Riese & Müller Roadster Touring in review

The Riese & Müller Roadster Touring is a first in the lineup of the German ebike specialist. Can the sport E-city bike with its powerful Bosch Performance CX motor leave the competition in the dust or can it not go the distance? Our commuter bike group test goes in search of the answer.

Einen Überblick über diesen Vergleichstest erhaltet ihr hier: Das beste E-Bike 2021 – Die 19 spannendsten Konzepte für den Alltag

As long as you can remember, your life has followed its own rhythm. Staying still is a step backwards and speed is your oldest friend. While others pull on the brakes, you step into the pedals. As you lean your bike into corners you feel the frame flex against the force. With everything you do, you demonstrate nerves of steel and you’re looking for a bike to accompany you on this path. With the Roadster Touring, Riese & Müller make a bold step in the direction of performance. While it might not match the rest of their portfolio, it might just fit your rhythm. The ebike specialists are well-known for their premium bikes with a high level of comfort, innovative transport concepts and significant E-SUV prestige. For the R&M Homage and Packster, reviewed in our group test too, this description matches perfectly, but the third bike of the bunch stands out both in the Riese & Müller portfolio and our test field. The R&M Roadster Touring doesn’t want to commute through town but fly through it. Instead of sitting comfortably in business class aboard an R&M jumbo jet, with the Roadster, you’re sitting in the cockpit of a fighter. We can’t answer whether the bike indicates new directions for Riese & Müller. We can however tell you how it does in our test.

Riese & Müller Roadster Touring in detail

For the build of your dream bike, Riese & Müller provide you with a lot of freedom. From the shifting to the display, all the way to more specialised parts, anything is possible. You can even choose whether you’d prefer your bike as an S-pedelec or 25 km/h version for many models in the online configurator. All Roadster models have the same robust, straight-lined frame. The fat welds, particularly on the straight head tube, impinge on the otherwise high-end impression of the ebike. The numerous corners and edges define the bike’s character but also split opinion while doing so. On the other hand, the matte-grey paint hits the mark and draws comparison to the steely skin of fighter jets. Unfortunately, that same surface is also a magnet for stains and requires a lot of maintenance. The narrow bars underline the sporty side of the Roadster and to prevent the fork from twisting too far and parts being damaged in a fall, the fork is equipped with a steering limiter.

The name Roadster hits the mark: the Honda S2000 cornered just as quickly as the Riese & Müller Roadster and comfort was only a concept when you got out of it.

The numerous cables of the cockpit run neatly through the Acros headset cap into the frame, ensuring a clean look. Quality, made in Germany parts have also been selected for the rest of the build. The lightweight SKS mudguards cover the narrow Schwalbe G-One Allround tires. The lights also come from German manufacturers: Supernova and Busch + Müller provide good illumination and visibility. MAGURA deliver the powerful MT4 brakes. Security is a big focus for Riese & Müller, which is why the € 4,638.80 test bike is equipped with a fixed ABUS SHIELD frame lock, to which the 130 cm long chain from your saddlebag can be affixed. That means you won’t have to carry the 23.8 kg ebike (without the chain) up to your flat in the evening. If someone is brazen enough to steal it, the ebike can be tracked relatively easily with the integrated RX Connect GPS tracker.

Riese & Müller adhere to a simple concept for the components: quality, made in Germany.

The few parts from the far-east include the 63 mm travel SR Suntour suspension fork and Shimano 11-speed drivetrain. In combination with the 42 t chainring, the gears are missing an easy gear for steep ramps but, luckily, the strong Bosch motor jumps into the fold. Instead of derailleur gears, the Roadster can also be ordered with a low-maintenance hub gear and belt drive for the Vario build. The dropouts are equipped with a frame splitter and belt tensioner for this purpose. Additional retrofittable items, though conspicuous by their absence on our test bike, are racks. Both a front rack with a 5 kg maximum load and a rear rack with a 20 kg maximum load can be specced as additions.

Size	51	56	61
Seat tube	510 mm	560 mm	610 mm
Top tube	540 mm	570 mm	610 mm
Head tube	140 mm	140 mm	150 mm
Head angle	69.0°	70.0°	70.0°
Seat angle	74.0°	74.0°	74.0°
Chainstays	470 mm	470 mm	470 mm
BB Height	275 mm	275 mm	275 mm
Wheelbase	1,085 mm	1,100 mm	1,145 mm
Reach	360 mm	390 mm	425 mm
Stack	625 mm	630 mm	640 mm

The Bosch Performance CX system in the Riese & Müller Roadster Touring

The Riese & Müller team relies on motors from Bosch’s product range for all of its ebikes. The powerful Bosch Performance Line CX motor is fairly unusual for a slim E-city bike like the Roadster Touring. Due to its large dimensions, it looks quite poorly integrated on the Roadster, as though it’s simply been cobbled onto the bottom. That said, with its 85 Nm torque, it delivers masses of grunt. The Cannondale Topstone Neo aside, no other bike in the group test manages to sprint to the 25 km/h assistance limit as quickly and easily as the Roadster. On steep ramps and with lots of luggage, there’s enough power for relaxed climbing despite the missing easier gear. It’s not just the motor power that impresses, with the 625 Wh battery capacity matching the ebike well and successfully integrated into the down tube by the Riese & Müller team. The ebike can either be plugged in via the motor housing or the battery can be removed from the frame for charging. When it comes to the display, you have the choice between the Bosch Purion, Nyon or the SmartphoneHub. which was fitted to our bike. Without a smartphone attached, it has a small 1.5″ display which provides basic functions like showing battery charge or motor support level. Connected with a smartphone and the COBI.Bike app, it transforms into a sophisticated command centre, providing navigation, a media player and fitness trainer in one. What’s unique is that many of the functions in the app can be controlled via the remote on the bars.

Riese & Müller Roadster Touring on test

If you’ve ever ridden in a two-seater roadster from the late 80s or early 90s, you’ll immediately understand where the R&M Roadster Touring gets its name from. The handling is honest, direct and decidedly agile. Like a roadster sports car, the sporty handling of the ebike requires experience and well-modulated pressure on the pedals, steering input via the saddle and sensitivity when using the powerful brakes. If you know what you’re doing and ride actively, you’ll get your money’s worth through corners and at high speeds and will benefit from the good balance between the front and rear. The compromise between agility and stability at high speeds is also well-executed. During rush hour, you can weave your way through traffic thanks to the narrow bars, as though you were couriering in Manhattan.

The handling has its drawbacks and the bike can’t be a sports car and transporter at the same time. The riding position might be pleasantly upright, but you sit high up on the saddle rather than integrated with the bike. The standover is also relatively high, though the level of comfort isn’t. The suspension fork isn’t able to swallow impacts from the road and even basic comfort requirements miss the mark: vibrations from cobbles are transmitted directly to the rider and result in a permanent cacophony of the chain lock and stand. The frame and the chunky seat post result in a hard and stiff ride, meaning the Roadster is completely out of place on forest roads. The narrow tires are well supported by the likewise narrow rims during challenging manoeuvres but contribute little to the overall level of comfort. On top of that, they also present a risk to newbies on wet surfaces, while braking or riding over train tracks. If you’re looking for an ebike for acceleration AND deceleration, you should steer clear of the Roadsteror test ride it with the Comfort Kit, consisting of a suspension seat post, ergonomic bars and Ergon grips.

Tuning tip: depending on where you plan to use it, spec the low-maintenance belt drive, the Transport Set or the Comfort Kit in the configurator

Riese & Müller Roadster Touring conclusion

The Riese & Müller Roadster Touring lusts for the open road rather than forest tracks. Anyone who commutes long distances will benefit from the high cruising speed, as long as they don’t have to leave smooth tarmac. If you like exploring cities or riding sportily, you’ll take pleasure in the dynamic bike with its powerful motor, unique design and good connectivity. For more versatile use, the bike is missing both comfort and transport capabilities, meaning it didn’t deliver the goods for a top place in the test.

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You can find out more about at r-m.de

The testfield

Get an overview of the grouptest here: The best ebike of 2021 – The 19 most exciting concepts for everyday use

All Bikes in this group test: Ampler Stout (Click for review) | Brompton M6L Cloud Blue (Click for review) | Cannondale Topstone Neo Carbon Lefty LE (Click for review) | Canyon Commuter:ON 7 (Click for review) | Diamant Juna Deluxe+ (Click for review) | FEDDZ E-Moped (Click for review) | FLYER Upstreet6 7.10 HS (Click for review) | Haibike Trekking 9 (Click for review) | Kalkhoff Endeavour 5.B Excite+ (Click for review) | MERIDA eBIG.TOUR 700 EQ (Click for review) | MERIDA eONE SIXTY 10K (Click for review) | Moustache Samedi 27 Xroad FS 7 (Click for review) | Movea Modo 20” (Click for review) | Riese & Müller Homage GT Rohloff HS mit DualBattery (Click for review) | Riese & Müller Packster 70 Vario (Click for review) | Riese & Müller Roadster Touring | Schindelhauer Arthur VI/IX (Click for review) | Specialized Turbo Vado SL 5.0 EQ (Click for review) | VanMoof X3 (Click for review)

Words: Rudolf Fischer Photos: Valentin Rühl, Benjamin Topf