Hey, what's up?
This is Mikey at Blue Monkey Bicycles and in this video we're going to take a look at
the YAMAHA PW-X motor!
Alright, so it should go without saying, but... here it is anyway:
The motor disassembly for this particular motor was done by an electrical professional
in a controlled environment.
Even the external warranty work for an electric bike motor that you have is not user serviceable
and should be done by a competent professional, such as the place you got the bike from in
the first place.
Any kind of tampering with the motor will void the warranty, it very well could destroy
the entire system, and you could even risk personal injury while doing it.
So...
Anyways, now that that's out of the way let's actually get to it!
♪Jazzy Intro♪
If you didn't know, YAMAHA has been making electric bicycles for quite a long time overseas,
but it wasn't until recently that they came to the US market.
First they were doing just electric systems (motors, batteries, displays...) and they
were letting other bike companies use the entire system to put on their bikes.
As of this year (2018) YAMAHA is coming out with 4 electric bikes all of their own, top
to bottom complete YAMAHA bicycles.
Right now they got 4 but who know what they're going to come out with in the future?
There are a couple clues...
Any plans for a dual-suspension?
Uh... so... uh...
I love- What was that question again?
So yeah, tell me about the dual suspension bike!
So the dual- uh..
Uh.. so the CrossCore over here!
Anyways, back to the motors: Up until now we have been using the YAMAHA
PW motor, which is super awesome!
I like it a lot.
I've personally put a lot of miles on it, including a range test to see how far it will
go, up in the mountain trails, using it as a commuter, it's a really good system.
But, none-the-less, YAMAHA was really anxious to get feedback from customers, from shops,
from... maybe even Ellen Degeneres?
I don't know exactly on that one... but it wouldn't surprise me.
Anyways, with the feedback from the PW motor they did a lot of upgrades that wound up in
the PW-X motor and also the PW-SE motor (I actually don't have one of those in hand).
There's lots of upgrades coming to both the SE and the PW-X motor and they include the
following:
A smaller more durable display (which is a good move!)
Bluetooth Connectivity Motor support up to 110rpms
Anti corrosion coating A special one-way ventilation port that keeps
the motor cool, and protected from wet conditions A one-way clutch design in the spindel
An auto re-calibrating torque sensor (that way the spring fatigue doesn't effect the
motor engagement sensitivity) And many more software tweaks from their in-house
motherboard programming And from what I can gather on this particular
bike of theirs it looks like there is an internal wiring for the headlights and tail lights.
Let's get to the heart of the matter which is the PW-X motor.
It includes all those previous features and a lot more!
As a standard it is a 250w motor that is capable of 500w bursts, rocking a 36v battery and
goes up to a 20mph top speed.
Like most production mid-drives that you see on the market today.
What makes it special is the little nuances that will add up into a very natural biking
feeling (according to YAMAHA).
From a specs standpoint the PW-X is super dope anyways!
The PW-X packs a wallop with 80nm of torque, a maximum assist output of 320%, and it keeps
going up to 120rpms.
The display mounted on the side of stem is tucked away out of trouble and you can decide
where the perfect place is as it can be installed on the left, the right, behind or in front
of the handlebars.
The PW-X system has 5 levels of pedal assist: ECO+
ECO S...
STD...?
HIGH and EXPW And that one goes up to 320% output
by the way.
And you can get YAMAHA Power Assist Bicycles by shopping at Blue Monkey Bicycles .com including
the YDX-TORC model which has the PW-X system.
More information comping soon as to the particulars, but yeah... don't forget we have bikes on
our site.
Anyways, moving on.
OK!
Mechanical Spec time!
The spindle length is 135mm and the motor itself weighs in at 3.1kg.
The PW-X is lighter than some of its competition, and the physical dimensions are 220mm long,
155mm tall and 80mm wide (not including the spindle on that one).
It also has a faster ratcheting pedal engagement, machined holes on some of the alloy gears
and composite gears to decrease weight and keep durability.
The swing out battery mounts on the downtube and has an integrated lock into the frame
instead of the battery.
It's kind of a small detail but it is kind of nice in case you have a second battery
or you want to switch batteries; you don't have to worry about getting a different key
for a different battery.
You just got one key for the bike, and that's it.
Also!
There are two battery packs sizes from YAMAHA: there is the 400wh pack and the 500wh pack.
As to which one you'll get with which bike it really just depends, but more often than
not if you get a really cool bike with the really cool system; you're probably going
to have the really cool, larger, 500wh battery pack.
So yeah, be aware of that.
Now, we're getting a little deep here but not all of the YAMAHA systems (even the PW-X)
are going to have the same features and feel the same way on different bicycles from different
companies.
The reason for that is that: Bicycle Company A (let's say) might have the ECO+ setting
set for (I dunno, like) 70% output, whereas bicycle company B (using that same YAMAHA
system) might have ECO+ set for 80% output.
Even those two bikes, using the two systems could have it customized a little differently
to fit the rest of the electric bike line-up or to make a mission specific bike or something
like that.
For example, I've ridden dozens of different electric bikes with the YAMAHA PW system and
each time it feels a little bit different, but it's a great performer in its class.
One of my favorites with that system is the Easy Motion REBEL 27.5 Lite.
That bike is a lot of fun on the road, but off-road it really shines!
It's got great balance, gets up to speed really quickly and yeah!
That bike is very nimble, lots and lots of fun!
I can't wait for the PW-X version to come out, 'cause that's going to be dope!
Big thanks to Yamaha Power Assist Bicycle for providing the PW-X motor that we used
to illustrate in this video.
I'll actually be testing the PW-X motor in the very near future, and at that time I'll
be able to give you my report on how it feels, and any other features that I'm able to notice
once I actually get rubber to the road and see what it feels like.
In an upcoming video segment we'll be comparing the PW-X to a bunch of other motors in its
class.
Such as: The Shimano e8000, the Brose S, and a head-to-head rematch between the YAMAHA
PW-X and the Bosch CX motor.
Stay tuned to the channel 'cause lots of fun stuff is coming up!