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Driving report Rose Reveal Plus 105 against Scott Contessa Addict eRIDE 15
Push for Fun
Three words that entice: "Push for fun" is written in small, elegantly curved letters. Before it becomes ambiguous: No, it's not about drug injections or smut. The three words are written on the top tube of the racing bike, with a small, black push button and an even darker display in front of it. If you press "Push for fun", an almost invisible switch in the rear wheel hub of the Rose Reveal Plus hidden Mahle electric motor, which is supposed to flatten the hills with a torque of up to 55 Newton metres. So they say. And indeed, after eight kilometres of flat rolling, the road begins to climb. Only very slightly at first, but then in such a way that the speed quickly drops below 25 km/h, i.e. into the range where the motor helps when you activate it. So now it would be time, but my hand doesn't want to leave the handlebars, something in my head is putting the brakes on.
My God, haven't we proudly played the pedalling knight for years, smiling derisively at all those who want to make things easier for themselves with an electric tailwind? Well, an e-bike for everyday use is tolerated and even okay, but please not as a racing bike. That's actually a no-go - and today I'm actually supposed to ...! "Push for fun" is still there, tempting me, especially as my heart rate rises steadily with the road. The bastard whispers with an oily smile: "YES, DO IT", curiosity wants it too - well, I'm alone, no one can see it.
Current is running, voltage is rising
The right hand is still a little reluctant to come off the handlebars, the index finger presses the black button. And now? Nothing at first, only the previously dark mini display lights up white. Later I will learn that this means "stand-by", the motor is now waiting for me. Another press, white turns to green, a slight grinding noise reaches my ear from behind, the pedalling becomes slightly lighter at the same speed, barely noticeable in fact. Was that it? Press again. Now it lights up orange and the bike speeds up. But the pulse doesn't. Okay, quite nice, but let's be honest, I could still do that. Not for very long, but still.
But you can push again. Orange changes to purple, a little more pressure on the pedals - and now the bike feels like it's making a small leap forwards. All weathers, I'm now nibbling my way up the climb, which I feel like I've stomped up a few hundred times over the past few decades, at a speed I've never experienced before. The speedometer shows 22 km/h with a gradient of around 6.5 per cent and I'm still alive. That puts an involuntary smile on your face. "Push for fun" - that's how it is.
Of course I'm panting, but there's also a little bit of bliss. Such a pace uphill, you can feel the wind in your face - on the climb. That's really weird. I take a step back until I'm about as fast as I usually am in this section. Without the e-drive, I'm normally at around 80 per cent of my capacity, but now, at least in the purple stage, it's running as if by itself. My breathing calms down and my heart rate drops. Somehow that's great - but then the old-school sportsman comes back. Road cycling is supposed to hurt a little, that's part of it. Going uphill with your finger up your nose, that's not real! And then the conclusion: pedalling hard and suffering a little, of course that also works with a motor. If you want to ride up a climb of six per cent or more with the maximum motor assistance, i.e. at 25 km/h, then you have to add your own power, at least on this test bike, even at the highest level. You can hardly go any faster than without the motor just by turning your legs loosely.
But an e-road bike is actually also recommended so that couples or groups that are no longer compatible can ride together again without one of them getting bored while the other struggles. However, you can experience things that you really wouldn't have expected beforehand. And sometimes it's only funny to a certain extent. When I'm out on a normal Saturday ride with my girlfriend, things go very smoothly on the flat. If it goes uphill and I get the urge to train hard, I slowly but steadily pull away as my heart rate rises.
Field trial number one
Now we're doing field test number one: me on my motorless, eight-kilo Merida racing bike, my partner on an almost twelve-kilo Scott e-racer with the pretty name Contessa. At first it's business as usual, although her front wheel keeps popping up in the corner of my left eye even on slight undulations with maybe ten metres of elevation gain. Now we're heading uphill and I'm no longer pulling away. I snort like a horse, but hear nothing of the sort from behind; suddenly more than the front wheel comes up and she rides past quite briskly, smiling and without any visible effort. She's waiting at the top, I hear, then the gap is too big. Well, that was to be expected in this constellation.
Field test number two: it's all about the weight
Surprisingly, field test two, both on an e-road bike. I now have the Rose Reveal Plus weighing just over 12.5 kilos under me again. It has the same hub motor as the Scott. On the flat, the only thing we notice at first is that we're still whizzing along at more than 25 km/h, i.e. without motor assistance, but not as quickly as we usually do on our normal racing bikes. You can't really put a figure on it, it's more a feeling that the e-bikes are a little slower without the motor.
Then the climb begins, we both switch to full power (purple) and I think to myself that it's going to be the same as always: that I'm going to make a little more effort and pull away, despite the engine. So I put my foot down, but no gap opens up. Jesus Christ, what is this? And that's not all. Suddenly the woman rides past. "Great, how easy it is, without any effort at all," she says. How? Without any effort! But it's true, I have to push a little harder on the pedals to keep up, and she only feels a slight pull in her thighs. But her pulse and breathing remain steady. It's completely different for me. I experience a complete reversal of the motorless state, so to speak. And at a speed that is almost twice as fast as without the motor. So around 20 instead of 10 km/h.
Maybe it's simply because I'm 17 kilos heavier and that only has an effect at higher speeds? In any case, we can now ride together on the mountain, that's true. It's just that I obviously have to work harder, which I see as a positive training effect and resolve not to let it show in future. I don't want the lady to try and overtake me, that would put a hole in the fun. What remains is the question - how does that work? Without the motor, I'm stronger than her on the mountain, with the motor she's at least not weaker than me and the steeper it gets, the more uncomfortable it is for me. It's a crazy e-world.
Field test number three: difficulty sticking with it
I let myself be overtaken by a small group on a popular, undulating road bike route at the weekend. We greet each other in a friendly manner, I ask where I'm going and hang on behind. The way they overtook me, the cyclists in the group were probably a bit stronger than me. But well, there's still my motor, which the others obviously don't notice. But in this case it's simply no use at all. As I said, it's rather flat, just a few undulations. Nevertheless, the speed remains above 25 km/h most of the time, and I'm sitting on a bike that's heavier than the others, although at first glance you can't see that as much as the engine.
I'm really struggling to keep up and can only ever recover for a few seconds on the short waves, i.e. when the engine is mercifully pushing along. But after a few kilometres I realise that I'm going to have to give it everything I've got to keep going at this pace for another ten kilometres. That's how far it is to the foot of a three-kilometre climb with just over 220 metres of ascent, which the group wants to ride on demand. I would certainly have an advantage there, but at least I won't experience it today because I have to let go. "Nice bike," someone calls out to me. Exhausted, I nod and want to admit that it's not only chic, but also has an electric motor, but they're already too far away.
A small interjection: I don't quite understand why the manufacturers go to so much trouble to hide the battery, motor and console as well as possible. If E, then you have to have the courage to admit it. But it's also clear - it just looks good. Insertion finished.
Field trial number four
A meeting with two cycling mates with whom I have often been to Mallorca - although they are two performance groups above me. One of them, lightweight Klaus, didn't even let himself be left behind by training pros when he was at his best on the island. The other, Manne, has 16,000 kilometres on the clock this year at the end of October and the power of two oxen. The Sagan type. He can pedal at speeds well above the engine limit on undulating laps. And above mine too, of course. I have a similar experience with them on the flat as I did with the group from the chance encounter. If they are gracious and roll along at a maximum of 30 km/h, I can follow in their slipstream. If they get serious, i.e. pedal at their normal speed, I'm very quickly out of it. The engine would have to push up to almost 35 km/h for that.
It's different on the mountain: normally I don't see them after the first bend, but now I'm riding along with a medium level of effort. A completely unfamiliar feeling. And when Klaus, the king of the mountain, then starts, I can counterattack on the almost seven per cent gradient. Manne, a few kilos heavier than me, lets go. I have to give almost everything for Klaus' pace, but I keep up, which I last managed to do 30 years ago. We didn't ride it out to the end, the climb is too short for that, but one thing seems certain: with an e-racer you can leapfrog two or three performance classes on the mountain. But you have to really push yourself, unlike with an everyday e-bike, which often pushes furiously even with light pedal pressure.
Last attempt
I ride alone, a 75-kilometre lap, and play with the engine a bit on the climbs. It doesn't even have to be full power, the second stage is enough to take the poison out of nasty climbs and you end up with the same training effect. Specifically: you feel your legs and that you have done something. The effort required is the same as without the motor, only it's much faster up the hill. And that, sorry, is just crazy good. I'm not going to switch completely, but it's a great thing every now and then. There's just one thing that even the most modern e-bike can't achieve - easy gliding on the flat; I didn't feel this wonderful sensation as intensely on the 12.5-kilo e-racer as I did on my Merida.
We noticed these details:
Our two e-road bikes in comparison
Rose Reveal Plus 105
- Price: 3999 Euro >> available here
- Weight*: 11.9 kilos
The e-road bike from Rose is modelled on the best-selling marathon bike of the same name, the Reveal. The riding position on the electrically assisted version is somewhat sportier than on the very upright marathon model. In addition, there are only five instead of seven frame sizes, which are significantly coarser. The bike is powered by a Mahle X20 rear hub motor with a maximum of 250 watts of assistance and a battery capacity of 250 watt hours. The cheaper of the two available equipment variants includes a mechanical 11-speed 105 groupset from Shimano with robust aluminium wheels - an inexpensive, reliable and durable set-up. For those who prefer something more upmarket, an electronic Ultegra twelve-speed drivetrain with carbon wheels is available for €6499. All models come with voluminous 32-millimetre tyres.
Scott Contessa Addict eRIDE 15
- Price: 6999 Euro
- Weight*: 11.6 kilos
In terms of sizes, Scott follows a similar strategy to Rose, here too there are only five (instead of seven) frame sizes, with one particularly large size missing. Like Rose, Scott also uses the minimalist X20 motor from Mahle, and the performance data is identical. With better equipment, the Scott is slightly lighter, but the biggest difference in the riding experience is the electronically operated 105 gears, which are installed here as a new twelve-speed version. "Contessa" is the name of the women's line at Scott, our test bike is just one of four equipment variants of the electrically assisted Addict. It comes with a women's-specific saddle and narrower handlebars. The cheapest model with mechanical 105 gears costs €5,999; the top model with Ultegra Di2 costs €7,499.
*weighed without pedals
