Gazelle Eclipse Review: A Luxury Dutch Electric Bike

Within the occasion you’re wanting at bikes on-line—or one thing, truly, whether or not or not it’s headphones or shows—it’s necessary to consider price versus payoff. Gazelle has billed its newest ebike, the Eclipse, as a long-range comfort cruiser. It’s primarily the pricey Dutch mannequin of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) Rad Power Bikes’ Radster Freeway (8/10, WIRED Recommends).

I brooded over that price distinction whereas I was driving, until I observed that I truly was slightly extra cozy, and for a really dumb motive. The handlebars on the Eclipse are rather a lot narrower than the Radster’s, along with the other DTC bikes that I’ve examined. Most bikes have smaller parts for smaller frames, nonetheless for individuals who’re a smaller or newer bike agency, you may standardize your handlebar sizes attributable to restricted present or economies of scale. That’s merely not one factor you’d do for individuals who’re Royal Dutch Gazelle, which has existed for larger than 130 years and holds the royal warrant throughout the Netherlands as a distinction of top of the range.

You’ll be capable of swap out handlebars pretty merely on acoustic bikes, nonetheless doing so on an electric bike is a additional tough matter. Discovering a narrower handlebar was such an sudden comfort. It’s merely … a really good bike. Even the paint job is nicer than totally different bikes I’ve, with 4 hand-applied coats and dimensional shading to make it look slimmer. Within the occasion you’re not attempting to pinch pennies, there are a selection of very good points regarding the Eclipse.

So Loads Data

There are two fully totally different fashions of the Eclipse. Every have an aluminum physique, nonetheless the T11+ HMB has a Shimano Deore XT derailleur gear, whereas the mannequin I examined is the C380+ mannequin, which has the Enviolo CVT gear hub and a low-maintenance Gates belt drive. Might I under no circumstances have a sequence drop out whereas crossing a busy highway as soon as extra!

Every can be found a step-over and step-through mannequin with three fully totally different physique sizes, with the smallest being a 46 centimeters. I’m 5’2″ and was positively thrilled to find a Dutch bike that’s accessible in a measurement this small as a result of the Dutch are tall people and that’s unusual. In any case, the bikes all have UL certification, which means that the bike has been licensed to regulate to Underwriters Laboratories safety necessities and won’t inadvertently set your storage on fire.

Perhaps the very very first thing you’ll uncover is the model new Bosch system. It has a Bosch Effectivity Line motor with 85 nm of torque and a 750-Wh ginormous battery built-in into the downtube. After about 45 miles of biking up hills and hauling gear, I solely purchased the battery all the way in which all the way down to 45 p.c. It’s a class 3 ebike with a most tempo of 28 miles per hour.