I knew that Cannondale’s new Journey Neo Allroad e-bike was going to be enjoyable earlier than I even hit the saddle, not as a result of it has a motor, however as a result of it has a kickstand. I hadn’t ridden a motorbike with a kickstand since I used to be 12.
Nonetheless, I used to be cautious of that kickstand. I spend quite a lot of time using bikes—most likely extra time than I ought to contemplating I’m a full-grown grownup with a job, children and a mortgage. However I’m a severe bike owner who rides severe bikes. I experience my bike throughout races and on lengthy bikepacking adventures. I experience my bike in a futile try to be related on Strava. I experience to alleviate stress and lengthen my lifespan. Someplace alongside the way in which, I finished using my bike for pleasure. Enjoyable is for teenagers, I assumed. Sure, I loved using—being exterior, the wind in my beard and all that—however the pleasure had develop into ancillary. The actual function of the bike, I assumed, was to undergo. That’s what made me a severe bike owner: I suffered.
In order that kickstand on the Journey Neo Allroad? It didn’t scream “severe.” Like childhood itself, it screamed “enjoyable.” And I eyed it suspiciously, like an previous pal who all of a sudden reappears, and also you marvel what they need from you.
Bicycle owner
Graham Averill
Years using
25
Common miles-per-week
50 (if I am fortunate)
Most popular bike
Mountain
Most popular terrain
Movement trails
Then I threw a leg over the Journey Neo Allroad EQ. The Class 2 e-bike has reintroduced the thought of enjoyable to my rides and has me second-guessing all my preconceived notions about e-bikes normally.
“The testing course of has solely solidified my newfound love for e-bikes. It’s quick and zippy with out being unstable, and totally able to dealing with a wide range of duties, whether or not trudging up a gravel climb or carrying 50 bananas from the shop to feed my daughter’s monitor group.”
The Journey Neo Allroad is designed to be an all-around metropolis and off-pavement bike with gentle cargo potential. Consider this as your townie whip for using greenways, going off highway, operating errands and commuting to work. And sure, it has a small motor. In case you’re not conversant in the totally different classifications of e-bikes, we now have a fantastic primer that goes into element right here. However when you simply need the fundamentals, know that:
Class 1 e-bikes are pedal-assist solely with a prime assisted pace of 20mph.
Class 2 e-bikes have pedal help and throttle energy, each of which prime out at 20mph.
Class 3 e-bikes are pedal-assist solely, however have a prime motor help pace of 28mph.
Cannondale has produced three fashions within the Journey Neo Allroad collection. The Journey Neo Allroad and the EQ mannequin geared up with fenders, built-in lights and a rear rack are each Class 2 e-bikes; whereas the S mannequin is a Class 3. Fashions can be found in two types, a low step-through body or normal body.
Get a Enhance Whereas Pedaling or Let the Throttle Do the Work
Management the throttle together with your thumb on the Cannondale Journey Allroad Neo, a Class 2 e-bike.
The Journey Allroad Neo EQ that I examined is a Class 2, which suggests it has an electrical motor that may present a lift when you’re pedaling or do all of the be just right for you via a throttle that you simply management together with your thumb beneath the left handlebar grip.
I was notoriously crotchety in the direction of e-bikes previously. I used to be a kind of snobby cyclists who turned up their noses on the know-how when it first hit the streets. I used to be a purist who might pedal his bike on his personal, thanks very a lot. Then I received the possibility to experience a few totally different e-bikes—first a Class 1 mountain bike constructed for trails after which a Class 2 e-cargo bike constructed for hauling children. On each accounts, I couldn’t hold myself from grinning. I used to be consuming my very own “by no means me” phrases with each battery-assisted pedal stroke. It was simply so easy and eccentric, like using bikes in a cul-de-sac with your mates if you have been 10.
Cannondale helped kickstart the e-bike motion in 2008 once they partnered with Bosch to create that firm’s first e-bike system. Now, Cannondale has 20 totally different e-bike platforms in each class, from mountain bikes to city cruisers.
This spring, I spent a number of weeks pedaling the Journey Neo Allroad EQ round my hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. It’s a extra rugged model of the Cannondale city-centric Journey Neo.
“The outsized tires and geometry supply a secure experience that feels at residence each on paved trails and dust paths,” says Mark Vanek, Cannondale’s e-bike product supervisor. “It’s a motorbike that offers enthusiast-level riders the flexibility to really feel assured whereas using across the neighborhood in the course of the week, or round a distant campsite on the weekends.”
Quick and Zippy
Cannondale has produced three fashions within the Journey Neo Allroad collection. The Journey Neo Allroad and the EQ mannequin, each Class 2 e-bikes, and the S mannequin, a Class 3 e-bike. Fashions can be found in two types, a low step-through body (pictured above) or normal body.
The testing course of has solely solidified my newfound love for e-bikes. It’s quick and zippy with out being unstable, and totally able to dealing with a wide range of duties, whether or not it’s trudging up a gravel climb or carrying 50 bananas from the shop to feed my daughter’s monitor group. The e-bike incorporates a 250wh rear hub Bafang motor and battery with a prime assisted pace of 20mph. There are 5 ranges of help, which you’ll be able to toggle via simply on the digital show on the left handlebar. It’s an intuitive plug-and-play system that most individuals can have no hassle determining, even with no person handbook. Flip the battery on and begin pedaling. In order for you extra pedal help, hit the plus button subsequent to the digital display to have interaction increased modes of help. Wish to see what it’s wish to experience a moped? Punch the throttle together with your thumb and the motor will kick in with out your pedaling, matching the pace of your present help stage. Faucet the “on/off” button to scroll via totally different information on that digital display—like battery life, prime pace and projected miles—till the battery dies.
It’s a system that you simply’ll discover on many Class 2 e-bikes, however most of these bikes function a single pace drive prepare, so that you solely go quicker by rising the pedal help. The Journey Neo Allroad and EQ fashions come loaded with a 1×7 drivetrain (one gear in entrance, 7 in again). As you encounter hills or flat sections, shift via the gears identical to on a standard bike, and the pedal help merely offers you a little bit (or loads) of a lift for every gear. It’s a pleasant mix of latest know-how (a motor) and previous know-how (gears!) that reminds you that you’re nonetheless using a motorbike, though you’re zipping alongside quicker than when you have been simply pedaling underneath your personal energy. And people gears imply it would even be simpler to pedal residence when you run out of juice in your battery.
Battery Vary
A totally charged battery provides you with roughly 47 miles of pedal-assist vary, however that varies relying on the terrain (hills take extra vitality) and what you’re carrying. Load the bike down with a keg of beer, and also you’ll lower your battery life. The extent of pedal help you select additionally impacts your vary. When pedaling round city on a full battery utilizing the bottom stage of help (1), I usually get a 60-mile vary. Kick it as much as help stage 5 and that vary drops to 33 miles. My journeys round city are comparatively brief, perhaps just a few miles every day, so I can get away with charging the battery as soon as every week. It takes 4 to six hours to recharge a spent battery, which detaches from the body off the bike, so I sometimes plug it in a single day right into a wall outlet in my storage. Be taught extra: “The right way to Cost an Electrical Bike.”
Whereas operating out of juice might occur, it’s no cause to panic. The Journey Neo Allroad is a top quality bike you’ll be able to pedal even with out the motor. The geometry is paying homage to a inflexible mountain bike, providing confirmed dealing with and a rugged aesthetic, however with a nod to cruiser bikes with a large, tremendous comfortable seat and a mellow handlebar attain distance that places you in a snug, upright place. The huge, knobby 27.5-inch tires assist clean issues out when the pavement ends, and the Journey Neo Allroad can deal with unfastened surfaces, like sand and dust no downside. In reality, the rear hub motor places the burden on the again axle, which helps improve traction on unfastened terrain. There’s no suspension on this mannequin, so there’s a restrict to what I’d do with this bike. (For entrance suspension, take into account the Journey Neo Allroad S, a Class 3 e-bike with 100 millimeters of journey on the fork. There’s additionally a low-step via verison of that).
You additionally must understand that e-bike guidelines differ tremendously, relying on the category of e-bike you’ve and the place you intend to experience it. Make sure you seek the advice of your native and state jurisdiction for guidelines particular to your space. PeopleForBikes, an advocacy group for biking, publishes a state-by-state e-bike information that will help you kind via e-bike rules across the nation.
Operating Errands Is Enjoyable
The writer testing out the Cannondale Journey Neo Allroad EQ.
I’ve misplaced depend of the variety of the miles I’ve placed on the Journey Neo Allroad EQ, however I’m frequently impressed by its comfy, clean experience with no-hassle shifting and straightforward steering. It’s additionally effectively geared up, with entrance and rear fenders, a taillight and headlight which can be powered by the Bafang motor. The rear rack can accommodate panniers or a cargo field. It’s able to deal with a entrance rack, too, if you wish to improve the bike’s cargo capabilities.
Asheville, the place I stay, is a really hilly metropolis—a indisputable fact that retains lots of people from using their bikes round city. I was a kind of individuals. I like to climb a mountain on my bike, however not essentially on the way in which to dinner or a piece assembly. Getting spent and sweaty isn’t at all times my purpose. So, I sometimes drive my automobile in these conditions. However I rapidly realized I might experience the Journey Neo Allroad EQ throughout city, up the steepest climbs with out having to max out my coronary heart charge and break a sweat. I might persistently attain prime speeds of 20mph on flat stretches with both the throttle or pedal help, and I might cruise up climbs that sometimes have me panting and wishing for a launch on a standard bike. Briefly, the Journey Neo Allroad EQ has made using a motorbike straightforward, so I’ve discovered myself desirous to experience extra usually.
That’s to not say that the e-bike has changed the opposite bikes in my storage. I nonetheless go for hour-long lunch exercises and weekend mountain bike or gravel rides, however the e-bike has develop into my most well-liked mode of transportation for sure day by day journeys. I used to get into my truck for a fast run to the shop for a stick of butter, however now I hop on the e-bike. Commuting to work conferences downtown, going to the health club, returning library books…these all was once automobile journeys. Now they’re e-bike journeys. I’ve used the bike to energy a progressive dinner via downtown and to run to the highest of close by mountain to take a look at the sundown. I strapped a milk crate to the again rack and now I can deal with respectable grocery retailer runs on the Journey Neo Allroad. I’ve loaded it with baseball gear and pedaled to follow. And all these errands I used to dread are enjoyable now. The opposite day, I jumped on the likelihood to go to the gasoline station to get gasoline for the lawnmower, as a result of it meant I might experience the e-bike via the neighborhood and take the great distance residence to hit a reasonably a part of the greenway.
I’m not suggesting the Journey Neo Allroad EQ is ideal. I want the bike had entrance suspension, even simply 100mm to take in a few of the bumpier roads in my hometown and make hopping curbs a little bit smoother. And I’d advocate upgrading the pedals from the inventory plastic flats to a grippier, steel flat. However general, I’m smitten with this bike and am satisfied I would like to purchase one for my spouse so we will have e-bike-powered date nights.
If something, using the Journey Neo Allroad fills me with remorse. I remorse that I wasted a lot time being a severe bike owner who hated e-bikes. What number of years of enjoyable have I missed out on? What number of journeys to the nook retailer and last-minute runs to the ironmongery shop have I suffered via in a automobile over that point? It is best not to consider it. As an alternative, I select to look ahead, to all of the joyous errands and commutes in my future. To a life that’s extra car-free, extra whimsical and in the end extra enjoyable.