No need for a shuttle ride to the trailhead with this beast. Pedal pavement to get an easy e-assisted warm-up on the way to the trail, ride longer and harder than you’re used to, and be just the right amount of tired/sore afterward. Exploring mountain trails shouldn’t require a week of pain afterward for us middle-aged office-bound athletes!
After much benchmarking and test riding, we decided on the Fantic XMF 1.7 Carbon All-Mountain Bike (manufacturer website) and haven’t regretted it an ounce.
We purchased two of them for comparison and to check for consistency of manufacturing and delivery. For the most part, both bikes are extraordinary. Regarding consistency, however, it was interesting that one of the bikes came with a slightly-warped front disk brake, which creates minor performance deterioration, and there were several critical bolts that should’ve been tightened better at the factory. One other inconsistency was the peripheral addon packages that came with the bikes – one had a full set and the other was missing things that you don’t need for MTB riding anyway, but even when we asked about it at the dealer, they said the boxes were pre-packaged from the factory and they couldn’t do anything about it. So, there was nothing critically wrong, but we were glad to have made the comparison between two exact same products straight from the factory.
It has proven to be great even for around town, especially if you live in a hilly area. Get some exercise, save gas, and enjoy more riding than you would otherwise without the “e” assist.
Enough typing… time to get back outside for now!
