Well it has been 10 days running the Maxxis Hookworms and I am definitely in love with those tires. I rode way over 100km already. After 2 days, I raised the pressure from 20lbs to 30 as per other users. The ratio is about 70% pavement and the rest on hard packed wood/field trails with some decent mud at times. The Maxxis get a 10 out 10 for pavement and are doing just fine on trails, with just a bit of slippage in mud if I use throttle only and give the throttle a decent twist. Now we are talking about casual trail riding (mostly cross country skiing trails) and nothing harsh or for experts of course.
I also started doing something I was never doing with the Kendas: pedal without any assist, which is a LOT easier on the legs with the Maxxis. I can ride steadily at a leisure pace of 17 km/hr in 5th gear out of 9 without feeling any fatigue.
Hiding the yellow Maxxis logo with permanent marker didn't hold after the 1st wash. I switched to black matte Krylon Fusion spray paint and it is holding up fine so far. It does a near perfect job (can you see the paint line?):
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I also discovered and learned to use and love the "walk assist" power mode. I had tried it once when I first got the bike and quit on it instantly because it propels the bike at 7-8 km/hr which is way too fast to walk with.... BUT it does wonders in other situations. You see, the throttle on the Teo bikes won't work unless you pedal about 1.5 turns (about the same for PAS). So if I stopped at a light in 9th gear; stopped in a fairly steep incline in a trail and need to get going again; it is sometimes too hard to pedal that 1.5 turn to get the throttle or PAS going to get me out of my "stuck" position.... enters the walk assist mode to give the bike a push and get me enough momentum to start pedaling and get either the throttle or PAS to kick in. I use it all the time now in various scenarios!
Finally, I came up with my top 5 accessories or bike features... I bought a lot of stuff that I really like but these top the list:
- The Mirrycle mountain bike mirror. It added a major security feature when riding on roads, but also on bike trails when I want to pass slower riders and check behind me first (read every rider I encountered so far!). I could not live without it. Note that Teo Fat Bikes sells it at the same price as Amazon Canada (24$CAD).
- Global Vision Kickback Motorcycle Glasses. I bought the first pair in smoke tint. I was fed up of regular sunglasses that did not protect my eyes for the cold winter wind earlier this month, and now with the high pollen count which, in both cases, made my eyes dry or tear up so much I had to stop riding to wipe them. I loved the tinted ones so much, I bought a pair with clear tint to ride at night or on cloudy days. They look awesome on me and are insanely comfortable (20$CAD for the tinted and 15$ for the clear). They have foam padding that block the wind, but little slits that let the eyes "breathe" and prevent fog
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- Obviously, the Maxxis tires!!
- The USB port on my main battery which I use to charge the phone (on the newly purchased phone support, thanks to
@SuperGoop since I bought the same as his and it works perfectly). It charges an iPhone 6+ at decent speed (60% charge in 45 minutes).
- Finally, the above mentioned Walk Assist mode to get me going when I am stuck!