Gran Camino and Wisper 905 crossbar

[Forest Rider]

Hello everyone, I would appreciate your advice.

At the moment my bike is a Trek Roscoe 6 and my riding is predominantly on forest tracks.

I am in my 70’s and now find the hills in the forest to be extremely daunting. To be truthful I’ve always found them daunting. So after seeing most riders shoot past me, many on predominantly crank driven electric bikes, I have decided to sell my Roscoe 6 and buy electric.

I find the Crank driven bikes with torque drive to be very nice but very expensive, so after browsing this site I’ve gathered that the Gran Camino and Wisper 905 are both bikes that are well respected and reasonably priced. That’s of course if they are available.

So could I ask you with respect to these bikes whether the cadence drive and rear hub motor will handle the hilly terrain and gravelly tracks.

I’m also led to believe there are less maintenance issues with rear hub cadence drives. Is that considered true with these bikes

On a personal note, I’m 5’-9” and about 9.5 stone so I suppose I’m at the lower limit for these bikes

I’d appreciate any advice on offer and do realise that what I ask is probably in plain site elsewhere on the forum. I did however want it specifically for these bikes.

 

[Forest Rider]

Sorry my wife just said I’m nearer 5’-8” not 5’-9”. I trust my wife.

 

[AndyBike]

Trek Roscoe 6

I love Trek's description - "a suspension fork that soaks up the big bumps and roots "

That is until the back wheel finds those same big bumps and roots and it feels like you've been sexually assaulted by your saddle

Going from hardtail to full suspension is a joy.

What's your budget ?. As fulls Suss Ebikes are coming down in price and the lower end spec wise while not great can be at least a starting point for a few upgrades. OR even retaining the Trek and swopping some bits over can make the difference between a so so bike and something youre at least happy with.

 

[Forest Rider]

I agree with you regards the hard ride trek; both in the saddle area and the hands. I had thought of the conversion but I would still have to cope with that hence the change of bike.

 

[walob]

Hello everyone, I would appreciate your advice.

At the moment my bike is a Trek Roscoe 6 and my riding is predominantly on forest tracks.

I am in my 70’s and now find the hills in the forest to be extremely daunting. To be truthful I’ve always found them daunting. So after seeing most riders shoot past me, many on predominantly crank driven electric bikes, I have decided to sell my Roscoe 6 and buy electric.

I find the Crank driven bikes with torque drive to be very nice but very expensive, so after browsing this site I’ve gathered that the Gran Camino and Wisper 905 are both bikes that are well respected and reasonably priced. That’s of course if they are available.

So could I ask you with respect to these bikes whether the cadence drive and rear hub motor will handle the hilly terrain and gravelly tracks.

I’m also led to believe there are less maintenance issues with rear hub cadence drives. Is that considered true with these bikes

On a personal note, I’m 5’-9” and about 9.5 stone so I suppose I’m at the lower limit for these bikes

I’d appreciate any advice on offer and do realise that what I ask is probably in plain site elsewhere on the forum. I did however want it specifically for these bikes.

I bought the Gran Camino couple of months ago and this bike can handle any trail, hill gravel roads, but, I do miss a mid motor. I had a Brose mid with a Gates belt drive and was built like a tank, could climb any hill with ease, but sold it as the back wheel removal was a pita! and bought the Gran Camino. Easy? Too easy as I feel I’m not getting the exercise and I’m looking to get back to a mid drive. Mid drives expensive you ask, yes, I had a Kalkhoff for 7 years before some little scrote decided to pinch it! I’m the same age as you and wanted a hub drive (and throttle lol) to get out again but do miss a hub drive. I’m looking at the Hiabike Trekking 4/5 at mo but will keep my Gran Camino for when I have my knee op. I have heard the Gran Camino will go quite fast! lol

 

[Forest Rider]

Thanks for your input. If you set the Gran Camino to the lowest setting does this still remove a lot of the exercise factor in biking. Is it still too easy for you compared to your crank drive bike.

 

[walob]

Thanks for your input. If you set the Gran Camino to the lowest setting does this still remove a lot of the exercise factor in biking. Is it still too easy for you compared to your crank drive bike.

I turn my computer off a lot of the time when on the flat or the winds behind me just to get more exercise, lowest setting, I assume you mean highest gear, if so yes. My cadence is around 14mph and Ive heard one can ramp the bike up to 20mph but thats cheating of course but the cadence also goes up so you’re not gaining much exercise and with only 7 gears you run out of top end speed cos your legs are going too fast! lolol. It’s a great bike don’t get me wrong but I’ve always had mid motors and the Brose I had the company went broke and I couldn’t get the help I wanted from them thats why I outed it. Plus Whoosh Bikes are less than half a mile from me so if I wanted tech help it would just be a matter of push the bike to them! lol. If you’re in the Essex area you’re more than welcome to give it a go on mine. Hope this has helped.

 

[Forest Rider]

I think my understanding of the system is somewhat awry. For any gear I thought there were multiple power settings available . So for instance if you were in bottom derailleur gear you set a low power setting from the motor to help you. If the hill got steeper you could call up higher power motor settings to get you to the top. I’m in the Midlands so I don’t have a Woosh bike shop local. Thanks again for the info.

 

[walob]

I think my understanding of the system is somewhat awry. For any gear I thought there were multiple power settings available . So for instance if you were in bottom derailleur gear you set a low power setting from the motor to help you. If the hill got steeper you could call up higher power motor settings to get you to the top. I’m in the Midlands so I don’t have a Woosh bike shop local. Thanks again for the info.

You’re right it’s me! I’ve never got my head around the gearing systems on any bike, bigger the cog I’ve always thought quicker the speed…..wrong! Bigger cog to get up a hill, smaller cog to go faster….I’ll never get my brain around how to understand how that works! lolol, change up to a smaller cog,! ????? 1 to 7 power settings on the GC all depends what power each number represents, I’ve got mine set on 28%@1 32%@2 38%@3 44%@4 and so on through to 7 but you can set it for 5 or just 1 if you want full bore! lol I never really go beyond 2 only when there’s a hill.

 

[Forest Rider]

That sounds ok. Plus as you’ve said earlier it’ll handle nearly any hill it comes across. Thanks again for that that’s made it much clearer.

 

[sjpt]

I’m looking to get back to a mid drive.

Is it really the mid-drive you are missing, or is it the torque sensing?

 

[AndyBike]

Everybody knows mid drive is best

 

[Woosh]

Everybody knows mid drive is best

do you want to start WW3?