Wallet busting Cube

[Peter Thornton]

http://granfondo-cycling.com/cube-agree-hybrid-c62-worlds-first-real-e-road-bike/

ooh, I do like the look of this one!

The motor and battery both clip off to convert it to a standard road bike. Not sure I dare to ask for a test ride on this one, not at £4,500!

But a sign of things to come?

 

[Gubbins]

There are some others out there with a smaller more integrated battery.. perhaps trying to appeal to the anti cheating brigade!

 

[grldtnr]

There are some others out there with a smaller more integrated battery.. perhaps trying to appeal to the anti cheating brigade!

I fail to see the need for this, if one wants to ride a fast road bike, I am thinking a fast road bike is what you need, not an expensive sham.

I can see the need for simple e- bike's, but road bikes seem pointless.

 

[Ducknald Don]

I suppose if you live in a particularly hilly area it might make sense but round my way I get passed by people on road bikes all the time.

 

[Artstu]

Focus have a bike with the same system, perhaps Cube and Focus are related?

 

[LeighPing]

http://granfondo-cycling.com/orbea-gain/

So what’s revolutionary?
An e-road bike that weighs in at 13 kg with 250w of motor power and a max torque of 40 Nm, with a 250 wh battery from Panasonic that has a starting price of € 2,000.

 

[Gubbins]

I fail to see the need for this, if one wants to ride a fast road bike, I am thinking a fast road bike is what you need, not an expensive sham.

I can see the need for simple e- bike's, but road bikes seem pointless.

I suppose it depends on your age and fitness. As someone fast approaching 70 years old that doesn't want to be relegated to a simple ebike, bikes like this hold a lot of appeal..

 

[greyfox69]

If you lust after it, and can afford it just buy it !! my father-in-law bought the giant road ebike earlier this year he prefers that style over the city/mtb style he loves it and is out two or three times a week, at 75 he knows time is not on his side so he is enjoying his cycling like he did 10 years ago

 

[EddiePJ]

I love the look of the Orbea Gain, but the Cube looks too bulky.

 

[willcee]

Have a cycling bud who is after one of these Gain models,the dealers are all waiting on stock !! not having a chance yet of a test ride he is wondering if just 40 n/m is going to be enough even though everyone who has tested it are all raving about it.. so could it be hopped a bit??

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I fail to see the need for this, if one wants to ride a fast road bike, I am thinking a fast road bike is what you need, not an expensive sham.

I can see the need for simple e- bike's, but road bikes seem pointless.

That's what I was thinking. An electric road bike doesn't really make sense if it's restricted to 15 mph.

 

[Danidl]

No problem in having a bike that you could be sure would bring you the last few miles with little effort. But the price is outrageous, it is double what a good ebike costs and four times what an adaquata ebike costs... Will it give four times the fun?

 

[Gubbins]

That's what I was thinking. An electric road bike doesn't really make sense if it's restricted to 15 mph.

To be fair, its no more restricted to 15mph than an e-mtb and if its light enough some could easily make it go faster.. For me tho the lightest of affordable road bikes allow me to average around 15mph on flatish terain over 25 miles, but if I try to ride out of the valley and add a couple of thousnad feet this average drops to single figures and my range drops to about 10 miles so after a few attempts I stopped trying. On my e-road bike my average is around 15mph uphill and down dale, my range is up to 40 miles and I can go up any of the hills that surround me.
Of course there are many older cyclists out there with a cycling history that dont need an ebike but they are easily outnumbered by those that do, or should I say, those that would like to but cant!
My E-road bike weighs in at just under 20kg so 13KG seems a big improvement, but not at the expense of power or range.
So for me and the majority of 70 year olds like me that dont want to go offroad and/or play in the mud an electric road bike makes perfect sense.

 

[anotherkiwi]

This is obviously a toy and not a tool so cube are gouging as deeply as they can into the buyers wallet, good for them! It is only 1000€ more than the Orbea road bike... There are a couple of markets for e-road bikes:

- older roadies or injured ones (there have been reports of injured pros using the Giant to get back in shape after surgery IIRC)
- younger road riders who live in mountainous regions out for the fun/exercise and not into racing, you have to be seriously into self inflicted pain to ride some of the roads I do without assistance

These are all people who will have no problem riding past the 25 km/h cut off on suitable terrain. Like on the trike the motor is useful for getting up to 25 km/h from a standing start and climbing. Anywhere else you can pedal at higher speeds.

I did notice in the article that roadies have the same stupid comments to make about e-bikes as the MTB chaps: "E-road bikes: Does it mean we’ll all get fat and lazy?" - it's a bicycle not a moped get over it!

 

[Gubbins]

So what’s revolutionary?
An e-road bike that weighs in at 13 kg with 250w of motor power and a max torque of 40 Nm, with a 250 wh battery from Panasonic that has a starting price of € 2,000.

The top spec one is still a goodly bit cheaper than the the Giant Road e+1

 

[Rich_uk]

Similar price but much stealthier..

http://www.goatbikes.com/section811575_327661.html

 

[Gubbins]

Similar price but much stealthier..

http://www.goatbikes.com/section811575_327661.html

Is this the sort of thing that amateur racers are trying to field?

 

[Rich_uk]

Is this the sort of thing that amateur racers are trying to field?

Mechanical doping?

 

[Artstu]

Mechanical doping?

Tell you what it clearly isn't that good a bike given the result of his KOM. Now I've never been a pro rider, I'm older and I live with an illness that limits my energy output (the reason I ride an e-bike) but I'm fairly confident I could beat his KOM on my Old hub geared classic Bosch hybrid bike/

and here it is for anyone in the area https://www.strava.com/segments/9732932

Can't get the media link to start at the point I would like 4:29

 

[Rich_uk]

I guess that's the payoff for being so stealthy.