Myself and my wife have recently purchased Riese & Muller Super Delite E Bike’s and we benefitted hugely in making the purchase decision on information from the internet, online reviews and forums, in particular help with direct questions from the more experienced riders on the Riese & Muller Forum on Electric Bike Review.
Many of us will do our research of future purchases online, but that only takes you so far and you need to see and try out the product and gain further insight. A good dealer can be very helpful, we were fortunate to find an outstanding dealer in Dan Radford from Edemo, in Nailsworth, UK, disappointingly some dealers are less helpful…
I am sharing my experience in the hope that I can possibly help someone else in the purchase decision on an E Bike. As background we are in our mid 50’s, early 60’s, early retired, living in south east Dorset, UK on the edge of an urban area and within easy access to the extensive New Forest trails. We have had mountain bikes previously and they had reasonable use for leisure cycling in Cornwall, largely we would take the bikes somewhere in a pick up truck and cycle round routes from there, we would hire bikes on holidays but for day to day use… No.
Using a bike seems a great idea, until your journey has hills, its windy , busy traffic, the distance is too far, cycling on rough terrain can be heavy going, you have a load to carry….you don’t want to arrive in a sweaty state of collapse, the usual excuses !! Consequently we have walked a lot and use a car for local journeys over 2 or 3 miles, except the traffic becomes increasingly tedious, parking and the realisation that we can’t all drive everywhere at the same time, there is simply too much traffic for the available road network and then there is pollution from traffic….there must be a better way and seeing the occasional E-bike and chatting to people on E-bikes, the glimmer of an idea forms.
The E Bike can be the default means of transport for local journeys, as an alternative to the car, since the vast majority of our trips are with 5-10 miles from home. It's a means of getting exercise, a much lower environmental impact and a source of pleasure rather necessity, a chance to explore our local area beyond the range of local walks. It overrides the disinclination to travel close to rush hour!
Our first port of call was the local bike shop, they sold an extensive range of bikes, conventional and E-bikes from different brands, we gathered that E-bikes were £2,000 to £3,000 for a beginner, more for an experienced rider and my wife was pointed to a bike without a crossbar and that was about that, no offer of a demonstration, or test ride. When asked about what the more expensive bikes offered, the reply was “better components” no indication if that was a benefit to us or explanation. Not a helpful experience if you don’t talk the jargon. Women are clearly not well catered for, clothing being sold is clearly male orientated, this experience is not untypical, yet the most enthusiastic E-bikes riders I had spoken to were ladies.
We turned to the internet for help and this was much better, lots of information on Bike Forums and You Tube videos, at this point we found a bike shop in the New Forest at Burley, that offered day hire of Cube Hybrid step thru E-bikes, equipped with a Bosch mid drive motor and right from the start, it puts a smile on your face. We explored the forest covering 28 miles, mostly off road trails and seeing so much of the forest in a few hours than we had ever seen before, a car takes you through but you see very little and walking severely restricts how far you can travel, we were sold on the idea.
Now if the original dealer had offered test rides, or test ride days he would sell a lot more bikes !! The bikes we had hired at around £2,400 were clearly a good starting point for a purchase. I was convinced we would get usage from a bike over a period of years and it was likely after a couple of years we would start to realise that there might be better bikes for our purposes and would end up buying again, this seems wasteful and it would make more sense to buy the ultimate bike first without the intermediate purchase. Given we would be reducing car usage significantly, we would extend the life of our existing 5 year old car and use the money saved on a potential earlier replacement, thus choose the most suitable E-bikes now, without the intermediate step.
The mid drive Cube Hybrid was a great bike, it coped well with the well surfaced gravel forest trails but anything rougher underfoot would be a challenge, the front suspension helped but rougher surfaces were a little uncomfortable, the derailleur gears were effective and the Bosch mid drive Active Line motor was excellent, your assisted without the electric drive being really noticeable, the power assistance is there, it stops and starts smoothly with your pedalling, the cut off transition at 25 km/h (16 mph) is very smooth, very controllable.
We had a chance to do a guided tour of Lisbon on e bikes, that was great, but the rear hub on a B’twin E bike was very different to the Bosch mid motor, you had the conventional pedals and gearing, which triggered the rear E hub motor with three power levels. You very much felt that the two power drives were in competition, at low speed the E motor carried on for few seconds after you stopped pedalling, making low speed manoeuvres …interesting ! The ride quality, despite full suspension, wasn’t great, but for around £900, it does the basic job well, I’d have reservations about its durability etc over a period of time….
If one had a shorter term need for an E bike or just not certain than the cheaper bike would be fine for a coupe of years but the Cube was clearly massively better and would have far better longevity, that could be that… but what if you spend more ?
I looked at a variety of bikes and concluded that the Riese and Muller bikes had the right ethos for me, quality engineering, a customisable approach for an individuals needs, a model line that evolves over time with improvements to reflect advances and customer needs. We wished to have comfortable and safe riding, make life easier and you’ll use a bike more, you’ll have less need to change a bike for the sake of changing if you buy right first time, over time the initially more expensive purchase will give better value.
I visited the local Riese and Muller dealer and whilst they had some bikes to look at, there was no interest in locating the model we were interested in, no offer of test ride and really a take it or leave it attitude to what was in stock…disappointing, perhaps I caught them on a bad day and for bike maintenance I had heard good reports.
Fortunately the internet pointed to dealer Edemo in Nailsworth, speaking to Dan Radford was a different experience, very informative about what we needed and the bikes that would suit our particular needs. Whilst being a 2 hour drive away, we visited had an opportunity to test bikes and look at the model we were interested in, the Homage, a great bike. Discussing the bikes and on reflection I felt that the Super Delite might be preferable, felt the latest 2020 motor might be better for a long term purchase, with a few other reasons..
A few weeks later Dan was able to visit us with three bikes for us to test, Delite with Rohloff, the Homage and a Delite Mountain with Fox suspension, for an extended test session over 20+ miles in the New Forest, over a variety of surfaces and swapping bikes we were able to make the right choice for us, two Super Delites, with GX option, Rohloff, Fox Suspension, front rack with Kiox. Brilliant service, what a contrast to the disinterested retailers.
So these bikes offer an incredibly comfortable, competent ride over most surfaces we will encounter, easy to live with, ideal for leisure rides, long distance touring, household shopping etc. Useful highlights, superb comfortable and competent Fox suspension, dropper post, extended battery range, electronic shifting with Rohloff, with auto down change is brilliant, low maintenance, sturdily built with quality components. Are they worth the extra cost, in a word…yes, with the caveat that it is comfortably in your budget and you will use the bikes enough to justify them.
We received our bikes in April 2020, Dan from Edemo brought the bikes to us and set the bikes up for us, very patiently and very carefully, explaining as he went along, very helpful, particularly with the suspension and their controls. It's easy to overlook the importance of this stage, but a poorly set up bike will not be a pleasure, comfortable or safe. In the present Covid crisis the bikes have been brilliant, reduced traffic has been helpful but getting out in fresh air, exploring local areas we barely knew about, practical transport for local shopping and errands, the car has been barely moved in the last 8 weeks. Good for ones wellbeing at any time, but more so now.
New to biking we needed helmets etc, it soon becomes quite a list, some tools, pumps, Co2 kit, Slime for the tyres…. Dan noted from our winter ride our absence of suitable gloves etc and added in some Sealskin winter gloves and socks, he provide a great package for our needs with a good deal. Even better when he arrived with the bikes he had thrown in quality summer gloves, and a couple of buffs plus a matching one for the dog, brilliant , really appreciated and the summer gloves and buffs have been invaluable.
Many of us will do our research of future purchases online, but that only takes you so far and you need to see and try out the product and gain further insight. A good dealer can be very helpful, we were fortunate to find an outstanding dealer in Dan Radford from Edemo, in Nailsworth, UK, disappointingly some dealers are less helpful…
I am sharing my experience in the hope that I can possibly help someone else in the purchase decision on an E Bike. As background we are in our mid 50’s, early 60’s, early retired, living in south east Dorset, UK on the edge of an urban area and within easy access to the extensive New Forest trails. We have had mountain bikes previously and they had reasonable use for leisure cycling in Cornwall, largely we would take the bikes somewhere in a pick up truck and cycle round routes from there, we would hire bikes on holidays but for day to day use… No.
Using a bike seems a great idea, until your journey has hills, its windy , busy traffic, the distance is too far, cycling on rough terrain can be heavy going, you have a load to carry….you don’t want to arrive in a sweaty state of collapse, the usual excuses !! Consequently we have walked a lot and use a car for local journeys over 2 or 3 miles, except the traffic becomes increasingly tedious, parking and the realisation that we can’t all drive everywhere at the same time, there is simply too much traffic for the available road network and then there is pollution from traffic….there must be a better way and seeing the occasional E-bike and chatting to people on E-bikes, the glimmer of an idea forms.
The E Bike can be the default means of transport for local journeys, as an alternative to the car, since the vast majority of our trips are with 5-10 miles from home. It's a means of getting exercise, a much lower environmental impact and a source of pleasure rather necessity, a chance to explore our local area beyond the range of local walks. It overrides the disinclination to travel close to rush hour!
Our first port of call was the local bike shop, they sold an extensive range of bikes, conventional and E-bikes from different brands, we gathered that E-bikes were £2,000 to £3,000 for a beginner, more for an experienced rider and my wife was pointed to a bike without a crossbar and that was about that, no offer of a demonstration, or test ride. When asked about what the more expensive bikes offered, the reply was “better components” no indication if that was a benefit to us or explanation. Not a helpful experience if you don’t talk the jargon. Women are clearly not well catered for, clothing being sold is clearly male orientated, this experience is not untypical, yet the most enthusiastic E-bikes riders I had spoken to were ladies.
We turned to the internet for help and this was much better, lots of information on Bike Forums and You Tube videos, at this point we found a bike shop in the New Forest at Burley, that offered day hire of Cube Hybrid step thru E-bikes, equipped with a Bosch mid drive motor and right from the start, it puts a smile on your face. We explored the forest covering 28 miles, mostly off road trails and seeing so much of the forest in a few hours than we had ever seen before, a car takes you through but you see very little and walking severely restricts how far you can travel, we were sold on the idea.
Now if the original dealer had offered test rides, or test ride days he would sell a lot more bikes !! The bikes we had hired at around £2,400 were clearly a good starting point for a purchase. I was convinced we would get usage from a bike over a period of years and it was likely after a couple of years we would start to realise that there might be better bikes for our purposes and would end up buying again, this seems wasteful and it would make more sense to buy the ultimate bike first without the intermediate purchase. Given we would be reducing car usage significantly, we would extend the life of our existing 5 year old car and use the money saved on a potential earlier replacement, thus choose the most suitable E-bikes now, without the intermediate step.
The mid drive Cube Hybrid was a great bike, it coped well with the well surfaced gravel forest trails but anything rougher underfoot would be a challenge, the front suspension helped but rougher surfaces were a little uncomfortable, the derailleur gears were effective and the Bosch mid drive Active Line motor was excellent, your assisted without the electric drive being really noticeable, the power assistance is there, it stops and starts smoothly with your pedalling, the cut off transition at 25 km/h (16 mph) is very smooth, very controllable.
We had a chance to do a guided tour of Lisbon on e bikes, that was great, but the rear hub on a B’twin E bike was very different to the Bosch mid motor, you had the conventional pedals and gearing, which triggered the rear E hub motor with three power levels. You very much felt that the two power drives were in competition, at low speed the E motor carried on for few seconds after you stopped pedalling, making low speed manoeuvres …interesting ! The ride quality, despite full suspension, wasn’t great, but for around £900, it does the basic job well, I’d have reservations about its durability etc over a period of time….
If one had a shorter term need for an E bike or just not certain than the cheaper bike would be fine for a coupe of years but the Cube was clearly massively better and would have far better longevity, that could be that… but what if you spend more ?
I looked at a variety of bikes and concluded that the Riese and Muller bikes had the right ethos for me, quality engineering, a customisable approach for an individuals needs, a model line that evolves over time with improvements to reflect advances and customer needs. We wished to have comfortable and safe riding, make life easier and you’ll use a bike more, you’ll have less need to change a bike for the sake of changing if you buy right first time, over time the initially more expensive purchase will give better value.
I visited the local Riese and Muller dealer and whilst they had some bikes to look at, there was no interest in locating the model we were interested in, no offer of test ride and really a take it or leave it attitude to what was in stock…disappointing, perhaps I caught them on a bad day and for bike maintenance I had heard good reports.
Fortunately the internet pointed to dealer Edemo in Nailsworth, speaking to Dan Radford was a different experience, very informative about what we needed and the bikes that would suit our particular needs. Whilst being a 2 hour drive away, we visited had an opportunity to test bikes and look at the model we were interested in, the Homage, a great bike. Discussing the bikes and on reflection I felt that the Super Delite might be preferable, felt the latest 2020 motor might be better for a long term purchase, with a few other reasons..
A few weeks later Dan was able to visit us with three bikes for us to test, Delite with Rohloff, the Homage and a Delite Mountain with Fox suspension, for an extended test session over 20+ miles in the New Forest, over a variety of surfaces and swapping bikes we were able to make the right choice for us, two Super Delites, with GX option, Rohloff, Fox Suspension, front rack with Kiox. Brilliant service, what a contrast to the disinterested retailers.
So these bikes offer an incredibly comfortable, competent ride over most surfaces we will encounter, easy to live with, ideal for leisure rides, long distance touring, household shopping etc. Useful highlights, superb comfortable and competent Fox suspension, dropper post, extended battery range, electronic shifting with Rohloff, with auto down change is brilliant, low maintenance, sturdily built with quality components. Are they worth the extra cost, in a word…yes, with the caveat that it is comfortably in your budget and you will use the bikes enough to justify them.
We received our bikes in April 2020, Dan from Edemo brought the bikes to us and set the bikes up for us, very patiently and very carefully, explaining as he went along, very helpful, particularly with the suspension and their controls. It's easy to overlook the importance of this stage, but a poorly set up bike will not be a pleasure, comfortable or safe. In the present Covid crisis the bikes have been brilliant, reduced traffic has been helpful but getting out in fresh air, exploring local areas we barely knew about, practical transport for local shopping and errands, the car has been barely moved in the last 8 weeks. Good for ones wellbeing at any time, but more so now.
New to biking we needed helmets etc, it soon becomes quite a list, some tools, pumps, Co2 kit, Slime for the tyres…. Dan noted from our winter ride our absence of suitable gloves etc and added in some Sealskin winter gloves and socks, he provide a great package for our needs with a good deal. Even better when he arrived with the bikes he had thrown in quality summer gloves, and a couple of buffs plus a matching one for the dog, brilliant , really appreciated and the summer gloves and buffs have been invaluable.
