Although you might not have heard of Romet before, they are a significant player in their home market of Poland where their output is around 400,000 bikes a year - more than 30% of Polish domestic production. They are further marked out by having their own e-bike frame making facility in Europe in a world where the vast majority of bike frames are made in the Far East.

They are now available over here via Romet UK who have their HQ in West Yorkshire from where they can offer full backup, including a two-year warranty.

Here we take a look at their top of the line city/trekking model, the E-Modeco URB 3.0, powered by the powerful Shimano EP8 mid-drive. Like all Romet models, it looks to offer the most e-bike bang for your buck. 
 

Great value spec

ROMET EMODECO URB 3.0, by Richard Peace

Everyone I showed the bike to thought the E-Modeco URB 3.0 looked sleek and beautifully understated in appearance with the sparkly Galaxy Black paint job a real source of comment. But the svelte good looks sit alongside a powerful drive system and a large capacity battery.   

The Shimano EP8 mid-drive motor is a rival to other top of the line mid-drives from the likes of Bosch, Brose and Yamaha and is complemented by a removable frame-integrated 830Wh BMZ battery, which is an extremely large capacity offering by any measure. 

The gear and brake package boasts solid performance-oriented quality in the form of the e-bike specific 10-speed Shimano Cues derailleur drivetrain and Shimano MT400 hydraulic disc brakes with decent-sized 180mm rotors.

The URB 3.0 also comes with mudguards, chainguard, kickstand, hardwired front and rear lights and a rear rack with the proprietary AtranVelo carry system and Romet UK carry the full range of carrying accessories for it. The frame also features two pairs of threaded mounts for carrying bottles, pumps and the like.  

My only real niggles were ones that are common to many e-bikes: the mudguards could be longer to offer fuller protection and the charging port would be better higher up, away from splashes.
 

The ride

The choice of 17" and 19" frame sizes should accommodate the vast majority of riders who want to enjoy the ease of use of a step-through frame design and in combination with the riser handlebars the Modeco URB 3.0 features, you're treated to a stable and comfortable ride.

The air suspension and the wide profile 2.2 inch wide puncture resistant tyres just add to the reassuring qualities of a bike that should go down well with beginner and returning cyclists alike. 

There's plenty of online data that allow you to compare the Shimano EP8 used here with Bosch's equivalent top-of-the-line Performance Line CX mid-drive, Brose's S-Mag and Yamaha's new PW-XM - all iterations of high torque mid-drives. For general around town and trekking/touring use - i.e. the majority of e-bike use - the EP8 is equal to its rivals.

The truth is these are all great motors, so any comparison will focus on relatively minor considerations. For example the EP8 is a little noisier than its Bosch competitor and the display used here lacks a % battery capacity readout but, in my riding experience, Shimano's motor trumps Bosch with its more natural feeling torque sensor performance and the fact it's a slightly lighter motor at 2.6kg versus 2.9kg. 

My own standard hill tests used for trying out a huge number of e-bikes of all types over recent years showed the bike to be near the top of the leaderboard on both the extended hill climb and the shorter ultra-steep climb.

The latter test was aided by the wide range of the 10-speed derailleur system that makes an otherwise effective climber into a great option for taking on the very steepest of slopes. The wide profile tyres and plush front air suspension mean it's also a bike that's at home on well-surfaced off-road trails, whatever the gradient.

It's good to see that Romet have gone with BMZ - one of the longest-established lithium battery manufacturers in Europe - in choosing a supplier for their 830Wh battery. It should be a reliable choice and the impressively large capacity should give more than enough daily range for all riders. Range should be many tens of miles even under the most testing of conditions.   

The central colour display is easy to read and it’s accompanied by a very neat little thumb press button unit with two coloured lights indicating the battery status and your current power level that proved easy to use, even with gloves on. I found the home screen the most useful as you get speed and a circular ‘power meter’ that shows how much power the motor is contributing to your pedalling efforts. There is also a battery bar capacity graphic, but if you want a precise % reading you will need to install Shimano’s E-Tube app that gives you extra data. I liked the fact it was easily removable – a nice extra anti-theft feature if the bike is left locked up in a public place.

I paired the bike with the app even though I’m the kind of rider who prefers minimal data. The bluetooth connection proved easy to set up, consistent and reliable. You get a number of customisable data screens but I would guess that battery % or perhaps the mapping feature with effective bike-friendly auto routing would be the main two reasons people would use it.

I didn’t find the app vital to get the most out of the bike. The Modeco URB 3.0 comes with two ride modes, one with three power levels and one with seven and these can be changed at display level via a setup menu. The menu also lets you change other display features like the current time as well as resetting trip distance.

The 29kg weight of the Modeco URB 3.0 seems relatively heavy, but bear in mind that step-through frame designs rely on a single, unbraced frame element for all their strength, hence it needs to be pretty thick, so this figure is no more than you would expect - especially when that whopping capacity battery is factored in. 
 

The competition

Cube’s Supreme range offers a very similar design and price – but the trade off is a smaller capacity battery and a Bosch mid-drive that, although powerful, lags behind the high torque rating of the URB 3.0’s Shimano EP8. That's also the case with the pricier Moustache Samedi 27 Xroad 3 Open.

In fact, there don’t appear to be too many step-through models around with very powerful mid-motors in the same vein as the URB 3.0. Orbea’s Kemen SUV comes with the EP8 motor and is available in a mid-step frame option. The Kemen’s RRP price is around £3,400 and it comes with a smaller 540Wh battery. It is more off-roady than the Modeco though and it is rated for fitting a child seat and carrying a trailer.

All in all, the Modeco URB 3.0 is great value for money and can certainly lay claim to being one of the most capable, highly specced and best value city and trekking step-thru models out there.

romet.uk