Full Featured Commuters Like Raleigh Redux IE (2019)

[Leisesturm]

Hi. A week ago I didn't know the first thing about e-bikes except for a short chat with a woman riding a Specialized mid-drive e-assist in my neighborhood. I have a 30 mi. round trip commute 3x/wk that I usually do by riding 1 mi. to the Light Rail, and then another 1 mi. to the jobsite at the other end. On weekends the Light Rail service is horrible. I could do the entire 15mi. on an e-bike.

I am entering my 60's and I have Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration. I am finding it hard to work on my bikes (10) because of all the small parts and close tolerances to manage. I would love to get a Juiced Bikes CCX and swap out the suspension fork and put 2"+ tires on it but it only makes sense if I do the work myself. The JB people say to live with it as is until the warranty is up because any changes will void it. I don't know. That's a year of dealing with a bike that doesn't work for me in stock form.

The Raleigh Redux IE or possibly the Giant Quick E could work as they are. I don't know what 36V vs 48V or 52V really means. I don't have a lot of doubt that the CCX can beat the light rail ETA but I wonder if the more refined mass market bikes can really perform at high output. What I know is that both the Raleigh and Giant have rigid forks and large section clincher tires and all the other accessories a decent commuter needs. At 5'10" I would need the Large size and the large Redux is sold out on the Raleigh USA site. Haven't checked on the Quick E.

Are there bikes I have missed that look like the Redux, Quick E, ST1 (Stromer)? I have a Trek tandem and a very nice Trek road racer. I really like the looks of the Allant+ 8s, but no amount of housework or pleading would melt SWMBO to authorize that kind of outlay on a bicycle.

 

[indianajo]

I don't know what 36V vs 48V or 52V really means.

The nominal voltage of lithium Ion batteries is usually 36 v or 48v. 52 v is for people who want short bursts of high speed, using motors designed for 48. There is no guarentee the motors will not overheat at 52v if run for a long distance or up a long grade. The nominal voltage has to match the voltage of the controller bought for the battery, and to a certain extent, the motor.
Distance available in a battery is roughly correlated to watt-hours WH. Some batteries are sold by amp-hours. In that case one multiplies amp-hours by nominal voltage (36, 48, or 52) to determine # of watt-hours in the battery. This assumes equal assist level on two bikes with different watt-hour batteries. Of course equalizing that is difficult, if not impossible, but gives one a general idea of how far a bike will go without charging. Quoted distance capability in court reviews are done on flat ground with no headwind at the lowest assist level and below 12 mph. Plus probably includes running the battery from 100% charge to <2% charge. The recommended charge levels for best battery life are 85% to 15%.
Above 12 mph, particularly near 25 mph, wind consumes a lot more watt-hours than at the lower speeds.
Bikes require a certain amount of preventitive maintenance, and occasional adjustments to the brakes & shifters. Not to mention taking the wheel off to change a tube at the time & place determined by fate, not yourself. At this point, losing my near vision, I think a better investment for you at this point is a set of those telescope things dentists use so one can see fine details at a given distance. About $700 one dental hygenist told me. I'm lucky to still be able to get by with 3 pairs of reading glasses, +1, +2, & +3. When doing electronics I frequently use an elastic band headlight, too, which shrinks my pupils.
A huge money saver IMHO is converting an existing bike with a motor controller & battery. Since you own 10 bikes. Don't intall a front hub motor on any bike with carbon, titanium, aluminum or shock front fork. I electrified the bike in my avatar for about $900. $630 for a 17.5 AH 48 v battery from luna, $189 for a DD hub motor 1000 W power wheel which included controller,14-28 7 speed sprocket set, Throttle, switching brake handles, connector blocks. The rest in aluminum angle for mounts, # 10-32 SS screws & elastic stop nuts. Don't try to same money on batteries, I have 2 failures in my garage, one from Amazon, one from e-bay. Besides lunabike ebikeling sells both kits and batteries that people rarely complain about. A dedicated commuter may enjoy spending more on a PAS capable controller with magnet wheel & pickup. You'll need 2 crank removal tools to install the magnet wheel. The rest, a drill index & drill motor; use safety glasses with power tools. One huge advantage of generic hub motor kits, in 3 to 5 years when the battery needs replacing, generic batteries are 80-50% the price of exact replacement batteries from the built bike manufacturer. The mount you built of aluminum & screws won't fall off, and industrial grade .250" insulated flag or .157" bullett connectors when crimped properly will not lose power when you hit a pothole. Plus screwed on batteries are harder to steal. I leave mine on the street cabled to a power pole while I'm shopping or at the volunteer job. Thieves take screws out occasionally, always the wrong ones.
Enjoy shopping & low emissions commuting.

 

[Dewey]

Gazelle CityZen T10 HMB Speed is a Class 3 ebike that can be had for 3 grand now they dropped the price by a grand, it has a short mono-shock fork crown suspension, and is reviewed on this site https://electricbikereview.com/gazelle/cityzen-speed-t10/.

 

[Leisesturm]

20 years ago I would have been all over a conversion like @indianajo mentioned. I'm not completely against it now but I've got more of an aesthetic sense these days. Beyond a couple of folders I don't really have anything I would want to convert. But one of the Trek 7.? series hybrids ~600 new ... could be the bones of a pretty nice build. I don't know if it is outside of the scope of this forum but I would want to know more about how to intergrate things like lights which are automatically taken care of when you buy a turn key commuter from a commercial source. I would want the brakes, wheels and tires to be up to the job of Class 3 operation. Is there a source for that kind of information? I hadn't seen the Gazelle CityZen but it's definitely a bike I could like. If it came as a step over! I mean, they got just about everything else right. 4 Grand was a stretch. I notice a lot of price reductions among the premium brands. Dare I hope for a 25% reduction on the Allant+!!!!

 

[Dewey]

mid-drive kit motors like bafang bbs series, tsdz2, & revel, have light cables, but the wiring can be messy unless you're really tidy with cable ducting and spiral wrap. OEM ebikes typically have internal cable routing, also as you pointed out its nice to get support from a local bike shop

Ex-demos, floor models, or ex-rental used are some ways to save, Crazy Lenny's in WI and FL sell discounted remaindered models, but also manufacturers do deals on end of season models, I think that CityZen T10 might have a 3rd gen Bosch motor and manufacturers are transitioning to gen 4, Gazelle CityZen was on sale in the US for just a year before they lopped 25% off and I suspect that may be a reason. The pace of change is fast in the ebike world, but Trek Allant is right at the start of its retail product lifecycle.

 

[Horseshoe]

I have the Izip Moda, which is the same bike as the Raleigh Redux but with an uglier (IMO) paintjob. I use this primarily to commute 13 miles RT everyday, and just hit 1000 miles on it yesterday, with absolutely zero maintenance issues. I like this bike so much I bought a matching one for my wife when a deal popped up. For my needs I find this to be the perfect commuter (once I added a seatpost mounted rear rack as I simply could not find a way to make the built in rack work for a bag or panniers).

I strongly recommend either the Moda or the Redux.... if you can find one. I got both of mine on closeout last spring, one for 2k and the other for 2100. However since then both Izip and Raleigh have been sold to a venture capitol company and I don't know if either are still in production or how well they will be supported. I am very happy with the build quality and anticipate many more trouble free miles.

Oh and FWIW, I am just a hair over 5'10 and find I fit fine on the medium with my seat all the way back. If you do find a deal I would not let the lack of a Large stop you as you could make it work. My mountain bike is a large and has a much different fit, but I find the smaller frame to work fine for city riding.

Good luck on your search!

 

[Holatc]

I converted a Raleigh Kodiak IE full suspension to a commuter bike for the comfort when getting on and off sidewalks. If you’re staying on the road, Redux IE might be better.

 

[Leisesturm]

Thank you both. There is an EBR advertised e-bike shop in my town that has both bikes I mentioned (Giant Quick E+ and Raleigh Redux) in my size. I've talked with them on the phone but have not visited. Don't want to fall in love with either one until the house sells and the money is in hand. As I understand it, even if top speed (28mph) is not being achieved, the Giant motor will not assist past 90rpm cadence. Raleigh goes a bit higher but neither one goes to 120rpm cadence like some models. That sounds bad to me, but I can't really say anything until I try them out for myself.

 

[linklemming]

I have the Izip Moda, which is the same bike as the Raleigh Redux but with an uglier (IMO) paintjob. I use this primarily to commute 13 miles RT everyday, and just hit 1000 miles on it yesterday, with absolutely zero maintenance issues. I like this bike so much I bought a matching one for my wife when a deal popped up. For my needs I find this to be the perfect commuter (once I added a seatpost mounted rear rack as I simply could not find a way to make the built in rack work for a bag or panniers).

I strongly recommend either the Moda or the Redux.... if you can find one. I got both of mine on closeout last spring, one for 2k and the other for 2100. However since then both Izip and Raleigh have been sold to a venture capitol company and I don't know if either are still in production or how well they will be supported. I am very happy with the build quality and anticipate many more trouble free miles.

Oh and FWIW, I am just a hair over 5'10 and find I fit fine on the medium with my seat all the way back. If you do find a deal I would not let the lack of a Large stop you as you could make it work. My mountain bike is a large and has a much different fit, but I find the smaller frame to work fine for city riding.

Good luck on your search!

On the Moda/Redux size large.

At 6ft/32inch inseam, I typically fit on a large MTB frame (19 inch is usually perfect).

I wanted to get an Moda last year and ordered a large. The shop called me back to say they were out of large sizes and in fact, they had no record of of iZip ever stocking/selling a large.

They had a medium step thru (labeled M/L just to add to the confusion)in the shop so I decided to take a tape measure to the shop. As it turns out, the M/L was pretty much identical to my other large MTBs so I ordered a medium stepover as its dimensions matched what I measured on the M/L in the shop.

IMHO, their recommended rider size for each frame is not accurate.

I have had the bike for about a year and and love it. Its labeled as a medium.

FWIW, I also have a Large Juiced CCX running 2.3F/2.1R marathon-plus MTB tires

 

[Leisesturm]

FWIW, I also have a Large Juiced CCX running 2.3F/2.1R marathon-plus MTB tires

Were you able to keep the fenders with those tires? Did you run a smaller tire at the rear because of clearance issues? Inquiring minds would like to know ...

 

[linklemming]

The fenders came off the bike right after I took the bike out of the box. I hate fenders on bikes. Luckily where I live (near denver), you really dont need them. I use my CCX and Moda as more of a recreational bike than a commuter bike.

I originally used 2.1 front and rear but wanted more traction on gravel stuff as the front end would wash out periodically. Putting a 2.3 on the front fixed that. I have never tried the 2.3 in the back but all indications are that it would just barely fit although the clearance would be pretty tight. That being said, Im pretty happy with the 2.1 in the rear. Im running 30psi front and 35psi rear.

Many will tell you running tires this wide on 19mm (internal) rims, is a nogo and they are probably correct. That being said, MTBrs(including myself) have been doing this forever. Not the most ideal but it works just fine for me. Probably best not to run tubeless with this tire/rim combo (I run tubes with stans)

 

[Chris Hammond]

I would like to give you some perspective as a long term bike commuter. My commute is 30 miles each way. I did this on my road bike for many years. As I got older I found myself using the commuter train more and more often when riding conditions weren't optimal, (basically if I had a head wind over 5 mph). I ended up buying a Juiced CrossCurrent S in May of 2018. Like you I initially figured I would want to be maximizing its speed by putting on thinner tires and a rigid fork. When I first started commuting I had the fork locked out thinking this would provide better speed. Simply put it does not, it only makes it a harsher ride. I tried the fork open after a few weeks, and never went back to locking it out. There is a big difference commuting on light road bike at 15-20 mph than a heavy ebike at 25-30 mph. When you are traveling that fast the cushion of a suspension fork and bigger tires actually allows you to maintain speed better. Think of it like a motorcycle without suspension, the bumps would actually bounce the rider around and slow you down.
As far as the tires go, its an unbelievable night and day difference going from road bike tires to a ~ 2 inch commuter tire. I almost never have a flat now, where I had them regularly on the road bike. Traction and wear are also far better. My commute cruising speed is typically 26-30 mph and my average speed for the entire trip is generally 21-24 mph depending on traffic, light, wind, etc. The biggest benefit is I now don't worry about the commuter train, if I see that I will have a big headwind I just charge the battery to 100% instead of 80% for the ride home. Simply put, I would be amazed if you didn't love a CrossCurrent.

 

[Brody]

On the Moda/Redux size large.

At 6ft/32inch inseam, I typically fit on a large MTB frame (19 inch is usually perfect).

I wanted to get an Moda last year and ordered a large. The shop called me back to say they were out of large sizes and in fact, they had no record of of iZip ever stocking/selling a large.

They had a medium step thru (labeled M/L just to add to the confusion)in the shop so I decided to take a tape measure to the shop. As it turns out, the M/L was pretty much identical to my other large MTBs so I ordered a medium stepover as its dimensions matched what I measured on the M/L in the shop.

IMHO, their recommended rider size for each frame is not accurate.

I have had the bike for about a year and and love it. Its labeled as a medium.

FWIW, I also have a Large Juiced CCX running 2.3F/2.1R marathon-plus MTB tires

Hi, I am looking at a 2018 Redux step through, not sure on the size, but I think it is aM. I am 5'2" and would need to change handlebars to make it upright , is this risky as you say it is for taller riders. I have arthritis in my neck so this is important. Also concerned as Raleigh no longer makes electric bikes.