@stompandgo
... watched a season of "Alone" that was based on the South Island. The place looked absolutely brutal. Non stop humidity, rain, cold, and bugs. Looks like you found the nice part.
That sounds like the narrow strip of land along the west side of the Southern Alps.
We went there later in a campervan, including famous Milford Haven. Amazing rainforests, probably like PNW.
It's where they get all the water to run all that hydro power on the drier east side.
About the Sinch Force 4 EQ
Sinch is a Kiwi brand made in Taiwan, and the Force 4 EQ model comes with an 85nm Bosch CX, a 625w battery and a claimed weight of 29kg. In New Zealand e-bikes are assisted up to 32kph (UK is 25kph). Suspension is Rock Shox 160mm front; 150mm rear. Gearing is Deore XT and the EQ comes with a sturdy rack, kick stand, fenders and built-in lights. I learned later this is what they call an e-SUV; my sort of machine.
Wheels are ‘mullet’, but if they mean like the haircut, isn’t that long at the back and short at the front? Maybe I’m over thinking it. The suspension (30mm more than my Tero X 5.0) felt compliant (probably in need of air), the colour display was dead easy to read and understand, the remote easy to use, it braked confidently and pedalled effortlessly on Standby. It even looked pretty good in blue grey.
Sat on the spacious Sinch with a gel seat cover thrown in, I felt right at home and if I’d had a bit longer to ride and think about it, I might have bought one right there. Force 4s were going new for just NZ$6500 which is under £3000 (even less now). Of course UK tax and shipping would have been another grand at least and, I suppose it would be illegal with the 32kph cut off.
Back to the ride: Day 4
Elsewhere the A2O is technically dead easy, varying from single track and a few quiet roads, farm tracks or bike trails paralleling a road. D4 started with an easy roadside trail.
But Omarama to Kurow (68km – two A2O stages, maps below) included a spectacular and exposed section far off road above Lake Benmore, another of the South Island’s many dammed lakes.
The trail turned into the Benmore hills.
Then contoured high above the edge of the lake.
We come across a young French couple (lotta French in NZ) who seemed to be resisting the bikepacking craze. It's slow going for them, but with camping gear at least they're not locked into the tyranny of booked lodgings every night.
One misstep or wheel deflection on the stony, metre-wide singletrack could start a long tumble down the steep slope into the water. Sure enough, we came across a couple of accidents – one was possibly a ‘Insta Selfie Back Flip’ – onto the rocks which left the old Japanese rider concussed and confused. And just 500m on, a woman had gone off the edge but was caught by a shrub. Soon we heard the thud of a helicopter coming in to take them both to Dunedin hospital where we heard later all ended well.
Below, coming out of the amazing Benmore stage for the big descent to the dam wall. Looks a lot like Scotland.
From here on it was flatter farm tracks and a bit of single.
With the most climbing of the entire A2O route, my roomy Sinch was sure-footed but I used a lot of assistance and got into Kurow after 68km with 12% in the battery, and some 14km range. But II’d left the shop that morning on 89%.
The Bosch CX is configured with Eco, Auto, Sport and Turbo assist levels. The shop advised me to leave it in Auto, but right away I could tell Auto defaulted to ‘Sport’ mode which was way too juiced up, even with my 100kg gross load.
Had I known about the Bosch Flow App I might have retuned the Sinch’s power levels. Or got in a complete tangle. So I just switched off on the flat; the Sinch rolled along easily. On longer inclines I flipped briefly into Eco or even Sport. The steepest, longest climbs on the remainder of the A2O were all easily doable in Sport.
Tomorrow I was determined to eke out the range.
... watched a season of "Alone" that was based on the South Island. The place looked absolutely brutal. Non stop humidity, rain, cold, and bugs. Looks like you found the nice part.
That sounds like the narrow strip of land along the west side of the Southern Alps.
We went there later in a campervan, including famous Milford Haven. Amazing rainforests, probably like PNW.
It's where they get all the water to run all that hydro power on the drier east side.
About the Sinch Force 4 EQ
Sinch is a Kiwi brand made in Taiwan, and the Force 4 EQ model comes with an 85nm Bosch CX, a 625w battery and a claimed weight of 29kg. In New Zealand e-bikes are assisted up to 32kph (UK is 25kph). Suspension is Rock Shox 160mm front; 150mm rear. Gearing is Deore XT and the EQ comes with a sturdy rack, kick stand, fenders and built-in lights. I learned later this is what they call an e-SUV; my sort of machine.
Wheels are ‘mullet’, but if they mean like the haircut, isn’t that long at the back and short at the front? Maybe I’m over thinking it. The suspension (30mm more than my Tero X 5.0) felt compliant (probably in need of air), the colour display was dead easy to read and understand, the remote easy to use, it braked confidently and pedalled effortlessly on Standby. It even looked pretty good in blue grey.
Sat on the spacious Sinch with a gel seat cover thrown in, I felt right at home and if I’d had a bit longer to ride and think about it, I might have bought one right there. Force 4s were going new for just NZ$6500 which is under £3000 (even less now). Of course UK tax and shipping would have been another grand at least and, I suppose it would be illegal with the 32kph cut off.
Back to the ride: Day 4
Elsewhere the A2O is technically dead easy, varying from single track and a few quiet roads, farm tracks or bike trails paralleling a road. D4 started with an easy roadside trail.
But Omarama to Kurow (68km – two A2O stages, maps below) included a spectacular and exposed section far off road above Lake Benmore, another of the South Island’s many dammed lakes.
The trail turned into the Benmore hills.
Then contoured high above the edge of the lake.
We come across a young French couple (lotta French in NZ) who seemed to be resisting the bikepacking craze. It's slow going for them, but with camping gear at least they're not locked into the tyranny of booked lodgings every night.
One misstep or wheel deflection on the stony, metre-wide singletrack could start a long tumble down the steep slope into the water. Sure enough, we came across a couple of accidents – one was possibly a ‘Insta Selfie Back Flip’ – onto the rocks which left the old Japanese rider concussed and confused. And just 500m on, a woman had gone off the edge but was caught by a shrub. Soon we heard the thud of a helicopter coming in to take them both to Dunedin hospital where we heard later all ended well.
Below, coming out of the amazing Benmore stage for the big descent to the dam wall. Looks a lot like Scotland.
From here on it was flatter farm tracks and a bit of single.
With the most climbing of the entire A2O route, my roomy Sinch was sure-footed but I used a lot of assistance and got into Kurow after 68km with 12% in the battery, and some 14km range. But II’d left the shop that morning on 89%.
The Bosch CX is configured with Eco, Auto, Sport and Turbo assist levels. The shop advised me to leave it in Auto, but right away I could tell Auto defaulted to ‘Sport’ mode which was way too juiced up, even with my 100kg gross load.
Had I known about the Bosch Flow App I might have retuned the Sinch’s power levels. Or got in a complete tangle. So I just switched off on the flat; the Sinch rolled along easily. On longer inclines I flipped briefly into Eco or even Sport. The steepest, longest climbs on the remainder of the A2O were all easily doable in Sport.
Tomorrow I was determined to eke out the range.
