December 10, 2020 - Gravel bikes are on many cyclists’ wish list as they excel in a wide variety conditions while offering new road adventure opportunities, which is part of their allure.
Now imagine a gravel bike with a built-in tailwind, which personifies the iGO Aspire Camillien, and let your imagination take over.
The Aspire Camillien has the look of a regular gravel bike but comes neatly equipped with a Bafang 250-watt rear hub motor that supplies pedal assist to help you navigate virtually any gravel roads.
The oversized downtube, which is the norm on most bikes these days, houses the 36volt/375Wh battery with seemless integration into the frame. This slick looking gravel bike is not easy to identify as an e-bike for the average person.
The Aspire Camillien features four power levels that are easily controlled by a handlebar-mounted compact computer. The power levels offer smooth progressive transitions to higher levels of increased assist.
The iGO Connect app allows you to control the bike with your smart phone as you would with the on-bike computer. Watts and power-assist levels are notable readings that are displayed along with an odometer, speedometer and actual volts. An update option can be added to the app, which allows you to access any new additions that the iGO R&D team dreams up.
The components on the Aspire Camillien deliver quality performance while keeping the price competitive.
Featuring Shimano’s affordable 9-speed Sora drive train for both front and rear derailleurs, the STI shift/brake levers are married to a set of cable-actuated TRP hydraulic disc brakes.
The aluminum seat post, handlebar, stem and pedals are all iGO-branded including the seat and handlebar tape. All preformed well and their black colour scheme looked great with the frame.
The bottom bracket features a 3-piece Autorq design that helps adjust the power of the rear motor depending on up to 45 Nm of torque input. It uses a square taper to the axel and is matched to a set of alloy cranks.
The wheelset is a combination of alloy rims dressed with WTB Resolute 700×42 tires to keep you rolling for hours.
The frame includes a number of features that make it great for gravel or road adventures, and jaunts around town. The battery locks in place for safekeeping and there are two bottle cage spots with one on the seat tube as usual, and another on the underside of the top tube. There are also rack and fender mounts for those bike packing trips on your bucket list.
The Aspire Camillien makes gravel riding fun and I found myself planning routes so I could maximize my time on the rough stuff. The WTB tires really helped smooth out the roughness on your typical gravel road and even in bumpier conditions the bike held tight and tracked well. The 42mm tires also rolled smoothly on pavement and held well in corners.
The Bafang 250-watt motor delivered a smooth feel of engagement when accelerating and helped to keep the bike moving forward on gravel surfaces even in deep sections. The Camillien handles all types of gravel well with no squirrely feel from the rear end.
In the city, this e-bike was equally at home. Cornering felt crisp, and the extra weight of the battery in the downtube, and the motor in the rear hub, is balanced for solid handling. Even at power level one, the e-bike’s 18.3 kg weight (on my scale) didn’t slow the ride down. And the Camillien also accelerated well out of turns.
On climbs, the pedal assist really offers a tailwind feel and helped to push me over the top of the climbs. On descents, the weight makes the e-bike track a little faster than a regular bike. The TRP disc brakes do an excellent job of slowing things down as needed.
The iGO Aspire Camillien delivers impressive value for an e-gravel bike that can handle a multitude of riding conditions and just about any adventure you can throw at it.
The MSRP is $2,599 and for more information please visit here.
