vrbtile
New Member
Hello all. I have a Santa Cruz Heckler cc xt mx which is a joy to ride when working. I bought this bike used with 70 miles on it in flawless condition . It now has 700 miles on it. The original owner had bought a bike that he thought was to large for him. I never would have imagined when I bought this bike that I would have a problem since I have owned Santa Cruz products and Shimano products before and they have worked flawlessly. I was riding my bike when the motor just stopped working. There were no changes on display and I could tell that it was trying to work because I could turn off motor and it would disengage. I took the bike to 2 bike shops and the both tried updating motor and both said motor is fried. Since I'm not the original owner Shimano has been absolutely useless. Since I'm a handy guy I pulled motor and split the case. What I found stunned me. There is absolutely nothing separating the circuit boards and the greased gears inside and large splotches of grease were covering circuit board. I could smell the scent of burnt electrical and was wondering if anyone else has encountered this. I cleaned off grease re-installed and did not fix problem. I feel the grease is what caused the problem. I called Shimano and told them what I found. Lastly these motors are back ordered in the US until at least November 2023. I have called both Santa Cruz and Shimano to maybe help me get a motor sooner but with no luck. It sucks when you walk in a bike shop and see bikes with ep8 motors lined up and can't buy one to fix a broken one which was obviously defective. I would strongly advise anyone who is considering buying an e bike to not buy one with a Shimano ep8 motor and would think twice before buying any Shimano product again.