storck multitask review - electric bike magazine

3
If you’d like future copies of Electric Bike delivered to your door, why not subscribe? It costs just £10 (including UK postage) for four issues. Back issues are also available while stocks last. TO ORDER: Call us on 01904 692800 with card details Order securely online: www.electricbikemag.co.uk Send a cheque (to ‘Velo Vision Ltd’) to Velo Vision, Freepost RSBT-TLTE-RBHU, YORK YO30 4AG with your name and address. Please specify with which issue you’d like the subscription to start. Readers beyond the UK should order via the website. We can send Electric Bike to anywhere in the world! Subscribe to Electric Bike magazine Issue 2 www.electricbikemag.co.uk ON TEST: Wisper 906 Alpino Gazelle Orange Pure Innergy lJuicy Bike Sport 2011 Kalkhoff Pro Connect Disc Reviews: four e-bikes Basics: reality check Report: Eurobike Introducing Velo Vision – Electric Bike’s sister publication The publishers behind Electric Bike have for the last ten years published Velo Vision, a premium subscription cycling magazine covering bikes for transport and touring, with a particular em- phasis on innovative and spe- cialist designs. It’s an international forum for trans- port cycling culture and bicycle design. You can read much more (and there’s even a free sample issue to download) on the Velo Vision website: www.velovision.com Want to try a sample copy? Simply add £1 to any sub- scription order and we’ll include a recent Velo Vision issue. Or send £3 for a sample copy by itself. The eclectic cycling magazine The eclectic cycling magazine ISSUE 41 JUNE 2011 £6 ISSUE 41 JUNE 2011 £6 REVIEWS: ROTOVELO VELOMOBILE DAHON IOS XL FOLDER JANGO FLIK FOLDER PAPER BICYCLE REVIEWS: ROTOVELO VELOMOBILE DAHON IOS XL FOLDER JANGO FLIK FOLDER PAPER BICYCLE VISITS: BURROWS, ICE VISITS: BURROWS, ICE REPORT: SPEZI 2011 REPORT: SPEZI 2011 Seven bikes reviewed! Electric bike news Legal update ON TEST: Infineum Continental Byocycles Chameleon 20 Storck Raddar Raleigh Velo-Cité Smarta LX8 BH Emotion Neo Cross Spencer Ivy ‘Spencer’ Issue 4 www.electricbikemag.co.uk £2.50 where sold 01 Cover3.indd 1 Electric Bike magazine review – web version. Read the full magazine at: www.electricbikemag.co.uk

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Storck Multitask Review - Electric bike magazine Feb 2012

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Page 1: Storck Multitask Review - Electric bike magazine

Issue 4 Electric Bike 1

ON TEST: Ezee Torq ON TEST: Bicycles

If you’d like future copies of Electric Bike delivered to your door, why not subscribe? It costs just £10 (including UK postage) for four issues. Back issues are also available while stocks last.

TO ORDER:

� Call us on 01904 692800 with card details� Order securely online: www.electricbikemag.co.uk� Send a cheque (to ‘Velo Vision Ltd’) to Velo Vision, Freepost RSBT-TLTE-RBHU, YORK YO30 4AG with your name and address. Please specify with which issue you’d like the subscription to start.

Readers beyond the UK should order via the website. We can send Electric Bike to anywhere in the world!

Subscribe to Electric Bike magazine

Issue 2 www.electricbikemag.co.uk

ON TEST: Wisper 906 Alpino Gazelle Orange Pure Innergy

lJuicy Bike Sport 2011 Kalkhoff Pro Connect Disc

Reviews: four e-bikes Basics: reality check Report: Eurobike

01 Cover2.indd 1 11/03/2011 11:46

Introducing Velo Vision – Electric Bike’s sister publicationThe publishers behind Electric Bike have for the last ten years published Velo Vision, a premium subscription cycling magazine covering bikes for transport and touring, with a particular em-phasis on innovative and spe-cialist designs. It’s an international forum for trans-port cycling culture and bicycle design. You can read much more (and there’s even a free sample issue to download) on the Velo Vision website: www.velovision.com

Want to try a sample copy? Simply add £1 to any sub-scription order and we’ll include a recent Velo Vision issue. Or send £3 for a sample copy by itself.

The eclectic cycling magazineThe eclectic cycling magazine ISSUE 41 JUNE 2011 £6ISSUE 41 JUNE 2011 £6

REVIEWS:ROTOVELO VELOMOBILEDAHON IOS XL FOLDERJANGO FLIK FOLDERPAPER BICYCLE

REVIEWS:ROTOVELO VELOMOBILEDAHON IOS XL FOLDERJANGO FLIK FOLDERPAPER BICYCLE

VISITS:BURROWS, ICEVISITS:BURROWS, ICE

REPORT:SPEZI 2011REPORT:SPEZI 2011

01 Cover3.indd 3 12/06/2011 10:22

Seven bikes reviewed! Electric bike news Legal update

ON TEST: Infi neum Continental Byocycles Chameleon 20 Storck Raddar

Raleigh Velo-Cité Smarta LX8 BH Emotion Neo Cross Spencer Ivy ‘Spencer’

Issue 4 www.electricbikemag.co.uk

£2.50 where sold

01 Cover3.indd 1

03/02/2012 12:42

Electric Bike magazinereview – web version.

Read the full magazine at:www.electricbikemag.co.uk

Page 2: Storck Multitask Review - Electric bike magazine

18 Electric Bike Issue 4

Established for over 15 years in Germany, Storck Bikes make both

unassisted and electric cycles, the latter being their ‘Raddar’ range and the former a well-regarded range of racing bikes, MTBs and city bikes. Father and son team Ian and Trevor Hughes of Storck Raddar UK have been importing the bikes since 2010, and recently opened a ‘concept store’ at their base in Newcastle/Gateshead. A second concept store has since opened in Maidstone, and a network of around 20 dealers across the UK also sells the electric range, and conduct ‘demo days’ when you can come and try the bikes.

I travelled up north to visit Storck, to chat about the electric bike business (Ian’s background is as a senior staffer with a major mainstream bike company, so it was fascinating to hear an insider’s view of how the ‘big boys’ of the bike

business operate), and of course to try the bikes.

Storck are based just a few miles from Newcastle’s train station, at a modern business park on the southern shore of the Tyne – indeed the shop overlooks the river. It’s also near the Metrocentre shopping centre, and just beyond that is the steep escarpment of the Whickham district, rising around 100m vertically in not much more than a kilometre. Ian directs visitors looking to test the bikes’ hill-climbing up this bank, where quiet residential roads with unrelenting gradients make a perfect testing ground of assistance power on the way up, and of braking and handling as you come down.

I performed the ascent twice: fi rst on a Raddar Multitask (£2899), then on a Carbon Multiroad (£3159).

The Multitask is an electric version of a popular commuting-type bike of the same name from Storck; it

comes equipped with (somewhat short) mudguards, rack, stand and hub dynamo-driven lights as standard. The tyres are noticeably wide and voluminous: they’re Schwalbe Big Apples on full size 700c wheels, designed to add an effective suspension effect without signifi cant rolling resistance, and they are a favourite of mine for commuting use. The large cross section also means you can bump through even the worst of potholes without risk of damaging rims. The alloy frame is very well fi nished, and high end disk brakes and Shimano derailleur gearing complete the bike package.

The electric motor is in the rear wheel. It’s a Swiss-made ‘direct drive’ type, with no gearing inside, so it should be (and was) silent in operation. The 26V, 11 Ah battery slides onto a mount attached to the bike’s frame, so leaving the overall geometry (and

Storck Raddar Multitask & Multiroad

+ON TEST

The battery pack is frame-mounted, and can be charged in place or off the bike. At 286 Wh it’s not the largest around, but with torque sensing drive it’s plenty for most purposes.

Page 3: Storck Multitask Review - Electric bike magazine

ON TEST: Ezee Torq ON TEST: Storck Raddar Multitask & Multiroad

Issue 4 Electric Bike 19

weight distribution) of the bike largely unaffected. It’s controlled by a non-sprung (i.e. it stays where you set it) thumb ‘throttle’, which varies the power assist level. A torque sensor measures your pedalling effort and adds power to match automatically.

First impressions were really good: the bicycle side is hard to fault, with

high-end components for gear and brakes all performing as they should, and the rest of the bike feeling rigid, smooth and rattle-free. The big tyres take out the vibration and feel secure even on very broken surfaces. And the electric assist is also smooth and seamless, responding instantly as your pedal effort varies, in complete silence, but with enough power that even 1 in 10 and steeper gradients were overcome with very modest effort on my part.

As ever with torque sensing systems, you have to adapt your riding style somewhat to get the most out of the assistance. So instead of spinning the pedals in a low gear for the easiest hill-climbing, as you would with a normal bike, you use a slightly higher gear. This ‘tells’ the system that you’re pushing a bit harder, so in turn it provides more help. After a few minutes this becomes instinctive, and overall the assistance effect is very natural. Using a thumb ‘throttle’ to set assist level is also very good, much easier than pressing little + and – buttons.

I deliberately pushed the system, attempting to get it to provide maximum assistance continuously for the whole ascent. Despite speeds dropping fairly low on some of the steepest section it never faltered or overheated. It was assisting my

pedalling, rather than dragging me up on its own, of course, but that’s still impressive.

Repeating the exercise on the Carbon Multiroad, which is more of a flat-barred racing bike, with minimum accessories, didn’t differ very much at all as far as the electric assist went. It is a very different bike, though, with a much ‘sharper’ feel and more instant response – as you’d expect with the narrow tyres and lower weight.

Overall my impression of the Storck Raddar bikes was very positive – and they have a lot to live up to, with prices very much towards the top end of what’s available in the UK. On the basis of my admittedly brief rides the quality does seem to be there, not least in the electric assist system, as long as it’s a torque sensing/effort matching system you’re after rather than something to pull you along unassisted.

And the bike quality is first rate: I suspect a fair bit of those high prices is going into making the bikes relatively lightweight, in the case of the Multitask despite its level of equipment. Overall weight for this model is said to be under 20 kg, including battery. There are four frame sizes, too, not always the case with electric bikes, so you should get a bike which fits well.

It would have been nice to see a more informative handlebar display for the money, mind, and battery capacity isn’t huge. That said, torque sensor assist is usually efficient by nature, so it should give plenty of range (they say 30 to 60 miles, depending on conditions), and the size chosen makes for a reasonably light pack (1.9 kg) keeping bike weights down. The lithium-polymer pack apparently uses best quality ‘balanced’ cells, and a spare costs £499.

There’s also a full two year guarantee, extending to three years if a servicing plan is followed. Frames have a five year guarantee (carbon) or lifetime (alloy), both for the original owner.

I’d certainly recommend a test ride for anyone looking for a top quality electric bike. They are pricey, but the sophistication and performance do go a long way to justifying the premium.

Peter Eland

Storck Raddar: Tel 0191 493 2654 or see www.storck-raddar.co.uk

LEFT: The direct drive motor is silent, smooth and didn’t suffer even after a steep stress test. Brake and gear components are all high end models.

BELOW: It looks like a throttle, but the thumb control below is actually used to set the assistance level. The battery status display and power switch are also built in here.

BELOW: The Multiroad is a considerably lighter, sharper bike to ride. Here it is towards the top of my Whickham test ride.