We've been in Switzerland for a couple of weeks, for our family winter holiday, and as ever, I've kept a sharp eye on bicycle developments. Zermatt, where we stay, is a good place to see what's going on, as it's a car-free town, with the shops at the bottom of the hill and the houses at the top. Since mountain bikes came along they have been regular transport for many people, with racks to carry skis and shopping.
When I last wrote on this topic in
2015, I observed that electric bikes were at a point of technical stability, and were widely used. That is even more the case today, to the extent that, if you see a bike in Zermatt, it's pretty certain to be electric. The design has now stabilised to knobbly stud tyres, usually Schwalbe or Vittoria, run tubeless; hydraulic disc brakes, usually Shimano or Magura; and usually a Bosch motor system. In 2015 KTM was the favourite; now there are bikes to this design from many manufacturers. The latest models have a slightly fatter down-tube, with the battery inside, giving a sleek look.
Seeing how well they went, I thought it was time to give one a try, so I went to the bike shop near the ice-rink to hire one. Kristian, the owner, asked what I wanted to do with it and where I lived, and made a rather surprising suggestion. As my purpose was to carry the groceries up to the house, he suggested this:
a very hefty mountain bike, with the addition of a large trailer.
I took the bike for a spin around the block without the trailer, just to see how it went, and was surprised at how nimble and quick it felt - it certainly doesn't look it. But the Fantic motor system, which I think is more powerful than can be used in the UK, made the whole thing very easy. It works in the same way as all the others - a sensor in the bottom bracket measures the rider's power input, and you can choose how much work the motor does. A button on the handlebars does this, the options being for the motor to give the same power as the rider, or double the power, or three times the power. Most people seem to use the lowest setting, which is what I did. Once you've set the power, you need never touch it again, the machine just rides like a bike, there's no throttle or anything. Kristian told me that the bike would do about 200kms on a charge at this setting, so it's charged every couple of weeks.
On the road, the whole setup was amazing. From the supermarket to where we were staying is, at a guess, about the same as climbing Box Hill. The town roads are ploughed, giving fairly smooth snow; the last quarter mile to the chalet is just country road, with the snow left as it falls. With the groceries on the trailer, and a case of beer, I could easily hold 21kph up the hill, and the rough snow and ice at the end were completely inconsequential.
So, thinking of Box Hill, this thing, with the trailer and a couple of cases of beer on it, could have a fair crack at the KoM. In the snow...
For the 2019 model year all of the majors are doing 'sports' e-bikes, with drop bars, concealed motors and batteries. We may be on the verge of one of those changes in cycling that come along every century or so, and this sort of machine may become interesting to the more mature rider.
Happy New Year!
Mark
