Got my Charge Cooker Maxi 2 today, and as it won’t fit on my bike rack I rode it home up the canal and a bit of wide bumpy bridleway.
First impressions; it’s ace. I thought the ride was 15km, it was nearer 24 but that wasn’t an issue. Even though I’ve been off the bike for months due to injury.
Evans pumped the tyres up too firm for normal use. However they were perfect for the towpath. (Evans Deansgate Manchester staff were, and in my experience are generally, spot on. Friendly and helpful). The extra pressure meant it wasn’t as draggy as I expected on the canal. It was a bit firm on the off-road section though, I’ll play about with the pressures over the next few rides..
First time with SRAM gears, shifting was nice once I’d got use to it. 28:42 is a nice low gear which helped on the last long draggy climb.
Bars felt narrow, I guess they are around 700mm. I have 750 and 777 on my other bikes so may put some wider ones on soon. Tektro brakes were fine; levers feel a little long so stripping the Knuckleballs and XT brakes off my Scandal onto this might make sense..
I didn’t need a dropper on this ride, but I’ll put the Thomson dropper on from my Scandal too.
The bike generally felt great, the “tramlinimg” feeling is a little odd but I’ll get used to it. The wheels weight seems to help them keep momentum, so on the little ramps next to canal locks I hardly needed to change my cadence. I’m an ex power lifter so I have a decent sized set of calves, but I managed to rub them on the seat-stays a couple of times.
All in all, a top bike for £879.
