Kenevo first ride

[Dax]

It's been a long couple of weeks since I ordered my kenevo, but I got the call today saying its ready to go. Headed over to a mates house in the Wye Valley and took our new bikes out for a play (his kenevo arrived at the same time)

Both of us were blown away by how good the bikes are, not only good ebikes, but good bikes. The extra weight quickly disappears and I'm amazed how fast they roll. I was really impressed how well they grip too.

We did about 10 miles and 1800ft, a mix of technical singletrack, bridleways and fire roads, used about 30% battery which seems pretty good. That was using a mix of the power levels, including some off and lots of turbo.

My only real criticism is that it would be nice to have a indicator on the remote to show which mode its in.

 

[idahoskiguy]

Welcome to the asylum........the Kenevo is truly a special bike.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Nice one @Dax! I agree with the indicator, just a small LED would be really helpful, I often have to click back through to make sure I'm in the mode that I want.

 

[Dax]

Now I've had time to catch some sleep, a few more thoughts:
- wow
- wow
- it's really good


We wanted to have a gentle test ride of the bikes, but I got caught up at work so it ended up being a quick 7pm local ride, rather than heading out to fod as planned. Hit some off piste tech singletrack first and the sheer grip amazed me. We then climbed a hard byway across the valley in turbo mode, at the top I was hitting 170bpm but laughing so much, there's no way I could have ridden it on a normal bike.

We did a bit on road in eco mode, which pretty much made the weight disappear uphill and then turned the motors off for some road and singletrack. The quality of the bike was very evident from the way it rode with no power, just like riding a big bike. It seems to pop nicely over rocks and roots, but I've not really got any air time yet, hopefully I'll swap the pedals today and get out again for a proper test.

So far all I have set up on the bike is the sag on the fork, motor and shock tune are out of the box, from the descriptions I think it's on v22 firmware. I'm going to have a play with the shock, or at least work out what the controls do!

My one concern with the spec of the bike is the brakes, I've had really bad experiences with sram brakes in the past, lots of issues with juicys and codes I've owned and the guides on a rental bike at whistler needed bleeding everyday (riding the same trails on my bike a year earlier, my XT brakes didn't need a bleed despite two weeks of park and were still working happily a year later). The kenevo brakes felt pretty poor at first, but a few heat cycles through the pads and they do their job. At the first sign of trouble, they're going on eBay and I'll fit some Saints.

On the way back to the pub, we tried riding up some really steep stuff. I came off the back about 4 times, the bike almost needs a hill start button to feed the power in more gently as you pull away uphill. My mate got first crash on his:

All in, I'm over the moon with this bike. It works so well.

 

[Theolegit]

Sounds like the new firmware upgrade is right up your street

 

[Dax]

Maybe, I'm not sure I want to loose the comedy turbo mode!

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Great writeup @Dax

I agree with the brakes, I think the Code/Guide line is not the best. I had a Kenevo for 2 weeks (was brand new) and the Guides already needed bleeding and a warranty claim to replace them as they were screwed.

 

[Dax]

I took the Kenevo out for another play this afternoon At about 3pm I'd had enough of work, when a mate called up asking if I was up for riding. We took a quick (very slow - locals, plump hill is closed) run over to FoD and decided to have a play on the off piste.

The kenevo made the climbs easy, my mate is a very fit roadie and I'm a fairly chubby mtber, it was wierd dropping her on the climbs and being fine when she was out of breath...cheating is fun!

We had a roll down a few trails (shutcastle), getting the feel for the kenevo and building her confidence up. The kenevo felt big on the non technical trails, long and slow to turn. After a few laps I opened it up a bit on some harder trails, suddenly it came alive and showed how easy it is to carry speed (still with the motor off on the descents).

After riding the trails we've done before it was time for a bit of an explore, which an ebike is perfect for. "I think the trail might be up that big climb" "I'll just go take a look". Stick it on turbo and up I went. Sure enough I found a couple of trails I've never seen before and then threw the kenevo down some reasonable jumps.

The kenevo soaked them all up, then we did a lap down dowies to finish up. Afterwards my analog-bike riding mate said "thanks for getting an ebike, we couldn't have explored like that normally and I've had a good workout".

 

[Dax]

Today I had a couple of hours free before work kicks off, so I decided to take the kenevo out to my local spot and have another play Because I was pushed for time, I just stuck it in turbo for the fire roads and turned the motor off for the descents, it worked really well. The motor really gives you the freedom to explore, but I've never needed to tuck on fireroad climbs before! I managed to fit in 1800ft and 9.5miles in 90minutes, with about 60% battery remaining, which I'm delighted with, next time I can get another couple of laps in and still have battery to spare

 

[Evo Wan Kenevo]

Interesting to see what others are getting out of their rides.

I took mine out for it's second spin today. Went on a 90 minute, 30 km ride with 1000 ft of ascent. 12km of the total 30km was road riding there and back. I used trail mode most of the time and came back with 60% battery. Average HR about 144- I normally average 170 BPM for this ride on my clockwork bike!

The capabilities of this bike and the possibilities for adventure are awesome!

Like you, I'm quite staggered at how surefooted it is, as well as how amazingly it rolls. Just starting to have the confidence to get the wheels off the ground and I'm loving the Ohlins set up.

Can't wait to venture further at the weekend.

 

[Dax]

I'm still loving the kenevo, six weeks later I'm still having a lot of fun on it. I've not yet done any properly long rides, but there's been a lot around 15miles and 2500-3000ft.

One of the things I love is how easy it makes exploring, I can leave it in turbo for the climbs and get 8-10 descents in an hour, where previously I would have got 3-4.

There are other rides, generally when I'm out with a group and just leave it in eco, it seems to use almost no battery, although I've still not run out regardless of how I ride it.

I had my first crash:

And my second, which bent the mech hanger...these seem super fragile on the kenevo.

And explored a bunch of new trails: