Hey everyone, I thought I would write a “review” post of sorts, as while I could have missed it, I didn’t find details like this prior to my purchases, hopefully someone finds this useful.
First, a little context: I use my ebike for commuting and the odd errand, that’s basically it. They are usually 10-15km (one-way) trips through downtown and residential areas, mostly on bike paths, but sometimes not. I do not so far use it for leisure, treks or anything of the sort, I got one for it to be a “city vehicle”, and to help save gas.
After much research, (which included many stops here at EBR), in the spring of 2021 I purchased a diamond frame Cube Kathmandu One 500, if you’re not familiar it has a standard chain drive CX performance line Bosch motor (the newer models are roughly identical from what I can tell).
I enjoyed the bike, its built very well, shifted nicely (until, well see below), it was a bit stealthy - as in it didn’t totally look like a ebike at first glance, but it fit me well. However 2 things bugged me. My commute has a few long straights, on quiet roads/paths, and I could have really used more speed in certain spots (and being in Canada, its very difficult to find a bike that will assist you past 32 km/h), the 2nd, larger issue was the maintenance, and this is where the chain came in.
After all my research, I was under the impression ebikes had a beefier chain to deal with the extra torque an electric motor puts on the system, and therefore needs roughly the same maintenance intervals as a normal bike. After about 1000km of riding, I noticed that the chain (or gear cogs, I still don’t know) was slipping while I was pedalling - especially under heavy load, and this issue would fluctuate, but progressively slowly get worse, to the point where it was almost unrideable. About 200km later I took it into the LBS where it was purchased and had them take a look and do any general maintenance on it. I was told that I needed a new chain and new cassette assembly, and that I should have brought it in at around 800km, and that was the normal interval for a bike like that. What? I had no idea this was the case.
I got it fixed and continued riding, only to find the issue had not been completely resolved, but at least the bike was rideable again. At my next opportunity (a week or so later) was able to bring it back to the LBS to have them look at it again. They were able to adjust it but I was told that basically due to me waiting too long to bring the bike in the first time, the bike was “fused” to the old components, and the new components didn’t really fit 100% because of it. What? (x2).
After the adjustment, the bike was pretty free and clear of the slipping issue, but needless to say the whole experience scared me into thinking that chains do not work well with ebikes. Now I could have had a bad experience and other examples may have been able to last much longer, but from what I saw, I was worried.
In very early 2022, again after much research, I decided to put an order in for a DOST Kope CVT (IE the Enviolo hub/Gates Carbon belt drive model). And after a LONG delay in shipping (and Ravi from Zen trying to convince me to try their bike - on this forum), the Kope was finally delivered in late September of 2022. I was after a belt drive bike, more reliability and potentially more speed, and this checked all the boxes (as did the Zen, but the DOST train had already left the station when Ravi found me).
Now I say “more reliability” and some of you must chuckle, as this bike has the Bafang mid drive motor set up, not a Bosch, among some other odd design/component choices (which I found out about after I used it in person). I know people have varying experiences with Bafang, and they can be less reliable then the Bosch, but the hub/belt system is what I was truly interested in.
Between only have a few weeks of riding before winter set in after I received the bike, and now being able to ride it again this spring, my initial impressions of the drive system are positive, its very smooth, and mostly quiet, there’s no chain flopping around… but….
… There is one pet peeve that I’m having a hard time getting used to. On a chain bike, you shift while pedalling, right? On this set up, while you can sort of pedal while shifting, it doesn’t work very well, as you can only easily shift while there’s no tension on the belt, IE - when you’re not pedalling, so coasting, or stopped. This system overall is much different then a normal chain set up, there’s no “gears” per se, there’s ratios with a little graph showing how “steep” of a hill you can go up depending on what “gear” you’re in (Court does cover this in his review of this bike, but you don’t get a real sense of what this means until you try it in person).
I admittedly have to get more used to this, but I find that this different shifting mindset really neuters acceleration, which is a problem in stop-and-go urban environments, which is where I use my bike (also with going up hills, and low speed cycling in general). With the Cube, I was able to rifle through the gears quickly and get up to the 32 km/h assist limit within maybe 5 seconds. With the DOST, since you essentially have to stop pedalling to shift, it slows your forward momentum, which is amplified when you just start rolling, so it takes longer to reach faster speeds. I’ll be lucky to hit 30km/h after 10-15 seconds after a dead stop (its a damn heavy bike), and I find that its almost easier to use it as a fixie bike at low speeds, and then shift once you have some real momentum while (briefly) coasting to shift.
I have read subsequently that the carbon belt may need a bit of a break in period and is “easier” to shift once its reached that point, but its got around 300km of use so far and it still acts the same.
In Courts review of Ravi’s Zen Samurai which has the same belt drive set up, the example he’s riding an upgraded Enviolo shifter that “clicks” up and down through the “gears”. This seems like it may help with the “slow starting” issue, and be a good option if you can get it as the DOST has a standard twist-grip style shifter, which, aside from the usability, for me is much harder to gauge the ratios and get through the gears quickly, so far.
Thanks for reading, to quickly sum up, here's a pros/cons list on the DOST Kope CVT:
PROS
- Speed
- The belt drive is pretty smooth, much better then a chain IMO
- Frame quality seems solid
- its a nice looking bike even if its not as stealthy as the Cube.
- Pretty good lighting set up.
- Can shift gears while stopped.
CONS
- Its REALLY heavy
- The handle-twist shifter / no pedal when shifting takes some getting used to.
- Other than the speedometer, the display is borderline useless. The battery percentage fluctuates 20-30% around of what your reading actually is, the odometer is inaccurate, and the clock is wildly different every time you turn it on.
- Some of the component build quality/assembly is suspect, for example the battery compartment/locking mechanism seems not nearly as well built as the Cube’s even though it’s a similar integrated battery set up. The rear fender often bounces out of place and one of it’s supports rub up against the tire and makes a horrible noise, which requires you to stop and put back in place. The motor randomly makes odd noises, sometimes you think there’s something wrong with it, but then it goes away.
I’d be happy to answer any questions.
First, a little context: I use my ebike for commuting and the odd errand, that’s basically it. They are usually 10-15km (one-way) trips through downtown and residential areas, mostly on bike paths, but sometimes not. I do not so far use it for leisure, treks or anything of the sort, I got one for it to be a “city vehicle”, and to help save gas.
After much research, (which included many stops here at EBR), in the spring of 2021 I purchased a diamond frame Cube Kathmandu One 500, if you’re not familiar it has a standard chain drive CX performance line Bosch motor (the newer models are roughly identical from what I can tell).
I enjoyed the bike, its built very well, shifted nicely (until, well see below), it was a bit stealthy - as in it didn’t totally look like a ebike at first glance, but it fit me well. However 2 things bugged me. My commute has a few long straights, on quiet roads/paths, and I could have really used more speed in certain spots (and being in Canada, its very difficult to find a bike that will assist you past 32 km/h), the 2nd, larger issue was the maintenance, and this is where the chain came in.
After all my research, I was under the impression ebikes had a beefier chain to deal with the extra torque an electric motor puts on the system, and therefore needs roughly the same maintenance intervals as a normal bike. After about 1000km of riding, I noticed that the chain (or gear cogs, I still don’t know) was slipping while I was pedalling - especially under heavy load, and this issue would fluctuate, but progressively slowly get worse, to the point where it was almost unrideable. About 200km later I took it into the LBS where it was purchased and had them take a look and do any general maintenance on it. I was told that I needed a new chain and new cassette assembly, and that I should have brought it in at around 800km, and that was the normal interval for a bike like that. What? I had no idea this was the case.
I got it fixed and continued riding, only to find the issue had not been completely resolved, but at least the bike was rideable again. At my next opportunity (a week or so later) was able to bring it back to the LBS to have them look at it again. They were able to adjust it but I was told that basically due to me waiting too long to bring the bike in the first time, the bike was “fused” to the old components, and the new components didn’t really fit 100% because of it. What? (x2).
After the adjustment, the bike was pretty free and clear of the slipping issue, but needless to say the whole experience scared me into thinking that chains do not work well with ebikes. Now I could have had a bad experience and other examples may have been able to last much longer, but from what I saw, I was worried.
In very early 2022, again after much research, I decided to put an order in for a DOST Kope CVT (IE the Enviolo hub/Gates Carbon belt drive model). And after a LONG delay in shipping (and Ravi from Zen trying to convince me to try their bike - on this forum), the Kope was finally delivered in late September of 2022. I was after a belt drive bike, more reliability and potentially more speed, and this checked all the boxes (as did the Zen, but the DOST train had already left the station when Ravi found me).
Now I say “more reliability” and some of you must chuckle, as this bike has the Bafang mid drive motor set up, not a Bosch, among some other odd design/component choices (which I found out about after I used it in person). I know people have varying experiences with Bafang, and they can be less reliable then the Bosch, but the hub/belt system is what I was truly interested in.
Between only have a few weeks of riding before winter set in after I received the bike, and now being able to ride it again this spring, my initial impressions of the drive system are positive, its very smooth, and mostly quiet, there’s no chain flopping around… but….
… There is one pet peeve that I’m having a hard time getting used to. On a chain bike, you shift while pedalling, right? On this set up, while you can sort of pedal while shifting, it doesn’t work very well, as you can only easily shift while there’s no tension on the belt, IE - when you’re not pedalling, so coasting, or stopped. This system overall is much different then a normal chain set up, there’s no “gears” per se, there’s ratios with a little graph showing how “steep” of a hill you can go up depending on what “gear” you’re in (Court does cover this in his review of this bike, but you don’t get a real sense of what this means until you try it in person).
I admittedly have to get more used to this, but I find that this different shifting mindset really neuters acceleration, which is a problem in stop-and-go urban environments, which is where I use my bike (also with going up hills, and low speed cycling in general). With the Cube, I was able to rifle through the gears quickly and get up to the 32 km/h assist limit within maybe 5 seconds. With the DOST, since you essentially have to stop pedalling to shift, it slows your forward momentum, which is amplified when you just start rolling, so it takes longer to reach faster speeds. I’ll be lucky to hit 30km/h after 10-15 seconds after a dead stop (its a damn heavy bike), and I find that its almost easier to use it as a fixie bike at low speeds, and then shift once you have some real momentum while (briefly) coasting to shift.
I have read subsequently that the carbon belt may need a bit of a break in period and is “easier” to shift once its reached that point, but its got around 300km of use so far and it still acts the same.
In Courts review of Ravi’s Zen Samurai which has the same belt drive set up, the example he’s riding an upgraded Enviolo shifter that “clicks” up and down through the “gears”. This seems like it may help with the “slow starting” issue, and be a good option if you can get it as the DOST has a standard twist-grip style shifter, which, aside from the usability, for me is much harder to gauge the ratios and get through the gears quickly, so far.
Thanks for reading, to quickly sum up, here's a pros/cons list on the DOST Kope CVT:
PROS
- Speed
- The belt drive is pretty smooth, much better then a chain IMO
- Frame quality seems solid
- its a nice looking bike even if its not as stealthy as the Cube.
- Pretty good lighting set up.
- Can shift gears while stopped.
CONS
- Its REALLY heavy
- The handle-twist shifter / no pedal when shifting takes some getting used to.
- Other than the speedometer, the display is borderline useless. The battery percentage fluctuates 20-30% around of what your reading actually is, the odometer is inaccurate, and the clock is wildly different every time you turn it on.
- Some of the component build quality/assembly is suspect, for example the battery compartment/locking mechanism seems not nearly as well built as the Cube’s even though it’s a similar integrated battery set up. The rear fender often bounces out of place and one of it’s supports rub up against the tire and makes a horrible noise, which requires you to stop and put back in place. The motor randomly makes odd noises, sometimes you think there’s something wrong with it, but then it goes away.
I’d be happy to answer any questions.
