Eddie,Bosch drive bike.....yes I rode the Cannondale Alfine 8 with Bosch drive,it went up the hill very well,it was a very refined bike and felt very strong. There is no question that these centre mount crank drive bikes are better up hills than hub drives,which is what you would expect because the motor power and rider input are being used efficiently through the bikes gearing system-the bike had an annoying habit of switching power on/off/on as you bridged the 25kmh limit. Up the hill it felt right to ride the bike like a conventional bike but with assist-by that I mean down to 2nd gear and high cadence but with low pedal effort.
However I also rode a front motor 250watt Suzhou Bafang hub drive up the hill,it went up quite well but it felt better in 3rd or 4th gear (both bikes had the Nexus 8 gears),it was necessary to use more pedal effort but with low cadence and then the bike went up the hill very fast,it was important not to allow the speed to drop too much for then the power dropped away
So in conclusion if you want to ride up hills with less pedal effort the crank drive is the way to go but if you are prepared to put a bit more effort in then the hub drive was if anything a bit quicker.
The Cannondale was Euro 2800,the hub drive was about Euro 1000. I did see a place for crank drive if you wish to efficiently climb hills with minimum pedal effort but the hub drive with good software is an inefficient basic principle which good design makes work pretty well,many would find the price difference attractive.
Hope that is a fair review.
Dave
KudosCycles
