Test: what ebike engine is the most powerful?

Which engine is the most powerful? It's a question that we, and many ebikes users, ask ourselves every day. And it is not easy to answer, because the feeling of power that we experience as cyclists does not always correspond to the real power. So already some time ago we started to do the cotton test. When we have occasion, we take the bicycles that pass through our hands and put them to the test in a demanding climb of 1.7 km. What is the winner?

Needless to say, to make the test we put the engine at the highest level of assistance. Having said this, and before entering into the evaluation of the results, some appreciations have to be made. We try all kinds of bicycles, mountain and trekking, but also ride and folding. Some equipped with central engine and others with hub engine in the wheel. Some are as they come from the factory, while others have mounted a de-limiter.

In all cases we climbed pedaling at a cheerful pace, without more. We do not take it as if we were in a time trial because we would misrepresent the results. We want to know which engines pull more.

And we must also point out that we still have to test motors that are increasingly present in the market, such as the Yamaha PW-X, the Brose engine equipped on a mountain bike or the increasingly present Shimano E8000, which we expect to receive soon.

We go with the results.

Undisputed winner. The Bosch CX engine equipped in a Haibike Xduro Allmtn takes 23 seconds to second place. As expected, the German engine is the one that pulls the most, and even more in this case, since the German ebike had a limiter. In this way, when the climb is smoother and the bicycle reaches 25 km / h, the engine continues to assist, pushing with a huge force, which explains the great difference it gets over its pursuers.

Silver medal. The Yamaha PW equipped in a Lapierre Overvolt Cross that also had delimitador. The Japanese also has a good power and has a reputation for indestructible, but to deliver everything you have, you have to get used to not pedaling at too high rates. It is expected that the latest generation of the Yamaha engine, the PW-X, will shorten the 23 seconds advantage that the Bosch CX takes.

Bronze medal. The first surprise of the night. The old Bosch Performance engine is ahead, if only for 2 seconds, of the Bosch CX of the fourth classified, and is the winner in the category "without limiter".

From there, the differences in the times are small, something logical if we take into account that all the engines in theory yield the same power, 250W. With 5 seconds of the fourth classified (Bosch CX) arrive two Lapierre bikes with Yamaha PW engine, and 7 seconds behind, a Winora Yucatan also with Yamaha engine. Two seconds away from this one, an old mountain bike equipped with a Ciclotek central engine kit that surprises us with the great result obtained in the price-performance-weight equation.

The disappointment comes to 4 seconds from the central Ciclotek kit, and it's called Brose. We have tested it in two models equipped with the German engine, a BH Revo Cargo (a very heavy bike and penalized when changing gear quickly by Shimano Alfine but had the advantage of having a de-limiter) and a Neomouv Montana trekking .

In the absence of testing the Brose engine on a mountain bike, we must recognize that the German team has great virtues, such as the naturalness of the assistance or how silent it is. On the other hand, we have been disappointed with its power. The 90 Nm that the manufacturer declares does not appear anywhere.

We insist. We need to try the Brose in a sportier model. We have no way to prove it, but we suspect that both the BH and the Neomouv have layered versions of the German engine.

Not far from the bikes equipped with the less powerful central engines, the last positions are for two folding bikes (Legend Siena and Gocco Zero) and for two ride bikes equipped with Bosch Active motor (Lapierre 300 and Lapierre 400). In relation to the folding there is an important mention: if in this test they have obtained the eleventh and thirteenth positions, harder climbs finished seventh and ninth thanks to the excellent performance that the engines offer when they are mounted on 20-inch wheels.

On the contrary, in this test no model of wheel-driven ride is present. Yes we have tried them in other climbs and, although they are able to overcome hard climbs without complaining, always occupy the last positions.

At this point, it is now time to relativize the importance of the absolute maximum power figure. Especially if we talk about a mountain bike use. For most users, power will be important at specific times. On a mountain route we will hardly go all the time in the Turbo mode. On the other hand, we will use inferior assistances, with which, the differences between the engines are equalized. It is then when other values come into play, such as the way in which the engine delivers the power, especially if we circulate on surfaces that are not very adherent. And here we would already be talking about factors such as tires or the cyclist's ability.

At the end of the day, and as it said that the advertising several years ago of tire manufacturer Pirelli, "Power is nothing without control".

Test conditions: a rise of 1.7 km and 115 meters of elevation gain (6.5% on average). It has a section with little slope where all the bicycles reach 25 km / h, which allows the units equipped with deslimitador to stand out from the rest.