slippery pete
Well-known member
I've been a complete muppet for not riding my eMTB. Not been riding my analogue either.
Only a short month into ownership I dinged up the rear wheel and the appreciation came that my riding style (Enduro racer) was going to make short work of rims unless I sorted out some rim protection. From the same outing I smashed (destroyed) a pedal and the ensuing OTB dinged a brake rotor and smacked some of the levers on the bars. I therefore went into battle to get a Rimpact insert into the rear wheel - unable to coax it in with the original Magic Mary super gravity I downgraded to the flexier sidewalls of a Purgatory Grid I had lying around. It looked puny and I didn't fancy its chances. I stuck on some pedals that I'd had earmarked for eBay that I didn't really want to get dirty. I didn't ride my eMTB for a couple of months.
Wheels are cross compatible between my eMTB and my analogue so a couple of weekends ago I found myself on the Innerleithen uplift (analogue bike) and took along my ebike wheels to test. Slithering down the DH runs the Purgatory wasn't absolutely dreadful so this last weekend I carried out my threat to try it out on the eMTB. I sorted the pedals thing as well, remembering my plan to revist some clipless pedals I had lurking in the parts bin.
So this weekend I rode from the door with a backpack and spare battery and tried to see how much wild ground I could cover linking up local spots (Scotland, Stirling area).
Lesson 1: the Purgatory Grid/Rimpact combo rolls really well and range was so good I barely needed the spare battery: 72km and 1500m of climbing on Saturday (barely dipping into battery 2); 65km and 1200m climbing on Sunday only needing one battery (but I carried the spare all the way round anyway). Batteries are standard Shimano 504Wh on a Commencal 2020 Team - this was much better range than I was expecting.
Lesson 2: the Purgatory is *not* a mud tyre but the dog was definitely wagging its tail - not necessarily fast but a lot of fun
Lesson 3: there were a fair few road miles linking it all together and it worked really well to run in Boost (low) on the road where my natural pedalling pace was more or less 25kmh but the motor would chip in a few watts here and there to keep me spinning along. Surprisingly economic and comfortably sustainable even at the end of a four hour ride.
Lesson 4: couch to eight hours on the bike (in the course of the weekend) was a doable stretch target only because of the eMTB - aim is to be able to do it without motor assistance to get ready for enduro season. Having got out there on the eMTB, I didn't have reasons to turn around and head for home until the light was fading and/or (Saturday) it was pi$$ing down.
Lesson 5: I didn't have to load the car, drive, unload the car, ride, load the car, drive unload the car. I just managed to concentrate on that good bit in the middle. Awesome.
Only a short month into ownership I dinged up the rear wheel and the appreciation came that my riding style (Enduro racer) was going to make short work of rims unless I sorted out some rim protection. From the same outing I smashed (destroyed) a pedal and the ensuing OTB dinged a brake rotor and smacked some of the levers on the bars. I therefore went into battle to get a Rimpact insert into the rear wheel - unable to coax it in with the original Magic Mary super gravity I downgraded to the flexier sidewalls of a Purgatory Grid I had lying around. It looked puny and I didn't fancy its chances. I stuck on some pedals that I'd had earmarked for eBay that I didn't really want to get dirty. I didn't ride my eMTB for a couple of months.
Wheels are cross compatible between my eMTB and my analogue so a couple of weekends ago I found myself on the Innerleithen uplift (analogue bike) and took along my ebike wheels to test. Slithering down the DH runs the Purgatory wasn't absolutely dreadful so this last weekend I carried out my threat to try it out on the eMTB. I sorted the pedals thing as well, remembering my plan to revist some clipless pedals I had lurking in the parts bin.
So this weekend I rode from the door with a backpack and spare battery and tried to see how much wild ground I could cover linking up local spots (Scotland, Stirling area).
Lesson 1: the Purgatory Grid/Rimpact combo rolls really well and range was so good I barely needed the spare battery: 72km and 1500m of climbing on Saturday (barely dipping into battery 2); 65km and 1200m climbing on Sunday only needing one battery (but I carried the spare all the way round anyway). Batteries are standard Shimano 504Wh on a Commencal 2020 Team - this was much better range than I was expecting.
Lesson 2: the Purgatory is *not* a mud tyre but the dog was definitely wagging its tail - not necessarily fast but a lot of fun
Lesson 3: there were a fair few road miles linking it all together and it worked really well to run in Boost (low) on the road where my natural pedalling pace was more or less 25kmh but the motor would chip in a few watts here and there to keep me spinning along. Surprisingly economic and comfortably sustainable even at the end of a four hour ride.
Lesson 4: couch to eight hours on the bike (in the course of the weekend) was a doable stretch target only because of the eMTB - aim is to be able to do it without motor assistance to get ready for enduro season. Having got out there on the eMTB, I didn't have reasons to turn around and head for home until the light was fading and/or (Saturday) it was pi$$ing down.
Lesson 5: I didn't have to load the car, drive, unload the car, ride, load the car, drive unload the car. I just managed to concentrate on that good bit in the middle. Awesome.
