It's Official! Riese & Müller New Charger's & Supercharger's are now Available in the US!

[Chris Nolte]

We're very excited to announce that the New Charger and Supercharger is now available for ordering in the US. As some of you may know there was a delay due to the pending UL approval of the Bosch batteries. Well Bosch got the approval and there is a batch of US spec'd powertube batteries being built for R&M as we speak. We should know the build weeks soon, but it sounds like early April.

We've had to keep a tight lip about this until we had official news and now we're grateful to report that everything is confirmed (officially). Riese & Müller hasn't posted the bikes to the site yet, but I listed some photos and links to our site if you want to check out the spec's and pricing.

Riese & Müller New Charger - this particular model is the New Charger Nuvinci GH with a single 500Wh battery

Riese & Müller Supercharger - this particular model is the Supercharger Rohloff GX now featuring a belt drive!

Riese & Müller New Charger Mixtie - this particular model is the New Charger Mixtie Touring with a single 500Wh battery

Needless to say we're super excited!

 

[VirgilCaine]

Thanks. What is your opinion on the internal gearing and belt drive options ?

 

[Chris Nolte]

Thanks. What is your opinion on the internal gearing and belt drive options ?

Historically Nuvinci has been very popular for us, but for the Supercharger we have been selling a lot of Rohloff's. They are different animals though, for most urban environments I think the Nuvinci makes a lot of sense since it's really easy to shift quickly and there is very minimal maintenance required. The Rohloff has a much wider range of gears, 540 degrees compared to 380 so it can be really helpful if you have some very large hills.

I think having an internally geared hub makes a lot of sense, but some really appreciate the efficiency and speed of a traditional derailleur. The trade-off is a little more maintenance and noise.

I hope this helps.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Thanks and are these systems only available with Bosch (for all brands,not just R&M) or can you get them with Yamaha ?
Also curious to know if they are ever used on a mountain bike ?

 

[Chris Nolte]

Technically the Nuvinci and Rohloff are available, but there aren't many other companies working with these products. It could also be possible to retrofit one of these systems on a bike. If you wanted to setup a Mountain bike I would recommend a Rohloff over a Nuvinci, R&M actually has a Delite Mountain with a Rohloff.

 

[Dmitri]

Does Gates+Rohloff work with rear suspension bikes such as the Delite? They got it working with NuVinci but don't seem to have a Delite model, and R&M therefore won't give me the measurements needed for a retrofit.

Also, why don't the Gates+Rohloff models have a snubber wheel? According to the Gates documentation,

Furthermore the use of a snubber wheel for the Gates-Rohloff combination is also required.

and yet I don't see any manufacturer using one.

 

[Chris Nolte]

@Dmitri a belt won’t work as a retrofit on the Delite Rohloff. The rear hub spacing is different and you won’t be able to get the chain line required. The Supercharger frame has a new design to accommodate this requirement.

 

[Kelly @ CitrusCycles.ca]

For anyone in Canada, R&M has published the CAD pricing on their website, and of course, we have it on our website as well at http://CitrusCycles.ca

A tip - the dual battery SuperCharger seems to be a better value than the NewCharger will dual battery. On the other hand, if you plan on sharing batteries with another bike that uses the PowerPack, the NewCharger is a good option since the second battery is a PowerPack instead of a PowerTube.

 

[tompat]

Does the Supercharger GX Rohloff HS come with the Magura MT4e handles that has the rear brake light switch?
R&M website doesn't mention this.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Does the Supercharger GX Rohloff HS come with the Magura MT4e handles that has the rear brake light switch?
R&M website doesn't mention this.

They don’t have the eBrakes here in North America. If you really wanted them we could probably upgrade them though.

 

[tompat]

They don’t have the eBrakes here in North America. If you really wanted them we could probably upgrade them though.

Thanks Chris. Sorry I didn't mention I'm located in the EU. I've ordered the Supercharger GX Rohloff HS and was just curious if it comes with the brake light switching handles. I guess it does since, as far as I have researched, 45 km/h bikes classed as mopeds in the EU needs to have a rear brake light.
It will be interesting to see if it does and I'll certainly update here.

Edit: The specifications mention "Supernova M99, integrated plate illumination and brake light" and the choice of Magura MT4 instead of Deore XT as brakes I guess is a strong indicator that it does come with brake sensing handles. Very cool..

 

[Chris Nolte]

Sorry about that. I really shouldn’t make assumptions about people’s location. It’s great to have you on the forum! I believe you’re correct on that. The law for brake lights just changed as of January in the EU, but is so think it’s a nice safety feature.

I hope you’re going to stick around after you get your bike and share your experiences. We have several of that bike on order for our customers as well as one for the shop. Needless to say we’re super excited!

 

[Dmitri]

Can someone explain how the Magura MT4e/MT5e brakes actually work? Does this require support from the motor or the bike computer or just the rear light? What motors are supported?

 

[Chris Nolte]

Can someone explain how the Magura MT4e/MT5e brakes actually work? Does this require support from the motor or the bike computer or just the rear light? What motors are supported?

They should work with any motor system since the motor doesn’t have anything to do with it. There are two additional leads that get sent back to the rear light in addition to the power supply, in this case from the Bosch motor system.

 

[Dmitri]

They should work with any motor system since the motor doesn’t have anything to do with it. There are two additional leads that get sent back to the rear light in addition to the power supply, in this case from the Bosch motor system.

So umm how does it all work? There are 2 wires from PSU to rear light, additional wires from the brakes (both of them?), then what happens? Trying to figure out how it works from the electrical perspective.

 

[tompat]

I attended Copenhagen Bike Show this weekend and had the joy of trying several of the Riese & Müller HS-models on a limited indoor testing area. The HS models all had the MT4e brake switch handles. They work very well and I loved the feature! Even the slightest touch and the brake lights activate.

I highly appreciate traffic safety features and would like to see brake lights on all e-bikes.

As for the technical bit, I don't know how it works. But if it's totally independent of the onboard electrical system, I guess it's just a shorting switch that tells a compatible rear light to switch on the brake LEDs.

@Dmitri , I found the M99 tail light manual and it explains well enough how it works, see page 14/15 in this manual.
https://supernova-lights.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/M99-TL_web_v1217.pdf

 

[Chris Nolte]

So umm how does it all work? There are 2 wires from PSU to rear light, additional wires from the brakes (both of them?), then what happens? Trying to figure out how it works from the electrical perspective.

That’s correct. There are power wires in this case coming from the Bosch motor and two wires coming from the brake cables usually joined together in the cockpit before being fed back to the taillight. This gives the signal to activate the brake light. The brakes usually use a reed switch the create the signal.

 

[Dmitri]

That’s correct. There are power wires in this case coming from the Bosch motor and two wires coming from the brake cables usually joined together in the cockpit before being fed back to the taillight. This gives the signal to activate the brake light. The brakes usually use a reed switch the create the signal.

Oh. This means retrofitting something like this will be painful.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Oh. This means retrofitting something like this will be painful.

If you purchase the appropriate brakes it's not too bad. We've done it, but then again we've done all sorts of crazy stuff over the years.

 

[Dmitri]

If you purchase the appropriate brakes it's not too bad. We've done it, but then again we've done all sorts of crazy stuff over the years.

I got a pair of MT5s lying around. I thought I might try those instead of the Deore XT brakes I've got on right now. But I'll keep this in mind for future.