2021–2022 Riese & Müller Homage

[John W M]

Thanks for the help. I agree with the second battery being the way to go if I can get my wife past the color for her. I may just get the dual battery and she can get the single. do you know how hard it is to change the battery on the road? I may just get her a second to carry? I have talked to a few shops that say they will be getting some of the bikes in soon. Thinking of buying them through these shops and picking them up. May be the way to go. Still hard to find exact size and options. Most will ship, but I live near several shops (100 miles) and R&M will not allow for shipping. Kills me that many shops will have the bikes but my shop is not getting them in except for test riding. I will take your lead and be patent. Looking into a car rack in case I have to do a road trip and pick up the bikes. Keeps on getting more complex. Thanks again for the support.

John

 

[AbeK]

Thanks for the help. I agree with the second battery being the way to go if I can get my wife past the color for her. I may just get the dual battery and she can get the single. do you know how hard it is to change the battery on the road? I may just get her a second to carry? I have talked to a few shops that say they will be getting some of the bikes in soon. Thinking of buying them through these shops and picking them up. May be the way to go. Still hard to find exact size and options. Most will ship, but I live near several shops (100 miles) and R&M will not allow for shipping. Kills me that many shops will have the bikes but my shop is not getting them in except for test riding. I will take your lead and be patent. Looking into a car rack in case I have to do a road trip and pick up the bikes. Keeps on getting more complex. Thanks again for the support.

John

Someone on the R&M Facebook group posted photos of their recently arrived dual-battery Homage. It may be the first one anyone has seen. The photos provide a good indication of what the dark blue will look like in daylight. Hopefully this link to the photos work -- not sure if you need a Facebook account to see them. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10158818218128260&set=pcb.1295572630815682

 

[Stefan Mikes]

not sure if you need a Facebook account to see them.

Worse: it has been posted to a limited group of users. Why don't you copy the image and repost here?

 

[John W M]

Please post photo if you can. I can not access it.

 

[AbeK]

Please post photo if you can. I can not access it.

 

[John W M]

Thanks for the photo's Looks great. Good to see they are being delivered.

 

[John W M]

pictures helped. My wife is considering the blue. Need to make final decision on size of for her. She confirmed she is 5'7" with inseam of 32". May be able to try another model bike for fit. a few shops have the dual battery on order and we may be able to get them. that may be how we decide on the size.

John

 

[Jay Kay]

@John W M if you wife is lighter she will have more range on a single battery than you will. My wife and I are in our mid fifties too, and live in a hilly area (average 600m elevation most rides) with lots of trails. I have a 2020 Delite Vario and my wife the 2020 Homage Vario, so both with single batteries. I can get around 35km range from my bike in summer, and 28km in winter. My wife almost always has 30% more battery when mine is about to die. Neither of us had ridden a bike for 30 years before our R&M’s.

I am 85kg and she is 58kg. Rider weight makes a big difference. I use sport/turbo lots, and she never uses turbo as her weight allows sport mode to go up hills faster than me on turbo!. Depending on how far you ride, you might be able to get the duel battery and your wife the single if the weight difference is enough. It will just mean you will be the one with 30% left when your ride is over. The Bosch ebike range assistant is actually pretty accurate for estimating range - https://www.bosch-ebike.com/au/service/range-assistant/

Just a word of warning however - you will ride much further and more often on these bikes than you ever thought. If, after playing around on the Bosch range assist site linked above, you think you might need 2 batteries, then you definitely will need 2 batteries. After a year of the single battery Delite and running out of battery too many times, I have a dual battery Superdelite Mountain on its way (hopefully this week) to replace my bike. I am half expecting my wife’s range to then be the limiting factor, and replacing her bike next .

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I can get around 35km range from my bike in summer, and 28km in winter.

Are you both riding in the Turbo mode all the time?! It is a very short range... (I don't want to fire an off-topic discussion here but such short a range made me stunned...)

 

[John W M]

@John W M if you wife is lighter she will have more range on a single battery than you will. My wife and I are in our mid fifties too, and live in a hilly area (average 600m elevation most rides) with lots of trails. I have a 2020 Delite Vario and my wife the 2020 Homage Vario, so both with single batteries. I can get around 35km range from my bike in summer, and 28km in winter. My wife almost always has 30% more battery when mine is about to die. Neither of us had ridden a bike for 30 years before our R&M’s.

I am 85kg and she is 58kg. Rider weight makes a big difference. I use sport/turbo lots, and she never uses turbo as her weight allows sport mode to go up hills faster than me on turbo!. Depending on how far you ride, you might be able to get the duel battery and your wife the single if the weight difference is enough. It will just mean you will be the one with 30% left when your ride is over. The Bosch ebike range assistant is actually pretty accurate for estimating range - https://www.bosch-ebike.com/au/service/range-assistant/

Just a word of warning however - you will ride much further and more often on these bikes than you ever thought. If, after playing around on the Bosch range assist site linked above, you think you might need 2 batteries, then you definitely will need 2 batteries. After a year of the single battery Delite and running out of battery too many times, I have a dual battery Superdelite Mountain on its way (hopefully this week) to replace my bike. I am half expecting my wife’s range to then be the limiting factor, and replacing her bike next .

Thanks for the info. Very nice to help me out. I have checked out the range assistant. I am still not sure why it would not be just as good to purchase as second battery and carry it with us on days we know we will be going out longer. when we don't need it we can keep the weight off the bike. Am I missing something? The cost seems to work out to be the same. Charge time is longer with the two batteries I believe. I am probably over thinking this but not wanting to make a $20,000 mistake. By switching batteries back and forth I have been told you can extend your battery life by double. by the way I was thinking of going with the cell phone hub, any experience with it?

 

[John W M]

Jay, can I ask how tall your wife is and what size frame she is riding. Based on input I think my wife would do the 48 frame. thanks again

 

[amayers]

Thanks for the info. Very nice to help me out. I have checked out the range assistant. I am still not sure why it would not be just as good to purchase as second battery and carry it with us on days we know we will be going out longer. when we don't need it we can keep the weight off the bike. Am I missing something? The cost seems to work out to be the same. Charge time is longer with the two batteries I believe. I am probably over thinking this but not wanting to make a $20,000 mistake. By switching batteries back and forth I have been told you can extend your battery life by double. by the way I was thinking of going with the cell phone hub, any experience with it?

Since the cost is about the same to get two integrated batteries vs 1 integrated and 1 spare, I'd do the 2 integrated. I've been riding a single 400 wh battery on my current ebike. In the year that I've had the bike, I've gone from 5 miles is a long ride, to 40 miles is a long ride, 20 is normal. Sure I can do that on 1 battery, but i can't do the 40 at anything above Tour mode. So I recently ordered a Superdelite. I'd rather have the extra weight the whole time, because when I want to go farther on a whim, or at a higher assist I can without worry. Also the bike will handle better with the second battery integrated vs hanging off the side in a pannier. Finally there is charging. With the integrated pair, you plug in one charger and it charges both. With a separate spare, you will have to charge the bike, then hours later switch the charger to the spare. On the longer rides that you would bring the spare for, you will likely want to bring more stuff. Jackets, water, food, my whole office so I can work at a park across town. In that case you are taking up a sizable chunk of a bag with the battery. The weight savings seems to be the only pro for having the single integrated battery. For the types of riding you will likely do on this type of bike, I just don't think that matters as much as the rest of these factors.

 

[John W M]

Since the cost is about the same to get two integrated batteries vs 1 integrated and 1 spare, I'd do the 2 integrated. I've been riding a single 400 wh battery on my current ebike. In the year that I've had the bike, I've gone from 5 miles is a long ride, to 40 miles is a long ride, 20 is normal. Sure I can do that on 1 battery, but i can't do the 40 at anything above Tour mode. So I recently ordered a Superdelite. I'd rather have the extra weight the whole time, because when I want to go farther on a whim, or at a higher assist I can without worry. Also the bike will handle better with the second battery integrated vs hanging off the side in a pannier. Finally there is charging. With the integrated pair, you plug in one charger and it charges both. With a separate spare, you will have to charge the bike, then hours later switch the charger to the spare. On the longer rides that you would bring the spare for, you will likely want to bring more stuff. Jackets, water, food, my whole office so I can work at a park across town. In that case you are taking up a sizable chunk of a bag with the battery. The weight savings seems to be the only pro for having the single integrated battery. For the types of riding you will likely do on this type of bike, I just don't think that matters as much as the rest of these factors.

Ok, sounds like the way to go is with the integrated two batteries. It keeps getting more expensive LOL.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

John,
While it is convenient to ride with two integrated batteries, it makes the bike heavy (think of lifting it onto the car). I ride Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 and own two single batteries. On some day, I ride light, and on another I carry the spare battery in a pannier. The decision is yours.

 

[amayers]

John,
While it is convenient to ride with two integrated batteries, it makes the bike heavy (think of lifting it onto the car). I ride Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 and own two single batteries. On some day, I ride light, and on another I carry the spare battery in a pannier. The decision is yours.

If you get two integrated batteries and find the weight a bit much, you can always get the cheap transport cover for one battery and ride with a single sometimes. The bike will be almost identical to a single battery version. But if you buy the single battery version and then realize you wish you had both integrated, you can’t do that.

If there was much of a cost savings with one integrated, then I’d say it might be worth it.

 

[John W M]

no real cost savings on the built in battery option as apposed to the separate battery. I guess this is all about trade off's. I cant find any info on a cover form R&M. Would like to get one that matches the other side. I will keep looking for info and share if I find it.

 

[John W M]

looking into a car rack to transport the bikes. I came across this one that is set up with a ramp for ebikes. 60 lbs. per bike max. If the Homage have there battery packs removed should work.

 

[amayers]

no real cost savings on the built in battery option as apposed to the separate battery. I guess this is all about trade off's. I cant find any info on a cover form R&M. Would like to get one that matches the other side. I will keep looking for info and share if I find it.

It appears to be something you would need to ask a dealer to order. There are a few threads on this forum about them for different models. https://electricbikereview.com/foru...elite-2020-switching-that-rubber-cover.33299/

 

[webcurl]

no real cost savings on the built in battery option as apposed to the separate battery. I guess this is all about trade off's. I cant find any info on a cover form R&M. Would like to get one that matches the other side. I will keep looking for info and share if I find it.

Yes, you can always take one out and ride with one, don't know if the cover will be exactly the same as other new R&M covers but may cost up to US$100.
You will probably find (along with many other users) that you'll end up leaving both in all the time!
As for range, the factors the Bosch Range Assistant tries to incorporate but cannot even approximately are wind resistance & tire pressure. If you're getting the HS version then wind resistance is a huge factor. Just play with it and see how much a difference gross weight, speed & terrain make, they are huge as well
As per battery life: With dual battery fitted, when riding the bike it uses 5% of 1 battery, then switches to using the other battery & vice versa, this helps to relieve any built up temperature internally generated from discharging. It allows time for a battery to cool down a bit before being discharged (used) again, this would increase life to a small degree. Also going from 100% to 0% with Lithium batteries is worse for it's life than going 100% to 40%.
And of course leaving a Lithium Ion battery charged at 100% is the worst thing you can do for it's life, worse than leaving it at 0%.
As per dual battery charging: The system will charge only one battery to approx 70-95% then the other, finally it charges both simultaneously to 100%. Per battery, the first phase is called CC (Constant Current) charging, this is where it puts most of the energy into the battery, the second phase of charging is called CV (Constant Voltage), this takes time.
This is why they'll say for example 4.2 hours to get to 50% & 9.8 hours to get 100% (9.8 hours does not equal 4.2 hours x 2).
Taking one battery out and charging it separately with an additional charger whilst simultaneously charging the other in-bike is the fastest way to charge both but a bit of a pain in the arse (or should i say fanny).
eg:

 

[webcurl]

As per the new Homage photo's, looks like R&M has a better top coat and/or paint work!