Dave set off for a 300km ride from the West Country to the east of England. He was armed with a Cannondale SuperSix Evo Neo 3 e-bike, but would the battery last the 300km ride?
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Dave is no stranger to long rides. But when we got the Cannondale Supersix Evo Neo 3 in for testing, we started to wonder just how far you could ride an e-bike before you needed to recharge? Naturally, there was only one person for the job, so we sent Dave off on a very long ride to find out.
The Bike
Cannondale's SuperSix Evo Neo 3 e-road bike is based on the SuperSix road racer that you'll find the EF Nippo pros using in the biggest races. It's no slouch, and can be ridden just like a normal road race bike.
The carbon frame hides a down-tube battery with an ebikemotion rear hub motor system. With 250w of power and 40Nm of grunt, it isn't as powerful as a mid-motor system, but it is ideally suited to riders that want a bit of help from time to time.
Dave opted for the additional bottle cage battery pack, as the downtube battery would only take him so far, and he then loaded up with frame and bar bags.
The Evo Neo 3 is the most affordable model in the range, and comes with a Shimano 105 R7020 groupset, giving you hydraulic disc brakes with mechanical shifting. Keeping with the road bike theme, the chainrings are 50/34T and the cassette is an 11-34T. When fully loaded with all of Dave's ride snacks and camera gear the Evo Neo 3 is a relatively heavy 16kg, so 160mm rotors front and rear are used to provide extra stopping power over the acoustic SuperSix Evo.
The route
Planning a route for such a long ride is always going to be a good idea so Dave used Komoot to plot a route that was fast and efficient, while making sure that was still as bike-friendly and enjoyable as possible. You can check out his route below and find our Komoot page here with loads of great rides from around the UK.
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As you can see from the elevation profile, just getting out of Bath would be the hardest climb of the day and as a result, the most testing time for the Cannondale's battery.
When you're riding in one direction all day, you're slightly at the mercy of the weather and unfortunately for Dave, it was a headwind all the way.
So, would Dave make it? How bad would his tan lines be after the first proper sunny ride of the year? And was 300km on an e-bike still cheating, because all e-bikes are cheating according to some people? You'll have to watch the video to find out!
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