Hope you're up to it? Weather over the next few day's is looking favourable. Let's know your initial impressions?
Thank you, Storck. I have not long returned and with positive results. I completed 13 miles which was pleasing considering this week is the first that I have been able to walk again in the last 8 weeks. Once on the bike pain was minimal and thankfully the battery enabled me to complete the ride while pushing but not overexerting myself. The gearing took me about 20 minutes to get used as it is geared completely differently to my Trek Emonda. I have Schwalbe G-One Gravel-Road all terrain 32mm tyres with inner tubes installed at present (thanks everyone for the advice on here). They seemed to run well on the road and on the small bit of gravel I did too. No real complaints but ideally, some road specific tyres would be better for my average speed etc, but at this stage that is not important - its all about getting out of the house and rebuilding my strength and fitness. Against some of the advice on here, but recommended by Storck (?), think, I may try tubeless as it is supposed to soften the ride a little. I would recommend these to Big-Andy. At 76kg (12.6ish stone) I am not light, nor heavy, but I feel these would cope well with more muscly, heavier or slightly overweight people (absolutely no offence intended - we are built and made differently and deal with varying influences that all affect our lifestyles. I am certainly in no position to judge). I also use flat pedals as my right foot goes outwards at a silly angle after the NHS put it back wrong when I broke it many years ago. I have never been brave enough to try clipless for fear of injury, so just accept the loss in power output.
I am pleased I went for the Medium size bike rather than the Orbea recommended (for my size) large . At 184cm (6'1"ish) it seems to fit perfectly. The large would definitely have been too big. I may swap in my carbon seat post to help soften the ride a little whilst my back recovers. I imagine the carbon models run a lot softer, or maybe my back is a little over sensitive at present. I managed to go up 2 (very short but steep) hills at between 11-13.5 mph on level 2 assist (orange). I am normally grinding my way up these at between 5 and 8 mph. When back to some reasonable level of fitness I would suspect that I would probably mainly use level 1 (green). I did use level 3 (red) for a third hill, which I normally struggle up, and would never have got up today on a non ebike. I had to work hard but managed to average 11mph whilst chasing the bus up it.
Below is an image of my stats using the ebikemotion app (no HR as my garmin HR strap does not seem to want to connect - probably the wrong type). I think the rpm cadence is way out. And I am not sure the elevation gain was quite that high, but I will need to check some old rides on my Garmin to confirm this. As you can see it is a fairly flat ride with a few short steep hills - the steepest at 26.8% for 100m (apparently!!! - according to the app at least, but I am not sure this is accurate).
I used 16% battery capacity, which I thought was rather high. I hope this will drop a little when there is less headwind and my fitness returns. I am really pleased with the quality and feel of the bike and the assistance levels (still currently set at 100% for each level) it provides. The motor comes in and drops out seamlessly and isn't really noticeable other than when pulling away from lights and junctions in levels 2 and 3, which is great for me at the moment as fast acceleration is too painful. I still had to work hard and i would guess that my hear rate was up around 150 - 160 for most of the ride, which is higher than normal for me, but 8 weeks of laying on my back has destroyed any fitness I had.
Thank you all your great advice as without this bike I would still be stuck in the house fighting boredom and watching tv. I owe you all a couple of beers - so if you are ever in Somerset... !
) this spanner is not strictly necessary - I've taken the wheel off, fixed the puncture in the usual way (tyre off, inspected for cause, tyre back on, tube replaced, inflated and wheel refitted) using just the allen key.
- in matt black (with some damn awful light grey pedals that the shop put on - despite me asking for black! They will be going straight in the bin!). If my sciatica and hip pain will allow then I will try a short 10 mile ride today and see how it goes 
.
