Schindelhauer Emelia VI

Schindelhauer is a German company with a reputation for making technically interesting electric bikes… such as their new Emelia VI

Creating a lightweight, low- maintenance city e- bike isn’t easy thing to pull off, since adding things like enclosed gearing, lights, mudguards and kickstands naturally adds quite a bit of weight. Most sub-18kg e- bikes have clearly skimped on some of these features, but Schindelhauer believes that for true yearround city riding in any weather conditions, such ‘extras’ are nothing other than essential.

The Emelia VI is one of few e- bikes out there to use the Pinion bottom bracket gearing system. This encloses all the gears around the pedal axle and makes for a very low- maintenance gearing setup, especially when partnered with a Gates Carbon belt drive as it is here. It is also a great system to use with a rear hub motor as the gears are ‘downstream’ of the motor power, meaning smoother changes and less wear and tear on the gears themselves. In effect this should be a ‘ fit and forget’ combination (or, at least, forget for a very long time…).

So where has the weight- saving come from? The highly regarded Mahle hub motor system is very lightweight, combining a 2kg hub motor with a modestly sized in-frame battery. High- quality details such as the LIGHTSKIN Ultra-mini- Light U2E (the world’s smallest STVZO bicycle front light) integrated on the Curana aluminium mudguard are a nice touch – there’s a rear mudguard LED too. Power and lighting control can be found at the touch of a button on the frame’s top tube, while the head tube-mounted front rack features an integrated securing strap system.

The Emilia is the step-thru frame version of the bike, whilst the Emil has a higher top tube. Both feature sweptback handlebars and large volume tyres for a comfortable, effortless ride.

► From £3,999 schindelhauerbikes.com