# Assist settings on STEPS E8000



## lotusdriver (Sep 15, 2013)

l am having trouble finding a sweet spot with the assist settings on my STEPS E8000

l started with the bike as it came from the shop, in "Dynamic" (eco high, trail low, turbo high)

In this condition eco is almost all you need, and trail isn't much better if you want to climb faster.
Turbo is just mental and unusable really (except for climbing steep hills at the maximum assist speed!)

So l tried all three on medium

But then eco doesn't really cut it on steep climbs and trail delivery is too much.

Currently l have eco high, trail medium and boost medium but on the road "eco" is too fast, although l guess many would say it's an ebike so what do you expect?

What settings are others using with this motor?
l've also got the Stunlocker app and that allows infinite variations on the three power levels, but l've not tried it yet.

l wonder if anybody who has had their bike for a while, could tell me what settings they ended up at.

Maybe l still need to learn how to ride an ebike, as in how to get the most out of it, having ridden a regular MTB for six years/13,000 miles.


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## Varaxis (Mar 16, 2010)

Low, low, medium forgot BT passcode, ride 1+ year without updating it. XD

Even in low, eco mode is still mega powerful on anything I would ride on a regular bike.

Trail mode comes in handy on climbs that would kick my ass on a regular bike.

I found Boost mode to be hard to handle in high, as the bike would get away from me and sometimes pop the front wheel up if it hit any bump on a steep grade. When I first got the bike, it would continue accelerating for half a second even after I stopped pedaling.

I found Eco to be enough for at least 95% and Trail modes to be enough for the remaining 4.99% (e.g. 4x4 trails that go straight up hillsides). Boost reminds me of what Seth Bike Hacks said, that it scoots with nonsense pedaling. I reserve it for avoiding Hike-A-Bikes, when I need a lot of momentum in a short runway, to get up a section that has pedal strike risks.


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## lotusdriver (Sep 15, 2013)

Thanks for the reply.

That's interesting l have not tried both "eco" and "trail" in low.
ln fact l've not tried "eco" in low at all, l will give it a go.


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## Varaxis (Mar 16, 2010)

I haven't tried eco in anything but low, to be honest. The firmware didn't even allow anything but low in the past. The dynamic and explorer presets didn't make sense to me. I just went custom and opted for maxing out my range, and adapted to it.

Eco still easily fills the "assist gauge" to 50% on the display reading, unless the controller is stepping down power due to the speed cut-off. Maybe it's just because I always pedal hard. Can't tell if the torque sensor is working with it, since the ramp up to 50% seems like such a small zone. Just feels like a fixed amount of assist.

Trail feels like eco for the most part, but I can def tell that it uses the torque sensor to give Boost-like assist if I happen to be really mashing. Lets me be a bit lazier with shifting. Boost just outputs max power with minimal input (going fast with non-sense pedaling). Playing with the settings, going to med or high doesn't really increase the power, it just makes the max power come with less torque applied at the pedal from me. With it set to low, I can still feel a good amount of resistance/feedback from the tension in the chain to retain my habit of hammering hard.

I vastly prefer Eco since it retains more of the mtb experience. It feels okay when pedaling out of the saddle. I am still rewarded from strategizing gear shifts and planning my power output, though I tend to feel free experimenting with going all out and testing my limits, knowing I have extra bail-out at the flick of a switch. I can feel the drag from rear hub (e.g. draggy freewheel mech), from a gummy chain, or from a tight bearing though. Can understand the demand for lightweight and efficient emtbs, but I rather have a low-maintenance and reliable emtb even if it's heavy.


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

Many riders like me avoid max assist so just find what works for you in the 2 lower modes and use your transmission like a regular bike.
I forget about the assist with a minimalist display i just ride like any of my other bikes.


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## lotusdriver (Sep 15, 2013)

l think l've got it down now, Eco on high and Trail on medium 

Eco does for 90% of my ride and trail is used for steep climbs or if l want to keep up with someone l am riding with.

l've got Boost set to medium but have only ever used it once, just to see how fast l could get up a particular hill.

I got the KOM!! Well, Ebike KOM but l beat 45 other Ebike riders.

Not that it's the same sense of achievement as an ordinary bike but it's still a result.


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## ziscwg (May 18, 2007)

Once you get comfortable with the basic Shimano settings, you can try ST Unlocker. It allows more tweaking of torque and assist levels.

By the way, I run eco = high, trail = low, boost = low. Eco is most of the time and then trail when I want more torque. I have certain ST unlocker settings that I use for specific places I ride. One of these setting drops the torque to 60nm and 130% assist on boost. Trail is set to 55nm and 80% assist. These settings appear to give me more range. I did not really test this, but could go longer with these settings at this place I ride


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## lotusdriver (Sep 15, 2013)

Thank you, l also have eco on high and it is good for most of my rides.

However l found that with trail on low, there wasn't much difference (to high eco)

Maybe l need to put more effort in on "trail"
l will try it again on low.


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