Just to fill in a few blanks..
My wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer nearly 4 years ago and throughout we have discussed everything openly with friends and family including how I would cope with my life without her. About two years ago she became very disabled and I grew into the role of full time carer receiving instruction and training in cooking, cleaning, washing, Ironing, shopping, buying my own clothes, and generally looking after the house and myself.
As her illnes progressed she needed to be sure that I had something to keep me going so this supercharger ended up her parting gift to me, its just the timing of its arrival that was unfortunate as her illnes and her needs suddenly got much worse and I had to agree to a move to a local hospice where I sat at her bedside for 40 long days.
My son is a cyclist and as the older among us know the ebike enables us to actually ride with younger more able people, so we have been trundling around the dales where the lesser known quiet roads allow us to get some fresh air and talk..
Well, thats the over sharing out of the way..
This bike is a revelation..
As a 70 year old I was shocked by the weight when we had to lift it into the back of a car (even without the batteries) and was more than a bit concerned that I might have done the wrong thing.. Well, I neednt have worried.. The bike rides like a lightweight, it is so light on the steering that in the begining I was over compensating and wobbling all over the road, but now I can almost ride it to a standstill without a wobble so the weight ballance and steering geometry must be spot on, in fact it makes my Scott full sus emtb feel unweildly and cumbersome by comparison even though it is about 8kg lighter, My longest ride ride so far has been 35 miles with 2500ft climbed and as we spent far too long in a cafe we ended doing a 12 mile hard ride into a strong and bitter headwind in the gathering darknes with my son on my rear wheel otherwise he would have been left behind. (Thank Bosch for Turbo Mode).
Other than the sadlle and the pedals which I really dont like, the riding position is relaxed and comfortable with the ride being firm but surprisingly forgiving on rough terain, so much so that I dont need to stand up for the bumps as I have had to on other hard tail bikes and feel its off road capabilities are going to be better than I had imagined which is a big bonus.
I am having a few minor issues with the e-14 which are likely due to the lack of "feel" when changing gear, the positioning of the control buttons, being out in the dark and cold, and wearing winter gloves so repositioning the buttons and learning how it works will soon fix that.
Battery wise.. My 35 mile 2500ft ride used 45% of the batteries, but it was a hard ride into a strong wind using a lot of turbo in around zero degrees temperiture so is not worrying, but to provide ballance I must add that when climbing 20% or steeper the bikes weight does start to become noticable, not that it wont go up the hill, it just feels its weight, but the e-14 gearing is such that it would probably climb a house roof, just not as fast as the lighter bikes..
This bike was very expensive and and as for the question was it worth it? Well, its early days and the jury is still hearing evidence....