I'm not surprised Shimano have gone down this route after owning their latest SLX 12sp groupset. It is one of the worst feeling drivetrains I've ever owned, and I broke a chain in the first 70k's.
Yeah its a very interesting idea to try. There needs to be a well hidden place to store the tag, that also isn't restricting the Bluetooth range. its also probably only a good solution in regions where apple devices are prevalent...but that probably aligns well with ebikes.
Its good to see the Polini is user serviceable and sell spare parts.
Used eBikes would be a lot more attractive to me if I new I could replace broken motor components.
I recently bought a new car for where I work and it was cheaper than the base Heckler R-Kit. it's a good car with a 4 star safety rating (even has autonomous emergency braking....).
Whilst I like how the bike looks, the Norco Sight VLT is significantly cheaper ($4850 cheaper or 62% of the cost...
The grey and purple look like renders of the colours not actual photos. It will be interesting to see if the old style of e160 is retained as a cheaper model (and exactly how cheap it is).
My only concern is the high stack height from what looks to be a rather tall headtube. If it means its difficult to weight the front wheel then it will be a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
As Gordon has posted RRP is $6699 in AUD. we have a 10% sales tax, so that's $6,090 without tax.
In GBP, this would be equivalent of 3,280 before 20% VAT, and 3,936 including VAT.
Interestingly, the YT decoy is about $2000 cheaper in the UK than Australia. You win some, you lose some. Regional...
Great review Rob.
Just as a point of interest, these Merida's were priced significantly cheaper than their competition here in Australia even before the runout sales.
12sp tolerances are smaller than 11sp due to the fact that more gears have been squeezed into what is near enough the same space, and it is easier for small changes to cable tension to cause it to drift out of tune. B screw setup is also more important on the bigger cassettes. The same is true...
Unless you need the the 500% range or the 50t cog, then I would avoid going 12sp on your emtb.
12sp has some negatives:
Extra unsprung weight due to the big cassettes
Expensive components
Weaker chains
Tuning tolerances are smaller.
I have 12sp eagle on my Trek Remedy, and like it, but I...
A combined gearbox and motor, something along the lines of a ebike version of a Zerode Taniwha.
I smashed my derailleur yesterday, so this is very much on my mind!
It might be difficult to find a review of one, as I believe they have only just gone on sale and are still hard to find.
I'd like to try one for my normal mtb.