Any reason why I shouldn't? Ebike buying content

That is a very tempting price! Personally, I wouldn't touch a Shimano motored bike, I find it underpowered and inefficient compared to a Gen4 Bosch, but if you haven't got extensive experience of any of the others I'm sure it'll be fine.

Steps EP8 has mixed reviews..

I think that's broadly true of most ebikes to be honest. As with everything it's the folks who have trouble that speak up.

Given you're comfortable with the cost and looking at new you've ticked the two main things IMO.

So any [other] reason not to? I guess it depends how you travel with it to be honest, the only real downside of an ebike so far as I can see these days is they're that much less easy to chuck in the car/on the roof etc and genuinely difficult to fly with.

For me it would be a half fat "smaller" bike specifically because a bigger bike is the one which I'm most likely to want to take on a plane which you can't put an uplift day where it's largely pointless. I'm also much much more likely to ride a smaller bike from the door round here (which I reckon is where an ebike really does come into is own)

Personally i wouldnot have the shimano motor because repairs out of warrenty are almost impossible.

Its a particular bugbear of mine.

Is that actually any different to anyone else's frame mounted motors TJ? I was of the impression they're all sealed units and that the same folk who'll crack open and fix/bodge an out of warranty bosch will do a Shimano too?

(oh also didn't you know following their upgrade wiggle's website is completely unusable and you should not buy from them in protest because you can't filter by number of tattoos at the moment)

I think that’s broadly true of most ebikes to be honest. As with everything it’s the folks who have trouble that speak up.

It’s fairly accepted knowledge the Shimano system isn’t great in terms of actual power, noise & reliability compared to others & they cannot be fixed by the third party repairers. It would be the last choice of motor for me.

Having had in garage an e8000 & ep8 they are pretty poor compared to the Brose & Bosch.

But, the Vitus is meant to ride well & that’s a cheap bike, maybe it’s worth a punt 🙂

I was of the impression they’re all sealed units and that the same folk who’ll crack open and fix/bodge an out of warranty bosch will do a Shimano too?

Nope, they generally won’t touch them as they cannot get spares.

I speak as a Shimano emtb owner, spend a bit more and get this
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Turbo-Levo-Alloy-2023-Electric-Mountain-Bike_245837.htm

Shimano have poor range, less power, and it'll be a 2 month + turnaround when the motor breaks (it will) and after 2 years, a 1000 bill as well. It will cost you more in the long run as the second hand value will plummet.

The shimano batteries are cheaper than the specialized ones, but in my experience the range loss has been high and they refused to warranty it.

As above , as someone who has just had a full refund on the model above this I wouldn't go near this. The bike is great but as said above the motor is absolute crap. Shimano has a one in three fail rate and whilst CRC were brilliant to deal with I had 2 motor fails in 235 miles. They just dont seem to be able to cope with a UK winter though im sure the fail rates in southern california are way less. I managed to get a refund and Im away to pick up a cube stereo 160 with the bosch motor. Had i not got a refund I was going to sell the bike after a year but obviously the remaining warranty wouldnt have been transferable. I wouldn't be surprised If Vitus change motors for the next batch of bikes.

I wouldn’t be surprised If Vitus change motors for the next batch of bikes.

They have a new full-power eeb in the pipeline with a Bafang motor.

I don't know much about motors, but are they a bit of an unknown quantity on MTBs?

THere's some pics of the Vitus e-Mythique on pinkbike
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/randoms-round-5-sea-otter-2023.html
Bafang seem to have a lot of spares available, but a lot of people on emtb forums seem to have problem with water ingress and motors cutting out.

Any reason not to?

Have we done the "it's cheating and the moral balance of the universe will be thrown off" thing yet?

That's implicit really thols2

Bafang seem to have a lot of spares available, but a lot of people on emtb forums seem to have problem with water ingress and motors cutting out.

Got to assume they (Vitus and Bafang) have agreed a decent spec now to try and get more mainstream. Don’t think I’d fancy being an early adopter though

@thols2

Have we done the “it’s cheating and the moral balance of the universe will be thrown off” thing yet?

Dunno about "moral balance" but "fitness" is a fair shout* 😉

*yes yes, I realise everyone who bought an ebike ever actually flogs their guts out above the cut-off limit making the motor barely necessary and the riders fitter than normal bike riders. Ebikers also ride everywhere for longer, so ebikes make you akin to a biking Arnold Schwarzenegger rather than a biking Bella Emberg. But aside from that...

That’s implicit really thols2

That's a relief, I was starting to worry that familiarity was starting to make people forget the moral threat that ebikes pose. It's kinda like when boys starting growing hair like girls and after a few years people just got used to it and then it became normal and now when you're cruising the town, you can't tell whose arse to admire. I'm as tolerant as the next guy, but men with ponytails and slim, firm butts should not be allowed to just wander around corrupting the morals of the citizenry.

Cheers all!
I shall stay clear of Shimano motors then :O !
That Specialized Levo & the Whyte E-160 are both on my list now 🙂

Having and currently going through a shimano ep8 issue currently I can advise this

E010 error is a death knell!

Ask for a shimano diagnostic before buying second hand, mine had been chipped in the past and shimano refused warranty or even a conversation about a cheaper out of warranty motor due to this (so the shop told me). I believe the motor stores this info so even if it’s not fitted at the time it knows it was in the past.

Theres a chap up in Lancashire that does out of warranty work, seems decent and will be testing this out imminently with my bricked ep8.

you can’t simply swap an ep8/ep6/ep801 as despite the mounts being the same the battery, mounts and adapters all differ. No upgrade/cheaper path which is a shame. I was going to swap an ep6 in till I found this out.

there are apparently 200 shimano ep8 motors sitting in stock with two versions of them existing.

Several service centres and shops have indicated they see no difference in one brand being worse than another, and there aren’t as many failures as the internet suggests.

when it was working it was absolutely mega!

to echo the comments above on shimano motors, it would (and did) put me of buying a bike with a shimaon motr after failures friend have had, long warranty waits and one of them struggling to even buy a new motor when the old one was out of warranty at all (all be it towards the end of the great bike shortage of 2021/22).

if you take the view that your motor will deff fail at some point, how easy is it to get sorted under warranty or potentially repaired outside of warranty and go form there

its a shame, as that vitus looks like a great bike otherwise for the money

Are Shimano motors really as bad as suggested, I'm just asking out of interest and as currently considering a Merida, Heckler and Nukeproof ebb, all with EP8's.

Is it just a case that we only ever hear about the ones that go wrong with no consideration of the proportion that have no problems - whatever that proportion might be ?

Maybe better to wait until 2024 model years are out and see which motors are being used, despite most will likley be more expensive than current offers.

What puzzles me is that no electronics/computer genius hasn't gutted Shimano motors and software to enable a fix for the most common problems. After all we constantly hear about major malware attacks, obviously there isn't enough cash in it too tempt the serious players.

Read too many bad things about Shimano, the main one being its pretty much a disposable motor(like their brakes) Once the warranty is gone, any chance of fixing it is impossible and the only option is to buy new- which is currently £850

I'd stick with Bosch.

No motor is infallible. But I'd prefer something that is at least serviceable.

What puzzles me is that no electronics/computer genius hasn’t gutted Shimano motors and software to enable a fix for the most common problems. After all we constantly hear about major malware attacks

Answer to that - Ninja assassins 😯

Is it just a case that we only ever hear about the ones that go wrong with no consideration of the proportion that have no problems – whatever that proportion might be ?

i'm sure there's a very large element of that, however i think its more a case of when they do go wrong (and they all do), how its dealt with. anecdotal experience through friends is that warranty claims were hard work and protracted with shimano, with a long period without the bike working, and out of warranty you were lucky if you were be able to buy a replacement motor at £1K as they were completely non repairable as shimano wont sell the parts.

on the flip side, my dad has been through 3 motors in 5 years on his levo, and specilized have been good each time - twice taking it to a concept store where they diagnosed and unrepairable fault and replaced the motor on the same day with no quibbles

it was enough for me to cancel my heckler order (which was also massively delayed due to a lack of EP8 motors) and go for a levo

hardly a scientific sample, but ease of repair / replacement of the motor is a key factor for me

Shimano have poor range, less power, and it’ll be a 2 month + turnaround when the motor breaks (it will)

Apparently Madison havbe fresh stocks of EP8 motors on the shelf. In any case, as a happy Shimano EP8 owner my recently broken motor (they do break, but it had done 2200 km over 13 months) was changed out and the bike was back with me within 6 days of me dropping it in to my LBS (Big Up Zero Bikes near Ross).

I think Andrew (MacTrail rider on Youtube) rides the same Vitus

It’s the aftersales support and out of warranty repairs that mean I’ll not touch a Shimano motor.

Apparently Madison havbe fresh stocks of EP8 motors on the shelf.

Mine was just replaced, it took 2 months. The shop didn't say Madison had no stock, but that Madison had a backlog dealing with warranty requests, and were also quite difficult to deal with. They check each one that comes in. I guess it takes a while.

I'm really enjoying my full fat ebike - the heft actually makes the suspension work really well down hill, but the best thing is not having to sit on a sweaty uplift bus, you own personal uplift is a beutuful thing. I think all motors are much of a muchness really - just buy the bike you like.

This guy is Cumbria based, but will fix anything sent to him? He fixes Shimano motors as well.

Some of those pictures (on the Facebook page) really show that these motors aren’t fit for purpose. Especially when not designed to be user serviceable

The new sealing on the ep6 makes me a little happier buying shimano....