Newer Shimano motor reliabilty?

Off the back of the Cotic thread and others, I’m getting the impression recently that Shimano have improved the reliability of their motors.

Is the negativity on the Cotic thread now old hat? Bird ditched their original ebike project due to the motors problems.

If this is the case, maybe newer Shimano owners can let us know?

Is the negativity on the Cotic thread now old hat? Bird ditched their original ebike project due to the motors problems.

Thats not quite correct; it’s true we didn’t launch it as we had had many problems, however I can tell you the prototype bikes are still in service/long term testing and the failure rate has fallen way down to what I would say is acceptable levels (for eBikes). Newer Shimano motors do seem to be considerably better sealed than the earlier versions, and Shimano (in the UK at least) has improved the warranty turnaround alot.

Reputation might take a while to recover, although it might not matter if the buyers aren’t much aware of the history.

When I was looking at options recently, non-Shimano motor was the first criteria I used to narrow down the list.

Out of interest – what is an acceptable failure rate IYO?

Ideally it needs to last a year /1500 miles. Occasionally less is acceptable (given the current E-Bike motor market) but I want to see at least 95% hit that anniversary. Something close to what a service interval might be. That way the inconvenience of the replacement isn’t actually inconvenient other than the timing might not be perfect for you.

That of course implies once the bike reaches 2 years old you need a new motor every year, or some kind of fixing, but that’s not something we would leave you hanging for. It’s the main reason we stopped our launch plans; we have ourselves the opportunity to figure out a post year-2 plan.

That’s not exactly good news. I imagined that motors would be much longer lasting than that.

Last year I cycled just over 3600 miles.

When I commuted I cycled 3000 miles a year so 6 months per motor?

Would the motors be more reliable if they were not used off road?

I have a fleet of Shimano equipped ebikes that we hire out, we keep them around 6 months then sell them off.

I’ve been doing that for 2 years and until recently had not had a single electrical fault with any of them, including the bikes we had sold off to local riders.

One recently came back that I had sold off, having now covered 4000km. The diagnostic process was very simple and replacement part sent fast.

I would recommend them!

Thanks Ben, apologies if I got that slightly wrong.

I’ve no skin in the game by the way, I don’t evn own an eeb and have only ever hired one for a day (Specialized Kenevo). Its more that I have noticed a theme recently of people suggesting that Shimano have upped their game and wondered if it was true. They are still getting a kicking on the Cotic thread.

duner – that sounds very positive, thank you.

That’s not exactly good news. I imagined that motors would be much longer lasting than that.

Last year I cycled just over 3600 miles.

When I commuted I cycled 3000 miles a year so 6 months per motor?

Would the motors be more reliable if they were not used off road?

Anecdotally, it seems that ebike motors used for commuting and road cycling last for years and thousands of miles with few issues. It seems to be off road use in all weathers that kills them.

It does seem that the number of complaints about shimano motors has reduced over the last 12 months or so, so maybe they have improved the newer motors?

I think it’s fair to say reliability has improved greatly across many motors. And yes of road use does certainly have an impact on reliability. It does still leave the post warranty issue open though. This is not a Shimano specific issue however.

For me at least, the idea that you sell a bike with a part costing circa £1000 which is known to be, generously, fickle, with just 2 years warranty but cannot be serviced or supported by a user or widely available ‘official’ service network for a reasonable price, is absurd. For us, ensuring our customers can have an expectation of service in the region of 5 years without laying out more than a reasonable annual service charge (or cumulative equivalent) is critical to being able to launch. That @mugboo was the reason we stopped the Ethic’s rollout. 

Motor reliabilty has improved across all brands in the last few years

The biggest thing is how easy is it to get your motor of choice fixed/serviced once out of warranty if you plan to keep the bike for longer than the warranty period

My Levo’s motor’s bearings have become rough and the motor runs on (sprag clutch bearing worn and draging causing the issue) this is after 5 years of all weather UK riding so no warranty left

Sent it off to Performance Bearings and they have said i need all the bearings replaced, they will ultrasonicly clean everything, fit uprated bearings, seals, gaskets and use better grease etc.. all for £280 (replacement motor is £900)

Not sure how easily Shimano motors are repaired at the momment (Performance Bearings do most brands but not Shimano) so its worth checking out how easily they can be repaired and the cost of this once out of warranty

^ perfect example, five year old motor, £280 to fix. Still not ideal you have to go to a third party to get it sorted, but assuming they’re buying (or at least could buy if they wanted to) Specialized parts, then that seems to me to be a reasonable outcome. I personally think Specialized need to offer this directly too, but I do hear good things about their E-Bike support generally. Not currently available for Shimano though…

^ perfect example, five year old motor, £280 to fix. Still not ideal you have to go to a third party to get it sorted, but assuming they’re buying (or at least could buy if they wanted to) Specialized parts, then that seems to me to be a reasonable outcome. I personally think Specialized need to offer this directly too, but I do hear good things about their E-Bike support generally. Not currently available for Shimano though…

Id rather go to Performance bearings for repair than Spesh as Performance bearings use better sealed bearings and make improvements that Spesh (well Brose really as they actually make the motor) arent even doing to the latest motors, plus they are the offical Spesh trusted partner

That £280 price would of been a lot cheaper if i had sent the motor in for refresh as soon as i noticed the bearings begining to feel rough, plus i choose thier upgrade service which changes the standard Brose motor from having 1 layer of sealing before water enters the motor to having 5 layers of sealing once upgraded

Brose Motor Upgrade Service

benpinnickFull Member
^ perfect example, five year old motor, £280 to fix. Still not ideal you have to go to a third party to get it sorted, but assuming they’re buying

As they’ll be brose parts, as brose sell all their motor internal part, unlike shimano or bosch. Much like selling a SRAM AXS part, why would you expect spesch to support the part (motor) any more than swapping under warranty or selling you discounted motor as under their discount structure, 50% off for 3year, 35% for 4 and continues for upto 5 years.. so support last for 7year

Much like selling a SRAM AXS part, why would you expect spesch to support the part (motor) any more than swapping under warranty or selling you discounted motor as under their discount structure

Because they sell these bikes for £13000, that’s why. If specialized shops just send it to performance bearings or similar, fair enough, but anyone who spends 6/7/8+k on a bike isn’t asking for an unreasonable service if they need a fundamental part of their bike fixing after 3 years, and it’s fixable (evidently it is) without having to buy a whole new motor.

That does not seem unreasonable.

If specialized shops just send it to performance bearings or similar, fair enough

Spesh dont send anything to Performance bearings, all Spesh (Brose) motors which fail in warranty are replaced with a brand new motor, Spesh then send the old one back to Brose to be inspected, Spesh and their dealers are not allowed to open the motors up

Performance Bearings only deal with out of warranty motors, if they started opening up motors which are within warranty then this voids the Spesh (Brose) warranty

Once your motor fails out of warranty then you have a choice, use Spesh’s sliding scale discount scheme on a new motor or have it repaired by a third party, in my case due to the motor being 5 years old Performance bearings were cheaper to repair than Spesh were to replace on their sliding sclae discount scheme for out of warranty parts plus i get a motor which has much better sealing than the factory one

From what ive heard even once out of warranty by say 6 months most Spesh dealers/Spesh themselves are very helpful and try and still replace for free or as little charge as possible

“ My Levo’s motor’s bearings have become rough and the motor runs on (sprag clutch bearing worn and draging causing the issue) this is after 5 years of all weather UK riding so no warranty left

Sent it off to Performance Bearings and they have said i need all the bearings replaced, they will ultrasonicly clean everything, fit uprated bearings, seals, gaskets and use better grease etc.. all for £280 (replacement motor is £900)”

This is good to know! My Levo had its motor replaced under warranty due to a slipping belt around the 3 year mark, and has been AOK since then but obviously it can’t go on forever. It’s now 6 years old and has done about 7000 miles.

Are there any things to look out for to tell when the motor needs a service?

I’ve actually had more issues and much more cost from creaking forks/CSU on this bike than anything ebike specific!

I think that would work for me, I’d certainly favour a second hand but fixable e-bike. That said, the hired Kenevo in S2 didn’t have much room dropper post wise, I kept having to lower the seatpost itself, very old school.

I’m not in the market for an e-bike yet but repairability is the main thing that I want to see sorted out before I buy one. I don’t care how good a warranty is if everything becomes landfill as soon as it fails and then I’m up the creek outside the warranty period. Trusted dealers, a consistent supply of spare parts and a long lifespan for the expensive bits will make me feel better.

I still feel like e-bikes are in their infancy and the longer I wait the better they’ll get.

The second thing I’d like to see is a gearbox/belt drive. Rattly old MTB drivetrains seem hopelessly out of place on a motorised bike.

This is good to know! My Levo had its motor replaced under warranty due to a slipping belt around the 3 year mark, and has been AOK since then but obviously it can’t go on forever. It’s now 6 years old and has done about 7000 miles.

Are there any things to look out for to tell when the motor needs a service?

If the bearings start feel rough or if you notice anything unusal then its worth getting it checked over just like you would if it was in warranty

Motor servicing should be like suspension servicing, something that is done every x amount of hours, to try and catch any issues before they get worse, thats something i didnt do but will from now on

You could send your motor to Performance bearings and if there are no issues they just give everything a very good clean and then can reassemble and test the motor, if there are some issues you can have the std parts replaced like for like to keep costs down or do what ive done and go for thier uprated service which improves sealing and uses better bearings

They will even sell you a service kit to fit yourself if you feel competent enough which keeps the price down

No matter how good a motor is it will need servicing at some point in its life, espcially if you are planning on keeping the bike for years

Motor servicing should be like suspension servicing, something that is done every x amount of hours, to try and catch any issues before they get worse, thats something i didnt do but will from now on

I guess this means removing it and sending it to someone who will open it up. How often do you reckon?

I guess this means removing it and sending it to someone who will open it up. How often do you reckon?

Im planning to remove my motor yearly and give everything externally a good clean and check the wiring plugs etc… as for actually sending the motor off for an insepction/service then that will depend on conditions its been used in, as mine is used in all weathers and is mainly used in winter (i ride a normal bike in spring/summer) ill proberbly get mine checked out every 2 years which is roughly 3000 miles for me, sooner if it develops any noises/issues, i may even just buy one of their basic service kits and do it myself evrey couple of years