E-road bikes are polarising - it's no different in the TOUR editorial team than in real life. However, while the test editors approach the subject with professional neutrality, other colleagues avoid them like the devil avoids holy water - until now: TOUR editor Wolfgang Papp and his impressions of the first time.
My mum gave me the motto "To each little animal its own" - or as they say in Bavaria "Live and let live". Applied to my attitude towards the e-road bike, this means that it's out of the question for me personally, but I can imagine that there are situations in life where you might be happy to have a push assist. In my mind, however, this is limited to assistance when riding uphill. In my arrogant opinion, a road cyclist doesn't need a motor that only helps up to 25 km/h on the flat - that's when life on a road bike is just beginning!
E-road bike tour with ascent
With this basic attitude, I had chosen the bike that looked most like a normal road bike to me for the test ride with my colleague Kristian - the Canyon Endurace:ONfly - and still hoped to finally be able to outpace my much fitter colleague on the climbs. But more on that later.
First impression: It rides like a racing bike! But where is the motor? Pressing the button at the end of the handlebars offered me three different coloured lights, but I couldn't find any colour when I set off from the editorial office. A quick call to the expert let me know that although the Canyon's motor is small, light and inconspicuous, it is also weak, so I should select the red and most powerful support level - in the hope of flying up the climb halfway through our lap.
If thrust, then more please
On the way there, I kept listening to my bike and my thighs to see if I would notice a push. Okay, I felt something when we set off at a green traffic light, but it wasn't enough for more than two pedal rotations, then we were travelling faster than 25 km/h again. On the final climb, I wanted to go for it and gave it my all to set a personal record on Strava, but I still wonder whether I wouldn't have managed it on my normal road bike with the same effort. And I didn't want to leave my colleague behind. He rode alongside me grinning happily and taking mobile phone photos. What a disgrace! Another unpleasant thing I noticed was that the hub motor jolts around the 25 km/h threshold. A rather unpleasant feeling, especially uphill! In the end, I still think that there will be sensible areas of use for e-road bikes, but in my opinion, the Canyon Endurace:ONfly is likely to be a rather small one.
