Dan
EDEMO's Head Honcho Dan possesses a legendary passion for e-bikes. His in-depth knowledge and eagerness to share his genuine experiences with e-bikes have proven invaluable to anyone who visits our showroom or contacts him by phone.
Key Features
The Riese and MĂźller Delite 4 is the latest version of the Delite and takes on the mantle of the premium conquer-all bike. If you’ve seen some of our videos, you’ll know that we love the Delite, we’ve had many adventures on these bikes so we were excited to take the new version through its paces in the rugged terrain of Snowdonia and were very impressed with how it handles pretty much anything you throw at it…even hail!Â
- Conquer Any Terrain:Â Bosch Performance Line CX motor provides smooth, powerful assistance with 85 Nm of torque for effortless hill climbs.
- Epic Range:Â 750 Wh battery (expandable to 1,000 Wh) turns long rides into weekend expeditions.
- Supreme Comfort & Control:Â Full suspension absorbs bumps on even the roughest trails.
- Safety-Centric:Â Optional Bosch ABS system offers extra braking confidence. Fox suspension upgrade keeps your wheels in contact with the ground on rough terrain.
- Riese and Muller Quality:Â Impeccable build quality and thoughtful details that make this bike stand out.
what's new?
The Delite4 is now on the Bosch Smart System, which brings many benefits with it, including the excellent Flow App with regular over-the-air updates, new displays, a larger 750Wh battery as standard and the option to upgrade this capacity. Read on for more details.Â
sizing and colours
The Delite4 has an aluminium frame available in three sizes (47cm, 51cm, 56cm) to accommodate riders of various heights.
Colour options are limited with Tundra Grey and Urban Grey but the focus here is on function over colourways. Even in these toned-down colours, the Delite is pretty striking with the eye-catching rear rack and beautiful frame.Â
Gearing
The Delite4 has 4 different gearing options to choose from. Firstly, there’s the Touring specification, which is a regular chain and cassette with a derailleur. This is a good option if you’re planning on really challenging terrain as there’s a big range of gears. Then there’s the Vario specification which is an Enviolo continuous gear hub with a belt drive. This is a low-maintenance, clean and simple option that would work well for more road-based touring and commuting. It does have a relatively short gear range, however, so if you’re tackling hilly terrain, then we’d recommend the Touring specification or our absolute favourite (and also the most expensive) option, the Rohloff. The Rohloff has a large range of gears, simple to use electric shifting and is very low maintenance. It’s a sealed hub so is great if you’re taking the bike off-road a lot as traditional derailleurs and chains can require quite a lot of maintenance and/or replacing if you are dealing with muddy conditions often.
Motor and batteries
The Delite 4 comes equipped with the top spec Bosch Motor, the Performance Line CX. It’s 250 Watts, 85Nm of torque, peaking at 600Watts. It’s a beautifully smooth motor with all the oomph you could need to get up pretty much anything when combined with the correct gearing (as described above). Via the Flow app you can configure the assistance to exactly the sort of riding you like. The Smart System now has an ‘auto’ mode, which we really like. It uses sensors and algorithms to analyze various factors such as rider input, terrain, speed, and cadence to automatically adjust the assistance level provided by the electric motor. It’s one less thing to adjust and it enables you to really enjoy the riding.
Battery-wise, the Delite 4 has superseded the Superdelite (the Superdelite is not on the new Smart System). We were concerned that those riders who want huge battery capacity were being overlooked, but the Delite 4 provides answers for these riders in a different way. It comes with a very large 750Wh battery as standard (subject to a huge variety of factors, this could give an approximate range of 40-70 miles in Eco mode), and then there’s the option of upgrading with the Powermore Range Extender Battery from Bosch that adds an extra 250Wh of battery life for a total of 1000Wh. This is very close to the capacity of a Superdelite and you could even buy two of these batteries if you were concerned about range and heading off on a very long tour. Not having another large capacity battery in the top tube makes the Delite4 feel somewhat more agile than the Superdelite, which is a plus on rough off-road trails. It’s a fairly heavy ebike at 30kg+ so this is a welcome change in this respect.
Displays
With the arrival of the Bosch Smart System comes a new range of displays. As standard, it comes with the Bosch Purion 200. This is a really ergonomic, unfussy display on the handlebars. It’s simple to use and provides all the basic information you’d want on a very clear colour display. There are two upgrades available, the Kiox 300 and 500. These are central screens (the 500 being the larger one) and give you a much bigger display. They’re easily controlled by the LED remote (which replaces the Purion 200) on the handlebars so you can ride and control the screen without loss of control. All three of the displays available work with the Bosch Flow app on a smartphone via Bluetooth so you can get turn-by-turn directions. Read about Bosch Displays here >>.Â
If you plan on doing lots of off-road riding we’d suggest upgrading to the Bosch Smart Phone Grip and then using something like Komoot for OS mapping. Watch our Delite 4 review at the top of the page to see this.
tyres, Suspension and dropper seatpost
The standard specification of the Delite 4 comes with a Suntour Mobie 34 fork and a Suntour rear shock. These are certainly very capable suspension options especially if you’re sticking to smoother trails and roads. If you plan on more challenging terrain there’s the option of the GX with Fox Suspension. This changes the tyres to the knobbly tyres (Schwalbe Johnny Watts) and upgrades the fork to a Fox fork with 140mm of travel and a Fox Float rear suspension unit. This is a fantastic upgrade and allows you to really customise the suspension to the surfaces you’re riding. In addition to the tyre and suspension upgrade you get with the GX pack, there is also the inclusion of the X-Fusion Manic dropper seatpost. You control this from the handlebars, and it gives a lot of confidence when you’re on uneven ground as well as changing your position on long rides. It’s an additional ÂŁ559, so not cheap, however we see the majority Delites being sold with this upgrade. If if just want the offroad tyres and dropper post then go for the GX pack alone which costs ÂŁ187.Â
ABS
The Delite4 is now available with the Bosch ABS 2.0 braking system at an upgrade price of ÂŁ373. This Anti anti-lock braking System works to prevent the front wheel from locking up in the event of heavy braking and can stop it from skidding out. It’s a pricey upgrade and it can’t be combined with the Fox suspension upgrade but it is proving pretty popular and we’ve tested it quite a bit on some of our bikes and found it’s pretty good in greasy/slippery conditions.  More information here >>
Racks and bags
One of the standout and most striking features of the Delite4 is the rack at the back. It’s attached to the frame, rather than the rear swing arm, and it means that the swing arm can move independently and isn’t compressed by the weight of the bags you might have on the rack. There is also the option of the front rack and bag (which can be chosen separately) at ÂŁ187 for the rack and bag. There’s ample options for taking lots of gear with you on the Delite 4.
Conclusions
We don’t have a lot of negative things to say about the Delite 4. As we mentioned in the video, depending on the sort of riding you’re planning, we think the bike would benefit from a more comfortable saddle and some more grippy pedals, but these are easy fixes.
Other than that, it’s a brilliant bike, at the top of its class and capable of pretty much anything you want it to do. Â
Watch more of the ride where Dan and Rufus rode the Delite4 and Charger4 in Snowdonia below.
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE RIESE AND MĂLLER Delite4?
- Weâre here to answer any questions, call us on 01453 834300 or email [email protected]
- Our Delite 4Test bike is in stock ready to be tested – Book a test ride.