Crashfest 2024

 What's wrong with pro cycling?

Crashing seems to be a) popular and b) a popular subject in various online forums these days.

Zio Lorenzo's been kicked-off one where he used to make comments regularly, probably because when the blog publisher implied that cycling equipment could make the difference between winning and losing, Ol' Zio let him have it, saying if he thought there was something he could buy at a bike shop that would make that difference, he was either delusional or a shill for the bike biz. That was that!

But his and other forums are full of what Zio thinks are either just dumb or at best half-baked ideas about the epidemic of crashes and how to fix it. Below are some of Zio's ideas and observations:

A lot of the crash victims this season are what Zio calls "numbers riders" - racers whose main qualification to be on a World Tour team seems to be their watts/kg ratio. Many of them came into cycling from other sports after someone discovered their amazing physiology and turned them into bike riders. Too many of these end up as "supercharged hemi-engines in shopping-cart chassis" - riders with powerful engines but not much in the way of skills when it comes to the controlling of the bike. These riders seem to crash more often than more seasoned competitors, those who grew-up racing bicycles.

In Zio's humble opinion the big crash down in Spain was caused by one of these riders..one so strong he wore the rainbow stripes of World Champion not too long ago. You might remember him screwing-up a descent in the "Race of the Falling Leaves" and ending up in a ravine? In the head-on video clip from the Spanish race Zio thinks this rider messed up his line around the curve and is aiming for a soft spot to land as he runs wide and off the pavement. The poor guy behind him hits the brakes trying to let this guy crash solo, but locks up his front wheel...and ambulances roll.

There were claims the organizers should have somehow made this curve safer but are they supposed to put padding up or repave the entire race course? It's ROADracing after all, is it too much to ask riders to look where they're going and not assume they can zoom off the pavement at any time with no risk of injury? It's not MOTOGP after all!

But they could (and should) at least remove parked cars from the course, no? Just the other day Zio watched a race where the road suddenly narrowed and the peloton squeezed-in and of course someone crashed. The cause? Cars parked on the course! WTF? They can't put up "NO PARKING" signs the day before and then remove vehicles on race morning? That's low-tech operation so how/why isn't it done?

While that same ex-World Champ seems to crash a lot...and most of the time it's someone else' fault, according to him, he's not the only one. Perhaps it's time for a change in licensing? In the US of A a category 4 racer can't just decide to show up and race against the category 1 riders, so how do these "numbers riders" get into the World Tour without much experience in the lower categories where they can learn (and perhaps be noted as sketchy bike handlers, needing some tutoring) before they put a big dent in the career of the poor guy behind them in the race?

Another example is the "Zwift effect" - a sort of "number's rider" but one who gets a World Tour team ride based on results pedaling a stationary bike hooked up to the internet. Would you think these riders might find it a challenge to stay upright when the bike's no longer attached to anything and they're surrounded by hundreds of other racers, all being yelled-at through their earpiece to "Get to the front!"?

Then there's equipment. Ex-pro Paolo Salvodelli, a guy who knows a thing or three about handling a bicycle, suggests banning high-profile wheel rims to reduce crashing. Any rims taller than 30 mm tend to get pushed around by cross winds so why not put a limit here?

Gearing's another idea. Does it matter that racers are going faster now? Is racing made more interesting for fans when the average speed is 45 kph vs 40? Is the Daytona 500 more exciting when the cars lap at 200 mph vs 150? Most spectators want to see racing, they don't really have a clue as to the speed involved, but chainrings with nearly 60 teeth on 'em allow insane speeds to be attained through city streets as riders snake around raised medians and other "road furniture". Junior races have gear restrictions, why not the pros to slow things down some?

Modern bikes seem over-reactive in many cases. You have to be old to remember "stage race geometry" as a marketing tool. Those bikes were said to be more stable via slacker angles and longer wheelbases than their criterium racing brethren, but do any racers have such a thing these days? Back-in-the-day Eddy Merckx' bikes were custom made for him...and the course he'd race them on.  Current riders race on whatever they're given with an emphasis on it being the same bike Joe or Jill Crankarm can buy, which are usually bikes more reactive and stiff than really necessary for the best control at high speeds...speeds that Joe or Jill likely never reach.

Perhaps the bike regulations need a thorough revamp, one that isn't so skewed towards what the bike biz wants to sell this season? Ol' Henri Desgrange took them on, though then it wasn't so much equipment as their control of teams, but Zio thinks about airplane races where the fan faves are most often the WWII "warbirds" - those piston-engined P51's and the like rather than modern jet-powered fighter planes. Is more tech always better?

Bicycles are primitive machines, they go nowhere for the most part (heck, they don't even stand up straight!) unless a human is pedaling 'em so is the sport made better by kowtowing to the bike makers who want to make them ever lighter, ever more "aero", ever more stiff and ever more profitable? You could argue the sport would lose the sponsorship funding of the bike makers if the rules weren't favorable but would that really be the case...and if it was, couldn't the sport find sponsoring money from elsewhere?

Zio Lorenzo hopes the UCI implements some of the simpler ideas soon if they truly want to reduce the number and severity of crashes rather than just appoint task forces to write long-winded essays on the subject. They and the pro riders union certainly should work to reduce crashes and injuries but need to be careful not to undermine the essential elements of sport itself in the process.

More on the subject HERE. In this article the fracking king who owns that British WT team cites the death of Senna in F1 as a catalyst for safety improvements. What F1 actually did was try to slow the cars down. Would "Mr. Fracking" be OK with restriction on the "aero" characteristics of current bicycles? How 'bout restricted gearing? Both of those "innovations" are cited as reasons for the increased speeds of the pro peloton so...?

Meanwhile check this out. Rider error? Did his brakes not work? He was certainly going fast!

FSA Carbon Handlebar

 What were they thinking?

With this handlebar? This thing was spec'd on Zio's new e-gravel bike.

This and the stem are the only things he really dislikes. He understands that "gravel" means ya gotta have a flared handlebar, but this thing? Really?

If you look at the linked page, you can scroll around the image and see all the "features" of this carbon-fiber masterpiece. From the odd hexagon shape on the drops, the strange depressions where top turns into drop, the 5 mm of rise (so you can leave a 5 mm spacer off under your stem?) the forward sweep of the top, plus the "wing" shape that gives the bar its name.

For Zio Lorenzo, every one of these "features" is really a "bug". He'd much, much rather have a simple round (aluminum) drop bar in a reasonable width rather than this crazy thing with an MSRP of over $300! 

The wing shape might look good and make one think it's maybe more "aero" than a round tube, but what about a place to put your hands? It's a HANDLEbar after all! The pros don't even bother taping this part so I guess they never hold on there, especially without gloves? Even taped, the nice flat part close to the forward curve feels OK when your palms are flat on it but when you cup 'em a bit the edge of the "wing" made Zio think about sticking some foam padding around it as he did to fill up that odd depression near this area.

What good is the forward sweep? Zio sees no + here, in fact it feels kind-of odd after decades of a straight section on the bar top. Same with the tiny 5 mm of rise...why?

Worse, the bike maker paired it with a stem of just 8 cm! This makes the steering more sensitive than Zio likes though this odd-shaped bar puts his hands where he wants 'em on the brake hoods and kinda/sorta on the tops though that same shorty stem means hands down on drops is too short...and too wide thanks to the flare. The old "hands on drops, front hub invisible" rule still applies for him but the stem's too short.

You might say "You're a mechanic, just swap 'em out!" until you realize they (again in the fashion of the day, just like the too wide and flared-out bar) put all the brake hoses and cables inside both stem and bar. Grrrr! This means opening up perfectly functioning front/rear hydraulic brake systems to get the hoses out along with the shift cable!

A longer replacement stem of the same brand/type would allow the hoses, etc. to be run up to the bar internally where they can then be run along the outside of the bar and under the tape like back-in-the-day (and like our Bianchi e-bikes which also got bar/stem swaps but without disconnecting anything - just untaping the bars and removing and re-installing the brake levers) but what a PITA, not to mention the little bits (called olives) that seal the brake hoses probably will need to be replaced in the process before both front and rear systems can be bled of whatever air entered while they were disconnected to be pulled out of the bar/stem.

Zio gets tired just typing this! He really didn't want to tear this bike all apart before he'd even ridden it, though if he was able to see (and measure) a size S and M in-person he would have chosen S instead of M and asked the selling dealer to swap the bar/stem. But "that ship's sailed" as they say so for now "it is what it is" (as they also say) but he's almost hoping for another excuse to take the brake systems apart so he can swap the bar/stem in the process!

Otherwise he's liking the bike - the fat tires make it so he doesn't have to ride the cracked roads of Sicily with one eye always looking down instead of where he's going, the Campagnolo EKAR groupset works well with adequate gearing (some say the 40 tooth chainring's too small but 40 X 9's tall enough as a top gear for Zio) and the rest of the bike seems just fine. 

The electric "granny gear" is nice too, he's decided to bump assist from 0 to 1 any time he's in a really low gear and would have been using the small 30 tooth front chainring on his "acoustic" (as they call 'em now) bikes. He's still hauling the battery and motor around even when not using 'em and they weigh a good deal more than an inner triple chainring and the bits that go with that - so WTF not?

 Handling both on and off pavement is good, but should be even better with a slightly longer stem...maybe 10 cm? Combined with a normal bar (no sweep, flare, rise) he'd probably be exactly where he wants to be position-wise.

So be careful with sizing! Seems like a lot of bikes are spec'd like this nowadays. Both the selling dealer and MV were consulted and supplied with Zio's exact measurements. He asked about XS vs S but both insisted M was the correct size. MV's geometry chart didn't much help so against his better judgement (which might have worked out for the best as the S size would have been worse with it's shorter top tube and shorty stem) he took their advice and went with M. That's one of the risks of online vs in-person purchasing (there was no dealer in the island of Sicily that had these in-stock..as it turns out neither did the dealer in Rome Zio bought this one from!) but he'd have for sure had to endure the PITA swap of bar/stem on the S so maybe he's better off than he knows?

Spring is here...almost

 Sunny Sunday in Sicily

Milano-Sanremo was yesterday. La Primavera is the start of spring and for us, the start of the real cycling season. So Sunday was time to get out on our own bikes! A ride down the coast on quiet roads, then inland and uphill, climbing what locals call Il Carciofo, the artichoke. Turns out we were on the route of the Mediofondo, Giro di Carciofi held earlier today.

No racing for us today! Our goal was to arrive at Case Damma in time for lunch! As you can see above we made it...40 kms into our ride. And what a lunch it was!! Eight or nine antipasti: fresh ricotta, salami, zucchine, olives, cheese and more followed by two first plates - a lasagne with pistachio and a pasta with tomato, sausage and wild fennel. If that wasn't enough, a second plate was served, a pork roll in a spicy sauce.

Desert was up next, a sort of tiramisu with a shot of Zibibbo wine to wash it down. We could barely get out of our chairs and back on the bikes!!!

The proprietor had this nicely restored Matchless on display so the two-wheeled connection was there too!

Meanwhile, we noticed this painted on a wall near one of our favorite market vendors the other day. The famous author of the Montalbano books, Andrea Camilleri.

Hope you had a great Sunday as well!

Fixed!

 -MV-AGUSTA E-Gravel Bike

Fixed! Cancer-stick related logo covered!

You almost can't tell with the white background strip

Now the bike looks like it should, right? In a perfect world a -MV-Agusta would be red/silver like the ones Giacomo Agostini raced on, but Zio's not gonna take this thing apart and send it out for a repaint! Maybe a red SMP Glider saddle with red bar tape to match will liven things up? Check back, tape's on-the-way and saddle already here - see below.

The proper colors for MV, forget that cancer-stick livery!

The last MV Agusta Zio rode.

He's getting used-to the flared and aero-shaped carbon handlebar along with the more upright position on this bike. Getting close to real geezer-hood he's probably doing his back some good with less bending over so much? And disconnecting, rerouting and bleeding hydro brakes along with fishing a shift cable out to change handlebars isn't getting any more attractive vs living-with the current bar/stem. 

Almost 500 kilometers on it now, including a steep climb and twisty descent - gearing is adequate and assist level 1 seems to compensate for the extra weight of the bike when things get steep. Going down, response is good, no "desert-sled" sluggishness but the fat slicks and disc brakes will take some getting used-to. 

There's still more than 40% of the original battery charge remaining, so the "range-anxiety" expressed by many who obsess over 250 Wh vs 350 battery in the downtube or extra batteries mounted in the 2nd bottle cage makes Zio scratch his head. What kind of rides are these folks thinking about? Is it the old idea where the guy must have a Ford F150 pickup truck for the 2 times each year he has to haul 4 X 8 sheets of plywood vs the 363 other days of the year when it's just him and his lunchbox?

Overall, since the e-gravel-bike offerings with both MAHLE X20 and Campagnolo EKAR were so slim the MV has worked out to be a good choice for this old man. Don't think of an e-bike as "cheating" but rather something to let you tackle rides you might no longer feel up for. If you don't use any (or much) of the e-assist, more power to you! But you know it's there just-in-case, so you can set out worry-free!

Better? Needs some darker red bar tape Zio thinks, but a big improvement overall.

And now it has a proper headtube decal. A more simple black version might have looked better but Zio's always been enamored with the original, full-color version. Back in the day his friend's moto's stickers were peeling off - Zio found a great auto detail guy who copied them - painting 'em directly onto the moto! Back then who knew how to get stickers from Italy without going their yourself or knowing someone there?

Note: The seatpost collar/clamp broke the other day despite being torqued only with a calibrated 5 NM hex key. Instead of a $300+ carbon handlebar might they have included a decent clamp to hold the seatpost in place?

Slippery Subject Part 3

 More slippin' and slidin'

Read Part 2 HERE. Recently a sort of war has broken out on that infamous video channel between the "Friction Fiction" fellow (I use that name because he's been making threats of legal action against his detractors who have called him out by his or his company's name) and a fellow Aussie who has posted some rather crude criticism of the man and his company.

Zio ran afoul of "Friction Fiction" when he emailed to ask why no test results were on his website for Finish Line Wet, a popular chain lube, but the guy's finally managed to post some after first claiming it wasn't popular and that other Finish Line products he tested were NFG, so why bother? Of course the results for this one aren't very good either - no surprise there.

But the fellow did ask for experiences with this lube and since Zio's used it for years here's one:

Shimano 11-speed chain on GRX equipped gravel bike. Bike used from new with factory grease then periodically relubed with Finish Line Wet. Drivetrain cleaned now and then with a tablespoon or two of common diesel fuel as outlined in various bike wash regimens.

Roughly 50% of this bike's use has been on unpaved, dusty bike trails. Chain gets wiped-off now and then and relubed when it appears dry. A few drops on each side of the rollers while backpedaling to distribute the lube, then excess is wiped off.

The result - after 4200+ kilometers the chain now measures (via KMC digital chain-checker) wear of .15 mm averaged between 3 measurements. KMC says change 'em before wear exceeds .8 mm while Zio will install a new one when it gets to .4 mm.

Why change at .4 mm? The chain costs $30. Why take a chance on wearing the sprockets and cogs out just to squeeze a bit more life out of a cheap, easily replaceable component? Back when Zio maintained a fleet of rental bikes he swapped the chains out at just 2000 kms for the same reason. Just like pro racing teams he wanted to be sure any chain on any bike in the fleet would run happily (no skipping!) on any wheel.

Is Zio a huge fan of this lube? He does like the applicator bottle but wonders if the Mobil 1 SHC 75/90 gear oil he's also used for years (but doesn't have any data for) isn't just as good? Another wax-cult guy recently showed some tests of lubricant film-strength and Zio wonders what could be better in film strength than a lube designed for automotive manual transmissions and/or differential gears? But is film strength all that matters?

What does matter to Zio is that this test chain received pretty much zero care compared to the wax-cult regimen: no solvent cleaning to bare metal, no boiling in a wax cooker purchased just for the purpose, no $50 bags o' wax pellets or $30 squirt bottles of liquid wax for in-between lubes before removing the chain for retreatments. 

And no unfastening/refastening of the chain quick-links, which Zio thinks eventually will fail if you do this too many times. Those sell for $3-5 each. It all ads up, so the "Save money by buying my expensive product(s)" claims seem like most of the too-good-to-be true claims out there.

Could Zio realize double or triple the lifespan of this chain via religious and expensive waxing treatments? Maybe. But $90 for three of these chains is less than the solvent, a wax cooker and bag o' snake wax pellets, etc. not to mention the time spent fooling around with all this stuff. He guesses this chain will easily go another 2000 kms before replacement at .4 mm of wear.

When you make an objective comparison (Zio's not selling ANYTHING and gets nothing from Finish Line or Mobil) for his money "old school" oil still seems the simplest (and cheapest) way to take care of your chain, despite what the wax-cult zealots would like you to believe.

But feel free to wax away if you like! Chain, legs, mustache, "bikini area" ..whatever. Stay clean, enjoy the miniscule efficiency improvements touted, etc. But don't waste time in recruitment efforts on Zio to join the cult, OK?

The Friction fellow also claimed he'd asked Finish Line repeatedly for data to back up their marketing claims for their "WET" lube. But when Zio contacted Finish Line they said the guy had never contacted them. Seems like more marketing of whatever you sell vs stuff you don't with "data" to prove the stuff you sell is the best? 

Zio's gonna try using Mobil 1 on the chain of his new e-bike rather than Finish Line to see how it does in comparison. He might have some useful data in 6 months maybe? If film strength is all that matters the chain wear should be pretty low. Time and distance will tell, but even the exclusive 13 speed chain for this bike costs less than $50 so...

Campagnolo - the future

 Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio..er..CAMPAGNOLO?

Remember the old "Mrs. Robinson" song? Look closely at the photo above. Zio ordered some "Original Parts" for his new Campagnolo EKAR-equipped e-gravel bike from a reliable and trusted online shop here in Italy so he doesn't think these are counterfeit.

WTF? As recently as here (claimed to have been updated less than 6 months ago) the folks in Vincenza were claiming “We’ve always stayed true to building things in the European Union and 100 percent in-house,” Riddle said. “Nothing’s offshore and nothing is outsourced. Everything apart from circuit boards and batteries for EPS is done in-house.”

Not anymore (or even then) it seems. The two designed-for-OEM groupsets mentioned in the story (Centaur** and Potenza) are gone now (and it was rather obvious their brakesets were Taiwanese*) despite working quite well and getting positive reviews but Zio can remember unboxing a set of cantilever brakes for a Campagnolo 'cross group a decade ago and reading "Made in Taiwan" (*seemingly by Tektro) on the package. He wasn't happy about it but figured it was just a few 'cross brakesets so did it really matter?

It matters and the marketing guy quoted in the piece is no longer there either as far as Zio can tell. Tullio Campagnolo's grandson seems to have taken over after some time at their wheel brand Fulcrum.

Campagnolo's market position seemed to be aiming at the high end of the market with the exception of their gravel EKAR groupset. But how long will people pay a premium price for "Designed in Italy Made in Taiwan"? EKAR costs more than a Shimano GRX groupset for example but how much of it is made in Asia like Shimano? 

Meanwhile, they just announced EKAR GT, a product of what Zio likes to call the "product cheapening department" (what do companies really call these?) with aluminum rather than carbon crank (something that would have been just fine with Zio!) and some other cost-saving changes, all to offer a gravel groupset at a slightly lower cost.

Zio remembers a carbon fork sold by Columbus back-in-the-day. A bike industry friend told him these forks were actually made in China, shipped to Columbus for stickers and a fancy box and then sold at a premium price to customers who assumed they were made by Columbus in Italy. This same friend said the guy who first told him this story arranged for the friend's company to buy the same forks but put his company's name on 'em instead of Columbus'. The friend stopped buying 'em from Columbus and instead got 'em directly from the maker through this "sales agent". Seems there are lots of these folks around, experts at getting stuff made cheaply in Asia with whatever branding you like on it.

Is Campagnolo destined to be come nothing more than a "designer name" like so many other "luxury goods" that are produced in Asian factories for pennies on the dollar only to end up commanding premium prices when it's time for the retail customer to cough up the cash? Do they care that most of these same products have counterfeit (though ya gotta wonder if they're perhaps cranked out by a midnight "third-shift" at the same sweatshop producing the originals, so how "counterfeit" are they?) versions hawked on side streets of most major cities?

At the same time some Asian companies are now offering super-cheap groupsets that have no famous "designer" name, so if you're gonna buy Made-in-Taiwan (or mainland China) stuff, would you pay more for an Italian name and "design"?

If Campagnolo's sales are decreasing, Zio would point to this as at least part of the cause. But are profits up since production costs are lower? Will Ferrari set up a factory in China next...or have they already? Would people buy "Designed in Maranello, made-in-China" cars?

It works for Pinarello I guess? Zio wonders if some confuse "adrenalina" (andrenalin) with "Made in ___"? He remembers a client one time insisting that Pinarello bikes were still 100% Made-in-Italy, so...?

** Centaur 11 is  back in the lineup though now only in black.

MV Lucky Explorer E-gravel bike - First Impressions

 MV's e-gravel bike- First Impressions

The bike (finally) arrived! Zio quickly got it ready to ride, swapping out tires, bolting on water bottle cages, etc.

You can see how small the rear hub motor is - total system weight is 3.2 kg, (around 7 lbs) making this bike about the same weight as his un-motorized ancient MTB turned into SuperMonsterGravel.

Control button on the top tube with Homer Simpson as Superman just below. This bike also has tiny buttons near the brake hoods to shift assist-levels up or down rather than pushing the top tube button.

A nice surprise! Zio has a Torelli 20th Anniversary bike that's #70/100 so "Homer" is in good company.

Another nice surprise - Made-in-Italy, though Zio doesn't know who actually makes the frames for MV. The bikes are assembled and shipped from Varese, MVAgusta's home from the start. MV comes from Meccanica Verghera and the founder Giovanni Agusta.

Zio bought this bike not really needing an e-bike right away, but more as a way to get used to playing with one before it WILL be needed. He thinks of it as sort of an electronic "granny ring" on a triple crank...always there but nobody says ya gotta use it...at least if the bike is fun to ride without the e-assist.

This one is! Ready-to-ride it's under 30 lbs and with the motor off or in the 0 assist mode, rides just like a normal bike. Zio's put 100 kms on it so far and really likes the fat 38 mm Rene Herse slicks he mounted to replace the 45 mm gravel tires it came with. The 50+ mm slicks on SuperGravelMonster are great while Heather likes the 38's on her Bianchi gravel bike. We don't plan to ride the kind of gravel that requires knobby tires,

So far Zio's only cranked the motor up (Level 1 assist) one time - going into a stiff headwind on the bike trail. Otherwise he's ridden it "acoustically" and is pretty happy with how it goes, stops and turns. You can watch a good review of the Campagnolo EKAR component group HERE. Zio's not doing any video, who wants to look at or listen to him?

MAHLE's X20 assist system has some reviews online though since the MV's not sold in the USA, this one about it on another brand of bike still applies.

The bike itself? Zio bought this despite the branding. MVAgusta is great but the reference is to the Dakar factory motorcycles based on the Cagiva Elephant, which were sponsored by the cigarette brand Lucky Strike in the 1990s. Why? He wanted Campagnolo EKAR and MAHLE X20 and this was pretty much the only choice. He'll cover-up the logos and maybe slap-on some MVAgusta stickers eventually.

The frame geometry charts suggested this wouldn't be a slow-steering "desert sled" despite the name and riding it is proof. Frame sizing was a challenge as Zio seems to be smack-dab in-between both MV's and Bianchi's size ranges. He's almost too tall for the S size and too short for M, but just like the Bianchi, settled on M. 50 cm center-to-center on the seat tube is good while the top tube measures 53 cm. A rather short 8 cm stem connects to the carbon handlebar with all the hoses/cables routed internally.

All this means the fit is OK. The size S would for sure require a longer stem and with hoses/cables routed internally would have been a real pain to swap-out. As-is the M's a little short and upright while the bars are a bit wide but once he rewrapped the tape to cover more of the tops (and stuck some foam padding into the curiously depressed sections) things seem OK.

A straight top tube means a frame pump will fit! WOOHOO! Bottle cages are mounted low, another plus. Seatpost is round with an alloy clamp, both big plus factors in Zio's mind. Frame-build quality looks good too, I wonder who actually makes them?

What doesn't he like? The flat paint finish isn't a plus but what can ya do...it's the rage these days. We've already covered the logo issues. For this kind of money Zio wishes they'd plugged the bazillion threaded holes in the frame/fork (so you can bolt-on bikepacking stuff) with some snap-in things to keep dirt out of the threads and water out of the frame and sprung for better quality inner tubes than the rather thick CS ones. But they probably figure buyers are gonna yank 'em out and go tubeless with the no-name carbon tubeless-ready rims anyway? The 40 mm rims are deeper than Zio would like but they don't seem too bad in cross-winds so far.

100 kms over 3 rides and Zio's pretty happy. He can see this being his "do it all" bike even without the motor assist. He splurged for a MAHLE head-unit rather than slapping-on a Cateye cyclometer. This reads the bike's stats along with the usual speed, distance, etc. and includes a "range" feature - how far you can ride on the current battery charge?

With the assist level at 0 but the bike turned ON, the range numbers actually go backwards - as in higher rather than lower. A 2 hour ride today used 1% of the battery while the range-counter topped-out at 999 kms. On his first ride, when he switched to level 1 the range dropped to under 400 before he switched back to 0.

Next up, a ride with a real climb, one where Heather usually has to wait for him on her MAHLE X35 powered bike programmed to assist when her heart rate reaches a preset level. Will Level 1 be enough? If not, there's 2 or 3!