Caroline

I haven't tried Ortlieb panniers, so I'm afraid I can't answer that question. I agree that that Ortlieb fittings are of a similar type - my concern, though, is that the Cube pannier rack, being built into the bike frame, is a completely different shape from most standard racks (see the picture, which shows how widely splayed the stays are), so I would be a bit surprised if any "standard" panniers fit. The Cube panniers seem fine, although I haven't put them to any serious test yet (I haven't used them on a tour or tested them in wet weather).

I ended up buying Cube's own panniers - these ones: https://www.cube.eu/uk/equipment/bags/pannier-bags/product/cube-panniers-travel-anthracite/ - they do two sorts of panniers, called "City" and "Travel" and I got the larger "Travel" ones as I wanted them for touring. They weren't cheap - somewhere in the region of £80-£90 for the pair (I haven't got the exact details to hand right now) - but they do fit the Cube e-bike properly (even though this isn't totally apparent from the website), and I haven't identified any other pannier that would fit as the Cube doesn't have a standard rear rack. Haven't used them seriously yet as it isn't touring weather, but they look as though they will do the job.

Now that I've actually got my e-bike I find that the manual says "This bike may only be transported inside a vehicle". Grrrrr... do they expect me to buy a bigger car just so that I put the e-bike inside it?

Oops, I think I've just answered my own question. A phone call to Cube in Holland revealed that Cube do make panniers to fit this bike - from the picture on the website it looks as though their panniers have a hook-like thing at the bottom that would have nothing to fasten to on this bike, but they say that this hook can slide sideways on a rail to fit round the bike stay. I've now ordered some to check that that is true!

I've just bought a Cube Touring Hybrid Pro 500 with the intention of using it for multi-day touring and am mightily disconcerted by the fact that I can't find any obvious way of fitting panniers to the rear rack. The fitted rear rack is simply a horizontal plate on top of the mudguard - it has no side stays at all so there is nothing to fit the bottom fastenings of any panniers to, and the stays that form part of the bike frame aren't suitable for the purpose either (and are in any case too widely spread to support the back of the panniers properly). How is it possible to call a bike a touring bike and not make it easy to fit panniers to it?

Just wanted to thank you all for your contributions! The idea of carrying a spare battery is of course obvious but hadn't occurred to me, so that is an idea I shall play with. I have now ordered a Curbe Touring Hybrid Pro 500 and should be getting it in the next day or two.

Thank you - you are all so helpful. The photographs are very useful, as is the idea of the additional retention straps. I hadn't appreciated that the arms on the bike rack could be moved about so much, so I shall experiment once I have my e-bike, which should be in the next day or two. I've decided that it's best not to drive to the shop (it's about 8 miles away) with the rack to collect the bike - instead I'll get the bus there, ride the bike back and then have lots of time to experiment with getting it on the rack on future for future occasions.

Thanks, Kangooroo - although I'm not sure my Thule rack matches what you are describing. It's of this sort: https://www.thule.com/en-gb/gb/bike-rack/towbar-bike-racks/thule-velospace-xt-2-_-938021 (although not that exact model), so has "arms" to grip the bike crossbar. It doesn't have any straps others than the ones that go through either wheel, so I can't actually picture how things work with your rack.

I'm about to buy a Cube Touring Hybrid Pro 500 with a trapeze frame (i.e.. lady's style) and want to work out how to carry it on my exisiting towbar-mounted Thule bike rack. The problem is that the bike rack operates partly by gripping the bike's cross bar, which works for my existing bikes but not for the lady's-frame Cube. The standard solution seems to be to use a cross bar converter that gives you in effect a temporary cross bar - but both the Thule bike frame adapter and Halfords' false cross bar say they are for bikes up to 15 kg, and the Cube weighs about 23 kg. (There is also a Peruzzo cross bar converter but nobody seems to know what the weight limit is for that.) Does anyone know what the solution to this is? I imagine that lots of people want to carry step-through e-bikes on a bike rack, but it's not clear to me how it's done.

Thank you all for your thoughtful and helpful comments. I think I need to forget the Raleigh Motus as it only has a 400 Wh and look at something that has at least a 500 Wh one (which I can see that some Cube bikes do). As a bit of background, I weigh just under 8 stone (so am fairly light) and I'm an experienced cyclist and pretty fit but beginning to feel my age (67). About 18 months ago I did about two-thirds of the Pennine Cycleway (Derby to Appleby) on a non-electric touring bike with panniers but found that doing the roughly 50 mpd that I had planned was very hard going - so I'm looking for an electric bike that would let me do that sort of thing more easily. But I'm beginning to wonder if I'm being a bit ambitious in looking for a bike that could do climbs like Hartside or Garrigill (those are just the sort of places I have my eye on, Mike) and still have enough juice for the rest of the day's trip (although I too had thought of stopping for lunch somewhere where I could recharge the battery!).

I want to buy an electric bike to take touring in hilly terrain (e.g. the Pennine Cycleway), doing perhaps 50-60 miles per day with laden panniers. My local bike shop is suggesting the Raleigh Motus Grand Tour (I'd be inclined to go for the diamond frame and derailleur gears). Do people think this is a good choice? (Will the battery life be sufficient to cope with the hills? Is the bike robust enough to cope with the sort of off-road conditions that you find on Sustrans routes? Are the gears adequate for hilly terrain?) Any thoughts welcome.