How do you define the ideal electric touring bicycle?

[Dionigi]

For reference let’s look at the state of the art non-electric touring bike. The Tout Terrain Silkroad has become the
European standard equipped with either the belt driven Rohloff Speedhub 14(526%) or the Pinion P1. 18 midship transmission(636%). The Silkroad uses the global standard 26” wheel giving a stout stance to load down all your camping needs for a cross continent adventure.

I’m comfortable with my choice for less ambitious cross state (or maybe county) adventures.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I'd want a steel-framed bike with a front fork with all the mounts. Preferably a mid-drive with a Rohloff for climbing big hills.

26" wheels of a standard width, externally routed cables, and mechanical disk brakes so you can do field repairs.

The bike should be sold without pedals, seat, and possibly handlebars (I'd want the option of drops or Jones bars rather than just flats).

Option for dual kickstands or a cargo-bike style kickstand.

 

[NatPedaler]

My choices are here with both dual batteries (multi-charger for money conscious or Homage GX with rohloff):

1. Riese-Muller- Multicharger
2. Riese-Muller- Homage GX

 

[Highway550]

My choice would be a Surly Long Haul Trucker, Salsa Fargo or Jones Plus Complete. Steel frame, big tire clearance, lots of mounts, front fork with mounts, long chainstay, mechanical disk brakes, two battery mounts, spare spoke holder, pump attachments, Fender mounts, Rack mounts, Jones H-Bar, platform pedals, Brooks saddle.

A few years ago, Surly asked me what bike I would want to have an E-Bike Frame for.... I responded the Long Haul Trucker for touring. ... then their first E-model came as the Big Easy (oh well).

open as to motors (shimano, bosch, yamaha) ... I currently have a Felt the Shimano Steps, it does okay.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

http://www.rennstahl-bikes.de/de/produkte/e-bikes-mit-mittelmotor/853-e-reiserad-rohloff-e-14/

 

[Dionigi]

http://www.rennstahl-bikes.de/de/produkte/e-bikes-mit-mittelmotor/853-e-reiserad-rohloff-e-14/

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I agree this would be the ideal touring ebike. Unfortunately there is no North American dealers. What do you think of the Rohloff R&M Supercharger?

 

[Dionigi]

My choice would be a Surly Long Haul Trucker, Salsa Fargo or Jones Plus Complete. Steel frame, big tire clearance, lots of mounts, front fork with mounts, long chainstay, mechanical disk brakes, two battery mounts, spare spoke holder, pump attachments, Fender mounts, Rack mounts, Jones H-Bar, platform pedals, Brooks saddle.

A few years ago, Surly asked me what bike I would want to have an E-Bike Frame for.... I responded the Long Haul Trucker for touring. ... then their first E-model came as the Big Easy (oh well).

open as to motors (shimano, bosch, yamaha) ... I currently have a Felt the Shimano Steps, it does okay.

The Surly fills in all the blanks but I never thought of a cargo bike for touring. Seems to have some potential.

 

[NatPedaler]

http://www.rennstahl-bikes.de/de/produkte/e-bikes-mit-mittelmotor/853-e-reiserad-rohloff-e-14/

That is a killer bike. We need Chris at Propelbikes.com to bring it over to the States.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I agree this would be the ideal touring ebike. Unfortunately there is no North American dealers. What do you think of the Rohloff R&M Supercharger?

This is specifically built for touring application, with extra sturdy steel frame and burly dropouts for heavy load carrying capability. Everything on that bike is low maintenance. When it comes heavy loads and touring, steel or titanium has a slight edge over carbon or aluminum.

BTW, they ship worldwide.

R&M supercharger is a great bike and would come second to this bike. The front/rear racks on the Supercharger are not touring grade and it could use slightly brighter lights like the M99 but overall it is a fine machine.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I have a 2017 R&M Charger GX Rohloff with dual batteries and the Bosch Performance CX drive.

So far I haven't found a better e-bike for the kinds of tours I am doing. More precisely, I haven't found an e-bike with a make-or-break feature that makes me want to retire the Charger and switch.

My opinion on the Supercharger is that it is a prettier bike, but the tube batteries are longer and it makes it more difficult to pack a third or fourth battery over the uglier Bosch Powerpacks.

The Rennstahl looks really promising and I might consider that bike if I were purchasing a touring rig today. Although I'd really like the option of a Utility Fork (perhaps the Surly Troll or Endpoint Hunter Gatherer) over the admittedly nice fork on that bike.

 

[NatPedaler]

Did I hear "Surly Troll"? Here is one of my favorite Surly Troll touring build (none-electric) from cyclemonkeylab.com

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I'm waiting for Veer Cycles to come out with a Bosch and Rohloff-compatible version of their belt drive kits.

 

[Alaskan]

Unfortunately Riese & Muller only offers the Multicharger with derailleur or Vario (Nuvinci) No Rohloff option at this point.
Dual Batteries (power tube inside and power pack outside) Huge rear rack and sturdy front rack. It looks like a beast of a touring bike, built to be loaded down. R&M has huge custom panniers as an option.

 

[Dionigi]

I'm assuming most "dance with the one that brought you" when it comes to choosing or modifying your ebike for touring. So here are my dance partners, Riese & Muller Nevo in two variants, the GX and the GH. the GX has dual batteries and a Rohloff Hub and the GH carries a spare 400 wh battery and uses a Nuvinci hub. The GX fits the touring profile mostly because the Rohloff Hub is a standard on high end pedal powered touring bikes. But the Nuvinci with 380% of gearing is more that adequate for an ebike. The Nuvinci is not easy to pedal after the 20 mph shut off on the CX motor, but accept for long descents I have little interest in going over 18 mph on a loaded touring bike. The bottom line I fell comfortable on both models with the big advantage for our age being the step though design. As for application, we are credit card tourers, my wife needs her shower and glass of wine and I don't need to set up camp.

 

[Highway550]

Did I hear "Surly Troll"? Here is one of my favorite Surly Troll touring build (none-electric) from cyclemonkeylab.com

I asked Surly May 1, 2019 if there were any plans to have an E-bike frame option with the Surly Touring Bikes: Trucker or Troll.

Surly replied:
Nothing like that in the immediate pipeline, but thanks for asking.
We appreciate the feedback!


So it looks like the Surly line for a great Touring E-Bike will not be happening any time soon.
Perhaps if more people asked it could expedite, a Surly Touring E-Bike.

 

[richnyc]

I'd love to see more written about Koga Signature E-World Traveller. I think that might be an ideal world e-bike tourer based on the very popular Koga Miayta touring bikes from the Netherlands:

https://outdoorguru.com/bikes/trekking-bikes/koga-signature-e-worldtraveller-s-trekkingbike-review/

https://signature.koga.com/#/1/en/gb

 

[Dionigi]

I'd love to see more written about Koga Signature E-World Traveller. I think that might be an ideal world e-bike tourer based on the very popular Koga Miayta touring bikes from the Netherlands:

https://outdoorguru.com/bikes/trekking-bikes/koga-signature-e-worldtraveller-s-trekkingbike-review/

https://signature.koga.com/#/1/en/gb

Looks robust but seems to lack the possibility of dual batteries. The total weight capacity seems low.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Am I alone in thinking the ideal touring bike would have batteries integrated into the frame ?

 

[richnyc]

Looks robust but seems to lack the possibility of dual batteries. The total weight capacity seems low.

You can actually have a dual battery setup. I'm kind of surprised by the company saying it can only carry 130-135 kgs total (bike, batteries and luggage). I've seen people traveling on the original ones around the world for years, not ebikes though, easily exceeding it without any problems...

 

[VirgilCaine]

Personally, I would have to have front suspension, which would knock out most front racks and complicate distributing the weight properly.