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Espin Reine Review

Espin Reine Ttium Discovery Mid Drive Motor

Espin Reine Carrier Mounted Battery Pack Integrated Taillight

Espin Reine Cockpit Swept Back Handlebars 3.5in Color Lcd Screen

Espin Reine Ergonomic Locking Rubber Grip Control Pad Thumb Throttle

Espin Reine Shimano Trigger Shifter Gearing Window Flick Bell

Espin Reine Suntour Nex Suspension Fork 70mm Travel Star Union Headlight Plastic Fender

Espin Reine 170 Mm Crank Arm 15 Tooth Chainring With Reduction Gearing

Espin Reine Zoom Dual Piston Caliper 160mm Rotor

Espin Reine Adjustable Length Rear Mount Kickstand

Espin Reine Shimano Acera Derailleur 1x9 11 To 36 Tooth Cassette

The Espin Reine is an approachable and feature-rich mid-drive city commuter that includes plastic fenders, integrated lights, a rear rack, and a Suntour NEX suspension fork. It is a new offering from Espin and their first bike with a mid-drive motor instead of a rear hub motor
The upright relaxed riding position, swept-back ergonomic grips, Suntour NEX suspension fork, and an upgraded saddle provide a comfortable ride, while the step-through frame and adjustable stem make it easy to fit most riders
The TTIUM Discovery mid-drive motor provides smooth and responsive electric assistance and features an I-Sport mode that automatically manages assist level based on riding style and terrain, Shimano Acera 1x9 system is a nice upgrade, and the hydraulic disc brakes from Zoom provide solid stopping power
No reflective striping or puncture protection on the tires, reduction gearing in the motor causes a small amount of drag when pedaling without electric assistance

Make:

Espin

Model:

Reine

Price:

$2,000

Body Position:

Upright Relaxed

Suggested Use:

Urban, Commuting

Electric Bike Class:

Throttle on Demand (Class 2)

Learn more about Ebike classes

Warranty:

1 Year Comprehensive, 3 Year Frame

Availability:

United States

Model Year:

2019

Total Weight:

52.9 lbs (23.99 kg)

Battery Weight:

7.7 lbs (3.49 kg) (72.lbs with Alloy Shield)

Motor Weight:

7.7 lbs (3.49 kg)

Frame Material:

6061 Aluminium Alloy

Frame Sizes:

17 in (43.18 cm)

Geometry Measurements:

Step-Thru Measurements: 17" Seat Tube, 25" Reach, 18" Stand Over Height, 32" Minimum Saddle Height, 25" Width, 71" Length

Frame Types:

Step-Thru

Frame Colors:

Air Blue, Fern Green

Frame Fork Details:

SR Suntour NEX Coil Suspension Fork with 70mm Travel and 25mm Steel Stanchions, Preload Adjust (Tool Only), 100mm Hub Spacing, 9mm Axle with Quick Release Skewer

Frame Rear Details:

135mm Hub Spacing, 9mm Axle with Quick Release Skewer

Attachment Points:

Rear Rack Bosses, Fender Bosses, Bottle Cage Bosses

Gearing Details:

9 Speed 1x9 Shimano Acera Derailleur, Shimano Acera CS-HG201-9 11-36 Tooth Cassette

Shifter Details:

Shimano Acera Triggers on Right (Pull High, Three-Shift Low)

Cranks:

Aluminum Alloy, 170mm Length, 15 Tooth Steel Chainring with Aluminum Alloy Chain Guard

Pedals:

Wellgo Platform, Aluminum Alloy, Reflective

Headset:

4" Straight Steel, 6 10mm Spacers

Stem:

Aluminum Alloy, Adjustable Angle 0-50 Degrees, 70mm Length, 25mm Clamp Diameter

Handlebar:

Aluminum, 640mm Length, 40mm Rise, 30° Back Sweep

Brake Details:

Zoom Hydraulic Disc with 160mm Rotors, Dual Piston Calipers, Two-Finger Levers with Adjustable Reach, Motor Inhibitors

Grips:

Ergonomic, Rubber, Locking

Saddle:

Velo Comfort Memory Foam

Seat Post:

Giant Aluminum Alloy

Seat Post Length:

390 mm

Seat Post Diameter:

27.5 mm

Rims:

Double Wall, Aluminum Alloy, 32 Hole Front, 36 Hole Rear

Spokes:

12 Gauge Stainless Steel, Black Reflectors

Tire Brand:

Kenda Komfort, 27.5" x 1.95" (48-584)

Wheel Sizes:

27.5 in (69.85cm)

Tire Details:

40 to 65 PSI, 2.8 to 4.5 BAR

Tube Details:

Schrader Valve

Accessories:

Plastic Fenders 70mm Width with Rubber Guards, Aluminum Alloy Rear Rack (Pannier Hangers, 25kg 55lb Max Weight, Star Union Integrated LED Headlight, Battery Pack Integrated Taillight, Flick Bell on Right, Aluminum Alloy Adjustable Length Rear Mount Kickstand

Other:

Locking Removable Carrier-Mounted Battery Pack, Maximum 110 RPM Motor Support, Maximum 250% Assist, 1.5lb 3amp Charger

Motor Brand:

TTIUM Discovery

Motor Type:

Mid-Mounted Geared Motor

Learn more about Ebike motors

Motor Nominal Output:

250 watts

Motor Peak Output:

500 watts

Motor Torque:

80 Newton meters

Battery Brand:

Espin

Battery Voltage:

36 volts

Battery Amp Hours:

14.5 ah

Battery Watt Hours:

522 wh

Battery Chemistry:

Lithium-ion

Charge Time:

4.5 hours

Estimated Min Range:

40 miles (64 km)

Estimated Max Range:

80 miles (129 km)

Display Type:

TTIUM, Fixed, Tool Adjustable Angle, 3.5" Color LCD, Buttons: Up, Down, Power, Set, Hold + to Activate i-Sport, Hold Set for Settings

Readouts:

Battery Charge Level (5 Bars), Pedal Assist Level (0-4), Odometer, Trip Odometer, Cadence Readout

Display Accessories:

Trigger Thumb Throttle on Left

Drive Mode:

Advanced Pedal Assist (Measures Wheel Speed, Pedal Cadence and Pedal Torque, Over 1,000 Readings Per Second, Power Output Relative to Pedal Input: Eco 55% 40 Nm, Tour 120% 50 Nm, Sport 190% 55 Nm, Turbo 275% 63 Nm)

Top Speed:

20 mph (32 kph)

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Make or Model

Model Year

Body Position

Suggested Use

Frame Type

Drive Mode

Availability

Price Range

$0 (0 €)$18,000 (16,920 €)

Total Weight

0 lbs (0 kg)227 lbs (103 kg)

Top Speed

0 mph (0.0 km/hr)50 mph (80.5 km/hr)

Battery Watt Hrs

0 watt3,456 watt

Frame Size

0 in (0.00 cm)432 in (1,097.28 cm)

Motor Power

0 Newton meters250 Nm

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Update: Espin is no longer manufacturing the Reine, so it’s not possible to buy directly from them. You may still be able to find leftover stock at a dealer, or purchase a pre-owned model.

To run the forums, host the website, and travel, I charge a universal service fee for my reviews. This in-depth review was sponsored by Espin Electric Bikes. My goal is to be transparent and unbiased with you, this video and writeup are not meant to be an endorsement of Espin products. I welcome your corrections, additions, and feedback in the comments below and the Espin electric bike forums.

Observations:

Espin uses a hybrid distribution model. They started selling direct to consumer and continue to do so, but they also work with dealers in the US. At the time of filming there are about 10 dealers available in the US, and Espin is working on adding more. Since there are only 10 dealers so far you may not live near one, but if you do you can take advantage and visit the dealer for fitting and test riding – not to mention maintenance and support down the road!
This isn’t specific to the Reine, but I’ve noticed that Espin has made steady improvements for its other models (the Sport and the Flow) year after year with minimal price increases – they only just increased the prices on those two by a mere $100 after several years of remaining constant.

Pros:

Feature-complete with a rear rack, fenders, and integrated lights! The rear rack houses the battery pack and uses standard gauge tubing, the fenders are plastic and include rubber toe strike guards on the bottom, and the integrated headlight does a great job illuminating the road ahead. The taillight is integrated into the battery pack and includes an optical sensor so that it can turn on automatically.
Very approachable thanks to the step-through design and wide range of adjustability. The step-through frame is great on a bike with a rear rack, since having a bag or other items strapped to the rack can make it more difficult to swing your foot up and over if the frame is high-step. The handlebars have a nice back sweep and the stem is highly adjustable for both height and angle, making it easy to fit this bike to the majority of rider sizes.
TTIUM Discovery motor is a relatively new contender for the mid-drive field and I was impressed with its performance. We have reviewed one other bike with a TTIUM motor, the PESU Monster, although that was the Efficient EX instead of the Discovery we have here. This motor has 250 watts of power but a whopping 80 newton-meters of torque, which means that it gets started easily and can tackle steep hills easily. This motor measures torque, cadence, and rear wheel speed, and I found it to be pleasantly responsive – in fact, it is reported to have a mere 10ms response time for the torque sensor! This makes it easy to get started without having to rely on the thumb throttle. Other specs of this motor include a max cadence of 110rpm and a max support level of 250%.
Mid-drive motors are typically more efficient than rear hub motors and the TTIUM Discovery is no exception. In addition to the standard assist levels (Eco, Sport, Turbo, etc) it features an automatic mode called “I-Sport” that uses sensor data to automatically adjust the assist level as you ride. I’ve seen similar modes such as the “Auto Mode” on Giant bikes, I-Sport works the same and I love it here as well. It’s a “set and forget” feature that allows you to just leave the bike in I-Sport mode and not worry about switching up and down assist levels.
This bike has bottle cage bosses included on the frame, these are great to see. Aside from the obvious use case of mounting a bottle cage you can also use these bosses to mount all manner of accessories, and they allow for much more stable mounting than simply mounting directly to a frame without bosses.
A comfortable ride thanks to the upright relaxed riding position, ergonomic locking rubber grips, comfortable swept-back handlebars, and an upgraded Velo saddle that offers a little bit more width and cushion than a generic saddle. The Suntour NEX suspension fork gives 70mm of travel, which isn’t a lot but is more than adequate for city and commute riding.
Smooth and reliable shifting performance from the Shimano Acera groupset, this is a nice quality upgrade compared to the Tourney or Altus setups that we often see on similarly priced Ebikes. This is a 1×9 setup with the rear cassette offering an 11-36T range, and controlled with Shimano trigger shifters on the right grip.
Solid stopping power from Zoom hydraulic disc brakes that have dual-piston rotors and 160mm calipers in the front and rear. Hydraulic won’t require as much adjustment as mechanical and it also doesn’t require as much hand strength to use
The color LCD screen is easy to read even in direct sunlight, and it offers an excellent array of information readouts… I also found the settings menu a lot easier to read and navigate than many other screens out there.
Weight is centered and well-balanced, making this bike easy to ride and also easy to maneuver at a bike rack or in your garage – I found it easy to pick up with one hand at the center of the frame. Keep in mind that putting a lot of weight on the rear rack will make the bike rear-heavy and it will handle differently while loaded this way.
Covered by a one-year comprehensive, three-year frame warranty, which is pretty solid for an ebike that is sold direct in many cases
It’s rare to see a mid-drive powered ebike that also has a throttle, and I love how this throttle offers full power in all levels of assist vs. being limited
The motor is very quiet, sometimes hub motors and mid-drives have a noticeable whirring or zipping noise to them but this TTIUM didn’t make that much noise

Cons:

This is something we didn’t cover in the video, but these TTIUM motors use reduction gearing (similar to some Bosch motors) that enable the small chainring to spin faster than the crank arms rotate. Here the 15-tooth chainring spins 2.8 times for every revolution of the crank arms. The downside of this setup is that you get some drag when pedaling the bike without electric assistance, or pedaling past 20mph when the electric assist shuts off. This drag is minimal and doesn’t effect coasting, but it is present and you will certainly notice it if you ride without any assistance from the motor.
You only get one frame size option which is 17″. As we mentioned earlier this is a very approachable and adjustable bike so you can fit it to most riders… but the very short and the very tall (like me) will find that it isn’t a perfect fit. If you aren’t an average height rider I would definitely recommend taking advantage of an Espin dealer where you can test ride it first!
The step-through frame means that you will experience some “frame flex”, which is exactly what it sounds like – the frame can flex or bend a little bit. This is most noticeable as wobbling or a feeling of instability when traveling at a high speed or with extra weight on the back. The use case and Class 2 status for this bike means that you probably won’t notice the frame flex, just be aware that it won’t be as stable as a high-step frame.
I mentioned the plastic fenders already, every type of fender (plastic, steel, aluminum alloy) comes with tradeoffs… the tradeoff for plastic is that they will audibly rattle more than metal fenders. On the plus side they are immune to scratches, rust, and dent/dings that can happen to metal fenders, and they are lightweight.
These tires are somewhat basic and don’t include any reflective striping or any puncture protection. Fortunately we do have the side reflectors on the spokes, and if you need puncture protection where you live you can add it yourself for a fairly low cost. Having the mid-drive motor here is a bonus in case you need to remove that rear wheel to add sealant or protective liners… or change a flat!
The taillight is integrated into the battery pack and has a button for turning it off and on manually. I appreciate that it’s integrated into the battery (no separate batteries to change out), but having the button to turn it on and off can be frustrating… it’s easy to leave it on by accident and drain your battery! To mitigate this, there is an optical sensor on the top of this battery that can turn the integrated light on and off. To me this is both good and bad. Good because your rear light can turn on automatically in the dark, but bad if you happen to leave your battery pack switched on, park your bike in the garage, and then turn off the light… which would cause your taillight to turn on and start draining the battery. It’s good practice to switch your battery pack off when not in use anyways, so be sure to get into that habit to prevent accidentally draining your battery when your bike is stored.
No USB ports on the display or battery pack for charging small electronics such as your phone or additional lights.
Ideally, the weight of the motor and battery would be as low and central as possible, to improve stability. The motor is there but the rear rack with battery is just top and rear heavy, which also adds a bit to that frame flex
The rear light must be activated individually vs. the front which is turned on/off via the display, this just adds some time and additional steps to remember when you’re riding to be safe and also maintain the battery optimally
There’s no lockout on the suspension fork, but if you remove the caps on top of both crown tops you can find clickers to dial in preload, which helps if you’re a heavier rider who is bottoming out
Mid-drive motors put more force on the chain and drivetrain (sprocket teeth) and this one doesn’t have a shift detection system, so ease off when shifting gears and be careful if using the throttle to minimize wear given the higher potential torque output
The Reine does not have a slap guard on the right chainstay, so the chain can scratch off paint when you go over bumps. Fortunately there are lots of aftermarket solutions for this, a low-tech solution is just putting some clear tape on that chainstay

Useful Resources:

January 29, 2024 (10 months ago)

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MSRP: $1,799
MODEL YEAR: 2019

The Espin Sport is a feature-complete commuting and mixed-use Ebike that includes a rear rack, plastic fenders, integrated lights from Spanninga, and an SR Suntour suspension fork. The suspension fork works well with locking ergonomic rubber grips and a large Selle Royale…...

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Mark

5 years ago

One of the few mid drives on the market to have a throttle, which makes this ebike a real winner at this price point. 80 nm is a LOT of power, same as Yamaha’s mid drive, and better than most of the Bosch mid drives.

The battery in the rear isn’t actually affecting the ride, and its capacity is a winner, especially at the 36 volts on a mid drive. Very few mid drives are paired with 522 watt hours of capacity. This goes 60 to 70 miles easy, on level 1 and mostly flat terrain. With both torque and cadence sensing, you really dont need a shift sensor. That is essentially the sensing, so I would not worry too much about being under load while shifting.

If worried about ‘shift sensing’, you can always just barely squeeze a brake lever to interrupt the motor, and the pads of the brakes will not touch the rotors, so it doesn’t impede pedaling. Ive used the Tongshen mid drive on many conversions, over the past 3 years, which has torque sensing, and not one of them has had premature chain or cog wear. The motors that you have to worry about and need shift detection/pause function are the bafang high watt 750 and 1000 watt motors, that have 120 to 160 nm of torque, and are only cadence sensing.

Court

Thanks for your feedback, Mark!

Jake

4 years ago

I really liked the features of this bike and watched your entire video. I was considering purchasing one and went to their website only to find it is no longer available (confirmed by an email from espin). You should consider making a note on this page notifying folks that it is no longer available!

Tyson Roehrkasse

Hi Jake, thanks for letting us know! I’ve updated the review with a note at the beginning. Sorry that you won’t be able to get one of these from Espin :( I really liked them as well! They do have some new models for 2021 and have updated their other existing ones though, I recommend checking them out if you’re still interested in the Espin brand. EBR will be reviewing the new lineup but not until mid-April of 2021 at the soonest.

Kevin

What is the maximum weight this bike can accommodate, please? Not a criticism, but a request: could you please include that weight stat on all your most excellent, comprehensive reviews? I’m astonished by your work and the impeccable quality of your website and will be buying an e-bike largely based on your reviews and if I can try candidates locally (Rochester, NY).

I’m a disabled vet with a little mild neuropathy in my feet (among a few other issues) and walking requires frequent rests on a camp stool (for fat guys; I’m at 290lb and newly enrolled in a special medically-directed weight reduction program through the VA). I decided to explore e-bikes as a more accessible exercise solution.

Seriously, though, your site is superb and I appreciate how much effort goes into it. L’chayim!

Hi Kevin! Good for you, תודה for the kind words! We often do not get an official max weight spec from manufacturers… and I don’t want to put myself at risk by guessing. However, I can share what I’ve seen on many other ebikes :)

What I’ve noticed from most manufactures is that they often rate their bikes up to 250lbs (113kg). This is a pretty standard max weight limit, but some will go up to 300lb or even 350lb. I’ve heard that the first thing that starts to fail under heavy load is the bicycle spokes. It’s important to keep the wheels true and the spokes firm vs. loose. Some people even talked about using Loctite Blue on the nipples so they don’t start to come unscrewed.

I love your idea of riding an ebike to help boost cardio, heart rate, and burn some of the extra fat to become more healthy. My grandpa is a veteran and they have some great health programs! If I were you, I’d consider looking at the Electric Bike Company Model R because it’s rated to 380lbs and is a step-thru which makes it much easier and safer to mount and dismount. This way, you won’t strain a leg or groin or risk tipping as much. This is a solidly built ebike with great customer service at a pretty good price, and the company will talk with you if you have questions (in my experience).

If you are open to spending even more money and want an alternative choice, consider the Riese & Müller Nevo models, which are rated up to 350lb or so from what I remember. Good luck, and thanks again for the encouragement :)