EASY RIDER
Justine Tyerman finds herself with no weekend playmates . . .
Our friends were scornful and eye-rollywhenwebegan raving to them, a fewyears ago, about our recent ebiking expeditions. We’d had an incredibly good time ebiking in the South Island and were keen to share our excitement at having discovered away that enabled us to ‘level the pedalling field’ and cycle thesame terrain together— hubby with the least power-assistance andmewith the max.
“Oooownoooo,” they replied snootily. “That’s cheating. We’re both faaaar too fit for ebikes. They’re for wusses.”
Fast-forward a fewyears and, strange though itmayseem, thosesamefriends have sincebecome full-on ebike fanatics and are never home. In fact, there’s no one around to play with at weekends these days. They’re all off ebiking.
Sowhenelectric Bikesnzoffered us two brandnewwisper Wayfarer ebikes to trial for a couple of weeks, weleapt at the opportunity as an idealwayto do someserious research into what ebikes to buy.
In early spring, weheaded south to Central Otago where the cycle trails are legendary. Wepicked upa 4-berth Maui Cascademotorhome from Queenstown Airport and two ebikes from Electric Bikes Nzgeneral manager James Speedy.
Nearing the end of anationwide sales trip, James said the growth in ebike sales was nothing short of phenomenal. Hewas having trouble keeping upwith demand.
Our first ride wasfrom Frankton to Kelvin Heights along the shores of sparkling Lake Wakatipu. The track
crossed the smartnewkawarau Falls Bridge, weaving around the lake edge in front of the Hilton Hotel and million-dollar mansions interspersed with quaint Kiwi cribs. The ebikes performed so well, we ventured far further than planned, ending upat Jack’s Point in the shadowof the Remarkables, resplendent after a sprinkling of fresh snow.
In the days that followed, weput our Wispers to the test riding a rutted, rocky 4Wdfarm track from Raspberry Creekup the scenic Matukituki Valley tomt Aspiring Hutt; an uppy-downy trail along the mighty Clutha River fromwanakato Luggate; the lake-edge trail fromwanaka to Glendhu Bay past that tree; awide, smooth, purpose-built cycleway from Bannockburn to Cornish Point on the spectacular but as yet unopened Lake Dunstan trail; a circumnavigation of Lake
Hayes, famous for its mirror reflections; and an old favourite, the Arrowtown to Gibbston Valley trail following the Kawarau River all thewayto Peregrine Winery where a glass of rose´ popped into myhand.
Webiked in sunshine and sleet, knowing thatwecould always beat a turbo-powered retreat to our cosy motorhomeif the weather seriously misbehaved . . . thanks to our Wispers.
Wefoundthem 100 per cent reliable, responsive and robust. The motors had plenty of power for the terrainwetackled andwenever once got within coo-wee of running out of battery. Iwasmuch heavier on the turbo and the thumboperated throttle than Chris but even after awhole day in the saddle, I had only used uphalfmy700whcapacity.
Our models were mid-drive, a ‘his and
hers’combowith an easy-to-mount/ dismount step-through style for me.
Sturdy mudguards ensuredwedidn’t endup coated inmuckwhenriding offroad in wet or boggy terrain and the wide puncture-resistant tyres gave us confidence and grip. Powerful lights meantwecould leave themotorhome parkedup at night and cycle to a restaurant for dinner.
The Wisper Wayfarers were perfectly summed-upin a recent review as ‘a reasonable value, versatile ebike that aims at the 50+ casual rider, with both on-road and light off-road capability’.
That’s us!
Meanwhile, our friends have graduated to high-tech electric mountain bikes and grade 5 trails, far beyond our abilities. We’re easy riders.
“Join us this weekend,” they challenged us.
They bandied around words like “precipitous, steep, narrow, river crossings, dangerous drop-offs . . .”
“Busy,” wereplied.
“Wusses,” they said, rolling their eyes.