Cowboy 3 review: The smartest electric bike ever?

 

(Pocket-lint)-The Cowboy 3 is the new iteration of the Belgian startup's striking-looking electric bike-we liked the previous version and it's been in our guide to the best electric bikes for a while. In the US, it's not yet available, but in the UK and Europe it is available.

It's an awesome bike, but it's not cheap either. However, the Cowboy 3 may be seen as favourably mid-range, considering the price of certain electric bikes from well-known brands on the market, such as Advanced or even the Brompton Electric. You can also fund your bike via the Ride to Work scheme if you are in the UK.

The evolution of the Cowboy e-bike focuses on safety and smart features in the third-gen edition - and there's some impressive tech on display. This might well be the best electric bike you could purchase, really.

Design

• Size: M-L frame only (for riders 170-195cm / 5ft6in-6ft4in tall)
• Finishes: Absolute Black, Anthracite Grey, Mineral Grey
• Aluminium frame design with integrated lights
• Mudguards sold separately
• Weight: 17kg

With a nice chunky frame that turns heads because it looks so smart, Cowboy 3 is very similar in look to the company's earlier bikes. It comes in three colours now... if you should say 'colours,' then there's black and two shades of grey now.

The bike we were sent had mudguards, important in our view, but these are a new choice for build-to-order rather than anything that can subsequently be added to (though you could always add third-party ones of course). In the box, you even get a bell!

The Cowboy 3 clocks in about 17 kg in terms of weight thanks to the aluminium frame and other lightweight materials, which ensures that when you're out of the saddle, it can be manoeuvred quickly. A Santander Cycle in London weighs about 24kgs for background.

The Cowboy sure weighs a lot less than it looks like it does. Yeah, there will be much, far less of a carbon road bike - but there's no battery or electric assist, which is where most of the weight comes from.

The front and rear lights are integrated and when you brake, a nice touch is that the brake lights get brighter.

The 360Wh 36V battery is attached to the upright and can be removed. It quickly comes off and is locked with a physical key (there are two included in the box). This implies, of course, that you can take it off for security or keep a second battery if you wish.

After the package first arrives, you need to do a bit of normal planning, such as re-orienting the handlebars, adjusting the seat and screwing on the pedals, but all the tools needed to do this are in the box. For any bike bought for delivery, this will be the case anyway, so it's just a regular part of the process.

Ride and range

• 40 miles / 70km range
• 15.5mph / 25kmph max
• Pedal assist, no throttle
• Carbon belt, disc braking
• Custom Cowboy 42mm tyres

This is simply a street bike, not an off-roader. We took it on a lot of rides and the 250W engine only really struggled to provide a very steep hill with enough lift, but it is normally good to go up moderately sized hills and power is delivered well.

As the pedal assist changes to give you the power you need, small inclines vanish and long straights whizz by (no, there's no throttle). There is also no mucky chain; instead, the bike uses a Gates CDX Carbon Belt.

Thanks to a Tektro disc braking system, braking is also reliable and efficient; you quickly gain the confidence you need to stop the bike from higher speeds.

With this variant of the Cowboy, the transmission has been improved and initial acceleration is especially prompt. It's a thrill to take off from a standing start - others who tried our Cowboy when we had it were very surprised at how fast the initial acceleration process was.

However, something from the earlier models, a quicker off-road mode, is missing from this bike. There is a 25kmph (that's 15.5mph) speed limit. It's a little disappointing, we want to admit, but it's just a normal regulation in the UK for a roadworthy e-bike. In different countries, various regulations can see this top speed vary accordingly.

Without suspension, if you're on a road surface that's less than pristine, the ride can be rough and this can shake up your hands on a country lane a little. From earlier models, the custom 42mm tyres have been improved and you may find that in those conditions you need to let off a little bit of pressure riding.

At over 70 km, one of the most impressive things about the Cowboy 3 is its range (43 miles). Actually, emptying the battery during our analysis period was a challenge. We think it'll probably be a case of charging it every weekend rather than regular for most commuters using it twice a day, depending on how far you plan to travel. The power brick for the charger is huge, so in the event of a mishap, it's not something you'll want to bring around.

There are, of course, no gears-the bike has both speed and torque sensors that calculate your cadence and ask the engine to provide the right amount of power.

Tech and features

• Auto-unlock now supported via Bluetooth
• Theft and location detection via GPS, SIM and accelerometer
• Easy Rider for Theft Detection
• Crash detection

The iOS and Android app for the Cowboy 3 bike is truly outstanding and it's a shining example of how a smart device's app should function. It naturally raises concerns, however, as to how the characteristics of an expensive daily piece of equipment such as a bike depend on the ecosystem of other vendors. Of course, Cowboy isn't alone here, but the bike loses a little bit of its charm without the app.

One of the clever new features is that when you step close to it, the bike now unlocks through Bluetooth. Your phone may be in a pocket or bag. We love this: it was immediately switched on upon entering our garage where the bike was stored and it was ready to go. When the bike locks, too, the lights still click on and automatically turn off.

It can also be a downside, however, to use your phone as a 'key'. Riding off without our computer during our test meant that the Cowboy was effectively shut down. You can always ride it, but you don't get any electrical assistance, which with only a single gear isn't ideal. So don't lend it to your dad to get the kid out of school, not unless you loan your phone too!

Of course, that's a deterrent for criminals, which is awesome, but when we had the bike, we thought there had to be an override for owners who had an empty battery on the phone. A simple power button wouldn't really work, since it could easily be turned on by a thief. Cowboy has now been in touch, however, to say that a manual override is being implemented as a firmware update. Basically, with the key, you have to remove the battery and plug it back in within 20 seconds.

At the heart of the smart features of this bike is safety. There's now integrated crash detection (also available on Cowboy 2 via a software update) which uses the aforementioned sensors as well as an accelerometer. Although we were unable to crash the bike to test this(!), Cowboy told us how to see how it worked by invoking the function.

It gives you 60 seconds to tell the app that you are OK, otherwise it will send a text (in case your phone gets broken through the bike's own SIM card) to your main contact with your current location, including a map (yes, the bike has GPS). It's close to what Garmin does, but all incorporated here, on its cycling computers.

Cowboy says the bike will make the difference between crashing and other factors that might cause the text to be sent by the feature, such as dropping the bike. Your emergency contact will, however, need to know the deal with the feature because getting the text may be very worrying.

Cowboy says the bike would make the difference between crashing and other factors, such as dropping the bike, that could cause the text to be sent by the feature. However, your emergency contact may need to know the deal with the feature, because it could be very worrying to get the text.

After you have left it alone for two minutes, this begins to secure the bike to avoid false positives (the bike can be set to auto-lock). If an unwelcome individual or, as in our case, a tradesman working in our garage pushes the bike, then the lights will flash, but there is no sound. It could also have to do with the bike emitting some kind of noise, or maybe you might receive an automated phone call? It's awesome if you see the message, because if you don't, then your bike may be long gone.

However, ongoing protection for this will cost you €96 per year as part of the Easy Rider (nice name) insurance plan offered by Cowboy. The free version enables you to 'find your bike' but doesn't send you a notification if the bike moves and doesn't include theft insurance. An alternative version of 120 euros a year adds damage protection, too. There's a regular two-year insurance plan and you can get at-home service if you're in a big city.

VerdictThe Cowboy 3 is a beautiful electric bike that when you're accelerating is exciting and inspires confidence when you're braking. The ride is beautiful and smooth on good roads and bike tracks, and things just get rough on really bumpy surfaces. The selection is, too, phenomenal.Also, the app is amazing and you'll marvel at how well it all operates. VanMoof is the main rival-we recently looked at the excellent S3-but the removable battery and additional new software features are the big benefit with the Cowboy. The Cowboy 3 is also more expensive, however. In the form of the huge Volt range as well as GTech's eBike City and Sport, cheaper (but less smart) alternatives come.Typically, when we review goods, people ask us if they're healthy. The question was slightly different this time—would we buy one? Ok, we went back inside as soon as we lifted the Cowboy 3 into the collection truck and hovered over the order page on the Cowboy website. That answers that one, therefore. It's probably the best money for an e-bike to buy right now.

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