In November 2020 I started looking at and educating myself on E bikes, I wanted to buy something with local support so I found, Trek, Cannondale, Giant dealers nearby so I went and looked and rode all that I could find in stock, most Cannondale dealers didn't have any bikes in stock with the exception of REI. I first rode a Trek Allant 7+ and it was a very nice bike, the Giant dealers had nothing in stock as well so I drove to the nearest REI 100mi away and they had a Tesoro Neo X1 for $4800.
I called four different Cannondale dealers and all said these bikes are backordered into late fall 2021. Only one dealer would attempt to locate me a bike, he ended up finding me a Tesoro Neo X2 2021 that was due in the US in late January 2021 in my size large. I said go ahead and get bike for me. Over a month went by and on January 21 the dealer called me and said three Tesoro Neo x2's came into the US and only one was a Large and its was just delivered to his shop.
Two days later he had bike assembled and did Bosch software update and bike was ready to pick up. It was cold here in the Northeast the day I took delivery so I couldn't really test bike thoroughly. I wasn't thrilled that the bike didn't have a lockout knob on the front shock so I called SR Suntour and talked to them. They suggested using their upgrade program to buy a better shock at 70% off so I selected a Radion Boost Air shock with lockout and they adjusted to 100mm travel with correct offset. Shock showed up a few days later and I had local Cannondale dealer install and while he had bike apart that I only had a few miles on he upgraded front Shimano rotor from 180 to a higher quality 203mm rotor., Cut stem 1" longer and installed a 2" higher riser for a more upright riding position, better pedals and a few other goodies. The new air shock was about half the weight of the spring suspension fork and is totally adjustable for rebound, preload and lockout. Last Thursday we had a really nice 72 degree day here so I loaded up the new Bike and took to local bike trail. I was totally blown away with the performance and ride of this E bike, I have ridden this same trail several times on my other non E bikes and was amazed. just how much more trail you can cover in such a short amount of time. I tested all levels of the Bosch Performance Speed drive, Eco, Tour, Sport, Turbo and off.
I rode first ten miles on Eco on a flat paved trail and range calculated itself to 85 mile range, I then switched to Tour, Sport and Turbo and really opened up the bike, in Sport and Turbo you can fly ! I road 45 miles total and the last 20 mi was in Sport or Turbo and kept bike between 25 & 27 mph, I had to unlock front shock because at the higher speed you really feel the jolt from any bumps in the road and the Air shock really smoothes things out. I chose the Cannondale over the Trek Allant 7s because bike has 29"tires, better Shimano Diore components and I liked the look of the Cannondale better. (Personal Preferance)
