After fighting to get out on the Thorn in some hideous weather, and being too old/fat to do the daily commute to work by bike, 17 miles each way, I decided that the time had come to supplement the eXp with an e-bike. This would at least give me some help, which could actually improve my fitness by taking on conditions that I wouldn't be able to hack unassisted. I was keen on a Brompton for the folding ability, but Brompton rules mean that their dealer network are not allowed to ship them, and the customer has to come into the shop to pick up the bike and get a safety lecture - a folding bike being somewhat close to rocket-science obviously! I am a 12 hour ferry ride from the nearest Brompton dealer so I took my £3,000 budget and two years of indecision elsewhere.
In the end I bought an ARCC converted Moulton TSR8. I have already got 3 Moultons: a TSR30, an APB 21 (Land Rover edition) and a mark 2 F-frame. I have mixed feelings about the small wheel format, fast accelerating they might be, but I spend more time trying to maintain momentum, so the large wheels of the Thorn are far more beneficial for me. The TSR frames are separable, rather than folding, so basically a real faff to take apart, consisting of making sure that the bike is in the right gear, splitting cables at the splitters, removing a pivot bolt and wresting the frame apart. It certainly has nothing on the S&S coupling that the lucky ones have on their Thorns, but the thin lattice tubed frame of the Moulton would preclude S&S fittings.
Is there anything good about this bike? Well, yes. The motor is in the front wheel, which takes the strain off the hub, but more interesting is that the electricity is delivered from Bosch batteries that are more commonly used in lawnmowers and strimmers etc. Supposedly good for 30 miles depending on so many different factors, but surprisingly excluding the alignment of the planets, I am expecting considerably less, so have bought 2 batteries to give me a more reasonable range.
The plan is to start with a fairly high assistance level and then gradually lower it, but only on days that the eXp would be unsuitable due to the conditions. Even if the e-bike only uses a third of the effort in the first place, it will improve my fitness by getting me out on the bike, and will mean that I never have to sit on the turbo trainer again - a loathsome experience at best.
The eXp will still be my touring bike. You can tour on a Moulton, I have done it, but it is unable to carry the weight that the eXp can, and camping is less comfortable without the chandeliers.
Andy
Shetland
