I love my Pivot Shuttle AM. I sold my Fuel Exe to get. The Fuel Exe was quieter but the battery ran down pretty quickly and you really had to keep your cadence high. I could barely get 2000 feet of climbing from it. I'm much happier with the Bosch CX motor on the Shuttle. I did over 4000 feet of climbing the other day and still had 38% battery left.
Yeah, the Fuel EXe motor is quiet but it produces 1/3 to 1/2 of the other motors. So at similar power levels, the silent performance is not that much quieter than the big motors, just idling. The other problem is the range and effiicency of the the TQ motor on the Trek. We find it ranks the lowest
Levo does very well because it's got a low frequency noise that's soothing. Two problems though. One: The Bosch CX Gen 4 is more quiet, especially under load. Two: The Levo motor gets louder every month of heavy use. By 1-2 years old, it's at least twice as loud as what's demonstrated on the video. One area where the Levo motor crushes the competition is descending or coasting. Shimano and Bosch rattle while Brose/Levo is dead silent.
Paved road is very unnatural though and not the normal riding condition for mountain bikes. And it is so difficult to find a paved road with no traffic noise.
I have ridden a few of these motors. Where the TQ really shines is on the Eco setting where I could barely hear it at all. In my experience it is the quietest or shall we say the least intrusive e-motor that I have tried. I would like to try the Levo motor as that has also had good feedback from users.
The EP801 in my Pivot Shuttle LT is almost silent. i can only hear it a little bit during higher cadence, but these videos are always way louder than anything i hear. I have heard it's because of the way they enclosed the motor in the frame more on the Shuttle LT than most EP801 bikes.
Correct, Pivot has done some extra noise reduction to silence the motors on their bikes. Another big factor though is these bikes are being recorded at Full power of 85 Nm of torque and 550 watts of power output. That's when they are at their loudest and folk rarely put them through that in a silent environment. We do find at the Shimano EP8 at its full power output are some of the loudest motors around. The Specialized Brose motor is quiet when brand new but becomes very loud by 1000 miles on the odometer.
excellent review. thank you! One thing seems consistent and that is Shimano motors are fairly noisy. the Bosch CX gen 4 seemed pretty quiet. Was that your impression when you rode it?
Absolutely. The Shimano motors are noisy under load, at its limit of 85 nm of torque. The noise too has a high pitch so quite noticeable. Bosch Gen 4 is definitely more quiet under load.
The Shimano motors aren't noisy, the bosch is much louder. I have both motors, my Canyon spectral on cf8 and Canyon Strive underdog. The Bosch whines much louder.
I don't think there's any chance of me seeing that in 2024. I doubt it'll be in the USA in 2025 either. DJI released it in Europe and they have no bike presence or contacts in the US. USA certification of batteries is a long process too.
Doesn't exist and won't happen iMHO. These batteries are proprietary so each system is unique. And then there's a lot of certification involved in each country an extender is sold. We have to rely on the motor manufacturers to give us battery size options and extender options
I’m not sure about the rest. I haven’t ridden them. But, my TQ motor is no where near as loud as yours. I can barely hear it on the pavement. I can’t hear it when on dirt. Does your microphone amplify the noise?
This is in full power in a very quiet environment on a very steep climb. Also, the motor has been boosted to 100% for all testing. Box-stock, it only puts out about 85% of the torque available.
Mines the same. It makes the most noise in the high setting but still is nowhere near as noisy as it sounded in this video. The battery life though.. 😔
Also a big factor is cadence. Go to low gears (33 cog and lower) and 120+ rpm pedaling, you'll hear the TQ humming. Safe to say, nobody in their right mind rides like that. It's done in short interval tests to expose weaknesses.
Downhill, I don't have consistent footage sadly. But it's very simple. TQ Motor, Mahle, Levo SL, Fazua Ride 60, Brose Levo motor... dead quiet. Shimano EP8, Bosh CX, Bosch SX, Yamaha, Bafang... all rattle like a small can of ball bearings while coasting.
@@EMTBReview Thank you for the timely reply! I still can't see the Yamaha in the comparison. My user name appears very vague but I am not an industry actor. Just keen on what you have discovered in this field. I have an older Shimano E8000 equipped bike that I love but the uphill whine is annoying to some while the downhill clunk seems to be minimal to me while on board. Regardless; thank you for the informative content.
Yes, for the amount of power the TQ motor actually delivers... (around 40nm) it's just ok in terms of noise level. Really needs more torque, battery efficiency and range. It works well though for riders looking for a stealth solution and not needing too much power and range.
What???? These are all mid drive mountain bike motors. The models are clearly stated and these are what are used e-mountain bikes There is just one hub drive motor just for comparison.
I love my Pivot Shuttle AM. I sold my Fuel Exe to get. The Fuel Exe was quieter but the battery ran down pretty quickly and you really had to keep your cadence high. I could barely get 2000 feet of climbing from it. I'm much happier with the Bosch CX motor on the Shuttle. I did over 4000 feet of climbing the other day and still had 38% battery left.
Yeah, the Fuel EXe motor is quiet but it produces 1/3 to 1/2 of the other motors. So at similar power levels, the silent performance is not that much quieter than the big motors, just idling.
The other problem is the range and effiicency of the the TQ motor on the Trek. We find it ranks the lowest
Thanks for showing. I always ride with 1 earbud, so I've never noticed a difference between my Shimano and brose.
The Levo motor decimates the competition yet again 👏
Levo does very well because it's got a low frequency noise that's soothing. Two problems though.
One: The Bosch CX Gen 4 is more quiet, especially under load.
Two: The Levo motor gets louder every month of heavy use. By 1-2 years old, it's at least twice as loud as what's demonstrated on the video.
One area where the Levo motor crushes the competition is descending or coasting. Shimano and Bosch rattle while Brose/Levo is dead silent.
The test should be performed on a paved road in order to hear motor noise levels.
Paved road is very unnatural though and not the normal riding condition for mountain bikes. And it is so difficult to find a paved road with no traffic noise.
That TQ motor is very quiet. I seriously considered a fuel exe prior to buying a Rail. Still may get the fuel. love that platform
It's quiet up and down the trail. Need an extender battery for most application to extend its limited range.
I have ridden a few of these motors. Where the TQ really shines is on the Eco setting where I could barely hear it at all. In my experience it is the quietest or shall we say the least intrusive e-motor that I have tried. I would like to try the Levo motor as that has also had good feedback from users.
Whats really popular is Bafang motors,
quieter stronger and cheaper than this bunch.
The EP801 in my Pivot Shuttle LT is almost silent. i can only hear it a little bit during higher cadence, but these videos are always way louder than anything i hear. I have heard it's because of the way they enclosed the motor in the frame more on the Shuttle LT than most EP801 bikes.
Correct, Pivot has done some extra noise reduction to silence the motors on their bikes.
Another big factor though is these bikes are being recorded at Full power of 85 Nm of torque and 550 watts of power output. That's when they are at their loudest and folk rarely put them through that in a silent environment.
We do find at the Shimano EP8 at its full power output are some of the loudest motors around. The Specialized Brose motor is quiet when brand new but becomes very loud by 1000 miles on the odometer.
They all sound pretty damn quiet to me. Even the Ramblas A100 notor, whixh sounds quieter in this video than in person.
excellent review. thank you! One thing seems consistent and that is Shimano motors are fairly noisy. the Bosch CX gen 4 seemed pretty quiet. Was that your impression when you rode it?
Absolutely. The Shimano motors are noisy under load, at its limit of 85 nm of torque. The noise too has a high pitch so quite noticeable.
Bosch Gen 4 is definitely more quiet under load.
The Shimano motors aren't noisy, the bosch is much louder. I have both motors, my Canyon spectral on cf8 and Canyon Strive underdog. The Bosch whines much louder.
My Bosch Performance Line CX was very quiet when I bought it but 3 years on it has got much noisier.
Ive had 7 different Brose motor's since 2019, they all had a different level of noise.
Thanks for taking the time to do this test. Any chance you will get your paws on the DJI Avinox anytime soon? That motor seems to be almost silent.
I don't think there's any chance of me seeing that in 2024. I doubt it'll be in the USA in 2025 either. DJI released it in Europe and they have no bike presence or contacts in the US. USA certification of batteries is a long process too.
Doesn't worry me one bit. I come from the days of 500cc MX bikes with open pipes and no silencers ....
Rrrright? It's relative to what you're used to.
Hey FC! Can you please do a video about aftermarket batteries and range extenders? If there is such a thing. If there isn’t, there should be.
Doesn't exist and won't happen iMHO. These batteries are proprietary so each system is unique. And then there's a lot of certification involved in each country an extender is sold.
We have to rely on the motor manufacturers to give us battery size options and extender options
Video was taken at Almaden QS?
No, Cupertino at Fremont Older.
I’m not sure about the rest. I haven’t ridden them. But, my TQ motor is no where near as loud as yours. I can barely hear it on the pavement. I can’t hear it when on dirt. Does your microphone amplify the noise?
This is in full power in a very quiet environment on a very steep climb. Also, the motor has been boosted to 100% for all testing. Box-stock, it only puts out about 85% of the torque available.
Mines the same. It makes the most noise in the high setting but still is nowhere near as noisy as it sounded in this video.
The battery life though.. 😔
Also a big factor is cadence. Go to low gears (33 cog and lower) and 120+ rpm pedaling, you'll hear the TQ humming. Safe to say, nobody in their right mind rides like that. It's done in short interval tests to expose weaknesses.
@@endymion8672I spin around 100 RPM. The TQ seems to like it around there.
Will you be doing a sound test while coasting downhill. Also, the images have the Yamaha motor front and center....did I miss this motor being tested?
Downhill, I don't have consistent footage sadly. But it's very simple. TQ Motor, Mahle, Levo SL, Fazua Ride 60, Brose Levo motor... dead quiet.
Shimano EP8, Bosh CX, Bosch SX, Yamaha, Bafang... all rattle like a small can of ball bearings while coasting.
@@EMTBReview Thank you for the timely reply! I still can't see the Yamaha in the comparison. My user name appears very vague but I am not an industry actor. Just keen on what you have discovered in this field. I have an older Shimano E8000 equipped bike that I love but the uphill whine is annoying to some while the downhill clunk seems to be minimal to me while on board. Regardless; thank you for the informative content.
🦵 motors here I don’t live in WALL-E the movie
Big deal for me. The TQ is amazingly quiet.
The TQ has the best sound/ride profile to me by far (maybe the DFI ursurps it), but is in desperate need of a power and battery boost.
Yes, for the amount of power the TQ motor actually delivers... (around 40nm) it's just ok in terms of noise level. Really needs more torque, battery efficiency and range.
It works well though for riders looking for a stealth solution and not needing too much power and range.
No rocky mountain???
Those are very rare in Northern California. I remember them to be be very strong but loud motors
Omg why? Do e-dirt bikes
Very poor as most people have no idea of what you are testing: Hub vs Mid drive. Finally, speaker said there was one hub with limited power.
What???? These are all mid drive mountain bike motors. The models are clearly stated and these are what are used e-mountain bikes
There is just one hub drive motor just for comparison.