Cowboy is rolling out a free over-the-air update to its single-speed, belt-driven e-bikes that promises to flatten steeper hills while also making its 250W rear-hub motor more efficient when the road levels out — no gear changes required.

Specifically, Cowboy says its AdaptivePower 2.0 update will help take riders up hills that are 50 percent steeper while saving 10 percent more power on flat roads. These improvements are compared to the company’s first-generation adaptive power tech that Cowboy launched just over a year ago, which automatically adjusts power delivery based on incline, headwind, or extra hauling weight. 

As Cowboy explains it, adaptive power relies on a proprietary (and once contested) algorithm that monitors the electrical output of the motor controller and the real-time data collected from the torque sensor. And as I recently wrote, a torque sensor without optimization on a single-speed e-bike is no joy to ride.

“This represents a new level of intelligence for all our e-bikes that already think for themselves,” says Tanguy Goretti, Cowboy’s cofounder and chief technology officer. “Thanks to connectivity and over-the-air updates, even a three-year-old Cowboy model will now have a better ride feel than when it left the production line.” 

The software update will be released to existing Classic, Cruiser, and Cross e-bike owners “in the coming days” and will ship standard on all new Cowboy e-bikes starting today.