The Panzer Has Arrived - Review Of New Charger GX Touring

[Tbone]

Picked up the R-M Charger GX Touring Monday. This is a 25km/h version. Needless to say it was an exhilarating first ride. In just a few days I've managed to put almost 300km on the bike. The bike has been purchased as a commuter and an off-road trailblazer. A tour to the coast of Holland this summer is already in the works.

Before I get into details of the bike, first a word or three about the dealer and purchase experience. I really wish this or any of this caliber bike could be purchased w/out a dealer. What a waste of time and, obviously, money. Also, the dealer didn't inform us when we ordered the bikes (my wife is still waiting on her Charger Nuvinci) how long it takes for delivery. In the end, mine was delivered in just under two months. Whaaaaaa? Two weeks? Ok! Two months? (Get it together R-M.)

By-the-by, when I tried to contact R-M about my order they just blew me off, saying that I need to talk to the dealer. How f'n rude! Since we had some difficulty with my wife's Charger order, her's should arrive within the next two weeks. Obviously R-M is more to blame than the dealer for delivery time. It would be great if R-M could at least provide some "tracking" info about a customer's order. I mean, come on, R-M doesn't make any of the parts of this bike. They just design (the frame!) and assemble it. Knowing a bit about how Europe works, especially at this price-level, I shouldn't be surprised at the wait time. But it's still a major bummer.

First. The bad.

After pick up and initial ride, something wasn't right. The handlebars or the stem was out-of-whack. Not only that, but the small front rack, which is part of the GX series, wasn't properly attached. Luckily the rack is easy to adjust. There is also something wrong with the cork grips. One of the grips is lower than the other. As of the writing of this post, I've not got around to figuring how to adjust the grips. All of this has got me thinking that maybe there is something wrong with the handlebars. I'm gonna put off dealing with this for a while because when I look at the bars from the front, that is, without sitting on the bike, they look straight. There aren't any useful measuring lines on the handlebars to check if something is out of line with the stem/kneck. These are the widest bars I've ever had on bike--so maybe there is some adjusting on my arms that I need to do.

The first thing the dealer did was point out the paint damage. There is a 2-3mm chip in the paint of the top-tube. The dealer said that he is trying to figure out how to deal with it. If he gets a new frame I'll have to wait till winter to get it. What a bummer! It's a good thing that imperfect paint doesn't effect the ride.

Oh, and for posterity's sake, at this price R-M should put something more than cheap pedals on it! The delivered pedals suck. I immediately replaced them with some fancy Shimano XT pedals.

Second. The Good.

This is by far the best bike I've ever ridden. It's balanced, smooth and oozes confidence. Even though I call it The Panzer because of its size and weight, it rides like a well-tuned sport car (bike?). The brakes are nothing less than incredible. The Bosch motor is super smooth and has enough torque to allow me to ride up steep inclines while remaining seated. Although I'm not a fan of suspension on bikes, this one may change my mind. The GX front forks eat up terrain that is sometimes unbearable on my cross road racer. I'm not tickled with the Thudbuster seat post, but I've got to give that some more time and maybe change-out the rubber mounts here or there. Even though it is a heavy and bulky bike, including always lugging around my twin rear panniers, it rides even against the heaviest winds at 25km/h without much effort.

As far as the cost of this bike goes, yeah, sure, it's bloody expensive. But I boiled down my choice to three bikes before purchase--each of which, under other circumstances I would still buy. It was between a Haibike (sduro; around 3500,-€) and the low end Stromer St1 (around 3600,-€ w/high end battery). In the end I didn't pick the Stromer because I knew that it was too "street" oriented. (But boy does it ride nice.) Actually the Haibike's components are what steered me to the Charger GX in the end. I paid a few hundred Euros more for the Charger GX because I'm gambling that after a few years of riding it anywhere and everywhere, it'll last. We'll see.

Update: for more about cost of The Panzer see my comments below.

Ride safe.

-T

 

[Over50]

...Regarding the delay for your e-bike, I'm not really surprised. Mine took 2 months as well, and they received it 2 weeks late. It could have been worse though. Buyers who ordered the same bike at the beginning of last year waited a whopping 9 months due to delays with the PW-45 drive. The first units were only shipped in late September...

I wonder if perhaps R&M, with their entrance into North America, is having some trouble keeping up with demand. I'd love to know how their sales are going in NA relative to expectation and whether the increased sales to NA is impacting their ability to meet demand in Europe. Odd and a bit troubling to hear of the ill-fitting front rack and grip and chipped paint. Mine arrived in pretty good shape as far as I could tell. The only thing I found loose were the screws attaching the Bosch controller. I had the brake rubbing I've mentioned right out of the box. I didn't detect it on my test ride in Brooklyn but there might have been too much road noise or something might have moved around in shipping. I went over the bike again a few weeks ago and checked for anything coming loose and all was good. I do concur with TBones on the balanced and smooth ride of the Charger. I feel really confident in turns and the bike really smooths out my bad roads. I feel like its the most stable and sure-footed bike I've been on.

 

[Tbone]

got for a nice price considering that I deducted a 300 Euro ECO subsidy, a 200 Euro voucher, and I bought it on a 15% discount week

Purchase of these expensive machines can be trying. Here's my experience.

Paying cash was one option since we sold our 2nd car last year. But you know what they say... never spend your own money if you can spend someone elses--especially at zero interest!

Of the two bikes we purchased from R-M, we leased my GX as a commuter vehicle. The lease has a zero interest rate. The deal is for people willing to replace a car. Germany has been pushing for commuters to switch to bicycles for years. Most of the city's roads have great bike lanes (that are pissing off a lot of car drivers!) and there are numerous paths and really cool off-road routes along the Rhine River (which is my commute).

The monthly lease payment for my GX is deducted from my gross income. The amount saved on the bike after three years is around 800,-€. Also included in the lease is insurance for theft and accident damage. After three years I have the option of buying the bike outright at 10% of the original value or trading it in on a new bike. (Delight with dual battery next time? ;-) Since we ordered two Chargers at the same time the dealer gave us a 10% discount on the cash purchase of my wife's Charger. Also, since my wife's charger won't be ridden as much, if needed, I can easily use her battery to extend my GX's range. (This was the reason I didn't buy the dual battery.)

Ride safe.

-t

 

[Tbone]

I was considering buying this bike in the 45Km/h variant

I was very confused about which speed variant to get. Even though I'm a former motorcyclist and have a motorcycle license, I don't feel like having to deal with the German legal hastles of a 45km/h e-bike. Also, in Germany, 45km/h e-bikes are not allowed on bike paths. And then there's... For those who know about marriage and how the women-folk want things done together, my wife doesn't have a motorcylce license so she didn't want me to have a (speed) advantage either. LOL. (God save me!)

Of course, I've already noticed the speed limitation of 25km/h on long, paved roads. But off-road it's more than enough. Luckily only young tour de France wannabes pass me on the road. ;-)

Ride safe.

-t

 

[Chris Nolte]

Congrats on your new ride! It's a bummer that you had some delays with your bike, it sounds like it's been worth the wait though.

A couple of items based on your comments. I believe the handlebar and grip adjustment should happen at the dealer level. But you should be able to adjust most of that with a 4mm Allen key.

I believe R&M provides a portal for dealers to check the progress of the bikes in the EU. But I do also know that there were some slight production delays on the GX models. We had a bunch of them being built around the same time as yours. I have to imagine it's gotta be tough to manage the logistics of having parts on hand for all of these bikes. Overall we've been very happy with working with them.

Many things they do are very German, as in firm and by the book, but it seems the end result is much better that way. I'm learning to trust the process of companies like them and Bosch.

I hope you get everything sorted with your dealer and most importantly enjoy the ride!

 

[Chris Nolte]

I wonder if perhaps R&M, with their entrance into North America, is having some trouble keeping up with demand. I'd love to know how their sales are going in NA relative to expectation and whether the increased sales to NA is impacting their ability to meet demand in Europe. Odd and a bit troubling to hear of the ill-fitting front rack and grip and chipped paint. Mine arrived in pretty good shape as far as I could tell. The only thing I found loose were the screws attaching the Bosch controller. I had the brake rubbing I've mentioned right out of the box. I didn't detect it on my test ride in Brooklyn but there might have been too much road noise or something might have moved around in shipping. I went over the bike again a few weeks ago and checked for anything coming loose and all was good. I do concur with TBones on the balanced and smooth ride of the Charger. I feel really confident in turns and the bike really smooths out my bad roads. I feel like its the most stable and sure-footed bike I've been on.

R&M is having some growing pains, but it's not that related to the US I think. They produce over 30k bikes a year and I think their demand dramatically increased this year. They were expanding their facility to double its size when I visited in August and I think they now need more space already.

Btw - Regarding the screws on your controller, they should remain a little loose to allow you to rotate the display if you have a glare or change your position. This also helps to lessen damage to the display if you were to drop or crash the bike since it should move instead of breaking. I'm not sure if that was the case on your bike, but I figured I would mention it in case you didn't know already.

I hope you have been enjoying the ride now that the weather is starting to improve

 

[Tbone]

Update.

Just got notice from dealer that my GX frame is going to be replaced because of the paint damage. That's the good news. The bad... As I wrote in the post (above), it'll take at least until fall to get the frame.

But I'm not complaining.

(Do you think I'm gonna ride the hell out of this frame till then?)

Yeah, baby.

-t

 

[Over50]

...Btw - Regarding the screws on your controller, they should remain a little loose to allow you to rotate the display if you have a glare or change your position. This also helps to lessen damage to the display if you were to drop or crash the bike since it should move instead of breaking. I'm not sure if that was the case on your bike, but I figured I would mention it in case you didn't know already...

I figured they should be loose to allow moving the display for glare but I was afraid to lose the screws. So I oriented the controller where I wanted it and then tightened it down. The breaking possibility in case of a crash or impact didn't occur to me and it is a very good point. So I will probably double back and loosen them back up a bit. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Tbone]

For me the choice between 25km/h and 45km/h was pretty easy to make. I didn't want to be limited to 25km/h, but interestingly that's my average speed when I'm roaming around the countryside. My commute involves hills and is not much faster. So I didn't necessarily choose 45km/h to go fast but because I didn't want to be limited. I find the 25km/h cut off speed to be excessive. Even going at 45km/h, I'm regularly overtaken by the lycra jocks with their 10 kilo carbon fiber bikes... I cannot outrace these guys going downhill or on flats. The only way to shake them off is uphill and the hill needs to have a minimum incline of about 5% grade. A group of young female riders paced me up a long 3% grade hill at a pretty decent pace the other day. At the top they thanked me for 'the tow', wished me a good day, and rode off in another direction. When I got home I looked at the average speed of that segment: 26km/h. It shows just how short sighted the legislation is.

Couldn't agree more.

The issue in Germany, though, has more to do with the hassle and bureaucracy of owning a "motorcycle" plus the urban and rural congestion. 45km/h e-bikes are considered "mopeds" here. While they are NOT allowed on the Autobahn because they cannot maintain 60km/h (the minimum speed) they are also not allowed on designated bike paths or pedestrian ways. That means they are restricted to city and rural roadways and even car parking lots. Aghast!

Btw, one of the reasons we sold our second car last year was because we are sick of driving here. German roadways are a nothing if not a perpetual construction site. Combine that with the hectic driving behaviour of people that make the best mass produced cars in the world and can only drive them on their beloved Autobahn at high speeds in the middle of the night... Boo-f'n-hoo, baby.

The funny thing is--and I probably shouldn't post this--our dealer tried to sell us the 45km/h version. They said, "just buy it and ride it and don't bother with the license plate and insurance and be careful." Even as a freewheeling American living for over 20yrs in Germany I was shocked they said that. My German wife almost fainted at the... blasphemy. When I tried to convince her with a what-the-hell (American) attitude I was quickly reminded about where I live. Indeed. I am an American in a German golden cage and I'm good with 25km/h. (At least until I install one of them fancy tuning chips.)

Rant and ride safe.

-t

 

[Over50]

For me the choice between 25km/h and 45km/h was pretty easy to make. I didn't want to be limited to 25km/h, but interestingly that's my average speed when I'm roaming around the countryside. My commute involves hills and is not much faster. So I didn't necessarily choose 45km/h to go fast but because I didn't want to be limited. I find the 25km/h cut off speed to be excessive. Even going at 45km/h, I'm regularly overtaken by the lycra jocks with their 10 kilo carbon fiber bikes... I cannot outrace these guys going downhill or on flats. The only way to shake them off is uphill and the hill needs to have a minimum incline of about 5% grade. A group of young female riders paced me up a long 3% grade hill at a pretty decent pace the other day. At the top they thanked me for 'the tow', wished me a good day, and rode off in another direction. When I got home I looked at the average speed of that segment: 26km/h. It shows just how short sighted the legislation is.

I've been considering the purchase of a 2nd commuter bike with a 20mph limit. I've been on the fence about 20 vs 28mph for a 2nd bike. I usually average about 16mph for my commute and my top cruising speeds are in the low 20s. Moreso, my commute is start and stop with not very much open road so hitting a long stretch where I can sustain 25 is rare. I wonder if there is a commuter bike/motor that allows the rider to easily maintain speed after the motor cuts off? Anyway, still in consideration mode on the 2nd bike so observations like yours are pretty valuable to me. And in my commute into Detroit, I've encountered the same two guys commuting on road bikes on multiple occasions. They both pass me at a good clip in a stretch where I'm doing about 20 mph. I like to sit behind them and observe at least until they leave me in the dust: 1). really skinny tires on our bad roads does not look like fun and does not look safe and 2). I seem to be the only guy almost stopping for every stop sign and traffic signal.

 

[opimax]

hard to go back to 20 after you have lived w/28, you can always slow down but you can't go 28 on the restricted version. I think the best way to get around this in Europe is the dongle on a mid drive. or better yet let my 28 on the path w/the other spandex group that goes faster anyway

 

[Tbone]

Update:

Pushing 500km on my new Charger GX Touring.

Summary: Bike is great.

It's a bit of a challenge getting used to how the Bosh motor works and which mode to use, but I think I'm figuring it out. For example, since I've got 11 gears w/ derailleur, making sure the bike is in the right gear ALL THE TIME is very important. I'm constantly shifting, which is kind of a pain when in city traffic.

Surprised at the convenience of the walk-mode. In order to take advantage of the walk mode, bike has to be in low gear. I actually didn't think I'd use the walk mode much but since the bike is parked in an underground garage, using it to sometimes walk up to street level really helps--it even works when going up stairs!

I've already scratched the hell out of the rear rack due to my Ortlieb bags but I think that's to be expected.

Although I was skeptical of the heavy and fat knobby tires, after use on and off road, I love them. The bike handles and turns with such ease. I can take sharp turns at high speeds and never feel the squarness of the tires. I didn't expect that.

The power/torque of the Bosh CX motor is great. Recently climbed a rather large and steep hill (40+% grade) with loose ground. I put the Charger in low gear, used "Turbo" mode and was able to climb it while remaining seated. Pretty impressive. (Btw, I'm 100kg.)

It's also taken me till now to get used to the wide handlebars and I'm still not sure I like them.

The brakes are nothing less than phenomenal.

As far as range is concerned: I average 40-70 km a trip. I mostly use the "Tour" mode and have yet to wear the battery down below two (out of five) bars. Planning a longer trip soon of over 100km. I suspect I'll be using "Eco" mode for that.

The 25km/h limitation is only an issue on long, straight bike paths. Off-road I can't ride it much above 18-20km/h anyway. The bike accelerates quickly to its speed limit. It is only during acceleration that the derailleur, i.e. shifting is slow. My wife's Charger with Nuvinci hub has faster and more comfortable shifting.

I love the way the bike allows me to ride at its speed limit even when in heavy headwinds. That's really cool.

As far as the dealer experience goes... I have to wait extra long because of "the season" to get first inspection. R&M recommends first inspection at 400km and the dealer at 250. My inspection appointment is at the end of June. My bike will probably have a 1000km on it by then. If you recall, they delivered the bike with a substantial knick in the paint on the top tube. They have already recieved a replacement frame from R&M but cannot install it until late fall. (?????)

That's it for now.

Rant and ride safe,

-T

 

[Tbone]

Good tip with the motor setting. I actually thought that the Bosch's sensors would compensate for that. In fact, I'm not quite sure I understand the "marketing" of those sensors. (Or could the marketing be bullshit!) I thought that the sensors would also know if I'm getting on the bike while pushing it along and then using one peddle step on and then swinging my leg over the bike to get in the saddle. I have to be careful that the bike doesn't just take off. I'm also confused that although Turbo will take me up any hill sitting down, Tour mode won't take me up even a fairly steep hill without having to stand on the peddles to push. Perhaps more off-road and hill riding will help me get used to it.

 

[Matt A]

I hear what you're saying about Tour mode not being able to climb a fairly steep hill, but us Yamaha owners have it even worse when it comes to climbing hills. The Yamaha PW series drives come with 4 modes ECO+, ECO, Standard, and High. ECO+ is the lowest mode and is practically useless as it's basically equivalent to having no assistance. ECO provides a little more assist, but I have trouble climbing grades over 3% with it. Standard level of assist does everything fairly well, but is a 'gas guzzler'. High assist level is roughly equivalent to Standard and eats up even more juice. I've demoed the Bosch version of my bike, and I can tell you that I would probably pick that drive if I had to start over again. The gap between the assist levels is much more evenly distributed on the Bosch drive than on the Yamaha. I have a lot of 3-5% grade hills and I can tackle them in Tour mode with the Bosch drive. With the Yamaha, I've resorted to a 'trick' to simulate Bosch's Tour mode: when I'm climbing a long moderate hill, I cycle between ECO and Standard mode every 4 seconds. This allows me to rest for 4 seconds, and puts some momentum back into my cycling. It also saves a ton of battery life. I'm going to ask the dealer if he has tools to increase the level of assistance of both ECO+ and ECO. Because, given my topology, I essentially have a one assist level e-bike.

In your case, you seem to be getting extremely good range. This gives you the luxury of being able switch into Turbo mode at will without having any 'range anxiety'. However there may be a solution to your problems. Bosch is releasing a software update for the CX drive which might help. The update replaces Sport mode with a 'dynamic assist level' that automatically adapts the power output to the terrain. It was discussed here at EBR:

https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/bosch-cx-motor-software-upgrade.13367/

As you're an EU customer, I think the update should be available to you soon (if it's not already the case).

I have the Nyon on my bike, and I suggest you get one when you get your new bike since you are in the EU. With the Nyon, they let you change how the assistance level works. You get a line graph of Motor Assist % and Speed, you can make 4 custom modes with specific power outputs at specific speeds. Pretty cool in my opinion, but I didn't play with it too much yet. I figure a cool custom mode would give a lot of assistance in the beginning, less around your average speed, and more at top speed for wind

 

[Tbone]

@JayVee thanks for that info. As far as Sport-mode and Turbo-mode go, I'm not noticing much of a difference between the two. Other than a very steep hill (that is a rough gravel feed path to a plateau) the only other climbs I have are when crossing Rhine River bridges or climbing river dykes. At most I need sustained climbing power for only a few minutes. I'll be checking on the update you mentioned asap.

FYI. I just finished a 65km tour that lasted almost 3 hrs with a 30min break. Half the ride was with headwinds. I mostly used Tour mode but fiddled with Sport and Turbo here and there. By the time I got home I was still at 2 bars (out of five).

 

[Matt A]

@JayVee thanks for that info. As far as Sport-mode and Turbo-mode go, I'm not noticing much of a difference between the two. Other than a very steep hill (that is a rough gravel feed path to a plateau) the only other climbs I have are when crossing Rhine River bridges or climbing river dykes. At most I need sustained climbing power for only a few minutes. I'll be checking on the update you mentioned asap.

FYI. I just finished a 65km tour that lasted almost 3 hrs with a 30min break. Half the ride was with headwinds. I mostly used Tour mode but fiddled with Sport and Turbo here and there. By the time I got home I was still at 2 bars (out of five).

Sport and Turbo really have no noticeable difference for my bike. That's why if my range in Turbo says 50, my range in Sport only says like 54. But Tour would say more like 90 miles range, and then Eco jumps it to 140 miles. The slim difference between Sport and Turbo can be seen in the range on Bosch bikes.

Good point! I had totally forgotten about that. And it might help Tbone as well. Yet another option for him to consider to get around his Tour mode problem. The Nyon was so buggy when it first came out that most of us totally forgot about it. But Bosch has probably had the time to iron out the issues. How's the navigation in the US?

I heard all about the issues with the Nyon but took the chance and bought the newer version anyway. Everything actually works great. There are only 2 negatives I see in a world of positives from the Intuvia. 1. It takes longer to boot up (maybe 10 seconds) but this does not matter at all because as soon as you hit the power button you will get any assistance level even though it is still on the loading screen. 2. It does crash mid-ride once in a while, it did this to me maybe 5 times since I got it (600 miles). This also can barely count as a negative because even if it 'crashes' mid ride (which is just the Nyon going back to the loading screen and rebooting) the assistance never stops, you still keep getting the motor even though the Nyon momentarily needed to reset. This also had no effect on the ride calculations and route that the bike tracks.

The Navigation works identical to how it does in the EU, the only thing I don't like about it is that there are no street names EVER while navigating. This wouldn't bother me in suburban or rural areas, but in the city when there's so many streets packed so closely, it can be confusing. If the Nyon lags even a little bit (which all navigations do) then you have very little reference as to where to turn. Even with it working perfectly, in the city there are often 2 streets that are barely 20 feet apart, so it can be hard to decipher which one to turn down. I am a younger rider, and spoiled by Google Maps ever since I owned a car or needed to navigate, so my perspective is different and more needy lol. The Nyon will just show you arrows to say Turn in 500 feet or whatever, but doesnt say what street to turn onto or anything. Because of this, I do not use the Navigation much, however if I was forced to, I would be able to get around just fine. When I do some touring and leisurely rides, the Nyon navigation would be fine, but with all the hustle and bustle in the city, Google maps is much more refined. One more thing to note, you cannot just type a name of a convenience store or anything, you have to know the physical address. I haven't tried it for landmarks like a specific State Park or other trail location, hopefully that would work!

 

[Tbone]

Update II

Surpassed 800km on Charger GX Touring today. Planning on writing a more extensive review at 1000km mark. So far everything is great except I'm noticing strange noises, creaking coming from seat or handlebars. No big deal. I don't think my rear tire is gonna last much beyond 1500km at which time I plan on replacing both front and rear with Schwalbe Big Bens. The most important issue that I'm concerned about is range. Today I did the longest tour yet. About 72 km. I rode the whole way on Tour mode and on return leg had plenty of head-wind. I arrived home with two bars remaining and a range estimate of 17km. If this range keeps up, I'm very pleased with the single battery configuration. The range of this bike is outstanding.

Rant & Ride on.

-Tbone

 

[Chris Nolte]

Update II

Surpassed 800km on Charger GX Touring today. Planning on writing a more extensive review at 1000km mark. So far everything is great except I'm noticing strange noises, creaking coming from seat or handlebars. No big deal. I don't think my rear tire is gonna last much beyond 1500km at which time I plan on replacing both front and rear with Schwalbe Big Bens. The most important issue that I'm concerned about is range. Today I did the longest tour yet. About 72 km. I rode the whole way on Tour mode and on return leg had plenty of head-wind. I arrived home with two bars remaining and a range estimate of 17km. If this range keeps up, I'm very pleased with the single battery configuration. The range of this bike is outstanding.

Rant & Ride on.

-Tbone

Glad to hear you're getting some good time on the bike. I recommend you opt for the Big Ben Plus when you change. They add a little extra puncture protection.

 

[Tbone]

Finally got around to part 2 or 1000km GX Touring pseudo-review.

https://worstwriter.com/2017/06/07/...-or-how-to-spend-stupid-money-smartly-i-hope/