Silverfox.Mike

[mention=14708]Trevormonty[/mention] Very useful points - the bike I hired was a 2017 Orbea Keram, Steps equipped bike. I wonder why Orbea would switch to the Bosch ActiveLine system if the Shimano Steps is much better as you suggest. Charge time is a consideration.

There's some funny comedians on this forum, House prices are indeed expensive in rural Hampshire, but so are mortgages.. Good point on the strengthening legs d8veh. I'll hold off on the £100 second charger for a bit to see how things go. I've only experienced the Orbea Keram - if there are better options at the same price point, I'll happily take a look, but I did find the 29er wheels helpful and at only 5' 7" the medium frame of the Keram 30 seemed a good fit for me.

I recently rented a 2017 Orbea Keram 30 for a week long trial, to see if I could get on with it on the 15 mile each way commute to work, The journey is from Tadley to Wokingham and about 5 miles is off-road i.e. mud trails and tracks. I found it very capable, I cycled 3 days out of 5 and was reluctant to give it back. I'll probably buy one now, I'm just waiting for my Cycle to Work voucher to come through. Worth noting that I am not a cyclist by any means, the last time I was on my hybrid mountain bike was Autumn 2017. The Orbea made easy work of the long hills that I have to go up. It is more uphill on the way home, I found that I would use 37% of the charge on the way to work and about 60-65% on the way home. I took the charger with me so I could top it up in work. I reckon I would buy a 2nd charger to avoid carrying one with me. My plan is to use this for the daily commute at least 3 days per week and save a load of cash on diesel as well as getting a bit fitter at the same time. The nice thing is the retailer who hired the bike, will knock the hire charge of any purchase, that's great customer service.