No love for the Fazua?

Ananda

Member
Jun 29, 2019
32
16
Athens
Wondering why there are is no much interest about emtb's using the fazua motor. They seem to be the ideal middle ground between the too much and the too little. Plus you can take the motor out!
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
13,808
20,499
Brittany, France
Before the latest update it felt a bit lacking on the performance front - they seem to have sorted that now.

It sounds great to take the motor out, people talk about it, but how many actually do it ?

Ultimately, it's a really nice idea and looks great on paper, just not sure how it stacks up against alternatives -weight wise for instance :

The Fazua system weighs 4.6 kg's with 250wh of battery.

The Mahle motor weighs 1.95 kg's and the 320wh battery another 1.8 kg's ..

The range extender battery for the SL weighs 1kg and gives another 160wh .

So an SL/Mahle type setup gives you 30% more battery for less weight - though you can't take the motor out.

Add in the extender and you have almost twice the battery capacity for only another 200g weight.

An e8000 is 2.8kg and a 500w external is 2650g , so together 5450. 950g more than a Fazua, but with double the battery capacity and a higher range of assistance from the motor.

Don't forget that with a Mahle and an e8000, the bottom bracket is all built in. On a Fazua bike that's all separate and is therefore more weight you have to add into your Fazua real world weight.

A Shimano EP8 is 2.6 kg's so your then only 750g more than a Fazua (excluding the Fazue bikes BB weight).

Once you look at some numbers, it doesn't leap out when you compare the positives to the negatives for many people.
 

flash

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Nov 24, 2018
1,050
986
Wamberal, NSW Australia
I have 2 Fazua bikes and two e8000 bikes. My eZesty will end up 4-5kg lighter than my Merida (18-19kg vs 22.8) and it does affect the ride. On a road or gravel bike it’s a no brainer as it’s so quiet and the cut off is perfect at 25 with no drag. I’m still setting up my eZesty but I think it’ll feel like close to trail on my e8000 when I have it set up but with less weight and a slimmer form factor.

It’ll be a great bike for improved fitness. It’ll be use when my girlfriend or my son are out riding with me (on e800 bikes). And at a pinch I can drop the motor and ride it as an accoustic (that’ll happen once only probably though).

A lot is made of the fact that it’s not hugely lighter than some full power systems but if you add that up with other components it still gets you a much lighter bike. My guess is that I’ll be at 18.4 kg with a Lyrik Ultimate and AXS X01 drive train. And 16kg if I want an accoustic. And it’s a much slimmer bike. Full power bikes are chunkier to accomodate the extra size and weight of a bigger motor and battery.

There’s a lot of love here for the Levo SL but I’m more than happy with my eZesty and Cairn 01. A bit more punch than the SL and a bit less battery (although it’s crazy efficient). But I have three batteries. The Fazua is also really really quiet, unlike the SL.

Gordon
 

cazrack

Member
Jul 5, 2020
22
3
Earth
Hi

I have a fs bosch gen 4 and rigid fazua.
Fazua setup battery/engine feels more suitable for a road/gravel bike and is perfect for commute or a bike for getting in shape on such surfaces.
 

Ananda

Member
Jun 29, 2019
32
16
Athens
Thank you all for your answers. It seems that fazua is more suitable if you want to go ballistic with saving weight on very high end machines and short rides. Or like cazrack said, on pure road / gravel rides.
 

TheBikePilot

🎥SHOOTER🎥
Patreon
Author
Oct 9, 2018
928
905
Clapham, London
After the Black Pepper it's pretty good, but the main problem is the range. It's about 60% of other bikes, and at about 3-2 bars the power really drops off. At 1 bar it's virtually nonexistant. The controller is pretty ugly also IMHO.

I think it would suit someone very fit who just wants to go further, and wants the option of removing battery/motor easily and convert to a more regular bike so for the French Bike Parks I'd say it's ideal. It's not a bike to ride with other eMTB's.

It's a good system that seems to fit road bikes better than eMTB where you are just looking to take the sting out of things and keep up with the club's peleton.

When you stack it against the other motors it's just OK, but the price doesn't really justify the performance gain on the bikes it's been fitted.
 

flash

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Nov 24, 2018
1,050
986
Wamberal, NSW Australia
Thank you all for your answers. It seems that fazua is more suitable if you want to go ballistic with saving weight on very high end machines and short rides. Or like cazrack said, on pure road / gravel rides.

I don't know about that. It's very much like the Levo SL and there's lots of people here with that bike. A bike under 20kg feels different to a heavier one and for those that spend little or no time in Turbo on a full power bike a SL or eZesty makes sense.

I have an eZesty and a Cairn 01 with the Fazua motor. Because you have so much control over how the motor is set up they don't even feel like they have the same motor fitted.

Gordon
 

Tooks

Well-known member
Subscriber
Mar 29, 2020
428
517
Lincs UK
I’ve had a road bike on loan for a day with the Fazua system, a Focus Paralane2, and I loved it.

I was able to ride it along the flat at above the assist limit, but I was up the hills at 15mph that were a chore on a normal bike.

I really want a Cairn similar to what @flash has, and will get an order in soon, I think a gravel bike could replace my e-mtb on a lot of the roads and tracks near where I live.

I’d really like an e-Zesty or similar, I wish I’d heard of the system when I got my Shimano based bike as I still enjoy riding non e-mtbs as well and one bike would cover both for me.
 

glovemtb77

Member
Aug 2, 2020
27
15
80228
>one big plus for Fazua is the customizable motor settings from a computer.

That is why I am looking at getting one.
You can do the same thing with Mission Control app on the Specialized Brose motors, and out on the trail but come on now $. I have not found an app to do it on any new Bosch motors which is kinda lame. (Esp since many years ago Bosch had an incredible app that was endlessly configurable. (I really only care about % assist at 0-100 in each mode & peak.) Love my E8000 with StUnlocker on it I have many times change my levels out on the trail for how my legs feel; sometimes up sometimes down lol. ?‍♂️??
Hey, does anyone know does Eplus software let you do customize mode assist levels on Bosch motors ?
 
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