Ex-pro Chris Opie on riding his Lapierre e-Crosshill electric gravel bike (video)

 Promotional article in association with Lapierre 

Since retiring from professional racing, Chris Opie has been enjoying exploring his native Cornwall. As a pro, his contract didn’t allow him to ride anything but his team’s road race bike and he didn’t think that e-bikes would fit his lifestyle, but now he’s surprised to find that he’s spending almost half his time riding electric bikes.

His latest passion is the Lapierre e-Crosshill electric gravel bike. Like many of the latest breed of electric bikes, it’s a much more integrated design than the crop of first generation electric bikes that Opie first rode almost ten years ago. Back then, the motor and battery almost seemed like an afterthought, awkwardly bolted onto a clunky frame completed with budget components.

But it’s hard to see at first that the Lapierre e-Crosshill 5.2 is an electric bike at all. It’s powered by a rear hub motor and the battery is hidden in the downtube, so its profile doesn’t look that different to a conventional gravel bike like the Crosshill gravel bike which Opie has also been riding and is highlighted in a previous video. It’s specced with a Shimano GRX gravel-specific groupset with a 46/30 chainset and 37mm WTB Riddler tyres to help keep you moving off road. 

 Opie really enjoys the versatility that the extra boost of power gives him to tackle tougher off-road terrain and keep traction on muddy climbs, which would be difficult or impossible to ride on an unassisted gravel bike. It means that his hard rides are harder than they would be on a non-assisted bike, and he can also dial down the assistance level when he doesn’t need so much support or wants more of a workout. 

 Not cheating 

Getting onto the road his speed will usually be above the 15.5mph/25km/h at which the motor’s assistance stops, so he can still get a good workout, while the sub-15kg weight and frictionless motor of the £2,699 Lapierre e-Crosshill 5.2 mean that the bike doesn’t feel heavy or sluggish and handles like a non-assisted bike. The low weight is useful too when out on the trails, making it a lot easier to lift the bike over gates, stiles and other obstacles.

Opie also finds that the assistance helps him to get out for a ride on days after a tough ride or when the weather is poor, when he might otherwise have taken a rest day, ridden a shorter loop or stuck to the turbo trainer. He calls his e-bikes the ultimate smile machines.

Is riding an electric bike cheating? Opie addresses this question in the video too, pointing out that riding an electric bike is a whole new discipline and category of riding, letting you tackle rides and routes that you couldn’t otherwise. It’s enhancing his riding and complementing his time on a conventional bike.

Opie’s advice if you’re considering an e-bike: try it, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it. He counsels buying an e-bike that you’re going to make use of now, rather than on some future trip and stresses that it’s a great way to get a proper training workout and take on new roads, trails and hills.