New 2014 Panasonic Motor

martin@onbike

Official Trade Member
We recently took receipt of 2 pre-ordered KTM Amparo 8M RT bikes powered by the new Panasonic Motor.
These were ordered for a Gent with specific braking needs, so the Back pedal brake was just the ticket for him.
His Wife opted to have the same bike to simplify matters...and was pleased to have 2x Magura Rim brakes plus a coaster (which took a bit of getting used to)
They chose to have the 26" wheel variety, which only comes in Red (which we were unsure about to be honest, as bright coloured bikes can often look a tad Garish)-Luckily, they look much better in real life, with an understated "anodised" colouring.
They are powered by a 540 Wh Panasonic Battery (36v/15Ah), and have a great looking functional "I-pod" style removable display, and thumb button console on the handlebars.
Usual Panasonic 3 levels of assist- Low, Standard, High, plus a "No assist" similar to Bosch.
The motor is fairly quiet, with the usual pleasing whine that comes from a crank motor, and is very smooth under load, and has a soft enough start to feel comfortable, but not too sluggish for hill starts.
The biggest obvious difference is the lack of the notorious drive motor sprocket, as the chain is now driven from the Chainring (again, like Bosch) which is a sensible step in my opinion.
Great on our Hills, well equipped and comfortable to ride with the exceptional build quality that we've come to expect from KTM.
Would very much like to see a Derailleur option soon.....

P.S....Can't upload pics as they are too big apparently, so i've added dropbox links -hope they work as i'm rubbish at this sort of thing!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubql0d0gsut3dyl/Panasonic torque.PNG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fk5fc0ethgy8hii/photo(9).JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a0z2ewajt1mja2q/photo(3).JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/stel45sr6z86kj0/photo(2).JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nhsw4aghrolm1pv/photo(4).JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/djpil86ou7bz5nz/photo(6).JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/smg6q238y7fbjko/photo(5).JPG
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
It gets better all the time. How can you choose between Bosch and Panasonic now?

It seems that the Panasonic can strengthen your legs!
The Bosch PL and the Panasonic both give 60NM of torque in high/turbo mode, but the Bosch does it by multiplying your torque by 2.75, which means that you produce 22NM, while as the Panasonic does it by multiplying your torque by 1.6, so you'd be pedalling with 37NM. Hmmmm!
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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I agree getting rid of the motor drive sprocket has to be a good thing. This new one as shown in your photo is strangely somewhat reminiscent of Panasonic's earliest crank drive of very long ago as seen on this Cenci Mondia model:

Cenci, Mondia 2, Panasonic.jpg Cenci, Mondia 1, Panasonic.jpg
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,213
30,611
I've no idea Martin, I never saw one of these in the flesh. It looks as though the battery wasn't readily removable though, so it may have had the charger built in as well as was fashionable in those earlier days. That setup soon became unpopular which may have resulted in the less integrated next model. Weight also became an important factor then, customers disliking the weight of many earlier models, especially the SLA ones.