Gudereit are a German family firm that produce around 45,000 bikes and e-bikes per year (mainly the latter). All are handbuilt at their factory in western Germany and the facility has its own paintshop too. Gudereit Bikes have been established 72 years with the current MD being the grandson of the founder. Gudereit-UK has been established since 2019 and is supplying independent bike dealers. The firm specialises in city and trekking models and has a neat looking electric folder too.
What caught my eye were Gudereit's premium models that featured practical, tough and low maintenance elements such as Gates Carbon belt drives, Rohloff, Pinion and Enviolo gearing and the very interesting looking Neodrives rear hub motor system. I was lucky enough to meet up with Gudereit UK to take a look at some of their standout models.
ET-13.5 EVO - maybe the most powerful hub motor e-bike out there
This model grabbed my attention straight away as it features a Neodrives direct drive rear hub motor in combination with a 12-speed Pinion gearbox unit housed around the pedal cranks. The idea is to avoid excessive wear and tear on the gear box by positioning the gears before the motor drive, rather than having powerful motor forces driving through the gears as you usually get in a conventional mid-drive setup.
My very brief test ride gave the impression that this is an extremely powerful, quiet and effective motor. It's rated at 40Nm torque but felt much more effective and powerful than your average hub motor. It also offers regenerative braking and the gearless nature of it should prove very long-lasting. There are no gears within the hub motor itself to wear down. In effect, the hub is the motor. The mechanical twist grip changes of the Pinion gear box were smooth and it was easy to twist through as many gears as you wanted at once, making it an excellent choice for town riding.
Whilst clearly not an e-MTB, the ET-13.5 EVO looks like it should be a very comfortable and capable bike to use off-road, with plenty of effective suspension from 2.4 inch wide Schwalbe Supermoto X tyres, Cane Creek Thudbuster suspension seatpost and SR Suntour Radion front air suspension.
This may well be the only e-bike in the UK with this setup.
UK RRP £5,599
EC-40 evo Foldo
This looked a great little 20-inch wheeled folder and is one of the very few e-folders out there with a belt drive. It also has an easy to fold procedure producing an 85cm x 73cm x 44cm package that locks very firmly together. It comes with a handy centre stand that facilitates hassle-free folding. Given weight is 24.6kg but the folded package was surprisingly easy to lift as you were never worried about any part of it springing apart, due to secure mechanical catch mechanisms.
It features an 8-speed Shimano Alfine hub gear unit, Bosch Active Line Plus motor and frame-integrated 500Wh battery. I took it for a spin and pointed it up the steepest hill I could find in Glossop (in a particularly hilly area of the Pennines) and made it up with ease, thanks to the effectively low gearing.
UK RRP £3,799
ET-11 evo Rohloff
This is only the second manufacturer selling e-bikes in the UK that I've seen using the remarkable Rohloff E-14 (Riese and Muller being the first). There's a clue in the name as to what it does - fourteen rear hub gears with electronic actuation, for totally dependable shifting. It is paired with a Bosch Perfromance Line motor and yet again it's furnished with a Gates Carbon belt drive.
There's also a Cane Creek suspension post and SR Suntour NCX E-air front suspension. Like the ET-13.5 EVO it has superb Supernova lighting with full beam and brake light functions - simply the most powerful lighting you are ever likely to need on an e-ebike.
UK RRP £5,299
Cutting a UK niche
Gudereit may not yet be as well known in the UK as the likes of Riese and Muller or Tern but the bikes I've featured here show that their manufacturing quality and specifications are on a par with them and they are competitive on price with them too. The introduction of the Neodrives model in particular is interesting in a market which, at these price points, is dominated by powerful mid-drives. It's also nice to see Gudereit widening out the choice on offer for e-bikes combining belt drives and well-made, very low maintenance, high end gearing from the likes of Roholff and Pinion.
Gudereit UK keep UK stock of selected models and should be able to order any e-bike on their website below. Prices for their 'base' model, the EC-3, with Nexus 7-speed gearing and a Bosch Actie Line Plus motor start at £2,280.
