Riese & Müller announced this week it was offering big discounts with reduced promotional prices on most of its e-bikes which use the Bosch eBike System 2 (BES2). The announcement came alongside the very exciting news of the company’s new compact cargo bike, the Carrie. These discounts amount to savings of almost £1,500 off some of Riese & Müller’s top-spec electric bikes.

The differences between these bikes and the latest models are explained further down this post.

All of the following models are now available with a 15% discount:

For clarity, any bike you see with a number immediately following its name indicates that it’s the latest generation, and therefore is not discounted. So any “Nevo” model uses BES2 and is discounted by 15%, whereas any model labelled as a “Nevo4” uses the new system and is not discounted. See more information on the different model types in our Riese & Müller buyers’ guide.

What is the Bosch eBike System 2, and how does it differ from the latest system?

Bosch’s second generation of e-bike systems has led the market for well over the past decade. Although the system has gone through various iterations and improvements, the fundamentals didn’t change until Bosch launched its Smart System in 2022.

Although it enabled a substantial step forward with e-bike technology, the Smart System was initially quite primitive in terms of features and didn’t reach feature parity with the previous system until last year. For this reason, most e-bike companies including Riese & Müller continued producing e-bikes with BES2 and only gradually introducing the new Smart System to their ranges.

Bosch’s Smart System has now developed beyond the capabilities of the previous system so they are now retiring it. The most notable improvements with the new system are:

  1. Synchronising your bike with the Bosch eBike Flow app – this enables you to carry out software updates yourself, use your smartphone as a dashboard, and provides access to a broad range of configuration options
  2. Security features including an alarm and support for Bosch’s new ConnectModule with GPS tracking
  3. Customisable riding modes and integration with new hardware additions such as Bosch’s ABS 2.0 system for e-bikes

So is it worth buying a bike with an “older” system?

The answer to this question obviously depends partly on how much the Smart System features above excite you. The Bosch eBike System 2 remains an excellent option that is still more technologically advanced than the latest systems from many other competitors on the market. Bosch has committed to continuing to support its eBike System 2 with full service support and spare parts for at least another eight years.

A series of unusual conditions have created the situation the bike industry is in at the moment. The discounts available on Riese & Müller’s BES2 e-bikes are unprecedented, and they’ll only be available until the company clears its stock of the e-bike systems.

For those who have been thinking of buying a premium e-bike, and who are happy to go without the Smart System features highlighted above, there couldn’t be a better time to make the investment.