Review: LeMond Prolog

The best product is usually the one that provokes an immediate, visceral, emotional response. It doesn’t matter how well anything works, or how well priced it is—be it a dongle, a phone, or a pair of headphones—if you are not sufficiently motivated to open the box and use it.

You can create an emotional response in a number of ways, but for an e-cyclist, Greg LeMond’s Prolog hits all the right marks. It’s a spectacularly beautiful (and spectacularly expensive), lightweight carbon-fiber electric bicycle. It has a hybrid, lean-over frame with straight handlebars, a 250-watt rear-hub Mahle drivetrain, and an 11-speed Shimano GRX gravel-specific gearing system. And in LeMond himself, it also has a compelling backstory.

It is beautiful, lightweight, and amazingly fun to ride, but it stands out from the electric bicycle field for a number of reasons, so much that it’s very hard for me to recommend that the average person shopping for an ebike buy this one. But if you are a bike person who wants an ebike, this is the one you should probably buy.

Let’s back up here and talk about packaging. Most high-end bikes don’t come direct-to-consumer. These are expensive, powerful machines that can hurt you really badly if something goes wrong, so a lot of manufacturers want to protect their reputation by working with reputable, affiliated retailers and mechanics to hand their bikes off.

When I've gotten direct-to-consumer bicycles, it’s been hit or miss. Sometimes they arrive in great shape, but if the bike costs under $1,000, it usually doesn’t. Forks arrive horrendously bent, or the mangled gearing dangles out of a stab wound in the side of the cardboard. 

Then the manufacturer tells you, “We don’t have any left in stock, so you can either repair that one yourself, or you can mummify the box in duct tape, schedule your own FedEx pickup, and not get a replacement for three months.” It's annoying—not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything.

It’s a remarkable act of trust in both FedEx and the customer that LeMond designed his own packaging to ship a $4,500 bike direct-to-consumer, without a mechanic to do things like check the brakes. In terms of protection and ease of opening—just slide the pre-tuned bike out, and the steps and equipment are clearly labeled—it’s way ahead of the pack. The only packaging I’ve seen that even comes close is VanMoof’s.

However, it does behoove you to know a little bit about bikes. I followed the instructions and put it together, down to wiggling the little reflectors into the spokes. But when I proudly hopped on and rode down the street, the seat immediately went craaack. I had forgotten to adjust and tighten the angle of the seat, which, in my defense, is not something that you normally think about with an ebike. When a motor is doing most of the work, you can usually get away with less-than-ideal ergonomic conditions.

The bike has a 250-watt Mahle rear-hub motor with a 36-V Panasonic battery. It’s not the most powerful motor you’ll find in the US, which sets the legal limit at 750 watts, but it’s plenty when the bike weighs only 26 pounds. In comparison, the next lightest bike that I’ve tried is the Specialized Turbo Vado SL, which weighed 33 pounds.

If you’ve never used a Mahle system, perhaps the biggest difference between that and the Bosch system is that the bike doesn’t have an integrated onboard display. Instead, you turn it on and toggle up and down with assistance levels via a button on the frame, or via Bluetooth with Mahle’s Ebikemotion app.

The bike has integrated monocoque carbon-fiber handlebars that reduce its weight, but which unfortunately don’t work with the cheap phone clamps that I have. (My colleague Julian recommends a Peak Design one in his guide to the Best iPhone Accessories.) 

I used my Apple Watch display to verify that I did, indeed, push the bike pretty easily up to 20 mph (that’s plenty fast for me!), and I did find that my rides were consistent with the stated 45-mile range. However, it’s worth noting that I had the smallest frame and also am pretty small myself, so your mileage may vary.

I was pretty skeptical that ebikes needed to be this light. Unlike, say, on a racing bike, you’re not using your legs to power your bike along. A motor means you can carry more weight. In fact, most manufacturers are moving in the opposite direction—making bikes ever bigger and heavier to support more cargo, with fat tires, step-through frames, and integrated racks and baskets.

Big, heavy bikes are useful as car substitutes. However, having an extremely light ebike gave me some advantages that I’d forgotten about. The obvious one is battery power. When I misjudge and forget to charge a 65-pound bike, I definitely notice it on the ride home. That's much less of a concern with a lighter bike.

I also find light bikes to be much easier and more fun to ride. Balancing on and getting a 65-pound bike started takes a lot of effort, especially if it doesn't have a throttle. On some heavier bikes, I need to be moving over 10 mph to feel comfortable and for my forward momentum to counteract the bike’s weight. That isn't always possible on crowded paths or in my residential neighborhood. 

You wouldn't hand a preschooler a 30-pound bike to learn how to ride, so it makes less sense to me to hand a newbie biker a 65-pound bike. On a lighter bike, it's easier to lift over curbs; you don't worry about it falling on you, and you can go whatever speed you want. It's also easier to maneuver on varied terrain. I spent a pleasant morning riding on mixed single-track, dirt, and gravel. The Prolog and I glided along, shifting through the full range of gears with assist as we tackled ruts, tree roots, and steep short hills.

At $4.500, this bike is a pretty hard sell under any circumstances. There are so many other more affordable and more utilitarian options handy. As a competitor to the VanMoofs, the Prolog is more expensive. The VanMoofs also have Bluetooth tracking options, including full integration with Apple. Specialized’s bikes ride almost as well, are cheaper, and have a bigger retailer and mechanic network.

In general, I prefer a cheaper daily commuter, so that I’m not heartbroken when—not if—it’s stolen. And if you want to ride recreationally—well, I have both an analog mountain bike and a gravel bike for that. I don't really need an e-commuter for tooling around on weekend rides. 

There is, however, one very good reason to buy this bike, and that’s if it makes your heart sing. The Prolog does this to every bike person I know, including me. 

“Hmmm,” said my friend, who is both a grouch and a weekend cyclocross racer, as she took in the gravel-specific gearing system, the sleek handlebars, and the premium proprietary carbon fiber wheelset. “If I were to ever get an ebike, it would probably be this one.”

If you’re a cyclist who, for whatever reason, can’t quite keep up with the peloton like you once did—whether you’ve fallen out of shape, you’re recovering from injury, or getting older—the Prolog is a bike that will fit all your needs. You can put it on a rack or in the back of your car, and you won't feel like an idiot for taking it on a weekend ride on a variety of terrain. 

I didn’t think it would be possible for a bike to be even more fun to ride than the aforementioned Specialized, but this one is. It will be really hard to let my tester go.