“Nice looking bike,” said the woman walking past.
I took the splendid new e28.X out for a delightful 11-mile loop up to the Colchester Sports Park and back along the newly-built northern approach road of the Rapid Transit corridor.
My route took me out of the city centre and up through the leafy lanes of High Woods Country Park, including a climb that prompted me to thumb in the second most potent, Level 4, on the Estarli’s power assist motor.
From there, through neat areas of housing with well organised cycle ways and out over the A12 dual carriageway to the 76-acre Sports Park.
It was the first time I had been there. Facilities include a mile-long floodlit closed road cycle circuit, the largest in the East of England.
Being the school half term there were some football matches going on, as well as little children enjoying the bumpy and twisty BMX practice pump track. All very jolly.
The Estarli e-bike was a joy to ride – with one exception that I will come back to.
OPTIONS
I had ordered it with four deviations from the standard build:
1. Their ‘Dutch’ style curved and raised handlebar option, which added £95 to the base cost of £1,895 for the step-through frame.
I had been finding the flat, ‘straight’ style that the e28.X is normally fitted with to be stylish but very hard on my wrists, both in general riding and obviously even more over bumpy ground. So much so that after a lengthy ride I was having to cycle while giving each arm a shake in turn to try to restore the circulation.
By shifting my arms up and back, the new bars alleviated this discomfort – partly because less weight is leaning so far forward, and partly because when you do hit rough going you can hold the grips loosely and let the bars waggle to absorb the impact without passing it straight into your arms.
2. The Shockstop Endurance suspension seat post Estarli also offer, made by Redshift Sports, which provides 35mm of adjustable vertical travel to the seat.
This added a hefty £245 which at the time was on a par with what it was available for elsewhere. Of course, as I type, Redshift have a brief 25% off sale going on, but life under capitalism is a stream of such annoyances. I see they also have added a City version to their product line which is rather cheaper, and might well have sufficed for my purposes; I have not yet seen any reviews.
CADENCE
No matter, I had spent a lot of time reading and watching comparisons of the various seat suspension alternatives and had decided this was the best. I am very pleased with how well it works, blunting all the inevitable bumps and bashes that a bicycle customarily sends straight up to your spine. I now find that instead of mentally cringing at approaching uneven ground I can just let myself float over it.
3. Radically, and not advertised on Estarli’s website, I had asked for a larger-than-usual 48-tooth front crankset for the belt drive.
Having tried an e28.X for several months on subscription, I had found that I liked the two-speed automatic gearbox but that the pedalling cadence from the 42-tooth crank was a little ‘busy’ for my taste, even in the higher gear. I wrote more about this here.
The larger version really hits the sweet spot, as far as I am concerned. It somehow seems to add a power surge to my legs’ input and gives a more relaxed cadence at around my typical 15 mph cruising speed.
4. Rear rack. I had become so used to having this on the bike that I forgot it was in fact an optional extra, adding another £45 to the order total.
It is a solidly constructed item as you would expect, rated for 15kgs, although unexpectedly its front support is the bike’s metal rear mudguard – which I suppose speaks to their confidence in how well that is constructed.
I find the rack to be on the small side. I wrote in my first appraisal how awkward it was to try to shoehorn my existing panniers bags onto it. Nevertheless it is indispensable. I pair it mostly with the pannier bag that Estarli sent me as a sort of compensation for having taken so long to assemble and deliver the bike to me.
SADDLE SWITCH
All in all then I was really pleased with how the e28.X was set up. So, what was the exception to my general riding delight? The seat itself.
The e28.X comes with a very good Selle Royal Vivo saddle (there are variants of this and I do not know which one Estarli fit, but see photo).
This is very comfortable, no question. However rides of any duration had resulted in its chafing the inside of my thighs, and it has no central soft tissue channel. I suspect as a general purpose seat it has a role, but at 180mm wide (my measurement) it has too much of a flared shape for me.
Now, obviously the whole bike saddle issue is immensely subjective. It is a small mystery how there can be several million different seats on offer already, with new ones coming out all the time, but at least we cannot say there is a lack of choice.
I am currently trying a Selle Italia ST 3 superflow, which is longer and narrower (160 mm) and shaped altogether differently, and with a generous central groove. This is new to me and it’s early days but it immediately feels a more natural position for my sit bones.
Back then to Colchester’s Rapid Transit northern approach – derided online as a multi-million pound strip going nowhere. What did I think of it? Stay tuned.
- This article was updated on 25 November 2025 to include mention of the rear rack.
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