So I borrowed this from J....my plan (when I can locate a babysitter) is to do a road ride with my wife who doesnt ride bikes very often...
However, I took it for a spin pulling bob in his trailer...Pretty awesome. I mean I have taken him in this trailer just about where ever..Lap of the lewis morris course, top of the tourne, etc....Doable on climbs, but hell of a workout and I never bring him out on the road. With this thing i could keep up a safe speed on climbs and its mass/low C.G. made the usually top heavy trailer track very well. After a couple of hours, I barely broke a sweat and bob was cheering at the speed. So for this, its excellent...your not getting much of a workout, but towing bob up a few huge climbs that I would normally avoid was pretty neat.
I will say curiosity got the better of me and I just had to try it out and see how fast I could really "ride" in compared to my scalpel. I brought it to a place where I had a bunch of times I threw down with the race bike. While I was surprised how good of a mountain bike this thing is...given its weight...over about 12 segments...only two was able to beat my non motorized time and they were both sections with a 3min climb up a fire road. Anything twisty, technical, downhill, on/off pedaling...I could not get close. Which is probably more of a statement about how quick and nimble the scalpel is....I mean it feels like a really well done mountain bike, but its shear mass makes it a handful when you are trying to go super fast with it. Plus its not THAT powerful....I think its 600w peak power...Which I can top on a bike that weighs half as much. So with the weight (turning and accelerating), plus having to pedal through the motor so your not adding much to when you pedal....I can see why I can go faster. Unless it was an open climb, it which case it just gets to 15-19mph and doesnt get tired. For that, its wild...its like having a fast forward button for those shitty fireroad climbs.
Few thoughts I had...
Riding it like i would my mtb...it needs bigger brakes
Given its size and weight...I was surprised how good of a "mountain bike" it is.
I cant believe the tires survived
the motor winds out as you bang through the gears and it sounds kinda neat
you can take your inside foot off moto style, pedal with outside foot and power out of turns
hopping logs, hopping in general...ya not so good.
technical rock face...strange and have to be cautious, but slowing crawling was pretty crazy...so long as you can keep it online...it will crawl up something.
I am 100% more of a danger to pedestrians, dogs, other animals, etc on my regular bike compared to this thing....its not as fast, plain and simple. It goes 20mph, you want to go 21, its hard to do, even downhill....in spots where I would be going 28-30 on my reg bike. So after trying it, its not more dangerous to other people than a regular bike. And it cannot spin the tire anywhere, so I dont see how it causes any additional trail damage.
its RC car loud so you will no fool anyone that it isnt motorized
in a 90min ride my HR was on par with a regular mtb ride...not race pace, but still a workout. its not doing all the work, but its like a KERS system in F1...so it removes the big power bursts.
So in all, I think its a really neat, very well done toy. Not sure what I would ever use it for...I suppose if maybe I wanted to do a ride at waywayanda from my house...Or say to roll out of moab, ride to the top of burro pass without having to take the van maybe. The ability to ride 20mph on the road there would be nice...To commute to work. Carry tools in the trailer like Jay uses it for...
Maybe if they were legal it would be a neat toy, but i would probably just buy a motorcycle. And as far as I can tell...they are motorized, thus not legal...and pretty sure they will never "legal" in this state in my life time. Only thing I would say is that after riding one, I dont fear people going wild with them and running over hikers anymore than a regular non powered bicycle. I mean it makes 600w peak power...according to my power meter, I can make twice that much...its ~.75hp PEAK. My little push lawnmower has 6hp. So its a great "assist"...but its not like a motorcycle.
However, I took it for a spin pulling bob in his trailer...Pretty awesome. I mean I have taken him in this trailer just about where ever..Lap of the lewis morris course, top of the tourne, etc....Doable on climbs, but hell of a workout and I never bring him out on the road. With this thing i could keep up a safe speed on climbs and its mass/low C.G. made the usually top heavy trailer track very well. After a couple of hours, I barely broke a sweat and bob was cheering at the speed. So for this, its excellent...your not getting much of a workout, but towing bob up a few huge climbs that I would normally avoid was pretty neat.
I will say curiosity got the better of me and I just had to try it out and see how fast I could really "ride" in compared to my scalpel. I brought it to a place where I had a bunch of times I threw down with the race bike. While I was surprised how good of a mountain bike this thing is...given its weight...over about 12 segments...only two was able to beat my non motorized time and they were both sections with a 3min climb up a fire road. Anything twisty, technical, downhill, on/off pedaling...I could not get close. Which is probably more of a statement about how quick and nimble the scalpel is....I mean it feels like a really well done mountain bike, but its shear mass makes it a handful when you are trying to go super fast with it. Plus its not THAT powerful....I think its 600w peak power...Which I can top on a bike that weighs half as much. So with the weight (turning and accelerating), plus having to pedal through the motor so your not adding much to when you pedal....I can see why I can go faster. Unless it was an open climb, it which case it just gets to 15-19mph and doesnt get tired. For that, its wild...its like having a fast forward button for those shitty fireroad climbs.
Few thoughts I had...
Riding it like i would my mtb...it needs bigger brakes
Given its size and weight...I was surprised how good of a "mountain bike" it is.
I cant believe the tires survived
the motor winds out as you bang through the gears and it sounds kinda neat
you can take your inside foot off moto style, pedal with outside foot and power out of turns
hopping logs, hopping in general...ya not so good.
technical rock face...strange and have to be cautious, but slowing crawling was pretty crazy...so long as you can keep it online...it will crawl up something.
I am 100% more of a danger to pedestrians, dogs, other animals, etc on my regular bike compared to this thing....its not as fast, plain and simple. It goes 20mph, you want to go 21, its hard to do, even downhill....in spots where I would be going 28-30 on my reg bike. So after trying it, its not more dangerous to other people than a regular bike. And it cannot spin the tire anywhere, so I dont see how it causes any additional trail damage.
its RC car loud so you will no fool anyone that it isnt motorized
in a 90min ride my HR was on par with a regular mtb ride...not race pace, but still a workout. its not doing all the work, but its like a KERS system in F1...so it removes the big power bursts.
So in all, I think its a really neat, very well done toy. Not sure what I would ever use it for...I suppose if maybe I wanted to do a ride at waywayanda from my house...Or say to roll out of moab, ride to the top of burro pass without having to take the van maybe. The ability to ride 20mph on the road there would be nice...To commute to work. Carry tools in the trailer like Jay uses it for...
Maybe if they were legal it would be a neat toy, but i would probably just buy a motorcycle. And as far as I can tell...they are motorized, thus not legal...and pretty sure they will never "legal" in this state in my life time. Only thing I would say is that after riding one, I dont fear people going wild with them and running over hikers anymore than a regular non powered bicycle. I mean it makes 600w peak power...according to my power meter, I can make twice that much...its ~.75hp PEAK. My little push lawnmower has 6hp. So its a great "assist"...but its not like a motorcycle.
