Trek Allant+ 9.9S daily commuting autumn to winter

[Tavis]

I bought the Allant+ 9.9S for my 15 km commuting distance. At the age of +50 the habit of sitting in a car is too familiar for me. Just for a comparison, it took a bit less than 25 minutes to the office downtown, with a car. Half the distance was motorway! I wanted a change for the healthier. - Now, with 4 months and 1600 km experience, I have to say it out loud: joyful, smooth and efficient commuting all the way through. I’ve also changed my weekly workouts back to cycling with Allant+.

I have to say my expectations were on high level, with Madone history, so I give no easy points to Allant+. But still there are plenty of positives with this bike: one happy man here! For those still doubting e-bikes in winter conditions, I have positive to say also on this respective. This year last four months, Finnish climate has offered a lot of rain, dirty road constructions, snow, salted roads and variety of those during the same day even! Allant+ drives through muds, dusts and salt-snowy roads effortlessly.

Now after 4 months of commuting, the average times settle to 24-26 minutes - depending on weather conditions. To my surprise, the speed on snow is very good, with Black Ice SnowSpeed 300 tyres. No special clothing needed. Only Coretex shell clothing so far (up to -4 C). No showers needed. Casco vizor helmet works excellently.

Some quality issues to note though! -Loud grinding noise after 150 km! - Free gear in the hub is installed DRY in many Allant+ bikes causing the noise - not the motor. (A major quality issue - as seen in these discussions.) Magura brake pads go easily thin and noisy. They also make a lot of noise in the rain. 12 gear Shimano is may be too fine for this torque of Bosch. Chain drive can be noisy and creaky - but it is still reliable in icy winter!

 

[indianajo]

Welcome to the site.
Welcome to low energy commuting. If we all did this the globe might start cooling. I only drive on vacation, which is lower energy than flying.

 

[Asher]

I bought the Allant+ 9.9S for my 15 km commuting distance. At the age of +50 the habit of sitting in a car is too familiar for me. Just for a comparison, it took a bit less than 25 minutes to the office downtown, with a car. Half the distance was motorway! I wanted a change for the healthier. - Now, with 4 months and 1600 km experience, I have to say it out loud: joyful, smooth and efficient commuting all the way through. I’ve also changed my weekly workouts back to cycling with Allant+.

I have to say my expectations were on high level, with Madone history, so I give no easy points to Allant+. But still there are plenty of positives with this bike: one happy man here! For those still doubting e-bikes in winter conditions, I have positive to say also on this respective. This year last four months, Finnish climate has offered a lot of rain, dirty road constructions, snow, salted roads and variety of those during the same day even! Allant+ drives through muds, dusts and salt-snowy roads effortlessly.

Now after 4 months of commuting, the average times settle to 24-26 minutes - depending on weather conditions. To my surprise, the speed on snow is very good, with Black Ice SnowSpeed 300 tyres. No special clothing needed. Only Coretex shell clothing so far (up to -4 C). No showers needed. Casco vizor helmet works excellently.

Some quality issues to note though! -Loud grinding noise after 150 km! - Free gear in the hub is installed DRY in many Allant+ bikes causing the noise - not the motor. (A major quality issue - as seen in these discussions.) Magura brake pads go easily thin and noisy. They also make a lot of noise in the rain. 12 gear Shimano is may be too fine for this torque of Bosch. Chain drive can be noisy and creaky - but it is still reliable in icy winter!

Is reaching 28 mph possible or difficult on the Allant? (It's rated for it, curious about personal experience)

 

[Mulezen]

Yes...about 24 is about it on a flat

 

[Alaskan]

On flat ground with no wind I can keep my Allant +9.9 S going at 24 mph in 11th gear, the 12 tooth cog, at a cadence of 72 in Sport Mode for about 7 miles at a time. At a cadence of 70 I am at 26-27 mph but can only sustain that effort for about 10 minutes or put the motor in Turbo and go 4 or 5 miles before having to go a bit easier.

I am 70, with a ticker on the edge of heart failure due to damage sustained by going without blood for too long. Ebiking has brought my heart back as far as it can with the amount of scar tissue. Point being there are many stronger riders than I and I can make my Allant move right along, It is about personal training and conditioning, using the right cadence and the right gears for the weather, topography and assist level to achieve the speed you want. Nice that the Nyon I installed on the Allant connects to heart rate monitor and displays it on a custom data screen, making it easy to monitor. I am supposed to keep sustain heart rate below 130. I am in the 105 -120 bpm range doing the above.

It's is such fun riding an ebike in general and the Allant 9.9 in particular that makes getting out more often and riding further just becomes something you want to do as often as your schedule, and the weather will allow. I was never a regularly exerciser for very long before this. The confluence of heart attack and ebike adoption has made riding regularly both necessary and great fun, Learning something new in myself that took almost 70 years to discover.

 

[Dallant]

On flat ground with no wind I can keep my Allant +9.9 S going at 24 mph in 11th gear, the 12 tooth cog, at a cadence of 72 in Sport Mode for about 7 miles at a time. At a cadence of 70 I am at 26-27 mph but can only sustain that effort for about 10 minutes or put the motor in Turbo and go 4 or 5 miles before having to go a bit easier.

I am 70, with a ticker on the edge of heart failure due to damage sustained by going without blood for too long. Ebiking has brought my heart back as far as it can with the amount of scar tissue. Point being there are many stronger riders than me and I can make my Allant sing move right along, It is about personal training and conditioning, using the right cadence and the right gears for the weather, topography and speed you want. Nice that the Nyon I installed on the Allant connects to heart rate monitor and displays it on a custom data screen, making it easy to monitor. I am supposed to keep sustain heart rate below 130. I am in the 105 -120 bpm range doing the above.

It's is such fun riding an ebike in general and the Allant 9.9 in particular that makes getting out more often and riding further just becomes something you want to do as often as your schedule, and the weather will allow. I was never a regularly exerciser for very long before this. The confluence of heart attack and ebike adoption has made riding regularly both necessary and great fun, Learning something new in myself that took almost 70 years to discover.

Amen, brother!

 

[Tavis]

On flat ground with no wind I can keep my Allant +9.9 S going at 24 mph in 11th gear, the 12 tooth cog, at a cadence of 72 in Sport Mode for about 7 miles at a time. At a cadence of 70 I am at 26-27 mph but can only sustain that effort for about 10 minutes or put the motor in Turbo and go 4 or 5 miles before having to go a bit easier.

I am 70, with a ticker on the edge of heart failure due to damage sustained by going without blood for too long. Ebiking has brought my heart back as far as it can with the amount of scar tissue. Point being there are many stronger riders than me and I can make my Allant sing move right along, It is about personal training and conditioning, using the right cadence and the right gears for the weather, topography and speed you want. Nice that the Nyon I installed on the Allant connects to heart rate monitor and displays it on a custom data screen, making it easy to monitor. I am supposed to keep sustain heart rate below 130. I am in the 105 -120 bpm range doing the above.

It's is such fun riding an ebike in general and the Allant 9.9 in particular that makes getting out more often and riding further just becomes something you want to do as often as your schedule, and the weather will allow. I was never a regularly exerciser for very long before this. The confluence of heart attack and ebike adoption has made riding regularly both necessary and great fun, Learning something new in myself that took almost 70 years to discover.

I agree with you! Ebiking (speed) brought me back to cycling. With speed e-bike the training is fun. I go training more often also - because of e-fun. Allant especially is a good general cycling concept. - To add: my days of car-driving to office are now over.

 

[Tavis]

I bought the Allant+ 9.9S for my 15 km commuting distance. At the age of +50 the habit of sitting in a car is too familiar for me. Just for a comparison, it took a bit less than 25 minutes to the office downtown, with a car. Half the distance was motorway! I wanted a change for the healthier. - Now, with 4 months and 1600 km experience, I have to say it out loud: joyful, smooth and efficient commuting all the way through. I’ve also changed my weekly workouts back to cycling with Allant+.

I have to say my expectations were on high level, with Madone history, so I give no easy points to Allant+. But still there are plenty of positives with this bike: one happy man here! For those still doubting e-bikes in winter conditions, I have positive to say also on this respective. This year last four months, Finnish climate has offered a lot of rain, dirty road constructions, snow, salted roads and variety of those during the same day even! Allant+ drives through muds, dusts and salt-snowy roads effortlessly.

Now after 4 months of commuting, the average times settle to 24-26 minutes - depending on weather conditions. To my surprise, the speed on snow is very good, with Black Ice SnowSpeed 300 tyres. No special clothing needed. Only Coretex shell clothing so far (up to -4 C). No showers needed. Casco vizor helmet works excellently.

Some quality issues to note though! -Loud grinding noise after 150 km! - Free gear in the hub is installed DRY in many Allant+ bikes causing the noise - not the motor. (A major quality issue - as seen in these discussions.) Magura brake pads go easily thin and noisy. They also make a lot of noise in the rain. 12 gear Shimano is may be too fine for this torque of Bosch. Chain drive can be noisy and creaky - but it is still reliable in icy winter!

To add the story after February 2021: After some service-updates the chain and derailleur work now much more neatly. In these extreme winter weather conditions (down to -24 degrees celcius) the vizor and frost-mask is an absolute must - studded winter tyres also. I emphasise more safety than the top speed: twice fallen. The general healthy reasons support daily commuting with bike. With my ranges the single battery is sufficient, easily. I've tested some other speed e-bikes and Treks cycle-like feel is an absolute plus.