EBCO TR-60 hybrid trekking

EBCO’s TR-60 is described as a trekking bike but it’s also very well suited to everyday city duties. The TranzX mid motor is very good, and the bike scores well on its build quality and componentry. There are a few niggles but overall it’s a good option for a range of riding.

EBCO say that the TR-60 is “an e-bike built to cope with all but the most extreme trekking terrain” and it’s built around a very solid alloy frame. There’s a low-step TL-60 version available too, but since on both bikes the 400Wh battery is attached to the down tube it’s still quite a high stepover. 

The bike is built with a mid motor, a TranzX M25 GT unit. With a claimed output of 60Nm it’s on par, on paper, with the Bosch Performance Line motor. In reality, it feels more like the less powerful Active Line. It’s plenty powerful enough for even steep hills, and on my benchmark climb (1.5km at 5%, max 12%) it didn’t struggle at all. There are four power settings accessible from the bar-mounted remote, which also allows you to change the data on the centrally-mounted LCD display. It’s quiet too, making a lot less noise than equivalent motors from Bosch and Shimano.

Front and rear lights are plumbed in, and they’re automatic: there’s a light sensor on the display, and when thinks get a bit murky, on come your lights. That’s great in that you don’t ever have to remember to turn them on, less so if you want to run your lights in the daytime which many people do around town. It’s an easy hack to keep them on all the time though: just stick a bit of electrical tape over the light sensor. The front light isn’t the most powerful, but it’s plenty for being seen in the city and just about enough for navigating unlit lanes, so long as you’re not in a hurry.

The TR-60 is a comfortable bike to ride. The Suntour suspension fork and chunky Schwalbe trekking tyres help there, and the contoured grips are kind on the hands and also offer a choice of positions, which helps on longer rides. The saddle wasn’t a personal favourite but it wasn’t too bad, and it’s an easy thing to swap.

When it’s time to stop you get Shimano’s excellent M315 hydraulic disc brakes, which haul you to a standstill without any fuss at all.

Gearing is also from Shimano: a 10-speed Deore dreailleur setup with a rapidfire shifter. The 42T chainring and 11-34 cassette gave a decent range for city riding, but for more adventurous journeys might feel a bit restricted. It’d be good to see a wider range 11-42 cassette fitted instead; the rear mech can easily cope.

> Buy this bike for £1,599 at Halfords

With a 400Wh battery you’d expect the TR-60 to have a decent range. EBCO are a lot more realistic than most manufacturers when talking about range, claiming 30-50 miles (64-80km) for the bike in Eco mode. That’s in line with my experience of riding it. In Eco you get enough assistance to make things easy enough on the flat, and that ekes the battery juice out for good range. Once you start hitting the hills you need to increase the assistance but I found that range was broadly in line with other 400Wh mid motor systems. If you’re actually trekking, you’ll need to be a bit careful with the modes if you’re doing big distances each day, but for city riding range was never an issue. It’s not the best I’ve tried, but it’s not the worst either.

The TR-60 is fully set up for trekking (or city use) with a rear rack, full mudguards and a kickstand. The kickstand was my only real gripe: it sticks out too much and caught my heel when i was pedalling. In the end I had to change my foot position so my foot was more central on the pedal. I have big feet (Size 47) so if your feet are smaller it’s not going to be so much of a problem. And once I’d adjusted my foot position it wasn’t for me either, but it’s worth noting.

Overall: good quality bike that’s comfortable to ride

Overall the TR-60 is a good bike: the motor is very good, the bike is comfortable to ride, the equipment is high quality. At £1,999 it’s competing directly with Bosch and Shimano powered bikes which you might consider to be higher quality, but the TranzX motor really isn’t giving anything away to the Bosch Active Line and STEPS city motors in terms of power or ride feel, and at the moment you can get £400 off the list price making it well worth considering as a city workhorse. 

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EBCO TR-60 full spec