Product news / test: With the Bosch E-Bike ABS Gen 2, the brake assistant should also be socially acceptable on e-bikes in the future - with a significantly improved look and different modes for different areas of use, from cargo to trail. We have already been able to test the system.
ABS on e-bikes is not a real innovation in itself. A few years ago, Bosch his first system presented, also other manufacturers such as the Italian from Blubrake have comparable systems on the market. However, the technology has not yet really caught on. Only a few e-bikes were even available with it and in the case of the Bosch e-bike ABS, the not really elegant look certainly played a role. So it had become quiet about the topic in the recent past - until today. With the Bosch E-Bike ABS Gen 2, the brake assistance system on e-bikes could now be as important as it has been on cars or motorcycles for decades. To this end, Bosch has not only improved the look, but also significantly increased the area of application of the ABS - from cargo bikes to sporty e-MTBs.
Bosch E-Bike ABS Gen 2: Reduced dimensions, familiar functionality
With the new ABS, Bosch is now also expanding its Smart System, which was presented last year and is a mandatory requirement. The ABS Gen 2 cannot be installed on older Bosch e-bikes - retrofitting is not possible anyway. So if you want an e-bike with the new ABS, you have to buy it directly.
In a direct comparison to the predecessor, the clearly shrunken dimensions are immediately noticeable. Fortunately, the voluminous box under the stem with all its cables and lines is now history; the new Bosch e-bike ABS is now stowed in a much smaller housing that can be attached slim to the fork. No, it's still not invisible - but still much less conspicuous than its predecessor. In addition to the attachment of the control unit using a clamp, in the future there will also be direct mount solutions from fork manufacturers who are already working on adapted castings.
As big as the difference in appearance is, the basic functionality of the ABS has not changed. Additional perforated discs with 50 holes are attached to the front and rear brake discs. A sensor located next to the brake caliper can read in real time how fast the front and rear wheels are moving. In combination with the other sensors from the Bosch drive, the "brain" of the ABS gets an overview of what is happening: How fast is the e-bike moving? Do the two wheels turn at the same speed? Does the rear wheel lift off the ground? Depending on this, it then only intervenes on the front wheel brake and regulates (or reduces) the brake pressure.
Magura brakes
In this way, classic fall scenarios can be mitigated, such as a slipping front wheel, which almost always leads to a safe fall. When developing the system, Bosch was also able to draw on its many years of experience with motorcycle ABS systems; It is not surprising that Magura was brought on board as a brake partner, who also have great expertise in the automotive sector. The Bosch E-Bike ABS Gen 2 will also only be available with (special) brakes from the German manufacturer. We don't yet know exactly what that will be - but the system installed on our test bikes relied on Magura MT5 brake calipers and new sensors that were reminiscent of the well-known ABS levers.
Four ABS modes: from cargo to trail
But even if the functionality remains the same, that doesn't mean that the function itself hasn't changed significantly in contrast to its predecessor. Put simply, the data is the same, but what the system does with it is different: The new Bosch E-Bike ABS Gen 2 will have a total of four different modes: Cargo, Touring, Allroad and Trail. Which e-bike is equipped with which modes is up to the respective bicycle manufacturer. Several modes are also possible and can be changed on the bike or via the app. Of course, the ABS can also be completely deactivated in this way. An orange LED on the LED Remote and an ABS logo on the Kiox 300 display then signal that the brake assistant is deactivated.
Depending on the selected ABS mode, the system interprets the data received from the sensors differently and also reacts differently. In Trail mode, for example, it is possible to detach the rear wheel from the ground without any problems, for example to move the wheel in a hairpin bend - in the other modes the ABS would intervene much more strongly to prevent the rear tire from even turning around an inch off the ground.
First practical impressions of the Bosch E-Bike ABS in trail mode
We had the opportunity to test the new Bosch e-bike ABS in advance. The two modes Allroad and Trail were loaded on the corresponding E-MTBs, with our focus clearly being on the new Trail mode. Bosch is particularly proud of this and the corresponding algorithm was developed over a long period of time together with numerous athletes. We were still skeptical at first: ABS on a sporty E-MTB? Somehow we didn't really want to believe that this could work. When you're fast on the trail, you really don't want to give up control of braking, do you? It is precisely these prejudices that Bosch would like to dispel and after a few test laps we can also confirm: even if the ABS intervenes noticeably in certain situations, it never feels as if you do not have full control over your own braking behavior.
The ABS should always stay completely in the background in trail mode and only intervene in borderline cases, for example when the front wheel locks up. In contrast to the Allroad mode, however, the system really "waits" until the very last moment to intervene here. This led to a few moments of shock during the first test braking, because for a short (felt: very long!) moment it felt as if the ABS would not intervene at all, only to then reduce the brake pressure at the really last moment. The same applies to the scenario of the rollover: In trail mode, the rear wheel can be easily removed from the ground: pull the front brake, give a short impulse and you can move the rear wheel. Only when there is a risk of a rollover does the system reduce the pressure a little to lower the rear again.
The ABS is only really noticeable in this mode if you provoke these situations. If you drive as usual, very few drivers will notice a difference. Bike mountaineers or extremely fast riders who know every braking point on their favorite routes might see things differently, but for the majority of e-mountain bikers we see a major gain in safety on the trail.