Once I had decided get the Pedelec the long wait for spring started. This year spring was late pretty much everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere and wait for test rides long. I used that time to learn what I could about bikes.
Being here in North there is not that much supply on pedelecs yet. And interestingly enough I ran to the some kind of attitude toward E-bikes on several stores - you could sense that they want to do business only with "Real Cyclists" not with some dude who wants a "weird half-moped". I have had the same initial attitude from my friends, but from guys who make their living from bikes I don't get it. Needless to say none of those stores got my business (all the stores mentioned below had good service and I would not hesitate to buy a bike from any of them).
On the other hand I understand the lack of E-bikes on stores. The stores that had them, seemed to have some last years models still in stock. It looks to me that here E-bikes have not taken up yet. Pedelecs are still quite fast evolving field - specially the battery capacity seems get better yearly.
I had some loose criteria about the bike I was going to get. Purpose is the replace car as far as it can be done. That means that bike needs to be able to carry decent load as well as being easy and comfy ride.
I also weighed quite heavily how good the bike is to ride without assist. Good bike parts will make more enjoyable ride and help the battery last longer as well. Battery capacity is one big factor and being lithium based technology I accept batteries from reputable manufacturer only. Other things that I value is front suspension and hydraulic brakes. The winter tends to do havoc on our bike routes so the suspension is very nice. I know that I will be riding fast at the times in crappy weather so brakes are very important. I remember on my winter bike commutes that clear ice is nice and fast surface to ride, just keep in mind your vector math when turning :). I realise that my specifications dropped many pedelec models and also pushed the budget toward the higher side.
At early April I started the test rides. That was really eye opener for me! I had read about the pedelecs few months, but that was no preparation for the experience! WOW was my first impression.
First place I visited was
Bikeplanet. They had one pedelec that I drove;
Tunturi. I liked the bike.
Bosch with Intuvia is very nice, but the brakes and 300 Wh battery dropped this bike out from finals.
Day later I headed to
Velosport. They had some pedelecs. I test drove
Cannondale E-bike. It was last year's model so it had 288 Wh battery and old control electronics for the Bosch engine. Ride was awesome and very good unassisted. Assist was similar to Tunturi but that was to be expected.
Next to
Lauttasaaren pyörä. They had some last years Kalkhoffs and Focus' in stock. One bike they had was closer to my specs:
Focus Jarifa Cross 2012 with
BionX rear drive engine. This bike made me smile. I liked it alot. Fun and aggressive ride. The regenerative braking is cool feature even it won't really get you that much extra distance. Full regen on and I was doing 8 km/h on down hill while not pedaling. Computer interface and display was in par with Intuvia. But for my purpose bikes needs rack, lock and the works. For unassisted riding I liked the mid engine more. Having that extra 4.5 kg in the rear hub is not something I prefer. Then again it is available right now. I was very close to getting it!
Last stop was
Electrobike. Over there I tested
Kalkhoff with impulse drive and
BH with their rear drive. Unfortunately I don't recall the exact models anymore. For the limited experience from central engine I would pick Bosch over Impulse drive and for rear engine I would pick BionX over BH's engine. I do realise that bikes that I tested were not equal. On the other hand I had no means to properly compare the bikes side by side.
I wanted to test drive Trek Pedelec but after checking two Trek stores neither had none. On paper it looked to be pretty close to Cannondale or Tunturi. It has been pretty frustrating to check the net for all the bikes out there, and then you will find only handful of them to test. But that is the way here at the edge of Europe. On the other hand having only fraction of brands available makes the selection process more straightforward and shorter.
In the end I went for Cannondale. I will have mine with Intuvia, 400 Wh battery and 9-speed Shimano STX derailleur. It simply had pretty much everything I spec'ed right out of the box. I guess Focus helped to make the final call when I was doing the final eliminations on bikes. Why does this year's
Focus Jarifa Cross have Bosch engine? Bosch also claims the shortest battery recharge times. Only modding that needs to be done is to make fixture for my
Travoy as the Bosch engine makes the bottom bracket longer thus making the bike long. Travoy won't reach the seat post.
