Cikada Touring

The Cikada Touring boasts a big rear rack, a beefy looking mid-drive and a relatively low price tag of £1,799. It’s a combination that really catches the eye and its cargo capabilities in particular make for one of the best value e-bikes we’ve tried in a long time.

We have already looked at Taiwanese firm Cikada’s Urban Adventure model and thought it represented a pretty high quality debut into the UK market. Now, in contrast to that svelte hub motor design, comes the bigger, heavier and undoubtedly more powerful and cargo-capable Touring model.

Big bike with some big specs…

Whilst this is marketed as an e-bike that, “lets you ride longer, explore further, and effortlessly conquer uphill slopes,” to me it leapt off the page as having tremendous potential as a load hauler. It wasn’t only the big rear rack that made me think that.

Electric assistance comes courtesy of the Bafang M410 mid-drive. Whilst Cikada says this is an 80Nm torque motor, Bafang’s own web page claims 95Nm. Whichever is correct, this should be a very powerful mid-drive.

Then there are the truly ginormously wide 27.5in x 2.8in tyres – actually marked as moped tyres – which I couldn’t find on the net anywhere. (Other Kenda tyres of the same name top out at 2.4in wide.) More detail on this later, but I really liked them and didn’t feel that the rolling resistance penalty of that extra width was a massive extra burden. Allied with the front suspension, this looks like a combination that could handle heavy loads.

The cargo ratings of 35kg for the rear rack and 10kg for the optional front rack with a maximum user weight of 150kg are impressive by regular e-bike standards, though looking at the beefy construction, these figures seem a little conservative. Whilst not in the same league for carrying capacity as some (usually much pricier) e-cargo specific models, it will certainly let you haul all that the average shopper needs and much more.

There’s also a nice big battery – essential for load hauling, especially up hills, which can really sap your charge. It’s Bafang’s own 720Wh unit and is UL2271 certified. This means it’s been real world tested and put through a tough regime of temperature fluctuations, drops and charging abuse to ensure it remains safe in all conditions. On top of that, there is a 600-charge/two-year warranty – a really impressive inclusion at this price.

The spec elsewhere is pretty impressive, though the components are clearly aimed to keep costs down. There are eight Microshift gears with a bottom gear of around 35 gear inches – traditionally considered low to moderate and suited to hill climbing, but on a bike like this that asks to be loaded up and taken up steep hills, something in the 20 gear inch range would not be out of place.

Hydraulic disc brakes are expected as standard on e-bikes these days and they are provided here in the form of Star Union branded ones. These are perhaps a budget choice, but they performed well enough in testing. Microshift and Star Union are specialists in manufacturing bike gears and brakes respectively, so expect functional and durable products, though perhaps without the high level finish associated with pricier brands.

There’s a smart looking, though rather small and hard to read display/controller, hard wired lights (Star Union again), full length mudguards and a kickstand (a centre stand would have been better for heavy loading – especially as the bike’s brakes can be locked on, parking brake style).

Several design aspects tell you this should be a comfortable and easy bike to ride. There’s a low-step frame that comes in two sizes (sizing recommendations being 5ft 2in to 5ft 8in and 5ft 5in to 6ft 4in respectively), those massively plush tyres with loads of air volume, front suspension and an adjustable handlebar stem.

At 28.9kg on my scales, the Touring is heavy for an e-bike, but those huge tyres, the super-large rack and bigger than average capacity battery mean it’s probably not that much over what you could reasonably expect for such a design. In any case, with all the weight low down and central, it handles well, both when ridden and when pushed about dismounted.

As someone who regularly carries quite a lot by e-bike and likes to ride in comfort, the Cikada Touring looked right up my street. Let’s see how it got on when it was loaded up and put to the test over some steep inclines.

Hauling with ease

Before you even hit a hill, you notice how, as expected, the Touring is really comfortable and reassuringly predictable to ride. The high up and upright riding position and the fact that those super wide tyres roll easily over everything in their path make it feel really safe – in busy traffic especially.

The Bafang M410 mid-drive impressed me with its quiet responsiveness and its nicely graduated power levels. One and two would handle rolling terrain easily, whilst the upper three power levels ate up the hills. The brakes were powerful and progressive and gear changes, whilst not always that crisp, were fairly accurate.

It was also a nice bike to play around on off-road. Again, the super-wide tyres had benefits here if I wanted to roll up and over a small rock step or log and the mid-drive motor was punchy and powerful in the top power level. Okay, it’s no full-on Bosch powered e-MTB, but sometimes e-bikes designed ostensibly for other purposes can surprise you with their off-road capabilities. The Cikada Touring fell into that category.

On my short but ultra-steep hill climb test, the Touring returned a very respectable time and just as importantly I was barely out of breath at the top. As noted already, an even lower gear would have made this even easier.

Motor torque of 70-80Nm felt about right, though clearly it’s nowhere near the likes of the latest Bosch Performance Line CX motor, which is streets ahead of anything else on this climb. (For the record, I haven’t yet tried the Avinox.)

The Performance Line CX is rated at 120Nm when tuned to the max though and appears on e-bikes with much lower gearing that likely cost several thousand pounds more than the Touring. The display metrics bore this analysis out too, showing the motor output peaking at well over 600W. The Performance Line CX peaks at 750W.

The range indicator on the display showed 35 miles in the top power level and 75 miles in the bottom and this was pretty accurate in my experience. Those predictions are based on an unladen bike though and big loads generally make a big impact on range, especially if you are climbing hills of any note.

I happened to have the bike over several months and so could really get to experience the full range of its carrying capacity and just how that affected performance. Overall, it’s a great load hauler. I used it for transporting stuff between friends and family, doing the big shop and even attached a trailer to see how it went with 60kg+ of sand and sub-base on for under a shed that was being erected. It coped pretty easily, with the usual caveat that when you get much heavier weights on any bike, you should moderate your speed and make your handling of the bike as smooth as possible.

There is one big ‘but’ with which I should qualify this, and it’s something I’ve said about many other e-bikes. Cikada offers no oversize panniers or other bespoke items to help you haul your stuff. Okay, it’s maybe not quite big enough at the back to qualify as a longtail e-cargo bike but it’s crying out for bespoke gear to help you make the most of its capabilities.

I used a pair of Decathlon cargo panniers that gave a capacity of 50L each and held as much as I ever wanted. Some way of fitting e-cargo style foot rails would also have been good as they are very useful to offer support from underneath for the sizeable loads that such panniers can carry.

The Touring would really suit someone with just a bit of practical nous as they would be able to assemble or even make their own carrying aids. (My mind even turned to making a hinged wooden base for the very wide rear rack top that would give you a fold-out table – though a centre kickstand would then be necessary.) The point is, there is tons of untapped potential here.

In summary the Cikada Touring combines powerful hill climbing, brilliant carrying capacity and respectable range with full equipment – bar those carrying accessories. At such a low price, you couldn’t really ask much more of it.

Value and competition

When it comes to e-bikes, £1,500 to £2,000 is a very competitive price bracket, with the likes of Ado, Ampere, Estarli and Tenways battling it out to offer the best value. Despite that, the Cikada Touring certainly holds its own here, offering more power, battery capacity and carrying capacity than just about any other comparable e-bike.

Aspects such as cable integration, super smooth welds and features like Shimano Cues gearing might mean bikes from some of the aforementioned are a little more polished than the Touring, but it can be argued that at least some of these ‘improvements’ amount to style over substance.

Similarly, many bikes with this sort of carrying capability fall into the longtail category and these are £3,000 plus as often as not – though they are generally rated to carry more cargo than the Touring.

If you wanted a step-up in carrying capacity and were prepared to pay more, we’d recommend Estarli’s Longtail (from £2,995) or any of the many offerings from Tern we have tried – though once you get to the serious cargo-hauling end of their range, bikes like the GSD cost a very large chunk of cash.

The one standout exception to the above would be the Engwe LE20. It’s built around a hub motor and we felt the cargo options could use some work, but when it’s available, it frequently costs a good deal less than its £1,899 RRP.

A similar option from a brand we have reviewed and quite liked before is Fiido’s T2. This is a very capable looking longtail currently priced at £1,454. Note though we haven’t yet tried this model. The same goes for the €2,099 Fafrees UK-FF20 CUV, which is a mid-motor option.

Also worth a look – especially if discounted – are Decathlon’s B’Twin branded longtail offerings from £2,499 and Go Outdoors’ Compass Porter with Ananda mid-drive for £1,800.

Overall

Whilst Cikada in the UK is currently a direct to consumer brand, it is headed up here by someone with a deep knowledge of the industry and it seems clear the aim is to establish a dealer network.

Cikada itself has a strong manufacturing heritage in the Far East. It is part of Taiwan based Dyaco International Inc, which since being founded in 1990 has become one of the world leaders in fitness goods. Three years ago the group diversified into e-bikes. Dyaco itself is based in the same area of Taiwan as the likes of Giant and Merida, so there is no doubt plenty of bike knowhow immediately to hand.

Warranty terms are clearly stated on Cikada’s UK website and are industry standard, with a two-year warranty on all the electronics (or up to 600 charges on the battery – whichever comes first).

In short, the Cikada Touring is one of the best value e-bikes I’ve tried in a long time – if they could add more bespoke carrying accessories it would add even more capability to an already very capable e-bike.