AWESOME FOURSOME
ELECTRIC BIKES HAVE come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years, evolving from their humble hybrid roots to become modern machines designed for all sorts of riders with all sorts of cycling needs. And this quartet of test bikes shows some of the design directions today’s ebikes have taken.
The first of our four has a feature rarely seen today, with HonBike’s One folder forgoing a chain or belt in favour of a fully enclosed shaft drive, which is claimed to be good for 40,000km of clean, fuss-free riding.
Cooper’s CG-7e, meanwhile, is a stripped-back steel bike that, at first glance, you’d be hard pressed to spot as an ebike. The Volt London is a tough singlespeed bike with wide, gravel-friendly tyres and a long range, but not as long a range as that of the Mycle Cargo, which is one of the least expensive entries into the world of electrically assisted load-carrying bikes.
An Hon-ourable mention
The HonBike One’s headline design feature is the enclosed shaft drive, which HonBike claims will run maintenance free for over 40,000km. It’s certainly smooth and silent and I found no lag when pedalling. Complementing this is a 250W front hub motor driven by a pocket-sized 216Wh battery housed above the chainset. The motor has some clever tricks too, a torque sensor preventing wheelspin on climbs with a gyroscopic sensor doing the same thing if you go into a corner too quickly.
The bike delivers five power
