Good day to you all, my name is Dave, father of two and all-round adventure dad. As a family we have recently made the leap into the world of E-cargo bikes, mainly to remove any need to use a car in the city. There is a whole world of options out there and we chose the Benno. We arrived at the Benno for a few various reasons, which I will go into later, but mainly above all competition, we thought it had a good spec for adventure.
Last weekend I met up with my mate Dave, (not all of my friends are called Dave, but it does keep things simple) and his son. Our challenge was to take the Benno on a wild camping mirco adventure with our two kids, under 5 in the mountains of the UK.
My adventure starts in Bristol with my daughter Agnes, the first challenge was to get a train to a town, in the heart of the mountains! This seems a small step, but the bike is a little longer than your average (not by much) and the cargo rack on the front doesn’t turn with the handlebars, which just made for a little extra manoeuvring. All in all though, both directions to and from Bristol went off without a hitch. The bike is 30kg unloaded and with the larger wheels, getting on / off the trains was fine. It did get a little cosy in the lifts (English for elevator) when I had to change platform, however, it was really easy to get the bike onto the back wheel, if needed on the extra cosy lifts.
Once in Abergavenny, both kids were loaded onto the back of the Benno, plus all of our camping stuff! This was achieved through a mix of the Benno seat pad and a Yepp seat (which is super easy to get off and on plus large rear panniers.
ready to go by David Somerset, on FlickrThe rear pannier rack can load up to 60kg and the front rack 20kg, so I had plenty of space to shove everything two kids under 5 might need, including tent, sleeping bags, food and all the spare cloths such an adventure would warrant.
Loaded up this much, the performance of the bike was little affected compared to empty, this was a great surprise and a massive benefit as the bike handles really well and the larger diameter 24” wheels makes the bike ride over the various pot holes and puddles less bumpy for the kids. The tyres were also great, making short work of grit, gravel, mud and grass.
The motor still pulled well also, which made the steeper hills, including the final accent of 20% gradient over 1 km achievable. The bike slowed to 5mph in turbo mode for the climb, but managed to get up the entire way!
vista by David Somerset, on Flickr 
puddle by David Somerset, on FlickrI only have a single 500kWh battery fit, but found with clipless pedals in touring mode, that the range was good (about 24 miles). Its worth noting that the Benno comes second battery ready, so if you want to add the other one to help with any range anxiety, this can be readily done.
All in all, our adventure was a success, I got home with 17miles of assistance left in the battery, which considering the 1,400ft if elevation we climbed and the rough terrain, was pretty good! The round trip was 14 miles and the kids loved it too! So, if you have a spirit for adventure, look no further than the Benno!
hot chocolate by David Somerset, on Flickr 
packed up by David Somerset, on Flickr 
cruising by David Somerset, on Flickr 
sun rise by David Somerset, on Flickr
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