Shimano realises that e-bikes exist at last!

[flecc]

This can only be good news for e-bikes in the long term. They're talking about hub gears and motors combined it seems, but anotheer urgent need is for a sprocket cassette system that fits on the larger hub motor spindles. Hopefully that will be realised eventually. Here's the story:

Shimano's e-bike market plans
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[Mussels]

We will do some action in a few years,” is what Taizo Shimano said

A step in the right direction but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Bigbee]

With Shimano already supplying a great many products to existing e-bike manufacturers they will be cautious of steppng on the toes of existing customers.Most e-bikes( and bikes in general ) appear to be Shimano fitted,especially at the low end of the market.IMHO,Mr Shimano Jr got himself geared( ) up in Germany to just say some thing with out any true time scale or belief.I guess if they ever produced the products of central motor,gearing and disc brakes in a combination package in the future they could head for World domination in the e-bike market?

 

[flecc]

I think once they get more interested and involved they'll wake up to the specific component needs of e-bikes, meaning they won't need to tread on toes with motor setups that aren't in their skill bank.

Immediate needs are a large spindle cassette system, a good range of stronger multi-sprocket freewheels, and wider sealed bottom bracket inserts to accommodate the crank drive add-on motors like the Cyclone and Sunstar.

Other itema needed are gear changers that incorporate a switch that can be set to cut out on one or two of the upper gears. Bikes with the Panasonic and Yamaha systems are currently undergeared because they must not power to over 15 mph, so the top gear has to be too low to realise that speed limitation. Having an electrical cutout on the upper gears would allow the limiting to operate after the gears that take the bike to 15 mph with reasonable cadences, leaving the uppermost gears ok for the rider to cycle beyond in comfort. That would meet the legal requirement while allowing the bike to have sensible gearing.

So there's enough there for Shimano to get busy without getting involved in motors.
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[Phil the drill]

Perhaps the first and easiest thing they could do is re-manufacture the recently dropped and much missed 11 -34t 7 speed freewheel cassette, still the best option for most hub motored ebikes IMHO. I scrounged one of the last of these and fitted it to my Wisper (I also lowered the chainring size to 42t). I shudder at the thought of being forced to go back to the inferior 14 -34t when my current cassette eventually wears out .
Phil

 

[flecc]

I agree Phil, that's number one and the easiest to do, but I also want to see a proper cassette system follow to get away from the inherently weak freewheels in future. That would give much more flexibility with sprocket teeth choices in future.
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[winterdog]

hmmm just wondering if a hub gear/drive was created , would it be driving through the gears ? hmmm. surely that would be the daddy drive

 

[flecc]

hmmm just wondering if a hub gear/drive was created , would it be driving through the gears ? hmmm. surely that would be the daddy drive

I'm sure that's the intention. SRAM have already combined their 5 speed hub with a twin motors setup in the SRAM Sparc of course, but they didn't route the motor drive through the gears, a missed opportunity. I doubt Shimano would make that same mistake.
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