New bike for old bloke?

[danfoto]

Following surgery, I now need to replace my trusty Batavus pedelec with one which doesn't have a crossbar. I'm mid-70s, 6ft, and do 1500+ miles a year riding for everyday transport on the road year round in all weathers. Must-haves include ...

No crossbar, upright riding position
Mid motor
Disc brakes
Hub gears
Rear and preferably front carrier(s)
Full mudguards
Lights

A full chaincase would be nice but I do realise they're not fashionable. Seeing as how I'm definitely not into maintaining bikes nowadays, I do wonder about belt drive but know nothing about it.

Suggestions please, folks?

 

[papakilo]

Following surgery, I now need to replace my trusty Batavus pedelec with one which doesn't have a crossbar. I'm mid-70s, 6ft, and do 1500+ miles a year riding for everyday transport on the road year round in all weathers. Must-haves include ...

No crossbar, upright riding position
Mid motor
Disc brakes
Hub gears
Rear and preferably front carrier(s)
Full mudguards
Lights

A full chaincase would be nice but I do realise they're not fashionable. Seeing as how I'm definitely not into maintaining bikes nowadays, I do wonder about belt drive but know nothing about it.

Suggestions please, folks?

This one's looks a good fit if the price is within reach

Wisper Wayfarer e-Bike | The New Way To Get Around Town

The Wisper Wayfarer E-Bike is an incredibly versatile electric bike that can take you touring, commuting, and exploring. Shop with 0% finance available.

wisperbikes.com

 

[guerney]

My knees are in a terrible state, and I really couldn't use an ebike without the very high assistance levels made possible by programming my Bafang bbs01b. If an off the shelf bike doesn't assist enough, I'd definitely recommend a Bafang bbs01b conversion, if you're handy with tools (I wasn't and am not particularly handy with tools BTW).

Bafang Programming - Learn how to improve your Bafang mid-drive ebike - Edrivenet

Learn how to improve your Bafang mid-drive ebike. Reprogramming your Bafang mid-drive system can improve the usability and performance of your ebike a lot.

edrivenet.com

 

[danfoto]

Cheers chaps, but the Wisper's out on account of it has derailleur gears. Ref the Bafang conversion, it's not more assistance that I need, it's a bike without a crossbar. Besides, I'm not interested in converting a bike: I've done more than my share of meddling with bikes over the years and I now just want to ride . That's one reason why I like hub gears ...

 

[Glynned]

It depends on budget, Riese and Muller do a number of none crossbar bike with belt drive and two types of hub gears. They are very expensive, depending on model, but high quality. Do a search on YouTube to get an idea. They are all Bosch mid drive bikes. It depends where you are in the country as to where your nearest dealer may, Google or any search engine will find one for you.

 

[matthewslack]

If you use the search and look for vario or enviolo you'll find discussions and examples of ebikes so equipped.

I don't know if any off the shelf ebikes use Rohlhoff gear hubs? If not, then another option is to swap derailleur for one on an otherwise ideal bike.

As you are probably finding, there are plenty of options that leave one box unticked, and only rather expensive options that tick them all.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Mid drive and hub gears can be less than reliable option over the long term. Bosch typically supply low power mid-drive motors for that combination to protect the hub gears from early failure. So you may find the hub motor is only outputting around 40Nm at the crank which with the losses through the chain could be 37Nm and then you have to work out how much torque you have based on the gearing. If you had a 42T chainring at the front and 42T maximum cog at the rear that would be 37Nm but if you have lets say 48T at the front and 32T at the rear you would only have 2/3rds of that 37Nm torque.

My point is you definitely want to have a test ride of the bike to see if its powerful enough for you. Many hub motors will comfortably outperform that type of mid-drive motor and you can get torque based sensors in bottom brackets that work with hub motors to give that nice smooth push of power too.

Mid-drive high torque performance is more about e-mountain bikes and you wouldn't combine one of those mid-drive motors with hub gearing unless perhaps it was a Rohloff.

 

[danfoto]

Thanks for your input, gents. I'd love to go to Riese & Muller, but alas we'd be talking around half what the two of us here live on for a year.

There are indeed several bikes that tick most of the boxes. I found the same when I was looking for a replacement for our Kalkhoffs - IIRC the Batavus bikes we ended up buying were just about the only ones that met all the requirements, as to be expected with them being Dutch bikes built for the Danish market! Vario and Enviolo are new to me though, so I'll certainly check them out.

Finally, I'm quite settled in my ways where drive and gears are concerned. The Kalkhoff I had was indeed somewhat underpowered, but that's not the case with the Yamaha setup on the Batavus, and I've never been able to find fault with 8-speed Nexus gears.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that my present bike has been ideal in every respect, but now the crossbar's got the better of me

 

[geoff967]

Thanks for your input, gents. I'd love to go to Riese & Muller, but alas we'd be talking around half what the two of us here live on for a year.

There are indeed several bikes that tick most of the boxes. I found the same when I was looking for a replacement for our Kalkhoffs - IIRC the Batavus bikes we ended up buying were just about the only ones that met all the requirements, as to be expected with them being Dutch bikes built for the Danish market! Vario and Enviolo are new to me though, so I'll certainly check them out.

Finally, I'm quite settled in my ways where drive and gears are concerned. The Kalkhoff I had was indeed somewhat underpowered, but that's not the case with the Yamaha setup on the Batavus, and I've never been able to find fault with 8-speed Nexus gears.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that my present bike has been ideal in every respect, but now the crossbar's got the better of me

May I offer my 2 pennorth
Tip given re crossbar is simply lie bike on ground ,stand over and lift.ditto for getting off.
Ok have gazelle grenoble with 8 gears hub drive and protected chain guard.done 10000 in 3 search for Procter 967.hope this helps

 

[geoff967]

Should be geoff967 of course

 

[Stanebike]

My sister has a Gazelle Grenoble C7 which pretty much covers you list except for front rack and disc brakes. Her Gazelle has hydraulic rim brakes. It rides nicely and the brakes felt very good, better than I had expected. I’m used to discs on my Raleigh Motus GT which is also available with hub gears.