TQ motor

[Stefan Mikes]

@jodi2 who lives in Germany said not once and not twice road e-bikes such as Specialized Creo were not popular in his country at all. One of the reasons was the 25 km/h speed restrictor making the assistance only useful against headwind or during the climbs.

The number of motors/systems handled by Trek is an absurd. Perhaps Fazua turned out to be a lemon? I agree with Tom on his points.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

I haven't seen any complaints about the Fazua. Apart from Trek/Fazua US owners on here where they seemed to have problem getting repairs/warrenty issues from Trek. The original one I mean, the Fazua 50? I think a big firmware update they did helped the motor a lot. It was/is on popular Boardman bikes here in UK and of course a number of bikes in Germany. Didn't see any complaints but I'm not a fazua owner so didn't look too hard.

I'm not sure about numbers of Creos in UK. There must be a lot, as Specialized is very popular and as a lot of the UK is pretty hilly maybe the cut off isn't such an issue, plus it's the same legal cutoff for all e bikes whether e bike motion, fazua or Specialized SL.. Unless you derestrict and I've no idea how widespread that is. I know where I live I very rarely exceed the cut off. But that could just be my completely pathetic fitness levels...

@jodi2 who lives in Germany said not once and not twice road e-bikes such as Specialized Creo were not popular in his country at all. One of the reasons was the 25 km/h speed restrictor making the assistance only useful against headwind or during the climbs.

The number of motors/systems handled by Trek is an absurd. Perhaps Fazua turned out to be a lemon? I agree with Tom on his points.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Road bikes are certainly very popular in the UK. I don't think Britons have anything against a little of assistance in their road bikes.
Jodi said that while traditional road bikes were popular in Germany, it was not the same about road e-bikes.

 

[kevinmccune]

i’m eager to ride a bike with the TQ motor. is it really quieter? does the overall system induce any drag when it’s off? does it have that effortless “you only faster” feel that specialized’s SL system does?

my personal interest would be to see how light one could make a bike with this thing. 8.6lb for battery and motor, someone should make a 24lb eBike with this thing! alternately, a bulletproof belt-drive rohfloff carbon gravel bike in the 28lb range. nothing like it on the market.

My question is, would one of these stand a crash? I sold the bike that put two holes in my right elbow and dang near it broke my left, other than scratches and scrapes I replaced the shifter and it was fine( the young Lady I sold it to loves it).

 

[mschwett]

My question is, would one of these stand a crash? I sold the bike that put two holes in my right elbow and dang near it broke my left, other than scratches and scrapes I replaced the shifter and it was fine( the young Lady I sold it to loves it).

crash worthiness is definitely not high on my list of bike qualities. i prefer to avoid crashing, so if the bike has features along those lines, great!

 

[Deacon Blues]

If I had to choose between an e-road bike that limited the motor power to 25kph or a really light analog bike I'd probably go with the light analog bike.
I live in Canada, where the motor cut off limit is 32kph. I wish it was higher, like in the US, but for 90% of my riding 32kph isn't a problem.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Road bikes are certainly very popular in the UK. I don't think Britons have anything against a little of assistance in their road bikes.
Jodi said that while traditional road bikes were popular in Germany, it was not the same about road e-bikes.

Here's a good story I've just read about the fazua motor being reliable on a big adventure!

Home to Rome E-Adventurer

Cairn E-Adventure rider Paul's ride from home to Rome.

www.cairncycles.com

 

[Deacon Blues]

With the Fazua motor does the rider still have to take the battery out each time he turns on the power?

 

[Rás Cnoic]

With the Fazua motor does the rider still have to take the battery out each time he turns on the power?

Good question. I don't know. I assume yes if it was the originally the case with the first Fazua 50 motor. I think in the new 60 one you can't remove the motor so perhaps that's changed as well. Here's a good comparison review of the TQ & the 60. It might mention that aspect:

 

[steveandbarb1]

Good question. I don't know. I assume yes if it was the originally the case with the first Fazua 50 motor. I think in the new 60 one you can't remove the motor so perhaps that's changed as well. Here's a good comparison review of the TQ & the 60. It might mention that aspect:

You don't need to remove the motor, least on my Alchemy. Un-click, rest battery on front tire. However taking out is easy, takes me 15 seconds. The new SW does not need opening/turned on, can leave it for days.

 

[Calcoaster]

Looks like Pinarello just joined the TQ motor club with road and gravel versions. That makes Trek, BMC, Scott and now Pinarello. I wonder what specialized has in mind to compete. Seems like they have to either join the club or put out a big upgrade to their motor.

NYTRO E ROAD | en | Pinarello USA

pinarello.com

 

[mschwett]

Looks like Pinarello just joined the TQ motor club with road and gravel versions. That makes Trek, BMC, Scott and now Pinarello. I wonder what specialized has in mind to compete. Seems like they have to either join the club or put out a big upgrade to their motor.

NYTRO E ROAD | en | Pinarello USA

pinarello.com

i'd bet on a new version of the SL motor in this coming cycle or the next.

 

[mschwett]

at 25lb with 2x DA, the nytro e9 has sweet specs. but OMG is it ugly.................................

 

[Deacon Blues]

I like the E7, in blue, but I suspect this bike will be expensive.

 

[Calcoaster]

i'd bet on a new version of the SL motor in this coming cycle or the next.

That would seem to be the best strategy to make their bike stand out from the rest. That’s assuming spec can best the TQ, which won’t be easy.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

And wouldn’t it be nice if it was compatible with the current Creos.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

And wouldn’t it be nice if it was compatible with the current Creos.

I only wonder if in the search of "the latest and greatest" we forget we have already got the greatest.
Connectivity of the TQ: Any information?
Reliability of the TQ: Any hard data?

 

[mschwett]

I only wonder if in the search of "the latest and greatest" we forget we have already got the greatest.
Connectivity of the TQ: Any information?
Reliability of the TQ: Any hard data?

of course only time will tell on the reliability.

as for connectivity, appears slightly better than specialized (and most others) with support for both ANT+ LEV and standard bluetooth protocols, rather than the proprietary-only bluetooth specialized is using. certainly no worse.

 

[Calcoaster]

Here’s a very thorough article on the TQ motor noise, complete with sound samples comparing to other bikes and graphs comparing them at different cadences.

https://blog.trekbikes.com/en/2022/07/12/fuel_exe_bicycle_acoustics/

 

[WillShootPhotos]

I only wonder if in the search of "the latest and greatest" we forget we have already got the greatest.
Connectivity of the TQ: Any information?
Reliability of the TQ: Any hard data?

Some fair questions - they crossed my mind before I plunked down my $$ for a TREK Domane+ SLR7 with the 2x Ultegra Di2 spec. The company - while new to the e-bike motor space (yes, some puns intended as their motors have been in space) - isn't new to motors in general: industrial robots, space, etc. Perhaps I'm the cockeyed optimist and feel that TREK (or whomever) will be able to address any issues if/when they arrive. I too have seen posts about the issues w/ the noise for some of the TREK MTB equipped bikes that use the TQ, but I know I'll not be bashing my rig around anywhere close to how I bash my MTB on the trails.

To some of the other questions I've seen in this thread.

- The sound has been really unobtrusive - there is a Creo (top spec, S-Works Turbo Creo SL, $14,500 list - almost 50% more than the list for my rig) that I've ridden with before I purchased and since, and it has a much more distinctive and noticeable whine to the motor. The TQ isn't dead quiet, but it is softer than the Creo.

- Programmability: Not sure how much you can configure the Creo, but I understand you can enable it and run from 10 -> 100 % boost by buttons on the handlebar. The TREK has 3 modes, of which I've monkeyed with the "eco" or first mode only. It has 3 parameters that you can adjust: Max Power, Assist, and Pedal Response. Max Power is how much (at most) the motor will assist, the Assist is the % of input power that the motor will provide (up to the max power); and Pedal Response is how emphatically (ramps in slowly, or full welly from the off) the power is engaged once the system gets some input that merits some power out. I'm 190 lbs (86 kg, 13.5 stone ) and I've set the Max Power to 110 W, the boost to 50%, and left the PR to where it was - one tick more than the lowest "gradual" setting. When I power on the bike, it tells me I've 6.5 hours of time left if I stay in that Eco mode. I've yet to do a full ride on that mode (I've done group rides where I kicked it up into "turbo" - the highest - for some long climbs and to drag the group towards the finish faster on a HOT day), knocked out 55 miles and still had battery left... So I'm pretty sure I could do 60-80 miles pretty comfortably with it just in my home tweaked "give him enough support to still work to stay with his friends" mode.

Happy to answer anything else if you've questions... I've about 170 miles in on the bike over 4 rides... loving it so far - it has be back up in the mix with my friends and not struggling to just watch them roll away (I'm dealing with some health concerns that have me unable to go as hard as I used to...)

- Will