I reviewed this thread again when it popped up today and paid more attention the location: West Virginia. My Captain at the police department‘s father was an original WV guy from the Hurricane area and always said that if you flattened out West Virginia it would be bigger than Texas. Ain’t no hills in WV, just straight up and straight down. Sort of argues against the Creo in that sense, perhaps. Did you make a decision so far?
I have A/Fib so I am familiar with the fun that can be had when my heart goes over that 150 threshold. Not so good, unfortunately.
Thanks for your response. Yes; West Virginia doesn't have mountains, but we have lots of steep hills. No, I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm leaning toward ordering a Creo SL Expert. I was fortunate enough to have a LBS that let me test ride a Creo E5 on a 30 mile regular route with our riding group. My observations were as follows:
1. The Creo doesn't have as much overall power as the Giant Road-e.
2. The Creo can be ridden with the assist off on flat roads, which is very hard to do on the 44 lb. Giant Road-e. I rode 10 miles (flats and downhills) with no assist, and remaining 20 miles in Sport (level 2). I used Eco (level 1) only for a short time, and never used Turbo (level 3).
3. The Creo (even the E5 aluminum frame model) is much lighter than the Giant, and you can feel it in the bike's handling.
4. I had to use Sport (assist level 2) on the longer and steeper climbs with the Creo, where I normally use the Eco (lowest of 5 assist levels) on the Giant.
5. I also had to use Sport (assist level 2) on faster sections of flat and rolling roads when the group pace got above 20 mph. I would struggle under this circumstance on the Giant, (because being a Canadian model) the assist would cut of at 20 mph.
6. I found the factory Eco (lowest assist) on the Creo, really doesn't help very much in our riding terrain.
7. Didn't really ride it enough to tell about battery life, but it appears the Creo will need the Range Extender on most rides in our area over 55-60 miles.
I'm willing to try the Creo; because I think it will be more like riding an analog bike, with assist when I need it. I also think it will be more fun on group rides. It will make me work harder and become a stronger rider (up to a HR restricted level).
My seat of the pants 2 cents worth on the comparison. Thanks to all that contributed to the thread!
Bill