Tested: The Geos e-bike with steel frame, belt drive and Pinion’s gearbox.

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The e-bike from Geos has been available for a good year now. It started with a puristic single speed bike, then a version with derailleur gears was added and now, as the third and top model, the Geos with the Pinion gearbox is available! In combination with its extraordinary steel frame, an invisible electric drive system and carefully selected components, the result is a truly exceptional urban bike. This test will show how it performs in action.

Review Test Geos Pinion E Bike Teaser
Say hello to the new Geos with Pinion’s gearbox

Design

The heart of the Geos is, of course, the steel frame — a classic frame material with a long tradition, but which now only leads a niche existence. Although it is heavier than aluminium or even carbon, it also offers some advantages: For example, the steel frame is said to be more comfortable to ride due to the more flexible material; furthermore, such a frame can be repaired relatively easily and finally, steel frames usually look very elegant due to their mostly filigree tubes.

The Geos is no exception, with the triangular shape of the tubes on the top tube and down tube being an additional eye-catcher. This shape not only serves the look, after all, the Geos logo looks the same — in fact, the shape also corresponds to the position of the battery cells inside the tubes. Thus, the Geos bike actually has two battery units, which are hidden inside these two tubes. And finally, the top tube ends at both sides in a similarly shaped headlight and taillight. Form follows function!

The surface of the frame is coated with a hard and corrosion-resistant nickel coating. This gives the frame a metallic look, but at the same time it has a warm and pleasant appearance. Small details such as the seat clamp integrated in the top tube or the discreet logo design on the down tube complete the frame.

In contrast to the bright frame, all other components are kept in matt black. The emphasis here is on complete, because really careful attention has been paid to this: For example, the cranks from Pinion were specially produced without printing, and are usually “decorated” with bold white lettering. In addition, many components are specially designed for the Geos, including the rear rack, the new front rack and the elegant handlebar-stem unit. All the black components together with the carbon fork form an optical unit, but step into the background and draw attention to the bright frame. So here you have a visually clean bike, which nevertheless has a complete commuter equipment for everyday use.

Review Test Geos Pinion E Bike Steel Frame
A clean appearance even though it is fully equipped

Equipment

Like many of its competitors, the Geos is one of those minimalist e-bikes that are equipped with a 250-watt hub motor in the rear wheel and have the battery discretely built into the frame. And yet there are still some special features: First of all, the drive is controlled by torque measurement: This follows the principle that the support of the motor is adapted to the strength of the rider’s pedalling force — resulting in a particularly natural riding experience. The corresponding sensor is usually located in the bottom bracket, but due to the Pinion gearbox, there is no space for it in the Geos. The measurement is therefore carried out directly on the motor. Speaking of the Pinion gearbox: The test bike was equipped with a 12-speed model, but the bike can also be optionally configured with 6 speeds — each from the more economical and lighter C-Line from Pinion. The drivetrain is completed by the Gates Carbon Drive belt. Magura hydraulic disc brakes are used for the brakes: Magura MT5 with four pistons at the front, MT4 with two pistons at the rear. As mentioned, the battery is installed in the top tube as well as in the down tube, but with 372 Wh it does not offer exceptionally more capacity than in similarly designed bikes of competitors. Nevertheless a good value for the fact that you can’t see the battery!

The saddle is the Brooks Cambium in its All Weather version, the grips are silicone grips and the 50 mm wide Conti Contact Speed tyres are intended to provide sufficient riding comfort. The complete commuter equipment on the test bike has already been mentioned, but for the sake of form we will mention it again: mudguards, front and rear racks, integrated rear light and a daytime running light in the front — unfortunately this is only good to be seen, as a “real” headlight a Supernova model can optionally be installed on the handlebars.

Basically everything can be configured on the Geos. The maximum equipment was tested here, but a puristic Pinion model would also be possible without any additional parts such as mudguards and racks.

Operation

Like many minimalist e-bikes, the Geos has no display and no disturbingly large controls — instead, it is controlled via a small, unobtrusive button on the handlebars. With this button you switch on the drive, with a second push you can change the riding mode. Here you can switch between two levels of how much the system should support the rider. The modes can be adjusted to your own preferences via Bluetooth using an app.

But there are also some surprises waiting for the user: For example, the search for the charging socket could be frustrating for the unknowing user — there is simply no such socket on the bike. The trick: The tail light is magnetically attached to the frame (thanks to the use of steel) and can be easily removed. The charging socket is then hidden underneath, which is connected to a magnetic plug of the charger. The battery status is displayed on the daytime running light at the front: its light strip becomes a progress bar, which becomes increasingly brighter as the battery charge increases.

Once you are familiar with these peculiarities, the Geos is a very easy to handle bike. By the way, the same applies to the operation of the Pinion gearbox: Using the handlebar grip, the gears from one to twelve can be shifted easily and effortlessly.

Riding impression

When it comes to riding characteristics, two things came up right at the start: On the one hand, the comfortable sitting position on the bike, on the other hand the smooth support of the drive.

Let’s start with the engines right away. In fact, the motor control is very smoothly and the Geos doesn’t intend to play with the muscles from the first roll. But the motor only provides the support that is really called for by the rider. And this is where the Pinion gearbox comes into play: The 12 gears offer a huge total transmission ratio of 600 percent, which can hardly be matched by a derailleur system. If, due to a lack of knowledge, you choose gears that are too small, pedalling becomes correspondingly easy and only little motor power is required. But once you get used to the large overall spectrum of the gear system, there is no holding back: On the flat, you can easily leave the 25 km/h behind you despite the european regulations for switching off the motor, but on the mountain you still have enough reserves for very steep sections! In combination with the sensitive torque sensor technology, the result is a win-win situation that comes very close to the perfect bike. The Gates belt drive, which is the perfect companion to the silent engine, is also completely suited for this purpose: Apart from the rolling noise of the tires, there is hardly any sound of the bike’s drivetrain.

The seating position mentioned at the beginning is actually more comfortable than one might expect from this rather sporty bike: The integrated handlebar stem unit with its riser handlebars allows a seating position that is not too stretched, and both the All Weather saddle from Brooks and the silicone grips on the handlebars are very comfortable. The comfort is completed by the wide tyres, which can be ridden with low air pressure and smooth out small bumps and unevenness very well. The weight of the bike also contributes to the agile riding characteristics: 17.7 kg is good for the tested configuration, without add-on parts the bike would be about 1 kg lighter even more.

The only point of criticism is that the Pinion gearbox always hitched briefly in eighth gear when downshifting — in this case, you had to take the pressure off the pedal to change gears (otherwise, the gearbox could be shifted really smoothly even under load).

Review Test Geos Pinion E Bike Gates Carbon Drive
The Geos bike with the new front rack

Conclusion

The combination of its features makes the Geos with Pinion gearbox a truly exceptional and very good e-bike: The steel frame offers beautiful and clever details, the gearbox seems to be up to any challenge and the riding characteristics are also impressive thanks to the torque controlled drive. The only thing that would be desirable is a fully integrated headlight within the daytime running light. Apart from that, Geos offers with this bike an all-round bike in manufactory quality, which stands out pleasantly from the mainstream. But so much uniqueness also has its price: in the tested version, the Geos costs a proud 5,800 Euros. So the Geos is certainly not a bike you necessarily need. But it is definitely one that you definitely want!

All further information and configuration options for the bike can be found directly on the Geos website.

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