New e-bike owner

[M. Tartiflette]

I guess my panniers are rather old school.

Re. the different specs - the French catalogue I have has the Touring Hybrid 500 with your spec (and colour) and a 300 euro premium over the black n' blue Touring Hybrid One 500.

 

[Andy McNish]

Went out for two and a half hours this morning up to Longendale Reservoirs. About 1800 feet of climbing, 38 km once the mile back from the station is added (which isn't recorded here).
Battery still on 5 bars when I got home...

Strava: https://strava.app.link/hzvy8nC4jV

 

[Andy McNish]

OK. An update.
Reached 1000 km on the odometer.

Have started to commute to and from work when the weather is dry (Stockport to Manchester city centre and back), almost all off road on cycle paths. 20km each way, which takes an hour give or take 5 mins. Fortunately at work I have a lift I can use and a place to store the bike in the office.

The bike remains bomb proof, although as I tend just to stick it in Tour mode all the way each trip uses about 20% of the battery (so 40% day), which is much heavier battery usage than on my weekend tours.

The part of the ride past the National Cycle Centre down the Ashton Canal has a fair amount of cobbled sections, and so I especially appreciate the front suspension and suspension seatpost which give me a smooth ride over them.
The bits on the cycleway around Levenshulme and Gorton have a fair few broken bottles etc. so I think the 47mm Marathon Pluses have been a good investment.

As my fitness improves I think about getting a 10kg gravel bike for the commute instead, but then look at the cobbles, glass and the fact I can take work home in my panniers on the Cube Touring, and think it's probably best to stick with the Cube as it's super reliable.

Health-wise I have lost about half a stone (could do with another couple so plenty to go) but my cardio has improved massively (and my muscle tone on my legs and arse is the best it's been in years).

There is a standard exercise route I have down the transpennine along the Mersey from my house, round a park and back. 15km. I have done it about 150 times over the past 4 years according to Strava.
I do it on my old Marin MTB.

Did it last weekend and bettered my PB on it by 2 mins. When not thrashing my PB my average heart rate reached going up hills on it seems to have dropped by 10-15 as well. And this is despite carrying the extra couple of stone I put on after my illness last year.

So I am very happy overall, especially as we're only just getting into Spring. I'd usually cycle very little December to April, but here I have done 1000km on the Cube and perhaps another 100km on my Marin.

My rides are mostly flat and, according to Strava my FTP on my old knackered Marin is 210 watts, so an ebike is a luxury item rather than necessity for me to get around, but I'm confident that I'll continue to get fantastic use out of it going forward.

The Cube itself and the ALP motor are hard to fault. Not a squeak over 1000km. At 23kg (30kg when panniers loaded) it is stately rather than a speed machine with the motor off and it's heavy to lift up stairs/over styles etc., but that's like complaining that a Rolls Royce isn't a sports car.

All in all very happy with it.

Here's a video of me taking it out up to the Longendale trail one Sunday morning:
Trip to Longendale

Cheers and happy cycling everyone!

 

[Andy McNish]

Another update.
Did a hilly 100km Sportive on it yesterday. Here is my report, cross-posted from another thread.

I'm just back from the 100km Tour de Manc today.
A Sportive is an interesting experience on a 30kg panniered-up Cube Touring Bike.

I thought I would be doing it alone but a girl i used to work with had also entered it solo so we teamed up. She has only cycled about 4 times in the past 2 years but (a) is 15 years younger than me (b) used to do triathlons before she had kids and (c) has a very nice 9kg road bike.

As a result the flat parts of the race consisted of my busting a gut (and almost maxing my heart rate) on a 30kg lump of steel trying to keep up with someone who weighs 4 stone less than me on a 9kg carbon aero bike (the 25kph cut off making my motor entirely irrelevant).

The downhill parts consisted of me watching her speed away like a Mitsubishi Zero whilst I just tried to throw my weight around violently enough to make the corners (almost always at reduced speed - though I did manage 66km/hr on one quite steep descent.)

But uphill. Well apart from Werneth Low (which I know from experience requires Sporting or Turbo boost and first gear on its 15% parts) all I did was put Eco on, settle into 2nd gear and climb with a heart rate in the 140's whilst she blew up. We had to walk up about 4 longclimbs (although it was easier for me to cycle really slowly in 1st with Eco on than actcually push a 30kg bike even with walk assist).

So in the end it worked out pretty well and it was nice to catch up with her for a chat.

I felt fine at the end of the 100km (basically as a lot of the climbs came at the end and they were rests for me).

I did lock out the front suspension for a while but actually put it back on as vibration from the road surface was numbing my hands at one point.

I had also upped the PSI in my Marathon Pluses from 55/60 to 60/65 for road use.

I used exactly 60% of the 500W/hr battery. But of course I did take hills really slowly (and walked up a couple). Nevertheless I'm confident that the Bosch ALP with a 500W/hr battery can managed a 100k Sportive in normal conditions even on a heavy touring bike.

Sportives are not my favourite riding though - no time to stop and smell the roses and far too many cars.
I prefer my quiet river/canal and old railway line paths. And stopping for photos and cider

But i did manage about £500 for charity and it's further than I've ever gone in one day before...