looking for a rohloff, belt drive, pedelec

[wks]

Hello, I am after someadvice please. I am planning to buy a replacement pedelec for my haibike eq trekking, which was bought 6 years ago. It is being handed on to my daughter. I had pretty much decided on a Riese & Muller bike, probably either a Homage or Charger Mixte but R&M don't do rohloff with a belt drive. My requirements are for:

A similar gear range (Haibike is a Sram 27 speed dual drive with development measured at 1.85m – 9.70m although the manual says the gear range is 576%). I want internal hub gears, the rohloff has 526% gear range, nuvinci 380 only 380% on paper.

Belt drive, either gates carbon or similar. R&M do a nuvinci/gates specification but for unknown reasons not a rohloff/gates (they do exist, I have seen a pedelec MTB with it).

Trailer compatible rear wheel, for a burley flatbed.

Bosch cx motor. A local bike shop can service them and in reviews it seems to come out on top for torque.

Road capable from the start, ie rear rack, mudguard, bell, lights.

Low step through, or Mixte as R&M call it. I have a dutch 'krat' which goes on top of the rear rack, basically an up market milk crate with nio internal dividers. Great for piling stuff in but makes it unfeasible for anyone but a trained ballerina to swing a leg over the seat.

Bike must be useable without the battery. My Haibike has dynamo lights (auto-sensing flash in daylight, switching to steady beam at night), but most pedelecs now seem to need the battery to power lights.

Suspension would be nice, if full suspension it must include the rear rack (reviews for homage and charger are conflicting about whether rack is floating or not). Front suspension only would be ok.

I would really like sturmey archer hub brakes but they only seem to be an option on tadpoles nowadays ;-)

There were some issues when I got my Haibike, so I will only buy and collect from a physical shop, and I probably won't buy without a trial ride. Because I don't own a car, travel is limited to bike shops near a mainline station. Budget is essentially unlimited; if need be I will go the custom build route. However I really need to get one within the next few months and would prefer to buy off the shelf.

So, anyone any ideas? I have trawled google results without success so far and am about to start tearing my hair out.

 

[Trevormonty]

Citrus Cycles has lots of youtube video reviews on R&M range.

 

[wks]

OK, thank you for that. I cannot remembef if I saw those, I will have anothdr look. I should have made myself clearer, R&M don't do a rohloff / belt drive combo, which is what I'm looking for.

 

[E-Wheels]

but R&M don't do rohloff with a belt drive.

They do now https://www.r-m.de/en-gb/media-preview-2018/supercharger/

 

[nashdm2]

mmmm, belt drive Rohloff, interesting, cant wait to see what else R&M have for us in the 2018 MY bikes.

 

[Trevormonty]

mmmm, belt drive Rohloff, interesting, cant wait to see what else R&M have for us in the 2018 MY bikes.

Bosch have just announce new Active drives which are quieter and normal size chainring. I'm guessing Performance drives will get same treatment next year. Probably 18month wait.

 

[RobF]

There are things for and against a belt drive.

I suspect the Rohloff/belt bike will not support a quick release, which is a pity because having a quick release is one of the benefits of the Rohloff hub.

The belt needs high tension, and as far as I'm aware Rohloff do not offer belt sprockets, third party companies do.

Is this because the hub bearings are not designed to take the extra sideways load of the belt?

My Charger has a standard chain with a Chainglider.

The chain would last for ages, being all but fully enclosed means it will last even longer, and fixing a puncture is straightforward.

Leaving Rohloffs aside, Gates quote the life of the belt as 'about twice that of a chain'.

Spare belts - if you can get them - are about £100.

Then there's the faff of carrying a spare, because they don't like to be be coiled too tightly.

Or you don't carry a spare, and risk being stranded.

 

[wks]

Thank you for the comments. Sadly, no one seems to know of a rohloff belt machine available now. Don't want to get into the chain/belt discussion, I am familiar with pros/cons of belt drives. And I never replace chains or gears on a bike, always worked ok so far. However, fallback could be a Charger with chainglide. It's sad that the RM rohloff/belt won't be around for a year or so, but I need to buy within the next few weeks or I will be without a bike.

 

[nashdm2]

The RM Rohloff/belt is available in Sep/Oct 2017!!!!, that will be amazing, cant you wait for two months?

 

[RobF]

The RM Rohloff/belt is available in Sep/Oct 2017!!!!, that will be amazing, cant you wait for two months?

The OP might get one delivered in the first week of September, but general experience of new model year bikes suggest the date will likely slip, even into 2018.

Getting a 2017 chain bike at this time of year may also not be simple as production is concentrated on new models.

What's needed here is an honest and straightforward dealer, and an honest and straightforward manufacturer, both giving realistic information to the customer.

Which doesn't always happen, although my R&M purchase went smoothly.

 

[E-Wheels]

The RM Rohloff/belt is available in Sep/Oct 2017!!!!, that will be amazing, cant you wait for two months?

R&M bikes are made to order which is approx 3 months delivery lead time from time of ordering. That will make the 2018 models available in about 5 months

 

[wks]

12 weeks to make a bike, + 8 weeks lead time. Staggering. Going the custom build route I'm seeing quotes of only 6 weeks, and that's for a bespoke rig, not assembling from a very limited set of options in RM's case (and I don't understand why USA customers seem to get choice of tyres, brakes etc that UK doesn't). I do like RM, I had a Birdy Blue for over 10 years, but these supply times are ridiculous. The possibility of an unscheduled rapid exit from the EU within that timescale is sufficiently high with consequential dislocation of an order/increased price that I think RM are probably not an option. I am very dissapointed.

 

[RobF]

The possibility of an unscheduled rapid exit from the EU.

We can all hope.

 

[martin@onbike]

It may be 3 months in Australia, but all our Riese and Muller bikes have arrived within 8 weeks tops in u.k - though usually 6 weeks is the norm.

 

[Crockers]

One problem may be getting to find a demonstrator.....There's no longer a UK distributor so everything is direct to Germany.

 

[wks]

Yes, that's becoming obvious the more I phone around. Lots of shops willing to order in for me, but they expect me to fund their business by paying upfront and no option of declining or cancelling if found unsuitable and no matter how long delivery is delayed ie "time is not of the essence" in lawyer speak. Nice business model but not one that I will give my custom to. And yes, I do expect shops to keep stocks of bikes. If they can't afford stock, what collatdral is there to protect any payments made to them in the unfortunate event they go bust betwixt payment and delivery?

 

[Crockers]

Yes, that's becoming obvious the more I phone around. Lots of shops willing to order in for me, but they expect me to fund their business by paying upfront and no option of declining or cancelling if found unsuitable and no matter how long delivery is delayed ie "time is not of the essence" in lawyer speak. Nice business model but not one that I will give my custom to. And yes, I do expect shops to keep stocks of bikes. If they can't afford stock, what collatdral is there to protect any payments made to them in the unfortunate event they go bust betwixt payment and delivery?

A credit card gives you full protection if the dealer goes bust. But I do agree with you as its a strange business model. Does the dealer have to pay for the bikes before delivery or afterwards?