Most major bike companies now offer e-bikes of some variety, and Basque-brand Orbea now has the Gain line of motor-assisted machines, which are remarkable for how little they resemble a typical e-bike.
A slim battery sits inside a normal-sized down tube, and a rear-hub motor adds up to 250 watts of pedal-assist power.
Most e-bikes have fairly massive down tubes to accommodate a battery.
The Orbea Gain bikes have a port near the bottom bracket on the down tube to plug in an additional battery pack, which fits in a bottle cage.
Orbea calls its system “Enough Power”, meaning that the Gain bikes will offer you assistance but not a full-on moped experience.
Orbea said its goals with the bikes were a normal look and feel for a bike, plus a 100km distance / 1,500m climbing range and a "good feeling" over 25kph, the speed at which by law the motor drops out.
The weight is a claimed 13kg / 29lb for an unspecified size.
Clean routing
In addition to the down tube being tidy, the handlebars are also clean, thanks to internal routing and a control button on the top tube.
The button lets you power the system on and off, check the motor-assist level and see how much battery charge you have left.
Orbea Gain pricing
There are nine Orbea Gain models, ranging from road/adventure bikes with Shimano Ultegra and SRAM Force bikes for £2,999 down to a £1,699 commuter bike with Shimano Altus.
The Gain D10 with Ultegra 6800 features an alloy frame, carbon fork and Kenda Kriterium 25mm clinchers. The Gain 15 with SRAM Force is a 1x bike with a 40t chain ring, an 11-36 cassette and Kenda Flintridge 40mm clinchers.
