creativepart

I've posted a number of times in this thread about my 2018 Crosstrail Sport Disc. First, it was just my hybrid bike. Then I put a Dillenger hubdrive rear wheel on the bike to electrify it. That was great and I put 1200 miles on it. Then, for no reason other than curiosity, I replaced the rear hub drive system with a Bafang mid-drive system from JohnnyNerdOut. That too was great and I put another 800 miles on that system. Along the way I upgraded the rear derailleur, cassette and clickshirt to Shimano Deore gear and replaced the stock Suntour "brain" fork for a Rockshox fork. Each addition made the bike a better and better eBike. To me... it was perfect.

Then at the beginning of the year I put the bike in its rack attached to the back of my SUV just like a million times prior and connected the SUV to my motorhome, again like a million times before, and we set out for a short 60 mile trip between San Antonio and Kerrville, TX. The first small leg of a 2000 mile trip we take every year to Tucson, AZ.

When we pulled into our camping site in Kerrville my wife got out to walk the dog and shouted, "The bike is gone!" And, just like that it was gone. Lost. Somewhere along that 60-mile trip. The rack was totally undamaged in any way. In fact, it would appear that someone stole the bike, except that we never stopped between home and the campground. (BTW, the rack is rated for use on a flat-tow car behind an RV and for the weight of the ebike.)

I raced back home, retracing our route in both directions and nothing. It just vanished into thin air.

Normally, as in always, I lock the bike to the rack. And, I remember getting the cable to lock it and someone at home asked me to do something and I never finished locking the bike.

So, this is my last post in the Crosstrail thread and believe me, it took me 4-days to get over the "lost" bike. I bought a new Specialized Rockhopper 29 Expert (2022 models on sale $400 off) and began purchasing all the many parts needed to put another mid-drive ebike kit on that. The new bike is nice and all, probably better in all ways, But I still miss my Crosstrail.