Issue Four - Early 2012 - Electric Bike Magazine

+ON TEST
Storck
Raddar Multitask & Multiroad
Established for over 15 years in
Germany, Storck Bikes make both
unassisted and electric cycles, the
latter being their ‘Raddar’ range and
the former a well-regarded range of
racing bikes, MTBs and city bikes.
Father and son team Ian and Trevor
Hughes of Storck Raddar UK have
been importing the bikes since 2010,
and recently opened a ‘concept store’
at their base in Newcastle/Gateshead.
A second concept store has since
opened in Maidstone, and a network
of around 20 dealers across the UK
also sells the electric range, and
conduct ‘demo days’ when you can
come and try the bikes.
I travelled up north to visit
Storck, to chat about the electric
bike business (Ian’s background
is as a senior staffer with a major
mainstream bike company, so it was
fascinating to hear an insider’s view
of how the ‘big boys’ of the bike
18 Electric Bike Issue 4
business operate), and of course to
try the bikes.
Storck are based just a few miles
from Newcastle’s train station, at a
modern business park on the southern
shore of the Tyne – indeed the shop
overlooks the river. It’s also near the
Metrocentre shopping centre, and just
beyond that is the steep escarpment of
the Whickham district, rising around
100m vertically in not much more
than a kilometre. Ian directs visitors
looking to test the bikes’ hill-climbing
up this bank, where quiet residential
roads with unrelenting gradients make
a perfect testing ground of assistance
power on the way up, and of braking
and handling as you come down.
I performed the ascent twice: fi rst
on a Raddar Multitask (£2899), then
on a Carbon Multiroad (£3159).
The Multitask is an electric version
of a popular commuting-type bike
of the same name from Storck; it
The battery pack is
frame-mounted, and can
be charged in place or off
the bike. At 286 Wh it’s
not the largest around,
but with torque sensing
drive it’s plenty for most
purposes.
comes equipped with (somewhat
short) mudguards, rack, stand
and hub dynamo-driven lights as
standard. The tyres are noticeably
wide and voluminous: they’re
Schwalbe Big Apples on full size 700c
wheels, designed to add an effective
suspension effect without signifi cant
rolling resistance, and they are a
favourite of mine for commuting use.
The large cross section also means
you can bump through even the worst
of potholes without risk of damaging
rims. The alloy frame is very well
fi nished, and high end disk brakes
and Shimano derailleur gearing
complete the bike package.
The electric motor is in the rear
wheel. It’s a Swiss-made ‘direct drive’
type, with no gearing inside, so it
should be (and was) silent in operation.
The 26V, 11 Ah battery slides onto a
mount attached to the bike’s frame,
so leaving the overall geometry (and