Gazelle Ultimate C380 HMB review: A graceful electric bike

Our Verdict

I of the more than sophisticated ebikes on the market place for people who need the best and just want to put on a helmet and get.

For

• Excellent ride
• Frictionless electrical power
• Top combination of accessories

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

One of the more sophisticated ebikes on the market for people who demand the best and merely want to put on a helmet and go.

Pros

• +

  Excellent ride

• +

  Frictionless electric ability

• +

  Acme combination of accessories

Gazelle Ultimate C380: Specs

Battery: 500 Wh
Max estimated range: 43 miles
Max assisted speed: 20 mph
Motor: Bosch Performance Line 3.0 65 Nm mid-bulldoze motor
Gearing: Enviolo 380 stepless gear organization
Wheel diameter: 28 inches
Weight: 54.half dozen lbs. (with battery)

Truthful to its proper name, the Gazelle Ultimate 380 may be the most graceful ebike to hit the road even so.

It'south also proof that ebikes can't merely be reduced to a list of specifications. There are ebikes with bigger batteries and bigger motors, to be sure. But there is no ebike that is more thoughtfully designed to give the rider a ameliorate drive than the Gazelle Ultimate C380.

With a Gates chugalug bulldoze and seamless Enviolo shifter that allows y'all to modify gears in the heart of a hill, this luxury cruiser delivers incomparable condolement in a nearly maintenance-free package. It'southward i of the best electrical bikes we've ridden, merely all of this comes at a cost.

Gazelle Ultimate C380 HMB Review: Cost and Availability

Gazelle has been building bicycles in the land of the cycle (The Netherlands) for more than 125 years. And that experience imbues every model it produces, from touring bikes like the $2,499 Gazelle Medeo T9 upwardly to the acme-of-the-line luxury model we tested, the $3,999 Gazelle Ultimate C380. If yous've e'er been to Amsterdam (or seen information technology in the movies), a Gazelle is what yous picture the Dutch riding along the banks of the city'south canals.

The company offers more than a vi different ebike models, virtually of which have an integrated battery, pace-through or low-step design and an easy, upright riding opinion. And while the company offers traditional 10-speed derailleurs on many models, it has taken its traditional upright designs and added Gates chugalug drives to several. Gazelle also sticks to its strengths: these are city and state touring bikes, so if you're shopping for a mountain wheel, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Gazelle Ultimate C380 HMB Review: Design

The pattern of the Gazelle Ultimate C380 focuses on ii goals, delivering the ultimate in comfort forth with ebike convenience. Its low-step frame is topped with a Selle Loire Gel seat with an internal pinch post to soften the ride. The aluminum frame also has an internal front fork suspension organization and congenital-in (but removable) battery to keep the whole blueprint as graceful equally possible.

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The Gazelle Ultimate C380 is a pedal assist bike, meaning that it does not have an all-electrical ability throttle. The system uses a smooth equally glass Bosch mid-drive motor with monochrome display that lets yous bike through four power modes: Eco, Touring, Sport, and Turbo. Better still, Gazelle has made this model as close to maintenance free as you can get these days. It uses a sealed rear hub with a continuous Enviolo Trekking shifter, so there are no gears or fussy derailleurs to tweak or worry about. And there's no greasy chain to maintain. The Ultimate C380 employs a Gates chugalug bulldoze that uses a carbon cobweb reinforced notched belt instead.

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Finishing information technology off, Gazelle includes total mud guards, a metallic belt guard (to go along your pants clean), kickstand, lights front and back, a rear rack with a built-in stretch bracket, and fifty-fifty an Axa Defender lock that immobilizes the rear wheel when you snap information technology shut and remove the key. All you need to retrieve to ride this bike is your helmet. What could be more convenient than that?

Gazelle Ultimate C380 HMB Review: Performance

Every bit its graceful proper name suggests, whether you're bounding downhill on a dirt road or existence buffeted by passing truck traffic on a ii-lane, blacktop, the Gazelle stays steady and true. It was unwavering when we were doing more than than thirty mph downhill; the Ultimate C380'due south iv-piston hydraulic brakes made u.s. experience confident that nosotros weren't overstepping our bounds on the road.

We plant ourselves coming upwards with excuses to go for a ride.

The Gazelle is a pedal-help only cycle, pregnant that it doesn't use a throttle to run nether full electrical ability. That ways you lot're ever pedaling to propel yourself forward. The Bosch drive has a raft of sensors, so that it applies boosted power precisely when y'all need it. The polish application of torque meant that we mostly did not miss the electric-merely mode.

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We were able to first off from stop lights and at the lesser of slight hills without problem; the electric assist was plenty to get us going without likewise much effort. On the other hand, some steep dirt mountain roads presented a challenge, although we did manage to get all the style up our exam hills without getting up out of the saddle (a point of pride around hither). Merely you will feel the exertion after a long hilly ride.

We should note that the continuous variable throttle-style shifter is a godsend in such situations. With the carbon fiber belt drive, you can shift in the heart of a hill if you lot realize you tin't go along in a particular gear. That's a no-no with traditional derailleurs but perfectly acceptable with the Gazelle — and it's silent. No clicking and clacking from the gears biting against the strain.

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The Gazelle Ultimate C380 was besides lots of fun. Indeed, we constitute ourselves coming upwardly with excuses to go for a ride. Breadstuff? Why don't I cycle over to the bakery? Bank check the mail? I'll become for a quick iv-mile ride to the mailbox and back. Need a quart of milk? I'll go get information technology at the local farm stand....13 miles away.

Information technology'due south thank you to all the fine touches to the design that Gazelle has made to the Ultimate C380 that lets you lot forget virtually riding a bike or switching gears and simply focus on enjoying the day. In fact, the only flaw we could find was the mechanical bell. It could be louder — or electric for meliorate warnings. But by this betoken we were struggling to find some weakness.

Gazelle Ultimate C380 HMB Review: Competition

There are now other touring ebikes aiming to supercede Gazelle in this section of the market, but they are going to accept a tough time of it. Most of the competition comes from small-scale, boutique companies like Bluejay Bikes trying to capitalize on the ebike craze. Simply the big companies are taking note of the luxury touring market place, too.

(Image credit: Gazelle)

Trek, for example, has its Verve+ 3 line of ebikes that starting time at about $3,150 but don't come with conveniences like the belt drive and continuous shifter. Meanwhile, Specialized has launched its $4,800 Turbo Como SL five.0. The Como is a slick blueprint and uses a Gates chugalug drive, every bit well, merely the cost premium is non insignificant.

Gazelle Ultimate C380 HMB Review: Verdict

Gazelle has focused on a market place segment it understands perhaps better than anyone else: the daily wheel rider who needs a solid, reliable musical instrument that won't permit her downwards — and is comfortable, twenty-four hour period in and 24-hour interval out. The Gazelle Ultimate C380 volition satisfy such riders, whether you have to wear a three-piece conform to piece of work or can bear witness up wearing cutoffs and a Slayer T-shirt. (Okay, perhaps the band shirt would exist a bit much, but you get the betoken.) Did we similar this bike? Yous bet nosotros did. It pretty much encompasses all the land-of-the-art features you would want for weekday commuting or Sunday sightseeing. We just wish it were more than affordable and then that more people could enjoy it.

John R. Quain has been reviewing and testing video and sound equipment for more than than xx years. For Tom's Guide, he has reviewed televisions, HDTV antennas, electrical bikes, electric cars, as well as other outdoor equipment. He is currently a contributor to The New York Times and the CBS News television receiver program.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/gazelle-ultimate-c380-hmb

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