Well, I'll resurrect this thread for the simple reason that I have bought an e-bike. The excellent Mr. Legge, sadly NOTP, once accused me of "conspicuous consumption" (from the saddle of his carbon Colnago, naturally) for owning a Rohloff hub. His tongue was firmly in his cheek, of course. However, I think that charge is definitely one to which I would have to plead guilty as I am now the owner of a Riese & Müller "Homage", a full suspension step-through e-bike with Rohloff hub gear, Gates belt drive, the latest Bosch motor and a 625wh battery. I contemplated going for the version with two 625wh batteries, but the example I bought was in stock at Spoke & Motor in Bury St. Edmunds, whereas there would have been a 10 week wait for the other, and an extra £1119 to pay for the battery. These batteries are not cheap, and the only ride I could think of for which such a battery might come into its own would be the Dunwich Dynamo.
My decision to buy was prompted by a 38 mile ride on my Thorn which I did a few Thursdays ago, the latter stages of which were very slow indeed, involving a long but gentle climb from the White Hart, Margaretting Tye, into Stock. I felt very knackered afterwards. I had a long think about this and decided that my Thorn, although a lovely bike and still working extremely well, doesn't owe me a thing. I've had it 16 years and I've done over 41,000 miles on it in that time. I don't think I was ever going to settle for anything less than a Rohloff, I have been thinking about a belt drive conversion for a while, and I want a battery big enough that I can do a reasonable day ride without having to charge up part way through. Everything pointed to Riese & Müller. I also have to consider that advancing age (I shall be 68 in June) means that my cycling days are probably numbered anyway. If I get 16 years out of the R & M, I shall still be riding it at 84. Something tells me that that is unlikely, so the sooner I start riding it, the better will be my value for money.
Having had a look around social media for other people riding these Monster Trucks of bikes, I found that there is quite a fraternity who, like me, have been riding Rohloff hubs almost exclusively for years. It seems to be a natural progression. So far as I can see, the only difference between my new Rohloff and my old ones is that this one is equipped with 36 spokes. Given the problems we had 15 years or so ago with our tandem's spokes pulling lumps of flange out of the hub, this must be regarded as a sensible move.
How does it ride? Beautifully! There are 4 levels of assistance: Eco, Tour, Race, Turbo. So far, I've been keeping it in Eco mode most of the time, and I think I would have no difficulty in getting 60 miles or more out of the battery in Essex-style terrain. Today, I rode from home to Paper Mill Lock and the entire outward journey was done almost entirely in Eco mode, but I bumped it up to Tour when I had to climb a hill and my speed was reduced to single figures. I used 30% of the battery and covered 35.19km at an average speed of 18.6kph. That included 348 metres of ascent. On the return, in which I rode with the homecoming CTC Sunday riders, I used Tour mode a good deal, I covered 45.2k at an average speed of 19.5kph. I arrived home with 17% left in the battery. I noticed that once the battery dropped to less than 30% full, a warning came on.
I did take the charger with me. It's fairly light and compact - much more so than the Shimano Steps version that comes with our Circe tandem. There was no need for me to try to scrounge electrons from a landlord as I felt sure I had plenty in the battery for the entire journey. However, I might well do so if I were out on a multi-day tour. A little judicious topping up at meal times seems eminently sensible. I have yet to enquire about campsites. I don't really want to go to all the expense of a hook-up at whatever they cost for 15p's worth of electricity, but sometimes finding a few buckshee electrons to keep phones topped up is an issue.
My bike comes with the "Nyon" display. This is a controlling computer with lots of functionality, including a very capable cyclist-oriented satnav. It links to my mobile phone via bluetooth and when it's working, it's seamless. However, I had an issue with it failing to sync for much of today and I found it most frustrating. It did so eventually but I have no idea what it was that was the problem, or what I did to cure it. Before setting off for Paper Mill Lock, I asked it to plot a route from home, and it found one that was very sensible and using roads I had never previously considered. I followed its suggestion and worked my way through Rayleigh along much quieter residential roads than the urban A roads I am accustomed to riding.
The bike is equipped with Schwalbe 27.5"*2.35" "Johnny Watts" mountain bike tyres which nonetheless roll well on the road. I have ridden it offroad and it just goes. It really is a joy to ride - so much so that in the 10 days I have owned it so far, I've covered 365k. That's more than half the distance I did on the Thorn in the previous 90 days of the year. Today's ride of 80k was a breeze. I could have gone a lot further if I had needed to, and it's lovely being able to keep up a decent speed. I'm no longer trying the patience of my riding colleagues with my sloth - not that anyone has ever complained, the people I ride with a too well-mannered.
The drawbacks are: weight. It weighs over 25kg and on one ride, last weekend, I had to wrestle it through a kissing gate whose "valve" was too small. I understand that some train companies have an upper weight restriction for bikes, and I believe that Serco refuse to take e-bikes on the Sleeper because they perceived that the batteries represented a fire hazard. Good job I didn't tell them about the paraffin I have taken for my camping stove! This weight also makes it a bit of a fight for one person to get it into the car. I have managed, but taking the battery out immediately reduces the weight by 4kg. The bike is fitted with top-notch Supernova lights, and they are on all the time. There is a front rack and a matching bag, but that bag can't take much luggage before it starts to obscure the light. I prefer to take 4 panniers with me when I tour, so I might invest in a front rack designed for suspension forks. The bike comes with its own lock, the Abus Bordo 6500, but so far as I can tell that is only silver-rated and the insurance company I have used insists on a gold-standard lock being used when out and about. The same key operates the Bordo lock as unlocks the battery.
