Shimano E5000
A 40nm 250 Watt Torque-Sensing Class One Mid-Drive, in my case, matched with a 46 pound full suspension eMTB and 460 Wh battery, 1,000 miles on the motor in about a year and a half.
This motor is typically used on city or commuter bikes, and using it for an eMTB (in 2019 or so, if I had to guess) was an unusual choice for Motobecane-- either demented or brilliant, depending on how you look at it. The most significant things about it are that it's one of the lowest power motors on the market, it's more lightweight than Shimano's other motors by a pound or so, and it's pretty efficient. It has very few features, bells or whistles. It's also very, very quiet.
On the one hand, it seems a little crazy to put a motor with this little power on any eMTB under any circumstances-- even one that weights 49 pounds out of the box. On the other, it costs under $1,000 to drop three pounds from the particular bike I bought, so if you consider a $10,800 45.25 pound 2022 Orbea Rise M with an EP8 throttled to 60 nm, Motobecane's idea of having a 40nm motor pushing a $3,000 (after mods), 46 pound bike starts to seem a lot less stupid. I think there might be other 35 or 30nm eMTBs out there somewhere, but I think they also weigh about 41 or 42 pounds. It's also nice to have a bike that's this quiet on the trail-- you won't be bothering the wildlife or other riders. Sometimes I think it may have gotten slightly louder over the past 1,000 miles, but sometimes I think I'm imagining it.
I haven't put that many miles on the clock, and it may turn out that the E5000 simply won't stand up to the kind of punishment that I'm giving it-- that it really is a motor best suited for tooling around the city or a small town. That is clearly what it was designed for, based on Shimano's literature.
But so far, I haven't had seen any evidence of any excessive wear and tear. This could be because I'm somewhat limited in my rides due to work, age, and health conditions. Maybe a younger rider, who didn't stop as frequently as I do, or who was climbing intermediate or intermediate/advanced trails every week, instead of a half dozen times a year, would rip this thing to shreds. But for me, at 65, it seems far more likely that my own health will start giving out long before the motor does.
My typical ride is about 8 to 10 miles with 800 to 1,200 feet of vertical, I do that three times a week in the fall and spring and once a week in the coldest or hottest weather. On my platform, a fit rider can probably manage at least 45 miles with 4,500 feet of vertical, including very short stretches of grades over 20%. I've gotten about 40 miles with 4,000 feet of vertical from a single charge with a 20% to spare, but only with extreme effort. I only do that a handful of times a year, and I don't try it without training for a few weeks.
There are only three levels of assist, and I should note that there was an update in 2021 or 2022 which gives riders the option of "Sportiv" power delivery profile. It does not increase the maximum torque that the motor can deliver, but significantly decreases the rider effort needed to max out the motor in NORMAL or HIGH assist. Hold your nose, set aside an hour or two, download Shimano's excruciating app, and stay out of the bourbon or wacky tobaccy while updating the controller, because I read somewhere that if you do it wrong, you can brick the controller. (It's not that hard, just go slow, pay attention, and you'll be fine.) It's worth it-- I'd say make the switch to Sportiv if you're riding anywhere with any significant hills, and the original factory mode would only be useful for flat terrain, where it might extend your range. ECO mode is unaffected by switching between the original mode and Sportiv, and you can switch back and forth between the original factory mode and Sportiv. (You might have to use the ghastly app to do that, I can't remember.)
Even in Sportiv, if you're climbing an intermediate/advanced trail, you're going to be in granny gear and maxing the motor's output most of the way up; I do find that I lower the assistance on even brief flat segments because I feel like I'm working the motor really hard, though I've never had it overheat and it's never shown any change in performance even when pushed hard. I'm sure this is less of a PITA with Shimano's other motors, but as tradeoffs go, this isn't a bad one.
The power delivery, generally, is very smooth and natural feeling in all three assist modes. Occasionally, in granny gear at max assist, I used to experience just a little surging on the downstroke, but I'm pretty sure this was user error. The combination of human and electric power delivery can be very precisely controlled within the narrow range of power available. If I feel the tires beginning to slip on a steep, sandy uphill hairpin, I just decrease the effort I'm putting into the pedals slightly, and the motor responds instantly-- I've never had to lay the bike down for that particular reason. I have dumped it trying to go up very steep hills, but only when I simply didn't have the strength to add enough of my own energy to the rear wheel or because the surface was just too slippery-- segments that might have actually been harder with a more high-powered bike.
Even before I tried any other torque-sensing mid-drive, I never felt the need for more levels of assist, and I assumed this was because there's so little power available to begin with! However, when I later rode an E8000, I actually found having more than four levels of assist kind of annoying.
I feel a little silly writing such a long review, because the E5000 is an odd little motor you're not likely to find anywhere, and we'll probably be seeing less of them as the years roll by. However, there's VERY little information online about them-- so little that people who are trying to find out about them sometimes respond to posts I've made here trying to get a little more detail! (This happened just a few weeks ago.)
) That powerful motor made it possible for me making long climbs up to 19% grade (with the mountain-worthy gearing). Another great feature was excellent acceleration capability and totally natural ride feeling.
