New years day, and what a fab day after all the wet doom and gloom. An earlyish night left the other half and myself, up pretty early and able to take advantage of the wall to wall sun, so stuck my KTM Bosch battery and my wifes Juicy Bike conversion battery on charge, while I headed up the road to buy some croissants from an early opening Moroccan bakery.
The bosch battery was flashing full after a couple of hours on charge, and I assumed that the 36v 10ah Juicy would be be sufficiently charged, as it should have been half full before the start ( I thought).
Stuck the bikes on a Witter tow bar rack, and headed out to the village of Thunderidge, the other side of Hertford. New Years Day should come round more frequently, as the roads were empty. I seemed to have remembered to take everything needed for the ride, which has become more and more difficult these days, and a 3 am nightmare, is driving out to our start point and then not-so-slowly realising that the batteries are still sitting on the hall table. But not today.
Wet roads, but a tail wind that made the KTM feel very flighty, and not in need of any assistance, other than when the wife was starting to disappear over the horizon and the heart rate was getting into the red. I really cant believe just how pleasantly ‘ordinary’ the 18kg bike feels when not using assistance, and even when out of the saddle and honking, the centre drive weight distribution has no effect on the balance. With the choice of 30/100/180/250% assistance on tap, I have found that 30% is just about right on the second leg of a long hill, and 100%is more than enough on the steepest Hertfordshire incline
We forded a couple of road based streams, which was a bit of fun, with my wife white faced with anxiety, and then grinning madly. We were not cycling off road, but as the off road had been washed onto the road, and left some mega potholes in its wake, it was good to have some front suspension to cushion the worst of it.
But of course, it wasn’t going to last, and after about 15 miles, where the route turns West and slowly into the wind, I hear my wife complaining from behind, that she doesn’t seem to have any power. But as it was our lunch spot, at a village called Manuden, I had a quick look, and in my hi-tec way (so as not to upset anybody), I jiggled the battery, turning it on and off, and power came back again. Sorted.
But the writing was on the wall, and in another couple of hundred yards, the power was gone again. My first thought was “where is Flecc and/or d8veh when you need them”....but my second, and more realistic thought was “oh dear, it was a flat battery”..
So now it was a case of lowering the saddle on the KTM, and raising the saddle on her (not so) Juicy conversion, and digging deep for the next 16 miles, all of it into a stiff S.W wind, and with the sun 1” above the horizon, and straight in your eyes.
Took a while for my other half to twig that there was no throttle on the KTM, and that dropping a gear and spinning does NOT bring on a sense of acceleration....the Bosch is far more subtle and less in your face, but did not suit my wife’s black & white understanding of electric power, so one must assume that cadence sensors will suit some folk far more that torque sensors, and bikes should be tried out back to back by any new customer.
The unpowered Garry Fisher rode pretty well despite the Schwalbe Land Cruiser tyres and 6 kgs of extra ballast, but I would be a liar if I said that it wasn’t tiring. On the other hand, this would have been my first opportunity to really use the KTM when the going starts to get tough, as this part of Herts is all valleys and hilltops, so in a sense I had no register of just how pleasant a 30-100% assistance might be, and the coating of sweat from past rides on this route, was quite familiar.
My wife’s main complaint was that the saddle was very uncomfortable, and I would have to agree that it is a bit of a bum splitter, despite the pretty colours.
I would add the the Deore LX rear mech on her bike was a smoother shifter than the SLX on the KTM. This is partly because the SLX rapid fire thumb shifter has a small detente for the thumb (or forefinger) to break though, so it is not a silky feel.
I should also say, that as the KTM is an imported bike, the rear brake lever is on the right hand side, and the front on the left, so not as one would want it for city cycling and occasional hand signals....maybe importers will change things over before sale.
It was a great relief to finally get back to the car (a Golf), load the bikes, and switch on the electrically heated seat to dry the sweat, and ease some of the aches.
Fortunately I really like a feeling of great weariness, so despite having the new Bosch bike snatched from my sticky fingers.... in the end I was ‘tired but happy’
The bosch battery was flashing full after a couple of hours on charge, and I assumed that the 36v 10ah Juicy would be be sufficiently charged, as it should have been half full before the start ( I thought).
Stuck the bikes on a Witter tow bar rack, and headed out to the village of Thunderidge, the other side of Hertford. New Years Day should come round more frequently, as the roads were empty. I seemed to have remembered to take everything needed for the ride, which has become more and more difficult these days, and a 3 am nightmare, is driving out to our start point and then not-so-slowly realising that the batteries are still sitting on the hall table. But not today.
Wet roads, but a tail wind that made the KTM feel very flighty, and not in need of any assistance, other than when the wife was starting to disappear over the horizon and the heart rate was getting into the red. I really cant believe just how pleasantly ‘ordinary’ the 18kg bike feels when not using assistance, and even when out of the saddle and honking, the centre drive weight distribution has no effect on the balance. With the choice of 30/100/180/250% assistance on tap, I have found that 30% is just about right on the second leg of a long hill, and 100%is more than enough on the steepest Hertfordshire incline
We forded a couple of road based streams, which was a bit of fun, with my wife white faced with anxiety, and then grinning madly. We were not cycling off road, but as the off road had been washed onto the road, and left some mega potholes in its wake, it was good to have some front suspension to cushion the worst of it.
But of course, it wasn’t going to last, and after about 15 miles, where the route turns West and slowly into the wind, I hear my wife complaining from behind, that she doesn’t seem to have any power. But as it was our lunch spot, at a village called Manuden, I had a quick look, and in my hi-tec way (so as not to upset anybody), I jiggled the battery, turning it on and off, and power came back again. Sorted.
But the writing was on the wall, and in another couple of hundred yards, the power was gone again. My first thought was “where is Flecc and/or d8veh when you need them”....but my second, and more realistic thought was “oh dear, it was a flat battery”..
So now it was a case of lowering the saddle on the KTM, and raising the saddle on her (not so) Juicy conversion, and digging deep for the next 16 miles, all of it into a stiff S.W wind, and with the sun 1” above the horizon, and straight in your eyes.
Took a while for my other half to twig that there was no throttle on the KTM, and that dropping a gear and spinning does NOT bring on a sense of acceleration....the Bosch is far more subtle and less in your face, but did not suit my wife’s black & white understanding of electric power, so one must assume that cadence sensors will suit some folk far more that torque sensors, and bikes should be tried out back to back by any new customer.
The unpowered Garry Fisher rode pretty well despite the Schwalbe Land Cruiser tyres and 6 kgs of extra ballast, but I would be a liar if I said that it wasn’t tiring. On the other hand, this would have been my first opportunity to really use the KTM when the going starts to get tough, as this part of Herts is all valleys and hilltops, so in a sense I had no register of just how pleasant a 30-100% assistance might be, and the coating of sweat from past rides on this route, was quite familiar.
My wife’s main complaint was that the saddle was very uncomfortable, and I would have to agree that it is a bit of a bum splitter, despite the pretty colours.
I would add the the Deore LX rear mech on her bike was a smoother shifter than the SLX on the KTM. This is partly because the SLX rapid fire thumb shifter has a small detente for the thumb (or forefinger) to break though, so it is not a silky feel.
I should also say, that as the KTM is an imported bike, the rear brake lever is on the right hand side, and the front on the left, so not as one would want it for city cycling and occasional hand signals....maybe importers will change things over before sale.
It was a great relief to finally get back to the car (a Golf), load the bikes, and switch on the electrically heated seat to dry the sweat, and ease some of the aches.
Fortunately I really like a feeling of great weariness, so despite having the new Bosch bike snatched from my sticky fingers.... in the end I was ‘tired but happy’
