AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
Its taken me years to convince MrsW that she should purchase an ebike, but finally after a quick test ride on a Specialized Vado and a Specialized Creo last weekend she has now warmed to the idea. But as nice as the Vado was, I wasn't really happy with the built in battery or the overall range really on either bike.
The master plan is that we will do some YHA weekends together ever now again, so ideally a range of maybe 60+ miles, but loaded with one or even two panniers. I had originally dismissed the really heavy e-bikes as I thought initially that maybe the Vado or the Creo fitted with a battery extender would do the job? But when you start looking at the technical specs and inpartuclar the torque range on the Vado and Creo compared to the likes of the heavyweight Trek and Giant bikes, there is quite a difference.
She (and me) road tested a Trek Allant+ 8 this afternoon, and oh boy, what a piece of kit! A huge (removable) battery and a massive amount of torque which of course all comes at a cost in terms of weight, its a monster weighing in at circa 42lbs and that's without adding any panniers. That said, once you get it rolling the weight is of little significance at all, its surprisingly nimble and very agile, and put it in turbo mode and start off....goodness me!
In an ideal world, she really wanted a lighter bike, but if you buy a lighter e-bike, such as the Vado/Creo or the Orbea and Ribble which were others that we also looked at, then add a battery extender, the weight goes up as well as well the cost but the performance/range is no where near that of the Allant+ 8 or similar bikes in that same category.
I guess its all a trade off isn't it, but I think the Allant+ 8 has ticked all the necessary boxes apart from one, the overall weight as we would have liked to have been able to put the ebike inside the car and my normal road bike on the roof rails, so if we went away we could take the bikes with us, but no way would I try and put the Allant in the car. Even with the battery removed its still a solid old lump to try and pick up, goodness knows how you would get on if you had a puncture!!
The master plan is that we will do some YHA weekends together ever now again, so ideally a range of maybe 60+ miles, but loaded with one or even two panniers. I had originally dismissed the really heavy e-bikes as I thought initially that maybe the Vado or the Creo fitted with a battery extender would do the job? But when you start looking at the technical specs and inpartuclar the torque range on the Vado and Creo compared to the likes of the heavyweight Trek and Giant bikes, there is quite a difference.
She (and me) road tested a Trek Allant+ 8 this afternoon, and oh boy, what a piece of kit! A huge (removable) battery and a massive amount of torque which of course all comes at a cost in terms of weight, its a monster weighing in at circa 42lbs and that's without adding any panniers. That said, once you get it rolling the weight is of little significance at all, its surprisingly nimble and very agile, and put it in turbo mode and start off....goodness me!
In an ideal world, she really wanted a lighter bike, but if you buy a lighter e-bike, such as the Vado/Creo or the Orbea and Ribble which were others that we also looked at, then add a battery extender, the weight goes up as well as well the cost but the performance/range is no where near that of the Allant+ 8 or similar bikes in that same category.
I guess its all a trade off isn't it, but I think the Allant+ 8 has ticked all the necessary boxes apart from one, the overall weight as we would have liked to have been able to put the ebike inside the car and my normal road bike on the roof rails, so if we went away we could take the bikes with us, but no way would I try and put the Allant in the car. Even with the battery removed its still a solid old lump to try and pick up, goodness knows how you would get on if you had a puncture!!
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