Touring-specific ebikes
 

Wondering if there is such a thing, set up for loaded touring, with max range ?

The Riese and Muller Supercharger2 Rolhoff HS would be my choice as I have done some minor touring on it and set it up initially for that purpose. It is a great bike. It is Bosch so better supported globally, dual batteries, 14 speed has a nice sturdy rack at the back and if you get the front rack it does pretty well. If you add in the Nyon you have navigation which does pretty nicely. Overall it is an excellent pick and for reference we had a customer with the older full suspension version do a tour of Africa on his and had a blast (it was a similar set up but might not have been the HS version) They also do a standard chain and derailleur but I love my 14 speeds.

Here is my bike on a tour actually:
https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/riese...-rohloff-47611
I have upgraded the bottle cage to a ti flask cage and unfortunately lost those bottles (which I am still broken up about as the old mud guard caps were better than the new ones, ATMO) but it is nearly exactly the same with some more mileage on it.

Thanks for jogging my memory pertaining to R&M. I guess they are still the only game in town. That's quite a stable of bikes that you own !

Yuba, as well as many others, has cargo bikes that might suffice if R & M's prices are too steep.

No worries, there are other options, the Orox from Tern is a neat option and Yuba is neat, my only issue with Yuba is every time I see a Spicy Curry I want some (Ideally Curry Laksa). Also the mixed wheel sizes could be a little bit of a pain but easy enough to bring extra tubes in different sizes.

I'll check it out. Ran across a Surly Skid Loader, which looks interesting as well.

Surly is good stuff but they missed the mark on the Big Easy not calling it the Big Dum-E but it was a cool bike and know a couple folks who have them and love them. Haven't tried the Skid Loader yet though but I do like Surly (minus weight) and had a Disc Trucker at one point which is now living its best life in Central America on its third owner (or maybe more at this point)

Another Supercharger 2 user here. Primarily brought for adventure touring in Western Australia. I thought I would need the range quite often, given my chosen routes, but after June's tour last year, I reckon I can get two days between charges regularly, which is good as it means more camping and less town. I can squeeze out around 180 km I think.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ea80195341.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...48fd0fd896.jpg

Proof of concept pre-tour ... panniers were the big change.

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/aushiker/, on Flickr

Cuddled up for the night ... [Charging]

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1ce15c126e.jpg

Is Cube no longer available? They have numerous touring models

It can look different than an acoustic touring bike.
The main thing you want to look for is decent rolling & pedaling efficiency.

I would tour on my Aventon Level.2, which is an urban utility/commuter type eBike:

• Tires are 27.5 x 2.4" with a street tread
• I added a suspension seatpost
• I replaced the stock rack with a Topeak MTX rack and bought their trunk bag with fold-down panniers

I pedal it on flat ground at around 13 mph unpowered, normally at 18 mph powered. If I were touring, I'd withhold electric for help uphill and into stiff headwind.

If you're after something that looks like an acoustic touring bike, with the drop bars, probably an electric gravel bike is the best starting point. Ride1UP makes one for not a ton of money and they're a stand-up company.

Regardless of the bike, I would never opt for drop bars for long rides. I like being in an upright position with different hand positions and even have a Jones bar on my Talon. it seems like the advantage of an e-bike is negated by their weight, if the bike is loaded ? I wonder if trailers make more sense for touring with an ebike?

I hate trailers because I so easily overload them but they are nice in the fact I can just throw everything in pretty easily. However if I was a trailer type I might consider a nice R+M Load 60 so I can just throw everything at the front and not need a trailer. Plus I can do some serious grocery runs with it when not touring or haul a bunch of firewood back to the campsite.

Drop bars are nice but I do love my Velo Orange Crazy bars or Koga Denham bars.

I wouldn't want a hub drive for touring.

Drop bars don't have to be low, and one of the main reasons they're popular is that there are (at least) three different hand positions available: tops, hoods and drops. You can set them up so that you're upright on the tops, slightly less so on the hoods, but a bit more aero when down in the drops. It makes a big difference when riding into a headwind, for example.


It's a give & take between weight, aerodynamics and rolling resistance. For people who intend to use only electric, weight & aero don't matter as much, or will only matter when lifting or pushing the bike around. These are people who would have bought a moped 20 years ago, but the eBike option is a way to not pay title, license and insurance. So they look for something most like a moped, so they can "ride the loophole". It makes sense when you look at it like that, but one has to realize that they're not what we would "cyclists".

For those who intend to pedal more, there can be a different mix. Do you want to mostly pedal, but have the motor option? Then you want something efficient, like a road or gravel bike. Less than 50 lbs. for sure and less than 30 is better. (although $$$$)

There are many schools of thought: For example, my commuter eBike rolls easier than my eFatty; MUCH more efficient on the street, but is set up with rack, fenders and luggage, so it's my main grocery-getter, and I can pedal it on flat ground comfortably at 13 mph. The eFatty is more like 10 mph. An electric road bike would be more like 15 mph, but requires certain posture compromises in exchange for the extra speed/efficiency.