Our latest trip in early December was to the Waikato area to ride the Waikato River Trails and part of the Hauraki Rail Trail.

Unfortunately Steve could not make it on this trip, so we were down to “4 Men on Bikes”.

And to change things up a bit we hired electric mountain bikes for the rides (see below). The bikes were organised by the very helpful Dan Tairaki of River Riders, Hamilton. Dan also organised the shuttles needed to get us to the start and pick us up at the end of the two rides outside Hamilton: the Waikato River Trail and the Hauraki Rail Trail.

Daily Rides:

To maximise our time in the region four rides were planned:

Day 1: Te Awa River Ride – North: Hamilton to Ngarawahia and return

Day 2: Waikato River Trail: Waipapa Dam – Mangakino – Whakamaru Dam – Atiamuri Bridge on

Day 3: Hauraki Rail Trail: Te Aroha to Paeroa, then Paeroa to Waihi. 

Day 4: Te Awa River Ride – South, from Hamilton to Lake Karipiro.

The bikes:

Dan from River Riders organised four Gepida Asgard 1000s hardtail eMTBs from Bush e Bikes based in Coromandel. These bikes feature the widely used Bosch Performance Line CX motor with 500Wh battery, the same configuration seen in many top-end full suspension eMTBs: four electric assist modes and 10 gears.

They proved to be ideal for the first three days of riding, although battery management did turn out to be critical for one rider on the challenging Day 2, when he hit the dreaded dead battery about 100 metres from the pick-up point. Fine judgement there!

The Gepidas were collected by Gavin from Bush e Bikes as we passed through Paeroa on our way back to Hamilton after the Sunday ride on the Hauraki Rail Trail. This made sense logistically, but left us with a need for replacements on Monday.

River Riders had this covered, and set us up with four Magnum Peak rear hub driven eMTBs whcih we collected on Monday morning.

These are very different from the Gepidas ridden earlier, with a wider range of electric assist (six modes instead of four), a full range of 24 gears and the option of using a throttle for effortless travel – just watch the battery drain though. They took some getting used to but on the relatively flat on-road route were perfectly adequate, with the throttle proving particularly useful for fast starts and unexpected hills.

Support Crew

A trip like this is not possible without support from the local bike shops and trail partners. Our thanks go to:

River Riders, Hamilton (part of the electrify.nz group). 

Dan and Dynell Tairaki provided the central support for our trip, and arranged the supply of the Gepida bikes (used on the first three days) through Bush e Bikes in Coromandel.  He also arranged the shuttle services through Lake District Adventures, and  provided the replacement Magnum Peak bikes for our Monday ride. River Riders can also provide contacts at many of the other “adventure” services  along the Waikato River and surrounding areas.

If you are planning a ride in the Wakato region you can’t go wrong by contacting Dan first.

Lake District Adventures, based at Karapiro provided the shuttle services used on Saturday (to take us to Waipapa Dam and pick us up at Atiamuri Dam) and Sunday (drop-off at Te Aroha and pick-up at Waihi).

Steve and “the Mother-in-Law” (his words!), Anne, were great hosts and tour guides, happy to provide some additional support gear and to stop off for “refreshments” following the rides. Great company too.

Lake District Adventures provide a wide range of services and tours, including bike hire (electric and non-electric), kayak tours (including evening glow-worm tours) and shuttle services.

Bush e Bikes in Coromandel provided the final element for a successful weekend, supplying the Gepida Asgard eMTBs used for the first three days.

Our only direct contact was with Gavin in Paeroa, when we hooked up with him following our Sunday ride, to return the bikes; all other contact was through Dan of River Riders.

Any future ride in the Coromandel area however our first contact would be with Bush e Bikes to renew our acquantance with the Gepidas.