2026 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Chargeride]

Started the ride in the tired Welsh town of Denbigh

Straight out onto a gravel bridleway

Beautiful riverside forested path

Relatively easy crossing, but it went very wrong

Bike conked two minutes later, endless drying cleaning, nothing for twenty minutes then it burst into life by itself

Huge technical climb

So high we could see the Irish sea

Huge fast descent

Went on for miles

The impossibly cute village of Nantglyn

The bridleway out of it was ludicrous, it had long turned into a waterfall, I made half of it, but that was just rocks covered in leaves

Thats why the Mini was designed.

Gorgeous descent

Walked the bike across, it was now 20C and wet feet were welcome

It led through a house renovation and the builders were giving us directions

we mooched around for a bit and gave up, they told us to try the farm next door.

Full on deliverance vibes, but we went in anyway.

The track was just horrendous, the absolute limit of the bike and me

Another abandoned farm.

Back in Denbigh ,a quick look at the castle

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Started the ride in the tired Welsh town of Denbigh
View attachment 208359

Straight out onto a gravel bridleway
View attachment 208379

Beautiful riverside forested path
View attachment 208380

Relatively easy crossing, but it went very wrong
View attachment 208381

Bike conked two minutes later, endless drying cleaning, nothing for twenty minutes then it burst into life by itself
View attachment 208382

Huge technical climb
View attachment 208383

So high we could see the Irish sea
View attachment 208384

Huge fast descent
View attachment 208385

Went on for miles
View attachment 208386

The impossibly cute village of Nantglyn
View attachment 208387

The bridleway out of it was ludicrous, it had long turned into a waterfall, I made half of it, but that was just rocks covered in leaves
View attachment 208388

Thats why the Mini was designed.
View attachment 208389

Gorgeous descent
View attachment 208390

Walked the bike across, it was now 20C and wet feet were welcome
View attachment 208391

It led through a house renovation and the builders were giving us directions
View attachment 208392

we mooched around for a bit and gave up, they told us to try the farm next door.
View attachment 208393

Full on deliverance vibes, but we went in anyway.
View attachment 208394

The track was just horrendous, the absolute limit of the bike and me
View attachment 208395

Another abandoned farm.
View attachment 208396

Back in Denbigh ,a quick look at the castle
View attachment 208397

That looks brilliant but total knackering! Reminds me of the rides I'd do with friends back in my teens, never knew where we'd end up, no phones, no maps, carrying the damn MTB half the time but when we found the perfect sheep path descent, all worth it!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Started the ride in the tired Welsh town of Denbigh

I can see you were eventually blessed with magnificent sunshine! Judging by your gloves, it had to be rather cold and possibly windy? A fabulous ride, true mountain biking, yay! Waiting for the video!

Regarding your "conked" Levo, I'm surprised. I rode through many creeks with my Giant Trance E+, Vado and Vado SL (often with the motor chamber covered by the water), and never experienced electrical issues afterwards! Yes, the Giant had some moisture related issues when it got old but that's the Giant e-bike

Now, I can recognize the place. The gravel road level was raised in later years but trust me I rode that long stretch of water covering my motor on my big Vado and no electrical issue!

 

[DaveMatthews]

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Sorry, Dave The water ingress to the Giant E+ bike motor chamber and corroding the integrated circuit are a well known fact!

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Marine grease. That's what the ebike motor repair centres in UK now add as standard when repairing motors, as they find most motor brands do not do proper seals.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Sorry, Dave The water ingress to the Giant E+ bike motor chamber and corroding the integrated circuit are a well known fact!

New word... "Anecdotal"...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

New word... "Anecdotal"...

Forgot I owned a Trance E+? My brother who owns the e-bike now has experienced the phenomenon. Ya, but he rides his e-bike hard and only during the cold season.

No need to be offended.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Forgot I owned a Trance E+? My brother who owns the e-bike now has experienced the phenomenon. Ya, but he rides his e-bike hard and only during the cold season.

No need to be offended.

My memory is intact.
Your experience is anecdotal.
No need to assume what happened to you happens to everyone everywhere, or that what you do is something everyone should do.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

"Roulez, jeune gens, roulez"

Ever rode your Stance through a creek or a river, Dave?

Despite the vulnerability of Giant E+ e-bikes to water (displays, the motherboard installed in the motor chamber), this Trance E+ still serves well the current owner, pictured here.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Ever rode your Stance through a creek or a river, Dave?
Despite the vulnerability of Giant E+ e-bikes to water (displays, the motherboard installed in the motor chamber), this Trance E+ still serves well the current owner, pictured here.

Yes, I have.
And again, your experience with your single example is anecdotal. That is not to say that your experiences are invalid in any way, just that to apply it to an entire brand is inaccurate and/or misguided. It does not help people at all.
If I were to apply your logic to my experience with this Stance that I have then I should be able to say that all Giant EMTBs are flawless and every rider will get over 7000kms out of the stock chain.
Obviously ridiculous, yes?

 

[Chargeride]

yes absolutely ridiculous

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yes, I have.
And again, your experience with your single example is anecdotal. That is not to say that your experiences are invalid in any way, just that to apply it to an entire brand is inaccurate and/or misguided. It does not help people at all.
If I were to apply your logic to my experience with this Stance that I have then I should be able to say that all Giant EMTBs are flawless and every rider will get over 7000kms out of the stock chain.
Obviously ridiculous, yes?

Dave, I still can remember when I had to wrap the Ride Control EVO display in condoms to protect it against the rain
But OK, anecdotal.

If I were to apply your logic to my experience with this Stance that I have then I should be able to say that all Giant EMTBs are flawless and every rider will get over 7000kms out of the stock chain.
Obviously ridiculous, yes?

Arthur Schopenhauer, Eristic, technique called "diversion". Bring in a similar but not the same example, divert the attention of the correspondents, ridicule your opponent, win the argument in the most dishonest way.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Dave, I still can remember when I had to wrap the Ride Control EVO display in condoms to protect it against the rain
But OK, anecdotal.


Arthur Schopenhauer, Eristic, technique called "diversion". Bring in a similar but not the same example, divert the attention of the correspondents, ridicule your opponent, win the argument in the most dishonest way.

C'mon man...
Which one of us has the unshakeable blanket authority to label every Giant bike as either having water ingress problems, or that they are flawless?
The guy who had one Giant bike with water ingress problems, or the guy who has had 2 Giant bikes with zero problems?
The answer?
NEITHER OF US!
Get it?

Dishonest? Really?
Put down the shovel and stop digging the hole...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I just wanted to make you aware Dave how easy it is to go to the dark side

 

[DaveMatthews]

I just wanted to make you aware Dave how easy it is to go to the dark side

What is the dark side? Specialized? I don't get it

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What is the dark side? Specialized? I don't get it

Dishonest arguments. I also wonder what's happened to the Canadian politeness.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Dishonest arguments. I also wonder what's happened to the Canadian politeness.

Politeness? My good man, I have completely and utterly avoided any and all insults etc.
'Tis you sir that insinuates ridicule, not I.
I merely point out that your argument has no merit mate. To make a blanket statement that all Giant products have water ingress problems is factually incorrect.
Why can you not see/recognize that?
Should we as a group also take it as fact that all Specialized products have motor failures and bad wheels just because that happened to you?
Yikes, c'mon dude, help yourself out here.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My good man

I have completely and utterly avoided any and all insults etc.

Have you even thought to use an insult? Then your ego was hurt more with my general critics of Giant E+ bikes than I thought. (Ever got an idea that you could let something pass?)

Yes, I am ready to give Specialized a solid critics now. The well know facts are:

• Carbon belt drive Brose/Specialized motors have had an enormous rate of failure. For that reason, Specialized had extended the warranty on those older motors to four years. Many motors were replaced on the warranty, often for several times. Specialized made Brose improve the design.
• Early Vado frames were apt to crack. Specialized has handled that by the lifetime frame warranty.
• The BLOKS electronics was an utter failure. Specialized has replaced that system with TCD for most users on the warranty or even post the warranty free of charge
• Some SL 1.1 motors could fail, too, although the failure rate was not as high as with the Brose motors
• Some Specialized/Brose motors are susceptible to water ingress, as @Chargeride could demonstrate recently (SL motors are IP 67)
• Ye Goode Olde Specialized is known for proprietary solutions they do not keep for the future, leaving the users alone
• Specialized is a ridiculously expensive company
• Except for the Levo, the brand has lost its direction to innovate as the brand is now run by accountants not cyclists. Vado SL 2 or Vado 3 are good examples.

Still:

• Specialized has the best e-bike electronics in the market, all e-bikes being handled by a single app
• The Specialized warranty is one of the best in the world.

Could I criticise Specialized? Yes, I could. Now, do we have many Giant users here? Well, it is Rab and you Dave as far as I can remember. Ah, the Trance E+ of my brother has now some 30,000 km on the odometer despite some water ingress issues I had mentioned. I only rode it for 10% of its current mileage.

 

[edobici_forza]

I wanted to ride to the coast from my house instead of driving over with the bike and riding. It is about a 45 minute drive one way.

So, I packed a bit of food for lunch and loaded the rack. I installed a Wolf Tooth Double Bottle Cage Adapter. So cool. I needed it since I was using the Battery Extender. At the end of the ride, back at home, I ended up with 53% of the battery remaining... so I could have sqeaked by without it. But, I was not sure with the double 2000ft + climbs!

I rode up Kings Mtn Rd a few weeks ago on my gravel/road bike with 32mm slicks. I see that it took about 8 minutes longer than when riding the Creo (moving time for 4.22 miles, 1,622ft elevation gain, 7.5% Avg grade.

I ended up meeting a rare eRoadBike cyclist at The Bike Hut. We were both going up Tunitas Creek Rd...9 miles with an average 5% grade, gaining 2122ft. It was cool to have a ride partner…it went by quickly. I have also ridden this on my other bike. it is a bear with up to 12% grades over the 9 miles.

Back down Kings Mountain Rd is always fun. love having my dropper to lower my CG in the twisties.

Going up Kings Mountain Rd, there is always riders zipping down...

(Through some trees)

My lunch break spot...

The Bike Hut

The Climb up Tunitas Creek Rd.