JAMIE’S SPECIALIZED TURBO KENEVO SL COMP

MONTH 4: Jamie adds a Range Extender (RE) battery and boosts his ride by 50%

£7,400 / 29in / specialized.com

The perfect end to a ride has me coasting back up to the car just as the lights go out on the battery, with deliciously sunbronzed and tired legs. And while a tan isn’t something I can ever hope to achieve thanks to my gingerness, power management on the Kenevo SL really is. I now have a Range Extender (RE) battery pack, a nifty add-on that increases the bike’s scope by 50%.

Here’s how it works. You charge the RE separately to the bike, then slide it into the dedicated Specialized bottle cage. There’s a big elastic band to hold it in place, and a cable to take the power into the bike via the charge port on the down tube. It’s not exactly slick, but it’s secure and easy to connect. You can set the bike to discharge the RE battery first, without touching the internal battery at all, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Burning through the extra 160Wh while staying close to the car, then swapping it for a water bottle and heading out again. As a rough rule of thumb, the RE gives me around 45 minutes on Trail mode around Surrey, with about an hour-and-a-half more ride time catered for by the internal battery.

It’s great to have increased my range by so much, but perhaps just as importantly, it’s introduced the idea of a modular power supply to me. I ditched the RE for a day on the uplift at Bikepark Wales where I wanted the bike to feel as light as possible, then slid it back in again the next day for a pedally XC ride where I needed more energy.

These days, rather than worrying about being over-biked, perhaps we should be more concerned with being over-batteried, lugging more heavy metal around than is needed. Perhaps in the future, batteries could be supplied in 200Wh increments, where you choose your load and slide in the power packs like D batteries in a torch. For now, I’ll settle for the Kenevo SL.

WHY IT’S HERE Diet e-bikes: the best or worst of both worlds?

THE RIDER JAMIE DARLOW Position Front section editor Mostly Rides Surrey Hills Height 6ft 1in Weight 82kg THE BIKE ■ Lightweight e-bike, splitting the weight difference between the full-power Kenevo and regular Enduro ■ Less than half the power of a full-fat e-bike, with 240W and 35Nm of torque, and a small 320Wh battery (with optional 160Wh range extender) ■ Entry-level Turbo Kenevo SL gets Fox Performance suspension, Fox Rhythm fork and SRAM GX drivetrain, but retains the full carbon frame ■ Progressive geometry and sizing makes the Kenevo SL a full-blown enduro bike