JAMIE’S SPECIALIZED TURBO KENEVO SL COMP

MONTH 9: Jamie has chopped and changed tyres over the last nine months, but he keeps coming back to the Butcher

£7,400 • 29in • specialized.com

I’m feeling poor at the moment, both in terms of money and time, as the cost of living crisis deepens and family life edges in on my riding time. My solution to both has been to ride much closer to home this month, learning the trails at Rogate B1kepark, a sandy hill in Hampshire crammed full of nicely sculpted jumps and berms. It’s taught me a fair bit about the bike too.

The first is just how good the orginal tyres are. I’ve not been entirely faithful, switching to Maxxis and WTB on occasion, but I keep coming back to the stock Butchers because they’re that good in dry conditions. On the back is a Grid Trail T7 variant, which has a really supportive casing that I’ve put to the test casing jumps, and a decent tread pattern that excels at both hard e-bike braking and reducing rolling resistance. When I’ve scrubbed off all the rubber I’ll get the same thing again, because it’s a ridiculous £37.50 – there is no better tyre at this price. On the front is the Butcher in T9 compound. It has superb grip and damping in dry conditions… something we’ve got used to recently in the sandbox of Rogate.

I’m also certain now that the 320Wh internal battery isn’t enough energy – I usually slot in the range extender, even when riding bike park trails. Spesh is really into its SWAT concept, carrying your gear in the most efficient way possible but losing space for your water bottle with the rangeextender doesn’t really fit with the concept.

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

Stock Butcher tyres are great in the dry and replacing them won’t bleed you dry

Range-extender is proving more of a must-have than an add-on

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