I've just ordered an E-Sommet VR, which won't get here soon enough! I've ridden a few ebikes (Trek, Spesh, and Voodoo, to name a few) but the one that really worked for me was the Levo SL. With the changes I made, I just love that bike and rate it as the best bike I've ever ridden. However, I came to ebikes through injury (in fact, through permanent disability) and so my requirements aren't always the same as the vast majority. I've been a racer, a coach, a mechanic, and still work in the industry, so know what I like and what I don't, which made it a shock to be told "You'll never ride again." Thankfully, with the help of an amazing Occupational Therapist, I was eventually persuaded onto ebikes, first in 2010, when they were shit, then again in 2017, when they were substantially better! Anyhow, to get to the point, I was on a ride yesterday, my local trails, and after 3hrs it became obvious that my legs were really suffering. I put this down to the trails (very tech and steep, though none contain a run of longer than 1 minute) and the low level of support from the SL motor. So, after mulling it over for a while, I decided to go ahead and get myself a bike with more travel and more power. I know the VR 'only' has the E7000 motor, but that's a substantial increase in support over an SL and I have spent extensive time on an E7000, so know what to expect.
Relatively quick upgrades I expect to make will be the shock and the battery. I'm happy to spend time on the fork, which is relatively well reviewed, but the shock will need to be capable of working with my legs and I'm 99% certain that the X-Fusion shock won't. The battery will need capacity upping for the same reason, my crappy legs need more support than most, especially when I do longer days. Other than that, contact points may get changed, who knows, and maybe a cosmetic change or two, oh, and my AXS dropper will be swapped in, for no other reason than I already have one and it's the right size!
Having previously spent time on the Kenevo V1 and V2, with them being the only long-travel ebikes I've ridden, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the E-Sommet stacks up. I'll report in once it's arrived...
Relatively quick upgrades I expect to make will be the shock and the battery. I'm happy to spend time on the fork, which is relatively well reviewed, but the shock will need to be capable of working with my legs and I'm 99% certain that the X-Fusion shock won't. The battery will need capacity upping for the same reason, my crappy legs need more support than most, especially when I do longer days. Other than that, contact points may get changed, who knows, and maybe a cosmetic change or two, oh, and my AXS dropper will be swapped in, for no other reason than I already have one and it's the right size!
Having previously spent time on the Kenevo V1 and V2, with them being the only long-travel ebikes I've ridden, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the E-Sommet stacks up. I'll report in once it's arrived...
