The 4 Best 2020 eMTB Motor Systems Reviewed - Bosch vs Brose vs Shimano vs Fazua Ridden & Rated

Contents

---

Shimano STEPS E8000

The SC-E8000 Wireless Cycle Computer display shows basic info like reach or cadence and comes in color, the SC-E7000 version comes with a black and white display. Both come with Bluetooth LE and ANT+ connection. A new SC-E5000 display combines thumb mode buttons next to the grip with a display.

Shimano of course also made sure that their STEPS e-bike components are compatible with Di2’s electronic shifting components, even offering the ability for the shifting to communicate with the motor’s power output for smoother shifts.







App

If your Shimano display is equipped with Bluetooth, you can connect the E-Tube Project app for iOS or Android (smartphone and tablet) to your bike and install updates (it automatically checks for new firmware every time you open the app) or customize each support mode from presets (Dynamic mode or Explorer mode) or individually (Custom mode). Apart from that there’s an error check function that can identify faulty units.

The E-Tube Ride app lets the smartphone’s screen act as a display to give you real-time readings for speed, distance, range, power-assist levels and more.

Once you get rolling, Shimano’s E8000 harmonious power delivery still applies today, especially in Trail or Eco mode. Especially at lower speeds in Boost mode the engine is more prone to sudden changes in speed, or better said, power input from the pedals, making it somewhat more difficult to control the power output at the rear wheels, with the bike tending to launch forward a bit suddenly.

Trail mode feels the most natural, since the system adapts the power according to pedal torque, cadence and speed, but compared to Boost, the dropoff in pedaling support is significant and nowhere near as entertaining to ride with. Since it’s not exactly viable to run in battery-munching Boost mode on extended rides – especially when you’re limited to a smaller 504Wh battery option – the fun factor is somewhat limited. A mode between Trail and Boost would be nice to have, changing the settings with the app and giving Trail somewhat more power is a welcome option.

Although Shimano’s E8000 version of the display as well as the E7000 model should both come with Bluetooth, I wasn’t able to connect my 2019 Bergamont test bike to the E-Tube app with the connection option now showing up on the display, so unfortunately, I was never able to play around with different settings for support modes.

Although you don’t usually get the feeling that you’re missing out on maximum power in Boost mode, trying to climb trial-type inclines might get the motor to its limit, where others might still push you a bit further. Pushing beyond the 25km/h threshold there’s a slight pedaling resistance from the engine. Re-engagement of the engine dropping below that range is slightly noticeable, and so is the engagement when starting to pedal.

Compared to Bosch’s older Performance CX Gen 3 motor, Shimano’s STEPS proved more efficient in terms of energy consumption. On a ride with comparable factors, I could have climbed another 250 to 350 meters in altitude when the Bosch equipped bike was flat. As already mentioned, unfortunately we didn’t have a Shimano model available for the lap test to see how the numbers compared to the newer motors in this review.


Why Shimano’s display design hasn’t been adopted by more players in the market is beyond me. Its integration into a cockpit is one of the cleanest solutions while also arranging it in a position where it’s nicely protected from impacts in case of a crash.

Five steps on the display to indicate the battery level might also be a standard on some other manufacturer’s e-bike systems, but it sure isn’t a really accurate reading. It would just be interesting to know that when there is only one bar left whether your battery level is drained by 80% or more like 95%. And no, the remaining range is not a great indicator, changing with terrain, mode and rider input constantly. I also couldn’t keep the display from jumping back to its start screen after a few minutes, when all I wanted was for it to keep showing me the remaining range.

Shimano’s walk assist mode got me to the point where I didn’t even try to activate it anymore - I'd just drag the bike up those steep sections that I spun out on insetead. First, you have to hold down the lower button of the button remote or in case of the E8000 unit, the left thumb lever to switch into walk mode. Then you have to hold down that same button to get the bike to push.

The system prefers the chain to actually be running in a higher gear for a more powerful support, which doesn’t make a lot of sense since chances are that you were running in one of the lower gears when trying to climb. Having to shift through the range of the cassette at a standstill on an incline is just a pain in the ass. Ergo, Shimano’s walk mode is a pain in the ass, apart from the fact that in reality it doesn’t make a huge difference what gear you’re in, the bike just stutters along without much power or motivation most of the time anyway.

There are also some bugs that unnecessarily make your life a little harder. My personal favorite in particular, error W013. That’s the message you get when the initialization of the torque sensor was not completed successfully. Basically, what it means is that there can’t be any pressure on the pedals while turning the bike on every single time. As a side-effect, the startup process takes a few seconds to complete. After having wasted a lot of time not being able to just ride away with a few different bike models over the first few months of discovering Shimano’s motor mannerisms, I’m going as far as saying: don’t move it an inch while turning it on or try to start your bike while it’s lying on its side. To get the bike to initialize once you get that error, you have to turn it off and on again. At least in theory. I had one instance where I tried to get going for over twenty minutes, being stuck on W013.

Now I just lean it against a wall or tree when starting it or hold my breath when I’m out in the middle of nowhere before hitting the on button. Most of the time it’s not a problem anymore, and I know of some people that never had an issue with it (although more that do). But why Shimano is the only e-bike motor system manufacturer that needs to rely on such an anti-feature is beyond me.

Another thing that caught me off guard once is the fact that by the time your display is telling you that you have around 12 km of range left in the tank it’s imperative that you don’t turn the bike off or take a break long enough where the bike shuts down on its own. I don’t know the exact number, I only know that I made the mistake once at a long climb with that range left on the display, with the bike shutting off during a break and not delivering any motor support after that. I ended up pedalling the last 250 meters of altitude with a bike weighing around 25kg without motor support and won’t make that mistake on a Shimano-driven bike again
.
The same level of attention should be paid to your battery when there’s just one bar left. There’s no real warning to when the display starts blinking and the motor shuts off instantly after. Those might not be deal breakers, but knowing that others can do it better makes me think that someone didn’t do their homework programming the software or designing the system to begin with.

With Shimano’s motor still being one of the most commonly equipped, even though it might not be a class-leader anymore, one can only wonder what’s coming down the pipeline. With rumors of a new motor having been confirmed we’ll probably find out rather sooner than later.

Brose Drive S Mag (Specialized 2.1)








App

With Specialized’s Mission Control app you can customize multiple aspects of your motor management for all drive modes. The app is available for iOS and Android, delivering four settings (Support and Peak Power individually, Acceleration Response and Shuttle spanning all modes) to find your personal favorites. For a detailed description, click for the full Specialized Kenevo review.


On BH’s setup, for example, ride modes can be individualized directly on their own display. Brose’s own components don’t offer custom adjustment possibilities at the moment. However, a certified dealer has the option to individually alter motor settings with the Brose Service Tools.

Apart from that, its motor management is also one of the best. Power delivery is incredibly controlled even though it’s got plenty of power, with seamless transitions from start to going beyond the 25 km/h threshold. Without motor support, there’s virtually no resistance from the completely disengaged motor.

Even in its highest support mode it’s rather simple to apply gentle pedal pressure to the system and getting a controlled start, which comes in handy starting at steeper climbs from standstill. With Specialized’s stock settings the pedaling support feels very natural, almost as if it’s continually adapting to your power input.

When engaging the Shuttle mode at a higher setting in Specialized’s customization options it can happen once in a while that when pedaling at a high pace in Turbo there is a slight lag when abruptly reducing pedal pressure before the engine turns down its support. Overall though, being able to tune each mode to your liking in various configurations is quite the treat.

Fully dialing up all the options on the highest setting it’ll be hard to keep up the pace with Bosch’s new Gen 4 motor in a drag race up the hill, at least not without putting more of an effort in. By turning up all settings, your battery life is of course going down a bit.

Specialized only equips its bikes with a handlebar remote and Turbo Connect Unit with LED info for ride modes and battery charge in ten levels on the top tube. Technically, the bike's modes could also be adjusted without the remote, by pressing the button centered within the three circular LED lights that indicate the ride modes. If you want extra info like speed, cadence or rider input you'll have to invest in an extra handlebar display, the Turbo Connect Display.


On my test lap with stock settings I was able to climb for 1,930 meters of altitude with the 700Wh battery on a single charge, when only riding in Turbo mode. The last 50 meters of that, the bike was in emergency mode, only delivering minimum support, then shutting off with a rest power of three percent, like the others. Apart from that, at a charge level of 20%, the bike automatically disables the Turbo support mode to save energy. It’s a nice reminder and gets you further, but it would be cool to have the option to disable that function in Mission Control for those that want to control their own destiny.



On a mellow ride I kept running in Eco mode for most of the time and ended up with a total ascent of 1,400 meters and a distance of about 42km with 50% battery use, so I could probably get somewhere between 2,600 to 2,800 meters and almost 80km in distance with conservative bike support. It’s worth mentioning that support from Specialized’s lowest setting is still delivering more power than many other system’s setups.

Kudos to Specialized for not making a hassle out of engaging the walk assist mode. You simply press and hold the button on the lower side of the handlebar remote and it pushes the bike powerfully up the hill at walking pace, no matter what gear you’re in. Why do some others make it so complicated?

Overall, Brose, or in this specific case, Specialized, are doing great job on every front. Great motor management, low noise level, massive power, a natural feel and a very simple walk assist don’t leave much to wish for.

Bosch Performance Line CX (Gen4)

The older Purion display that combines the thumb controls and display is still not forgotten and a more compact version than Kiox. Lapierre’s GLP 2 is using it and apart from Trek’s Rail top model, their lineup is dominated with this setup, to name just a few. Unfortunately, its info is more limited and it only delivers five steps to indicate the battery level, which turns it a bit into a guessing game how much power really is left in the battery. Personally, I would have really liked to see a version with the shape of Purion and info from Kiox.

The old speed sensor was mounted on the side of the left chainstay and used a regular spoke magnet. Luckily there's a new dropout-mounted sensor with hub-mounted magnet that looks a lot cleaner and is less prone to problems.

With Bosch, a bike manufacturer only has the option to pick from their component range. You won’t for example see a Bosch-driven bike with a different battery or display setup than what’s available.





App

I did look into the eBike Connect app, available for iOS and Android, but didn’t find many features to improve the ride or change any settings. There’s a map function on the app with recording function and an optional connection to a komoot account. There's no support for navigation directly on the Kiox display, only with Nyon.

That's a character feature that’s also noticeable with the newly adjusted eMTB mode, like it or not. Overall, the progressive eMTB function is dynamically selecting the best support mode between Tour (140%) and Turbo (340%) according to terrain and rider input. It does that job extremely well and on most days you can just ride along happily in that setting, without ever having to think about switching between the different modes yourself.
I very much like the fact that during the last generations it’s been possible to select between four support modes to give you more options. On the downside, it’s not possible to custom-tune the modes to your personal liking.

The Bosch Gen 4 motor's capability of now fully decoupling beyond 25 km/h is another big improvement, putting one of its biggest downfalls compared to other brands to rest.

A motor’s noise, by the way, can be amplified by the structure and material of the frame. Higher pitched sounds seem to be affected by this in carbon frames and the same motor in different bikes might have a different level of noise. Bosch’s Gen 4 isn’t the quietest motor around, as it spins at a rather high frequency under high load, but it’s not to the point where it becomes annoying in the long run.

Talking about noise, the absolutely biggest downside of Bosch’s latest design is a metallic clacking noise when the engine is unloaded and rolling over uneven ground, not unlike that of bad chain slap, coming from the motor itself – something I’ve never experienced with any competitor’s product. On some bikes equipped with the new Performance CX it’s more noticeable than on others. We checked in with Bosch and got the following explanation:


Event though this noise is not at a level that would cause me to not ride a Bosch equipped bike anymore, you simply cannot unhear it. With every development from derailleur to chain protector over the past few years to keep a bike as quiet as possible, hearing the clacking noise when rolling over uneven terrain without the motor being engaged is simply annoying.


On my test lap, Bosch’s Gen 4 showed that its energy consumption can keep up with the best. The system gives you a warning at 20% in form of the battery level on the Kiox display turning orange, but it doesn’t affect the selected mode. You can keep rushing up the hill in Turbo until the bike completely shuts down at three percent battery left, which is reserved for running lights and such, according to some country laws. If I would have shifted down into Tour mode once I hit 20% battery level, comparable to Specialized’s procedure with the Brose motor, I might have extended the ride to similar levels.



The integration of the Kiox display on a bike looks a bit awkward. There are two cables emerging from the adapter that holds the display with magnets, one rather voluminous one leading to the motor, the other connecting the handlebar remote with numerous directional controls (up and down control the modes, sideways buttons activate different views for each mode or settings). It’s difficult to hide the larger cable and while the display isn’t giant in dimension, it looks a bit intrusive on the handlebar, no matter if it’s located right on the stem, or in a forward, middle or rearward position on the bar.

Trek’s integration on top of the top tube looks like one of the better solutions out there, even if you have to lower your gaze a bit more than if it was mounted on the handlebar. The cable routing could have been cleaner, even in this case.

The walk assist works fine. You have to push a small button on top of the remote, opening a two-second window in which to push and hold the plus-button on the remote. If you lose contact, the two-second window opens up again, so all you have to do is reengage with the plus button. The push of the bike is powerful and it doesn’t matter what gear you’re in with the speed and start-up behavior automatically adjusting to the gradient.

Bosch’s new motor is delivering on many levels, but to be honest it’s somewhat disappointing that after all their development time for the new motor and eliminating all of its predecessor’s shortcomings, a new problem like its metallic clacking noise from the inner gear wheel is clouding the overall impression.

Fazua evation







Software/App

Toolbox Software 2.0

With a recently launched software program that’s available for PCs or Macs, you can fully custom-tune almost every aspect of motor support. By removing the USB port cap and connecting your Drivepack to your PC or Mac, you are able to update your system’s software, read out all kinds of information but, most importantly, change every individual setting of your motor management.

In easy mode it’s possible to select between three pre-established settings – eco, moderate and performance – and adjust support relation and ramp-up separately on top of that. Changing to the advanced mode, you have the option to individually set the support curves for Breeze, Rive and Rocket modes, allowing you to get exactly the feel you’re looking for.


Fazua Rider App

On Remotes past a certain production date, you can connect your iOS or Android phone to the Fazua Rider app via Bluetooth. You can record your rides with a map functionality and get current information about your bike's status, including power, current, cadence, remaining capacity in percent, rider power or battery temperature and much more.

It’s a bummer that the motor management settings cannot be altered via the app, although I’ve heard a rumor that Fazua is working on making that available down the road.

To get one of the biggest issues out of the way, starting the bike is not as straightforward as it should be. I would have never thought that I’d need an instruction manual on how to start an e-bike, but with Fazua’s system, it helps.

It turns out, pushing the start button on the handlebar remote doesn’t do much for you. Little did I know, the battery shuts into a deep-sleep mode every eight hours from which it only can be awoken by removing it from the bike and pushing a standby button at the top of the battery. That’s similar to needing to pop the hood of your car to push a button on the engine before being able to drive off if you fail to move it within an eight-hour period. Ummmm ...

It gets worse when you lock the battery so it can’t get stolen (if your bike is equipped with that locking feature) and take a trip with your car to a remote location for a bike ride, only to figure out that you left your key at home and can’t start your bike’s motor (something that almost happened to me once, which would have ended up with typing the rant of my life). Basically, it’s the most user-unfriendly piece of engineering I’ve seen in a long time and, in lamest terms, should really, really, really be fixed.

Removing the Drivepack unit from the bike itself is not a super simple task either. The so-called Locker mechanism that holds the Drivepack in place does not represent the most ingenious piece of engineering. Again, without an instruction manual you’ll be hard-pressed to get it open, no matter how strong your fingers are. Cussing profusely doesn’t help at all (I tried), but pushing the release button hard with a broomstick does. A colleague told me of the Drivepack falling on his foot once. Mine dropped onto the ground more than once during that getting-to-know period, so I can relate. But that’s not the correct way to do it.

Looking down at your bike, you have to wrap your fingers around the (usually dirty) Drivepack and pull it towards you. Then you have to push the release button on top of the downtube with your thumbs and at the same time release the Drivepack with your fingers. Right. Once lowered, there’s a secondary catch that can hold the battery halfway released from the frame for loading. I managed to get the battery and mechanism stuck in an angled position more than once when not perfectly aligned, which required some fiddling with the secondary latch to get it unstuck.

By the way, there’s no external loading port on the bike or generally available for the system, so you have to do this procedure every time you want to charge your bike. I ended up leaving the battery hanging in its charging position before my next ride to awake it from its stupid slumber mode and save myself at least one opening and closure procedure before each ride. There’s a Locker pX mechanism available that claims to deliver an improved user experience, and I can only hope it does.

With the Black Pepper Performance update, released in April 2020, a bunch of the motor management system’s flaws have been taken care of. One of the most important improvements was extending the motor’s cadence support range. With the original setting, pedaling at a higher pace often felt like pedaling into a wall – the quicker you spun your pedals and harder you pushed, the less support you got from the bike with the power dropping off outside the optimal cadence of 65 to 85 crank revolutions per minute. It felt even less like that, to be honest. After the update you’re blessed with a constant motor output from 55 to 125 revolutions per minute, which is a major difference out on the trail and almost making it hard to believe that the same motor can be so heavily affected by a software update.

With a completely overhauled motor control, the ridie feel has been revamped, delivering a truly natural assist. It wasn’t bad before, now its transition is buttery smooth over the entire range and abrupt changes in pedal revolutions don’t affect pedaling fluidity anymore.
Depending on the settings, you can now noticeably change the power delivery and motor assist to your liking. Since the process of changing the settings requires a computer and some fiddling with the USB cap of the Drivepack, that process might take a while to find your perfect setting, but it’s worth it.

Of course, the higher the support, the quicker your battery is going to drain. Since I only found the update a week before this review went online I wasn’t able to go through extensive testing again and figure out how each of those modes affected the real-world power usage or performance. From what I could gather, running on the highest possible settings for all motor management setup and running in Rocket mode resulted at about a 12 percent power drain for every 100 meters of altitude, picking the moderate settings throughout only required about 10 percent.

Before the update, the support used to feel more like someone pushing you at walking pace with a hand on your back and the power delivery in River or Rocket mode felt more like the lowest support mode, or something in between the lowest and medium mode on most regular e-bikes, rather than the dazzling punch to the pedals of one of the higher settings from the competitors in this test.

After the update, with the highest motor setup settings with a power output of 300W, it was possible to keep up with someone riding at regular efforts with Specialized’s medium Trail mode next to you (which is already pretty powerful). You still probably had to put more energy in and your battery consumption would suffer, but keeping up wasn’t even an option before. Since there is a note in the Toolbox that warns you that overheating could be more of a problem in this setting, with the bike regulating down the power output in that case, this highest motor setup appears to be better suited for using Rocket mode for shorter but more demanding sections of trail, rather than continuous use. In either motor setup configuration after the update – even riding in lower Breeze and River modes – the bike was simply significantly more fun to pedal around than before.

Fazua’s evation is still less powerful than regular e-bike systems in their highest settings, but that might actually appeal to some riders out there.

Also, accelerating from standstill and when going beyond 25 km/h results in a seamless transition after the update. Only once in a while when you suddenly stop pedaling can you notice a slight clicking noise from the motor, but it’s nothing to fret over. It’s amazing, by the way, how silent the motor is running. With an almost regular look of the bike’s frame, this concept truly is hard to distinguish from a regular design of a bike.

It was a bit weird that the bike’s internal speedometer reading showed 3 to 4km/h less than my Garmin at higher and around 1 to 2 km/h at lower speeds. Usually it’s only off from other e-bike systems by 1km/h at the most, if at all. So essentially, if I trust my Garmin more than the Fazua’s internals, the motor only delivered support up to 21 or 22km/h, rather than the 25km/h that it should.

There’s a bit more play for the motor’s freewheel to engage, which could result in a longer delay until the hub engages, especially if the hub’s internals has a larger engagement angle itself. I only noticed it occasionally and wasn’t bothered by it but it might be a factor for some.


Out of all systems, doing that lap test before the update was by far the least fun and rewarding. With the rather large 38-tooth chainring and only a 46 cog as the lowest gear on the cassette, the bike was struggling on the short, really steep inclines, even in Rocket mode. With the improved cadence range after the Black Pepper firmware update using the moderate preset for motor management on the test lap, the bike fared much better in every aspect, resulting in considerably higher speeds on the uphills, a far more natural riding experience at a higher cadence and ultimately an entertaining ride.

On the downside, I only managed to climb about 250m less in altitude at a shorter overall distance, but I'll take that over the old setup any day of the week. Plus, I’m pretty certain that if the bike was setup on the lowest motor preset you’d probably be able to cover a similar distance as before but you’d still enjoy the performance much more.

Thinking about reach, I never considered carrying an extra battery in my backpack, but at a low weight of about 1.4kg, even I could entertain that thought, not ruling out the Fazua’s capability for epic long rides.



At around 50% charge a slight drop in power delivery is noticeable, probably due to the small size of the battery and natural reduction of power output. At around 20% there’s another noticeable drop, but this one is explained by the system deliberately scaling back the support at around 15 to 20% to extend reach. At 3% the motor support shuts down to meet some countries’ requirements.

By talking so much about the engine, you shouldn’Pt forget what the lower weight of the total system does to the handling of the bike. While our test bike with carbon frame and mostly aluminum components still weighed about 19kg, breaking below the 20kg weight barrier does make a difference. Some bike manufacturers can scratch at that mark with a regular e-bike setup, but you’d have to spend an arm and a leg for that sensation.

So, when lifting the bike up in the parking lot it still feels a bit chunky, but already when handling it next to an average e-bike when loading it into or even onto a car for example makes a huge difference. More importantly, when riding the bike it does react more like a regular bike than a hefty e-bike. Without pushing into corners on the downhills and with being able to lift the front end moderately easy, you don’t really have to adapt your riding style to enjoy the ride.

Before the update it seemed to be a bit more difficult to figure out how far you can get with the Fazua drivetrain, compared to other e-bike systems. I had a fit friend with a weight of 70 kg take the bike out on an extended ride, spending about 95% of the time only riding the Breeze mode. We managed to finish the loop covering 1,380 meters of altitude and a distance of 45.9km. He had three bars remaining. A few days later I did the exact same route with the bike, using the same modes at the same areas and weighing 15kg less but I ended up on the last bar of battery power at the end. Since we finished the lap quicker the first time around, I assume that he put more leg power in, pushing the threshold and saving battery in the process. Again, without recording those separate rides with a torque meter and with the cadence range having changed significantly, that’s just a wild guess.

To activate the walk assist you have to first shift into no support mode (white) and then hold the lower button for two seconds to activate the bike’s push, which isn’t immensely powerful but could be a help in some situations. You have to keep resting your thumb on that lower button during the push, if you lose contact you’ll have to start back up with the two-second delay.

I was slightly disappointed that the eleven levels on the Remote b display for battery weren’t designed to crank it up to eleven but that the top one is reserved for system messages. A blinking yellow light tells you if there is a connection error to the speed sensor. Before the update the battery charge indicators seemed to erratically jump levels once in a while. Sometimes it took quite long for even the first three levels to drop, then you lost a bar within a minute, without the terrain or riding giving a real explanation for it. Again, the update seems to have done the trick and the app and display correlates the remaining charge correctly.

By using the app you can see the exact percentage of power used as well as every other detail you might be interested in, including rider input. It would be great if there was a handlebar display available that could show that info. In bright sunlight and depending on the color of the support mode, it’s sometimes a bit harder to figure out the exact charge but overall, I appreciate the more detailed information of ten levels compared to five energy bars from many other systems.

Being able to remove the motor Driveunit and battery is smart, essentially giving you two bikes in one. However, it doesn’t seem to make full sense on a bike designed for a certain category of riding and spec. Our test bike, the Bulls Wild Flow EVO RS is part of the trail bike category with 120 mm of travel front and rear and comes to a weight of 18.9kg without pedals. With the unit and battery removed, the bike still weighs about 16kg with the separately available aluminum Downtube Cover installed, weighing 490 grams. I don’t think that anyone would truly enjoy pedaling around a trail bike with 16kg. I gave it a spin and wasn’t highly entertained for that category, although in an emergency situation it would still be better than nothing. The Wild Flow’s top model, the SL, packed with lightweight carbon goodies, is rumored to scratch at the 16kg weight mark with engine, which would change things dramatically.

On an enduro bike like NOX’s Helium Enduro Pro, which also uses Fazua’s evation drive, the removable system also makes a lot of sense, even with the bike weighing more. The 180mm travel ride comes to 19.9 kg complete, so about 17 with the system removed. Taking it out for a day doing shuttle runs or going to the bike park without a motor suddenly becomes a real option. Apart from that, I’ve taken quite a few heavier big-hit bikes on extended rides in the past with the downhill being the true reward, so I wouldn’t even rule out the option of pedaling that kind of bike up the hill if necessary.

A Fazua-equipped bike also seems like the perfect solution for a weaker rider wanting to keep up with strong riders on regular bikes.

All in all, I wasn’t really excited over the performance of Fazua’s evation before the firmware update. But that Black Pepper update made a huge difference for the better, pushing the concept closer to the refined drive systems of established e-bike players while enjoying the more natural weight and handling of the bike on your ride. You even develop a routine with removing the battery excessively even though it always reminds you that the battery’s deep-sleep mode is not a user-friendly solution.

Picking a Winner

As far as size and weight goes, the big three don’t differ much from one another anymore. But at the end of the day, Brose’s Drive S Mag – or in our specific case, Specialized’s 2.1 motor with most of Brose’s hardware – is the winner out of this group. Its power, power delivery, noise level and possible motor management customizations and even walk assist functionality edge out its competitors.

If it came down to feel and power management, Bosch’s latest Performance CX Gen 4 motor would be my clear choice for runner-up, but its metallic clacking noise when rolling over obstacles without load left a bad impression. So do Shimano’s annoying little software quirks, but at least those don’t bother you during your ride and can be worked around. While still a good engine concept overall, in terms of smoothness and power delivery Shimano can’t hide the fact that it’s lost a bit of ground to its competitors’ never products.

With Fazua’s evation system offering a somewhat different concept to the big three, it wouldn’t be fully fair to rate it directly against them. Thanks to the Black Pepper firmware update, a lot of the performance issues of the past have become obsolete and given it more support on the climbs. It still doesn’t have the raw power of any of the others but can collect points with a natural pedaling feel and essentially giving you two bikes in one, even if it is still heavier without the Drivepack than your regular bike. In its current state, you’d have to accept its shortcomings like battery deep-sleep every eight hours, from which it can only be resurrected by popping out the battery.

---

---

Posted In:
eMTB Reviews and Tech Reviews Ridden And Rated Bosch Brose Fazua Shimano