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January 19, 2024
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During our rideshare with Bosch, we met some completely unexpected friends
Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen
Who would have thought that Las Vegas was home to not only some amazing mountains, but also a wild herd of burros?
We were lucky enough to be able to travel with the team Bosch eBike systems and give yourself a break from the crowded booths and noise usually associated with CES. Our destination was the 27 km long Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Scenic route full of beautiful red rocks… and, yes, donkeys.
Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen
Of course, the trip wasn’t just about the scenery. We had the opportunity to test drive seven different e-bikes powered by different Bosch motor systems. Our ride gave us the opportunity to discuss several key topics with Claudia Wasko (General Manager Bosch eBike Systems Americas VP), Kurt Hoy (Marketing & Media Relations) and Brian Cleavland (eBike Technical Product Specialist).
Bosch Smart System and eBike Flow app
Photo credit: Bosch
Bosch continues to focus on bringing its engines up to date Intelligent system, which makes a lot of sense to me. Bosch motors have always been among the most powerful e-bike motors, and the ability to receive regular software updates wirelessly is amazing. Similar to how people talk about how cool it is that Tesla can release an update for your car, Bosch can do the same with its Smart System about that eBike Flow app. The practical advantage is that you don’t have to take the bike back to the dealer for each update, saving you time and money (some dealers charge a fee to update your bike as it takes a lot of time to update). .
However, over-the-air updates are just one feature of what you can do with the eBike Flow app. With the app you can:
- Secure your bike with the eBike Lock (free function)
- Additionally secure your bike with the eBike Alarm. This is free for the first 12 months and included in a paid subscription thereafter. Your subscription is called Flow+ and costs $3.99/month or $34.99 annually. In other words, it costs less than $5 per month, so you’ll probably sign up and forget you signed up for it. Luckily, that’s not a lot of money to spend on safety either when you’re riding around town on a $3,000+ e-bike.
- Use your phone as a display to show your speed, ride time, distance traveled, and current battery level (the reading is actually accurate, by the way), and you can even connect to an Apple Watch and get heart rate data.
- Plan your route and get navigation guidance. If you have a device with the Kiox 300 or 500 (their display units), you can do this from the display itself. If you don’t have Kiox, you can use your smartphone.
- Create custom driving modes. This is not usually the case for us Electric bike review, simply because we ride too many bikes. However, I always love the ability to create custom riding modes for each bike I personally own to suit my riding preferences.
One of my personal favorite features of the Flow app is that you can connect it to Strava and the app will do that AUTOMATICALLY Start recording your ride and transfer it to Strava when you’re done. I don’t know about you, but I’d say about a third of my rides I forget to start Strava and have to stop a mile into a ride when I remember.
Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen
Note: Initially we had some problems connecting to the eBike Flow app. This isn’t generally a problem for the average rider – our problems were simply that so many other riders already had a connection to each bike, and there were about 10 different bikes that our phones were constantly trying to connect to (of course not a normal situation). ).
If you have problems connecting to the Bosch Flow app, I recommend that you delete and reinstall the app. That worked wonderfully.
E-bike battery safety
A topic that came up again and again during the ride (and something we have covered continually here at EBR) is the topic of e-bike battery safety. I’m pretty sure everyone who rides an e-bike pays attention to this E-bike news have seen the tragic stories out of New York City about alleged e-bike fires. We’ve looked at this quite extensively What is causing the e-bike fires in New York?So it was great to chat with Bosch and hear some of her thoughts on the topic.
The most important insight we want to convey to our readers is that Bosch batteries are safe. As a German company, Bosch manufactures its products according to EU and US safety standards and we consider the company to be a leader in e-bike safety, especially when it comes to battery and motor safety. Claudia Wasko sits on the Steering Committee of People for Bikes and is very active in promoting not only electric bikes, but safety throughout the United States.
Of course, make sure it’s you Take care of your battery and charge it properly. My conversation with Claudia gave me two additional insights that I think are important for EBR readers:
- None of the fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in New York City were caused by stock e-bike batteries. Most of these were caused by other e-mobility devices (e.g. scooters), while a few were caused by refurbished batteries. A standard Bosch battery has not yet been responsible for a single fire in New York City.
- Buying an e-bike from a brand that uses Bosch motors is a good choice for safety reasons. The brands that specify Bosch place great emphasis on quality (again, you need to pay attention to the battery).
Pretty cool e-bikes with Bosch motors
I always say that the heart of an e-bike is the motor. And we got to ride some pretty cool bikes with the latest Bosch engines, including the Performance Line Speed, Performance Line and Active Line Plus systems.
Gazelle Eclipse C380
Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen
Although the Gazelle C380 they had on hand was a bit small for me (as you can see from the photos), I was still very impressed with the bike. Some of the highlights for me were:
- Bosch Performance Line Speed motor. Equipping a city commuter with one of Bosch’s most powerful engines is a good choice. The bike had a lot of power for climbing hills and the ability to go up to 28 miles per hour makes the bike a great option for commuting.
- Overall comfort of the bike. Wide tires, a front fork and an Enviolo hub gear combined with a belt drive made for a very smooth ride.
- Nice color. I’m not sure if this was planned, but the bike looked absolutely stunning against the backdrop of the red rocks!
Custom-made co-motion e-bike
Probably the coolest bike I saw during CES was this custom-built co-motion e-bike based on an upcoming bikepacking model. Unfortunately I didn’t write down all the specs, but one thing I can say is that if you’re looking for a very special touring e-bike to take you across the country, then check out what Co-Motion can do for you can you.
The production model will be an analog bike with 29-inch wheels that can be ridden with a rigid carbon fiber fork or a 120mm suspension fork. However, this custom electric version I tested was super comfortable, with one of the standout features being the unique Alt handlebars, which would really help on long rides. Of course, the paintwork should not be ignored, nor should the choice of engine (Bosch Performance Line Speed).
Benno RemiDemi XL
Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen
I think I’ve said to myself 10 times that I’m going to buy one Benno RemiDemi. The only reason I haven’t done this is because I have an office full of 150 e-bikes and need to regularly swap out the bikes I have at home for personal testing.
However, if I wasn’t lucky enough to have access to so many bikes and only needed to have one bike in my garage for my whole family to ride, maybe it would just be the RemiDemi XL. It’s a bike that can do everything (apart from mountain biking, of course) and is a lot of fun. With the long tail version I can not only transport groceries, but also take my 6-year-old child with me, which means I no longer have to drive everywhere.
The only thing I would change about the bike we rode at this event would be this Bosch Performance Sport engine as it reaches up to 28 miles per hour.
CES/Bosch Ride Summary
Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen
For us, this was a great end to CES 2024. While we wish more e-bike companies attended CES to showcase their products to consumers, we were happy to see Bosch showcasing its e-bike systems at the show presented and provided great support from manufacturers such as Benno, Gazelle, Riese & Müller, Co-Motion, Trek, Cannondale and more.
To learn more about Bosch e-bike systems, you can visit their website here: https://www.bosch-ebike.com/us/
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