Road Ebikes

How to Choose the Right Electric Road Bike

Electric road bikes, also called road ebikes, are an interesting option for many cyclists who love this discipline, and there are many possible reasons to include an electric motor and pedal assistance on the bike. Perhaps you would like to extend the distance of your rides beyond what your fitness level, or a minor injury, would allow on a conventional road bike. Or you may not want to stop accompanying cyclists with a different level or greater availability to train many hours, with whom you have been sharing routes for years. These routes will probably have mountain passes and significant slopes, but with an electric road bike they will be within your reach without problems, and without having to suffer excessively, if you choose not to. Everyone will have his or her own reasons, which are surely very reasonable and valid.

Bicycles with electric assistance, to which we refer here, are called Pedelecs and are legally considered analogous to other non-motorized bicycles, provided they comply with the corresponding regulations, such as not exceeding 25 km/h with the assistance and having a motor with a maximum power of 250 W.

You must keep in mind that this speed limitation in the assistance will not be a problem on the climbs, and it will be easy to keep up with high level cyclists on significant slopes, but if they ride at high speeds on the flat, which can exceed 40 km/h, it will be more complicated to follow them, you have to be realistic...

In addition to power, it is necessary to consider the maximum force or maximum torque figure, whose value is expressed in Nm. This value, as the motors are also somewhat more compact, and the bikes are lighter, is usually somewhat lower than that of the electric mountain bikes. Values between 35-45 Nm are the usual values for this type of bike.

Another determining factor for the performance offered by the bike will be where the motor is located. In road ebikes it is most often found centered in the bottom bracket area, although there are also brands that market models with the electric road bike motors located on the rear wheel axle.

The location of the batteries of electric road bikes is usually inside the frame. Over time, batteries have evolved and are becoming more compact, allowing for electric road bike designs that more closely resemble those of any conventional bicycle. There are models that can incorporate additional batteries, which are usually housed in one of the bottle cages.

Most of these bikes have comfortable, gran fondo style geometries. This is logical, since these bicycles are not designed for competition but for touring use. There are also electric gravel bikes on the market, similar to road ebikes, but with larger tires, as well as being designed to ride on uneven and demanding terrain.

If we talk about the weight of an electric road bike, it should be noted that each season they are getting closer to the weights of traditional bikes in this discipline. Ebikes weighing less than 11 kg are already on the market, such as the Scott Addict eRide Premium(10.750 kg).