Back On The Road

[Crossroads]

Hello Everyone,

I'm an old boy in the cycling game,I've been cycling on and off for sixty years. Last Summer I bought a Merida Hybrid but after half a dozen punctures in short time I fitted it with solid Tannus tyres. This is fine for my local canal rides, where they smash the hawthorns up every Autumn and everyone gets flats, but it made any sort of hill out in the country lanes even more of a challenge with the extra drag on the road.

This forum has been invaluable to me and my conclusion was that I should prioritise torque, power and battery capacity and buy something that I won't feel the need to upgrade anytime soon.

So I have bought a Cube Kathmandu Hybrid Pro 500 (Bosch Performance CX) and I've been dodging showers this last week, riding all the routes I had been avoiding because of the hills. It's been great and I haven't found anything I can't sail up so far. I'm getting 69 miles range in ECO and 34 in TOUR, which is spot on the Bosch Range Calculator. It's easy cycling, but I'm cycling four times as far as before, so good exercise.

 

[Fat Rat]

Excellent
Glad your munching the miles up
Enjoy the new steed

 

[Crossroads]

Thanks, Fat Rat. I'm fully converted. The Carbon Fibre brigade at work have been taking the **** mercilessly, of course, but they all want me to ride it in so they can have a go ! Ha.

 

[Phil Dryden]

Hi Crossroads,
I bought exactly the same bike back in May, and am highly delighted with it. Coming up to 1000 miles covered, and like yourself I find the 75nm of torque incredible on the hills. I'm often riding unlit country roads at 6.30 am, and although I supplement the fitted lights with additional units, the manufacturers fitted lights are pretty good in themselves. Enjoy the bike - I'm sure it will give you many years of reliable service.

 

[Crossroads]

Thanks Phil,

I'm glad you are delighted with your bike, that's good news. I've been very impressed by my bike so far. Nice to get a proper manual which covers the bike components and the motor/battery and guide to servicing. My dealer hooked it up via the diagnostics and replaced the MTB mode, which I wasn't sure of, with Sport mode which feels like the sweet spot of a really good turbo diesel car. I'm not sure I will ever get to use the lowest gears.

 

[Phil Dryden]

Your comments on the MTB mode are interesting. Must admit I never use it as I never go off road, and I think that is the primary scenario it is intended for. It will deliver a varying level of assist depending upon pedal pressure which is ideal for off road use where you don't have time to keep changing assist modes. Next time the bike is in dry dock I may ask about reinstating Sport mode. Totally agree about the gears - I reckon I use the top 3 for 95% of the time. The lower gears might come into their own if for whatever reason you have to ride unassisted uphill or into a headwind, or (perish the thought) both at the same time!

 

[Crossroads]

Phil,
My dealer did say that I might find the gearing rather low and suggested that he could easily sort that in the future, presumably by putting on a bigger chain ring ,therefore moving all the gearing up a few rungs and doing an update on the diagnostics to keep it legal. I'm not sure if I will go for this because at the moment I only run out of gears going downhill . I'm not sure I want to risk coming off a bike in normal clothes at anything over 25mph in any case. As you say, the low gears could get you home if you had a power failure.

Interestingly, the 2019 model of this bike has had a motor 'downgrade' to ActiveLine Plus. I'm happy with the Performance CX because I've found that the motor gets me over the assistance level very quickly and frankly, I need the exercise.

 

[Phil Dryden]

Hi Crossroads,
I've done a quick scan around the new 2019 Kathmandu models and I can't see any with Activeline Plus motor - all seem to retain CX unless there are some I'm missing. I have noticed, though, that some Kathmandu's have an integrated downtube battery which looks nice. I have also noticed some 2018 Hybrid Pro 500 models selling for as little as £1830!! Boo hoo! Bargain for someone, though.

 

[Andy McNish]

Interestingly, the 2019 model of this bike has had a motor 'downgrade' to ActiveLine Plus. I'm happy with the Performance CX because I've found that the motor gets me over the assistance level very quickly and frankly, I need the exercise.

I don't see this - they are still all CX I think:
https://www.cube.eu/en/2019/e-bikes/trekking/tour/kathmandu/

The Touring Pro line shifted from CX in 2017 to the new 3rd Gen Active Line Plus for 2018 and 2019, but that is understandable as the Active Line Plus is arguably a better pure touring motor - unless you need to climb 20%+ gradients like the Katmandu is designed for - as the Active Line Plus has 20-30% better range than the CX and is silent and has 1:1 ratio with zero resist when off.

 

[Crossroads]

Yes, you are right. A rare error, that's two this year.