If there’s one area of cycling that divides opinion more than any other, it’s the rise of the e-bike. Love them or hate ‘em, e-bikes are becoming more prevalent and I’m sure many of you are becoming just a little bit e-curious.
We personally think they’re a great tool for many riders but just to prove it we’re going to go for a ride and try to dispel some of the common e-bike myths along the way.
We personally think they’re a great tool for many riders but just to prove it we’re going to go for a ride and try to dispel some of the common e-bike myths along the way.
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00:00If there's one area of cycling that divides opinion more than any others, it's the rise
00:15of the e-bike. Love them or hate them, they're definitely becoming more prevalent. I'm sure
00:20there's many of you that become just a little bit e-curious. We personally think they're
00:25a really good tool for many riders out there. To prove that, we're going to go for a bit
00:29of a ride today and hopefully dispel some of the common e-bike myths along the way.
00:34Now, James, this isn't just any bike ride. We're going to be heading from here in Knaresborough
00:38to Boultby Bank. I've got a sneaky suspicion there could be a challenge awaiting us at
00:42the end of the ride. To help us on the way, we've brought two of the latest crop of motor-assisted
00:48road bikes. Will has chosen Look's very first e-bike, the E765 Optimum, and I've gone for
00:56the Cannondale Synapse Neo SE. Now, both bikes approach it from a very different angle.
01:01The Look E765 is really a performance road bike with Faze's super lightweight and compact
01:09motor and battery system that can be removed and ridden without the battery attached. Whereas,
01:14the Cannondale Synapse Neo SE approaches things from a do-it-all angle. It uses Bosch's latest
01:20Active Line Plus motor and battery system and has a strong aluminium frame and wheels
01:25and tyres to allow it to ride on any terrain you want to go on.
01:29Now, enough talk, James. Let's power these guys up and get going.
01:32If you enjoy having fun, getting out in nature and exercise, then there really is no cheating
01:53with an e-bike. All an electric bike does is give you assistance to make it easier to go
01:58up hills. In fact, e-bikes are making it more accessible for more people than ever before to
02:03get out and enjoy cycling. If you want to work harder, then turn the motor off. It's all a
02:08matter of how much assistance you require on that day. Absolutely not. Motor systems are self-contained
02:23units. With the majority of recognised brands offering a level of reliability, they'll keep
02:28them going for thousands of miles. The only thing to impact performance is under-inflated tyres.
02:54Definitely not. E-bikes do not make you lazy in the slightest. Electric bikes are designed to be
02:5950-50 pedal assist, meaning the rider does half the work. Although less effort is required,
03:06riders who switch to e-bikes claim they ride further distances and thus make more use of them
03:11and add an advantage to all that extra power as you get to the top of the climb not in a sweaty
03:16mess but thinking about pressing on to the next summit.
03:29Is there anything better than having a bike that'll take along any path you choose?
03:33Cannondale's Synapse Neo SE is the perfect accompaniment for any type of riding.
03:39The Synapse Neo SE uses Cannondale's out-front steering geometry, pairing a relatively slack
03:44head angle with a long 55mm fork offset to increase stability at speed while maintaining
03:50a quick, agile steering feel. A wide-ranging SRAM Apex 1x11 speed groupset gives the perfect
03:56combination of gears for both on- and off-road exploring. And when it comes time to stop,
04:01the hydraulic brakes with their 160mm rotors make short work of the job.
04:06Fast, comfortable and above all versatile, the Cannondale Synapse Neo SE is all you can wish for
04:12from an e-bike. A special bike from a special brand. The E765 Optimum is the first e-bike
04:24from Look and it's a focused performance road bike with the integrated FATSU motor.
04:29The FATSU motor is the centrepiece of the bike. It's the smallest and most compact e-motor on
04:34the market today, featuring a 250wh battery paired with a motor capable of a 250wh output.
04:41All this in a small package that gives a range of up to 86km. Should you wish to lose the extra
04:46weight, the motor and battery from FATSU is removable and due to the frictionless internals
04:50you won't feel anything out on the road. It's not all performance and no comfort however.
04:55The frameset features 3D Wave stays that maintain lateral stiffness but allow a 15% increase in
05:01the carbon's natural flexibility for a more comfortable ride over a longer distance.
05:05The bike is built using Shimano's Ultegra Di2 groupset. The wheels are the Vittoria
05:10Illusion carbon tubeless wheels. At first glance it looks like a bike straight out of
05:14the Pro Peloton, all while allowing you to reconnect with the pleasure of cycling
05:18without the fitness to match.
05:34Check out the clearances and mounts on this bike. You can run normal road tyres
05:39or fat gravel tyres depending on where you want to ride. And you can slather it in racks
05:44and mudguards depending on whether you want to go touring or use it for commuting duties.
05:49And with bikes like this Cannondale, you really can take it anywhere you want.
06:00Well yes, an e-bike is going to be heavier over a regular road bike. However with Look's
06:05frame-integrated battery system, you're only adding around three kilos, which is nothing.
06:09And with the pedal assist, you're really not going to notice it. And with most modern motors,
06:14once you get over that 25kmh threshold, there's almost no resistance to be felt.
06:23Modern motor and battery technology mean that the term range anxiety has almost made a thing
06:29of the past. Take the Bosch Active Line Plus system on this Cannondale. Clever electronics
06:35and a whopping 500wh battery mean that you can eek nearly 200km off one charge. And a clever
06:43system on the front which allows you to switch between power modes means you can really make
06:48the most of this system. Well, of course we're going to stop for coffee.
07:11So we've made it. We are at the bottom of the famous Boultby Bank, one of North Yorkshire's
07:17most infamous climbs. And this is the scene of our challenge. So what we're going to do is we
07:23are each going to have a go at trying to beat the fastest time up here, which stands at the moment
07:29as a staggering 4 minutes 52 seconds. It's going to be a real challenge. At 0.7 of a mile, it
07:35doesn't seem like much, but it averages over 13% gradient with parts over 25%. It's going to be a
07:42tough one. Yeah, I'm not sure we know what we're letting ourselves in for, but hopefully with the
07:47help of these bikes, it's going to be a easy task. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. But because I'm the
07:55most senior person here, I'm going to make sure that it's Will that goes first. He's going to set
07:59the benchmark. So we'll see if I can then beat that. Catch me if you can. Good luck, mate.
08:04What James doesn't know, I've got rocket mode, 400 watts of unadulterated power.
08:09I'm going to get the KOM. Three, two, one, go.
08:40Wow. That was hard. Climbing Baltby Bank, trying to go as hard as possible
08:57from the bottom to the top was crazy. That was really hard. So as we said, we did time it via
09:02Strava. And Will, you did it in 5.27. So just outside the top 10. However, you were faster than
09:13me. So I did 5.36, which to be honest, is probably a lot faster than I could have gone up there on a
09:20normal bike. Agreed. Yeah. Don't panic. We did delete them straight off Strava. Okay. So we know
09:25it's e-bikes. We have taken it out. So don't panic. I hope that dispelled a few myths about
09:29e-bikes. I had a lot of fun today, but I think I'm still going to need a lie down after this.
09:34Well, I hope you've enjoyed what we've done today. And if you've got any comments you'd like
09:38to say about e-bikes, please put it in the comment section below. And don't forget to
09:43like and subscribe to keep up with our latest releases. But until then, we'll see you later.
09:51One take.