The whole purpose of buying this bike was to travel to and from town doing the chores - delivering herbs and doing the shopping for our business. If it didn't work for this then we have wasted our money.
I was nervous. The Croozer trailer fitted well. Two batteries charged for the Gazelle, I set off on the the 27 k trip. The first 6 k are dirt - and pretty rough and hard dirt. Not comfortable on any bike - including my dual suspension mountain bike. But the Gazelle was fine, and at least my butt didn't take a hammering. Once on the tar it was a very pleasant ride over the hilly terrain. I didn't even notice the trailer, but I did notice the power assist.
I arrived in town in a little over an hour, ready for a coffee and the shopping.
Shopping complete I loaded the trailer with 37 kg of goods - this is a serious utility trailer. Add to that the 11 kg trailer and I was set to pull 48 kg over the 27 km home, including some steep hills. I was still nervous.
I need not have been. The Croozer was very stable and didn't effect the handling of the bike at all - either walking or cycling. Slow, fast, tar, dirt it just tracked comfortably behind. Definitely easier to handle than the BOB I used to use.
And the Gazelle - I love this bike.
The power assist is fantastic. I still had to work hard up the steep hills - but what would you expect - with me on board we were trying to get about 150 kg up some serious slopes! I could feel the pull of the motor all the way, and as soon as the steep incline eased I could relax and let the bike do its thing.
The dirt with a full load was much more comfortable than unladen. I was home in a little under an hour and a half. I averaged about 19kmph on the trip home (about a 400 m net climb). The trip used the best part of 2 batteries - perhaps 15 to 20 km of spare range. That was what I expected considering the load. I didn't try and conserve battery power at any stage.
But the most amazing thing was that I was still relatively fresh. I completed the whole trip before lunch and then spent the afternoon working on the farm. Overall I estimate I averaged about 5 - 7 kph faster than I would on my high spec mountain bike. I also suspect that I only used about 60-70% of the energy.
That is exactly what I had hoped for. Enough assistance to make the 60 km round trip with load in less than half a day and with enough energy left to do normal things. Don't get me wrong - it was still serious exercise, but I was not wrecked at the end.
The only thing I am going to do is to add a couple of teeth to the rear cog so I can spin a little more comfortably on the steep bits. Apart from that - this bike is a serious utility machine - and I can't think of anything I would want to change. Magic!
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