Just back from another Easter in Wales with our Moho, towing the bike behind. This year we decided to stay on the mainland rather than Angelsey. So we stopped for the week at a site just outside Portmadoc. I was going to take the Tenere, but going on the 30th meant taxing it for just two days of March as well as April, plus it was buried at the back of the garage behind my Pan, so at the last minute we decided to just take my old GS.
It was bad enough that I had to Tax the moho for the last two days of March as well as April.
Tuesday saw me having another day at the MickExtance offroad school.
My third vist and probably the best one. During the early part of the day they set us to a challenge of a slowest rider competition, the two slowest got the prize of being allowed to try Adam Extances new Stark 60kw electric bike. Oddly the two experienced road riders won through, one being me. So after lunch Adam ignored my protestations that I had no interest in anything EV and pushed me onto it.
I had a good hour or so on it, and tbh it was fun. The instant power is great, even though I was kind of only allowed to try it in Mode1, which gave only 30% power and about 40% regeneration. Mode5 gave 100% and about 80%, although all modes were infinitely adjustable. I thought the bike would have been heavier, but it didn’t feel much different to the Beta 300s. I will say though, that it was a lot easier to ride, as there‘s no gears or clutch, it’s more like a scooter with both brakes on the bars, although this model can be ordered with a std rear brake. But for me this is the issue, I don’t want it easier to ride. As with any bike I want to be the main input, I want to be what makes the decisions and effects what the bike does. It’s one reason why I chose a Tenere, I just didn’t want all the rider aids that are becoming the norm on BMWs and KTMs.
There was plenty of banter, especially when I initially refused to let the next guy have a go. Adam thought he‘d got a convert, but it’ll never happen, especially as its a £10k bike, nearly double the price of the Betas. They have tested something like 5 brands of EV offroaders, this is the only one that lasts a full day up on their trails and still has about 30% battery left. Adam races it in an EV class and says it can do a full race with again about 30% left. He‘s also just bought a TransitE van to haul it around in and also has an 80Kw model on order. Give it a few years and most of their bikes will be EVs. Hopefully I’ll have found myself a CRF or Wr250 so I can take my own bike instead of hiring theirs.
I did find turning it on a right faff though. Three buttons on the left grip, one that had to held for a few seconds supposedly turned it on, which it kind of did, Adam said then press the up button, but this just seemed to turn it off again. While waiting for others to ride sections of the trails it would go to sleep, so when it was time to setoff I was struggling to get it to go again. Sounds about normal for me and technology. ♂
Another 300 mile day out to South Wales today to Baffle Haus cafe near Abergeveny. Cracking ride with a group of 7 other guys, mostly on newish GSs, me on my ‘classic’ GS as one chap called it
