Back in late 2022 I got my first custom built bikepacking rig, based around a Soma Wolverine frame and a Rohloff Speedhub – you can read the full breakdown of that bike here. Unfortunately, that bike came to a sticky end after my abortive Ride 35 adventure on the East Coast of New Zealand ended up in Taupo. You can read the full adventure here, and the specific demise of the bike here. With that bike mostly damaged, I decided to replace it with a Salsa Fargo and recycle some of the key parts.
It’s always really tough considering what new bike frame to build a new bikepacking rig around when you can’t get a chance to ride them first. I did a heap of research and used a number of different Generative AI tools (Grok, Copilot) trying to compared the geometry and riding style of my Soma Wolverine with the Salsa Fargo. It’s pretty tough getting an accurate idea, but in the end I liked what I was reading about the Salsa Fargo and chose that. Whilst originally designed for dropbar configurations, I was pretty keen to keep the Surly Moloko handlebars that I really liked from the Wolverine and this would make it easier to keep the Rohloff drivetrain system as well. With a steel frame and a carbon fork, it’s a super versatile bike:
Fargo is our versatile steel or titanium bike with drop bars and mountain bike features. It’s designed for adventures ranging from rugged gravel rides to long, self-supported bikepacking trips.
Here is the finished bike out at Waitapu Wharf just outside of Takaka in Golden Bay:
Despite the damage to my Wolverine, I was able to recycle a fair number of parts from that bike and so similar to my original post on the Wolverine, I’m going to break down a bit of the bike build:
Key Components
Some other features of the custom build that I was super happy with on the finished product include:
I was able to recycle this from the original Wolverine and combined it with a new Gates Carbon Belt Drive. Over thousands of kilometres on the old bike, the Rohloff and Gates combination never let me down and I’m looking forward to many more adventures on the new Salsa Fargo.
I kept this from the old bike too, but with a few new scuffs on it from the wear and tear of three and half years on the Wolverine and a fair knock when it came off the roof of the car during the accident. Good seat, largely happy with it.
I liked the Son Dynamo on the Wolverine but I was very keen to get it with a thru axle configuration for the new bike, so I replaced it with the same anodized red colour but a thru axle configuration. Same great power generation, easier wheel alignment.
I replaced the Son Edelux II on the old Wolverine with the KLite front and rear light combination. I’d heard about this from a few bikepacking magazines and people were very complimentary of the lighting and I was keen to add a rear dynamo-powered light as well so this was a great combination. I opted for the Adventure Configuration which would prioritise a wide spread of light at lower speeds, with an “auto high beam” that would shine further ahead when the bike exceeded 20kph – clever stuff. KLite also has a configuration that gives you a charging option as well but I chose not to get this. I had previously had the Sinewave Cycles Reactor (red anodized) – USB charging port in stem on the Wolverine, but honestly rarely used it, so decided to save some money and just do the light combination.
In mid 2025 I had replaced the red pedals I originally had on the Wolverine with the Favero Assioma Pro MX power meter pedals. They’re great, highly recommend.
I retained this – great handlebar, lots of hand positions, really like it. I did toy with some dropbar configurations for the Salsa Fargo like the Salsa Woodchipper Handlebar – Salsa Cycles, as the bike is originally intended to be a drop bar configuration. Perhaps I’ll give that a go at some point (will need some thinking in how to handle the Rohloff gear switcher at the handlebars)
At the time of the Wolverine demise, I was running G-ONE R PRO Line | Schwalbe in 45mm configuration. They were super fast rolling, but lacked grip in some of the muddier stuff. I opted for the rebuild to go back to the original gravel tires I got on the Wolverine, the fantastic Panaracer GravelKing Semi Knobbly with tubeless configuration. I chose the 50mm which seem really wide compared to 43mm or even 45mm I’ve run in the past, but they’re wide and ride great.
Here are some photos of the bike at Totaranui Beach after an 85km ride including a 300m climb to get to the remote bay across some great gravel:
I want to give a shout out to the great crew at Goat Cycles who patiently worked with me as I figured out the specs in the transition from the Soma Wolverine to the Salsa Fargo. They’ve done a great job building it for me and I’m super happy, anticipating thousands of kilometres riding on this new rig!
Regular readers of this blog will have noted a few more posts around bikes and bikepacking creeping in amongst the education and technology posts I usually share. This is going to be a shorter post with mainly some images of a bike ride I completed today on the first day of the Waitangi Weekend.
I’ve spent this last week following the progress of riders on the Tour Te Waipounamu, an amazing bikepacking race from Cape Farewell at the top of the South Island to Slope Point at the very bottom, a journey of 1330km and 21,000m elevation. Incredibly, the winner completed this in a mindblowing 4 days and 19hrs! Inspired, I decided to head out on by own bikepacking bike for a longer ride today. Here are a few photos of the ride.
Lined up against a row of poplar trees, my green Soma Wolverine blended right in early on in the ride – almost as if it was in stealth mode:
Inside Bottle Lake Forest is a small hill, covering some rubble from collapsed buildings from the 2010-11 earthquakes in Christchurch. As I rode onto the top the sky looked vaguely threatening with low cloud stretching out to the horizon and a yellowish light:
At one point you emerge from the forest and bike near the beach. The tide was high and gently lapping on the beach – there was no one around and it was an incredibly peaceful for a quick photo:
After exiting Bottle Lake Forest I continued on towards the Brooklands Lagoon. This was another area where the earthquakes destroyed a lot of residential houses and now there are few residents who live there. I biked around the lagoon where many birds were flying around or swimming on the water:
I turned west at the river mouth and started heading up the river towards the bridge, catching some views of the swift flowing water:
After crossing the Waimakariri River and cruising through the river town of Kaiapoi, I headed back towards the coast and Pines Beach to join the Pegasus Trail to take me north. I’d previously tried to bike along this once before but it was flooded. Today, the track was in mint condition and with very few people around I was able to enjoy the solitude and beauty of the forest trails:
The Pegasus Trail carries on to Waikuku Beach, but I hooked a left into the town of Pegasus that has a feature man-made lake in the middle of it. Around the lake are miniature beaches with golden sand shipped in and laid down. It was looking very beautiful today:
In the middle of the lake is an island with an artificial waterfall in it that can be reached by a suspension bridge. I didn’t ride out to it today, but snapped this shot:
I grabbed some lunch in Pegasus at around the 50km mark feeling very happy with the ride so far. I headed back to town and through Kaiapoi, crossing the Kaiapoi River at the cute Mandeville bridge:
I continued south and over the Waimakariri River again, this time I headed right of the bridge and further up the river. Some of the trails were a little overgrown at first, including a tree that had fallen over the path at one point:
As I pushed on, things got progressively slower as the path became less defined:
It was slow going on this grass, with some deep ditches under the long grass that I was careful to avoid as they had the potential to throw me over the handlebars! And then, all of a sudden, the path just stopped:
Faced with the prospect of returning back the way I had come or doing some bush bashing to try and get through to the stop bank, I chose the latter. I had to hike a bike through 30-50m of thick bush and then up the stop bank but achieved it without too much difficulty, before heading west into a growing head wind and rain squalls atop the stop bank that is designed to capture and block the water from the Waimakariri when it floods. At various points there were entry points back to the river from stopbank:
This was around the 70km mark and I estimated I still had around 30km to get home, including going through McLeans Island Forest. Amid intermittent showers, the sun emerged lighting up the dry grasses with some spectacular views:
The remainder of the ride took me back behind the airport and home, clocking in at just under 97km for the ride. If you’re interested in the route, check it out on Strava:
I enjoy these longer rides – I deliberately didn’t aim to go fast today and I encountered many different surfaces: roads, gravel, dirt tracks, sand, overgrown grass. My bike took them all on and I saw some beautiful sights on the ride today. It’s a great way to clear your thoughts and forget about daily responsibilities and just enjoy the simple process of pedalling and moving from one place to another.
I did not have a set route for this trip, got lost at one point but with a general idea of the directions I wanted to head I was able to enjoy a very fun day out.
2023 is nearly done and it has been quite the year for me!
I started the year with my longest ever bikepacking trip (at the time) and longest single day on a bike (192km), before returning to work at Microsoft and being made redundant in March – a first time experience for me. The silver lining was a chance to have a break from work for a couple of months, a 10 day bikepacking “redundancy ride” and then quickly into a new job. This afternoon I’m hopping on a flight to Glasgow, Scotland to spend three weeks in Europe with my daughter who has been studying there for the last four months.
I’ll share the Top 5 Blogs of 2023 below, but first a slightly more detailed recap of the year.
New Experiences – Bikepacking Far From Home
On Siberia Bridge, suspended high above a gorge north of Wellington
I started 2023 as I finished out 2022 – riding my bike ~100km/day and pitching my tent where I ended up. I’d had a custom bikepacking bike built in October and had tested it out before Christmas over 6 days of riding and camping. I resumed this in early January at the top of the South Island where I completed my longest ever day on a bike – 192km. I was really proud of this achievement and the whole ride is documented here:
Energised from an incredible break, I hit the ground running, only to learn in late February my role was being dis-established. It took about a month to play out, but I posted a reflection about the initial experience and feelings here:
It was an unusual experience and one that I could not say I enjoyed, although I learnt a lot about myself and also my friends. A lot of men in particular went out of their way to connect with me, check in and make sure I was doing alright. Many shared their own redundancy experiences. It was humbling to see the care and willingness to support me from others who had insight into my experience.
I was very fortunate to receive a generous redundancy package from Microsoft and also receive a number of job offers, before accepting a role to join Cyclone as their Technology Strategist.
Silver Linings
Parking up at Lake Tekapo after a long bike from Geraldine
With some time on my hands and the seasons changing into deep Autumn (my favourite) we had a family holiday in the North Island before I embarked on my #RedundancyRide:
This was a time of pure joy, cathartic and healing after losing my job and a chance to reflect, process, unwind and reset. I met some interesting characters across ten days of cycling and camping and when I reached the end I desperately wished I could just keep going. I had agreed to a delayed start date with Cyclone but that was fast approaching and I could not put it off.
This was a special time in my life and I’m deeply grateful to my wife who encouraged me to get out and do this.
Back Working
I was straight into it at Cyclone and was loving visiting customers in person for a change after most of my work had been remote due to COVID19. I was fortunate to be able to head over to Melbourne to attend EduTech 2023, the largest EduTech conference in the southern hemisphere. I wrote up my reflections here:
Suffice to say, I’m looking forward to getting to the airport, putting my feet up and winging my way to Europe to see my daughter. It’s been a crazy old year.
So with that, here are the top 5 most popular blog posts I wrote this year:
This was only written in October 2023 but clearly tapped into the zeitgeist, garnering the top number of views for a blog post I wrote this year. I attempted to provide a quick overview of some of the considerations education customers would need to make before going ‘all in’ on Copilot, as well as explaining the various versions of Copilot.
UPDATE 15/12/23: Microsoft has announced this morning that Copilot for M365 will be available to education customers as of 1/1/24 – the same baseline requirements apply as Enterprise: minimum 300 seat count and $30/u/m pricing.
#2 Therefore, Send Not to Know For Whom The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For Thee
Tapping into my love of literature, this quote from the famous John Donne poem was a reflection on my redundancy from Microsoft. I was humbled by the outpouring of support and job offers I received after finding myself unemployed.
This was actually the first blog post I wrote in January 2023, not knowing I would be let go by Microsoft a couple of months later. Like many of my blogs, it was more technical in nature and designed to help busy IT administrators learn how to add value to student lab computers or other shared devices.
This was a reflection during my first overseas trip/conference since joining my new company, Cyclone. It was also the first major education conference I’d attended in over six years where I was merely a delegate, free to take in the sessions and not work a booth or be presenting myself. Unsurprisingly, it was AI heavy in themes and this post was a good recap of the first day.
#5 How To: Creating Local Users on Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro During OOBE Startup
Another technical post, I wrote this one after working with the Ministry of Education to solve some issues around their Windows devices for Teacher Laptops. It was a bit topsy turvy re-engaging with the MoE who had been my customer for the first 3-4years of my time at Microsoft, and now I was supporting them again but for a different company. There are some really good tips in this one.
This actually came in as the 6th most viewed blog post of the year and was a visual and written record of my bike trip that I referred to as my #RedundancyRide at the time. Some cool photos and videos of the beautiful South Island of New Zealand.
That’s A Wrap
Closing out another year of life, work and blogging. Thanks for your support, the reading of the blog, the comments, the Tweets (or should that be “posts” on X now!).
I wish you and your family and friends a restful festive season ahead.
However, I’m pleased to land at Cyclone Computer Company as a Technology Strategist and will be working with education and commercial customers moving forward. I’ll update more on this in due course, but I wanted to share this short video from the amazing Scott Breen because he has explained in very simple terms how to migrate from the soon to be deprecated Microsoft Store for Education (or business) to the new Microsoft Store app type in Intune.
Therefore, it’s critical to make this transition away from the Store for Education to the new store app deployment methodology with Intune.
If you’re deploying the ever popular Minecraft: Education app through Intune then you’ll need to make this change immediately, and there is actually some dedicated documentation to help you with this here:
As per Scott’s video, there are only three steps required:
Create a new Microsoft Store app
Copy Group Assignments
Remove Assignments from the old app and/or delete the old app
Private Store is now Company Portal
Many customers were using the “Private Store” functionality in the Microsoft Store to provide a curated list of apps that a user could optionally download if they wished.
This functionality is now only available to end users via the free cross-platform Intune Company Portal app. In the image below, the old Private Store is minimized on the left and the new Company Portal is on the right:
Final Thoughts
I’m a big believer in modern management and Intune is at the heart of this from a Microsoft perspective. As the app story evolves it’s critical to keep up with these changes and fortunately in this instance, the change from the deprecated Store for Education to the new Microsoft Store app type in Intune is pretty painless.
Do make sure you move quickly to avoid being impacted by the cut off date.
This blog post has proven to be more popular than I anticipated at the time of writing (back in January 2021), with a lot of views and comments below too. I thought I’d add a quick update on things since I wrote it. Firstly, I’ve bought another Riese & Muller eBike – this time a MultiCharger Mixte for my wife. She wanted a step through frame so she could more easily wear a skirt/dress on her eBike and she’s loving it. This is the evening we picked it up:
She opted for the seat kit on the back so the kids could sit on it (doesn’t happen too often as they don’t think it’s very cool!), but has huge carrying capacity, plus the updated rack on the front is very helpful with more space and heavier carrying capacity compared to the SuperCharger 2 we originally got. This comes with a single 750w battery, Enviolo internal gear hub and Gates carbon belt drive (although is not a high speed motor).
I am continuing to track month on month usage of the car, the SuperCharger 2 and now have added the MultiCharger Mixte. I am pleased how we have managed to go from two cars to one, and grow the eBike usage considerably.
Lastly, I’ve finally got myself a bike with a Rohloff hub and it’s brilliant. I talk below towards the end of the original post about my preference to have had a Rohloff on the SuperCharger 2 to maximise the value of the HighSpeed Bosch motor, and at last I have one – but this time on a non-electric gravel bike!
Riding it up and around the hills of my local townPrimed and ready to come home – you can see the red Rohloff hub in the rear, matched with a red Son dynamo in the front hub powering the red Son Edelux light and USB charger in the stemThe red Rohloff hub in all its glory, paired with a Gates carbon belt drive
With that update done, back to the original post:
Introduction:
I’ve been meaning to write this for a while and yet have been short of time. Now, on 2nd January 2021 holidaying by the beach, I thought it might be a good chance to write this down. It could get a little long, so I’ve broken it into sections so you can skip around to what interests you most:
I’ve always loved riding bikes and from a young age was using a bike to ride to school. I have one clear childhood memory from around age 7yrs or so, when I was allowed to ride my bike the 500m or so my local primary school for the first time. I was so used to walking home after school that’s precisely what I did, only realising I’d left my precious bike at school in the bike sheds once I got home! What followed was a nervous run back to school, hoping it had not been stolen, but fortunately it was still there waiting for me. As I got older, biking to high school and sports practices was the norm – I remember the frosty mornings and the inky nights biking home in the rain. Then it was biking to university and work – I’ve always been a cyclist!
Once I started having some disposable income I explored other types of bikes and my first less common purchase was a Pashley Roadster Sovereign, affectionately known as ‘the king of the road’.
So many things appealed to me about this bike:
The more upright riding style
Dynamo hub in the front wheel powering the front lamp (I quickly swapped out the incandescent bulb for a much brighter LED that contained a capacitor that kept the light on when stopped at an intersection
Internal gearing hub and drum brakes – all things that reduced the componentry maintenance because, whilst I love bikes I’m not especially good at repairing them!
The Brooks saddle – super comfortable for longer rides
Built in ‘cafe lock’ to easily secure the bike for a quick dash into a store
In fact, I loved the bike so much I ended up purchasing a matching Pashley Princess Sovereign for my wife for our 10th wedding anniversary:
I briefly entertained the idea of importing some Pashley ‘look a like’ bikes from China after I continually received lots of compliments on my bike, however after bringing in a couple of samples I realised the build quality at the lower price point would not be a great cycling experience for anyone.
A few years later, I embarked on some road cycling and got a great deal on a Cannondale Synapse with Shimano UItegra componentry throughout and have undertaken some longer (and faster) rides:
I had never paid a lot of attention to the emerging eBike phenomenon until late 2019 when a few friends started to get eMTB and were going further and harder than ever before. My parents bought a pair of Specialized Como and, like me, my Dad loves to do research on purchases like this and he was determined to get an eBike with an ‘internal’ battery – something built into the frame and not attached to the exterior like an eyesore. This literally opened my eyes to the rapid evolution happening in eBikes and I started to seriously consider one.
eBike Selection – Finding What Was Right For Me
I started to watch a lot of YouTube videos on various eBike reviews and became a regular viewer of Chris Nolte’s YouTube Channel – he founded Propel Bikes and makes excellent videos and it was hear that I learnt about the various options on eBikes.
From my previous cycling, I had a lot of experience with traditional derailleur and chain drive trains, some experience with internal gear hubs from my Pashley, but I now learnt of options like Gates’ Carbon Belt Drives and Rohloff Hubs and it helped me come up with a selection criteria for an eBike:
Internal batteries were non-negotiable.
Whilst I was delighted to see the ever expanding numbers of eBikes on the roads, I confess look of bolted on battery backs was a turn off. I wanted an eBike to look good and to disguise the power source
Versatility – the bike needed to be able to ‘do more’ than just get me from A to B.
I had been toying with the idea of seeing whether our family could be a ‘one car family’, something we had never been since the arrival of our first child. It seemed an ambitious goal as parents to four children aged between 9 & 17 years of age. Consequently, an eBike needed to be able to take groceries and other ‘stuff’, bags to work/school and possibly even a younger child on the back.
Componentry built for low maintenance.
As mentioned earlier, I love riding bikes but I am not a whizz when it comes to repairing them. Buying a bike that would go long distances without regular maintenance was appealing.
Relatively upright riding style.
If I had any hope of getting my wife onboard with the idea of being a ‘one car family’ then she would have to be able to ride the eBike too and she was now fully accustomed to the upright style of her Pashley and would never revert to a more aggressive mountain bike/commuter style riding position
Speed Restrictions – the faster the better.
New Zealand is fortunate that we have fewer restrictions than many countries when it comes to eBikes, nevertheless most of the major brands were bringing in models that cut assistance at 28 or 32kph. Given I could comfortably ride my Cannondale at 30kph, I was interested in models of eBike that could power assist up to 45kph
Despite eBikes burgeoning in popularity, I realised quickly that my selection criteria was likely to narrow my choice considerably yet I was reluctant to compromise I what I felt were features that would ensure I got out and rode this bike whenever (and wherever) possible.
The first eBike that ticked most of the boxes was the Trek / Electra Cafe Moto Go. My research taught me Electra was an independent bike company that built fun, comfortable rides and had been acquired by Trek that increased their distribution and support but maintained a commitment to the original vision of Electra.
I test rode this bike 2-3x and there was a lot to like about it. The internal Nuvinci Enviolo hub paired with the Gates Carbon Belt Drive was super smooth and quiet, the relaxed seating position, whilst not quite upright, was fun to ride, it had a Brooks saddle and an integrated lighting setup (although the lamp at the front was more for show than function I found). Frustratingly, Trek was only bringing the 32kph model into NZ (45kph was being sold in the US) and given it could carry no bags it was a non-starter for anything more than a great fun bike to ride.
I then turned to the Riese and Muller Multicharger, inspired by videos like this one where people were quitting their cars in favour of the Multicharger:
I realised quite quickly that Riese and Muller eBikes were highly customisable, allowing me to tick virtually every box of my selection criteria – at a price! Yes, they cost the price of a small car, but I figured it might end up replacing the second car that I was rapidly realising was not being driven all that often. I showed my two younger kids how they could sit on the back for short rides … but they flat out refused to be seen dead on the back of any eBike I might purchase!
Apparently 9yr and 11yr old kids see no glamour in riding pillion on an eBike!
I checked out the Benno Boost-E, described as an ‘eTility’ bike, a sort of ‘do anything’ hybrid and again, Chris from Propel Bikes and his awesome videos were there to influence me every step of the way with his chat with the founder of Benno bikes:
The configurations of the Benno Boost was truly impressive:
Again, however, my stringent selection criteria started limiting me as the Benno only came with a traditional derailleur and chain and was also speed limited to 32kph. I was beginning to wonder whether I would need to start compromising on some aspects of my selection criteria, but just as the COVID19 lockdown restrictions started to lift in New Zealand, I connected with the team at Christchurch Electric Bicycles and, with my wife in tow, headed down for some test rides.
As luck (or fate) would have it, the team had pair of Riese and Muller eBikes out front and ready to test ride: the Supercharger 2 in the Matte Curry colourway and a SuperDelite. The SuperCharger 2 had the Enviolo drivetrain from Nuvinci and a belt drive, whilst the Delite had a traditional derailleur set up.
The test rides were awesome – see the section below – and Riese and Muller really are making the Mercedes of eBikes. We rode a pair of Benno Boost afterwards and, whilst lovely bikes, they just didn’t match the riding experience of the R&M, albeit they are considerably more affordable.
One downside of the Riese & Muller bikes is that they operate a ‘build to order’ model, and COVID19 was only exacerbating wait times, stretching out to nearly 6 months in some cases. The awesome team at Christchurch Electric Bikes cut me a deal on the floor model of the SuperCharger2 that had been used for test rides and it was coming home with me…..
Thoughts On The Riese & Muller Supercharger 2
It was the end of May 2020 that I bought the Supercharger2 and have subsequently taken it on many adventures, with more in the planning. I wrote a blog and captured some cool photos around Tekapo – check it out here.
A few shots of the SuperCharger2 in action around the Mackenzie Basin
Even though I’d been talking about becoming a one car family, a situation came up with some family friends that ended up us loaning them our second car so we are now trialing having only one car since September and three months on it’s going ok. Given the considerable price tag attached to any Riese and Muller bike, I needed to be able to calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) so have been tracking the odometer of the vehicles on the 1st of each month:
The Toyota Highlander has become the primary family vehicle, the Toyota Prado has been loaned away to friends (most km’s on this were my daughter learning to drive anyway) and the SuperCharger2 now fills in for ‘everything else’
A few observations on the above vehicle usage:
We bought the eBike going into winter – not the best time to be riding in Christchurch due to rain and frosts, yet we still piled on the usage, average 282km/month with a peak in December 2020 of 392km. I’m looking forward to seeing how this changes as we come into the summer months.
Due to COVID19, I’m working almost exclusively from home now with virtually no domestic travel, and zero international travel since January 2020. The ‘need’ for a second car to get me to the airport is significantly reduced right now, minimizing the impact of not having a second vehicle
Even though we have loaned the Prado to friends, the eBike was comfortably doing more kilometers than the car (which was mostly sitting in the garage or being used to teach my eldest daughter to drive)
My wife rides the SuperCharger2 to work (2-3 days a week), so it’s functioning as a ‘commuter’ quite nicely, albeit for short distances.
We bought Ortlieb Back Roller City Panniers with the eBike from the team at Christchurch Electric Bikes and these have been excellent for groceries, comfortably holding $200 of food in them. Rain proof, they’ve been a great investment and I want to use them more for bike packing adventures too.
Having recently moved house, I’ve used the SuperCharger2 to collect various DIY items and other goods and bring home – it’s proved exceptionally versatile.
Christchurch is very flat, but I’ve taken the SuperCharger2 across the Summit Road circuit a couple of times that has total elevation of around 650m over 50km and sections with 15% gradient and it coped admirably.
Given the winter months, it’s not been ideal weather for longer trips further afield, however in December my wife and I did complete the Little River Rail Trail together on the SuperCharger2 and a borrowed Specialized Como from my mum. Starting/finishing at the township of Lincoln this was ~80km in distance, right on the absolute limit of the battery of the Como, whilst the SuperCharger2 read 109km range left!
Pros & Cons of the Riese & Muller Supercharger2
I’m writing this with 6-7 months experience on the bike now and I admit, I’m a huge fan. This won’t be an exhaustive list as there are other blogs and reviews out there, but this is coming from my personal experience:
Pros
Battery life
With 2x 500wh internally housed batteries, there is no need for ‘range anxiety’ – this bike will take you where you need to go and you’ll love getting there. I believe the newer versions have included a 625wh battery in the downtube so you’ll get even more range now.
Integrated lighting
A very bright, always on, front LED and a clever rear light that gets brighter when braking (by lighting up additional LED) helps you feel safer on the road and means worry free cycling at night as you’ll never forget your lights! I actually tilt the front light up a bit when biking in the day so that the oncoming vehicles definitely see the full effect of the front light
Integrated lock
The SuperCharger2 comes with the Abus 6000 Bordo folding lock and is keyed with the same lock as the two batteries making it convenient to secure your bike (and batteries if you wished to remove them) at any time). Whilst the 6000 folding lock is great, the circumference is smaller than traditional chain/cable locks so at times clever thinking is required to attach to an immovable object.
Comfort of the ride
This is clearly very subjective, but the geometry of the bike, adjustability of the handle bars, the ThudBuster seatpost, Schwalbe tyres all combine to make for a great ride. Given the bike tops 30kg, there’s a lot of bike to push along but it never feels a chore given the comfort of riding it. The best testament to this is my wife who rides it to work, shopping trips and to see friends – if it was remotely uncomfortable, she would take the car!
Drivetrain and componentry
Again, the Supercharger2 is a premium eBike with a price point to match, however all of the componentry is excellent and ticked the boxes on my selection criteria. My one came with the Gates Belt Drive, the Nuvinci Enviolo Hub and the Bosch Performance Speedline Gen4 – pretty much everything I wanted!
Speed!
After having ridden a number of eBikes that cut out at 28kph or 32kph I initially thought that might be ok. However, once I rode eBikes that could hit 45kph I could never look back. The Bosch Performance Speedline Gen4 is an absolute marvel of engineering. When combined with the belt drive and Enviolo, it’s virtually silent and you can sit in the mid-30kph without any problems at all.
Versatility & Usefulness
As mentioned above, we’ve taken everything from groceries in the Ortlieb panniers, to tools and household items on the front rack. Once you start thinking ‘eBike first’ in terms of your mode of transport nothing is impossible: I even took our vacuum cleaner on it when shifting houses, much to the curious stares of the cars going past. Also, once you start riding your bike to more places you realise just how much traffic there actually is on the roads! Scooting up the inside of the traffic saves so much time and being able to park right outside the shop rather than walking from the carpark is fantastic.
Choice on level of effort
It may be a small thing, but if I want to go somewhere and not be at all hot or sweaty, maximum boost on Turbo gets me there fast and fresh. If I want to put some effort in and feel like I’ve ridden my bike, then Eco allows me to put some muscle in and feel like I’ve had a good bike ride.
Fun Factor
Every single time I ride this bike I enjoy it. I’m grinning, I’m happy, I feel good at the destination. From a mental health and wellbeing perspective, riding a bike is great and getting to your destination faster and fresher is the icing on the cake. It’s a joy to ride – I can not overstate that enough.
Cons
Cost
This is not a cheap bike by any stretch. I can justify it as a vehicle replacement (and it has admirably coped as our second vehicle for nearly 4 months now) and it’s made of premium componentry, but it’s still a lot of money. In saying that, I want to ride this bike every day – there is nothing about it that makes me feel like I’ve compromised on my selection criteria and it’s as fun to ride now as when I first bought it. But it’s still a lot of money for a bike!
Gear range
I bought the floor model that had the Enviolo Hub from Nuvinci in it that has a reported 380 degree range of gears. It’s awesome, but I’ve found that it does not have quite high enough gears to comfortably sit at 45kph without requiring a very high cadence. Also, and this may be personal preference, I don’t like the grip shifter for changing gears – I realise with a CVT hub you can’t really have traditional shifters a there is no indexed gears, but for me, twisting the shifter is tireson. On the upside, the Enviolo is virtually maintenance free and is a masterclass in engineering (if I had my time again, I’d choose the Rohloff e14 Speedhub for a wider gear range but still internally housed)
Weight
North of 30kg, this is a heavy bike – two internally housed batteries will do that for you. Whilst this weight gives it a lot of stability when travelling at high speeds which provides confidence on mixed terrain, moving the bike into position to park/lock it requires a bit of muscle. Furthermore, putting the bike onto a bike rack on the car to transport is a big job usually requiring two people to avoid scratching the bike or car. If you’re a smaller person, this would likely be beyond you.
Maintenance
I bought a bike with the intention of being as low maintenance as possible, and after a winter and spring of riding, it’s proven to be exactly that. However, in anticipation of some longer riding with camping in mind, I decided I needed to be able to change the rear tyre by myself in case of a flat or puncture. Getting it off was easy following a YouTube video, but reconnecting the gear cables proved challenging and I needed some assistance in the end from the great team at Christchurch Electric Bikes. I’m sure it was all my error and I’ll get better with practice, but it’s not as easy as a traditional derailleur bike.
I can’t really think of too many other downsides – I really do like this bike!
What’s Next?
My kids joke that eBikes have become my hobby horse and a topic I’ll talk about to anyone at any time and there is probably some truth in this. I have a few friends that are passionate about the environment and see any initiative to reduce cars on the road as a good thing. Whilst this is not my primary driver for getting into eBikes I can see the upside, and when doing the numbers on ever owning a second car again, the ROI for our family looks dubious. I’ve signed up to Zilch (eCar ridesharing company in NZ) for occasions where I really need a second vehicle, and there is a pickup zone around 800m from my house so an easy collection point.
I have plans for some bikepacking adventures on the SuperCharger2 that seems like the next step now that summer is here. The West Coast Wilderness Trail is a great starting contender as is Tasman’s Great Taste Trail. Additionally, I got Bikepacking Aotearoa by the Kennett Brothers for Christmas to feed the inspiration.
As mentioned above, I don’t think I’d get an eBike that could not pedal assist to 45kph now that I’ve tasted and enjoyed that speed and convenience of getting around and to best support this, I’d really want a Rohloff Speedhub with its higher gear range:
Which leaves me in a bit of a tricky position: it would be great to do these adventures with a second person (wife, child ,friend) but given my pretty narrow selection criteria affording a second eBike that meets these standards is a luxury beyond me right now!
That said, I believe the pricing of eBikes will come down with even wider adoption, and my personal belief is that more governments will consider extending subsidies on Electric Vehicles beyond just cars and include eBikes in this too – something this article from the news hints at. Certainly, EV are beyond the budget of most people, whereas the range of price for eBikes is wider and has a lower entry point.
If you’ve made it this far you’re a bit of a hero (or an eBike tragic like myself) so I congratulate you and trust you get as much enjoyment out of your ride as I do. Feel free to drop questions in the comments below and I’ll respond!
