BALANCE OF POWER
MTB legends Hans Rey and Rob Warner try their hand at e-bike trials – a new take on the discipline that combines muscle and motor, with a focus on fun
“He was a big influence on me when I started out. I’ve always wanted to just go trials riding with him. We did compete a bit back in the day, but he was way better than me. I reckon on the e-bike I could possibly give him a good run for his money!” Rob laughs. We’re heading to Hans ‘No Way’ Rey’s Midlands base, where he lives for part of the year with his English wife Carmen. It also happens to be conveniently located not far from a perfect trials spot.
Hans is the godfather of mountain bike trials. His demos, videos and magazine features paved the way for others to make a career in mountain biking that didn’t rely on winning competitions. Hans was the original master and is still a class act. Although most of his riding these days is done on a trail bike rather than a trials bike, he still has a huge soft spot for mountain bike trials, as does Rob Warner. Although best known these days for his commentary at the World Cup races (and a World Cup downhill winner himself), Rob’s first love was, and probably still is, motocross trials.
Up and at ’em
It was Rob’s idea to get together with Hans on e-bikes and ride some old-school trials sections. “It’ll be more like riding on motocross bikes, which will give me a better chance of keeping up with Hans,” Rob said breezily, without actually having tried it before. Hans, though, was totally up for it. Rob had no idea how it was really going to go, this ‘trials on an e-bike’ thing, but he figured if it didn’t work, he’d at least have a nice day out hanging with Hans.
Of course, Hans has tried it before, and knows exactly how it’s going to work – really well, as it turns out. He’s even developed a specific bike set-up just for this type of riding – with a flat pedal on the right and a clipless one on the left. Of course, that means wearing different shoes, and the combination of shoes and pedals certainly looks a bit strange. “I’m usually ‘No Way Rey’ but today I’m ‘Half-Way Rey’!” Hans jokes, as we turn up at the Leicestershire riding spot and pedal along a bridleway to the first playground of the day.
It’s a compact area with a mixture of natural rock obstacles, old manmade structures and some concrete pipes, which have been embedded into a steepish hillside to make a series of rounded steps. “It’s a lot more like old-school trials – more rolling than hopping on the back wheel,” explains Hans, as they take off across the first section of rocks – Hans on his GT E-Force and Rob on his Vitus E-Escarpe. The bikes have 150mm and 140mm of travel respectively, and it does look a lot more like mountain biking over tricky terrain than modern trials riding. The power of the e-bikes makes it easier to roll over things, especially with their bigger wheels, while their weight definitely discourages hopping on the back wheel.
Rob clears a tricky section of rocks but has a harder time with the pipes on the hillside. “Put it in Trail mode,” advises Hans. “It’s more even than Boost for some of these sections.” Rob does just that and makes it over easily. Modern trials riders would be hopping sideways up it for sure, but the lads just ride straight up with no problems. They set up sections through a series of obstacles, laughing and encouraging each other as they get it dialled. “It’s kind of similar to riding an MX bike over this stuff,” says Rob, “but you still need to provide the power, and it’s not always easy to have your feet in the right position at the right time to do that.”
Pipe dreams
Next, they move over to an area that Hans refers to as ‘the waterfall’ – a collection of rocks set into a steep bank, almost like giant cobblestones. It’s next to a lake and, apparently, they do sometimes pipe water down it, making an actual waterfall. It’s bone dry today, though. Hans has practised this before and makes it
“I’VE ALWAYS BEEN A MASSIVE HANS REY FAN,” ROB WARNER TELLS ME ON OUR WAY TO VISIT HANS FOR A DAY OF E BIKING.
look easy. It takes Rob a few attempts but he gets it sorted too, and they’re both up and down it after each other, pushing for faster, smoother lines. It’s not as effortless as riding an MX bike would be, but way smoother than a hoppity trials bike. It just looks more like mountain biking, which I guess is exactly what it is. Mountain biking, that is, performed by two very skilled riders. They turn their attention to the steep trail they’d ridden down to get to the bottom of the waterfall. “I reckon I could ride up there,” says Hans. “No way,” shouts Rob, “but maybe today it’ll be half-way!” In fact, with a bit of effort and some help from his bike’s Boost setting, Hans makes it all the way, as does Rob behind him.
“I think I’ll carry on using this pedal set-up for hardcore technical riding,” says Hans. “There’s an advantage to being both clipped in and not clipped in. For me it’s the best of both worlds.” The guys’ next challenge is some drops off a typical trials obstacle – a concrete pipe. Hans then ups the ante with a big rooty drop-off, which Rob isn’t keen on. Hans picks his line into it, rides off and back up around a tree. It’s a difficult section but he makes it look easy. “Fair play, Hans!” says Rob, sitting this one out.
Hans then details his plans for a new type of mountain bike event, based on this type of riding. “I call it ‘skills’,” he says. “For me, e-bike racing is going in the wrong direction. XC e-bike races are a joke – they’re harder and less fun, whereas the point of e-bikes is that they’re supposed to make things easier and more fun. E-enduro racing is OK, but events where you really test your skills are probably the way to go.”
Competition Hans-style
“You’d compete against yourself but still compare yourself to others, a bit like in golf!” he enthuses. “I’d bring riders from freeride, trials, dirt jumping and downhill. There’d be all these famous names at an invitational event and you could see who’s better. We’d build challenging sections and you’d see how far you get. Points would be awarded for the distance you managed to cover, rather than deducted like in regular trials competitions. And you’d have different line choices, with harder ones getting fewer points, and none at all if you didn’t complete the whole thing.”
Hans illustrates his point with another clean run over the big rooty drop. Rob loves the idea, but not quite enough to make him attempt it. They make their way to some classic trials concrete pipes and push each other to do more stylish circuits till they’re
too knackered to keep doing it safely. We make our way back to the van via a classic stream section that they can’t resist. Splashing into it, powering through then hopping out on a clear bit of the bank, they go at it head to head, drenching themselves and my camera too, and laughing as they go.
Chewing the fat
Back in Hans’s garden, he cracks open a few beers for us. “It was fun to see the combination of motocross and bicycle skills. It was really cool how Rob got on with it right away, because it takes a different type of finesse and feel – you’ve got to pick the right speed, right gear, right motor level,” says Hans. “It’s a whole new challenge, especially for old dogs like us!” Rob replies with his trademark cheeky grin, “I think I just about matched you, Hans – no way, half-way or all the way!” “Yep, except for that drop-off,” laughs Hans, taking off his nonmatching shoes.
“That was f***ing great!” exclaims Rob in the van on the way home. “It felt like something anyone could do, unlike extreme bike trials, where you might as well take the wheels out. It seemed weird, for me, to go and do trials on a mountain bike, but that was one of the most fun days I’ve had on my e-bike! It’s a real balancing act, to find grip but not loop out. You have to learn to use the power – it’s not as easy as you think! Once I got into it, I realised it makes your skills better for the trails too, you just want to ride everything. But the best bit was riding with Hans.”