Ok, I got my bike the day before Thanksgiving (Thursday the 24th in the US). I finished building it up Friday and took it for it’s first ride yesterday. I rode to “Coffee Outside” which was at Council Crest (highest spot in Portland OR) this weekend. This means that the first ride was about 15 miles with about 1,300 feet of climbing. I put battery lights on, two Arkel bags on one side of the rack with coffee gear and winter clothes and an open grocery pannier on the other side with a HEAVY lock and chain. I estimate my total load at 30 pounds plus my own 180 lb body weight.
Most of the ride was in “off” or “eco” mode (60% power multiplier). Off for flats and downhills and Eco for false flats and gentle climbs. I used “tour” mode (140%) for most of the climb and “sport” mode (240%) for the steepest parts of the climb (>12% grade). I am not a particularly strong rider (my FTP is about 150W) but at the end of the ride I was still on 4 out of 5 bars on the battery. I never used “turbo” mode, which puts out a whopping 400% of rider power up to 600W.
I also picked up a set of fenders yesterday and installed them last night. I got Honjo/Sim Works flat 65s. They barely cover the 2.5” tires that come on the Skid Loader and there isn’t a lot of room, especially at the seat stay bridge and the fork crown. You really should size the tires down to about 2.35 to have good clearance for full-coverage fenders. Kudos to Surly for putting mounts for fender stays on the rack. I have ordered lights but can get along fine for now with battery lights. I’ll post an update when I get those installed.
There are two bottle cages on the frame on the medium size, but the seat tube mount is worthless unless you have a side loading cage and only need a small bottle. The down tube mount is fine unless you decide to run a second battery. What I have not seen in any review or marketing copy is how versatile the rear rack is. Like with the Bill and Ted trailers and Surly forks, the rack is littered with braze-ons. I thought that they were primarily tie-downs and mounting points until I got the bike and realized that most of them are in pairs at 64mm spacing. So the rack could take six bottle cages without impacting one’s ability to run the largest panniers available. Carrying water will not be a problem.
Because the wheelbase is only 15cm longer than my LHT, the Skid Loader rides like a normal bike. Riding it felt natural the moment I started riding. This is my first ebike, and the one thing that I did not expect was the feeling of power from a standing start. I expect that this will take some getting used to. Yesterday, I decided to start with the power off then move to eco or tour mode as soon as I got both feet on the pedals and my butt in the seat. My start on a normal bike is: left foot on the ground, right foot on the pedal in the power position, and the inside of my right thigh on the top tube. To start, I stand on the right pedal to lift myself onto the seat and give myself a little bit of momentum to get my left foot on the pedal. This start in turbo mode would likely result in max power (600W) with only two hands and one foot on the bike.
The fit and finish are good, but not great. A M5 tap would be a good investment to make, because none of the holes on the frame or rack were plugged prior to powder coating. One of the triple mounts is slightly off axis, so one bolt hole will need a bit of Dremel work.
I will post more thoughts and some photos as I get more riding time.