Ribble, the company behind our top-rated electric bike, the Hybrid AL e, has released a pair of new e-bikes for city and trail riding.
The Urban e is Ribble's first commuter-style e-bike, with an upright sitting position for better visibility in traffic and a more comfortable ride in everyday clothes. Like the company's previous e-bikes, it has classic styling and barely resembles an electric bike at all, with the battery and all components housed within the frame, and design cues taken from traditional Dutch-style models.
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It's available to order now starting at £2,499 (about $3,500 / AU$4,600) in three frame sizes, and can be customized through Ribble's online Bike Builder with different components and paint colors.
Off the beaten path
The delicate nature of e-bike components means that many models aren't suitable to off-road riding (particularly those with carbon belts in place of the usual chain). However, we're starting to see an increasing number of more robust electric bikes with fatter tires, suspension and more water-resistant designs to take the strain out of taxing trail routes.
Last year, Ribble released the CGR AL e, an e-bike built for trail riding, and it's now followed that up with a new hybrid design for more casual riding. Like the CGR AL e, the Hybrid AL e Trail is an all-terrain bike, but has a design more suited to leisure rides. Whereas the CGR AL e has the drop handlebars and racier geometry typical of a gravel bike, the Hybrid AL e Trail has straight bars, a low step-over design, and suspension to soak up bumps.
It's available now direct from Ribble, with prices starting at £2,599 (about $3,600 / AU$4,800).
Like Ribble's previous e-bikes, the two new models use the Mahle Ebikemotion system, which allows you to check the bike's stats from your phone, see weather reports, track your rides, and sync your data with third-party apps like Strava. The Ebikemotion app also provides navigation with spoken directions (though map packs for each continent cost an additional fee).
We hope to put both new e-bikes to the test, and bring you full reviews soon.
