+
ON T E S T
Hero Eco
A2B Hybrid 24
With its distinctive frame and sophisticated
electronics, the £1999 A2B Hybrid 24 from Hero Eco
stakes a claim at the high end of commuter electric
bikes. Can its performance live up to its looks?
26 Electric Bike Issue 6
Ezee Torq
ON TEST: Hero ON
EcoTEST:
A2B Hybrid
24
H
ero Eco is part of the
world’s biggest cycle
makers, Hero Cycles of
India. They acquired
established electric bike makers
Ultramotor in early 2012, and now
promote the electric bikes under two
distinct sub-brands: Fast4ward (mostly
using Panasonic crank drives) and A2B
(using direct drive hub motors).
Alongside the £1999 Hybrid 24
reviewed here, A2B offer the Metro
with 20" wheels (£2499). This has
a similarly chunky frame and tyres,
and both benefit from a two year
standard warranty which includes the
batteries.
Spare battery packs (36 V, 9,5 Ah)
cost £499. Custom side panniers to fit
the rear rack are also available as an
optional accessory (from £49) with a
rack base which also allows you to use
many other panniers.
Hero Eco have a network of over 50
dealers covering all but the far north
of England: see their website to locate
your closest. They have distributors
in many other countries, too.
BELOW: The display
console is neatly and
solidly mounted to
continue the lines of the
angle-adjustable stem.
RIGHT: The connector
for the battery is a good
quality type with a
threaded collar to lock it
into place securely.
» ON THE BIKE
With its sculpted aluminium frame,
wide tyres, suspension forks and the
almost fuel-tank like battery pack
there’s definitely a hint of motorbike
design cues about the Hybrid. But
it is of course still a bicycle, and I
rather liked the look: it has strong
futuristic lines, and the detail is
good too. See, for example, those
tidy mudguard supports, or how well
the display console is integrated
with the stem. All of the cables run
internally, protected from damage and
contributing to the clean visual effect.
The battery pack slides neatly and
firmly onto the back of the frame,
rattle-free and locking into place
with a positive click. There’s a high
quality screw-locking connector at
the back of it, under the frame, and
you can in theory plug this to charge
the pack on the bike. I found this
tricky, as there’s little ‘slack’ in the
cable to allow the plug to move far
enough to come free from the socket.
Easier to unlock the battery pack and
slide it backwards a little – or remove
it altogether and charge it off the
bike. The charger supplied gives a
fairly fast charge: A2B say up to 80%
in two hours, and 100% in five.
There’s a small tubular rack over
the battery, but I’m not really sure
how much use this really is. It's only
rated to 10 kg, and you could maybe
mount a rack pack on top. But if you
want to fit normal panniers, generally
the best way to carry luggage by
bike, you'll need the optional adaptor.
Specification
Weight overall (inc batteries):
28.5 kg
Battery weight: 4.05 kg
Bike only weight: 24.45 kg
Charger weight: 1.03 kg
(inc. mains cable).
Battery type: Sanyo Li-Ion.
Battery capacity: 342 Watt
hours (36 V 9.5 Ah).
Gearing: 8-speed Shimano
Alivio derailleur gears. 44T
ring, 12-32T sprockets. Ratios
36-95".
Brakes: Avid BB5 mechanical
disk brakes.
Lighting: front LED, rear LED.
Other accessories fitted:
mudguards, carrier rack,
stand, bell.
Price as tested: £1999.
Issue 6 Electric Bike 27
+
ON T E S T
This would make the bike rather
more useful for utility riding such as
shopping, though that weight limit is
still very low.
Right below the battery pack is
the back wheel, housing the fairly
large motor system. This is of the
direct drive gearless type, in which
the moving part is driven directly by
magnetic coils in the hub shell. Such
systems tend to be completely silent
in operation, and this one is too. It
can also operate ‘in reverse’ to provide
regenerative braking, recharging the
battery as it slows you down. This
is a fairly gentle effect, triggered
when you half squeeze the brakes. It
slowed the bike smoothly, but not very
powerfully.
The pedal drive is via a mid-range
Shimano Alivio derailleur transmission,
with a single chainring, complete with
chain protectors each side to keep
your trousers clean. The top run of
the chain is also well shielded by the
frame and a guard sheet.
The rack mounted battery and
rear motor give a definite weight
bias towards the rear of the bike, but
this is noticeable more when you’re
wheeling the bike than when you
ride it. It’s not the easiest bike to
lift; not just because of the weight
(we measured 28 kg) but also because
there’s no particularly easy place to
grip the frame around the balance
point. However A2B have designed
in a very useful handle at the rear of
28 Electric Bike Issue 6
ABOVE: There are some
long weld seams on the
frame, but the result
is a rigid bike to ride.
The chain is also well
protected so your trousers
stay clean.
BELOW: The display
console turns on at the
touch of the key fob, and
the blue backlit display is
visible even at night. The
‘click knob’ control on the
left makes a nice change
from the usual buttons.
the battery pack so it’s easy to lift
the back of the bike. They’ve also
fitted a strong kickstand to a purpose
designed mounting plate at the rear
wheel, and the bike stands up well
on this.
Looking up to the front of the
machine, it’s the handlebar set-up
which grabs the attention. The angleadjustable stem is smoothly contoured
and it leads neatly up to the control
console, which sits perfectly centred
above the bars.
This console is a clever box of tricks.
It eschews the usual set of buttons
in favour of a little knob on one
side, which you click round to scroll
through the power modes and other
options. It takes a few rides to get
used to, but then I came to like its
minimally cluttered interface.
First, though, you need to turn
the thing on. Here the Hybrid has
a rather unique trick. Instead of a
key, there’s a little fob which you
just touch against the display to turn
it on or off. Then the display lights
up with its clear blue backlighting.
Battery status and which (if any) of
the three power modes is engaged are
always shown, while the large central
display can be scrolled through speed,
trip distance and the like. The power
modes control the torque sensor type
drive, setting by how much your
pedalling effort is amplified. There’s
no throttle, so you do have to pedal
and put in some effort!
The bars also host the trigger shifter
for the gearing, and brake levers (with
motor cut-off contacts) which operate
the mechanical disk brakes. These
are Avid BB5s, not a bad brake but it
would have been good to see the next
model up, the BB7, used instead on a
£1999 bike. Much easier to adjust and
generally better regarded.
Finally, LED lights are fitted
front and rear. These are controlled
automatically via a light sensor to
operate whenever it dark, and they’re
powered off the main battery.
» ON THE ROAD
My first impression of the Hybrid 24
was that it felt superbly solid on the
road: it proceeds without any rattles
or drama, even over the potholes and
rough tarmac of winter roads. Those
fat tyres and the front suspension
really soak up the bumps, while the
frame feels completely solid beneath
you. That bulky stem keeps the
Ezee Torq
ON TEST: Hero ON
EcoTEST:
A2B Hybrid
24
handlebars rigid, too, so it feels like a
reassuringly flex free ride all round.
Add power to the pedals and the
motor joins in smoothly, boosting you
up to speed easily. It felt like a really
powerful assist, negating the weight
of the bike and making for an easy
ride. On hills it was also impressive:
in bottom gear and with a bit of pedal
effort it would tackle all I could find.
And it did so in total silence: I really
couldn’t hear any motor noise at all,
just the tyres and gears.
The battery will be more than
sufficient for any sane person’s
commute; only really serious hills
might challenge it. Because of the
torque sensing drive you’re always
contributing anyway, so the motor
never has to do all of the work. After
a few ten-mile commutes to my office
and back (fairly flat, heavy rider) the
battery was still over half full, and
that’s in the cold of winter, when
batteries always perform less well.
The console is really nicely placed
over the bars, and while you do
have to lift a hand to change modes
by twiddling the knob, it’s not
I really couldn't hear any motor noise
at all, just the tyres and gears.
HIGH POINTS:
Smooth, silent ride
Good lively assist
Neat design, clever
console
Fast charge
LOW POINTS:
Bit on the heavy side
Charge point a bit
awkward to get to
Won’t take standard
panniers
GOOD FOR:
Stylish commuters
Design connoisseurs
Those who want to pedal
but with assistance.
Available from:
A2B dealers: Tel 01242
807 420 or see
www.heroeco.com for
details of your closest.
something you need to do often. It’s
also no problem even with gloves
on. The backlight keeps the display
visible at night, too.
Apart from an occasional squeak I
couldn’t really fault the brakes: they
stopped the Hybrid with good power
and feel. The gears too worked as
they should, and the range was about
right: low enough for the hills and
high enough to get well above the 15
mph power assist limit.
All in all the Hybrid delivered an
enjoyable ride. Some of the other
people who tried it – especially
perhaps the shorter and lighter ones
– were a little more concerned about
the size and weight of it. But once on
the bike, few had any complaints.
» SUMMARY
The Hybrid 24 is an impressive beast.
Fit and finish is really excellent and
while the looks may not appeal much
to cycling traditionalists, I find
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them striking and contemporary. It’s
smooth, sophisticated and rolls along
with real composure. The bike is
perhaps a little on the heavy side, but
so long as you don’t have to lift it it’s
not really that obvious.
The bike’s technology was polished
and well integrated, with only a very
slight whiff of overkill in the ‘touch
key’ on/off, which didn’t strike me
as an especially useful advance. You
could just as well have a key on your
keyring as the touch fob. But it’s clever
and it worked. The little twist knob to
control the power modes and menus
was also an interesting innovation;
good to see a manufacturer breaking
away from the crowd.
If you’re after a solid, smooth
and silent e-bike, the Hybrid 24
would be worth a close look. It’s not
a conventional bike in a number
of ways, but don’t let that put you
off. Life would be boring if all bikes
were the same, and the innovations
employed here do all work to produce
an enjoyable ride. Give it a go!
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