Touring with a Spectral: on

[tomato paste]

I'm trying to find a happy balance between MTB trail riding in the hills of the Black Forest in Germany, countryside touring on pavement and gravel, and pulling a child wagon (with a kid that keeps getting heavier), so that I can accomplish all three with just one e-bike.

The videos I've seen so far demonstrate the Spectral: on is a good fit for trail riding in the hills here in the Black Forest. But I'm wondering if anyone has tried just touring on fire roads and pavement with a Spectral: on, perhaps switched up the tires to make it more touring friendly, and has info they can share about their experience?

 

[SquireRides]

I have similar needs right now too.

Based on my own research (and experience with my current eMTB), the main question is how are you towing your child? Right now I am using a Follow Me. This requires my bike to have a QR rear hub, non-boost, and the tire clearance limits me to 2.4" tires. Also, pretty sure it wouldn't work with full-sus.

Most other trailers I've looked at (for touring rather than kid-carrying) seem to need a QR rear hub at least, but connect to the side, so should have better clearance for boost/fat tires.

So, for a few more years at least, I'll be sticking with my hard-tail Cube Reaction Hybrid.

 

[pallie]

Commuting with my Neuron ON is very nice and smooth. Really relaxing.

 

[tomato paste]

Commuting with my Neuron ON is very nice and smooth. Really relaxing.

Great to hear, thanks for sharing. I'd be more interested in a Neuron On than a Spectral On, if I was being honest, as I think it fits more of what I'm looking for--lower key trail riding and touring. But the value of the components of the Spectral seems much better for some reason. Maybe I should wait a year for a 12-speed Neuron On with coil shocks to appear.

This is unrelated, but, in the back of my mind is the horrifying customer service of Canyon--would it make more sense to buy a Commencal, as it seems like they have much better service than Canyon, despite the fact I live in Germany. After 3 years here I've come to realize there is no such thing as good customer service, and that makes pulling the trigger on a Canyon much more difficult.

 

[tomato paste]

I have similar needs right now too.

Based on my own research (and experience with my current eMTB), the main question is how are you towing your child? Right now I am using a Follow Me. This requires my bike to have a QR rear hub, non-boost, and the tire clearance limits me to 2.4" tires. Also, pretty sure it wouldn't work with full-sus.

Most other trailers I've looked at (for touring rather than kid-carrying) seem to need a QR rear hub at least, but connect to the side, so should have better clearance for boost/fat tires.

So, for a few more years at least, I'll be sticking with my hard-tail Cube Reaction Hybrid.

That's a good point, I had not considered future towing requirements, just what we use now, which is a Thule. As the kid gets bigger it makes sense to tow the kid and a bike. Thanks for sharing what you've found.

The side attachment of the Thule seems to work on most any hub, I think. Whether it damages a fulls suspension, I've generally read two opinions through my searching of random english and german mtb forums: those that haven't tried it, but insist that the lateral stresses of the wagon will damage suspension bar connections (I'm not sure what these are called); and those that have tried it, tow a wagon regularly with a fully, and generally report no issues at all.

 

[pallie]

Great to hear, thanks for sharing. I'd be more interested in a Neuron On than a Spectral On, if I was being honest, as I think it fits more of what I'm looking for--lower key trail riding and touring. But the value of the components of the Spectral seems much better for some reason. Maybe I should wait a year for a 12-speed Neuron On with coil shocks to appear.

This is unrelated, but, in the back of my mind is the horrifying customer service of Canyon--would it make more sense to buy a Commencal, as it seems like they have much better service than Canyon, despite the fact I live in Germany. After 3 years here I've come to realize there is no such thing as good customer service, and that makes pulling the trigger on a Canyon much more difficult.

I'd found the customer service just very good! Very helpful.