Trek Allant +8S Review | A Seeeeeeriously Dialed-In Ride, But Is It Worth The Price Tag?
This is the elant plus 8s which is the mid-tier option of tx’s top-of-the-line commuter ebike and it includes some really cool Tech as part of its Bosch drive system so how does it feel and function on the road Let’s Take a Ride and find Out Hey everyone I’m John with electric bike report we’ve got a lot to talk about today but before we get started please make sure that you’re subscribed to the channel and that you also have notifications turned on this makes sure you don’t miss any of the reviews that
We post a couple times every week so you can make the best decision when you’re shopping for an ebike so the elant plus is one of three electric commuter bikes in TX lineup there are four different trim packages for this bike Each of which come in two frame styles but we’ll
Be talking strictly about this version which is the high step 8s model one of the big highlights for me was the Bosch drive system which includes a 250 W performance line speed mid- Drive motor this motor felt really powerful and it could bring the bike up to its class 3
Speed limit of 28 m per hour and it’s also really smooth so if it wasn’t for the slight whine that I heard when the motor was working it would have been pretty easy to forget I was actually riding an ebike another element that separates the elant plus from many other
Commuters on the market is its ability to pair with Bosch’s kobe. bike app this acts as the bike’s dashboard which also connects to your favorite music navigation Fitness and ride tracking apps so you have control over all of those aspects of your riding experience from a central location apps that pair
With your ebike are not uncommon but this one Felt Like A step above so I’ll actually walk you through the entire app and its functionality a little bit later in the review another one of the first things that jumped out to me was just this bike’s overall solid and stable
Feel it also seemed really maneuverable and agile which was a combination I didn’t expect from a bike that weighs 57 lb but the rigid fork and the 27 1/2 in X 2.4 in tires made a big difference in the bike’s overall handling those tires are the E6 hard case light model from
Bond Trier which is owned by treack and they’re just one or two of the huge number of Bon Trier Parts on the bike those include the 600 or 660 mm handlebars depending on frame size as well as the commuter comp saddle the comp seat post the satellite Elite
Rubber grips the city pedals and other components like the stem the wheel hubs Etc I’ll run through the rest of the components here but I do want to point out that there are a handful of parts with different but comparable options listed on the bike spec sheet I’ll talk
About the parts on our test bike here but just know that if you buy an elant Plus 8 s you may need to contact Trek directly to know what specific components you’ll be getting the bike’s Bosch drive system also includes the 36volt battery which is removable and has a
625w capacity that’s pretty substantial in relation to the motor’s nominal wattage and it means that the bike can stay out for long rides between charges stay tuned for specifics on that in our range test section A little bit later on but let’s keep moving the 8S comes with a 10-speed mostly Shimano drivetrain
With a Dior shifter and derer and a 46 to Pro whee chain ring ours had a 10 to 42 to Dior cassette the hydraulic brake system here is the four piston Orion model from tekro with 180 mm rotors there are front and rear fenders included as well as a
Cargo rack with a 31lb carrying capacity the rear fender includes a tiny pulsating tail light there’s a 500 Lumen LED headlight up front and while there wasn’t a way to turn the lights off we did have the ability to switch between a high and low beam with one of the
Modules on the left handlebar the cockpit here is pretty interesting the bike includes a basic black and white display that’s recessed behind a spring-loaded universal phone mount the Bosch app allows your smartphone to be used as a full color display and the six button control panel on the left
Handlebar SN LS with the app so you have easy access to all of its functions but to wrap this section up the elant plus 8s is UL 2849 compliant it’s available in two color options matte metallic gunmetal and the lithium gray that we have here and since pricing changes so
Much we’ll leave a link down in the video description so you can see what’s current but for now let’s move on and talk about the bike’s test Results we tested the Tetro hydraulic brake system on the 8S by pedaling up to 20 mph hitting the brakes and measuring the distance the bike took to stop we repeated the process three times and averaged all the results to get a stopping distance of 21 FT 1 in this is
A simply excellent result in general that also happens to be better than average when compared to similar commuter bikes we’ tested that current average is 21 ft 10 in the difference here largely comes down to the fact that these are four piston brakes and some of the better ones tekro offers brakes of
This caliber are relatively uncommon among the commuters we’ve tested and most of the time they show up on fat tire bikes mountain bikes or cargo bikes so Tre went above and beyond by including a really effective system here just going by feel from my personal
Testing I felt like I could stop on a dime with these brakes and they kept the bike firmly under my control even when I was bombing down a couple of steep hills they had really good modulation and overall stopping power so it’s pretty easy for me to give the 8S a very solid
Two thumbs up in our break Test I rode the elant plus 8s on our local bike paths in each of its pedalist settings to see how fast it could go with a consistent level of effort let’s go out together for a speed test and we’ll meet back here shortly to talk about about the
Results all right we are here on the Trek alant plus 8s to do a speed test and I pedaling here with no help from the motor by the bike’s display going around 13 mph going by this app that we’ve been using around uh I don’t know 11 and 1/2
12 something like that so we’ll go by the bike but uh so peak of we at about 13 and 1/2 here right now actually let’s go up to eco mode you can hear that motor kicking right away very smooth pretty subtle definitely still feels like a normal
Bike just with a little extra you know push uh little easier on the pedaling let’s move up to or I’m sorry we’re looking at about 14 and 1/2 maybe up to 15 mph here I’ll jump up to tour mode so second Pas setting pedling is noticeably Easier and you know just very smooth here almost doesn’t feel like I’m riding an ebike but easily getting up to about 19 mph here 19 on the dot a little over now let’s go ahead and jump up to sport mode I’m trying to keep my level of effort pretty consistent here
So we can observe you know the differences between settings this is a class 3 ebike so we are you know pretty easily getting up here over 22 mph about 22 and 1/2 and then let’s jump jump up to the final mode which is Turbo give it all she’s got going to shift up
Again and again kind of trying to dial in with the same level of effort here going a little over 25 mph 25.2 so we’ll call that our speed test on the TR elant plus 8s so the 8S uses a mid Drive motor with a torque sensor to detects how much
Effort you’re putting in which is why that consistent and moderate level of effort was so important the speeds I measured are going to be fairly average so if you’re pedaling harder or softer than I was you’ll probably have slightly different results I was able to go faster than I expected without any help
From the motor up to 13.4 mph the elant plus has four pedal assist settings so when I moved up through those I hit 14.7 mph in eco mode 19 .2 in tour mode 22.4 in sport and 25.2 mph in Turbo when looking at that data in a graph the
Speeds I recorded showed a really even distribution of power which made a lot of sense with how the bike felt when I was riding it each of the assist settings felt distinct so there was a noticeable power difference between them that made the ride faster and easier as
I stepped up into the next highest setting I liked that the different power levels just felt right and I also like that the bike could reach 28 mph right out of the box obviously I didn’t hit that limit in this test with a moderate level of effort but the bike definitely
Had no trouble getting there with a little bit more work bottom line I think the 8S did a great job here and I had a lot of fun with how fast the bike could go if I really wanted it To we took the elant plus 8s out on our local paths another time for two separate range tests we rode the bike in turbo mode and then again in eco mode until it ran out of charge to get an idea of its minimum and maximum range So
Based on these tests you should expect somewhere between 29.8 and 74.8 mil on a single charge depending on your environment and how you ride now Tre doesn’t advertise a range for this bike but if we compare our data to the other commuter style ebikes we’ve tested the
8S came in towards the middle that’s not to say that there’s anything lacking in these results I actually think it did a really good job here but we’ve had a handful of outliers in this category that have way overperformed so those bikes skewed the data a little bit more
Than we expected it is worth pointing out that the motor and Battery pairing were a little less efficient than we commonly see on ebikes with mid drives based on the motor and battery specs we had about 35% less time and 46% fewer miles than we expected overall though
The neighborhood of 30 to 75 m is really solid and I think that makes sense for a commuter bike that might need to cover a lot of ground on a daily basis for those who do need even more though Tre offers a separate external range boost battery
That mounts to the down tube with an extra 500 wat hours which translates to an 80% increase in total capacity as always I’m going to pass you over to Justin for our Hill test he pedal the elant plus 8s up The Path at hellhole
Trail in turbo mode to see how much of a difference the motor would make take a look at his experience and I’ll see you back here soon we are are at hellhole with the truck Al plus 8s this has the Bosch performance Speedline mid Drive motor
Which is a 250 W Motor 600 Peak um and really curious to see how this feels the bike Peds much more like a normal bike um and wanted to see how much effort to get up this hill so right now we’re at about 8 m hour 8.6 and feels pretty powerful I’m not
Trying to push this too hard myself I know I could go faster but with these midrive motors I always try to kind of put them the same amount of effort um let the motor do a bit of it but obviously it’s going to amplify what I put in right so so far going
Up this feels good A lot of times these kind of City commuter bikes act the mid drives end up being underpowered on Hills um and I’m not as big of a fan but I really like the feel of this motor so far um we’ll see what the results come in at but
I I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say you’ll be able to climb Hills and kind of feel just more like a you know Pro Lev cyclist the you know BOS is very well known with their Motors you do have that
Wine that I hear you know it it’s like a higher pitched wine but it does kind of Fade to the background you forget about it other than that very smooth very good motor all the way around so go to the tape and see how it did so with no throttle on the elant
Plus Justin only had to do one test here and you could see him pedaling pretty casually but still very easily making it up to the top of the hill his time there was 1 minute and 43 seconds and he was able to keep an average speed of 10.5
Mph so an interesting thing there the data once again shows the 8S coming in pretty average in terms of time and speed when when compared to similar bikes we’ve tested but we all had the opinion that this bike felt a bit more powerful than average I tested the ads
At a secondary location near the office and had a very similar experience again even with this bike having a mid-d drive motor that requires some effort I was really surprised by how pleasant and easy it felt to Pedal up a steep hill we attribute the bike’s overall feel to the
Bosch drive system here the 250 W Motor kicks out 85 newm of torque and Peaks at 600 watts and Bosch claims that it returns 340% of the effort that you put in we can’t exactly verify that but I can tell you that you won’t have any problems when it comes to climbing Hills let’s go out for another ride on the elant plus 8s to talk about the basic elements of its ride quality and then we can come back here for a little bit more detail all right we are back on the Tre Al plus 8s to give you a sense
Of what it’s like to ride and this is of course a commuter Style ebike with a mostly upright riding position a little bit of a forward lean but you know it’s still very comfortable not too aggressive there are uh technically four frame sizes split across the two frame styles and together those
Accommodate Riders from 5’1 up to 6’6 and that’s good that’s very important to find the frame size that does fit you best you have some adjustment in your saddle height with the c poost and of course the rails on the saddle to adjust your reach a tiny
Bit but you know if you want any major changes to your handlebar height or your reach you’d need to look at adding spacers or swapping out the stem for something else uh this is a standard style stem there is no suspension on this version of the bike this is the rigid alloy
Frame on the 8S but I’ve got to give some credit to the tires here 27 1/2 INX 2.4 in tires these are the bond Trier E6 hard case light model so with that width you get you know good stability when you’re riding and maneuvering and you can also ride with a little bit
Lower pressure to kind of help absorb some vibrations which you know makes a big difference on stuff like this where the the pavement is a little bit rougher and then we need to talk about the motor that is a 250 W mid drive from Bosch it is the performance line speed
Model and of course that uses a torque sensor to detect how much pressure you’re applying to the pedals but it also delivers power really smoothly and consistency consistently excuse me so you know it can still detect changes to your pedaling but it’s not all over the
Place in terms of how much power it’s spitting out if that makes sense but anyway let’s bounce back to the studio and talk about those things and a little bit more so as I mentioned there are three frame sizes and two frame styles for the elant plus 8s there’s the high
Step version that we have here which comes in medium large and extra large for Riders between 5’5 and 6’6 and then the step through or stagger version comes in small medium and large with a height range of 5’1 to 6’1 I’m 5’11 and I was right in the
Middle of the size range for the large frame and I’ve got to say the fit seemed absolutely perfect to go into a bit more detail on the Bosch drive system the motor’s feel was really consistent which differs from some other high-end mid drives that amplify very small changes
In your pedaling I noticed that this performance line Speed Motor kind of Smooths out the extremes so you end up with a really steady output that’s still able to adjust and respond to your effort the kobe. bike app is worth diving into a little deeper as well it’s
One of the more functional apps I’ve seen so I actually want to go back out one last time on the and walk you through its features let’s go check it out okay we are back again on the Tre elant plus 8s wanted to do something a little bit different and kind of walk
You through the kobe. bike app as I’m actually riding and and using it uh you know we can do a screen grab at the same time so you can see what’s going on but doing that in the studio doesn’t have quite the same effect so here I’ve got
The dashboard pulled up where you can see kind of your standard array of ride data speedometer got an average speed trip time and distance uh battery charg level with an estimated range based on that as well as a clock and a uh thermometer so current temperature reading but as you move through your
Pedalist settings like this sport 34 M range it gives you an update of your estimated range based on the battery level and then on the right hand side of the screen is kind of where all the action happens this is the navigation section so if I go into the
Expanded view for that I can swap between a 3D View and sort of a top down view zoom in and out to kind of see where I am in the world and then uh there is if I was stopped there’s a a way to plan a route and then it gives
You turn BYT navigation in that also includes a compass so you know know what direction you’re going in but let’s go back to the main area contact next is contact so you can sync up to 10 contacts with this app and have access to them uh you can make calls if you
Have bluetooth earbuds and if you have addresses listed for those contacts you can actually uh pull that up quickly in the navigation section as well but I’m not going to go into the full screen view cuz then it just starts calling and I don’t want to do that right now but
Um next is the music function which syncs with apple music Spotify audible all that stuff and if we go in there we can you know scroll through our tracks we can play and pause as needed and uh you know nice to have quick access to that without using a different
App and then finally yes the fitness side of things here where uh you’re keeping track of a few different things here if I had a smartwatch it would show my heart rate right now I have it kind of focusing on my Cadence which Uh current Cadence at the top average
Cadence at the bottom and then uh sort of a uh measure of that at the ring around the center there and then also the power output of the bike in uh Watts here with again a current and an average there so so all together very functional
Nice Hub of all your your apps your ride data really expands the versatility and functionality of this bike so let’s call it there and uh go back to the studio so I love that app but I would like to see a sturdier phone mount in the future
Although that’s less of a trek thing and more of a note for Bosch the top section of the mount is kind of a spring-loaded clamp that felt kind of flimsy and in fact it did break during our testing so I ended up having to use a separate
Phone mount I mentioned earlier that the light system is always on which our contacted track told us was an intentional choice for safety as long as your local bike shop Services Bosch systems though you can take your bike in and have that changed if you prefer to
Be able to activate or deactivate the lights one final area of critique is the absence of brake lights I’m a big stickler for safety and while I appreciate that this tail light kind of pulsates for visibility I think it’s important to be able to communicate better with other people on the road
Especially on a class 3 bike turn signals would be a great addition as well but brake lights would be a really solid starting point criti aside I think the elant plus offers a genuinely elevated ride feel part of that comes down to the bike’s construction and the
Use of great components but the user interface also made it feel like way more than just just a bike this is a true electric vehicle with a lot of the same functionality that you’d get in a car and I think that’s just really Cool it’s pretty clear at this point that the elant plus 8s did a great job of fulfilling its role as a commuter ebike it absolutely met our expectations in terms of measurable performance and at the same time it delivered a more premium feel and greater functionality
Than we expected in places it might have seemed fairly ordinary on paper but there was a noticeable difference between our data and my experiences in those instances for example the 8S was fairly average at climbing Hills when going by the numbers while in fact it felt a bit more powerful than average
When I was actually on the bike that premium feel definitely exists here and in my mind that is the thing that matters most that is exactly why we explain our testing but also bring it back to a personal level after we spend a good chunk of time in the saddle
Bottom line if you’re looking for a Dependable comfortable Nimble and high-tech ebike with an absolute ton of functionality between all of the apps that you rely on on a daily basis I think you’ll really love the elant plus 8s there really is something different about bikes like this from a legacy
Brand like track and I happily give it two very solid thumbs up if you think the 8S is the bike for you you can make a purchase through our affiliate link to tx’s website down in the video description and if you want to dive into a bit more detail please check out the
Other link to our written review as well don’t forget to like And subscribe and please let us know if you have any questions but thanks for watching again I’m John with electric bike report and this is the Tre alant plus 8s
For current pricing on the Trek Allant+ 8s, click the link below:
https://ebrdeals.com/ebr-Trek-AllantPlus8S
For a full detailed written review of the Trek Allant+ 8s, click the link below:
https://electricbikereport.com/trek-allant-plus-review/
Trek’s 8s is the rigid-frame, high-capacity version of the brand’s Allant+ electric commuter bike. We couldn’t wait to try it out! We share our thoughts in this Trek Allant+ 8s review.
The bike includes a Bosch Performance Line Speed mid-drive motor with 250W of nominal output. This motor can bring the Allant+ up to 28 mph confidently using smooth, steady power.
The Bosch drive system also pairs with the brand’s COBI.BIKE app that expands the bike’s functionality. It allows the rider to use their phone as a display, granting access to music, navigation, fitness and ride data, and more through a single central hub.
These high-end and high-tech components give the Allant+ 8s a truly refined feel, with excellent handling to boot. The bike felt solid, well-built, and stable while offering great maneuverability and a spirited ride.
To learn more about the bike, watch our Trek Allant+ 8s review!
0:00 Trek Allant+ 8s Review
00:42 Trek Allant+ 8s – Overview
05:26 Trek Allant+ 8s – Brake Test
06:41 Trek Allant+ 8s – Speed Test
10:49 Trek Allant+ 8s – Range Test
12:27 Trek Allant+ 8s – Hill Test
15:42 Trek Allant+ 8s – Ride Quality
24:05 Conclusion
#trek #allantplus8s #electricbikereview
