Enviolo users - can you shift while pedaling?

[AvalancheRun]

Enviolo advertises "Effortless shifting, even under load. Enviolo lets you change gear ratio in any ride condition without ever having to stop pedaling or backpedal."

I've come across a lot of different accounts online about this. Many can't shift, many can.
Enviolo tells me our bikes need work, our dealers tells me we need to stop pedaling to shift.

Can you freely shift your Enviolo while pedaling?

 

[Roamers]

Yes, but under certain conditions need to ease pressure slightly.

 

[ava1ar]

You don't need to stop or backpedal for sure, but you need to ease the load. And if you are climbing and putting lot of pressure, this is actually very difficult to do without loosing the momentum.
I rode about 800-900 miles on new Enviolo 380 Trekking before I switched to Kindernay VII and never looked back. In my impression Enviolo shifting is very slow: easy on pedaling enough, then start rotating the shifter to understand if you did it enough, repeat if not enough or too much... It gets better with practice, but still never 100% predictable and fast. Hydraulic trigger shifter of Kindernay giving me super fast switching capabilities (1-2-3 gears up or down at once) and I exactly control what amount I need to shift now. I will only consider Enviolo in future with Automatiq mode - manual is not fun to ride if you prefer sporty style.

 

[AvalancheRun]

You don't need to stop or backpedal for sure, but you need to ease the load. And if you are climbing and putting lot of pressure, this is actually very difficult to do without loosing the momentum.
I rode about 800-900 miles on new Enviolo 380 Trekking before I switched to Kindernay VII and never looked back. In my impression Enviolo shifting is very slow: easy on pedaling enough, then start rotating the shifter to understand if you did it enough, repeat if not enough or two much... It gets better with practice, but still never 100% predictable and fast. Hydraulic trigger shifter of Kindernay giving me super fast switching capabilities (1-2-3 gears up or down at once) and I exactly control what amount I need to shift now. I will only consider Enviolo in future with Automatiq mode - manual is not fun to ride if you prefer sporty style.

We're seldom able to shift the bikes with even very minimal pressure on the pedals, and it's really stiff. Feels like something will break.
Even what you're describing is starkly at odds with their clear marketing of "even under load" and "without ever having to stop pedaling"

Kindernay is an idea for sure.

Roamers on the other hand described a situation that is mostly in line with Enviolo. I do wonder if the slightest bends in the wires to the hub cause this, or if something else is at play. In any event, even my dealer says it's not possible to shift while pedaling -- so this is looking like an uphill battle.

 

[ava1ar]

We're seldom able to shift the bikes with even very minimal pressure on the pedals, and it's really stiff. Feels like something will break.

How old are the bikes? It's get much better after few rides and 100+ miles on it. If it is brand new this might be the reason. Checking the cables is good idea, i.e. you should be able to shift almost effortless when stand still (however not the full range is available). If this is not the case, something is definitely wrong.
Do you have a chance to try any other ebike with Enviolo and compare you feelings about shifting? This would help to understand if the difference is there or not.

 

[AvalancheRun]

How old are the bikes? It's get much better after few rides and 100+ miles on it. If it is brand new this might be the reason. Checking the cables is good idea, i.e. you should be able to shift almost effortless when stand still (however not the full range is available). If this is not the case, something is definitely wrong.
Do you have a chance to try any other ebike with Enviolo and compare you feelings about shifting? This would help to understand if the difference is there or not.

Two 2023 C380 models. 300 and 400 miles on the odometers respectively. The 300 mile bike is a lot harder to shift. I've gone down the checklist from Enviolo and can only imagine it's bad quality cable housing, or the mildest bends in the housing routed to the hub.

The 400 mile bike is truly effortless at a stop, but shifting while pedaling just isn't happening. Very occasionally it will move a little, but never consistently and with much greater force required. The other thing I've tried is "exercising" the shifter by moving it back and forth a lot, though living in a hilly area we have to shift a lot anyways..

Will try to test a different Enviolo bike soon.

 

[ava1ar]

Two 2023 C380 models. 300 and 400 miles on the odometers respectively. The 300 mile bike is a lot harder to shift. I've gone down the checklist from Enviolo and can only imagine it's bad quality cable housing, or the mildest bends in the housing routed to the hub.

The 400 mile bike is truly effortless at a stop, but shifting while pedaling just isn't happening. Very occasionally it will move a little, but never consistently and with much greater force required. The other thing I've tried is "exercising" the shifter by moving it back and forth a lot, though living in a hilly area we have to shift a lot anyways..

This doesn't sound normal to me and looks like some defect. You will know for sure when you try other Enviolo bike to compare with...

 

[scrambler]

The first cause of abnormally hard to shift under load is badly adjusted shifter cables.

Part of the reason why the Automatiq is supposed to offered true shifting under all conditions, and therefore can be considered even if not desiring to use its automatic function (manual mode)

 

[Roamers]

Two 2023 C380 models. 300 and 400 miles on the odometers respectively.

Aren't they still under warranty?

 

[DiggyGun]

Got two bikes with Enviolo gears.

No issues, both smooth and easy to adjust when peddling. No big adjustments, just little feather twists as required.

Full adjustment when stopped.

DG…

 

[scrambler]

Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
peddling
noun

1. the activity of selling an illegal drug or stolen item.
   "youths involved in drug peddling"
   • the action of promoting an idea or view persistently or widely.
     "the peddling of fear is a lucrative business"

 

[riding_on]

I'll also add my experience to the pile here and say that I have only extremely rare issues with the Enviolo CVT that came with my Priority Current. Purchased in July of 2023. There is some very minor resistance changing the "gearing" when the pedals are under load, but the only time it feels so stiff that I get worried I may be stressing the mechanical parts, is when I try to go from "top gear" down while still pedaling. It's possible, but there's so much resistance I just avoid doing it for the sake of erring on the side of caution.

So if I'm speeding along at "top gear" and pedaling to try to maintain 31-35mph (which is where I go from actually pedaling to flailing/spinning my legs uselessly on my Priority Current w/ Enviolo hub), I have to stop pedaling to "downshift" if I'm going into an incline. Other than going from "max gear" to a lower gear, I can pedal as hard as I want and adjust the CVT any which way I please without any problems. If it's slightly below the "max" I don't have to stop pedaling then to "downshift" either, it's only when I've got it as high as it can go that I experience a problem. Again, this is with a Priority Current purchased in July of 2023. I haven't seen anything that indicates they've changed the design since releasing the Current years ago, but they may have.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Just going to add that our LBS claims that a wide range of stiffness in the Enviolo Manual shifter is normal and acceptable. My wife's shifter is ridiculously stiff at all times, and as a consequence she doesn't shift much because it starts to hurt on longer rides. We ride the same exact bike model. I hope they're wrong, but I've been pushing them to fix it for months.

 

[scrambler]

In my experience overly stiff shifter comes from bad adjustment of the shifter cable.
Review the procedure on Enviolo site and try to improve their adjustment.

 

[sc00ter]

A quick observation from a different geared hub. My CERO One had a Shimano Inter-5 hub with a E6100 mid drive. If I shifted during load it would sometimes get crazy, like the hub got stuck between gears. Not all the time but enough to be annoying. This ebike didn't have shift detection and I don't recall being told to stop pedaling when shifting, but I didn't keep the bike long enough to fully learn about it. I would think that the more powerful the mid-drive the more of a beating the IGH takes. I adjusted the hub per Shimano's online manual and got it a bit better but never perfect, at least to for my riding style.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Yeah, we're leaning towards derailleurs for our next bikes. Never had a problem with them in decades of use. Our gates belts actually have already needed maintenance to stop squeaking (Rohloff gear lube worked for this). Dusty environments can cause it. Anyway, that's fixed so NBD.

I've gone over the Enviolo recommendations for tough shifting, and unless their is a line kink within the frame itself everything checks out. We could try the recommended Jagwire cable. LBS says it won't do anything. I'm kinda past caring about the Enviolo shifting under load, just want my wife's shifter to work easily like mine.

We have one specialty shop that deals with Enviolo, and a Trek store. Trek have told me that they have very limited experience with Enviolo and are in the learning process currently so they will likely not be able to help.

One would think that two bikes functioning very differently would be evidence enough that something needs fixing, but there is no convincing LBS we purchased from. They showed me that almost all of their Enviolo manual shifters feel differently (tested 5 of them), but of course none as stiff as my wife's shifter.

 

[Roamers]

One would think that two bikes functioning very differently would be evidence enough that something needs fixing, but there is no convincing LBS we purchased from. They showed me that almost all of their Enviolo manual shifters feel differently (tested 5 of them), but of course none as stiff as my wife's shifter.

have you looked/felt carefully for even the slightest bend/kink in the cable? I haven't looked at mine to see if possible, but can you detach the cable at the hub end and see if the shifter/cable or mmanually hifting hub feel different?

 

[ampere1]

Yeah, we're leaning towards derailleurs for our next bikes. Never had a problem with them in decades of use. Our gates belts actually have already needed maintenance to stop squeaking (Rohloff gear lube worked for this). Dusty environments can cause it. Anyway, that's fixed so NBD.

I've gone over the Enviolo recommendations for tough shifting, and unless their is a line kink within the frame itself everything checks out. We could try the recommended Jagwire cable. LBS says it won't do anything. I'm kinda past caring about the Enviolo shifting under load, just want my wife's shifter to work easily like mine.

We have one specialty shop that deals with Enviolo, and a Trek store. Trek have told me that they have very limited experience with Enviolo and are in the learning process currently so they will likely not be able to help.

One would think that two bikes functioning very differently would be evidence enough that something needs fixing, but there is no convincing LBS we purchased from. They showed me that almost all of their Enviolo manual shifters feel differently (tested 5 of them), but of course none as stiff as my wife's shifter.

I had a hard to shift issue developed with my Priority Current enviolo shifter after ~ 2 years of use. I replaced the shifter as Priority was kind enough to send me a new one free of charge (~ a $35 value). Not saying this is the issue you're having with your shifter, but I found the cable had frayed inside the original shifter and was causing it to be hard to turn. This enviolo video

shows how to replace the cables at the shifter, you can see at about 0:45 second mark how rotating the shifter could become hard if cable fray happens inside the shifter.

 

[AvalancheRun]

have you looked/felt carefully for even the slightest bend/kink in the cable? I haven't looked at mine to see if possible, but can you detach the cable at the hub end and see if the shifter/cable or mmanually hifting hub feel different?

Yes, I have found a very minor bend in one of the cables. It seems hard to believe this is the cause and I have mentioned it to the LBS specifically.

Dark blue bike - cables seem normal (bike shifts fine with no load)

Light blue - slightest bend in cable (bike shifter is stiff)

I noticed yesterday that the light blue bike has a little more movement around the hub, with an accompanying click sound.
[clicking these imgur videos opens them in a new window, sorry about that!]

https://imgur.com/upMzNnr

Dark blue - normal?

https://imgur.com/gbPONyj

Light blue - problem?

I had a hard to shift issue developed with my Priority Current enviolo shifter after ~ 2 years of use. I replaced the shifter as Priority was kind enough to send me a new one free of charge (~ a $35 value). Not saying this is the issue you're having with your shifter, but I found the cable had frayed inside the original shifter and was causing it to be hard to turn. This enviolo video

shows how to replace the cables at the shifter, you can see at about 0:45 second mark how rotating the shifter could become hard if cable fray happens inside the shifter.

Thanks this is helpful! My LBS suggested this could be the issue, but also didn't want to fix or replace it... (2 month old, <400 mile bike).

 

[Roamers]

I can't tell exactly, but it looks like the light blue is not entering the sheath as straight.