Spectral:ON and eBike first ride and impressions

lmartins

Active member
Sep 19, 2018
103
124
Portugal
It finally happened! After the battery charger fiasco I could finally take my bike to the trails in what was not only my ride on this bike, but my first ride on a ebike in general.

Coming from a ultra light Specialized Epic, this was quite a departure. You can feel the bike weight all the time, sometimes to your benefit, others not so much. Spent most of the time on Eco or Trail. Boost feels a bit much, but im sure it serves its purpose of shuttling you through a long climb. Tried on a steep, slippery climb and couldn't get the hang of it. The assistance takes a bit of time to get used to. The trail mode feels natural and supportive.

A little disappointed with the autonomy. I rode about 40km, with the computer estimating 5km more, although the battery still had 2 lights on, not sure how much juice would that give but was expecting a range closer to 60km.

Negatives aside, this was a blast. The bike is super capable even though I can't quite throw it around much. It does inspire you much more confidence than a lightweight bike though. I'm supper happy with the bike.

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Edit: Went from clips to flats, and geez, I almost had the funniest crash you could imagine. Tried to jump hover a log, and sure enough when it was time to lift the back wheel I've pulled with my feet, wheel bounced on the log, bike kicked my but and landed with my gentleman bits on the stem, while balancing the whole body over the bar. What an image!
I really need to improve my skills, trying to do bunny hops but still haven't made it, while the clips have enabled some bad habits like this one.
 
Last edited:

MattyB

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Jul 11, 2018
1,266
1,279
Herts, UK
You are probably best refining your bunny hops on an analog bike - the additional weight low down and forward and longer chain stays do make an ebike harder to hop.
 

lmartins

Active member
Sep 19, 2018
103
124
Portugal
You are probably best refining your bunny hops on an analog bike - the additional weight low down and forward and longer chain stays do make an ebike harder to hop.
Suspected that would be the case. I will eventually replace the specialized epic with something more playful and trail capable that also includes a dropper to work on those manuals and hops.
 

Freebert

Member
Feb 4, 2019
20
14
Kasterlee/Belgium
Thanks for your short review. Besides a secondhand Levo, this Canyon is also on top of my list and I would like to read more about your findings with this bike.
Have fun!
 

lmartins

Active member
Sep 19, 2018
103
124
Portugal
Rode again yesterday, and boy am I enjoying this thing!
I've been feeling what everyone says about ebikes, so let me for now focus on what is not so great about this one:

1. Walk mode - This is more a Shimano thing I imagine, but man, does it suck!
2. Range - Yesterday I've rode 44km, 900m of elevation gain in Eco mode almost the entire time. Got home with 17km of estimated range (3 bars on the display). This would put it at about 60km range, which is not too bad, but I kinda expected more when riding Eco

Overall I'm more than happy with this thing, which reminds me that is time to get ready for today's ride ;)
 

R120

Moderator
Subscriber
Apr 13, 2018
7,819
9,185
Surrey
Walk mode only really works if you put in in a high gear, it low gears it turns the wheel so slowly you wouldn't even notice it working.
 

ggx

Well-known member
Dec 10, 2018
683
442
Sintra
3 bars on display and only 17km of estimated range doesn´t feel coherent (assuming eco mode).
 

jpaulo.emtb

Member
Sep 12, 2018
56
28
Portugal
I have the same opinion. I also noticed that the autonomy light scale does not have a linear behavior. The first bars take longer to disappear than the finals in the same conditions.
I friend that has a Kenevo says that the eco modo on shimano motor has a higher support than the brose motor.
Maybe the solution is to decrease the assist in Eco mode with the fremax tool to increase the range.
 

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