Riese & Muller Homage with Rohloff E14
I have just done 1,148 miles on the new bike, taken a longer than when I first had the Delite around seven years ago but I was a bit younger then.
So how does it compare? A lot of improvements over the years noticeably the Bosch motor. It has much more torque than the old one more even than the Haibike and then of course the electric gear change makes progress even better. This was the only reason I got a replacement, arthritis in my thumb and wrist made changing gears to painful and E14 is just the ticket.
I paid extra for the Kiox display, Rock Razor tyres, bigger pedals, grips with upstands and a better saddle, makes a difference and worth it. As it’s likely to be my last bike purchase I might as well.
The Homage is a step thru’ or a girls bike in old money. Getting my leg over the saddle is also getting a bit of a pain but this bike is wonderful. Very smooth with having full suspension, more for road holding they say than soaking up the bumps but it does that anyway.
It is as strong as as a traditional bike so can take any punishment I dare do, not that I dare but if I did it wouldn’t be a problem. Speeding down hill isn’t as thrilling as the on old bikes as it seems to be made for it, I am quite confident at 40 MPH on the steep downhill bits, I don’t peddle that fast.
It’s not been fault free a shame to say, I had a clonk coming from around the centre part and I thought it was the motor. Sounded like it could have been but no. Martin at OnBike found that someone at the factory had either greased something they shouldn’t or used the wrong stuff. He had it stripped down a re-assembled as it should be and it’s been fine since. It’s not the sort of thing that Riese & Muller usually do, letting bikes out that are not perfect.
I have a dislike of dérailleur gears hence having the Rohloff. I had a Grace with the Nuvinci variable and although it seemed to be OK I much prefer the Rohloff. There is my story on here somewhere of my fun and games with the Grace but best forgotten.
The chain on the Delite lasted for 9,500 mile before it needed changing, the Homage comes with the Gates toothed belt drive that should (fingers crossed) last twice that.
It is said the belt drive has losses a chain doesn't, I can’t say I have noticed. I can and do ride the bike without needing any power assist on the more level ground and that is more than I could do on the Delite.
I need the rear brake bleeding again, it happened early on and Martin fixed it of course. The book of words say do not lie the bike down sideways, not many cars are able to allow an upright means of carrying bikest. Front brake is OK. I have taken several bikes to & fro lying down in my cars without a problem so I can’t see that it’s that doing it. I can’t see any oil leaking.
There comes an Error message on the display sometimes with a ‘Contact your dealer’ but switching it off and on again it just works. I can’t remember the code number it gives, assuming it’s the same one. I thought it could be in the 70’s, Martin thinks it could be I’m pushing to hard changing gear. It supposed to cut the power a bit during gear changes and most times it’s very good. It gear changing improved as the miles were put on it, it was very lumpy at first. Should I not have the arthritis I think I would prefer the original twist changer.
Time will tell, I now have given in and started wearing my glasses so I will be able to clearly see what it says if it does it again. At least once it did it when unplugging the charger, never had these problems with my old Hercules 70 years ago.
Overall, its the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden, it’s only the price that puts people off having one but for me, it’s well worth the money charged.
No regrets, I would buy another.
In addition, the same goes for OnBike who have been brilliant over the years since I first crossed their threshold.
I have just done 1,148 miles on the new bike, taken a longer than when I first had the Delite around seven years ago but I was a bit younger then.
So how does it compare? A lot of improvements over the years noticeably the Bosch motor. It has much more torque than the old one more even than the Haibike and then of course the electric gear change makes progress even better. This was the only reason I got a replacement, arthritis in my thumb and wrist made changing gears to painful and E14 is just the ticket.
I paid extra for the Kiox display, Rock Razor tyres, bigger pedals, grips with upstands and a better saddle, makes a difference and worth it. As it’s likely to be my last bike purchase I might as well.
The Homage is a step thru’ or a girls bike in old money. Getting my leg over the saddle is also getting a bit of a pain but this bike is wonderful. Very smooth with having full suspension, more for road holding they say than soaking up the bumps but it does that anyway.
It is as strong as as a traditional bike so can take any punishment I dare do, not that I dare but if I did it wouldn’t be a problem. Speeding down hill isn’t as thrilling as the on old bikes as it seems to be made for it, I am quite confident at 40 MPH on the steep downhill bits, I don’t peddle that fast.
It’s not been fault free a shame to say, I had a clonk coming from around the centre part and I thought it was the motor. Sounded like it could have been but no. Martin at OnBike found that someone at the factory had either greased something they shouldn’t or used the wrong stuff. He had it stripped down a re-assembled as it should be and it’s been fine since. It’s not the sort of thing that Riese & Muller usually do, letting bikes out that are not perfect.
I have a dislike of dérailleur gears hence having the Rohloff. I had a Grace with the Nuvinci variable and although it seemed to be OK I much prefer the Rohloff. There is my story on here somewhere of my fun and games with the Grace but best forgotten.
The chain on the Delite lasted for 9,500 mile before it needed changing, the Homage comes with the Gates toothed belt drive that should (fingers crossed) last twice that.
It is said the belt drive has losses a chain doesn't, I can’t say I have noticed. I can and do ride the bike without needing any power assist on the more level ground and that is more than I could do on the Delite.
I need the rear brake bleeding again, it happened early on and Martin fixed it of course. The book of words say do not lie the bike down sideways, not many cars are able to allow an upright means of carrying bikest. Front brake is OK. I have taken several bikes to & fro lying down in my cars without a problem so I can’t see that it’s that doing it. I can’t see any oil leaking.
There comes an Error message on the display sometimes with a ‘Contact your dealer’ but switching it off and on again it just works. I can’t remember the code number it gives, assuming it’s the same one. I thought it could be in the 70’s, Martin thinks it could be I’m pushing to hard changing gear. It supposed to cut the power a bit during gear changes and most times it’s very good. It gear changing improved as the miles were put on it, it was very lumpy at first. Should I not have the arthritis I think I would prefer the original twist changer.
Time will tell, I now have given in and started wearing my glasses so I will be able to clearly see what it says if it does it again. At least once it did it when unplugging the charger, never had these problems with my old Hercules 70 years ago.
Overall, its the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden, it’s only the price that puts people off having one but for me, it’s well worth the money charged.
No regrets, I would buy another.
In addition, the same goes for OnBike who have been brilliant over the years since I first crossed their threshold.
