Bosch 2017: New Purion-Display, Nyon Update and Compact Charger
At an exclusive industry event Bosch were kind enough to offer us a sneak peek at their new products for 2017, including the all-new Bosch Purion computer and compact charger. As the E-MTB market continues to grow, the industry leading Bosch have also stepped up their game to present some exciting new revelations – although their Performance CX motor remains unchanged.
Bosch Purion bar-mounted computer
The new Purion bike computer from Bosch features a minimal display and doubles as a remote control unit. Sharing a virtually identical list of functions as the bigger, field-proven Intuvia computer, Bosch are now targeting performance-orientated e-bikers who value practicality and a compact size. In the absence of a left-sided gear lever as it’s just a 1x drivetrain, the Purion is mounted on the left side of your bars.
With the dual-function plus and minus buttons, riders can switch between the levels of support (off, eco, tour, sport, turbo), as well navigating through the various screens by holding the minus button for longer. This reveals your speed, total kilometres ridden, range remaining and distance. Holding down the plus button works to switch the light on or off. The Purion computer also reveals when the next service check should be carried out by a specialist retailer – providing they’ve set this up when you purchased the bike.
Our impression of the Purion Display
It’s never going to be easy to design something to appease serious, more ambitious riders. Up until now the Intuvia computer has been criticized extensively by E-MTBers for its exposed and vulnerable position on the bars (with scratches as a result), so the new Purion computer is a vast improvement on this thanks to its more compact design, which not only improves the sensation of using it but also limits potential damage during crashes. So while we can’t fault the size of the Purion, we can comment that compared directly to Shimano’s or ROTWILD’s offerings, the Purion is still fairly large – meaning it is no rival for those competitors when it comes to ergonomics or user-friendliness. Alongside the Bosch launch in Reutlingen we had chance to test the Purion computer on the trails in Flims, Switzerland. We rotated the computer quite significantly towards the back to create a fairly natural movement for our thumbs to use the plus button. Unfortunately, the Purion’s handling didn’t live up to the Intuvia’s more organic shape and well-defined buttons. Definitely a step in the right direction, the Purion’s ergonomics are certainly acceptable but it is let down by its sharper edges and steep angles of the buttons. We were definitely pleased to see that all the information on the screen is easy to spot from any angle.
Bosch Compact Charger
A further new addition to the Bosch portfolio is the Compact Charger, which should add more flexibility to your rides thanks to its lighter and more compact nature than the standard charger. Bosch have defined the advantages as a 200 g reduction in weight and 40 % reduction in volume. Moreover, the charger has been designed without ventilation slits, so it’ll be far less vulnerable to dust. The Compact Charger is compatible with all of the Bosch products, including the Active range, Performance range and Performance CX, as well any batteries from the Classic+ collection (combined with the Charger Adaptor). However, it’s important to note that those huge weight savings do result in double the charging time – instead of 3.5 hours, you can expect the Compact Charger to reach full charge after around 6.5 hours.
Bosch Nyon Update
After its initial launch two years ago, the Nyon bike computer has been revised and Bosch have found the cure for those pesky diseases that blighted its infancy. Last year saw a new memory card introduced that could store more maps, and now Bosch have further expanded its connectivity and functionality to render an additional GPS device on your bars superfluous. The newest model can both import and export GPX files, and also features certain gaming and social media components to make the user experience even more dynamic and ‘sociable.’ The ebike-connect.com website has received a fresh lick of paint, offering a huge range of information and diagrams for post-ride analysis, including the percentage you’ve used each pedal assist mode during the ride. The site is highly reminiscent of GarminConnect and Strava, which hints at Bosch’s intentions to create its own community. Are we set to see some competition then? Perhaps to a certain extent, as the website does have its own USP as it is able to read and extract the motor’s data, it could become a practical all-in-one alternative to Garmin and Strava.
The new Nyon is also capable of accounting for the route’s topography and altitude profile when determining the range remaining. The algorithms consider various parameters, including the current level of pedal assist and the rider’s performance. The result is a sort of fried egg-style image which reveals the radius of the range remaining alongside the current state of the battery. This is a pretty vital step from Bosch and sees the Nyon evolve from purely delivering information to becoming more of an active assistant during the ride, not too dissimilar from the Specialized Mission Control app. The time it takes to boot up the computer, however, hasn’t changed with the latest version of the Nyon.
Bosch DualBattery
Good news for long-distance e-bikers as Bosch are bringing the DualBattery to the OEM market. The two batteries can be used side by side with a Y cable. This is currently not available for after-market buyers as it’s still prohibited to carry out these frame modifications.
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Words & Photos: Robin Schmitt
