Belt drive on a funds

At simply 37 lb (16.8 kg), the Tenways CGO600 Professional is fairly darn light-weight for an electrical bike. After all, you hand over lots of the options and efficiency many riders have come to anticipate of chunkier e-bikes, however the tradeoff leaves us with a light-weight trip that’s nonetheless punchy sufficient for many commutes.

To see what it’s wish to throw a leg over this e-bike and take it for a trip, try my video overview under. Or should you’re the studying sort, simply hold scrolling to get to my full written overview. Or, you realize, you may all the time strive each!

Tenways CGO600 Professional video overview

Tenways CGO600 Professional tech specs

• Motor: 350 Watt rear hub motor with 45 Nm of torque
• Prime pace: 20 mph (32 km/h)
• Vary: Claimed as much as 53 miles (85 km)
• Battery: 36V 10Ah (360 Wh)
• Weight: 37 lb (16.8 kg)
• Body: 6061 aluminum alloy
• Tires: CST 700x45C city tires
• Brakes: Tektro dual-piston hydraulic disc brakes
• Extras: Compact LED show, 4 pedal help ranges, slim fender set, kickstand, internally routed cables, LED lighting, detachable battery, Tenways app integration, torque sensor, Gates carbon belt drive, 4 shade choices

What you hand over and what you get

Proper off the bat, it’s fairly obvious that the Tenways CGO600 Professional is just not like most e-bikes in the marketplace at present. As a light-weight, single-speed commuter e-bike, it makes some compromises to supply a distinct type of trip.

You hand over some energy, with the bike that includes a mere 350 watts from the rear hub motor.

Regardless of being smaller, the saving grace right here is that the motor and controller come from an organization known as Mivice, whose manufacturing facility I just lately visited outdoors of Shanghai. Mivice is thought for making greater high quality, extra precision-built motors and electronics, and so it’s nice to see Tenways choosing such a excessive finish motor and controller provider.

You additionally hand over some battery capability, with the bike that includes 360 Wh of capability, or round half of what you’d discover in lots of the best-selling electrical bikes in the marketplace at present.

However once more, there’s a silver lining. That smaller battery is lighter, which is a bonus over most heavy e-bikes, and it’s additionally detachable, which solves a serious turnoff of many light-weight fashions with batteries semi-permanently sealed off contained in the body.

With a high pace of 20 mph (32 km/h) and no throttle onboard, that is additionally a Class 1 e-bike. Positive, that’s the least in style class of electrical bikes within the US, however don’t take that as an indication that you must overlook this mannequin.

Class 1 e-bikes have the bottom gross sales figures within the US since most individuals like the power to trip with out pedaling {that a} throttle presents. In the event you’re pleased with pedaling on a regular basis, you’ll benefit from the torque sensor that Tenways has graced us with. There’s a slight lag however it’s significantly better than practically any cadence sensor on the market by way of giving good energy off the road quickly after you step on the pedals.

This can be a single pace bike and in order that responsiveness is vital, particularly once you’re making an attempt to get rolling on the backside of a hill climb. Single pace e-bikes are usually geared for his or her most comfy pedaling on the upper finish of the pace vary, since that’s the place most individuals spend most of their rides. And so that you’ll recognize having the extra responsive ‘oomph’ off the road once you’re getting rolling in a better gear ratio.

The massive benefit of a single-speed drivetrain, at the least for me, is that it permits Tenways to go along with a Gates carbon belt drive system. As a substitute of a sequence that will get rusty and noisy over time, Gates belt drives keep clear and silent for his or her whole lifespan, which will be a number of instances so long as a sequence.

It’s only a extra elegant strategy to energy the bike, and I like belt drives for that motive. I stay not removed from the ocean, and so corrosion from the salty air is an enormous drawback. Belt drives remedy that for me and take away yet another upkeep fear from the bike.

The identical could possibly be mentioned of the Tenways CGO600 Professional’s hydraulic disc brakes, that are additionally a largely zero-maintenance resolution. Positive, at some point you’ll have to switch the brake pads and even additional down the road you’ll doubtlessly should bleed the strains or exchange the fluid – however that’s waaay down the road for many riders. Informal riders may go a 12 months or extra earlier than needing to swap pads, and should by no means have to the touch their hydraulic oil reservoir. Within the shorter time period, these highly effective stoppers prevent from having to do weekly or biweekly brake cable changes that mechanical brakes require, which means your brakes are basically all the time in tune.

How does the trip really feel?

To me, the bike’s light-weight really feel actually provides to the trip. Between the single-speed nature and the light-weight design, there’s simply not a lot to consider whilst you’re driving. There aren’t any gears to be involved with, you don’t have to regulate your trip to compensate for a way extra-heavy e-bikes will influence you within the turns, and so forth.

However, the narrow-ish tires and the shortage of suspension do end in a rougher trip once you run into potholes or street particles, however that’s doubtless one thing that commuter riders on road-style bikes are additionally used to. Newcomers to biking or e-bikes are inclined to desire wider tires or true suspension, whereas riders who’ve been doing this for years, particularly these coming from street biking communities, can get by on an inch of air and rubber towards the street. After all this isn’t a typical street bike, but it surely’s bought extra of that really feel than most e-bikes I trip.

And as a final little word, I’d add that I actually love this paint shade. There are three different colours obtainable (inexperienced, gray, and black), however this blue shade is simply lovely on the bike! The truth that Tenways constructed such a easily welded body helps exhibit the paint colours even higher with out ugly welds to interrupt up the sleek strains across the tubes in the principle body triangle.

What’s my verdict?

At simply US $1,499, the bike feels fairly good. There are some adjustments that I’d have appreciated, similar to a rear mild along with the entrance wired mild, and maybe the power to achieve Class 3 speeds of 28 mph (45 km/h), but it surely’s onerous to demand an excessive amount of from a Gates belt drive e-bike at below $1,500.

They even provide it in three sizes, which is 2 sizes greater than a lot of the budget-minded electrical bikes on the market.

So I say that should you’re on the hunt for a easy, light-weight electrical bike with a belt drive, this may be a superb possibility to contemplate.