Scott Sub Tour 30

The Sub Tour 30 is built for the rider who covers real daily distance - the commute, the school run, the weekly shop - and would rather spend that time riding than maintaining a chain. Scott swaps the usual chain and derailleur for a Gates belt and an enclosed Shimano hub gear, wraps it around a properly powerful Bosch motor system, and finishes it with the lights, mudguards, kickstand and carrier that a chain-driven hybrid usually leaves you to buy separately. It's a bike built around ownership rather than outright performance, and that shows in almost every component choice.

A belt and hub gear instead of a chain

Both current builds use a Gates CDC belt (130T) running over a guarded 46T front ring and a 32T rear sprocket, driving a Shimano Nexus Inter 5e five-speed hub with a Nexus 5 Revo shifter. The belt doesn't need chain oil, and the guarded ring keeps grease away from trouser legs, while the enclosed hub gear is presented as needing less routine attention than an exposed derailleur that can bend, need cleaning or slip out of adjustment. Five gears is fewer than a typical commuter cassette, but it's a sensible trade for the everyday, mixed-gradient riding this bike is aimed at, where reliability and low fuss matter more than a wide spread of ratios.

What the Bosch motor and 720Wh battery give you

Both builds share a Bosch Performance Line motor (BDU346Y), rated up to 75Nm, paired with a removable Bosch PowerTube 720Wh battery and controlled through a simple Bosch Purion 200 display. Charging uses the standard Bosch 2A charger from a 230V socket, so there's nothing unusual to plan for at home. The bike also carries a rated Racktime SNAPIT 2.0 rear carrier, good for 30kg and KID'n'CARRY Ready, meaning it's built to accept compatible child-seat equipment as an upgrade, even though no seat is fitted as standard. Worth understanding separately is the bike's 160kg maximum system weight, which covers the bike, rider, luggage and any accessories together rather than being a standalone rider limit, so it's the carrier rating and this combined figure that matter for loading up, not the battery capacity itself. For riders who want more range than the 720Wh battery gives on its own, Scott lists the Wave build as compatible with an optional Bosch PowerMore 250 range extender, though this is an added-cost upgrade rather than something fitted to the bike as sold.

Classic frame or Wave: what actually changes

The classic-frame build uses a conventional alloy frame with a side-extraction battery and comes in sizes S to XXL, weighing approximately 28.1kg. The Wave build swaps in a low step-through frame with a top-extraction battery, sold in sizes S to XL and weighing approximately 29.7kg. Its official UK price is £3,399; a comparable current price for the classic frame hasn't been established, so buyers weighing the two up may find that comparison harder to make directly. The choice isn't only about stepping over the frame, either: the two builds also fit different handlebars and saddles. The classic frame has a bar with 12mm rise and 15° backsweep and a 170mm Selle Royal Explora Moderate saddle, while the Wave has more rise and sweep (26mm and 30°) with a wider 195mm Explora Moderate Wide saddle, though both keep the same adjustable JD stem with SP Connect mount. That's a genuinely different riding position as well as a different mounting height, so it's worth treating the two builds as distinct fits rather than assuming Wave is simply a lowered version of the same setup.

Telling this 720Wh bike apart from older Sub Tour 30 offers

Scott has sold Sub Tour 30 and Sub Tour 30 Wave bikes with a smaller 540Wh battery and a 25kg-rated rear carrier before moving to this 720Wh specification with its 30kg carrier and different lights and cockpit. Both revisions carry the same model names, and a retailer listing showing a '2026' or '2027' tag doesn't reliably tell you which one you're looking at. The dependable way to check is the battery capacity and the carrier's rated load: 540Wh and a 25kg carrier point to the older specification at its lower £3,099 list price, while 720Wh and a 30kg carrier confirm the newer bike described here.

Add up the fitted lights, mudguards, kickstand and load-rated carrier, and the Sub Tour 30 is a bike that's ready to be used for proper errands from day one, not a base to build up afterwards - which is worth remembering when weighing its price against a bike that looks cheaper until you've added all of that yourself.