… not a mountain bike. I mean to be fair I’ve had one or two of those in my posting history 🙂

Orbea Vibe. 250 watts via hub motor. About the same as I can put out right now on a FTP test. I really like the aesthetic of it, I don’t nee any more power. Rode it up the 100m steep hill from our house in “trail” (eco, trail, turbo are options) and it was like riding a very light road bike when I was really fit.

Stick it in turbo and it’s just funny. Eco doesn’t do much more than cancel out the motor weight.

On the flat the cut out means I’m still pedalling with motor off. Glad I went 12speed so got a decent range. No display but the MAHLE app is excellent. Shows you range, battery, etc. Also can customise each motor setting,

So unless it’s absolutley minging, I’ll be using this to replace the car for journeys to our two local towns. Both around 5 miles away but I’ll be going longer as the road between them is no fun on a bike.

Things to sort: need a lock, got loads but no mounts and I’m wondering if I should just stick one in a bar bag. Talking of which bar bag fouls light so I’ll need some kind of stand off foam I think. And some proper pedals. And maybe a pannier rack….

Oh and those Magura 4 pots are lovely. I’d like some on my MTBs!

It really is very pretty. I should invisifame it. But I won’t, because I’m lazy 😉

Headstone needs straightening up and the grass needs strimming close to the wall.
Gate looks well painted and the pointing is in good order. 😎

Edit.
Just looked at the third picture. Going to have to dock you points for the pointing under the sign.

🙂 I’ll let the vicar know! Stones have been refurbed in last year. Headstones are a bit older 🙂

I think they ran out of money by the time they got to the sign!

I’d love a commuter like that but it’d be a bit pointless as I don’t have a job to ride it to and from.😆

I have no customers in commutable distance! Maybe one at a push. Reason for buying that is the two nearest towns to us are too far to walk but I hate driving there. I reckon I can do everything from seeing my mum in the care home, a bit of light shopping, general admin in town and – obviously – to and from the pub on this bike.

I mean I could do it on one of my other bikes but we live at least 150m above the town. That’s not much fun with any kind of load/beer on board. I mean it’s lazy but it’s better than driving. And it is in no way a gateway drug to a electric MTB.

Unless I lived in Molini. Then I’d definitely have one!

to and from the pub on this bike.

Mmmmm. Maybe I should reconsider. It is 1.25 miles from home to the brewery and also the same distance to the bike charity shop I’ve said I’ll do a few free shifts at.

It does look very nice and I see they even come with a rack as standard. 😁

Ace. That is the bike I would like mrs_oab to try, in XS flava…

Yeah I didn’t go for the rack and kickstand option. I wanted those SKS mudguards, wasn’t sure what Orbea fitted. Might get the rack, depends how much load carrying I do. Short term, rucksack’ll do it.

They are pretty small Matt. Certainly in reach, That’s a Large and I’m not running that much post but it’s really short compared to MTBs which I guess makes sense. I was able to try and M and L at the bike shop (5 mins from here) and was pleased I did as I prob would have gone for a med which would have been a mistake.

Anyone doing XS demo’s near you?

I think they ran out of money by the time they got to the sign!

That path edge is a crime!

Anyone doing XS demo’s near you?

Local dealer says they can’t even order one in to buy, let alone demo. 🙁

boo. I had to wait about a month for mine. Guess it’s easier to get M or L.

@sandwich, I’ll pass that on as well 🙂

I finished my shopper today.
New old stock Carrera frame and surplus 26 bits I had kicking around.
Might add a tongshen kit to it later.

Looks good. Raffishly slack seat angle tho… I see panniers in my near future as well.

Ebikes for utility are great and that’s a particularly smart one!

Nice. Reminds me of my charge plug that I reversed over earlier in the year.

Ohe and tell the vicar to get his post box upgraded, we iz on Charles 3.0 now bruv!

Nice bike, that’s possibly one of the nicest eBike commuters I’ve seen. Great colour and can hardly tell it’s got a motor and battery, very smart design.

The poor vicar is going to think I’m picking on him! I might post the issues raised under the door anonymously 🙂 Not sure the postbox is going to get an upgrade. Postie told me in his 15 years of doing this round, the MOST number of items has been 7!

I popped out in the dark to check it’s pub-bike-configuration. The integrated light is okay but it’s not good enough for the complete lack of streetlights Herefordshire council considers as ‘job done’ outside of the major conurbations. I had some barely used Lezyne MicroDrives tho (about 200 Lumens I think) that I’ve added front and back. Now absolutely fine for nighttime perambulations.

I really should tape at least the top tube. The paint is very nice.

Glow in the dark tyres… 🙂

Very nice.

Are you and weeksy having some kind of competition? 😀

Lovely job. I was looking at one of those, had a lot of fun test riding one, but ended up with a Cannondale due to various C2W complications. Which is a great bike too, but the cable routing just isn’t anywhere near as slick as that. I shouldn’t be envious of someone else’s bike the week after I get my own, but I am a little bit!

Are you and weeksy having some kind of competition? 😀

I hope not 🙂 I have been encouraging him to buy a Giga like mine, so not sure I’m helping!

@doris5000 – I didn’t try any others. Did a bit of research which led me to a hub powered bike. Then looked at options and chose the vibe as a) integration/etc is a step up on anything else and b) very local bike shop demos/sells them so I had piece of mind if I get any issues.

If I get time today I’m off up two very big hills to explore some woods I’ve never been motivated to ride too. If they look promising, I’ll head back on an MTB or my Digger.

So the only bar bag I have that’ll work is my old floppy alpkit one. And that’s still pretty rubbish as the natty light is in the space where a decent bag would go. Really only need to carry a lock, might get a HipLock as I really don’t want to have a frame mounted D lock. Get in the way of everything.

Treated myself to a Fidlock bottle. Want one on all my bikes now!

Very nice 👌 Out of all the bikes I’ve seen you have, on here and Hedgehog, this is the one I think might suit my needs the most!

@integra – well you’ve had a few to choose from 🙂 I have decided it’s too nice not to stick some bike tape on. Flipped the light bracket which gave me room to fit a more rigid bar bag, but light is now too high. Considering a folding lock now as I’ve cunningly spaced out the fidlock mount so I can get that and the pump/Co2 on one bottle mount.

Also considering a hiplock. Similar price to the Abus folding one.

There will be a blog post soon. Got three places to ride it this week (physio, covid booster, pub 🙂 ) first.

Quick update for anyone interested. First ‘proper’ one-less-car trip to town to see Physio. 20km return, around 400m of climbing, and a heck of a headwind for most of it! Summary, all good way better than driving.  Longer version:

1) I have to keep telling myself this is not about fitness, it’s about not driving. Did not want to arrive sweaty, but really hard not to push on the hills.

2) Hub motor works better at higher cadence, slow and stomp is my normal approach. Needs a bit of a re-learn

3) As there’s no torque sensor, if the cassette is spinning, the motor is on. It’s not a problem, but it’s something you work out pretty quickly. It’s probably very different to a torque sensing MTB but since I’ve only ridden one for about 10 mins, can’t really comment.

4) Trail is fine on hills. Of which we have quite a lot. Reckon I’ll wear the bottom half of the 12 speed cassette first.

5) the 25kph limit is interesting. It’s very smooth cutting/reapplying the power on the limiter. It’s not hard to go faster but back to point 1 and I’m NOT IN A HURRY so it’s kind of fun nudging the limiter. On the flat I ride it in Eco anyway,

6) 60kph down one of the hills! Thin-ish tyres, 40lb ish weight (with stuff I’ve put on it), gets up to speed quick 🙂

7) Not much quicker than doing it on my gravel bike tho. Most hills coming back. So maybe 2-3 min faster on way in (30 mins) and nearer 10 on way home. I did sneak in a bit of Turbo on the big hill tho. That’s quite a compelling setting.  But arrived pretty fresh and a lot happier having had a bike ride than driven in, found somewhere to park etc.

Mostly sorted light/bag now. Just changed brooks grips for some old Ergon GA3s. Way too hard. Saddle tho (also brooks), think I’ll keep that.

Off to the pub tomorrow night so we’ll see how the (same) ride home is in the dark!

Oh 20km, prob 25% eco, 60% trail, rest turbo used 22% battery. It’s only a 250w/h battery but that’s going to be absolutely fine for my needs. If I feel the urge to go further than about 80km, I’ll buy the extender.

Also, also Garmin Edge (and Fenix) talks to eBike. No intermediate apps needed. Very cool.

Final also, HR was around 104 average, RHR is 52ish. Normal HR on that run is 150. So I’m doing more than a brisk walk but way less than a non assisted ride.

So unless it’s absolutley minging, I’ll be using this to replace the car for journeys to our two local towns.

What possible 2 UK towns could you leave that locked up and expect it to be there when you get back ?

Nice. Occult e-bike, very neat.

I’d like one but can’t justify it.

Locks, I just put them in a bag. Though I did get a litelock and I have one of those hiplok gold ones. Sometimes I take them all.

There’s about 4 locations I’ll be riding to. Physio I stick it in the Foyer, Pub, gets locked to a big old mill press and I can see it from inside, care home to see my mum where again it’s in sight and occasionally a bit of light shopping where I’ll secure it with two locks and hope for the best. Worse case it’s insured, and I’ll be riding not driving so that’s a win for me.

I wrote a thing: https://www.pickled-hedgehog.com/ebagum/ it does have a bit of random swearing so you’ve been warned 🙂

Quick update for anyone interested. Firstly the MAHLE (motor) app is pretty good if you like your stats-geekery. There is lots more on the  phone app on battery usage/draw/etc.

Bit blurry on the screen grab but should give you an idea. Interactive as well so you can dive into different modes, etc. I’ve been averaging about 2.5-2.7 w/km. It’s pretty skewed tho with only 14 rides. Some I’ve had motor off for 20+ minutes, others I’ve turbo’d home in the rain. 40km with around 700m of climbing used just over 40% of the battery so 80km seems about right if you not jamming the turbo button.

The 25km cutoff doesn’t bother me at all. Well until today when I had a slow puncture and wanted to get home to fix it. I was above the cutoff on all the flats/slight uphills and that was hard work. 30kph would be ideal but I’m not chipping it.

It’s a joy to ride. All those trips I would have done in the car. It’s a really fun bike regardless of the assist. Defo need to make it tubeless tho as while changing a front puncture is fine (expect you can’t really flip the bike over as light is in the way), the rear is a nightmare. I’ve done it in the shed, in the stand and it’s still a bit of a fight.

Other than changing the too-hard Brookes grips and swapping to some cheap DMR pedals, it’s stock and shall remain so. I genuinely enjoy those 10 to 15km journeys I really hate in the car. Sure when its cold and horrible I’ll be less keen, but so far I’m super impressed with how easy it is to dump the car when you have one of these.