Range phobia

[Stefan Mikes]

What was the battery remaining at the end of the tailwind ride?

8%! Because my brother allowed himself to increase the assistance from 50 to 75% ECO for the last 70 kms. (Four hours faster than riding upwind!)

These are hard decisions, I know. There really is no such thing as an "all-rounder," I think of these decisions as a series of compromises. For me? I only ride on dirt about 20% of the time. But that is some of my most enjoyable riding, it's what opened up a whole new world to me. And 60% of my riding is on badly broken asphalt, and my shoulders are really not in great shape. I went from 2.3 inch tires to 2.2, and I realized, "Yeah, I can feel the loss in traction, but it's manageable," (and the best tradeoff, gives me better handling, higher speed, and increased range) and at that point, I realized I had to stick with the eMTB. I have a second ebike with only stem and seat suspension, and it just doesn't quite cut it for 80% of my riding.

A lot of it is about anticipating the kind of riding you will be doing in six months, which is very hard to know! This sport takes us in new directions that are hard to predict. I didn't plan on trail riding in 3,000 foot hills that are over 10 miles from my house when I got my first eBike, I thought I would be content to putter around in Griffith Park.

You are interested in the technical trail riding, so an e-MTB is just right for you! I live in the plains, and riding off-road here requires an XC e-bike at most. In all fairness, a properly modded Vado SL totally does here, and it is as lightweight as you can easily carry it over an obstacle. Currently, my Vado SL is in the shape of a "flat handlebar gravel e-bike", and I prefer it over the big Vado for mixed terrain rides.

This is one of the reasons I encourage folks to get an inexpensive "starter" e-bike. I think there are a LOT of people who have no idea of exactly how their e-bike will be ridden most often.

My first e-bike was a relatively inexpensive "starter" e-bike, and it is still very good. Only my appetite had quickly grown. The full suspension e-MTB was only my third e-bike, which I bought in the hope it would be my "comfort e-bike"; no, it was an off-road e-bike. (At the stage of buying the fourth e-bike, I was already a fully aware e-biker).