We wandered down to lovely Leamington Spa this week to take a look at the new, updated range of EBCO e-bikes and to have a first look at – and a first ride of – the new Pulse range that starts at just £799.
EBCO and Pulse are from the same stable: both are manufactured by EBC, the Electric Bike Corporation. The Pulse range is currently just three models – five, if you include the diamond and step-through frame options – and there's eight models in the EBCO range.
Why the new brand, and the split? Well, the birth of Pulse has meant that EBCO has moved slightly upmarket. The UCR-10 that we tested recently will be discontinued, and the cheapest of the EBCO bikes will now be the UCR-30/UCL-30, at £1,299. The range has also been split up into three sections. Most of the bikes are in the Urban City section, but there's now an Urban Sport model (just one, at the moment) and two Trekking builds. There's mountain bikes to come, too, in Spring 2017; currently the plan is for two Bosch-powered models.
The slightly higher entry price of the EBCO bikes and the updates to the TranzX motors mean that all the bikes in the range now offer computer diagnostics for easier servicing of the drive system. That was already a staple of the higher-priced Shimano STEPS and Bosch bikes, but the newer TranzX systems now offer it too, through a Logix interface accessed via a USB port on the bar-mounted controller. It's quite a coup to be able to offer diagnostics on a £1,299 bike.
Meanwhile, Pulse comes in under the £1,000 mark meaning it's well set up for commuters looking to get an e-bike on a cycle to work scheme. There's been a few price increases and spec downgrades across the EBCO bikes due to the plmmeting pound but EBC made the decision to stick to their guns with Pulse: the margins will be a bit smaller for the company and the bike shops, but they think it's important to hit the £800 and £1,000 price points. Let's have a look at some of the new models from both ranges.
Pulse ZL-2/ZR-2
At £799 with a full TranzX drive system and a 320Wh battery the ZL-2 (the ZR-2 is the diamond-framed model) looks like a proper bargain. In terms of spec it's very similar to the EBCO UCL-10 but it's £200 cheaper, so that looks like a major win.
The TranzX Hi-torque rear hub motor is controlled by an LED display on the handlebars and offers three levels of assistance. You can also use the display to turn the integrated lighting on and off.
The 320Wh Lithium Ion battery sits in the rear rack; you can charge it in situ or remove it to charge it indoors.
The bike gets a 7-speed Shimano Tourney rear derailleur and that's mated to a Microshift grip shifter on the bars. It's not a massive spread of gears but should be fine for most city riding.
As well as the lights you get a kickstand, mudguards and bell included, so you're fully set up for your commute. We managed to get out for a ride on the ZL-2, so we'll be posting a first ride soon.
Pulse ZL-5/ZR5
The £999 ZR-5 uses the same frame and motor as the cheaper ZR-2. There are two main differences. Firstly the bike gets a Shimano Nexus hub gear for lower maintenance city riding, and that means that the motor moves to the front wheel.
Secondly, the bike gets a bigger battery, 400Wh instead of 320Wh. This gives it a claimed range of 40-50 miles, 10 miles more than the 30-40 miles that EBC claim for the lower-priced model.
Pulse ZF-4
The folding ZF-4 is also £999. It gets a slightly different motor and controller than the other bikes, offering four levels of assistance.
The bike has a low step-through frame with a central fold, and the bars fold down too to make a compact package. The smaller 230Wh battery saves a bit of weight and cost at the expense of range; claimed range is 15-25 miles but this isn't a bike you'd go on long adventures on, it's designed for mixed commuting.
Again it comes fully specced with mudguards, kickstand, puncture-proof tyres and Panninga integrated lighting.
EBCO TR-60/TL-60
The trekking series of bikes is new for EBCO. There's two models, this £1,799 TranzX-powered bike and a top-dollar Bosch Performance Line bike, the TR-90/TL-90, at £2,999.
This bike uses a frame-mounted 400Wh battery. That means it's not possible to drop the top tube to the same extent, although there are still two frame designs available. EBC want to offer the bike with a higher-capacity 500Wh battery too, but that's not available as yet for this system.
The M25GT motor offers three levels of support, and the TR-60 gets a centrally-mounted LCD display to complement the bar control.
Shimano Deore 10-speed gears and hydraulic disc brakes are good quality equipment that should last. You get a proper trekking rack as standard too, and up front there's a Suntour NEX fork if you're planning any unsurfaced adventures.
EBCO UCL-30/UCR-30
EBCO's entry-level bike is now the UCL-30/UCR-30 at £1,299. The bike uses the new TranzX F15 motor which is claimed to be more powerful and also quieter than its predecessor. The bikes at the show were pre-production and had dummy batteries, so we can't comment on whether that's the case, yet.
The UCL-30 uses the TranzX LogixLine controller, and that has a USB port which allows EBCO dealers to access the on-board diagnostics. You can charge your phone from it too, apparently, although you'll need to find a USB cable that has a mini-USB connector at one end and whatever your phone needs at the other.
The bike uses a TranzX headstock suspension fork, which should be a much better solution than the cheap telescopic suspension you normally get for this sort of money.
EBCO UCL-40/UCR-40
At £1,599 the UCL-40 is EBCO's cheapest mid-motor bike. It uses a TranzX M16 motor; EBC have gone for the higher-spec GT version of the drive. It's cadence-sensing rather than torque-sensing, and mated to a 400Wh battery for a claimed range of 30-50 miles. Again, it features TranzX on-board diagnostics.
The rest of the spec is a bit improved from the model below, with 9-speed Shimano Acera gears instead of 8-speed Altus.
