Sunday, May 29, 2022

Gravelicious

 GRAVEL...far from new...but..

...this one has a twist. Heather's new Bianchi has something different. Can you tell what it is?

Above is a clue.

And the rear wheel hub is the giveaway, Mahle's E-bike Motion X35 system. Their X20 system looks even better and we're currently begging Favaloro to check it out with the idea of having something weighing around the same as our beloved steel bikes, yet with a battery and hub motor like X20. There are already bikes on the market weighing 11 kgs while this aluminum Bianchi is double that...but rides a lot like a normal bike when the motor is off...and you're not going uphill.

Yeah, we know, E-bikes are cheating. And Zio hates disc brakes, thru-axles and Shimano components...but when your wife's doc says limit her heart rate to X and that level you find yourself waiting too much, what's the solution? E-bike. It's NOT an electric motorcycle and the coolest thing about this is (now that we ditched the cheapo wire-bead, low TPI tires, slapped on some non-flared handlebars and a decent-length stem) is the computer-controlled motor assist. Heather straps on a heart rate monitor and tells the bike to assist ONLY when her heart rate gets up to a preset level. So when Zio Lorenzo is going too fast, the motor kicks-in and everyone's happy! And sometimes Zio has to chase uphill!

 
While we're on the subject of happiness, here's one of our ex-rental bikes, a Torelli Gran Sasso that we named after Gino Bartali. Zio Lorenzo wanted a winter-beater so his gorgeous Torelli 20th Anniversary bike can stay clean when he doesn't want to slog around on his SuperGravelMonster MTB with the drop bars and 50+ mm slicks...which he's now having repainted.

With this addition to the fleet, he now he has this "Low-fat" to go with the fat slick-equipped "Full-fat" bike and his regular "No-fat" road bike. This bike may end up an all-rounder like Heather's e-Bianchi, but for now Zio's skipping the motor...but by the time we get Favaloro talked into the X20 system......?

 

 


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