The e-bike has penetrated to the very heart of road cycling culture with the news that Italian manufacturer Colnago is producing seven new e-bikes. Although none of them are the road bikes that the company is famous for.
Colnago have been around since the 1950s and are one of the best-respected marques in road cycling, notching up a Tour de France win with Eddy Merckx and second overall only to fellow Italians Pinarello in terms of overall stage wins in the three Grand Tours: The Giro d'Italia, The Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
It's not the road market that Colnago are after with their e-bikes, though, in spite of the fact that we've seen other well respected road brands such as Bianchi, Focus and Cube throw their hats into that particular ring. Colnago's e-bike offering consists of five mountain bikes and two city bikes. That's probably tied into the fact that e-mountain biking is the big thing over on the continent right now, with Italy one of the countries where it's really taking off.
Colnago's e-MTB range tops out with the E1.0, a full suspension all-mountain bike using a Bosch CX motor and a PowerTube internal battery. With 140mm travel and 27.5+ tyres it's designed as a go-anywhere adventure bike.
Below that there are three hardtail bikes, all using the same frame and the same Bosch CX motor and 500Wh PowerTube battery as the full-suspension bike. This is the E2.01, the highest of the three specs, with a Shimano XT drivetrain and Rock Shox Reba SL fork.
The E3.0 doesn't get the neat internal battery, but it's still packing a 500Wh PowerPack and off-road-ready spec, including a Rock Shox Recon 100mm fork and 2.6" Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres.
The two city bikes are solidly specced two. The Impact 01 has a Performance Line motor, buil-in rack, integrated lighting and a Suntour NEX fork. The cheaper Impact 02 gets the new Active Line Cruise motor and a Shimano Altus transmission.
