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Electric bikepacking- anyone done it?
I'm tempted, and I'm looking (perhaps) at getting a hardtail mountainbike that can carry a bit of kit. Something that can allow me to do a trip out to a bothy and back to somewhere where I can charge up again ready to carry on.
I know its all very subjective with a load of variables. I'm recovering from a replacement hip op. and hoping to regain a decent level of fitness but have to accept that I'm 62.
All advice is welcome- and please go gentle on me.
Do it.
I've no experience of e bike packing but I know it is doable from videos I've seen of bikes doing it whilst carrying external battery backups.
I'd buy a DJI amflow as it has fast charging. Mount a rack and a bar bag, carry the charger and go for a ride. It's an expensive option tho.
I have a cube hardtail with a 750 battery. Its a great bike. I tend to do 40+ miles a day and find the range ok for one night out ie 80 miles and a couple of thousand feet of climbing . I still have to be careful with how much assist I use.. climbing with a lot of assist or ploughing thru bogs eats battery.
Its a bugger to lift over stuff
I’m recovering from a replacement hip op. and hoping to regain a decent level of fitness but have to accept that I’m 62.
Don’t let that dampen your enthusiasm. A friend of mine had a new hip last year and she’s doing a 200 mile Chase The Sun ride in June…
Best bit about bikepacking with an e-bike is that you need to stop at pubs and cafes for a while to recharge bike and body well. I've done overnight trips with my OH and she uses an E-bike, one bonus is she doesn't notice the added weight of a few luxuries that I don't pack when I'm going on my own!
If you got a hardtail it may be good to go for something that takes a 27.5 x 3" rear wheel, it'll help with load carrying over bumps. General advice is not to bother with hardtail e-bikes for MTBing as the back whell crashes into things more but at bikepacking pace on less DH/extreme terrain I expect a HT could be fine. Bothy trips with an e-bike sounds like a great plan, enjoy!
Sounds great. Some inspiration in the article below:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle-magazine/great-rides-charging-around-world
I bikepack and I can't see you'd have any issue whatsoever, alternate between bothy/tent and B&B/hotel etc.
A HT is a decent option and will open up road/gravel/canal's etc plus plenty of frame space for a full-size frame bag.
Also take a look at the electric gravel bikes.
GCN did a piece on winter e-bikepacking - looked fun! possibly quite OTT but showed some possibilities regardless.
not sure how you do youtube links - just trying again:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/jSNgGeeCaw8?si=8stzxNbBz8RNZXfZ
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The album Hendrix could have made, if he hadn't been taken from us so soon.