So there’s now a British electric bike? Well, yes and no, but mostly no. To explain how and why this has come about, we need to blow some dust off the corporate history books.

Raleigh is (or was) a big British bicycle manufacturer that helped to keep the wheels of the British Empire turning for over half a century. It had divisions all over the world, one of the last being established in Germany in 1974. But by the 1980s, the company seemed to have lost its way, like so much of British industry, and it was sold by British multinational Tube Investments to the giant Derby Corporation of America.

This arrangement seems to have worked quite well, and the company even launched some innovations, such as the Select electric bike, produced with Sanyo in 1998. This was one of the first machines of its kind, but it was slow, with limited range, and at £1,000, it was too expensive. This glorious flop lead Raleigh to retreat from electric bikes altogether, and concentrate on MTBs and BMX bikes, the only serious money-spinners in the fickle UK market. As it turned out, they had missed a big opportunity.

Back in 1988, Derby had absorbed a small, near bankrupt German manufacturer called Kalkhoff, ultimately turning it around as Derby Cycles Werke or DCW, trading under the Kalkhoff and Raleigh brands in Germany. DCW seems to have been bursting with ideas, one of which was to pair the excellent Panasonic crank-drive power unit with some decent equipment and a quality roadster frame… this was the Kalkhoff Agattu, now also badged as the Raleigh Dover. By this time in the early years of the new millennium, the wonderful, but commercially unsuccessful Giant Lafree had been and gone, leaving the Agattu to slip quietly into its shoes. A classic had been born.

Bikes like the Agattu helped to kick-start an explosion in European electric bike sales and the Kalkhoff brand was cannily picked up by 50 Cycles in the UK. Having thrown away a lead of nearly a decade, Raleigh UK was blundering around looking for an electric bike partner, and in late 2006 it settled on a marketing arrangement with Powabyke.This was rather bad news, as Powabyke was still producing stodgy lead-acid electric bikes. So for a while, a customer walking into a UK Raleigh dealership would be pointed towards the agricultural Powabyke Shopper, while Herr Schmidt would be offered the svelte, sophisticated Raleigh-badged Kalkhoff. The collaboration did result in the Powabyke X-bike, which put a Powabyke motor in a light Raleigh frame, but it soon dawned on Raleigh UK that it was stuck with the tractors of the E-bike world, while its smarter, more innovative German cousin had control of the Bentley, or of course the Mercedes, as we must now call it, Rolls-Royce having gone the way of the best of British industry.

In 2007, Derby Corporation decided to concentrate on its core markets, selling the German DCW to an investment bank, so it’s now nominally a separate entity, but the Managing Director is still a Raleigh shareholder, and the company is still licensed to use the Raleigh brand in Germany. Confused? We quite understand.

Two years later, Powabyke went into administration (it was bought for a million pounds in October 2009 by Metroelectric PLC) and the hiatus gave Raleigh UK the excuse it needed to escape from the tie-in deal, and go for the much better German bike that already carried a Raleigh badge. A brash young team was assembled with a brief to get a Raleigh UK badge on DCW’s Agattu and set up a UK dealer network.

Yes, it’s a complicated story, but the upshot is that Raleigh has finally got the electric bike it deserves, and – crucially to this global player – it’s better than the eBikes marketed by Giant, Trek and the other big brands. More by luck than judgement, Raleigh has acquired the rights to an extremely good machine.

The Raleigh Dover

The Raleigh Dover As we gave the Agattu a good going over in A to B 63 back in January 2008, we’ll stick to the differences here, although there aren’t many. Kalkhoff was already selling the Agattu as the Raleigh Dover in Germany (embarrassingly, the German Raleigh bikes seem to be named after cities knocked about by the Luftwaffe), so it was a simple matter to bring the bike to the UK. If you’re looking to buy one, it’s almost identical to the Kalkhoff Agattu, but interestingly – and perhaps surprisingly – the Raleigh version costs £1,795, against £1,595£1,645 for the Kalkhoff, a premium of £150-£200. On the positive side, of course, you are paying for the reassurance of a big, well-trained, dealer network and a name that almost everyone will recognise. Mind you, the Agattu is one of the most reliable electric bikes around, so the dealers will – hopefully – have little to do. Meanwhile, the ever-canny 50 Cycles has wasted no time in adding ‘Like the Raleigh Dover’ to its advertising material.

Equipment is almost identical. In 2008, the Agattu was fitted with B&M Lumotec Senso lights, a skirt guard, Post Moderne sprung seat pillar and sprung front forks. Sadly, the frame lock and skirtguard have disappeared from the 2010 bikes, but the rest of the equipment remains as good as ever, with an upgrade from a 7- to an 8-speed Shimano hub. The only differences on the Raleigh are Schwalbe Advancer tyres in place of the Continental City Rides on the Kalkhoff, and a plain rather than sprung seat post.

Our Raleigh test bike feels much sprightlier than the 2008 Agattu, but that’s probably because the Agattu and Raleigh now share the sporty Pro-Connect’s 1:1.5 assistance ratio on the ‘High’ setting. It also feels ‘peakier’, meaning there’s less power when pedalling slowly, and progressively more as pedal cadence rises. This may be part of the same changes, or it may be some subtle reconfiguration for the UK, which Raleigh has hinted at. Either way, it feels annoying at first if you’re used to older bikes, but you soon get the hang of changing down sooner on hills and avoiding slogging along in a high gear. The general feeling is of a much sportier and livelier bike, and this is confirmed on our ten-mile test ride which the Raleigh knocks off in 33 minutes 15 seconds – nearly four minutes faster than the 2008 Agattu, and 45 seconds faster than the Pro-Connect.

It feels livelier on the road too, partly because of quick, light steering, but no doubt too because it’s quite light for a well-equipped electric: 21.6kg for the bike, plus 2.4kg for the battery. In reality, the speed is something of an illusion, because like all Panasonic-powered bikes the gearing is kept deliberately low to limit the maximum speed. Compared to the 7speed we tried back in 2008, first is much lower at 27.3″ (helpful for getting you home with a flat battery), and top is slightly higher at 83″ (previously 80″). That’s a touch low, but not low enough for your legs to become a frenzied blur at the maximum assisted speed of 16.6mph.

As regular readers will know, the top speed of crank-drive bikes is usually factory set by fitting a sprocket large enough for the motor to run out of steam at the legal speed limit, so if you like to go slower and/or climb steeper hills, you can easily re-gear it. Conversely, a smaller sprocket will make the bike go faster, which is technically illegal, but we think the police have better things to do with their time. As long as you don’t go mad, of course.

Back in 2008, our Kalkhoff Agattu had a range of 26.7 miles at 13.7mph on High, and the lighter, lustier Pro-Connect managed 31.5 miles at an average of 14.7mph. Today’s Raleigh (and, again, this probably applies to the 2010 Kalkhoff Agattu as well) achieved a median 28.4 miles, but with its higher gearing and peakier power output, average speed was a cracking 15.3mph. So the new bikes are faster and more economic than the 2008 Agattu, and a little faster or more economical than the older Pro-Connect. And all this is on full power. From experience, we’d say that 28.4 miles would equate to at least 31 miles on Normal power, and perhaps as much as 50 miles on Low.

Fuel consumption comes out at 10.9Wh/mile, and again, that’s more or less par for the course against the Kalkhoffs, and a very low figure for such a high average speed.

According to Jane, who knows the Giant Lafree well, the Raleigh/Kalkhoff has a more upright seat tube, which combined with bigger 28-inch wheels, and a relatively high bottom bracket, makes it impossible to get a straight leg riding position, and put a foot down comfortably at the lights. This does seem to be an issue with these big European bikes, and putting the saddle right back is only a partial answer. For now, Raleigh will only be importing the small 45cm (step-thru) and 53cm (diamond) frames, but if you really need something bigger (very unlikely) you can buy the Kalkhoff version.

Running Costs

One advantage of the widespread adoption of the Panasonic crank-drive is that quite a list of bicycles are now fitted with identical batteries, so if you’re in the market for a replacement, you can shop around. The primary brands in the UK at the time of writing are Emotion, Kalkhoff, Kettler, Monark and Raleigh. Raleigh admits it isn’t the cheapest for batteries and other spares, but there’s no obligation to buy from a Raleigh Ebike dealer. Like all other Panasonic bikes, the battery guarantee is two years, something that is gradually being adopted as an industry standard.

As far as we know (do tell us if we’re wrong) 50 Cycles is currently the cheapest for batteries, but be prepared for a shock, because it now costs £400. This is effectively the only running cost, but no one can yet say for sure how long the batteries will last. Pessimistically, we assume failure the day after the guarantee runs out, and on that basis, the Raleigh will cost 10.7p per mile to run. That’s better than average, helped by the high mileage per charge.

Conclusion

Watch out gents, the Raleigh is a big hit with the ladies. One who happened to be passing fell in love with it, Jane decided it was the first electric bike she would consider to replace the venerable Lafree, and Teresa already has a Kalkhoff… We ended up doing more mileage with the Raleigh Dover than anything since the Giant Lafree.

Where the Dover/Agattu really succeeds (particularly with the extra oomph in High power) is that it does the business for most of the people most of the time. It’s a big, elegant town bike, but it’s also fast enough to eat up the miles on cross country rides, and economical enough to go a long way. It has a low bottom gear to tackle Cornish/Yorkshire/Cumbrian gradients, and a high enough top to nip smartly across the big landscapes of East Anglia. The equipment is good enough for all-weather, all-year-round use, but the bike is still one of the lightest in its class.

All design involves compromise, and there are compromises here aplenty, but the Dover has few obvious weaknesses.You have to be a bit careful with gear changes, and without labouring the point, there remains a question mark over battery life and running costs, but for our money this machine really does continue to redefine the bicycle. The Kalkhoff Agattu is almost identical and cheaper, the E-Motion is a touch more efficient but limited by its gear options, and so on. But there remains a degree of loyalty to that Raleigh badge, despite the fact that there’s no British content.We think it will be a hit.

Specifications

Raleigh Dover £1,795 . Weight Bicycle 21.6kg Battery 2.4kg Total 24kg (53lbs) . Battery Li-Ion . Capacity 270Wh . Replacement £400 . Range 28.4 miles . Gear Ratios 26″-79″ Full Charge 6 hours . Overall Consumption 10.9Wh/mile . Running Costs 10.7p/mile Importer Raleigh www.raleighebike.co.uk info@raleigh.org.uk T 01773 532680

A to B 79 – Aug 2010

The E-motion is made by B H Bikes in Spain, or more accurately Bicicletas de Alava S.A. Now, we’d never heard of B H, which might be because they’ve yet to make much of a mark in the UK, and they specialise in racy machines.We’re talking skin-tight Lycra and shaven legs here. Dead serious.

However, the company does also produce a few city and commuter bikes, with names like Cambridge and London, and has recently adapted a few of its frames to accept the Panasonic power-assist system, now fitted to city bikes in almost every European country except, er, the UK.Well, we did have a word with Raleigh at last year’s London show, but no doubt they know best.

Once you’ve seen one power-assisted European city bike, you’ve seen them all, or so you might think, but with B H being something of a sporty brand, these are a bit different. As far as we know, these are the first mass-produced crank-drive machines to use a conventional derailleur, and as well as the step-thru and top-tube models one might expect, there’s also an aluminium/carbon fibre sports job weighing a claimed 16.8kg.

You might, at this moment, be thinking that power-assist on a lightweight sports bike would be at best a bit of a contradiction and at worst a travesty, act of vandalism, appalling desecration of this temple to human endurance, and so forth, depending on your strength of feeling. It does seem a bit odd, but there are several of reasons why you might want a bike like this.

The bikes that work best with power-assistance are generally the ones that work best, full stop. So if you want to go a long way at a decent speed, you’re much better off starting with a good European racing bike than a crummy Far Eastern excuse for a bicycle. And then, you might just want to show off, striding into work in your skin-tight Lycra with freshly waxed legs, but absolutely no sweat, demonstrating your remarkable virility.We make no moral judgements on how one might use the bike, merely that it is available for those who want such a thing.

If this bike was fitted with a hub motor, we would also say that the power was merely an add-on for hills, giving assistance up to 15mph, and allowing you to sail off at racing speed on the flat or – more pessimistically – the downhill bits. But the E-motion Sport has a crank drive, so the pedals are geared low enough not to exceed that speed by very much. They’ve ‘detuned’ it thus by fitting a relatively large 13-tooth top gear sprocket, although anyone with a modest technical knowledge will be to fit an 11-tooth sprocket in less than 10 minutes, making the bike much nicer and more practical to ride, yet still barely exceeding the increasingly ludicrous 15mph speed limit.

Obviously you all want to hear about this carbon fibre job, so perversely we’re testing one of the sensible commuter bikes, because we do so love practical machines. The range starts with the City 650 in either step-thru or top tube options, both with 7-speed derailleur and a relatively small 208Wh battery. Next up is the similar City 700 with 8-speed derailleur, followed by the 700 Deluxe, with 8-speed Shimano Sora gears, a better saddle, improved gear shifters, wheel lock, suspension seatpost, alloy pedals, front suspension lock-out, skirtguard on the step-thru and other tiddly differences. The important one is a larger 260Wh battery (as fitted to the Kalkhoff et al).This larger battery is also available as a £65 option on the cheaper bikes, and we’d say ‘buy it’. Our general advice is always to choose a battery capable of twice your normal daily range if possible. A big battery will have an easier life and last longer, and give you a little something in reserve for that deviation to Tescos, longer holiday trips and so on.

All the ‘sensible’ bikes in the range offer battery-powered lights of various kinds, a rack, and full mudguards, but there’s also a broadly similar ‘Cross’ version (you will be when it rains) bereft of all the useful bits, but with nicer gears.At the top end, the Sport models have flat-spoke wheels, Shimano Tiagra gears and carbon forks, plus drop handlebars on the Deluxe variant, which might be a first on an electric bike.All variants sold in the UK come with a Mach 1 speedometer.This is a basic device, without Ride Time or Average Speed, but fitting it is a really nice touch that we’d like to see repeated elsewhere.

Prices are comparatively modest.The 650 or Cross cost £1,350, which is only a shade more than the basic Panasonicdrive 3-speed Monark Eco, or somewhat inferior Giant Express or Ezee Torq.The 700 costs £1,400, and the 700 Deluxe £1,550, undercutting the Kalkhoff Agattu, mid-range Giant models, Kettler, Gepida and – most importantly of all – the Kalkhoff Pro-Connect.The Sport comes in at £1,650, or £1,800, which sounds a lot, but it’s some £500-£600 cheaper than the similar (but allegedly unrestricted) Kalkhoff Pro-Connect. Is this all too good to be true? We’ve tested the £1,550 City 700 Deluxe to find out.

On the Road

The 700 Deluxe is the first electric bike we’ve tested for a while to attract favourable comment from friends, relatives and passers by.We often hear phrases like ‘How useful’, ‘Goodness that’s practical’, or ‘How much?’, but the E-motion had everyone drooling. Like most of the 2009 bikes, it comes in either white or black (fortunately ours was the latter) and it looks and feels like a normal, if slightly heavy, sporty hybrid with some unusual echoes of the 1930s in the handlebars, and frame graphics that wouldn’t look out of place on a BMX.

This model has a suspended seat post, which feels slightly at odds with the sporty nature, and front suspension forks, but these can be locked out on the right sort of road surface, generally sharpening things up. For our money – unless the daily commute involved tracks or city potholes – we’d go for plain forks and a lighter bike, and keep a few quid safe in the bank (well, maybe not).The suspension is the main reason that the E-motion 700 Deluxe weighs 23.3kg, which is a respectable weight, but 2.3kg more than the rigid, but otherwise very similar, Kalkhoff Pro-connect. A definite disadvantage.

Power-assist is the now widely fitted Panasonic crank-drive, but in this case, almost uniquely, power gets to the back wheel via a conventional derailleur rather than hub gears.We were a bit concerned about this at first, but there’s no technical reason why a derailleur shouldn’t be able to handle the extra torque, which is no greater than a serious athlete or a spirited couple on a tandem might produce.All the same, a little bit of extra care is needed when shifting, especially changing up, or at low speed.With High power selected, the change is smoother if you relax pedal pressure briefly when changing gear. Because the motor takes a fraction of a second to disengage, there is still plenty of power there to effect the change, but without any nasty noises, which can happen if you’re standing on the pedals. In the lower settings, or with power-assist turned off, change gear as normal.

Gearing is everything with these crank-drive bikes. As standard, the E-motion bikes come with a 14-28 tooth gear cassette, giving an overall gear range of approximately 41″ 81″ (or just 38″ – 76″ with the 650, which has smaller 26-inch wheels).Without power, 41″ would be ludicrously high for hill-climbing, but power-assist makes this sort of gear viable, if a bit marginal if you live somewhere hilly.Top speed is a shade over 15mph, and that’s all you’re allowed.

Range is certainly something to write home about.As a rule, these Panasonic-driven bikes manage somewhere between 25 and 30 miles depending on gearing, rolling resistance, weight, and so on. Following the same hilly course we ride with all the electric bikes, the E-motion achieved an unprecedented 35.6 miles at an average of 14.2mph in High. In the default Medium setting, the bike ran for 38.2 miles at 13.6mph, not the fastest ride, but a considerable mileage. Both those results are a shade slower than its nearest rival, the Kalkhoff Pro-Connect, but four to five miles greater range.With this standard 41″ bottom gear, the bike restarted on a 1:6 hill, but only just, and a weak rider might well have been defeated.The 81″ top gear is high enough to give assistance up to 15mph, but the general feel is a bit uninspiring. On the positive side, the range in the Low power setting will be quite substantial – certainly in excess of 50 miles.

Our bike also came with an alternative set of cogs, although the distributors are at pains to point out that they wouldn’t dream of suggesting this as a road-going alternative, and what the customer does with it is entirely up to them.An 11-30 tooth cassette hardly sets the world alight, but it widens the E-motion’s gear range to 38″-104″, improving the bike across the board.Top assisted speed on the flat increases to 17mph, but as we’ve made clear on numerous occasions, these are not powerful motors, and typical assisted speed will be closer to 15mph, so the illegality issue is a purely technical one.

With these alternative cogs, the bike feels much more capable, with a reserve for climbing hills, and a tall enough top gear to pedal in comfort up to about 22mph when conditions allow. In High, range is cut to 28.2 miles, but speed bounces up to 15.3mph, so in this trim, the E-motion is faster than the Kalkhoff, but with slightly inferior range. Swings and roundabouts, unfortunately. In the Medium setting, range is 31.7 miles at 14.1mph, and perhaps a little over 40 miles in Low, which isn’t a huge scary penalty. With the lower first gear, restarting on the 1:6 hill is fairly easy in High, but in the lower power settings, you really need that first gear to get up the hills.

On our standard 10mile commuter run, the regeared E-motion made the fastest run of any crank-drive, with a speed of 32 minutes, some two minutes ahead of the Gepida and Kalkhoff ProConnect. Our advice is definitely to go for the wider gear range.The higher speed helps the bike tackle the ups in those annoying short, sharp ups and downs, and if you want economy you can still get it by using a lower power setting, or turning the power off altogether in top gear.

Power consumption is 8.18.7Wh/mile with the 14-28 tooth sprockets, or 9.8-11Wh/mile with the 1130 tooth which is definitely state-of-the-art, and jolly good, considering the high average speed. Interestingly, we were expecting to see a clear advantage over the hub-geared Kalkhoff bikes, but this wasn’t really the case.The E-motion is faster and more economical than the slightly frumpy Agattu, but more or less on a par with the sportier Pro-Connect.As derailleur gears are measurably a shade more efficient than hub gears, we can only assume that the Pro-Connect’s excellent Continental Contact tyres offer slightly lower rolling resistance than the Schwalbe Energizers fitted to the E-motion. In any event, the difference amounts to no more than a percentage point or two. Incidentally, the Schwalbes punctured twice within a few miles after taking whacking great thorns in the sidewall, whereas the Continentals didn’t puncture at all for the period we had the Pro-Connect. That might mean everything or nothing.

Charging and Running Costs

Charging is exactly the same as for any other Panasonic-powered machine.A full charge takes around 51 /2 hours, and the charger is a bit bulky (although much smaller than the Yamaha device). Running costs are kept low by the two-year battery guarantee and the high mileage per charge, but hindered by the £395 battery replacement cost, and we won’t see that come down until the pound perks up.We estimate running costs of 10.8p on the default Medium power setting, rising to 11.1p in High.As ever, our figures rather pessimistically assume the battery will need replacing the moment the warranty expires.

Incidentally, all the Panasonic batteries are interchangeable, so if you own any of these bikes, feel free to shop around for the best battery deal.The other money-saving option is the smaller battery fitted to the cheaper E-motion variants.This 208Wh battery costs £350 to replace, but it offers at least 20% less range than the big ‘un, and may need replacing more often, so the relatively small price differential suggests that the smaller battery would be a false economy, unless you make short trips at low speed.

Conclusion

Unusually, this is quite an easy one to sum up.The E-motion has lots of potential competitors, but the primary one is the Kalkhoff.The E-motion has a clear advantage in terms of price, and the only other real question is whether you prefer hub gears or derailleurs.The Kalkhof’s hub gears are much the best option in town, and changing the overall ratios is easy and cheap by swapping a single rear sprocket.You can make big changes too – very low gears for exceptionally hilly areas, or very high ones for the Norfolk polders.

The E-motion’s derailleur gears provide slightly closer ratios and an arguable efficiency boost, but they can be a nuisance in traffic, and although the sprockets can be mixed-andmatched to produce a custom gear set, the upper and lower limits are strictly fixed. On a normal bike the chainring (or rings) could be swapped, but with the Panasonic crank-drive, this component is not changeable, so your options are constricted by the biggest and smallest rear cogs offered by Shimano: a big 34-tooth or thereabouts to get you up steep hills, and a small 11-tooth for easy cruising in top. So in very hilly, or very flat areas, the Emotion is not quite as flexible, and probably isn’t suitable for hills in excess of 1:6, unless you are quite a spirited rider, in which case it will be fine.

Taking all this into account, it really has be a draw. Competition is a good thing, and the Kalkhoff now has a worthy adversary.

E-motion 700 Deluxe Specifications

E-motion 700 Deluxe £1,550 . Weight Bike 20.9kg Battery 2.4kg Total 23.3kg (51lbs) Gears 8-speed Shimano derailleur . Gear Ratios (Standard) 41″ – 81″ (Alternative) 38″ – 104″ Battery Lithium-Ion . Nominal Capacity 270Watt/hours . Replacement Cost £395 Range (Standard Gearing) 38 miles . Full Charge 51/2 Hours . Overall Consumption 8.1-11Wh/mile Overall Running Costs 10.8-11.1p/mile . UK Importer OnBike www.onbike.co.uk tel 01299 251514 info@onbike.co.uk

A to B 72 – July 2009

Not long ago,crank-motors looked like an endangered species,but suddenly the Panasonic drive is everywhere,doing rather well against more powerful machines on the race track,yet very much a favourite on city bikes too.It’s that flexibility that makes a crank drive so useful.The last three electric bikes we’ve tried have been crank drives,and all have used the same Panasonic Li-ion system.It’s now by far the most popular crank drive system worldwide,and is possibly unique in having a two-year battery guarantee. After the various Li-ion battery problems of the last few months, that’s quite reassuring. The latest machine to reach our doorstep is the Monark Eco.It’s unlikely you will have a Monark in your shed,because they are rare in the UK,but in Sweden the name is synonymous with cycling,rather as Raleigh used to be here. Actually, Monark is more like Pashley, because it produces the Swedish post bike and numerous other practical load-carriers. Raleigh,of course,is run by corpulent suits importing Chinese MTBs,whereas Monark (now part of the Cycleurope group) actually makesthings. With Chinese manufacturing becoming increasingly expensive in terms of wage rates and shipping,the manufacturing ball will soon be very much back in the European court…Bad news for the UK,of course,because we’ve wiped out our industry,but mainland Europe is doing well,and that’s why electric bikes are flooding into a hungry UK market from Holland, Germany,and now Sweden.

Monark bikes are typical North European machines;practical,slightly frumpy,and equipped with back-pedal brakes,wide puncture-resistant tyres and very few gears.The Eco is no exception.It has a one-size step-thru alloy frame,Panasonic powerassist,3-speed Nexus hub gear,and a chunky rack for carrying your girlfriend home from the va?a?rdshus after a few jolly fa?a?rsko?o?ls.

The Monark Eco

On the road,the Monark feels somewhere between the solid and meticulously equipped Gazelle,and the lighter,sportier Kalkhoff.The machine weighs 24.6kg,only 10% of which is accounted for by the tiny Li-ion battery.That’s average for a crank-drive bike – it’s heavier than the Kalkhoff Pro Connect,but lighter than the Gazelle or Kalkhoff Agattu.The 1.9-inch tyres give an unstoppable steam roller impression and roll pretty well, provided they’re pumped up hard enough.If the tyre pressures are low (they’re rated 4065psi) the rolling resistance can rise appreciably and the handling becomes a bit wayward, made worse by some flex in the very low step-thru frame.Even at higher pressures,the Eco has a tendency to wag its tail above 30mph,but,let’s face it,that’s not a speed you’re likely to encounter on a city bike of this kind.

The three-speed Nexus is simple,light, cheap and easy to adjust;a transmission design classic in other words.Three gears and a range of less than 200% is perfectly adequate on an electric bike,even somewhere quite hilly,but the gears are a bit widely spaced for the Panasonic motor, which prefers to buzz along at a fairly constant speed.In a flat city this will matter not one jot, but in Cumbria,the Eco would struggle a bit on awkward climbs.

Monark uses this hub quite widely on its conventional bikes,but we’re a bit concerned about its longevity on a crank-driven electric machine,which produces the sort of torque you’d expect from a tandem.And as the motor can be a little slow coming off the power when changing gear,you do have to change rather slowly and precisely to avoid grunts and bangs from the hub.This sort of thing is OK once in a while,but do it too often,and the hub will fail relatively quickly,a fate that befell some Giant Lafrees.

Generally speaking though,it’s a practical and pleasant machine to ride,the simple hub gears and powerful motor making mincemeat of city traffic queues.Even out on the open road,the Monark nips along pretty well,although the narrow gear range does limit the top speed and climbing ability.Despite the rather high 41-inch bottom gear,we found a restart on our 1:6 hill relatively easy on the High power setting,but only just doable on Medium.If you live somewhere hilly and have limited leg power, you’ll certainly want an electric bike with a lower first gear.At 76 inches,top is just adequate for spinning along on the flat.As we found with the Kalkhoff Pro Connect, the new Panasonic motor is chirpier than its predecessors,giving a smidgen of power up to quite high leg cadence,so despite the low gearing,assistance is available to around 16mph with a fresh battery.This doesn’t sound very exciting,but the bike is lively enough,and the power boost encourages the rider to pedal faster.Odd thing,human psychology.

Range & Charging

We ride all these electric bikes on a fairly hilly course,including a handful of long, steepish climbs and a short stretch at 1:6.On the Medium setting,the Eco managed no less than 34.8 miles,a shade more than the Kalkhoff Pro Connect and the greatest range we’ve seen from a crank drive,other than on the Economy setting.In practice,you would probably get less in city stopstart traffic,but a little more in the wide open spaces of East Anglia,so it’s a realistic figure.Average speed is 13.6mph;significantly lower than the Pro Connect,but only to be expected with the lower gearing.

On High,over the same course (but on a rather blustery day),the bike managed 29.3 miles at a slightly higher speed,but this setting is certainly preferable in the Great Outdoors,as it gives the bike a bit more zing to tackle those demoralising steep little climbs.We didn’t have the bike long enough to find the full range in Low,but as with the Kalkhoffs, we’d guess that 50 miles would be possible in the right conditions.

Obviously,13.6mph is at the low end speed-wise,but the Eco nips along pretty well,completing our shorter,flatter ‘commuter route’ in a very reasonable 36 minutes,which equates to just under 15mph.On longer, slightly more challenging rides,14mph is fairly easy to maintain.So the Eco’s low gearing gives better range and a lower average speed than most, but generally speaking,the performance is typical for this drive system.

Charging is just as for the Kalkhoff Pro Connect,and all the other recent Panasonicequipped bikes.The battery is more or less full after five hours,but it continues to take a trickle charge for a further hour before cutting off.The capacity seems to be a genuine 260Wh or even more,something born out by the fairly impressive mileage figures.Clearly Panasonic’s watt/hours are bigger than most.We’ll say no more about that…

Equipment

With the Eco’s roadster origins and £1,200 price tag,it’s reasonable to expect decent equipment.The XACT stand is a little lightweight for an electric bike,but it’s the first we’ve seen with an adjustable leg,which can be screwed in and out by hand – useful for fine-tuning the stand angle when carrying shopping,for example.The SNG V-brakes work well enough,but we spent a lot of time getting them bind-free,partly because the wheels were poorly trued,but as our bike is an advance sample,this should improve.In classic north European style,the rack is nice and solid,but beware of carrying a friend wearing floaty chiffon,because there’s no skirt-guard…odd for this sort of bicycle.

The Eco has no suspension,relying instead on those balloon tyres and a Selle Royale saddle with great big springs under it, which make some odd creaks when you pedal hard.By and large,the rigid front forks are good news,but we’d rather see a suspension seat post than a squidgy saddle,although you might disagree.Riding with less air in the tyres will give a smoother ride,but as we’ve already said,the handling and rolling resistance can be compromised.With full pressure,pot holes can be a bit spine jarring,but the bike floats over cattle-grids and the like very nicely.

With just a single frame size,the fit of the machine will be a bit of a compromise for the short and tall.The saddle spans a height range of 92cm to 106cm, the low end being just adequate for a rider of 5′ 3″ and the top somewhere in the six-footsomething region.The bars start at around 92cm and are adjustable for both height and reach,thanks to one of those stem adjustment-thingies.

The front dynohub is a SRAM ILight D1,which looks the part,and works well,but appears to offer a little more resistance than some,although that shouldn’t matter too much on a power-assisted bike.The dynamo works the front light,a rather plasticky Basta halogen,which gives out plenty of yellowish light,but is not a patch on a good modern LED lamp.The rear light is a simple auto LED device called an H-Goggle Auto…yes,another brand we’re unfamiliar with. A Trelock rear wheel lock and chunky steel mudguards make up the package.By British standards,the Eco is equipped to the gunnels,but in Germany or Holland,the lack of a pump,skirtguard and LED headlight might be considered a bit mean.

Longevity

As we’ve said more than once,the Panasonic drive system and battery come with a twoyear warranty,which is good news if you’re nervous about modern battery technology, and in this case the bicycle is also guaranteed for two years.Incidentally, our machine threw its chain within a few minutes,something the Kalkhoff Pro Connects have done,both on our test and during the Presteigne Tour.A brief investigation revealed that the chain tensioner pivot needed lubrication,and a few drops of oil cured the problem – a useful tip if it’s happened to you,because these units should be100% trouble-free.Hopefully someone in Osaka will have their bottom smacked,because this small error must have caused numerous warranty claims.

Elsewhere, there isn’t a great deal to go wrong, apart from that question mark over the durability of the Nexus hub.These bikes are designed to be simple and rugged,like the post office bikes they’re loosely based on.

Conclusion

Once upon a time,we thought £900 was a lot of money for a bicycle,but we’ve got accustomed to four-figure price tags,and with petrol at £5.50 a gallon,the public seem to be catching up with the idea too. Yes, you can buy an old car, or a new Chinese moped, for less, but a quality power assisted bike brings all the attributes of the bicycle with the bonus of assistance.

At £1,250, the Eco is currently the cheapest of the ‘quality’ bikes, undercutting the Giant Twist, Kalkhoff Pro Connect, Gazelle, Heinzmann, and Sparta.The only competition comes from the Kalkhoff Agattu,currently also £1,250,but only in the medium frame size. The Eco is not as well equipped as some,but it’s reasonably light,sportier than you might expect and has the makings of a rugged and reliable town bike,capable of longer journeys when asked.If you have discounted shopping by roadster because of hills,look again!

Specifications

Monark Eco £1,250.Weight Bike 22.1kg Battery 2.5kg Total 24.6kg (54lbs)Gears 3-spd Shimano Nexus hub . Gear Ratios 41″ – 76″ . Battery Li-ion Manganese Nominal Capacity 260Watt/hours.Replacement Cost £295.Max Range 29.3-50 miles Full Charge 6hrs . Consumption 6.4-10.9Wh/mile. Running Costs 9.0p-9.7p/mile Manufacturer Cycleurope Sverige AB www.monark.se UK distributor IDASS tel 0844 8009310 mail info@battery-bike.co.uk

A to B 67 – Sep 2008

Kalkhoff Aggatu Wave. FIRST PUBLISHED IN A to B 63, January 2008

Not long ago, when the innovative Giant Lafree was discontinued, we began to wonder if the electric bike had any future, other than as a rollerskate for lazy leisure riders. When Giant replaced the Lafree with a crude hub motor system, it looked as though the wonderful Panasonic power unit was dead, and with it the dream of quality, economical power-assisted machines. Why is this system so wonderful? If you live somewhere like Cornwall or Cumbria and you’ve tried a Giant Lafree, you’ll know why. The Panasonic, almost uniquely amongst electric bike power systems,assists at the pedal crank, which makes it very good at climbing hills: when you change down to a low gear, the motor automatically changes down too. The result is a bicycle that’s more or less conventional in every way. It weighs little more than a non-assisted roadster, and feels similar on the road, but come to a hill and the bike gently swishes up at something like double the normal speed. When you’re faced with a steep hill with two heavy panniers of groceries, the bike will chug sedately up.

The Aggatu

Fortunately, the reports of the death of the Panasonic were exaggerated, and for that we must thank our cycle-friendly cousins in Holland and Germany, whose factories kept the faith when the Taiwanese had moved on to building other, tackier, things. We tested the Gazelle Easy Glider in A to B 61, and mentioned in A to B 62 that Raleigh-Univega in Germany had introduced a range of equally well presented electric bikes using the same system,much to the confusion of Raleigh UK, where the suits had just signed a deal with Powabyke.

It turns out that the Univega is actually a ‘badge-engineered’ version of the Kalkhoff Agattu. All these brands were once part of the Derby Cycles mega-corporation, but when that pyramid collapsed a few years ago, some some seem to have gone their own way, while others remained under a reformed Derby umbrella. So we think that Kalkhoff and Raleigh Germany are the same thing, but distinct from Raleigh UK, which is something different, but seems to share a logo. Anyway, who cares? All that really matters is that the Agattu is lovingly handcrafted in Germany with most of the technical bits coming from Japan, and in engineering terms, that’s jolly good parentage.

The Agattu is a typical sensible European roadster,available in two forms; the step-thru Wave and the diamond-frame Diamant. The electric option is new for 2008 – a stock Agattu fitted with the latest 260Wh version of Panasonic’s lithium-ion power unit. The bike weighs a reasonable 23.3kg (51lb),plus a battery of 2.5kg, giving overall weight of 25.8kg (57lb). That’s lighter than the Gazelle,a shade lighter than the Schwinn Transit, but heavier than any of the Lafree variants, which goes to show that the technology hasn’t moved on that much.

Like the Gazelle, which shares similar technical bits, the Kalkhoff is practical, well-equipped and capable – in short, it’s about as good as a bicycle gets. The machine is fitted with Shimano’s Nexus 7-speed hub, which is ever so slightly disappointing, because the Nexus 8-speed is demonstrably better, but gears are less important on an electric bike, so you’d have to live somewhere very hilly to miss the extra gear. Like all Panasonics, the power-assist is simple to use. Jump on the bike, pedal off, and it rides like any other, but press a button on the small handlebar switch and the fuel LEDs and power meter light up. From your next pedal stroke until the battery is exhausted, progress will be assisted.

Unusually, there are three levels of assistance. Default is Medium, giving 1:1 assistance (in other words, the bicycle exactly matches your leg power), but you can choose Low (1:0.5) or High (1:1.3) if you prefer. On this free-running machine, Low is more than adequate for a flattish town, the effect being somewhat akin to a normal bike with a gentle tailwind. Medium is more like a typical power-assisted bike, but a little weak at low pedal/motor speed, so you have to make good use of the gears to get the best out of the system. High power is basically the same, but with increased grunt at low speed.

In all cases the motor assists up to about 15mph (more like 16mph with a fresh battery), and like all crank-motor machines there is the disadvantage that the top gear is capped by the manufacturer to prevent the motor assisting beyond this speed. However,crank motors are easily tuneable by simply replacing the rear hub sprocket. The standard sprocket has 22-teeth, giving ratios more or less evenly spread between a lowish 33-inch and a highish 80-inch. A larger sprocket (not easy to find) will give lower gears for hills, and a smaller one will enable the motor to assist you up to an illegally high top speed, but don’t get too excited, because these are low powered machines. Experience with the Lafree suggests that 17 or 18mph is about top whack. The optimum gearing depends on rider weight, fitness level and topography.

Riding our largely flat 10-mile commuter route on High power gave a time of 37 minutes, which is noticeably faster than the similar Gazelle Easy Glider, but broadly typical for an electric bike. On our hilly test circuit, undulating between sea level and 500 feet, the motor feels quite meaty on High, pulling well from low speed, and hanging on to the high gears for longer (typically two gears higher than on the Medium setting, if that makes any sense). The bike gallops up hills in a most satisfactory manner, giving an average speed of 13.7mph, which is on the high side,but not spectacularly so. The Agattu walked away with the 1:6 (17%) restart,and easily changed up into 2nd gear after a few metres. The maximum gradient is hard to judge, because we don’t have anything steeper to try it on, but like the Gazelle, we’d guess the bike would climb 1:4 (25%) without giving the rider a heart attack. Overall range on the High setting is 26.7 miles.

On the same circuit, Medium feels a bit over-stretched. In easy conditions, the bike feels quite chirpy, but the motor has a lot less torque at low speeds, so when the gradient really bites, you find yourself changing rapidly down through the gears, using 2nd,or even 1st on quite modest hills. A restart on a 1:6 hill is possible, but you really need that 33-inch 1st gear, and you won’t progress into second without strong legs. The trade-off is a battery range of 30.2 miles; one of the best results we’ve seen, even under these quite trying conditions. Average speed is a rather leisurely 12.7mph, which is almost identical to the Gazelle Easy Glider on its Low power setting, albeit over a greater range.

In typical Panasonic style, the battery has a stack of five fuel warning lights, but you can’t see these on the move unless you hop off and press a button on the casing. In this case, there’s also an array of three LEDs on the handlebars. These give an accurate indication of the power left in the battery, but they’re not very linear. Typically, the first light pops off at 71% capacity (Kalkhoff claim 40-70%), the second at 36% (claimed 10-20%), and the last light begins to flash at 27%. According to the manual there should be less than 10% capacity left at this stage, but there’s enough juice for another eight miles, so no need to panic. When the battery really is down to its last 10% a battery-saving mechanism cuts the power right back, so if you’re planning to climb a steep hill 28 miles from home, you probably won’t make it. That said, a range of thirty-odd miles is pretty good, especially from a battery weighing only 2.5kg.

We normally ignore Low or Eco power settings because as a rule they don’t do anything you can’t do with your legs alone. But when we tested the Gazelle,we felt the lower power setting was genuinely useful. And Low on the Agattu is even lower…

According to Radtouren magazine, three Kalkhoff engineers achieved a record 101 miles on Low back in August 2007, but this was at 12.5mph, on a level track, under carefully controlled conditions. In the real world, mileage is much less exciting, hill-climbing rather feeble, and average speed a bit uninspiring (much the same as a conventional bike, albeit for less rider effort). But as we clocked up the miles, we really began to value this gentle power option. It’s valuable for parts of a journey where full assistance isn’t needed, and you can easily switch back to the higher settings for hills and headwinds. It’s also useful if you, a weaker cycling partner, or an elderly relative needs a small boost to keep up with other cyclists. On this free-running bike, the very low assistance level really is useful. For the record, we achieved a range of 47.6 miles at 11.2mph – reckon on a bit more in warm weather, or a bit less if you ask for extra power on the hills.

Economy is excellent, but disappointingly, the bike doesn’t break any records on the higher settings, consuming 11.8Wh/mile on High, and 10.3Wh/mile on Medium (a shade more than the Gazelle which managed 9.9Wh/mile). On Low the Agattu hits a new low of 6.5Wh/mile, but as the rider is putting in two-thirds of the effort, this isn’t a very meaningful record. All the same, these are pretty much state-of-the-art figures. In layman’s terms, it will run all day on the energy Jeremy Clarkson consumes boiling an egg for breakfast.

Equipment & Charging

Charging is a touch slow. Importer 50 Cycles reckons the battery should be fully charged in four hours, but it actually takes between five and six hours. This misunderstanding probably arose because the handbook suggests the battery is full when all five charge lights are illuminated, but our test equipment showed that there was more than an hour to go at this point. As there’s no other indication of a complete charge (the falling temperature of the charger gives a clue) it makes sense to leave the battery on a bit longer, but don’t over-do it, because Panasonic says battery life may be compromised if it’s left connected for more than 48 hours.

The charger is rather large more of a docking station really, so it’s not readily portable – but a compact travel charger is expected in summer 2008. Bearing in mind Panasonic’s troubles with UK-issue Lafree chargers, will all this new technology prove reliable? It’s certainly a neater, lighter, more weather-proof battery/motor unit than the original one. We can’t guarantee it will be reliable, but the signs are good, and a company like Panasonic has a lot to lose if it doesn’t work.

Other equipment is excellent, and almost as classy as the Gazelle Easy Glider, but not quite.The Kalkhoff Agattu comes with an Abus wheel lock, pump, skirt guard, long-legged ESGE stand, Post Moderne sprung seat pillar and Verso sprung forks. These are rather good, giving a well-damped, but resilient ride. Cattle grids just disappear, as do small kerbs, although the big ones can give you quite a jolt through both the forks and the sprung seat pillar. The forks are adjustable,and on this very rare occasion the adjusters demonstrably do something, but there’s little point in stiffening up the ride too much with an electric bike.

Unusually, for a bike equipped with Nexus hubs, the Agattu has V-brakes, also by Shimano and excellent: squeal-free, powerful, and progressive, but not as weather-resistant as the rather spongey Nexus roller brakes one expects on this sort of machine.

The lighting system is in the 9/10region: Busch & Muller Lumotec Senso Plus headlight and Selectra Standlicht at the rear. Both have a standlight function, which is not only a safety bonus, but extremely useful, the front light being strong enough to guide the bike into a dark garage or find a house number. Both work on a sensor system, which cuts in and out unobtrusively at dawn and dusk, but the hub dynamo absorbs so little energy, there seems little point in turning it off, in the winter at least. The road illumination is good, although not quite up to the standard of B&M’s LED headlight. We also had an intermittent problem with the rear light, which always worked perfectly at home or in town, but would sometimes cut out on country roads…

The big chunky Continental CityRIDE tyres (42 x 622mm) inspire great confidence and despite being rated at only 65psi, they roll pretty well too,with a roll-down speed of 14.7mph. That’s fast enough to give the bike a light, rideable feel, something very few electric bikes achieve.

Like all good European designs, the Kalkhoff comes in no fewer than five frame sizes: 45cm, 49cm, 53cm (our test bike) and 57cm for the step-thru, and 49cm, 53cm, 57cm and 61cm for the ‘gents’. For former East German shot-putting ladies, a ludicrously large XXL version of the Wave will be available in a few months with a stronger 61cm frame.

Running costs depend very much on how you use the bike,varying between 8.7p/mile for gentle shopping trips to 10.2p/mile riding hard on High power. The difference, incidentally, is a matter of battery depreciation and range per charge. A spare battery costs £305 and we work on the basis of 350 charges in a lifetime (Panasonic claim 500 charges).

Conclusion

Transport decisions are not always logical. In a perfect world, everyone would do their shopping with a bike like this Kalkhoff and traffic congestion would melt away. It can be ridden day or night, summer or winter, wet or dry, tail wind or head wind, and it will always carry your groceries home. But relatively few people will buy an Agattu, which is a real shame, because if you haven’t ridden a well-equipped power-assisted European roadster, you are missing a seriously top-draw experience.

And so to price.The 2008 Gazelle Easy Glider has better spec and the same motor and battery for around £1,600, whereas the Agattu is being introduced at £1,195, albeit rising to £1,250 in the spring. It may not be quite as classy as the Gazelle, but it’s an excellent price for a competent European machine – similar to the most expensive Chinese electric bikes and cheaper than the Lafree in its final form. Not so long ago, you had to travel hundreds of miles just to see a brand like Gazelle or Kalkhoff, but both manufacturers are busy setting up dealer networks in the UK… Are we witnessing the much-prophesised roadster renaissance?

Kalkhoff Aggatu Wave Specifications

Price £1,195
Weight Bike 23.3kg Battery 2.5kg Total 25.8kg (57lbs)
Gears 7-spd Nexus hub
Gear Ratios 33″ – 80″
Battery Li-ion
Nominal Capacity 260Wh
Replacement Cost £305
Range 26.7-47.6 miles
Full Charge 6 hours
Running Costs 8.7-10.2p/mile
Manufacturer Derby Cycle Werke GmbH www.kalkhoff-bikes.de
UK distributor 50 Cycles tel 01509 266656 fiftycycles@50cycles.com

A to B 63 – Jan 2008

Before its untimely withdrawal last year,we considered the Giant Lafree a jolly good electric bike – arguably the best you could buy.The magic ingredient was the Panasonic crank-drive unit,which placed the motor ‘upstream’ of the hub gears,so the motor worked via the gears:Whenever your legs felt the strain,you’d change down a gear,automatically easing the load for the motor too. Bio-feedback,if you like.This very efficient arrangement made the Lafree a superb hill-climber that was also one of the most economical electric assist bikes on the market.The only real downside was stress on the gear system,which had to deal with tandem-plus power levels.

For various reasons – chiefly cost – Giant axed the Lafree,and dropped the Panasonic system too.The replacement ‘Twist’ model (see A to B 58),was equipped with a conventional hub motor.This bike had its strong points,but against the lightweight,free running,hill-climbing Lafree,it was rubbish.Panasonic was already marketing a new crankdrive unit, utilising a lighter,more compact lithium-ion battery,which Giant had used briefly on the Revive semi-recumbent (A to B49),but there weren’t many other takers outside Japan,and it began to look as though this excellent crank-drive system was dead.

Fortunately,Dutch manufacturer Gazelle had the faith to incorporate the Panasonic mechanism into its Gazelle Easy Glider,which was released a couple of years ago,rapidly becoming one of the best selling electric bikes in the cycle-friendly markets on the Continent. This is the bike that Giant could,and should,have made,but it’s made in Holland – is the Gazelle the new Lafree?

The Easy Glider

As a general rule – and generalities can be dangerous – cyclists of the non-technical kind love bikes with the Panasonic drive system.There’s no twistgrip,and no awkward power adjustments or scary flashing lights to worry about.You either don’t turn it on and ride a normal bike,or you turn it on,and the bike magically adds hidden power to your pedal strokes.If you don’t know what that feels like (and don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) it’s a bit like riding with a tail wind.Not a gale,but the sort of pleasant summer breeze that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.Come to a hill and the whole character of the machine changes.The speed gradually drops as you change down through the gears,but the level of assistance increases,so although hill-climbing speed is generally quite modest, the bike feels as though it can climb anything,and with the right gearing it will.

We have to slightly qualify this,because the new system fitted to the Gazelle Easy Glider is not quite as powerful as the old one.For reasons possibly linked to the demands of the domestic Japanese market,Panasonic has gone for quite a low-key power system on the new crank motor,with a choice of relatively small batteries.Wisely,Gazelle has chosen the biggest 187Wh version for the Glider,but it’s still a bit mean in terms of output.On the other hand,the battery weighs only 1.9kg,a mere handbag against the weight of a typical Dutch roadster,the Easy Glider weighing a total of 28.2kg,including motor, battery and numerous accessories.For transport boffins,and collectors of facts and figures,the battery weighs less than 7% of the gross weight of the bike – a remarkably low figure,and the equivalent of a full tank of petrol in a 1,000kg car.

On the Road

Power assist is launched via a push button on the handlebars.First impressions are that the bike is heavier and slightly weaker than the Lafree,but not by a great deal.It also seems crazily low geared, but that’s a side-effect of the crank-drive system and Euro regulations.With a crank motor,maximum assisted speed is proportional to the gear inches in top,set in this case at 78″ to make the motor run out of steam at 15mph.The downside is that it’s difficult to pedal faster than about 18mph without your legs going round in a frenzy,but the good news is that first gear is very low indeed.As with the Lafree,you can fine tune the characteristics of the bike by fitting a different rear sprocket,and a smaller sprocket will raise all the gears slightly.This is technically illegal,but the motor really isn’t powerful enough to pull a speed much above 15mph,so don’t worry too much about getting a blue light on your tail.Slightly higher gearing will give the bike a more relaxed laid-back feel that should suit it better, and have little negative effect on hill climbing.

Once up to the jaunty 15mph cruise,there’s not much to say about the way the bike rides,which is good news. There’s our usual grumble that gears 7 and 8 on the Nexus are almost identical,but with eight rather low gears,and power assistance,you tend to miss most of them out anyway in normal riding.On the flat,the bike pulls away best in gear 3,followed by 5,possibly 6,then 8.As the hills close in,it’s much the same in reverse – the bike copes with many inclines in 6th and quite steep ones in 4th.We found a restart easy on a 1:6 gradient and even managed to get up into 2nd.In 1st,given a spare battery,this bike should grind up any hill in the British Isles,from long Scottish 1:8s through the short sharp 1:4s of the North Yorkshire Moors,to the switchback 1:6s of Devon and Cornwall.If you live at the bottom of one of the these,the Gazelle really is your best option.More powerful electric bikes can storm up steep hills with a bit of careful planning,but riding the Gazelle you can stop and talk to Mrs Johnson halfway up,or pause to look at the scenery,then pull cleanly away again.With this sort of bike,hills might slow you down,but they won’t bring you out in a sweat,and you won’t be walking.Riding our largely flat 10-mile commuter route,the Gazelle achieves a comfortable 14mph,completing the course in 381/2minutes. That’s up with quite fast conventional bikes,but only average for a power-assisted machine.Against its top end electric bike competitors,it’s muchslower than the Ezee bikes, slightly slower than the Sparta Ion, but notably quicker than the stodgy Giant Twist,the replacement for the Lafree.

The ride is very good,with adjustable front suspension forks that really are adjustable for damping (not enough in our opinion),and a suspension seat post under the derriere. This combination is compliant enough to more or less eradicate cattle grids and small kerbs,which is an odd feeling,but suspension only has so much travel,so don’t go mad.If you ask too much – particularly of the seat post – the result is a nasty bump and a crash.In general,the Easy Glider rides extremely well,with an air of solidity,and rock-steady handling at speed,even hands off.Not quite Rolls Royce stuff,but amongst the best.

Brakes are Nexus roller,front and rear.Shimano has done a good job of answering the criticisms of brake fade on long descents,and a lack of ‘feel’,but they’re still a bit of a compromise.Slightly unsettlingly,the roller brakes don’t seem to do anything when first applied,as it takes a few microseconds for the brake force to reach full strength.In an emergency,you squeeze a bit harder,resulting in an over-fierce application when the brakes do come on.We managed to briefly lock the rear wheel at 30mph when the car in front braked suddenly at the bottom of a steep hill (twit), resulting in the Glider giving a momentary wag of the tail.Having experienced roller brakes before,we can only say that they should get better with age,so don’t worry too much,but bear it in mind.

Range

Although the battery is small and light,it has a nominally bigger capacity than the Lafree 187Wh against 156Wh.But it’s a demonstration of just how unscientific (or,indeed, meaningless) these battery ratings are,that the range is about the same at 19.5 miles (our various Lafree tests gave averages of 18.5,20 and 22.9 miles).Similarly,the Gazelles’s 13.2mph average speed is right in the middle of the Lafree figures of 12.8,13.2 and 14mph. So whatever our initial impressions might have suggested,the performance of the Gazelle is very much on a par with the Lafree.And with a battery weighing only 1.93kg and measuring a compact 25cm x 10cm x 9cm,carrying a spare will not be a serious issue.In fact,you’d hardly notice the weight or bulk of two spare batteries,giving a total range of 60 miles.

We repeated our mileage test on the ‘MIN’ setting,engaged with another stab at a small handlebar button.Normally,we ignore these low power settings,but this one works rather well,and we’d like to see a ‘super-minimum’ as well.As far as we can tell (the effects are subtle) you have to pedal a bit harder before the motor will cut in,and the power is limited when straining at low pedal/motor speed.In practice,this encourage you to ride in a more economical way – spinning the pedals faster in lower gears,and generally making better use of the gearbox – and that’s where the extra mileage comes from.In MIN,you really do need to use all the gears for best results,but the bike isn’t much slower overall (12.6mph against 13.2mph) and range increases by nearly a quarter,to 24.1 miles.For such a small speed penalty,that’s an attractive trade-off. Incidentally,the handlebar control unit is supposed to flash an LED light at you when the battery capacity drops to 10%,but it comes much later than this – typically anything from a few hundred metres to a kilometre before the thing conks out.There is a five-LED array on the battery,but you can only see this by hopping off and pressing a button, so it’s only a guide.

If maximum range is important to you,Gazelle will be releasing a larger 260Wh battery early in 2008.On the basis of current performance,that should give a range of 27 to 33 miles.

Overall efficiency (including charging losses) is similar to the Lafree,but without breaking any records.On full power,consumption is 12.3Wh/mile,and on MIN the Gazelle just breaks into the exclusive single-figure club at 9.9Wh/mile.If you’re still sceptical about the green credentials of these machines,bear in mind that a gallon of petrol contains around 41,000Wh of energy,and will only heave a Nissan Patrol 25 miles or so. On the MIN setting,the Gazelle Easy Glider achieves a little over 4,000mpg

A more topical comparison is carbon dioxide emissions.Generating one kilowatt/hour of electricity in the UK results in emission of 0.43kg/CO2.So if you recharge on a conventional mains tariff,the Glider will average 2.7g-3.3g CO2per kilometre,or zero if you produce your own power (a typical 4×4 emits 300g/km).Running costs – mainly depreciation and the £209 replacement cost of the battery – come out at 11.5p per mile.

The charger is the same pattern as the old Panasonic charger,but now clips onto the battery with a sort of clumsy cassette thing.Charging is pretty typical,taking 4 hours and 40 minutes for a complete refill.Like the Lafree, the battery has to be removed for charging, but in this case,the battery key is the same as the rear wheel lock key.This means you have to lock the bike in order to release the key and remove the battery,which you may or may not consider a good thing.More positively, the key is (or should be) always to hand when you need it.The key itself is a delightful folding affair,which – like almost everything else carries the Gazelle brand.

Accessories

If you live in Germany, Scandinavia or The Netherlands,you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about, because most bikes there are sold with essential equipment, but here in the mid-Atlantic MTB-orientated UK,this level and quality of accessories is almost unknown.The Easy Glider has Continental Contact tyres,a Selle Royale gel saddle,a skirtguard, long rack with shock cords,a Power Click stand that looks as though it would support a Harley-Davidson,‘Switch’ handlebar quick-release,giving instant adjustment for height and reach,a full chainguard,tool kit,saddle bag,pump,a smashing rotary bell,rear wheel lock,auto lights,trip computer,and the Nexus 8-speed hub and suspension we’ve already mentioned.Phew.

The bell looks like a gearshift,but rotating it produces a lovely tinkly shop bell noise. The lights are rather nice – a Power Vision battery 5-LED rear light with auto option,and Power Eye front light.This remarkable device fits into a sculpted plastic housing,integral with the forks,with power supplied from a Nexus hub dynamo in the front wheel.As this short section of wire is fully enclosed,the system is effectively cable-free.Output is excellent,as one might expect from this state-of-the-art job,and the auto functions are less sensitive than some,and generally unobtrusive.Our only grumble is that when you first start off,the front light doesn’t get going until you reach 10mph or so,presumably because it’s charging the standlight.On the other hand,after you’ve ridden a mile or two,the standlight gives full output for a couple of minutes when you stop.

Typical of Dutch roadsters,the Easy Glider has quite a large frame.Gazelle offers small,medium and large step-thru models and a gents,only in large.But as our small stepthru sample gave a saddle height from 91 – 105cm,which suited pretty well everyone who tried the bike,that’s the one to go for,unless you’re safely over six foot.

On the saddle,a neat quick-release gives instant adjustment of the saddle angle,while another adjusts the bar reach and height (112cm – 118cm on the small frame).The speedometer offers only mileage,trip miles and average speed,which is mildly disappointing,but it’s adequate for most purposes.As with the ride,there isn’t much else to say – the bike is equipped for mud,rain,snow,darkness,minor repairs,and of course, getting the shopping home.And you can wear whatever you like without getting wet, muddy or oily.Every home should have a Dutch roadster.

Conclusion

This is undeniably one of the best machine we’ve seen. It has it’s faults: the weight might be a problem, it’s low geared, and the battery is small. But these really are minor niggles. The Easy Glider may weigh 28kg, but there’s not a gramme of flab on it,and indeed, for a bike so laden with accessories,it’s really quite light.The gearing is easily fixed for a fiver,and a second battery solves the mileage problem,although bear in mind that higher gearing will tend to use more power,reducing the range even more.

Would we pay £1,400 for the Gazelle? Not long ago we thought £900 was a lot for a bicycle,but if you want a machine with this level of equipment,plusthe ability to climb hills, you do have to pay a bit more.It isn’t quite as lively as the Lafree,but it’s better equipped, better made,and not that much more expensive.Against the competitors in this price bracket,it does extremely well.If you want speed rather than equipment,go for the Ezee F-series or Torq.Otherwise,apart from a few specialist imports,it’s Giant Twist 1.0, Heinzmann Estelle and Sparta Ion,all at around £1,400.The Giant we would tend to dismiss on all counts except range,the Heinzmann is good,but not Gazelle-good,leaving only the Ion:a faster,prettier bike,but without the equipment or hill-climbing capabilities. For our money,the Gazelle is best of the bunch.A new 5-star electric bike,in other words.

Gazelle Easy Glider Specifications

Gazelle Easy Glider £1,460. Weight Bike 26.3kg Battery 1.93kg Total 28.2kg (62lbs) Gears 8-spd Shimano Nexus hub .Gear Ratios 25″ – 78″ .Battery Li-ion Manganese Nominal Capacity 187Wh. Replacement Cost £209 . Maximum Range 24 miles Full Charge 4 hrs 40 mins. Consumption 9.9Wh/mile. Running Costs 11.5p/mile Emissions <3.3gCO2/km. Manufacturer Koninklijke Gazelle www.gazelle.nl . UK: Electric Cycle Co (stockist) tel 0131 553 4900 mail sales@electriccyclecompany.co.uk Cambridge Dutch Bikes (to order) tel 07772738899 mail enquiries@dutchbike.co.uk

A to B 61 – Sep 2007

Back in the summer of 2003,a slightly odd-looking electric bike called the Ezee Forza landed on our doorstep. It was reasonably light,and some of the equipment was a bit dubious,but it came with everything a regular cyclist might need,plus a gutsy power-assist system that offered a decent range at an enjoyably nippy pace.The prototype Forza was a bit rough around the edges,but we liked it,and the production version (known as the Sprint) sold in droves. It wasn’t the prettiest machine in the world,but it promised to get you up the hills and generally got you to work on time,even when something went wrong, which it occasionally did.

Four years later, Ezee has become a respectable brand,and the Sprint has been extensively revised,using that early experience.Loaded with extras,it now commands a price tag of £800-£900,but with the market for electric bikes expanding rapidly in the £500-£600 zone,Ezee has gone back to basics,introducing the Liv.This new bike is broadly the same as that early Forza:similar equipment,with a similar bare alloy frame,but without the ‘unisex’ 45cm step-thru (the Liv top tube is 67cm high – almost the same as the Torq). The bike was launched a few weeks ago at a distinctly eye-catching price of £545,complete with NiMH battery.

Things move fast in this business:following some dramatic increases in the price of NiMH batteries (reportedly due to a shortage of nickel),it has been decided that the Liv will sell for £595,equipped with the latest lithium-ion battery.So the bike still squeezes into that ‘economy’ banding,but apart from the tiddly little Powacycle Lynx,it seems to be the only bike under £1,000 to be fitted with a lithium-ion battery,and it’s the biggest battery of its kind on the market.

On the road

So the Liv started life as a back to basics model,but has become a high-tech commuter.It still holds true to the Ezee philosophy of simple,practical everyday transport, but with superb spec where it counts.Equipment-wise,the bike comes with full mudguards, a dynamo lighting set (not the best,but it works well enough in dry weather),and – where other cheap brands are fitted with nasty cheap derailleur sets – a Nexus 3-speed hub gear. This light,simple hub is ideal for purpose – changes up or down are very slick,and the gear range (46″,62″ and 85″) is limited,but sufficient on an electric bike.

The DC motor is the same simple reliable unit fitted to the Low-tech Ezee Rider.It’s not as efficient as a brushless motor,but it pulls cleanly and powerfully to 16mph,or even 18mph with a fresh battery.You can cover a lot of ground by spinning fast in that 85-inch top gear,and with reasonable assistance from the noisy,but willing little motor,the Liv will climb quite steep hills at a good speed.The result is an impressively fast bike,completing our 10-mile commuter course in 33 1 / 2 minutes.That’s about the same as the Sprint,and second only to the Ezee Torq,a much more sophisticated (and expensive) machine.It just goes to show what you can do with three hub gears, sensible ratios and some modest power assistance.In hillier country,the bike does equally well,recording an average of 15.7mph with NiMH and 16.9mph with the Li-ion battery over our new 14-mile course.That’s much faster than the other budget electric bikes,and a hefty three to four mph faster than the Giant Twist or Sparta Ion (see A to B 58 ), which cost nearly three times as much.Speed isn’t everything,we hasten to add,but as with a car,it makes sense to have something in reserve.Sooner or later you’ll be climbing a gradient into a headwind with a bad leg.

With only three gears,the maximum gradient is a bit limited,but we found 13% (1:8) easy enough, and climbed 17% (1:6) at a steady pace.Restarting on that sort of gradient is feasible,but with a 46-inch bottom gear,this obviously takes a bit of legwork. Maximum motor output is similar to the Sprint,at a shade under 600 watts,so there’s plenty of oomph for most situations.

More for you money

If you’re searching for a budget-priced,practical electric bike,it’s the battery that counts, and the Liv offers no less than 370Wh of lithium-ion power – exactly the same battery fitted to its more expensive cousins.With the older NiMH battery,range in hilly country is 23 miles,but with the new battery we recorded a range of 27 miles,still averaging 16mph, despite plenty of hills and some town work.Remember,that’s at quite a high speed – if you keep speed down,30+ miles should be well within its capabilities.

When the battery does conk out,the Liv is a pleasant bike to ride unassisted – not quite up to Lafree standards,but perfectly rideable.At 28.5kg,the Liv weighs the same as the Sprint,give or take a few grams.That’s 4kg heavier than the new breed of lightweights like the Windsor,but 10kg lighter than most £600 electric bikes.And this is a solid machine, offering more range and a great deal more speed than most,particularly on hills.

Fuel consumption of 15Wh/mile is a little on the high side,but extremely good for an electric bike with this sort of performance. The charger is a quality fan-cooled device (two speed,no less!),and quite rapid,reaching half capacity in two hours and full in just over five.A few words of warning,as we’re still slightly suspicious of Li-ion technology.Our battery refused to charge at first,and although it settled down quickly enough,it would still occasionally turn off early.Switch the mains power off and back on,and it runs to full charge,but if you’re commuting some distance,we’d suggest doing this as a matter of course before going to bed…With Li-ion,both the battery and charger contain a mass of complex electronics,and one theory is that ‘spikes’ in the mains supply cause the charger to ‘trip-out’.On the other hand,we’re not hearing negative reports from consumers,so they must be working well enough out in the field.Running costs are 7.1p/mile.That’s quite high for a budget bike (replacement batteries cost £250),but as cheap as you’ll see for a performance machine with a Li-ion battery.

Conclusion

At £595,the Ezee Liv has a lot of competition,but most of these machines (and quite a few costing £700 or more) can be dismissed.Against such single-speed,overweight monsters as the Powabyke Shopper,Sakura Cruiser and even more horrible things,the Ezee Liv is light years ahead.The only real competition comes from the Giant Suede and the new LPX versions of the Powacycle Windsor and Salisbury,but (apart from arguably looking nicer and providing a step-thru frame option) their performance and equipment just doesn’t come into the same ballpark as the Liv. Things may change,but at the moment,this is the best all-round machine we have seen:it offers astonishing value,and with saddle height of 86cm-101cm,it fits almost anyone.If you want an electric bike on a budget,don’t hesitate – the Liv is a great buy.

Ezee Liv Specifications

Ezee Liv £595 . Weight Bicycle 24.1kg Battery 4.4kg Total 28.5kg (63lbs) . Gears 3-spd Nexus hub . Gear Ratios 46″, 62″, 85″ . Battery Li-ion . Nominal Capacity 370Wh Max Range 27 miles . Full Charge 5hrs 15mins . Consumption 15Wh/mile inc charger losses Running Costs 7.1p/mile . Manufacturer Ezee Kinetic Co www.ezeebike.com UK Distributor 50Cycles tel 01509 266656 fiftycycles@50cycles.com

A to B 59 – April 2007

FIRST PUBLISHED April 2007 in A to B 59

Lithium-Polymer, as readers may recall from the chemistry lesson in A to B 57, is a safer variant of the increasingly common lithium-ion battery. Polymer batteries have been used for a while in mobiles and the like, but big examples are still rare, so we think Powacycle is pretty brave introducing the first Li-pol battery on a budget bike at a budget price (Urban is close on its heels, but at a rather higher price). All the experts agree that these batteries are safe and user-friendly, but there’s no consensus over how long they will last in this sort of environment. The LPX battery can be retrofitted to the Windsor and Salisbury (price to be announced), or specified on either of these bikes from new for an extra £100.

The LPX weighs 2.4kg,against 3.7kg for the old NiMH unit, so it’s easier to carry, and it knocks the overall weight of the bike down to 22.4kg, which is more or less as light as a full-size electric bike gets.

The lithium-polymer battery is claimed to have capacity of 273Wh, against 192Wh for the old version. We only had a few days to try it, but our results of 20.6 miles on a hilly ride (including the notorious 1:5 Ham Hill), and 29.5 miles in easier going, was an improvement, but not the 42% claim. We have to be cautious,because batteries vary with temperature and conditions, but the Li-pol battery went 11%-19% further than the new NiMH and some 40% further than the old one, which has deteriorated quite a bit in 1,000 miles. Despite the larger capacity, the Li-pol charges a little faster than the NiMH unit, taking 4hrs 30 minutes, against 5hrs 10 minutes. And the Windsor felt perkier at 14mph, although this effect seemed to wear off after a few miles.

Is it worth it? If carrying the battery is a problem, it certainly will be,as long as you’re comfortable with the role of technology pioneer. The lithium-polymer battery might fail relatively quickly, or it might last for years – no one really knows. If you’re less concerned about weight and showing off your techie credentials, a spare Powacycle NiMH battery costs only £100, giving a slightly heavier machine,but a range of up to 50 miles. That’s the common sense alternative, but we still suspect the LPX will outsell the NiMH. Powacycle Windsor or Salisbury LPX £599.

A to B 59 – April 07

In The Netherlands,as any small boy will tell you,there are no hills (or very few),but they do get some nasty headwinds out on the polders.Being a great bicycling nation,it is perhaps no surprise that the Dutch are also big manufacturers of power-assisted bicycles. And as a general rule,they design bikes with Dutch conditions in mind – endless,flat, windswept bicycle paths,rather than steep Cornish lanes,for example.

Typical of the genre is the Sparta Ion,a power-assisted roadster which has been selling fiendishly well in its home market for a year or so.Who,you may ask,are Sparta? As in the UK,mainland Europe once had many bicycle companies.Ours were mostly gobbled up and turned into meaningless brand names by Raleigh,while the Continental brands were eaten by something called ATAG, which appears to major on kitchen appliances these days.

In the late 1990s,ATAG ‘hived off’ its bicycle interests under the group name Accell: Sparta is one of the key brands, but Batavus is the biggest,and the group also produces Hercules,Koga-Miyata,and several others we’ve never heard of.Headquarters are in The Netherlands,where the Accell group has nearly 50% of the market,and in marked contrast to the British slash & burn approach, manufacturing plants have remained open in five European countries.Most of the frames are made in the Far East these days,but unlike the ‘British’ Raleigh,an Accell machine can reasonably be described as European.The brands seem to have considerable autonomy,but they benefit from shared technology.Thus,the Sparta Ion power system is also available on the similar Batavus Padova,Koga-Miyata Tesla and Hercules Emove.

Last summer,the Sparta rep visited us at the start of a UKwide dealer tour,and was fully expecting to have the bike on sale here within a few months.Maybe the UK market didn’t seem worth the effort,or perhaps Sparta took on board our dire warning about gradients in the Celtic fringes.Whatever the reason,the project to build a dealer network went quietly onto the back burner.This is still the case,but the Ion is now available through longtime Sparta specialist,Drakes of Cambridge,and Amsterdammers,a small shop in Brighton specialising in secondhand Dutch roadsters.

The Ion is available in several variants,from the steel-framed,single-speed Comfort at £1,250,to the matt black alloy Style,with derailleur gears,no suspension and a £1,720 price tag.The one you’re most likely to see in the UK is the mid-range M-Gear: alloy frame,seven-speed derailleur,suspension and drum brakes for £1,429.This is the bike we’ve tried.Just for the record,this bike (and most variants) also comes with a stand,rack, fitted lights,pump,wheel lock,full chain guard,decent mudguards,Continental City Contact 42 x 622mm tyres,and – very rare in the UK – a skirt guard.

Motor & Controls

Like the BionX,with which the Ion shares a few similarities,the Ion has a direct drive motor,so it’s virtually silent – even quieter and smoother than the BionX,which makes a few gentle noises at low speed.And although the motor spins all the time,it isn’t geared like the new Twist,so there’s no discernable drag.This low-key motor,coupled to an invisible battery pack (it’s in the frame) make the assisted element of the machine very hard to spot.To all intents and purposes,this is a normal Dutch bike,and at 28kg (there a lighter single-speed too),not even precociously heavy.If you want your power assist well disguised (and customer surveys suggest that buyers do ),the Ion is the bike for you.Direct drive motors are also well suited to providing regenerative braking,but the Ion doesn’t have this facility.No hills in The Netherlands,of course.

Lack of regen is a bit disappointing,but the bike is otherwise laden with technology. What the Ion does very cleverly is to make good use of the various sensors,computer capacity, battery and motor that make up the power-assist package.For the first time, these elements are integrated into the bike rather than bolted on as afterthoughts,just as electronics have become an integral part of the modern car.On the handlebars is a round control unit,featuring a speedometer, odometer,battery meter,power switch and light switch.To prevent tampering and keep it safe from the elements when you’re not riding,the control unit simply twists off – the idea being that you take it with you,even if you’re just popping into the corner shop.Removal of this master display will not stop a passing thief half-inching the bike, but the integral wheel lock will,and without the display,the systems are unusable.Each unit is programmed with a unique code,so a potential thief won’t be able to make it work without access to Sparta’s diagnostic plug-in whatnot. Incidentally,we were told that removal of the rear wheel may also make reprogramming necessary – something to think about if you get a puncture.

It’s becoming the norm on electric bicycles to take a feed from the traction battery to run the lights (front,rear and speedometer on the Ion).And in this case the system continues to function when the battery is flat by using the motor as a generator.

The controls are nice and ergonomic.The smaller bits of the liquid crystal display can be hard to read in sunlight,but at night it’s backlit in a sexy blue and much improved. Unlike the Giant Twist,the Ion has just two well separated buttons,one for the lights,and another which clicks through a menu,including a mileometer (kilometre-ometer in this case) and three power levels.There’s also a diagnostic function that tells you when something has gone amiss.The bad news is you can’t do anything about it,but the good news is that your jolly local Sparta dealer will plug it in to his whatnot,reboot it and away you go.In the UK,this means a trip to Cambridge or Brighton,but people have dreamt up stranger excuses for a long weekend.

When the nice man in the Sparta shop plugs in his diagnostic whatnot,he will be able to tell you how far you’ve been,how much effort you’ve used,how far you get on a charge,and much more besides.It’s all a bit Big Brother,but useful in terms of keeping the bike in tip-top condition.Some say the dealer can tweak power levels up or down to suit your riding style,but others deny it.

On the Road

The Ion is available with ladies or gents frames in no fewer than five sizes.Ours is the smallest (46″) ladies frame and it fits more or less everyone,so size should not be an issue…First impressions are of a lithe and lightweight bicycle,which is somewhat illusory, because at 28kg it certainly isn’t light.Nevertheless,it’s reasonably light by electric bike standards,and it feels lively,which is all that really matters.With no appreciable drag from the motor,rolling resistance is more or less conventional for a bike of this type – we recorded a roll-down speed of 14.7mph,which is slightly off the pace,but adequate.Rolldown speed might seem unimportant on an electric bike,but it’s a surprisingly accurate guide to the ‘IT factor’ – whether a bike makes you grin,or grumble.

If you choose to dial in some power assist,you simply set a power level and keep pedalling.With a very gentle surge,the bike then accelerates a bit faster.There’s no noise, no vibration,indeed no suggestion of any kind of intervention.Stop pedalling,and the assist melts away.Lean on the pedal at a junction and nothing happens,but start turning the pedals and the gentle surge returns.With such a quiet motor and unobtrusive assistance, it’s hard to judge the cut-off speed.Sometimes the power has gone by 15mph,but at other times the bike seems to pull to around 17mph or so.Whatever,there’s very little indication of the motor starting or stopping.The only indicator is a ‘fuel’ gauge consisting of a ring of little bars (3% increments) around the speedometer.Like everything else on the bike,this is well thought through,and pretty accurate.

Should you be getting terribly excited that the Ion might be all things to all people, there are a few downsides.With the motor in the back wheel,there’s no room for hub gears,so the Ion has to make do with a cheapish Shimano Nexave derailleur.This limits the gear range,resulting in some rather unhappy compromises.At 37”, first gear is too high for hill climbing,and the 81” top gear is too low for comfortable The Ion is a pretty bike,and with the battery hidden in the curved frame tube,few people would even realise it was assisted cruising.What the bike really needs is something like the Megarange – we don’t know whether this can be shoehorned on,but it would help sell the concept no end,because direct drive motors tend to be weak on hills.

Now,you may be saying,if a motor is no good on hills,what’s it for? A valid point,and the usefulness of this sort of bike depends very much on where you live and how big the hills are.In undulating country,or into modest headwinds,the Ion is great fun.It’s basically just like any other bike,but it goes further and faster for the same effort.Hit a hill,and you’re soon slogging up in that 37-inch gear,which sounds like hard work,but you only have to turn the motor off to prove that it’s still doing a fair bit.Maximum gradient? As with the Giant Twist,it’s hard to put a figure on this,but the Ion is certainly a little weaker. Interestingly,Sparta has promised a more powerful motor for 2008,with sales to the UK and other hillier markets in mind.For now,though,it’s just about up to 1:7 (14%),but it isn’t keen on restarting on this sort of hill,and it won’t climb for long.After a sustained 700 foot climb – not all of it particularly steep – the bike flashs error message E21,which means the motor is overloaded.You don’t need to do anything – the Ion simply backs the power off for a while,but it’s a clear message that this isn’t a hill-climber.Having said that,it still managed 12.4mph in hilly country (the same as the Twist) but it certainly felt less able.

Back in gentler country and you’re soon smiling again.On our largely flat ten-mile test route the Ion did much better than expected,completing the course in 37 minutes – slightly behind the similar BionX,but about as fast as you can go with an 81-inch top gear over that sort of distance.Average speed comes out at 14.7mph (yes,it’s not exactly ten miles),which is pleasantly fast,but not wildly so.

At night,the ‘push of a button’ lights are very welcome,as is the illuminated speedometer – why has this simple innovation taken so long to arrive? Rear light is a typical Busch & Muller LED and the front light a Spanninga Radius with halogen bulb and – nice touch – a Sparta badge.In 2005,we’d have described the Radius as state-of-the-art,but since the arrival of the single LED B&M DLumotec,halogen front lights are merely ‘good’ in our book.

Brakes on our bike are Sturmey Archer drums front and rear.Stopping the bike from high speed takes a mighty heave,but the brakes are powerful,progressive and consistent – just what a cyclist needs.Cheaper models have V-brakes all round,and some others have a Nexus roller brake at the front and Sturmey drum at the rear,but despite the small weight penalty,the double drum package seems the best.The only slight grumble is that the rear drum (made by Sparta,not Sturmey) has a tendency to squeal when cold.

Most Ion models have suspension front forks and a suspension seat post.We’re usually a bit dismissive of this combination,but the components really do work here,giving a supple,comfortable ride.

Range & Charging

Sparta claims an exciting 44 miles in idea conditions,but it’s best to leave these sort of figures to the fairies.In practice,we returned a range of 22 miles in mixed use,falling to 19 miles on a hillier route.The Ion has three power levels – Eco,Normal and Power.We generally rode on the Power setting,but Normal is virtually indistinguishable,and the bike is light and agile enough to be used on Eco for long stretches,provided it’s not hilly,so with care,it would be possible to go a lot further.For all it’s worth,the handbook suggests a range of anything from 7 to 44 miles,which is really hedging their bets…The fuel gauge seems pretty accurate,but it descends a little slowly at first,then more rapidly,the last quarter disappearing in a few miles.This last bit should really be treated as reserve capacity, because after 15 miles,the already gentle motor is rapidly losing oomph.At 14-16Wh/mile,fuel economy is fairly typical for this sort of bike.

When your 22 miles are up,and the power pops off,the display helpfully flashes the code E01,meaning flat battery,but you don’t need the Sparta man to tell you that,because it’s back to muscle power alone.The Ion is quite a pleasant bike to ride unassisted,but with the limited gearing, hills are bound to be a problem.Range can be extended with an optional 168Wh battery pack that slots onto one side of the rear rack,pannier-style. This costs £265,and by our calculations,should extend the range to 32-37 miles.

The standard Ion has a 24 volt NiMH battery of 240Wh,which is a typical sort of size.Replacing the cells will cost £265,which is reasonable,but the main expense is depreciation of the bike,and on such an expensive machine,that pushes up running costs to around 9.6p per mile overall.

The charger is a delight.It’s small (16cm x 12cm x 6cm),light (700g) and with a fast rate of charge,refilling the battery in a little under three hours.A nice touch is that the fuel gauge works it’s way back up,giving a precise indication of the state of play.

With such a compact charger and speedy charge time,this is one of the few bikes you really could top-up over a relaxed lunch.The only problem with the batteries being in the frame is that you need to get the bike to within 3.1 metres of a power point – no carrying the battery into the pub unless it’s the sort of place that lets the bike into the lounge bar. In The Netherlands,this needn’t be a problem,because Sparta has established a network of charge stations at cafes and other public places.Civilised lot,aren’t they?

Conclusion

We are sometimes accused of falling too firmly for or against a particular bike,but there’s no escaping the fact that this is a good ‘un, and thousands of Dutch cyclists have already voted with their wallets accordingly. In Dorchester, the Ion proved something of a surprise hit with just about everyone who tried it.The only grumbles were with the lack of hub gears – unavoidable unfortunately – and the limited hill-climbing ability. Yes, it costs an arm and a leg, but it’s one of the nicest electric bikes around.

Sparta Ion M-Gear Specifications

Specification Sparta Ion M-Gear £1,429 . Weight inc battery 28kg (62lbs) . GearsShimano Nexave Ratios37″-81″ . Wheelbase110cm . BatteryNiMH . Capacity240Wh . Range>19 miles Full charge2hrs 45 min . Fuel Consumption overall 13.6-15.7Wh/mile . Running Costs 9.6p per mile . Manufacturer Sparta B.V. www.sparta.nl/uk . UKagents (Cambridge) Drakes Cycles tel 01223 363468 . (Brighton) Amsterdammers tel 01273 571555

A to B 58 – Feb 2007