Both bikes were out for a play yesterday when my brother-in-law popped up from Wales.
He didn't take much persuading to take the e-mtb, and returned from the ride all set to go back to Wales to research and order up a KTM e-mtb.
It was a really good fun ride, and of course being Xmas had the obligatory pub stop along the way.
I really love riding the pedal only Ultra 1964, and despite the climbs, didn't miss not riding the e-mtb. The Ultra is slightly too small me, and I'm already now thinking of selling it in order to get a larger frame size, or an even a lighter bike.
The ride was a good mix of very wet and muddy off road, with some road sections thrown in between and this was were the obvious weight advantage on the Ultra came into it's own, and I was gone. I love that bike.
The bro-in-law had to go and fall in the biggest softest boggy black ground that I have ever seen. I had the sense to ride around it, but he ignored both my advice about gear selection and power settings, and managed to run out of steam, and just fell off sideways. I would have loved to have taken a photo of the scene, but there was no way that I was going back through it. In my short time of ownership of the e-mtb, I haven't seen it that soiled.
It's an odd feeling letting someone else kind of demo your own bike off road. It's not a totally comfortable experience, and I found that I was very conscious of every off road line that was taken, every gear change, and even the power settings.
Someone else is coming round at the end of this week in order to try it, as they are intending to get rid of their Trek road based e-bike, and buy an e-mtb. With any luck that will result in another potential sale, and at the very least, it will provide interesting feed back. But once again, I bet that I end up riding along side, as some kind of back seat driver.
We went to get back on the bikes after this first photo shot, only to discover that the Macina had a front puncture. My heart sank, knowing that it took three of us to change the tyre the last time, along with three sets of good quality tyre levers, which bent double. Oddly, the tyre nearly fell of this time, and was back in seconds. I guess that the Kevlar bead had just been too stiff as new, and had now thankfully settled.
Whilst fixing the puncture, we also had a very negative comment about the e-mtb. A guy who must have been at least 80yrs old, came up aggressively and said "is that one of those German cheating bikes. I was about to correct him, when he called across to his wife, "look Doris, the Bosch has broken down" He then marched over to his car, started it, and tore off up the road slipping his clutch a she went. I got the impression that he liked neither e-bikes, or Germans. I can't blame him on the second, but having a German Mother-in-law, I can get away with that one.
Winnie the Pooh territory, with the clump and Pooh bridge.
The bikes actually look cleaner than they were, but for once, I returned spotless and clean. My Brother-in law on the other hand, wasn't so lucky!!
edit... TinKitten over to you for a KTM dealer in your neck of the woods?
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