A Radio Times subscription. That Keane greatest hits album. The personal shopping trolley complete with tartan cover. Electric bikes have long been something I've not felt ready for just yet, a purchase I'll save for later years when my cycling powers (all things are relative) are diminishing and my kids have begun impatiently waiting for me at the top of the West Country's tamest climbs.
But my resolve, like my hairline, is thinning by the day, so when Swiss brand BMC offered the chance to ride the new carbon Roadmachine AMP One around the National Park of Exmoor, Somerset, one of my favourites in the UK amongst some immense competition, I nudged aside my stubborn resistance and left the door ajar to becoming a member of the 21st century's e-generation.
The route? Starting in Minehead, on the West Somerset coast, it involves 85km of Exmoor's most varied kilometres, including the local legends of the Porlock Toll Road and the 22% gradient of the Lynmouth to Lynton climb. The catch? We need to drive home to Bristol at 3pm sharp for the rock 'n' roll reasons that I need to take my son to cricket club and photographer Joe needs to feed his cat. Time won't be on our side. Enter the Roadmachine AMP One and its Mahle X20 rear hub-powered assistance.
At first glance, it's difficult to discern that the Roadmachine AMP is an ebike, which is something I have to explain to plenty of curious onlookers during our Exmoor tour. It follows the silhouette and shape of BMC's non-electric Roadmachine very closely - the geometry is an exact match, with only a small increase in the size of the down-tube marking the AMP as a different beast. The new rear-hub Mahle X20 motor is also so much smaller than the older X35 unit, and it's pretty much hidden by the SRAM Force 10-36 cassette on one side and the disc brake rotor on the other.
Rock and toll
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