2019 Riese & Muller E-Bikes: Range Explainer

Each year Riese & Muller’s range is always highly anticipated. Their 2019 range is another superb, luxurious selection of electric bikes aimed squarely at closing the gap between bicycle and car, and encouraging sustainable urban mobility.

Riese & Muller has an extensive range so we have put together this handy guide to help you to navigate and interpret it, based on the technology that underpins it. 

What’s in a name? Interpreting the Riese & Muller range.

There is more choice than ever with the 2019 Riese & Muller range and it can be a bit overwhelming to understand it.

However there is an easy-to-understand logic to what each model option means in the way that Riese & Muller have named their models. 

Here are the main ones you will see:

 For example:

• ‘Nevo GH Vario’ is the Nevo series of ebike with a 160kg load capacity, wide-profile comfort tires and internal hub gearing
• ‘Supercharger GX Rohloff’ is the Supercharger series with all-terrain capability and Rohloff gearing

Riese & Muller's core technology

Riese & Muller have always been at the forefront of electric bike technology and design. They pride themselves on perfectly matching the technology to the bike and its purpose, and they work in collaboration with their key suppliers to develop systems that will deliver the best performance. 

Their frames, which they design and engineer themselves, are beautifully designed and are of the highest quality. There is no compromise in any aspect of their design and build. This is a key contributor to the luxurious ride feel and durability of every Riese & Muller e bike.

Powered by Bosch

Riese & Muller have had a long-standing relationship with Bosch and their entire range is powered by Bosch. They work closely with Bosch in the development of new technologies. Most Riese & Muller models are powered by the strongest of the Bosch motors, the Bosch Performance CX and, with the steep hills and heat in Brisbane, this is a perfect choice if you plan on carrying cargo and riding long distances.

Frames designed to integrate the Bosch Powertube battery

Riese & Muller’s collaboration with Bosch over the past few years has delivered many firsts to the market. For example:

• first dual battery e-bike (the ‘Delite’)
• first commuter ebike with fully integrated powertube batteries (the ‘Charger’)
• first ebike with dual powertube batteries (the ‘SuperCharger’)

This year Riese & Muller will be the first to deliver dual suspension stepthrough ebikes and cargo ebikes featuring powertube batteries.

See the Culture, Homage and Nevo GT stepthrough models, and the new cargo model, the Multicharger.

Dual battery technology

In 2017 Riese & Muller won a Design & Innovation Award for the Delite Mountain and its dual battery capability, offering up to 300km range. They have led the market since. 

In 2019 the Delite and Supercharger ebikes will come standard with two 500Wh batteries. Like last year the Charger, Load and Packster bikes will have the option to carry a second battery if you choose. 

The option for a second battery is also extended to the new Homage and MultiCharger bikes this year as well. 

Bosch Kiox display option

With connectivity at the heart of much of the innovation from Bosch this year, many of the 2019 Riese & Muller ebikes offer the option to have the Bosch Kiox display. This is a coloured LCD screen that, amongst other things, offers the ability to connect via Bluetooth to a heart rate monitor and offers lots of handy information about your ride. You can read more about Kiox here >>.

Riese & Muller 'Control Technology' – Optimized Dual Suspension

The 'Control Technology' concept is one that Riese & Muller have spent years perfecting. It is more than about having dual suspension though.

Design aspects such as a co-spring rear luggage carrier and an active rear swing arm, all working in unison with the suspension componentry, deliver a supremely comfortable ride. It is also a very stable and safe ride no matter the terrain and speed.  

Given the long-distance touring and cargo inclination within the Riese & Muller range, the ability to securely carry luggage as well as having rear suspension is a real bonus. Riese & Muller use a range of suspension suppliers – Suntour and Fox being the main ones.

There are seven models in the 2019 Riese & Muller range that have Control Technology. These include:

• Two cargo models - the Load 75 and Load 60, and
• Five touring models - the Delite GTS, Delite GT, Delite Mountain, Culture and Homage. 

Gearing Options

In keeping with their philosophy of matching the perfect equipment to the right bike Riese & Muller ebikes come equipped with a range of gearing options, depending on what the bike is intended for.

Derailleur Gears – the ‘Touring’ models

Most of the models that have ‘Touring’ in their title will be equipped with either 10 or 11-speed Shimano Deore gears, depending on purpose (usually the urban-oriented bikes will have 10-speed, the all-terrain or mountain will have 11-speed). 

The derailleur gears are an excellent system for sporty riders who want the ability to use their bike and motor to the full extent of its ability. Derailleur gears come in the classic design with cables and manual gear levers as well as in electronic versions.

The Shimano's Deore series is a premium, tried-and-tested technology. It has been developed over 30 years and is extremely reliable, well-engineered and easy to use and works particularly well with the high torque in e-bikes.

On the electronic side is the Shimano XTR Di2 gear which is featured on the Delite 25 model. This is one of the best electronic derailleur gears on the market and is powered directly from the ebike battery. The Di2 system allows extremely rapid and precise shifting, and is very hard wearing and dirt resistant, which offers tremendous advantages when riding off road.

Internal Hub Gears – the ‘Vario’ models

This is a very popular gearing system due its low maintenance requirements and easy, intuitive operation. Unlike a derailleur gear which relies on a jumping chain to change, the gear change occurs within the rear wheel hub and does not require you to be pedalling when you change.

The internal hub is a closed system so your gears are protected from moisture and dirt at all times. Furthermore, this type of gear allows the use of the modern carbon belt drive instead of a chain which offer the advantage of even less maintenance and grease and is lightweight and especially quiet.

Riese & Muller have collaborated with Enviolo to custom develop the Enviolo 380, a continuous gear hub that allows you to smoothly switch to an endless number of gears within a gear range of 380%. The Enviolo system is a progression of the NuVinci 380 that was used in 2018 models.

Electronic Rohloff E-14 gear – the ‘Rohloff’ models

The new electronic Rohloff E-14 gear is a highly sophisticated auto shift system that boasts the largest range of gears (14 in total) possible on an ebike. It also offers the fastest gear shifting on the market.

It links the mechanical Rohloff Speedhub 14-speed gear hub to the eShift function of the Bosch E-Bike system – an electronic gear shift activation unit. The drive and gear communicate with each other and synchronise the gear-shifting process to make it as light, precise and efficient as possible. An ergonomic switch with two buttons replaces the twist shift grip and gear cables which means you can shift gears in less than 200 ms – currently the fastest gear shift on the market. And that’s with a 526% gear ratio. Multi-shift mode simultaneously shifts 3 gears in a single sequence, while the auto-downshift function automatically returns the gear to your individually selected starting gear when the bike comes to a standstill.

Tire choice – Fat is in! The "G" models. 

All the 2019 models with a “G” in their name feature what is commonly known as 27.5” plus size tires. These range from 2” - 2.8” wide, depending on the model.

Wider tires offer superior traction and extra comfort, and the tire choice for each model is carefully thought through to match the specific purpose of the bike. All of the tires feature puncture protection and reinforced sidewalls for extra strength and durability, and safety, comfort and required performance determine the specific tire choice. 

Brand new models 2019

See the Riese & Muller range here >>