Buon Giorno everyone,
My name is Randal and I'm currently living in Northern Italy at the base of the Dolomites near Aviano. I am retired at 56 (not by choice) and have been an on and off cyclist for 20 some odd years. I did do some BMX back in Florida ,where I am from, in the early 70s and even built my own frame from an old Schwinn 10 speed road bike. That only lasted a couple of years becauseI wasn't very good at it...so I moved on!
I got back into biking with the purchase of my first mountain bike in 1996, a Bianchi Whistler fully ridged 26" which I mainly used on hard surfaces and light trails. It now does duty as a touring/trekking bike with rear rack and panniers. I also have an old Pinarello Opera (first Model) road bike and a proper 26" XC race bike (2012 model) made by Salvador, a small company here in northern Italy.
My wife and I started tour riding localy and while on vacations but she was having a hard time with the hill climbs so I bought her a Bulls Six 50 eMTB with bosch performance motor which really got her going. So much so that I couldn't keep up with her anymore (It has over 4000km on it now!). The funny thing is she started seeking out steeper and steeper hills to punish me so I showed her and ended up purchasing my my current eMTB...a Bulls E-Stream Evo 2 29er Hardtail. It has 120mm air front suspension and a first generation Brose motor with a 630w/hr battery...rides nice on light XC trails and harder surfaces but I have been wanting to do a bit more technical climbing and decents in this area's rocky terrain so am now looking at a full sus. The Focus Jam2, YT Decoy and Merida eOne-Sixty have been at the top of my list but wouldn't rule out a new Turbo Levo at the right price.
Needless to say I have been watching all of the review videos on EMTB which have been instrumental in my research but as always the next greatest bike is always around the corner... makes it a tough choice! But if I had to make a choice right now I think it would be a Jam2 Drifter 6.9 Love the look and T.E.C pack concept and have seen it for as low as 3,999 euro. I will probably hold off until after this years summer vacation to the states so who knows what will be out by then. Anyways, I'm looking forward to being a forum member and contributing however and whenever I can.
Cheers and Ciao for Now!
Randal
My name is Randal and I'm currently living in Northern Italy at the base of the Dolomites near Aviano. I am retired at 56 (not by choice) and have been an on and off cyclist for 20 some odd years. I did do some BMX back in Florida ,where I am from, in the early 70s and even built my own frame from an old Schwinn 10 speed road bike. That only lasted a couple of years becauseI wasn't very good at it...so I moved on!
I got back into biking with the purchase of my first mountain bike in 1996, a Bianchi Whistler fully ridged 26" which I mainly used on hard surfaces and light trails. It now does duty as a touring/trekking bike with rear rack and panniers. I also have an old Pinarello Opera (first Model) road bike and a proper 26" XC race bike (2012 model) made by Salvador, a small company here in northern Italy.
My wife and I started tour riding localy and while on vacations but she was having a hard time with the hill climbs so I bought her a Bulls Six 50 eMTB with bosch performance motor which really got her going. So much so that I couldn't keep up with her anymore (It has over 4000km on it now!). The funny thing is she started seeking out steeper and steeper hills to punish me so I showed her and ended up purchasing my my current eMTB...a Bulls E-Stream Evo 2 29er Hardtail. It has 120mm air front suspension and a first generation Brose motor with a 630w/hr battery...rides nice on light XC trails and harder surfaces but I have been wanting to do a bit more technical climbing and decents in this area's rocky terrain so am now looking at a full sus. The Focus Jam2, YT Decoy and Merida eOne-Sixty have been at the top of my list but wouldn't rule out a new Turbo Levo at the right price.
Needless to say I have been watching all of the review videos on EMTB which have been instrumental in my research but as always the next greatest bike is always around the corner... makes it a tough choice! But if I had to make a choice right now I think it would be a Jam2 Drifter 6.9 Love the look and T.E.C pack concept and have seen it for as low as 3,999 euro. I will probably hold off until after this years summer vacation to the states so who knows what will be out by then. Anyways, I'm looking forward to being a forum member and contributing however and whenever I can.
Cheers and Ciao for Now!
Randal
