ZJarvis
New Member
I just posted an introduction to myself over in the Garage, but I also wanted to write a legit (if brief) review of the Orbea Gain M30 I just spent two days with.
Tl;dr -- I'll be buying one at the earliest available opportunity.
What I wanted out of an ebike, more than anything else, was to be able to use it as a regular bike most of the time and only turn on the boost when it was time to get back up the hill my out-of-shape butt lives on. I also didn't want to spend as much as it would take to get all the ones I knew about. So, I was really pleasantly surprised to see that Mike's Bikes carries the Gain, and I could justify the price of one. So, I arranged a demo.
The first thing I tried was to ride down the hill then back up it.
Honestly, it was harder than I wanted it to be. I would not complain about more power.
But it also got me back up. It also used only a tiny portion of the battery, which surprised me!
Today I did my regular cycling route from Pacifica to Redwood City (I'm a writer and I decided that if I'm going to do the stereotyped writing in a coffee shop thing, I should at least have to work at getting there). It's a bit over 25 miles, and the route I took today was essentially flat, but for a couple of small hills in San Bruno and some overpasses.
I set the boost to 50%/75%/100% and spent most of my time in level 1, only turning up the juice when I was irritated by a headwind (I'm looking at you, Bay Trail along the 101), or powering over a bridge with traffic. That ate 25% of the battery. So it's clear I can easily either ride down there without any assist (I tried that at the very start of the ride, and didn't have much trouble getting over small hills entirely under my own power), then ride all the way back home, or ride with assist, take the train back then ride up the hill.
That was pretty much my grail, and the demo bike handily accomplished it.
I'm still undecided whether I'll get the carbon or the alloy frame -- with the alloy frame, I could more easily stick panniers and fenders on, but I found the carbon M30 to be close to being too heavy for my riding style.
Things I didn't like:
I feel like the simplicity of the assist system is both an asset in that it's mostly set-and-forget, and also a pain. Checking to see what level you're in is ... annoying. Maybe in the future Wahoo will have more integration with the Ebikemotion gear, but I'm not holding my breath.
The app is too useful to not use and not well-made enough to be as useful as it could be. In an ideal world, the assist levels could be tied to torque or a power-meter, or even to a route (IE, switch to level 2 before going over this hill, then go back to 1).
That thing it does, when you're going uphill and you stop pedaling briefly to coast and the motor doesn't immediately shut off so it feels like you suddenly rode into sand.
That thing it does, when you're going uphill and your cadence is sloppy enough that the motor cuts out. Bleah.
Thankfully, the things I didn't like are massively outweighed by what I do like -- it's plenty light to hoist on my shoulder and get on the train, or to just ride like an un-powered bike. It looks good, and uses enough standard parts to upgrade it over time (because oof, having spent the last 4 years riding with DI2 on my road bike, I have become the princess and the shifter paddle when it comes to gruppos, but that's totally on me).
The last remaining question for me is: does this become a case of N+1 always finds a way, or do I do the unthinkable and trade in my gravel bike. Is N+1-1 even a thing?
Tl;dr -- I'll be buying one at the earliest available opportunity.
What I wanted out of an ebike, more than anything else, was to be able to use it as a regular bike most of the time and only turn on the boost when it was time to get back up the hill my out-of-shape butt lives on. I also didn't want to spend as much as it would take to get all the ones I knew about. So, I was really pleasantly surprised to see that Mike's Bikes carries the Gain, and I could justify the price of one. So, I arranged a demo.
The first thing I tried was to ride down the hill then back up it.
Honestly, it was harder than I wanted it to be. I would not complain about more power.
But it also got me back up. It also used only a tiny portion of the battery, which surprised me!
Today I did my regular cycling route from Pacifica to Redwood City (I'm a writer and I decided that if I'm going to do the stereotyped writing in a coffee shop thing, I should at least have to work at getting there). It's a bit over 25 miles, and the route I took today was essentially flat, but for a couple of small hills in San Bruno and some overpasses.
I set the boost to 50%/75%/100% and spent most of my time in level 1, only turning up the juice when I was irritated by a headwind (I'm looking at you, Bay Trail along the 101), or powering over a bridge with traffic. That ate 25% of the battery. So it's clear I can easily either ride down there without any assist (I tried that at the very start of the ride, and didn't have much trouble getting over small hills entirely under my own power), then ride all the way back home, or ride with assist, take the train back then ride up the hill.
That was pretty much my grail, and the demo bike handily accomplished it.
I'm still undecided whether I'll get the carbon or the alloy frame -- with the alloy frame, I could more easily stick panniers and fenders on, but I found the carbon M30 to be close to being too heavy for my riding style.
Things I didn't like:
I feel like the simplicity of the assist system is both an asset in that it's mostly set-and-forget, and also a pain. Checking to see what level you're in is ... annoying. Maybe in the future Wahoo will have more integration with the Ebikemotion gear, but I'm not holding my breath.
The app is too useful to not use and not well-made enough to be as useful as it could be. In an ideal world, the assist levels could be tied to torque or a power-meter, or even to a route (IE, switch to level 2 before going over this hill, then go back to 1).
That thing it does, when you're going uphill and you stop pedaling briefly to coast and the motor doesn't immediately shut off so it feels like you suddenly rode into sand.
That thing it does, when you're going uphill and your cadence is sloppy enough that the motor cuts out. Bleah.
Thankfully, the things I didn't like are massively outweighed by what I do like -- it's plenty light to hoist on my shoulder and get on the train, or to just ride like an un-powered bike. It looks good, and uses enough standard parts to upgrade it over time (because oof, having spent the last 4 years riding with DI2 on my road bike, I have become the princess and the shifter paddle when it comes to gruppos, but that's totally on me).
The last remaining question for me is: does this become a case of N+1 always finds a way, or do I do the unthinkable and trade in my gravel bike. Is N+1-1 even a thing?
Thankfully, for writing, that's all I need. The clothes & jacket weigh far more.
