Turbo Como 4.0 or New Ariel C-Class? Nexus Internal Geared Hub?

[NWMI]

Hi,

Thank all of you for your very helpful and educational comments on here.

My wife and I are in our early 60's and are on a quest for comfort ebikes up to 28 mph (won't be going that fast but faster than 20) for frequent, fun rides of 10 - 30 miles.

We started looking at the budget hub drives but our road is a 1/2 mile hill with about 225 feet climb in altitude, so after renting a hub drive and a mid drive to try on our hill, we decided that we better get mid drives for the hill.

We weren't planning on spending nearly that much, but based on what we are looking for, I think that we are headed for Specialized Como 4.0
(Raleigh Redux/Izip Moda step throughs too high for my wife)

But Ariel just came out with a new C-Class and at $ 1,699 each when buying two (vs $ 3,350 for the Como) it is a half the price of the Como and seems to be a great value, even having some things that the Como does not including suspension seat post AND front fork, 500 watt mid motor (vs 250) with 95 NM of torque (vs Como 70), throttle, and 576 watt hour battery (vs Como 500) that costs much less to replace or get extras. It certainly seems to check a lot of boxes.

https://arielrider.com/products/c-class-electric-commuter-bike

It has the Nexus internal hub but I don't know if that is preferred or not. Can anyone tell me if that is a good thing and if so (or not), why (or why not)?

I know that these bikes might not typically be compared and that it's ultimately a value judgement but for our intended use, with these features and at this price, what do you think?

 

[Dewey]

The Pedego City Commuter mid drive uses the same Dapu 500w motor as that new Ariel C-Class, Court reviewed it https://electricbikereview.com/pedego/city-commuter-mid-drive/ and mentioned Pedego had added physical shift detection to cut motor power. The Shimano Nexus 8 IGH needs power to back off while shifting, I added a gear sensor to do this on my bafang mid drive Nexus 8 bike. Ask Ariel if they have something that does this on the C-Class, when Court reviewed the M-Class model that also uses this motor he reported Ariel were not using shift detection https://electricbikereview.com/ariel-rider/m-class/. A Nexus 8 will shift under light load but it may pause before it detects a lowering of torque stress before engaging the next gear - see Dan Burkhart's explanation for why this is so on this thread on another forum https://www.bikeforums.net/general-...9-shimano-nexus-7-can-i-shift-under-load.html. Maybe you could momentarily pause pedalling to cut motor power while shifting, I don't know about the Dapu mid-drive so you could ask Ariel.

Otherwise the usual benefits of an IGH apply, ability to shift down gear when stationary is invaluable in urban stop-start traffic so it's a good choice for a city commuter.

 

[NWMI]

Thank you Dewey. This is very helpful.

I checked with Ariel and the new C-Class does not offer shift detection. They said upshifts are not a big deal but important to pause or even pedal backward one rev on downshifts.

So other than a sleeker and lighter bike that is a bit more designed for our purposes (cruising vs city), what does double the price for a Como get me?

Would I be silly to get the C-Class for what we are doing or silly for paying double for the Como?

 

[Dewey]

The Specialized is 14lb lighter weight, has a wider range cassette 11-42t and 48t chainring plus the Brose T motor supports up to 120rpm cadence with high torque so it’s a good combination for easier faster pedalling climbing hills, increased range due to less current required by the lighter bike 36v/500w peak vs 48v/1,000w peak, in Court’s review he mentioned the weight saving with the aluminum rigid fork and showed accessories that can take the edge off bumps like a suspension seatpost or handlebar stem, sophisticated torque + speed sensor electronics tied to the Specialized Mission Control app which you can use to tell the bike to reserve a certain % of power for long distances, and five frame sizes vs just the one size on the Ariel. The Ariel has a more powerful motor, is a heavier bike, and has the IGH so would make a fine town bike. If you can test ride you’ll have a better feeling for which one you prefer to ride.

 

[NWMI]

Thank you Dewey. All excellent points which I will carefully ponder.