Hi, folks! I'm new here ;-)
I have had the great pleasure of being the happy owner of a Grace MXII Urban pedelec for a few months now and thought I'd share some of my thoughts.
Firstly, I fell for the bike mainly due to its design. It looks stunning! And even better in real life than on pictures. I still keep catching myself watching how its reflection looks when I cycle past big shop windows!
Secondly, I was intrigued by the belt/gear combination, and after having tried it for myself and compared it to other bikes, I had no problem deciding what I wanted. The only thing that held me back to start with was the price. But eventually I decided to go ahead and buy it, and have never looked back since.
The combination of the Nuvinci 360 stepless gear and the Bosch v2 engine is working flawlessly. After getting used to the bike I now more or less continuously adjust the gear setting while cycling to maintain just the right feel. This works great. It really does!
And I am not the only one raving about the new Schwalbe Big Ben tires? They are simply the best tires I ever tried, and are a fantastic match to this bike. They work great both on gravel and asphalt as well as on forrest tracks. Thats all I need. They are very comfortable, and the low rolling resistance is great too.
The bike is not light with its 23.5 kgs (51.8 pounds). I am actually a little puzzled about the fact that the off-road version with it's Rockshox fork, can be 1.5 kgs (3.3lb) lighter. It may be the Nuvinci gear weighing more perhaps...
Anyway, I'm a bit on the heavy side myself and the weight of the bike doesn't bother me at all. I thought, when I bought the bike that I eventually would change the rigid fork with a Rockshox fork (comes standard on the black S-pedelec), but the fact is that after having used the bike for a while I am simply amazed by how comfortable the rigid Grace fork is in combination with the Schwalbe tires and don't think I'll be changing it after all. It is also a bit of a looker, as it matches the design of the rest of the bike perfectly.
One thing I suspect could be a little better is the rear Avid 5 brakes, this isn't because they're not working well, but I have a feeling that the Shimano XT-brakes would be a little smoother. The front Avid Elixir 5 brakes are very good although feeling a bit rough. I would have preferred the 7 or 9's better levers with the easier adjustment of handle positions, but that's not a big deal. Also the B&M Lumotec front light could have been better. I compare it to my Lupine Betty flashlight and it really is in a completely different league. But I guess Grace didn't find it worth it spending another $500 on the lights.
All in all this is a fantastic bike. I have had good, well equipped bikes before, but really didn't know a bike could be this much better. Just for the record, I have no relation to Grace whatsoever and all I said above is correct to the best of my knowledge.
Go give it a try for yourself!
All the best from
IVerE in Oslo, Norway.
Very happy Grace owner!