2020 Superdelite GT Rohloff HS: Initial Impressions
First, omergawsh: That wait time. I ordered air freight, but shipping by air doesn’t work when all flights are COVID-cancelled. So an expected 5-week wait turned into five months. Communication about all that can only be described as exceedingly poor. In this regard — separate from the product and focusing only on my consumer purchasing experience — Riese & Müller suffers from extremely poor communications management.
Were this ebike anything less than the most expensive all-around ebike one can possibly buy, I might be more understanding. But shelling out the better part of $12,000 (incl. tax) for a bicycle means you are buying Bentley levels of service to go along with the actual vehicle. And, despite my local dealer being very nice, Bentley levels of service is not at all what I got.
My experience, I believe, is an artifact of R&M outsourcing all communications to the dealer, which leads to variable quality when R&M, itself, (by all reports) is somewhat less than forthcoming.
R&M is a good company run by good people, no doubt. I also am certain that, just like every other bicycle manufacturer worldwide, R&M has been hard-pressed to keep up with demand. So my experience may reflect our Chinese-plague-ridden times, more than anything. Could be.
Anyway, I’ve had the Superdelite now for three weeks, so the honeymoon is fading and day-to-day city use is the norm. It’s important to note that I have very limited experience with other ebikes — Lyft and Uber rentables; a disastrously-painful ride on a Vanmoof S2; a few tests of a coupla Specialized (Como, Levo). And I’m able to compare the Tern GSD which I used for a day as a loaner when my Superdelite was being adjusted.
So first, let me dash off my thoughts on those other bikes: Lyft & Uber bikes are comfortable ad hoc transportation, but they are not door-to-door; nor are they useful for doing any hauling of any sort. The no-suspension Vanmoof S2, based on a 1/2-mile ride on my city’s ridiculously bad pavement, rattled my iWatch right of my wrist — twice! — and left me limping for a week. Also, just as with the rentable bikes, the Vanmoof S2 could not make it up the 30% grades encountered every day around here. The Specialized Como was comfortable, but really is more of a beach cruiser than an SUV; and the Levo model, though superior in most ways, was a sporting bike, not an all-around vehicle replacement. The Tern GSD is a competent bike that clearly is much more nimble than the Superdelite; but, at 6’4”, I felt rather like I’d made off with a child’s bike, not a purpose-built hauler.
Also worth noting that there are plenty of Rad bikes and Super73s in my town. My impression is that I am glad they exist for those who buy them. But they are comparatively noisy and simply nowhere near as refined as the Superdelite. But then: few are.
Learning to ride the Superdelite took about a day to become reasonably competent. Not unlike learning to drive a manual stick shift. The e-shifting, the assist level, the dropper post: All need coordination.
Far more learning was required to develop my habit of getting on the bike: Taking off the cover and unlocking it from all the sturdy locks securing it in my garage. Turning on all the apps and configuring my smartphone to allow them to track me (if you do not turn the Bosch location awareness off after each use, it’ll drain your battery — the Germans need to #LearnToCode). Turning on my Lumos Matrix smart helmet. Cueing up the Lumos app with the turn signals displaying on my smartphone. Mounting the smartphone on to the QuadLock. Attaching the Kiox display, and hooking the USB to my phone to trickle charge it. Donning my safety vest and riding gloves. And then choosing what, if anything, I needed to add to the bike: Panniers? MIK-compliant basket? The Coho XC trailer? All of them?
I guess what I am trying to convey here is that choosing an ebike as your fundamental transportation means doing quite a few preparatory things differently. It is a completely different experience than hitting a button on your key fob, getting in, and driving away. Same is true at the destination: securing your bike in a city environment requires attention, time, and care — carefully taking with you every single thing that is not Hexlocked or secured, including the saddle bag and water bottles.
It is my hope that manufacturers find a solution to easily securing ebikes that will better approximate how easily we currently can leave our parked cars.
Now, on to the experience of the Superdelite. This bike? It is heavy. Kitted out, it approaches 80 pounds, and therefore feels more motorcycle-ish than bicycle. Add my 200-pound weight, and it is a tank. I initially was using the two highest levels of assist to get going, but that turned out to be incorrect. What is really needed is the right *gear* to get going. The Rohloff’s 14-gear range permits an easy start in almost every terrain where the assist can even be turned off, and you’ll proceed just fine.
I’ve taken to using Eco or turning off assist altogether when starting out in order to extend the range, just to see if it makes any difference. And the answer is: It makes a HUGE difference. Just as with cars, starting up from a dead stop consumes the most energy. With 1000 WH, I’m not really concerned about range. Just toying with the stats, which I track on a spreadsheet, for chuckles.
Anyway, if I grocery shop using the Burley Coho XC trailer towing ~50 pounds, I easily become 330+ pounds of mass hurtling down the road at 20-25 mph in a vehicle where my face is the ‘crumple zone.’ Judicious use of the horn (or the aftermarket Spurcycle bell) has been very useful as I navigate. (N.B. on the Burley Coho XC trailer: It *says* it has 75-pound capacity. I strongly recommend you limit it to 50 pounds or less, placing heaviest items toward the trailer’s wheel.)
The cockpit on the Superdelite is very crowded: Horned Ergon grips with a very good rear view mirror on the left. The dropper post lever. The electronic horn. The brake lever attachments. The assist controller. The QuadLock smartphone holder. The adjustable stem. The Kiox display. The Spurcycle bell. The electronic shifter. On the left-hand side, it’s all pretty tight. The industry can certainly do better on integrating all these things together so that they are not stacked like dominoes in a row. I mean: cars have those annoying blank buttons where you are always reminded of the option you did not buy. But R&M has done as best as can be expected given current technologies and formats. Certainly, the Superdelite cockpit is far tidier than the majority of ebikes with similar functionalities.
The power from the nominal 250W (~600W peak) Bosch motor, upgraded to the current 85 nm of torque, is more than adequate. The trick to using it correctly is to find the right cadence/torque pressure. As everyone will tell you, the more you give, the more you get. On the HS version, there is a sweet spot that is designed to keep your cadence at a good clip and maintain speed. And doing that correctly is all about being in the right gear.
I’ve booked along at 28+ mph in the highest gear in Tour; and I’ve ascended the steepest, 30%+ grade hills in first or second in Sport mode, both without much effort at all. The most profound impact has been not hills at all, but wind. Wind can cut my efficiency in half and easily prompt a tap to the next higher assist.
I am fortunate that my town is committed to Protected Bike Lanes. As a car driver, I thoroughly supported them because it discouraged meandering bicyclists from getting caught up in my wheels. As an urban bicyclist, they are hands-down and without question exactly what every city should do. Massive difference in confidence and security.
My Superdelite was equipped with the ‘winged victory‘ standard rear rack (but no front rack); as well as the Fox Float suspension upgrade and Rock Razor tires. The Fox suspension may sound like overkill, but it manages the small bumps of city riding far better than the Suntour (but at a price). I intend to take this bike to fire trails and scale some local mountains on off-road paths. Though I’ve yet to test this proposition, I think the suspension upgrade is worth it. It certainly has been for the poor city roads thus far.
I have an outsized fear of getting a flat on this thing, so I added Tannus Armour inserts as well as tire sealant in a belt-and-suspenders way. In addition to the Included Abus folding lock, I use the Abus SmartX smartphone-operated lock when arriving where I’m going. Those, and, as mentioned, I have Hexlocked every possible thing. And that which is not locked, I take with me. I added the Kiox interlock that disables the motor except for that head unit, too.
Some have reported that the Tannus Armour inserts create a different feel. As I put them in before I even rode the bike, I cannot say. But the ride seems perfectly fine, to me. The suspension is transparent and very good. It is very easy to take for granted — and then you hop on your old, fork-suspension hardtail and realize that bikes without full suspension are basically uncomfortable.
Along these lines: The Gates Carbon Belt Drive is the dog that does not bark, the child who always behaves, and then never gets attention. Frankly, I cannot imagine ever going back to a derailleur setup and all the maintenance and faffing about that requires.
I replaced the included Ergon seat with a slightly wider Ergon ST Touring Core Men’s Ultra Saddle. It is more comfortable. But is it more comfy because of the Ergon tech? Tbh, I think it’s the extra width.
The purchase price, btw, is not where the expenses end. The mentioned trailer. The secunity locks. Service agreements. Tire inserts. Safety gear. Foul weather clothing. Full insurance, including liability. Maintenance gear. It all adds up. In my case, the total bill has been over $16 large.
Nonetheless, I’ve remarked to friends that the Superdelite is as close as the ebike industry has come to making a Honda Accord: comfortable, reliable, and useful. An all-around bike that does just about everything — city roads, trails, hauling — in an above-average way that is very friendly as a car replacement.
The Riese & Müller Superdelite is not quite perfect. There is a yet-to-be-corrected paint flaw on the stem (ahem: This is a $12,000 bicycle, guys). The Rohloff gears tend to get hung up on 8th gear — once even refusing to shift out despite repeated attempts, though I was correctly removing pedal pressure. The front hydraulic brake line initially could get caught on the right-hand bottle boss during a hard right turn (when the Fabric bottle was not installed), threatening to rip the hydraulic line right off. The mirror, though very good and vibration-free, is not as well secured as you might expect, mostly because of the exact angle of the grip in relation to the fitting; it needs to be occasionally tightened. And then, of course, there was the exceedingly poor communication management during the purchasing and delivery process.
Is the Riese & Müller Superdelite a ‘Bentley’? Well, no: It is a bicycle. But ‘yes,’ because the relative expectations are that of buying a Bentley. And this is something that both R&M and the dealers need to more completely embrace and service. Because that is what R&M is holding themselves out to be.
In the end, though, the Superdelite is a competent and confidence-inspiring SUV. An SUV that I expect to be as reliable as a Honda Accord for years and years to come.
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