticed it was fine it was on the flat.

 

[Soarandsurf]

Aditionally my motor is DEAD quiet when descending at speed, and the EP8 is meant to be notoriously noisy due to I believe a clutch that disengages so that the bike gets less drag from the motor when pedalling over 15.5 or with motor off. As my motor is the only one I have heard of that is silent, my ignorant guess might be that somehow there is additional drag from the motor in some way.

Having tried a number of EMBs and been put off by the drag over the speed assist limit I rode a demo H15 last weekend and was very impressed - The motor was very quiet, I didn't hear any of the slapping I've read about and I no issues with drag, it felt very free.

 

[Rod B.]

I've ridden my H15 about 70 miles so far and on my last ride I noticed some strange behaviour.

It seemed that when switching from boost (which is maxed out in the app) to trail or eco the motor feels very very "draggy". Like it is holding me back instead of assisting. I thought at first it was a placebo or just the comparison with boost, but it was so that in profile 2 eco mode, I couldn't even hit the limiter of 15.5 mph when pedalling moderately hard, I literally had to get out of the saddle and "sprint" to get to that speed.

Later in my ride when i was more tired it wasn't doing it, and eco felt fine so I'm sure it wasn't my imagination.

Aditionally my motor is DEAD quiet when descending at speed, and the EP8 is meant to be notoriously noisy due to I believe a clutch that disengages so that the bike gets less drag from the motor when pedalling over 15.5 or with motor off. As my motor is the only one I have heard of that is silent, my ignorant guess might be that somehow there is additional drag from the motor in some way.

I think I read a couple of similar threads on here, but can't find them. any ideas?

Thanks.

p.s. it is not turning off and boost feels fine....

Longfellow78,

When I first got my Rise, it did the same thing in regards to no power when dropping back down from Boost to Trail or Eco. I discovered that the factory power/assist settings were not correct. After I changed motor settings via the eTube app, everything worked fine. I'm attaching screen shots of my Rise's settings. They'll give you a general idea of where to start with your bike and see if it changes things. I can get 28 miles and 3,800 feet of climbing with these settings.

 

[Richridesmtb]

I see you have gone full boost there, Rod.

Longfellow. Have a look at the settings for sure. Another thing to do is go for a ride motor off, make sure there is no obvious issue. The bike should just feel like a heavy bike, but it will pedal fine. I know when I drop from boost to no assist sometimes, the bike feels like it is rolling through treacle, but then I remember I have legs and harden up a bit.

I vaguely remember someone saying their clutch was sticky new, but then it freed up with use, so ride more. My clutch is noisy as f@#k, but I'd assume it would be far more muted on the alloy.

I forgot to charge the other day after a ride and rode to work in freezing conditions. After a climbing trail I noticed the red light on the controller box so I switched to no assistance and did fewer trails going to work. The bike felt draggy on the way to work. On the way home I only turned on eco for a couple of the climbs and for the rest of the time the bike felt fine. Even with the 160 cranks the bike pedals like a dream without a motor, after some assistance your legs go into lazy mode for sure though.

Smash out some more big rides. Do some motor off to start out and let us know how it goes.

 

[Longfellow78]

I see you have gone full boost there, Rod.

Longfellow. Have a look at the settings for sure. Another thing to do is go for a ride motor off, make sure there is no obvious issue. The bike should just feel like a heavy bike, but it will pedal fine. I know when I drop from boost to no assist sometimes, the bike feels like it is rolling through treacle, but then I remember I have legs and harden up a bit.

I vaguely remember someone saying their clutch was sticky new, but then it freed up with use, so ride more. My clutch is noisy as f@#k, but I'd assume it would be far more muted on the alloy.

I forgot to charge the other day after a ride and rode to work in freezing conditions. After a climbing trail I noticed the red light on the controller box so I switched to no assistance and did fewer trails going to work. The bike felt draggy on the way to work. On the way home I only turned on eco for a couple of the climbs and for the rest of the time the bike felt fine. Even with the 160 cranks the bike pedals like a dream without a motor, after some assistance your legs go into lazy mode for sure though.

Smash out some more big rides. Do some motor off to start out and let us know how it goes.

Thanks, I will try. I think maybe the assistance profile slider was too low in the app. Will test this weekend. Ta!

 

[Longfellow78]

Longfellow78,

When I first got my Rise, it did the same thing in regards to no power when dropping back down from Boost to Trail or Eco. I discovered that the factory power/assist settings were not correct. After I changed motor settings via the eTube app, everything worked fine. I'm attaching screen shots of my Rise's settings. They'll give you a general idea of where to start with your bike and see if it changes things. I can get 28 miles and 3,800 feet of climbing with these settings.

View attachment 91631

View attachment 91632

View attachment 91633

Thanks. What do you mean they weren't correct? I have tried similar settings in etube tho

 

[Rod B.]

Thanks. What do you mean they weren't correct? I have tried similar settings in etube tho

A few months after owning my Rise, I did a firmware update. Something in the update skewed my Rise’s settings. The “Assist Character” settings were lowered to almost zero. Other settings were also changed. I didn’t notice the changes.

The Assist character change caused the motor not to engage for several seconds when shifting down from Boost to Trail/Eco. It seemed like the motor was turning off. Brother I was sweating my ass off on rides and starting to hate the bike.

I discovered the settings had been changed when I did a check for updates. Totally new bike when I moved the Assist Character settings back up.

Were I you, I would experiment by maxing out Assist Character and Assist Start to see it this cures your issue. If it does, you now know the cause and adjust the settings to suit you. Note, If you leave Assist Character maxed out, it’ll drain the battery quickly.

 

[Longfellow78]

A few months after owning my Rise, I did a firmware update. Something in the update skewed my Rise’s settings. The “Assist Character” settings were lowered to almost zero. Other settings were also changed. I didn’t notice the changes.

The Assist character change caused the motor not to engage for several seconds when shifting down from Boost to Trail/Eco. It seemed like the motor was turning off. Brother I was sweating my ass off on rides and starting to hate the bike.

I discovered the settings had been changed when I did a check for updates. Totally new bike when I moved the Assist Character settings back up.

Were I you, I would experiment by maxing out Assist Character and Assist Start to see it this cures your issue. If it does, you now know the cause and adjust the settings to suit you. Note, If you leave Assist Character maxed out, it’ll drain the battery quickly.

Didn't see these replies but I found out by testing that upping the assist character above the default settings for eco and trail made a massive difference and gave me more of the feel I was looking for.

Can't remember exact settings but before boost (all maxed) felt like 10/10, trail felt like 4/10 and eco felt like 1/10. Since I have messed with settings is more like 4, 7, 10 in terms of assist feel. Soooo much better.

Maybe there is a bug in the software that somehow doesn't deliver enough support when on the lower assist characters. Problem seems fixed anyway. Thanks for comments.

 

[Rod B.]

Didn't see these replies but I found out by testing that upping the assist character above the default settings for eco and trail made a massive difference and gave me more of the feel I was looking for.

Can't remember exact settings but before boost (all maxed) felt like 10/10, trail felt like 4/10 and eco felt like 1/10. Since I have messed with settings is more like 4, 7, 10 in terms of assist feel. Soooo much better.

Maybe there is a bug in the software that somehow doesn't deliver enough support when on the lower assist characters. Problem seems fixed anyway. Thanks for comments.

Brother, I’m glad it all worked out for you. There has to be a bug in the system update. When I first read your post, I knew you had the same problem I encountered. I haven’t had another issue since.

The next trick is fine tuning the settings to get the right balance of power and range.