# Any thoughts on this bike ?



## Dave7 (12 May 2021)

I went to look at a Ribble.
Nice looking bike but 3 month+ delivery.

The Cannondale is siimilar in many ways AND available**
**my health (balance) is improving and I am waiting to be certain it is safe to ride again so availability will be a factor.
PLUS......
This is à LBS whereas the Ribble is a pain to get to should there be problems 

https://www.cyclehouse.co.uk/m1b0s129p3333/CANNONDALE-QUICK-NEO-2-SL-ELECTRIC-HYBRID


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## CXRAndy (12 May 2021)

The bike is the same drive system as the Ribble. Flat handlebars compared to road bars. Same 250Wh battery. Gearing should be sufficient for most hills. 

If availability is a prime consideration at this time. then Cannondale leads the pack.


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## Cycleops (12 May 2021)

Looks perfect to me. I think the advantage of going with a large international concern like Cannondale is everything should be sorted and well thought out, they wouldn’t bring anything to market that isn’t tested and proven. The integrated app is a nice touch.
Ribble are a newcomer to the electric market so I wouldn’t be so confident buying there but it’s obviously your call.
Buying local also makes sense.


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## CXRAndy (12 May 2021)

Cycleops said:


> Looks perfect to me. I think the advantage of going with a large international concern like Cannondale is everything should be sorted and well thought out, they wouldn’t bring anything to market that isn’t tested and proven. The integrated app is a nice touch.
> Ribble are a newcomer to the electric market so I wouldn’t be so confident buying there but it’s obviously your call.
> Buying local also makes sense.




I agree newcomers can be a slight risk, but in the case of Ribble, they are using established technologies with the drive system. The frame like virtually all bikes will be made in China


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## Pale Rider (12 May 2021)

A single chain ring with an 11-36 at the back could be limiting.

Typically, such a setup would use an 11-40 or 11-42.


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## CXRAndy (12 May 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> A single chain ring with an 11-36 at the back could be limiting.
> 
> Typically, such a setup would use an 11-40 or 11-42.


Easily remedied, either new cassette or smaller chainring-which ever is cheapest and easiest to source.


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## fossyant (12 May 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> A single chain ring with an 11-36 at the back could be limiting.
> 
> Typically, such a setup would use an 11-40 or 11-42.



It's pretty flat round Warrington - yup might be an issue in the Peaks, but if Dave want's to ride from home it will be ideal.

Given it's in stock.... go for it.


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## ebikeerwidnes (12 May 2021)

Range is nothing special. the Cannondale site says 47 miles but that is normally optimistic
My Raleigh has 300Wh compare to this on at 250Wh and if was going back I would have got something bigger

Also remember that battery life is measured as recharge cycles - so if you have a bigger battery it doesn't need charging as often so last longer
So it would probably pay in the long term


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## Dave7 (12 May 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> A single chain ring with an 11-36 at the back could be limiting.
> 
> Typically, such a setup would use an 11-40 or 11-42.


Limiting in what way ?
I am hopeless at working out gears.


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## Dave7 (12 May 2021)

fossyant said:


> It's pretty flat round Warrington - yup might be an issue in the Peaks, but if Dave want's to ride from home it will be ideal.
> 
> Given it's in stock.... go for it.


Yes....pretty much all from home. There are some hills as I get further into Cheshire.
Oh and there is a long (3 mile) incline if I ride to Arley Hall but I can still just manage that on the Whyte Sterling.....which my son now owns.


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## Dave7 (12 May 2021)

ebikeerwidnes said:


> Range is nothing special. the Cannondale site says 47 miles but that is normally optimistic
> My Raleigh has 300Wh compare to this on at 250Wh and if was going back I would have got something bigger
> 
> Also remember that battery life is measured as recharge cycles - so if you have a bigger battery it doesn't need charging as often so last longer
> So it would probably pay in the long term


I take your point but my rides are now 20ish miles with the odd 35 thrown in.


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## Pale Rider (12 May 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Limiting in what way ?



With a single ring at the front the range of gears is limited by the rear cassette, and the 36 may not provide a low enough gear for climbs.

There shouldn't be a problem with the highest gear.

Bear in mind this is a light assist ebike, so the motor will not drag you up anything steep without a fair amount of effort.

I think another member on here bought this bike and decided to fit a wider range cassette.




CXRAndy said:


> Easily remedied, either new cassette or smaller chainring-which ever is cheapest and easiest to source.



Hopefully.

I think the existing derailer would take the bigger cassette, even if Shimano says it's outside it's design range.

But it might not, and the chain will almost certainly need to be lengthened.

The job could easily come to fifty quid or more, and it seems daft to me to do such a mod on a new bike out of the box.

And there's always



Dave7 said:


> I am hopeless at working out gears.



Which means Dave would be firmly in the hands of his bike shop.


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## Bazzer (12 May 2021)

Did you have a look in Ron Spencers?
I know they can more expensive, and are Giant dealers, but it may widen your choice.


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## Dave7 (12 May 2021)

Bazzer said:


> Did you have a look in Ron Spencers?
> I know they can more expensive, and are Giant dealers, but it may widen your choice.


Yes....I did but amazed at how heavy they are. 23 Kg from memory.
The Cannondale is 14.5 Kg which is more manageable for storage which is on hooks in the garage.


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## Pale Rider (12 May 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Yes....I did but amazed at how heavy they are. 23 Kg from memory.



The Giant bikes have a much heavier 'full assist' motor and a battery which is twice the size/as heavy.


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## TheDoctor (12 May 2021)

That Cannondale has a 38T chainring, no? That gives a bottom gear of 28.5", almost identical to my 34T/32T for a bottom gear of 28.7". A somewhat unfit and overweight cyclist  can get that up most hills, and that's without help from a motor.


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## Legomutton (12 May 2021)

FWIW, my Cube has an identically toothed chainring and cassette to the Cannondale. The Cube has a Bosch ALP engine which might have a bit more grunt on hills than a light-assist bike, against that I am not a strong pedaller which I why I have moved to e-bikes.

Granted I am not in the Peak District either, and there is one short steep hill near here where I have dropped to third using Sport. I am new to e-biking and have only put 130 miles on the Cube so far.

Far from needing a lower gear, I have yet to use first or second and could so far have managed without third (I only cycle on roads). On the other hand, I have considered fitting a slightly bigger chain ring as 9th could usefully be a bit longer with a tailwind! In the end I decided not to bother - I can get to 20-21mph and that's fast enough for my purposes. I think my maximum comfortable cadence is about 70-75.

I'd say it's worth giving the standard set-up a try first, you might not need to do anything depending on your use. Bottom gear is about 29" in old money or 2.38 metres of development, so not mountain-bike low but not high either.


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## Dave7 (12 May 2021)

TheDoctor said:


> That Cannondale has a 38T chainring, no? That gives a bottom gear of 28.5", almost identical to my 34T/32T for a bottom gear of 28.7". A somewhat unfit and overweight cyclist  can get that up most hills, and that's without help from a motor.


Now that is the point at which I get lost .
I like what you are saying but I don't understand it.


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## CXRAndy (12 May 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Now that is the point at which I get lost .
> I like what you are saying but I don't understand it.



when looking at gear ratios, gear inches is a number that indicates how far the wheel moves across the ground for one pedal rotation. 

So in the case of gears for better hill climbing the smaller gear inch number, the easier it will be to pedal up hill

I say easier, but not necessarily faster.

With an ebike, it will be easier and faster. However there will be a hill which is too steep and the motor won't have enough torque , due to the gearing of the bike not sufficiently low enough to maintain a high enough pedal cadence.


On my road non ebike, it has a triple crank set My lowest gear inches is 17". 

I can cycle up ridiculously steep gradients like >30% and still maintain a decent pedal cadence. 

Most road bikes have around 28" for their lowest gear


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## Legomutton (12 May 2021)

CXRAndy said:


> when looking at gear ratios, gear inches is a number that indicates how far the wheel moves across the ground for one pedal rotation.



Gear inches is actually what would be the the diameter of the big wheel on an equivalent penny farthing, so with a 28-29"" gear you will get roughly one revolution of the wheel for each revolution of the pedals (as near as 36 teeth is to 38 teeth i.e. nearly the same). You'll actually travel about 2.3-2.4 metres, being the metric way of expressing gearing and in this case a bit over the circumference of the wheel.

EDIT: If it makes any more sense, your top gear (38/11) will be about 95", so like riding a penny farthing with an 8 foot diameter wheel - which of course you couldn't unless you had around a 48" inside leg.


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## Milkfloat (12 May 2021)

@Dave7 Not sure how tall you are, but you may want to pounce on this ASAP https://www.thebikefactory.co.uk/shop/bikes/sub/electric/lapierre-exelius-600-4291/option/


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## CXRAndy (13 May 2021)

Milkfloat said:


> @Dave7 Not sure how tall you are, but you may want to pounce on this ASAP https://www.thebikefactory.co.uk/shop/bikes/sub/electric/lapierre-exelius-600-4291/option/


Its gone, unless Dave got in there quick


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## Milkfloat (13 May 2021)

CXRAndy said:


> Its gone, unless Dave got in there quick


Snooze you lose. At that price it was not going to hang around for long.


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## T4tomo (13 May 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> With a single ring at the front the range of gears is limited by the rear cassette, and the 36 may not provide a low enough gear for climbs.
> 
> There shouldn't be a problem with the highest gear.
> 
> ...


 Its very similar gearing to my gravel bike (human only powered), with same lowest ratio, which is absolutely fine for on road hill climbing anywhere, with some assist from the motor you will sail up the worst that the UK can throw at you. 

On a 700c wheeled bike, if you are getting close to 1:1 between front and back teeth, that is a pretty low gear. You only need to go lower than that for a loaded up touring bike or MTB-ing off road.


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## Pale Rider (13 May 2021)

T4tomo said:


> some assist from the motor you will sail up the worst that the UK can throw at you.



You might be able to do that, but on my Bosch bike I failed to get up Boltby Bank in north Yorkshire (twice - grr), and I doubt I would get up the likes of Hardknott and several of the other named UK hard climbs.

Of course ebikes assist climbing, but when the going gets really tough their weight counts against them.

I doubt Dave intends to do any 25%+ climbs, but with a light assist motor and an older rider with some health problems an option of a lower bottom gear would be sensible.

Each to his own, but Dave may have higher expectations than just being able to struggle up his steepest hills.

More pleasurable being able to whirr up in good order using moderate effort.


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## T4tomo (14 May 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> You might be able to do that, but on my Bosch bike I failed to get up Boltby Bank in north Yorkshire (twice - grr), and I doubt I would get up the likes of Hardknott and several of the other named UK hard climbs.
> 
> Of course ebikes assist climbing, but when the going gets really tough their weight counts against them.
> 
> ...


So what gearing and weight of ebike do you have?


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## Pale Rider (15 May 2021)

T4tomo said:


> So what gearing and weight of ebike do you have?



Riese and Muller bikes are known to be built like tanks, and mine is twin battery so all up I expect it's 25-27kg.

Standard Rohloff gear hub, but I don't know how many teeth I've got at either end.

When I bought the bike first struck me as not very low, certainly no crawler gear, although probably as low as the roadie had who passed me on the way up.

Some roadies, bless 'em, do repeats of Boltby for training, which is a good effort.

Were I doing lots of Boltbys I'd probably lower my first gear a bit - I rarely use 14th at the top.

On t'other hand, were I doing lots of Boltbys I'd probably manage to get up it eventually.

Both my failures were close, bur definitely still no cigar.


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## T4tomo (16 May 2021)

Pale Rider said:


> Riese and Muller bikes are known to be built like tanks, and mine is twin battery so all up I expect it's 25-27kg.
> 
> Standard Rohloff gear hub, but I don't know how many teeth I've got at either end


Excellent, so your advice to Dave on gearing ratios was based on your experience of a bike that is approx twice as heavy as the one he is considering, without knowledge of what gear inches range you have on it? 😂🤔


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## CXRAndy (16 May 2021)

T4tomo said:


> Excellent, so your advice to Dave on gearing ratios was based on your experience of a bike that is approx twice as heavy as the one he is considering, without knowledge of what gear inches range you have on it? 😂🤔



I believe @Pale Rider was replying to your question of the bike he used. 

Weight of an e-bike is largely irrelevant, rider weight could easily cancel bike weight differences. 
Gearing, torque are far more important.

I expect my rider+bike+panniers+kit weight will be in excess of 150kg


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## Pale Rider (16 May 2021)

T4tomo said:


> Excellent, so your advice to Dave on gearing ratios was based on your experience of a bike that is approx twice as heavy as the one he is considering, without knowledge of what gear inches range you have on it? 😂🤔



Ignorant and incorrect assertion.

My advice to Dave was based on my knowledge of bicycle gearing gained from riding bikes on and off for more than 50 years, and my knowledge of ebikes gained over more than 10 years.

It was also based on the incorrect assumption there wouldn't be some stupid knacker hanging around the forum waiting to snipe.


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