Ride Review after 125 miles-
I started riding this bike on Friday April 20 and ridden 165 miles in the past week.
Court does such fantastic reviews of bikes that I can really add is personal impressions and opinions about the bike. For an in depth review of the Nevo GH Court's full review with specs and video here is the link:
https://electricbikereview.com/riese-muller/nevo-gh-nuvinci/ Others have reviewed this particular bike as well.
Th Nevo GH has an unusual, if not unique, personality. It is not sporting equipment. It is a vehicle. It feels like it was machined out of a single piece of metal. With the exception of the whirring of the electric motor and gears in the Bosch CX mid-drive motor, the bike is virtually silent. The Gates carbon belt drive eliminates all the normal chain noises and the Nuvinci hub has none of the noise from the chain moving over the sprockets one hears on a "normal" bike. If my Cube Touring bike (also with the Bosch CX) is a VW Passat then the Nevo GH is a Mercedes e350. It is that much more solid feeling, superbly engineered and gives one a that much more sense of control and confidence. The GH version has a reinforced frame, wider tires, and is speced out to support a total payload of 309 pounds, rider and gear.
This bike arrived at my door weighing in at 62 pounds. Add in an Abus chain lock that pins into the Abus frame lock that came on it, a handlebar bag and trunk bag, a few tools, water bottle, a few extra cables to secure the whole bike, etc and I am sure the bike now weighs right around 75 lbs. The Schwalbe Super Moto X 27.5" x 2.4" tires inflated at 32psi front and 38 psi rear support the bike and my 208 lbs. of bulk just right. They contribute the stealthy quiet character of the bike as well. They seem to have minimal rolling resistance for their width. Although they have a thick layer of flat resistant material in them, I did have the shop put in kevlar liners and slime.
I expected that the Nuvinci hub would slow me down some versus the Shimano Diore XT 11 speed on my Cube from reading
this article on the relative efficiency of various drive systems. It is a good read for anyone considering their options. What the Nevo Nuvinci offers on the plus side is worth a small sacrifice in either speed or range...my impression is that it is between a 5% and 10% loss of wattage compared to my Cube, which also weighs 10 lbs. less.
Despite the Nevo's sure-footedness and obvious mass, it is not a ponderous or heavy feeling ride. Solid is the best word to describe how this bike feels on the road or trail. Predicable is another.
One little tip for people who like to ride hard. The elevated chain stays end up lowering the crank by 1.75" as compared with my Cube. Beware of pedal strikes. I am now being much more mindful of keeping my inside pedal at 12 o'clock going around a tight turn and not pedaling through the turns. I replaced the original pedals with Specialized Boomslang pinned platform pedals. They are thin, roomy and super sticky grip so one can push and pull around through
at least a 270 degrees. They could be dangerous on a pedal strike though...safety first.
I replaced the Intuvia display with a Nyon and could not be happier with the result. For those interested in learning more about adding a Nyon in the USA see my earlier post
https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/nyon-retrofit.16260/#post-128545
The bike came with a thudbuster seat post but living in Bellingham, WA I wanted to support the hometown team so it was replaced with a Body Float which is made right here. Add to that a Selle Anatomica H2 saddle and my tush is happy.
I am getting ever more adept with using the Nuvinci. Being able to downshift while not moving is very convenient. Smoothly rotating the ratio control ring when accelerating from a stop gets me up to 20 mph in around 100 feet on a stepless continuum of acceleration...it is a very cool feeling. Keeping the cadence up around 80 seems to match up with the Bosch CX drive and the Nuvinci just right. The ratio range is outstanding with some pedal still left going down hill between 25 and 30 mph as well as a low enough low ratio to climb a long 12% grade at 6-8 mph.
In calm conditions on the flats, I could keep this bike between 16-18 mph for miles on end with a heart rate in the low 90s with no electric assist.
My Polar heart rate monitor gives current, max and average beats per minute on the fitness display of the Nyon. I am 6'1" 208 lbs. 67 years old and a heart patient (two stents, an implanted defibrillator and too many meds to mention). One to two hours every day on my bike has restored my health to better than it has been in 30 years. Oh and my cardiologist rides his Trek Supercomuter to work most days so bikes have become a topic of our conversations in addition to the state of my health.
This is one superb, beautifully designed, skillfully built, immensely satisfying to ride, human/electric-motor integration machine. Again I keep coming back to the word
solid. That is what the Nevo GH is in a nutshell.
I think this is a passion that will endure.
