Since my heart valve problems I’ve often ridden my mountain bike along the canal bank. It’s off road yet somehow not real off road riding. For one thing it’s completely flat, except where there are locks. It also has no corners to add challenge and excitement so the experience is nothing like the riding I’m used to. Now, though, I’ve rebuilt my Trek full suspension bike with a motorised front wheel which can provide up to 1,000 watts of power. Yesterday it was time to try it off road. In order to reduce the strain on the bike I’ve chosen to restrict it to an output of 250 watts, which is also the legal limit for road use in the UK.
The conversion cost me only around £400 including a new front fork, which was less than I’d expected. I also needed to replace a few worn components having dumped the bike in the shed in the spring with a freehub needing repair. I didn’t want to ride anything too hard on this first muddy outing so rode to Birkacre to take a single downhill segment.
I found that on the muddy sections it was easy to slither the front wheel around under power, which was a new experience. The much heavier weight also makes the bike handle differently. It is just about impossible to lift the front wheel over roots or rocks because the motor itself must weight close to 10 kg. The nearest I can get is to extend the front fork by pulling up on the handlebars. A good feature of a front mounted motor is that the weight of the whole system, including the battery, is fairly evenly distributed between the front and rear of the bike. I could feel the wheels starting to slide a little on the slippery turns on my downhill. Front and rear grip feel similarly balanced to a non assisted bike. I think it will take some practice to gain confidence at the limit of adhesion.
I returned home on a road route and found that the bike had survived well. There was no ingress of water into the battery or controller, despite very wet conditions. I can take it very easy on the climbs, allowing the motor to do the work. I enjoyed my brief ride which didn’t cause any change in the 4 bars indicating battery charge on the handlebar mounted guage. I covered 5.52 miles at an average of 10.8 mph, climbing 447 feet in the process.
Mountainbiker 