EXPERT TESTED PRODUCTS PERFECT FIT

VARSITY BLUES Form meets function with the classic-looking Varsity e-bike from Quella

- 

Most electric bikes these days are very obviously electric. Large down-tube-mounted battery packs, bulbous bottom brackets housing electric motors and handlebar-mounted control panels all tend to scream 'e-bike’. Not so the Quella Varsity Electric Bicycle. Despite being up there with some of the best electric bikes, due to its sleek, stylish and minimal design, it can easily be mistaken for a regular pedal bike. But there's a lot more to Quella's e-bike range than meets the eye.

Design

The Quella Varsity Electric bike comes in four distinctly academia-inspired designs: the dark blue Oxford, the light blue Cambridge, the silver Imperial and the grey Edinburgh. Thanks to the steel-framed, single-speed design, the aptly named Varsity wouldn't look out of place on the cobbled streets of any of these university cities. Each coloured bike shares an identical spec, and each can be bought in the bull-horn handlebar ‘Courier’ model or the more upright riser-bar ‘Classic’ variety. My light blue Cambridge came with riser bars, which I've always found better for handling.

The main reason the Varsity could pass itself off as a regular bike is that the motor and battery are both housed inside the rear hub. There's no control panel either; instead the bike's three motor-assist modes - eco, turbo and turbo custom - can all be controlled from the companion Zehus app on your phone.

The 4130 chromo steel Quella Varsity Electric comes in four frame sizes: 51cm, 54cm, 58cm and 61cm. The smallest two sizes weight 13.9kg fully built; the larger two weigh 15.2kg. It's a simple and light enough design that I was able to take it up two flights of stairs to store it without working up a sweat.