I've had my first ride, probably only about 7 miles (I didn't manage to get the phone app to work so guessing a bit). Absolutely superb.
The bike feels lighter than my push-bike. When I picked up the front wheel to start getting Hilda out of the car, it was obviously much lighter. I had little trouble getting the rest of the bike out. (The sales-lad said he thought she might just make it in without removing the wheel, but that could be a bit optimistic, especially as a one-person job.)
There is an easier way to re-fit the front wheel that doesn't require the bike to be turned upside down, but I couldn't quite get it to fit together so decided to up-end her anyway. Definitely easier than with my previous bike. (Sometimes I had to lie that on its side then pick it up from there.) Once the bike was out of the car and the car retured to people-moving mode, I couldn't resist it.
I've actually got a bit of a cold and I've run out of paracetamol, so I decided to run up to the chemist for some. Just that little bit of extra help as the road rises alongside the river really makes a difference. Then once I'd got the paracetamol I decided just to go home the long way... Then I remembered I also meant to get a ready-meal to save cooking, and went back into the village to the Co-op. Then stopped by a friend's house to show off on the way home. (Her daughter sells bikes for a living, photos were duly texted.)
First snag, no basket, and I was stuffing paracetamol and phone and wallet into my jacket pockets. This has to be remedied. I got my decent panniers out of the cupboard but I couldn't get them to fit on the rear carrier so eventually cannibalised the old pannier on my present bike which simply straps on. Hopefully another go maybe with grease will let the hooks clip on to the stand.
Anyway, the ride was one I've done often before and it's not hard, but in the middle of winter in the cold and with a cold, I breezed round it with the greatest of ease. Quite a lot of the time I didn't have the assist on at all, because the road was downhill. The sales-lad said maybe ride it with the lowest level normally, just that extra bit of help, and up the assist for hills and turn it off for downhill free-wheeling (no regen). I only used the second level of assist a couple of times and the top level not at all.
I still need to get used to the gears, which are great, but there's no way to tell from looking at the handlebars which gear you're in, which throws me a bit. I expect I'll get used to it. Too many Christmas cards to write to go out a lot this week, but I'm looking forward to doing more soon.
