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Justin Taylor

Blix Packa Genie Review | Check Out The Test Results!

Blix Packa Genie Cargo E-Bike Review - Riding around with children

With so much talk the past several years about e-bikes being a substitute for vehicles, at times we find ourselves disappointed in the reality of how challenging it is to actually replace your car with an e-bike.

So, as I dove into our review of the Blix Packa Genie, I continually asked myself a few different questions. Would this e-bike work as a vehicle replacement? How does it ride with and without cargo? Is this an e-bike I would buy myself?

To answer these questions, we took the Blix Packa through our battery of standard tests: the circuit test, hill test, range tests, and brake test. And then we added one more: the ‘Grocery Store Test’. Our regular readers are familiar with our standard tests, but the Grocery Store Test is a new one. It’s also simple: I have to ride the bike to the store, buy what I need to, and see if I can make it home.

Overall, I was impressed with how it held up. The motor clearly has enough power to move in a hurry, or move under a heavier load (with my son or a week’s worth of groceries in tow). The battery gave solid range for getting around town, and in general, it handled well.

It gave me solid impressions from the jump, but feel and sentiment only go so far, and data helps paint a picture of how it stacks up against other e-bikes. See all the details in the full Blix Packa Genie review below!

Specialized Turbo Tero X 5.0 E-Bike Review

Want one bike that will both get you to work in the city and let you hit the local singletrack on the weekend?

When the Specialized Turbo Tero X 5.0 showed up at the office for review, we found ourselves asking: how are we going to handle this bike?

At first glance, it’s an obvious electric commuter. It has fenders, lights, a bell, pannier racks, and if nothing else gives it away: a kickstand.

However, when we took a look at the bike’s components our attitude started to change: SRAM CODE brakes, Rockshock suspension (130mm/120mm), trail ready tires, a 200mm dropper seat post, a mullet design (29” wheels in front, 27.5” in rear), and a full-powered motor (the Specialized 2.0 with 70 Nm of torque). In other words, this also looked like a truly capable eMTB that can take on your local single track.

Specialized has always been fantastic when it comes to marketing language for their e-bikes. With the new Turbo Tero X, their marketing team came up with the tagline: “You’re going to need a bigger map”

So, as we dive into our Turbo Tero X 5.0 Review, we are going to attempt to answer that question for you and see if you do, in fact, need a bigger map. Can you go from the office to the cross country trails and everything in between?

Our short answer: 100% yes.

On the Tero X 5.0 model we reviewed, we took the bike and pushed it to its limits both on city streets (ok, as ‘city’ as we can get here in southern Utah) to rough and chunky single track (of which we have more than our fair share of).

After our testing, we would be hard pressed to find ourselves not recommending the Turbo Tero X to even the die-hard commuter. If the bike is a capable commuter AND can be taken on single track, why settle for “just” a commuter?

Anyways, let’s dive into our full review of the Specialized Turbo Tero X 5.0 and you can decide for yourself if this is the versatile commuter/bike packing/XC e-bike you are looking for.

Norco Fluid VLT Review | An Absolutely LOADED eMTB

With Bosch’s most sought-after motor, this is one eMTB that can hold its own on any terrain.

Designing a top-of-the-line eMTB isn’t easy. Everyone wants their eMTB to be as light as possible, or at least no heavier than necessary. But people also want as much power and range as possible.

Those two interests compete because as an eMTB gains power (bigger motor) and range (bigger battery), it also gains weight, so brands must choose how they want to balance one against the other.

The Norco Fluid VLT is a case where the brand did its best not to choose.

Our test bike was the Fluid VLT C1, a model of the “spare no expense” variety. Spending more than $10,000 on an e-bike, even for a sophisticated eMTB, can seem excessive, but the Norco Fluid VLT C1 demonstrates why such a hefty outlay can pay off in a better rider experience.

Nearly every feature and component choice on the Norco Fluid VLT C1 will make a mountain biker’s mouth water. For starters, there’s the full carbon fiber frame and RockShox suspension, which make big drops feel like curb jumps.

The highly-coveted Bosch Performance Line SX motor, one of the lightest full-power motors on the market, lived up to its reputation with a powerful yet controlled feel.

The parts pick heavily relies on SRAM’s top-of-the-line XX Eagle AXS group, and features 4-piston hydraulic disc brakes and electronic shifting. Everything added up to an incredible ride.

But there is more—much more, in fact—to discover with the Fluid VLT. See how it did in all of our testing below.

Orbea Wild Review | Find Out Why It Won All Those Awards

The Wild combines impressive power and range with terrific handling in a stylish package.

Orbea is back with the latest incarnation of their long-travel 29er eMTB, the Wild. This is version four, and it shows a number of improvements and refinements over the previous version.

Let’s cover the basics before we jump into the improvements in our review of the Orbea Wild. The Wild is built around 29″ wheels front and rear and 160mm of travel in the fork and the rear. That places the Wild in enduro territory. Bosch’s Performance Line CX motor—arguably one of the most popular motors for eMTBs currently—provides the muscle. More on that motor in a bit.

To Power the Orbea Wild, riders can choose between either a 625Wh or 750Wh battery, and that’s but one of many options that buyers can specify thanks to Orbea’s MyO program. Few e-bikes offer as much flexibility and customization as Orbea does, but this has been one of their specialties ever since they entered the U.S. market at the turn of the century.

At 53 lbs. our M20 model of the Orbea Wild isn’t super-light for an eMTB, but that’s a terrific weight for an eMTB with this much power, range, and suspension travel. It also felt lighter and more nimble than you’d expect.

Often, when we look at e-bikes with this level of sophistication, we find ourselves asking where the weakness lies. With the Wild, we had to look hard. Let’s dig into its performance in our tests.

Aeroe Spider Racks Review

We are seeing more and more e-bikes with two-battery systems or single batteries with capacities north of 900Wh—enough to allow most anyone to ride from sunup to sundown. Once an e-bike vanquishes range anxiety, for some of us our thoughts turn to going on a bike tour. The Aeroe Spider Rack is one of the freshest ideas we’ve come across in bike touring since, well, ever.

The Aeroe Spider Rack features a modular design that allows the user a surprising degree of flexibility for carrying loads. Let’s start with the basics in our Aeroe Spider Rack review.

This rack mounts to the seatstays of a bike via four straps—two per side—in a design that should result in minimal rocking of the rack. This means that even if someone’s e-bike did not include mounts for a rear rack, they can use this rack. All of the installation and adjustment uses a single, 5mm, Allen wrench, making setup remarkably easy.

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Each rack comes with one cradle with tiedown straps. Up to two additional cradles can be purchased to mount on the rack. With one cradle, the top position makes the most sense; with two, one per side makes sense and with three all three locations would be used. Each cradle can be positioned to point in a number of different orientations in order to accommodate the frame design and the rider’s pedal stroke so that it leaves room for the rider’s heels to pass.

One of the challenges of a traditional bike rack is that while they do feature three mounting locations just as the Aeroe Spider Rack does, they don’t usually offer much adjustability in positioning of the bags and on top of that there’s the fact that the rider must purchase specialized bike bags like a set of panniers or a rack trunk. With the Aeroe Spider Rack if you already own a drybag or stuff sack (or two), you need not purchase anything else.

That said, we went with two of their 8L dry bags as ours are quite large and more suitable to being tossed in a canoe or kayak.

The cradle mounts—the part that attaches to the rack itself, not the part the bag is strapped to—can be turned 360 degrees in 15-degree increments, which gives the user a flexibility that is exceptional. The cradle mount can also be rotated to account for the angle of the seatstays, a feature most traditional racks can struggle to accommodate.

The advantage to Aeroe’s dry bags is that they come with a reinforced panel with two cutouts so that the cradle straps can be passed through, helping to ensure that the dry bags can slip out of the cradle if the straps aren’t sufficiently tight. That is, so long as the straps are buckled, there’s no losing a bag.

The rack plus one cradle is relatively lightweight: 979g (2.1 lbs.); a second cradle with straps adds 338g (11.9 oz.). The 8L drybags each weigh 233g (8 oz.).

The one weakness we’ve identified with the Aeroe Spider Rack is that its weight rating is 16kg (35 lbs.) That’s not huge, but it’s plenty for someone contemplating an inn-to-inn tour. One concern we hold is that the mounts and straps may damage the finish of the e-bike. We suggest wrapping the seatstays where the mounts will sit with tape to avoid scuffing the finish.

Bike touring has traditionally demanded a significant investment; the rider must purchase panniers, maybe a rack trunk and handlebar bag as their price of admission. What we love about the Aeroe Spider Rack is that a rider could purchase the rack alone and give touring a try before making a bigger purchase.

Using an e-bike to do loaded touring is genius. We’re fans of anything that lowers the barrier to entry.

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Things You Don’t Expect To See At CES: Donkeys!

During our ride-along with Bosch, we came across some very unexpected friends

Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen

Who knew that Las Vegas not only is home to some amazing mountains, but also a wild herd of donkeys?

We were lucky enough to ride with the team from Bosch eBike Systems and take a break from the crowded booths and noise typically associated with CES. Our destination was Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, a 17-mi. scenic route full of beautiful red rocks … and, yes, donkeys.

Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen

Of course, the ride wasn’t all about the scenery. We had the chance to test ride seven different e-bikes that were powered by different Bosch motor systems. Our ride gave us a chance to discuss several key topics with Claudia Wasko (General Manager Bosch eBike Systems Americas VP), Kurt Hoy (Marketing & Media Relations), and Brian Cleavland (eBike Technical Product Specialist).

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Bosch Smart System and eBike Flow App

Photo Credit: Bosch

Bosch continues their focus on updating their motors to their Smart System, which makes a lot of sense to me. Bosch motors have always been some of the best-performing e-bike motors, and adding the ability to receive regular software updates over-the-air is amazing. Similar to how people talk about how cool it is that Tesla can push out an update to your car, Bosch can do the same thing with their Smart System via the eBike Flow App. The practical value of this is that you won’t have to take the bike back to the dealer for every update, which saves you time and money (some dealers have a charge for updating your bike given the time it takes them to do it).

However, over-the-air updates are just one feature of what you can do with the eBike Flow app. With the app you can:

Secure your bike with the eBike Lock (free feature)
Further secure your bike with the eBike Alarm. This is free for first 12 months, then is included with in a paid subscription thereafter. Their subscription is called Flow+, and costs $3.99/month or $34.99 annually. In other words, it’s under $5/month so you’ll probably sign up and forget that you signed up for it. Fortunately, that’s also not a lot of money for peace of mind when you’re riding around the city on a $3K+ e-bike.
Use your phone as the display to show you your speed, ride duration, distance traveled, current battery level (the reading is actually accurate, btw), and you can even connect to an Apple Watch and get heart rate data.
Plan your route and get navigation guidance. If you have a unit with the Kiox 300 or 500 (their display units), you can do this from the display itself. If you don’t have a Kiox, then you can use your smartphone.
Create custom riding modes. This isn’t something we normally do at Electric Bike Report, simply because we are riding too many bikes. However, for every bike I personally own, I always love the ability to create custom riding modes to match how I like to ride.

Then, one of my personal favorite features of the Flow app is that you can connect it with Strava and the app will AUTOMATICALLY start recording your ride, then push it to Strava once you’re finished. I don’t know about you, but I would say about a third of my rides I forget to start Strava and have to stop a mile into a ride when I remember that fact.

Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen

Note: we did have a few issues connecting to the eBike Flow app when we started. This is not generally a problem for the average rider—our issues were simply because so many other riders had already connected to each bike, and there were about 10 different bikes there that our phones kept trying to connect to (not a normal situation, obviously).

If you are having problems connecting to the Bosch Flow App, I’d recommend deleting and re-installing the app. That worked like a charm.

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E-Bike Battery Safety

One theme that kept coming up on the ride (and something we have continually covered here at EBR), is the topic of e-bike battery safety. I am pretty sure every person who rides e-bikes and pays attention to e-bike news have seen the tragic stories from New York City on what are alleged to be e-bike fires. We did a fairly in-depth dive into what’s causing the e-bike fires in New York, so it was great to catch up with Bosch and get a few of their thoughts on the topic.

The main takeaway that we want our readers to know is that Bosch batteries are safe. As a German company, Bosch manufactures their products to both EU and USA safety standards, and we consider them a leader in e-bike safety, especially when it comes to battery and motor safety. Claudia Wasko sits on the steering committee for People for Bikes and is very active in helping promote not just electric bikes, but also safety throughout the United States.

Obviously, please make sure you are taking care of your battery and charging it properly. My conversation with Claudia gave me two additional takeaways I think are important to EBR readers:

Of the fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in New York City, none of them have been caused by stock e-bike batteries. Most of them have been caused by other e-mobility devices (such as scooters), while a few have been caused by reconditioned batteries. A stock Bosch battery hasn’t been responsible for a single fire in New York City.
Buying an e-bike from a brand that specs Bosch motors is a good bet, safety-wise. The brands spec’ing Bosch have made quality a priority (again, you need to take care of the battery).

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Pretty Cool E-Bikes Featuring Bosch Motors

I always say that the heart of an e-bike is the motor. And we were able to ride some pretty cool bikes featuring Bosch’s latest motors, including their Performance Line Speed, Performance Line, and Active Line Plus systems.

Gazelle Eclipse C380

Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen

While the Gazelle C380 they had on hand was a little small for me (as you can see in the photos), I was still very impressed by the bike. A few of the highlights for me were:

Bosch Performance Line Speed motor. Putting one of Bosch’s most powerful motors on a city commuter is a solid choice. The bike had a ton of power to climb hills, and being able to pedal up to 28 mph makes the bike a great option for commuting.
Overall comfort of the bike. Wide tires, a front suspension fork, and an Enviolo internally geared hub combined with a belt drive made for a very smooth ride.
Beautiful color. I’m not sure if this was planned, but the bike looked simply stunning against the backdrop of the red rocks!

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Bosch control panel on Gazelle Eclipse C380

Bosch Performance Line Speed motor on Gazelle Eclipse C380

Custom Co-Motion E-Bike

Probably the coolest bike I saw during CES was this custom built Co-Motion e-bike that’s based on an upcoming model geared toward bikepacking. Sadly, I didn’t get all the specs written down, but I can say this much: if you’re looking for a very unique touring e-bike to take you across the country, then go see what Co-Motion can do for you.

The production model will be an analog bike with 29″ wheels that can be run with a rigid carbon fiber fork or a 120mm-travel suspension fork. This custom electric version I tested, however, was super comfortable, with the unique alt bars that would really help on long tours being one of the standout features. Of course the paint job can’t be ignored, and neither could the choice of motor (Bosch Performance Line Speed).

Bosch Performance Line Speed motor on Co-Motion E-Bike

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Benno RemiDemi XL

Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen

I think I have told myself 10 times already that I’m going to buy a Benno RemiDemi. The only reason I haven’t is because I have an office full of 150 e-bikes and have to routinely switch out which bikes I have at my house for personal testing.

However, if I wasn’t lucky/fortunate enough to have access to so many bikes, and had to have only one bike in my garage for my whole family to ride, it might just be the RemiDemi XL. It’s a bike that does it all (minus the mountain biking, of course) and is a ton of fun to ride. With the long-tail version I can not only carry groceries, but also add my 6 year old, which slashes my need to drive everywhere.

The one thing I would change on the bike we rode at this event would be to go with the Bosch Performance Sport motor as it goes up to 28mph.

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CES / Bosch Ride Wrap-Up

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area at CES 2024

Photo credit: Chris Wellhausen

For us, this was a great way to end CES 2024. While we wish more e-bike companies attended CES to put their products in front of consumers, we were glad to see Bosch representing their e-bike systems at the show and supporting great manufacturers like Benno, Gazelle, Riese & Müller, Co-Motion, Trek, Cannondale, and more.

To learn more about Bosch’s e-bike systems, you can go to their website here: https://www.bosch-ebike.com/us/

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REI Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 E-Bike Review 2024

REI Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 Review 2024

We geek out for a lot of e-bikes we get in, but we really looked forward to receiving REI’s Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 to review.

REI, the store we go to for everything from puffy coats to camp chairs, sleeping bags to binoculars, has been selling its own branded products for a fair number of years. They even make their own bikes, produced overseas, alongside some of the biggest brands in cycling. More recently, REI has begun offering e-bikes. The Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 is REI’s first cargo/utility bike.

In broad strokes, the REI Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 is meant for lighter cargo needs. It’s ideal for carrying a kid in a child seat, in part because it positions the child farther behind the rider. That means the child can see more easily and therefore better enjoy the ride, plus it reduces the distraction that can come from grabby hands or a foot that escapes restraint.

Because the rear rack is integrated into the frame design, both the rack and the frame enjoy improved stiffness than if the rack were bolted on. That means no matter what the load, the rider will feel less input from the back of the e-bike when riding through turns.

So how did the REI Co-op perform in our testing, and can REI make an e-bike that earns top honors among all e-bikes? Continue reading our full review to find out.

KBO Breeze Review – 2020

Please note: Before we dive into our review of the KBO Breeze, we want to make our readers aware this is a new type of review for us at ElectricBikeReport. KBO is a new brand that just launched this year.

This is the start of reviews we’ll be doing for newer brands looking to launch their e-bike lineups.

However, we want to make sure our readers understand this is not an endorsement of the KBO brand. We’re reviewing the bike as it was shipped to us in hopes it gives you an idea of how the brand is approaching the market.

We think KBO has done nice things with this bike and are excited to see how KBO performs in the future. We wish them the best of luck and hope they make it in this very fragmented and growing market!

Summary Review: KBO Breeze

The KBO Breeze is where budget friendly meets nice power and exceptional looks! With a top speed of 28mph, and a motor capable of 900w of peak power, we found the Breeze to be a comfortable, powerful, city cruiser/commuter ebike. Given this is KBO’s first ebike, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the bike was put together out of the box. For a bike under $1,400 we found decent, name brand components and we didn’t have to do much adjusting to the brakes or drive train – all good signs for budget-level electric bikes.

Overall, we feel the Breeze will check a lot of boxes for somebody looking for a capable commuter electric bike. We thought the Breeze was a blast to ride, and provided a good riding experience that falls somewhere between performance and leisure.

Oh, and we have to mention again how we really think that KBO did a great job with the paint job. The Breeze is a great looking bike!
[Read more…] about KBO Breeze Review – 2020

Justin Taylor

Owner, Editor-In-Chief

Favorite Style of E-Bike

Favorite E-Bikes Reviewed

Current Bikes You Ride/Own

Favorite New E-bike Tested

Hobbies

Blix Packa Genie Review | Check Out The Test Results!

Specialized Turbo Tero X 5.0 E-Bike Review

Want one bike that will both get you to work in the city and let you hit the local singletrack on the weekend?

Norco Fluid VLT Review | An Absolutely LOADED eMTB

With Bosch’s most sought-after motor, this is one eMTB that can hold its own on any terrain.

Orbea Wild Review | Find Out Why It Won All Those Awards

The Wild combines impressive power and range with terrific handling in a stylish package.

Aeroe Spider Racks Review

Things You Don’t Expect To See At CES: Donkeys!

During our ride-along with Bosch, we came across some very unexpected friends

Bosch Smart System and eBike Flow App

E-Bike Battery Safety

Pretty Cool E-Bikes Featuring Bosch Motors

Gazelle Eclipse C380

Custom Co-Motion E-Bike

Benno RemiDemi XL

REI Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 E-Bike Review 2024

KBO Breeze Review – 2020

Summary Review: KBO Breeze

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Justin Taylor

Owner, Editor-In-Chief

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Favorite Style of E-Bike

Favorite E-Bikes Reviewed

Current Bikes You Ride/Own

Favorite New E-bike Tested

Hobbies

Justin Taylor

Want one bike that will both get you to work in the city and let you hit the local singletrack on the weekend?

With Bosch’s most sought-after motor, this is one eMTB that can hold its own on any terrain.

The Wild combines impressive power and range with terrific handling in a stylish package.

During our ride-along with Bosch, we came across some very unexpected friends

Bosch Smart System and eBike Flow App

E-Bike Battery Safety

Pretty Cool E-Bikes Featuring Bosch Motors

Gazelle Eclipse C380

Custom Co-Motion E-Bike

Benno RemiDemi XL

Summary Review: KBO Breeze

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