- E-bikes, we know they're fast, everywhere.
Up-hill, down-hill, across trails.
But how fast can you actually go on one?
Today, with the help of Mother Nature,
I'm going to be finding that out.
(upbeat music)
One thing I love on my E-bike,
is going fast, but sometimes I ask myself,
"How fast am I actually going?"
So today, we've brought a speed-gun
out to the trails, to measure that.
This is because sometimes you're flying past
rocks, roots, trees, it makes us feel faster.
But sometimes when you're outside of that
16 mile an hour limit, as well,
25 kilometers an hour, we feel that motor drag,
so it sometimes slows the E-bike down, too.
So what I wanted to do today, is head out into the hills,
find the biggest hill I could find,
see how fast we can actually go, on these E-bikes.
So every single E-bike sold,
has to have a limiter, by law.
Varies whereabouts you are in the world,
but usually, in the UK and most of Europe,
it's around 15 mile an hour, 25 kilometers per hour.
Sometimes when you exceed that speed,
so you go above that limiter,
it's actually quite hard to get that extra speed.
Sometimes it feels like you're going
through some say sticky mud, or chucking
an anchor out of the back of the bike,
actually drags you back.
So I just wanted to see how much speed
I could get on a flat, with a sprint
on a restricted E-bike.
So I'm gonna stick it in turbo
and sprint above that limiter,
and see how fast we can actually go.
So that's 40 KPH, so pretty good for a flat sprint,
but it just goes to show how much you can go
above that limiter.
So this trail in front of us here,
is just like a gentle sloping trail,
smooth grassland, short grass,
just gonna give me a quick idea, of what
we're actually gonna be able to expect from today.
I'm not gonna go as fast as I can,
I'm just gonna go for an average kind of sprint,
tuck in, get the speed-gun out and see how fast
we can actually go down this.
So I'm expecting to hit probably, or I'm hoping,
about 50-55 kilometers an hour,
and then we're gonna go from there.
57 kilometers an hour, so that's
just a meandering grass bank, with a sprint into it,
so, if we step it up, take it to the next
style of slope, we should be able to add,
I'm hoping on these bigger hills,
we might even be able to double that.
So what was really interesting with that result,
was actually I talked about the motor restricting
you, you know when you get above 25 kilometers per hour,
you get that kind of drag.
Obviously with the Kenevo and it's
bro's motor, you don't get so much drag with that.
So, I didn't actually notice any
hold-back to it, obviously I've
got the help of gravity.
But I didn't even notice that
restricter holding me back at all,
so hopefully we can take it to the big hills,
we can go way past that.
So, now this is a typical mountain side trail,
we've got a big drop-off to our right on the side,
we've got bushes, trees, things like that
that are flying past. We've also got
a really narrow trail. So, I'm thinking
I'm actually gonna probably be going slower,
but it's gonna feel a hell of a lot faster.
I'm thinking, I don't know, we'll be lucky,
30-35 Km on this really narrow, rocky route here.
It's not very nice, but, I'm gonna feel way faster.
Let's get the speed gun out and have a look!
So that route was pretty sketchy,
obviously it's a tight little narrow track,
you've got rocks on each side of it as well,
so, I'm feeling kind of out of control,
but still feeling quite fast.
So, pretty curious to see what the results were.
Well, we've got 37 Kilometers per hour,
so not that fast, but it felt a lot faster
than the earlier grass open field.
But I really wanna try and go quicker,
get on these big hills, let's try and find a mountain.
So the real reason we're here,
is to hit this massive hill.
It's in (mumble), it's one of the
biggest hills around and the perfect
tool for the job. I wanna break
100 kilometers an hour today,
and I saw previously, Donny hit this hill,
and come pretty close to that.
So I reckon with my power, the bike's power,
that added weight, and a little aero help,
we can smash that 100 kilometers an hour.
So we've arrived at this massive hill behind me,
everything's looking perfect.
Sun's out, we've got a little bit of wind.
I'll be keeping an eye on the weather.
Previously, it's been nice and dry,
so that ground won't be too wet.
The only slight problem I can see,
is these sheep being around.
If I hit one of those things at 100 km,
it's gonna be game over for me,
and probably for the sheep too.
We'd wake up quite a few times last night actually,
thinking about it and (mumble).
It's pre-event nerves.
So this is what I got chosen to ride today,
it's a specialized Kenevo, 180 mill travel,
it's one of the e-bikes that's more
of a nod towards heading down-hill.
And down-hill fast.
So at 65 degree head angle, keep it nice and slat
when you go fast. 1233 mm wheel base on the large,
so that'll keep it nice and stable,
for when things start really picking up the pace.
It's got a nice Bro's motor on this,
it's got no resistance over 25 km.
And it's 23.6 kilos, so today if we're going fast,
I want a heavier bike rather than a lighter bike.
You can see a little mods I've done is,
popped the tires up to forty PSI,
to reduce that rolling resistance,
and hopefully we're gonna see some good speed today.
(upbeat music)
It did feel pretty quick,
it's really really bumpy, probably
doesn't look in the video.
But the thing I'm most scared about,
is the sheep in the way, I'm concentrating on my line,
but then I'm also doing a second take down the hill
to make sure the sheep are out of the way.
So that felt quite good,
I still reckon it's a real improvement.
So come on, shock me.
Well we are 86 kilometers, damn.
So we'd need another 14 k yeah?
I think I'd put those in my top five
scary bike moments actually.
That was fast, it felt fast.
I'll be really wanna know the results,
because I've got no skin left on my bum,
from the tire burn and also the (mumble).
My god, 97 kilometers per hour, damn,
3 kilometers off of 100 kilometers an hour.
So, I'm afraid it's time for drastic measures,
the guys at GCN have sorted me out
something pretty special for this.
You might wanna close your eyes,
I'll be back in a minute.
(upbeat music)
(dramatic music)
I don't know, it didn't feel as fast,
it's either I didn't get more comfortable,
but it's still super super super scary.
But, I'm just gonna bounce every tiny
little bump like that, and you're going
like 20 feet off of it.
It's scary cause I'm just literally
skipping the whole way down,
and I feel so vulnerable in this thing.
I really wanna know the result.
I'm getting scared. Ah,
97 kilometers.
Looking like this, well at the top,
there's three blowing (mumble) as I'm coming in,
so I can't even see, and on the left,
there's a massive rut if I go in,
I literally am gonna die, I'd probably get
catapulted fifty foot down the bank,
probably to my end. But, if I hit the line,
it's good, but the sheep as well,
that are just coming over to prowl.
Sometimes you just gotta do a bit of
sheep clearing as well.
(upbeat music)
Well that's gotta be it surely,
I've got a flat, that's how extreme this is.
A flat grass field, and I've got a snake bite.
Going that fast, that felt it, come on.
Was that a hundred km? Oh my god! No!
99 kilometers an hour, are you kidding me?
That's it isn't it? I didn't bring a pump.
Rookie mistake. So there you go,
one kilometer off of 100 kilometers an hour,
that's pretty rapid on a bike,
it's probably the fastest I've ever been
off-road on a bike.
It's fairly easy, well I wouldn't say easy,
but I think you could do that speed
quite easy on a hill side on a road bike,
out in the middle of France or Europe or somewhere.
But off-road, it's a hell of a speed,
especially, we hittin rocks and roots
and bouncing like that last run,
at 99 kilometers, I was literally not
even on the ground, skipping off every
little inch of bump and just flying down that hill.
It felt really scary, and I've done
some scary stuff in my time.
So what have we learned from today?
I think we squeezed it out of there,
what was it, two kilometers out,
wearing the skin suit, but would I do that
at a normal ride or event?
No because I think I look stupid,
the helmet was stupid, felt pretty vulnerable
in all that kit. But it did actually
help get that extra two km.
I think what I'd really love to do,
is get the GCN guys, get some aero stuff
done on my bike, shave my legs, shave my head,
I don't know, just some stuff that would
get me aero, get the bike aero,
and we're gonna break 100 kilometers, I promise!
So another thing I'm thinking,
"is this an e-bike world speed record?"
Unofficial I know, but I'd love to
see or hear if anyone has actually gone over 99
or 100 kilometer an hour on the e-bike so far.
So am I annoyed at not breaking 100 kilometers an hour?
No I think 99 is pretty bloody close,
and I think with the right setup,
we can definitely go over that,
I've been scared of my bike, but this is definitely
top 5 scary moments.
But there we go, that's what we've done for today,
and if you've enjoyed today's video,
check out the 100 kilometer challenge,
where I ride 100 kilometers on one battery,
managing my battery for that whole video up here.
Don't forget to drop us any comments
on how we can go faster in the box below,
give us a thumbs up, and just make sure
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