Riese & Müller Charger5

The Riese & Müller Charger5 is an electric trekking bike from German maker Riese & Müller, made to your order, that takes over the everyday trips the car makes now. On ordinary days the car stays in the driveway, and the bike is ready every morning: quiet, comfortable, powerful.

Bosch power on every build, a Gates belt with hub gears on most, and a suspension fork and seatpost on all of them. Ride it to work, to the shops and out for a long day on the weekend. Book a test ride at our Ivanhoe showroom and ride the builds before you choose yours.

Riese & Müller Charger5 for everyday trips

Think about the trips a second car makes now: the commute, the weekly shop, appointments across town. The Charger5 is made to take those over, morning after morning, with front and rear lights and a rear rack already on the bike. No fuel to buy and no parking to find on those trips.

Riders use it for:

• Riding to work over the hills and arriving fresh
• The weekly shop, with panniers on the MIK HD rear rack, rated to 27 kg
• Appointments, errands and visits across town
• A new commute after a move, where the bus or train no longer works
• Long days on rail trails and touring routes, with gear on the rack
• Riding through a wet winter on a belt build
• Keeping pace on rides with a fitter partner
• Riding further than your legs alone would take you

Power, braking and range

The hill on the way to work stops being the hard part. On the touring, touring pro, vario 800 Wh and rohloff builds, the Bosch Performance Line CX (Gen5) gives up to 120 Nm with Bosch's Performance Upgrade, or 100 Nm without, so the motor takes the heavy lifting on steep climbs and you arrive fresh. The silent CORE uses the Bosch Performance Line and the vario CORE the Bosch PX. Every build is 250 W pedal-assist that assists to 25 km/h, as Riese & Müller states it.

One rider weighing up a steep commute said:

"having that Bosch CX taking over the heavy lifting is the main reason I am going electric."

Stopping matters as much as climbing on a loaded bike. The touring, touring pro, vario and rohloff builds stop on Magura MT4 hydraulic disc brakes, the silent CORE on Shimano MT200 hydraulic discs, and Bosch eBike ABS is an option for extra braking confidence on loose surfaces, so you stay in control.

How far will it go?

That depends on the battery you choose, the assist mode, the terrain, the load and the temperature, so the distance is something you plan, not a gamble. The silent CORE carries 540 Wh, the vario CORE 600 Wh and the CX builds 800 Wh, with Bosch's optional PowerMore 250 Wh range extender if you want more. Tell us your longest ride and we'll work out the figure with Bosch's range assistant before you choose the battery.

On long days, the Kiox 500 display on the CX builds keeps navigation where you can read it at a glance.

Play: a Charger5 owner's first impressions on YouTube.

Comfort and choosing your build

Long days are comfortable days too. Every Charger5 rides on a 100 mm air suspension fork, the SR Suntour Mobie 34 on most builds, and a By.Schulz suspension seatpost with about 30 mm of travel, so rough roads and broken paths are smoothed out under you. With the Selle Royal saddle and ergonomic grips, the ride is quiet, comfortable and powerful.

You choose the build, then Riese & Müller makes it to your order: battery, gearing, display, ABS, dropper post, comfort kit, colour and size. Colours include Pine, Magnesium, Slate Grey and Maroon. Three questions settle the build: how far you ride, how hilly it is, and how much upkeep you want. The six builds:

• silent CORE: Bosch Performance Line, 540 Wh, Gates belt with Shimano Nexus 5-speed hub, Purion 200 display. The simplest belt build.
• vario CORE: Bosch PX, 600 Wh, belt with Enviolo stepless hub, Purion 200. Stepless shifting with no chain.
• vario 800 Wh: Bosch CX, 800 Wh, belt with Enviolo stepless hub, Kiox 500. The big battery with stepless shifting.
• rohloff: Bosch CX, 800 Wh, belt with Rohloff E-14 14-speed hub, Kiox 500. Fourteen hub gears on a belt.
• touring: Bosch CX, 800 Wh, Shimano XT 11-speed derailleur, Kiox 500.
• touring pro: Bosch CX, 800 Wh, Shimano Di2 11-speed derailleur, Kiox 500.

Ride them before you choose. A test ride at the Ivanhoe showroom is where the build gets decided.

Belt drive, security and fit

On the belt builds there's nothing to oil or clean through a wet winter. The Gates Carbon Drive CDX belt replaces the chain, so it's a bike you don't have to fuss over.

One rider put it this way:

"avoiding chain maintenance during the wet winter months is a massive priority."

The touring and touring pro builds use a chain with Shimano derailleur gears instead.

Leave it outside the café and stop thinking about it. An ABUS frame lock is built in, with a plug-in chain, so locking up takes seconds. Pair it with specialist bicycle insurance and leave it with your mind at rest.

One Riese & Müller owner's advice:

"attend to security like you know in advance someone's going to try and take it."

The step-over diamond frame is Tig-welded aluminium, stiff and stable even with the rack loaded, with two bottle-cage mounts. Sizes S 45, M 49, L 53 and XL 58 cm cover riders from about 160 to 210 cm tall, and we size you at the showroom before you order.

Before you order, think about where it will live. The Charger5 starts at 27.5 kg, so ground-level storage makes daily riding easy, and on the 800 Wh builds the battery comes out so you can charge it indoors.

Is the Charger5 right for you?

The Charger5 is right for you if you want:

• One bike for the everyday trips a car makes now, with lights and a rack on the bike
• A hilly commute you finish fresh, on one of the Bosch CX builds
• Long days with gear, on an 800 Wh build with room for the PowerMore extender
• No chain to oil, on one of the belt builds

It's not the right bike if:

• You want a step-through frame; this is a step-over
• You want a throttle or 45 km/h assistance; this is pedal-assist to 25 km/h

Riders rate Dolomiti Electric Bikes 4.9 out of 5 on Google, across 59 reviews.

Questions people ask

Who services the Riese & Müller Charger5 in Melbourne?

We do, in the Dolomiti Electric Bikes workshop in Ivanhoe.

Does the Charger5 have a throttle?

No. It's pedal-assist: you pedal, and the Bosch motor adds the power.

Is the Charger5 heavy?

It starts at 27.5 kg. Bring your route and try it on a test ride.

Who makes Riese & Müller e-bikes?

Riese & Müller is a German maker, and it makes the Charger5 to each rider's order, from the battery to the colour.

How long does it take to get a Charger5?

About three months from your order, because it's made to your specification.

Is there a step-through Charger5?

In part. If swinging a leg over the frame is the concern, the Charger5 Mixte has a lowered top tube, so there is less leg to lift.

Book a test ride at the Ivanhoe showroom, bring the route you ride, and settle your Charger5 build on the bike.