Riese & Müller Homage5

There is no bar on the Riese & Müller Homage5 to swing a leg over. The frame is open in the middle, so you put a foot through it, sit down and ride the path you had crossed off. Both wheels are suspended, 120 mm front and 110 mm rear, so a kerb or a cracked path stays in the bike and out of your back. It is the full-suspension step-through electric bike for riders whose knee, hip or back has made the leg swing the hard part.

It runs a Bosch Performance Line CX drive with an 800 Wh battery. On both builds, a belt turns a gear hub inside the rear wheel, so there is no chain to oil. Pick the stepless vario or the 14-speed rohloff for your terrain and your load. Book a test ride at Dolomiti Electric Bikes in Ivanhoe and bring the hill you stopped riding.

Riese & Müller Homage5: step through, feet down

The frame is open in the middle, so you step through it. At the lights, the X-Fusion Manic dropper post lets the saddle down so both feet go flat on the road: 125 mm of drop, 100 mm on the smallest frame.

"It is a very comfortable ride. Homage is a near perfect step-through bike,"

writes a Homage owner on Electric Bike Forums.

A kerb meets two Fox units before it meets your back: a Fox AWL 34 Boost air fork with 120 mm of travel, and a Fox Float Rhythm SV 165x45 shock giving 110 mm at the rear. Riese & Müller calls the layout Control Technology: front suspension, a rear swing arm, and a carrier that moves with the rear wheel, so what you carry rides on the suspension too.

The drive and suspension element sits tucked in, protected, directly above the crank bearing. One frame strut ends in the carrier. The frame is aluminium, 30 percent of it recycled, and it is made in Portugal to Riese & Müller's design. Riese & Müller GmbH was founded in 1993 by Markus Riese and Heiko Müller in Darmstadt, Germany, and is based today in Mühltal.

The rides people bring to the Homage5:

• Getting back on a bike when a knee, a hip or a back means you can no longer swing a leg over.
• Riding side by side with a partner again, when one of you can no longer keep up.
• A booked rail trail, where the battery has to get you to the end of the stage: 800 Wh as standard, or 1,050 Wh with the PowerMore 250 range extender.
• The hill on your route that you stopped riding, with the Bosch drive's published maximum of 400 percent support.
• The errands the second car used to do, with lights, mudguards, a carrier rated to 27 kg and a lock already on the bike.
• The daily commute, arriving fit for work.
• Shopping with loaded panniers: the open frame means you never lift a leg over a full rack.
• Gravel, broken paths and a bit of beach, straight from your door.
• Riding to work, then on to the trails at the weekend.
• Blue trails behind a partner, at your own pace, on the Offroad kit's knobbly tyres.
• Caravan and touring trips, with the bike along for the whole journey.
• A grandchild in a child seat on the carrier.
• Riding for years. An owner of an earlier Homage writes: "After three years and about 10.000 km riding with my homage Rohloff into my office."

Builds, range and battery

Two builds share the frame, and your terrain and your load choose between them.

• Homage5 vario, model F01911. An Enviolo Utility V1 hub with an Enviolo Twist Display Pure grip shift. The gearing is stepless, so there is no gear to pick and you can change it standing still at the lights. It suits riding around town, rail trails and errands. 60T chain ring, 26T pinion.
• Homage5 rohloff, model F01913. A Rohloff E-14 Speedhub 500/14 with 14 speeds, on a Speedhub E14-A12 hub, shifted by the Rohloff E14 electronic shifter. Its wide gear range suits big climbs and loaded touring. 55T chain ring, 19T pinion.
• Both builds run a Gates Carbon Drive CDX belt, printed CARBON DRIVE CDX, with a guard over the drive. There is no chain to oil.

Any specification Riese & Müller offers can be ordered from the factory. A custom build takes around three months to arrive, so ride one before you choose.

How far will it go?

That depends on your ride. Bosch publishes no single distance for this drive and battery; its Range Assistant works out yours from the things that change it:

• your weight and what you carry
• the hills and the surface
• the assist mode and your speed
• the tyres, the temperature, the wind and your cadence

Work out your ride on Bosch's Range Assistant, then measure it against the trip you have booked.

The standard battery is a Bosch PowerTube 800, about 800 Wh, set horizontally in the frame and removable. Bosch gives it a weight of about 3.9 kg and a full charge of about 6.9 hours. For longer days, the Bosch PowerMore 250 range extender (about 250 Wh, 6.7 Ah) takes the bike to 1,050 Wh. It sits in a cage on the front of the seat tube, plugs into the drive unit by a short cable, and weighs about 1.5 kg, or 1.6 kg with its mount. Bosch gives it a full charge of about 2.9 hours on a 4 A charger (half in 1.1 hours), or 3.7 hours on a 2 A charger (half in 1.6 hours).

Size, weight and carrying

How do you get a 32 kg e-bike onto the car?

It weighs 31.4 to 32.5 kg by build and size. Three steps get it to the trailhead:

• Take the battery out first: at about 3.9 kg in Bosch's figure, it is one of the heaviest single parts.
• Use a tow-bar platform rack rated for the bike's weight, and check your tow bar's vertical load limit too, above all with two bikes on board. Hanging racks are rated well below this weight.
• Add a step-through frame adapter, so the rack's arm has a bar to hold.

Which size do you need?

Size M suits riders from 1.70 to 1.85 m, L from 1.75 to 1.90 m, and XL from 1.80 to 2.00 m. We measure you before you ride, so the size is checked on you, not on a chart.

What can it carry?

Riese & Müller rates the Homage5 at 160 kg gross vehicle weight and 120 kg for the rider. Take the heaviest build, 32.5 kg, from 160 kg and 127.5 kg is left for you and your luggage together, with the rider limit at 120 kg. The carrier is rated to 27 kg, the optional pannier rack to 2 x 7.5 kg, a handlebar bag or basket to 5 kg, and the front carrier to 5 kg.

A child seat can go on the carrier, and a two-wheel trailer with a single attachment point can be towed. A single-wheel trailer or a tagalong trailer bike cannot. Riese & Müller adds: "Please check national legislation."

Who rides it:

• riders who want a comfortable, planted ride, with assistance to 25 km/h as Riese & Müller publishes.
• riders who can keep it at ground level: a garage, a carport or a ground-floor shed.
• riders from 1.70 to 2.00 m tall, up to the 120 kg rider limit.
• riders who take it on trails at a sensible pace, as owners do.

Specification and options

The drive, in Bosch's own figures:

• Bosch Performance Line CX: maximum power 750 W, maximum support 400 percent, drive unit weight about 2.8 kg.

Wheels, tyres and brakes:

• Wheel size 27.5 in, on Rodi Tryp35 Evo rims with Sapim Leader 2.0 mm stainless spokes in black and Schwalbe AV14L-LT Light tubes.
• Front hub Novatec Boost, disc, 32H.
• Tyres Schwalbe Motion Super Moto-X 62-584 Reflex, with a reflective stripe on the sidewall.

Cockpit and contact points:

• Handlebar Satori R&M Custom, 25.4 mm aluminium; stem Satori R&M Custom, with cable integration and an adjustable angle.
• Ergon ergonomic grips and an Ergon ST10 Gel saddle.
• Crankset FSA / Riese & Müller, 165 mm; pedals VP R&M Custom.

Fitted at the factory, so it is already on the bike when you ride away:

• Curana Orbit 70 mudguards, full length front and rear.
• Riese & Müller co-sprung carrier: a tubular rack with side rails over the rear mudguard, tied into the swing arm.
• Ursus R97 IC Invisible Connect kickstand and Knog Oi V2 bell.
• ABUS Granit Xplus frame lock with ABUS Adaptor Chain 2.0, 130 cm, and bag.
• Rubber parts by Bibia.
• Reflectors on the front wheel spokes, and a red reflector under the tail light at the end of the rear mudguard.
• Riese & Müller publishes a multilingual owner's manual for its e-bikes.

Colours: night, a dark blue-grey slate, or warm silver, a pale champagne silver.

As standard, the bike comes with the Kiox 500 display, the 800 Wh battery, the carrier, and the frame lock with chain and bag. The options:

• Bosch eBike ABS with Magura MT C brakes. The ABS module sits on the right fork leg, beside the disc.
• The 800 Wh battery with the PowerMore 250 range extender.
• Comfort kit: a Satori Comfort swept-back handlebar with an Ergon grip, and a wider Selle Royal Essenza Moderate saddle.
• Offroad kit: Schwalbe Hybrid 365 Johnny Watts Plus 60-584 Reflex knobbly tyres and VP-538 pedals, for riding "through forests and across fields" in Riese & Müller's words.
• A slimmer pannier rack in place of the carrier.
• A front carrier, rated to 5 kg.
• A Visibility kit, ordered with your build from the factory.

Geometry for sizes M / L / XL:

• Effective top tube 57.5 / 62.1 / 66.6 cm; seat tube 51 / 51 / 56 cm.
• Reach 40 / 44 / 48 cm; stack 65.5 / 67.5 / 69.5 cm.
• Wheelbase 120.5 / 125.5 / 130.5 cm; overall length 194 / 199 / 204 cm.
• Head tube 153 / 174 / 186 mm; head angle 67°; seat angle 75°; trail 103 mm; headset 1.5 in.
• Bottom bracket height 32.5 cm; frame height 53.5 cm; chainstay 49.5 cm; rear dropout 148 mm.

Some listed components can differ by country, so we confirm your exact build when you order.

Questions people ask

Can I ride it before I order?

Yes. Book a test ride at the Ivanhoe showroom, where the local hills test the assist and the build. One customer took four models out before choosing: "The area has lots of hills too, so great for working out what level of assist you are after."

Who services it after I buy it?

We do, in our own workshop in Ivanhoe, starting with the first service at 300 km. A Homage5 owner elsewhere advises buyers to "only buy your bicycle where you will still be living in the coming years."

Can I ride it on Australian roads and paths?

Riese & Müller publishes 25 km/h assistance for the Homage5, and Bosch publishes a 250 W rated continuous output for the Performance Line CX. Rules differ between states, so check with your own state's transport authority.

What happens if the battery runs flat on the rohloff?

The rohloff's electronic shifter runs off the bike's battery, so plan your charge around the ride, or choose the vario and its twist grip.

How do I lock it up?

The ABUS frame lock and chain come on the bike. Lock the frame and take the battery with you when you park.

Is the Homage5 worth the money?

Owners count it in kilometres and years, and it is serviced where you bought it. An owner of an earlier Homage reports about 10,000 km in three years of riding to the office. A high-mileage Riese & Müller owner puts it this way: "The most expensive bike is one you do not (or very rarely) ride, regardless of price."

Before you book, check your height (1.70 to 2.00 m), your weight (within the 120 kg rider limit) and, if the bike will travel by car, your tow bar and rack ratings.

Dolomiti Electric Bikes is Australia's first dedicated electric bike retailer, at 1075-1087 Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe, and is rated 4.9 from 59 Google reviews, above the 4.8 median across Melbourne e-bike shops. We size you, set the saddle, bars and stem to you, and check the bike over with you at handover.

Book a test ride and bring the hill you stopped riding.

As one customer put it:

"Go book a test ride now."