Lake Dunstan Trail – why not go by boat?
Lake Dunstan Trail is the most talked about of the Great Rides. Now you can get transported by boat too and add another dimension to your day out.
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Liv Intrigue E+ 2 Pro on the Great Lake Taupō Waihaha section
I’ll say it straight: this was one of the most enjoyable day rides I’ve done — and I’ve done most of them. It’s a 30km Grade 3 ride through stunning scenery with glimpses of waterfalls, massive pools, the great lake Taupō, an echoing rock and finishing on a lake beach. Then the uniqueness of hopping on a boat with your
Read moreBiking Lake Garda
Lake Garda in northern Italy may be a bit out of the way for the long-weekend, but highly recommended if you are anywhere nearby. It’s not far from Milan or Verona, and lies in the southern end of the Dolomites. Ski areas like Val di Sole — home to MTB World Cup races — and Mt Baldo are nearby. It
Read moreWest Coast Wilderness Trail
The trail is part of the Nga Haerenga/NZ Great Rides network going between Greymouth in the North and Ross in the South, taking in Kumara, Hokitika and Cowboy Paradise in between. It has a diverse mix of trails, from roadside, coastal, gravel rd, tramline and even sections of singletrack. You can find more including places to stay on their website.
Read moreLiv Intrigue E+ Pro and Giant Trance E+ Pro on the Timber Trail
Liv is the female-specific sub-brand of Giant, and as such the two bikes are close to identical. ElectricMeg and I (along with friends to make it even better) decided to take the review bikes on the Timber Trail, which is a magnificent forest trail west of Lake Taupo in the Pureora forest. For model-year 2019 Giant announced a large range
Read moreNapier by ebike
One of the best ways to discover a destination is to take a bike tour, an ebike tour is even better. You can cover a lot more area. For around five years, Brian from Fishbike in Napier has been taking tourists out on bikes from his base on Marine Parade. When I last looked three years or so ago there
Read moreNgaruwahia to Hamilton Te Awa River Ride
This is a Grade 1 ride from Ngaruwahia in the North to Hamilton Botanic Gardens, all on sealed or concreted surfaces. It’s a pleasant ride alongside the Mighty Waikato. In theory it continues to Karapiro, but there are road sections south of Hamilton at this stage. Further info can be found on the Te Awa website. The start is at
Read moreMotatapu Queenstown MTB Event 2018 – The Best Day Ever!
This day was full of best evers….best decision to enter, best ebike for me to use (Moustache Trail 5), best scenery, mountains and valleys not normally open to the public, best company and camaraderie out on the trail, best backflip off the ebike on one of those annoying “little pinch hill climbs”, little or no previous rain meant the trail
Read moreThe Auckland coasts and cones ebike ride
This loop is around 40km long and takes in 3 coasts (Waitematā downtown, Manukau at Onehunga and Upper Waitematā at Waterview), and 8 volcanic cones, while having an opportunity to consume an ice cream cone along the way too. It’s a great combination that takes in some of Auckland’s best sights. ElectricMeg and I have designed this loop based on
Read moreAuckland Coast-to-Coast walkway on foot!
The Auckland Coast-to-Coast walk is a hidden treasure to add to your bucket list. It is free apart from any transport back to your start. We are researching an awesome ebike loop route that we will post when we are happy with the route safety and variety. We enjoyed the slower pace and little things that we saw on foot
Read moreTwin Coast Trail, Northland
This trail–part of Nga Haerenga–has been a long-time coming. The first sections opened in 2013, the final ones in early 2017. Wrangling over access slowed it all, but happily for us it’s all done now and quite successfully. Let me say that I haven’t ridden this on an ebike, and you probably don’t need to either. If you go from
Read moreIf range were not a constraint, where would you go?
I accepted a challenge posed by Maurice from Electric Bicycle Hub who has an eZee 34Ah (1224Wh) battery – could I even go far enough in a day to deplete this battery? The question has been answered, read on to find out what happened… I picked up the eZee Forza with the legendary 34Ah battery as Maurice opened his shop
Read moreWarburton Trail on Kalkhoff Agattus
The Warburton Trail is in the Yarra Valley on the fringes of Melbourne running between Lilydale (the current rail head) and Warburton. As you would reasonably expect of Australians it is often referred to as “The Warby”. It’s a 40km rail trail so has a mostly flat grade. It is best done as a one-way ride so you need some
Read moreArrowtown to Gibbston Valley on Haibike SDUROs
The Haibike SDURO is a premium German MTB-style ebike featuring a Yamaha motor. Most of the Haibike range sports Bosch excepting the SDURO range (Xduro is Bosch-powered). The Yamaha system is a bit rarer but also used by Giant and other brands we don’t see much of in the NZ e-scene. I first heard about the SDURO when I watched
Read moreEbikes of Vietnam
ElectricMeg and I recently spent a holiday in Vietnam, a country that was known for bicycles but is now well known for motorcycle chaos. What we did notice was the number of people riding ebikes and escooters. Mostly it is high school girls riding them, because you need to be 18 to get a scooter licence but anyone can ride
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