Motor Restriction Kicks in Early - Any fix?

bigmoocanoe

New Member
Dec 11, 2022
1
0
United States
I have a new Norco Fluid A1 and really like it. However, for some reason the governor seems to kick in around 18mph and not 20mph as advertised. While that's not a huge difference, it's a little annoying because I often ride my regular mountain bike faster at times. Is there any way to do one of the following without impacting my warranty?

1) Update something in the software to eeek out that last couple of assisted miles per hour, not adding restrictions until 20mph.

2) Stop the governor from kicking in but without having the motor provide any additional help after 20mph.

It's strange to me how different motors and bike manufacturers handle the governor. For instance I rode a Specialized Turbo Levo Comp (Using the Bosch CX) and the engine stopped assisting at 20 but you could easily peddle beyond the top end of the motor, none of that laggy feeling. However, I rode two Treks and both of them were tuned more like my Specialized where there a pretty heavy governor once you hit the 20 mph mark. It seems to be a software thing to me.

Let me know, thanks.
Rob
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
13,771
20,455
Brittany, France
I have a new Norco Fluid A1 and really like it. However, for some reason the governor seems to kick in around 18mph and not 20mph as advertised. While that's not a huge difference, it's a little annoying because I often ride my regular mountain bike faster at times. Is there any way to do one of the following without impacting my warranty?
You could possibly use stunlocker to adjust the wheelsize to correct the speed difference.


Shimano can be quite fickle though at using any excuse to try and get out of honouring motor warranty issues though, so if they think you've used it (ie, you've told them or you've not set it back if you take the bike back with a problem) you could run into problems.

The easiest would be to just take it back to the shop and ask them to adjust the wheelsize setting to correct the anomaly.

For instance I rode a Specialized Turbo Levo Comp (Using the Bosch CX) and the engine stopped assisting at 20 but you could easily peddle beyond the top end of the motor, none of that laggy feeling. However, I rode two Treks and both of them were tuned more like my Specialized where there a pretty heavy governor once you hit the 20 mph mark. It seems to be a software thing to me.
I think you mean the Brose in the Specialized :)

None of the bikes should give any motor resistance above the assistance limit. If you're noticing a difference between bikes it's normally tyre types (more drag/weight).
 

GeorgesEBike

E*POWAH Master
Subscriber
Jul 30, 2018
195
349
Verdi, NV
The original EP8 in my SC Bulllit had no issues running up to 20mph but the replacement motor did not go past 18mph. Shimano themselves did the firmware update on the new motor. This is very noticeable. Pedaling my Brose motors past 20mph had a lot of drag. I can pedal my EP8 motor past 20pmh without too much effort.
 

SwampNut

Well-known member
Oct 26, 2022
272
337
Peoria, AZ USA
I wonder if there's some sort of calibration difference in how the motor and the display see speed? I just unlocked my EP8, with the restriction it reliably topped out at 19.3 MPH per the display. I haven't changed any settings from what the manufacturer sent me (before de-restricting it), and I have not closely checked it against GPS. In a quick check, GPS and the display seemed very close.
 

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