Cyclescheme is an employee benefit that saves you 26–40% on a bike and accessories. You pay nothing upfront and the payments are taken tax efficiently from your salary by your employer.
As with all the Pathlite:ON range, the 9 LTD SUV uses Bosch’s Smart System. Bosch clearly see this 'connected' system as a way of digitally future-proofing the bike, as over-the-air updates mean it has the ability for extra software to be added over time. For example, when I updated the bike software it gained enhanced navigation features that included voice commands.
The two middle levels are semi-automatic. Tour+ delivers a step up from Eco, though when the power is not needed and you are not pressing hard on the pedals it will throttle power back to Eco. Auto mode aims to keep your speed the same, whatever the riding conditions and will be a little heavier on the battery.
Stopping was equally impressive. Descending my local 25% plus cycle path gradient and using the front brake to the max, I could actually feel the ABS locking on and off extremely quickly to provide smooth and controlled braking. The ABS comes with preset software according to the bike it's used on. The Pathlite uses the ‘Allroad’ setting, but there are also cargo and e-MTB options which are presumably more aggressively set to cope with the bigger loads in those applications.
The electronic locking worked well, as did the proximity smartphone auto-unlock feature - but this can be turned off if you don't trust yourself to always have a charged up smartphone handy. I would have liked a more alarming and louder tone for the alarm though. It sounded a bit like a lorry reversing and wouldn't necessarily attract too much attention.