new Shimano power & Di2 tweaks (EP8/E6100)

Shimano EP8 and E6100 Power Tweaks

Shimano has tweaked the firmware in its family/cargo-specific bike motors that gives compliance with the DIN 79010 standard

In a nutshell: The tweak is better for heavy loads.

Techy Explanation: The cargo drive units reach their maximum output torque at much lower rider pedalling torque inputs

I’m not especially interested in cargo bikes on this site, however one detail of the announcement today did spike my curiosity a little bit. Shimano also has an internal Di2 hub gear option (which I didn’t know about) and that has a start mode that drops to your preferred starting geat when you, err, start. That’s quite clever but obviously won’t work on a Di2 derailleur.

Then there is the option of full auto shifting which automatically shifts gears based on an algorithm that determines the best gear for the pedal pressure (input torque) and speed. I remember years ago once writing that auto gear shifting would be a thing but then thought through what I was saying a bit more and decided it wasn’t easily possible or sensible…oh well, Shimano has done it, albeit only with electric bikes.

I was going to liven up this post with an image of a beautiful model but you get this…