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  • 6 hours ago
E-bikes can be a controversial topic in the Cycling Weekly comments section but after watching the pros tackle the Tour of Britain my mum wanted to see if she could tackle the Queen Stage of the pro cycling race.

To help her out, TQ-Systems provided us with a Canyon Endurace ON:FLY e-bike. But would the e-bike last the full 140km route? And would it be enough to beat me on an acoustic road bike up the infamous Tumble climb? In this road bike vs e-bike we try to decide whether an e-road bike makes road cycling too easy.
Transcript
00:00This is the tumble,
00:02the hardest climb in this year's tour of Britain.
00:06And this is my mum. Today, we're going to have a race,
00:09not only up the tumble, but over the entire 140 kilometre
00:14queen stage of this year's tour of Britain.
00:20I know Jamie's chasing me down, so I've got to keep on it.
00:25Now I know what you might be thinking and don't worry,
00:28she won't be offended. Yes, she is a little bit slower than me on a bike.
00:32And that's why we've sourced her a new bike. This one, a Canyon Endure race.
00:40You see, on Saturday,
00:42we sat on the sofa and watched some of the best riders in the world tackle this
00:47very course. The likes of Geraint Thomas, Oscar Onley,
00:51and Remco Evanapol to name just a few.
00:54And whilst they made this route look pretty all right,
00:57the stats are definitely not to be scoffed at.
01:00138.76 kilometres,
01:042,246 metres of elevation,
01:07and this five kilometre climb,
01:10not once,
01:11but twice.
01:12I suppose you could call us inspired,
01:15and not only will this be my mum's longest ever ride,
01:18it'll also be by far the hilliest.
01:20But to be honest, getting her to undertake such a challenge has taken a fair bit of convincing.
01:27My mum does like riding a bike, but doesn't overly enjoy hills and didn't for one minute think that
01:33she'd be capable of riding a stage like this. To be fair, she still hasn't completed this route,
01:39so we still don't know if she's capable of doing it, but we'll know by the end of the day.
01:44And that's why this Canyon Endurace is no ordinary road bike.
01:48Despite looking like a road bike, smelling like a road bike, and feeling like a road bike,
01:54it's actually an e-road bike.
01:57Oh yes, hidden inside this frame is TQ Systems new HPR40 mid-drive motor,
02:03the German company's first system designed specifically for the needs of road cyclists.
02:09And what this means is that mum will have an extra 200 watts and 40 newton metres of torque
02:15at her disposal, from what TQ Systems call the smallest and most efficient mid-motor system
02:21ever to be found in a bicycle.
02:23So, who will win? Well, make sure you're subscribed to the channel,
02:28place your bets in the comments below, and let's find out.
02:48Well, we're well underway and we've hit the first climb of the day.
02:52Uh, this is, what's it called?
02:54I don't know, it's out of Ask.
02:56It's out of Ask. That's where it is.
02:57Um, so yeah, we're about 30k in.
03:00No sign of her yet, so basically what happened was she got a bit of a head start,
03:06because I put her bike together, got it out of the car, put the wheels on it.
03:10She was gone. She seemed pretty excited to ride that one.
03:15Um, so then I sorted my bike out, had a puncture, fixed it, et cetera.
03:20And then now we're on our way, but I've come up with a cunning plan.
03:25I have found some assistance.
03:27Give us a wave, Will.
03:28I found Will from Cycling News, who we've been working together.
03:34We're going pretty quick down the valley, so I feel like we should be catching.
03:39And normally I'd be catching on the climbs, but I'm not so sure about today.
03:45We'll wait and see.
03:56So now mum has been wanting to ride an e-bike for quite a while now.
04:03And to be honest, it's been my reluctance to get her on one.
04:09Now I rode one a few years ago and to be perfectly honest,
04:14it didn't leave me overly enamoured.
04:17Like this was maybe eight years ago.
04:20Riding it felt like you were getting kicked up the arse by a horse.
04:24And it was only not quite unpleasant.
04:28Also, I think that's quite frankly a bit dangerous
04:30if you're someone who's not as confident at riding a bike.
04:35And so for that reason, and also,
04:39they're just damn ugly.
04:41E-bikes in the past have been, like, you can tell they're e-bikes.
04:47Which I think is one of the really nice things about this one.
04:51It's also got loads of really clever tech in it.
04:54So TQ Systems, if you read the PR, it's basically all about how it assists your riding.
05:03It's not a moped.
05:05You can't just sit there and let it do the work.
05:07But what it does do is assist your pedalling.
05:11And in the UK, that would be up to the speed of about 25 kph.
05:16And I've been wanting to get my mum on an e-bike.
05:20Because I like to go and ride in the Alps, for example.
05:25I go on a lot of group rides, sometimes with my dad and my brother.
05:29And mum rides her bike and kind of has to do it solo.
05:34Which seems a bit of a shame.
05:37Whereas with an e-bike, you can hopefully expand your horizon.
05:41And that's what today is all about.
05:43Because this is going to be one of the hardest rides she's ever done.
05:48We'll see if she makes it to the end.
05:50And we'll see when we catch her.
05:52Because we're now on it and climb.
05:54And we've still not seen her.
05:56So I'm starting to get a little bit worried.
05:59Either she's gone the wrong way and got lost.
06:02Or she's absolutely flying.
06:04Right, better crack on.
06:11Right, now we're on a climb.
06:22Now it doesn't feel like a normal bike.
06:24Because I would be crawling up here.
06:28And I'm having to work.
06:33It's not a moped.
06:34But it feels like I have a tailwind.
06:42And I do still feel in control.
06:44I thought I might feel a bit like I was just a passenger.
06:50But it feels like I'm still dictating what speed I'm at.
06:56I know Jamie's chasing me down.
06:58So, got to keep on it.
07:04I thought we might catch you on that descent.
07:16Although, actually I thought we'd catch you much earlier.
07:19Right, fuel stop.
07:27Well, you made it to Mamba.
07:30Can I stop now?
07:34I think you're going to beat me up the tumble.
07:47When Jamie bought this bike home,
07:51didn't really know it was an e-bike.
07:54It doesn't look like a conventional e-bike.
07:59Down here in between my bottles is where you charge it.
08:07There's a cover there.
08:10And on the end of this bar end is where you change gear.
08:17Engage the electric.
08:21I'm getting dropped again, Will.
08:29You're getting dropped again.
08:31Doesn't load well.
08:32One of the unique things about this TQ Systems
08:36system is that it's integrated into just about everything else on the bike.
08:41It can stream data like range and battery light to an Ant Plus bike computer.
08:45That light on the front is powered by the e-bike battery.
08:48The light is down near the rear dropouts, powered by the e-bike battery.
08:52Even the Di2 on this bike is integrated.
08:55And that means that you can even program the hidden buttons to change power assist mode.
09:01Luckily, no one had told mum this, so as we hit the bottom of the tumble for the final time,
09:06she was still in eco mode.
09:19Down here in a couple seconds.
09:20The other bike is going to be a little bit of a piece of giant water.
09:21Now go to the world.
09:23Down here at the back.
09:24You can see the small circle of tiny and small pieces and the side you will be flat on the back.
09:25You can see the small circle of tiny, which is pretty much espaço.
09:26There is a lot of time left.
09:27I have to find a little bit of a plleme for pro-lose for that.
09:28I'll try to find out some little bit of time.
09:30There is going to be a little bit of the thing about the air.
09:30There is going to be a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a lot of the air.
09:31You can see the air as well and what is happening.
09:33And the rain is going to be a little bit of a ton of the winter.
09:33In some ways of the TV flower.
09:34I don't know.
10:04I don't know.
10:34I don't know.
10:36I got to watch my mum ride away from me like she never has before.
10:43Hopefully, that's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
10:46It's all thanks to this bike.
10:48I don't get to ride with my mum very much and today I did.
10:52For that, I'm very grateful.
10:56In recent years, e-bikes have been picking up plenty of strays in the Cycling Weekly comments section.
11:02Comments like this one, and this one, and this one.
11:08To be fair, I just don't think they're justified because an e-bike is not the same thing as a moped.
11:15Ask my mum and I'm pretty sure that she is absolutely knackered.
11:21The truth is, thanks to an e-bike, she has just ridden 95 kilometres further than she ordinarily would have.
11:29She's been on a bike for three times longer than she ordinarily would have, and she's spent loads more time with me.
11:36The truth is that e-bikes are very, very different machines to what they were 10 years ago.
11:42They're not overpowering.
11:44They're not like an absolute kick up the backside.
11:47Yes, they're clearly very powerful because, well, I got absolutely spanked up the mountain.
11:53I genuinely think that on a bike like this, it could bring some amateurs in line with riders like Tade Pogacar.
12:02And that takes some doing because, I don't know if you've heard, he's rather quick.
12:08There is just one thing that I would change about this bike, and that is that I wish it existed 10 to 15 years ago.
12:16Because if that was the case, I think I'd have done a lot more riding with either of my granddads.
12:23And that would have been nice, then they could have ridden away from me up a hill as well.
12:27If you want to find out anything else about this Canyon Endure Race with the TQ System inside,
12:35then we'll pop a link to both the Canyon and the TQ Systems website down below in the description.
12:40If you want to see more content like this, then please make sure you subscribe to the channel,
12:44and we'll see you next time.
12:46We'll see you soon.
12:47Bye.
12:47Bye-bye.
12:48Bye, bye.
12:49Bye.
12:50Bye, bye.
12:51Bye, bye.
12:55Bye bye.
12:56Bye.
12:57Bye, bye.
13:10Bye bye.
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