VOLUME 58 ISSUE 47 NOVEMBER 23, 2021 P97
venturous rides. Or if you're
like me, imagine that this is
what it must be like to be in
shape. No more hopping off
and pushing up those sharp
inclines or looking for the
easy way to the top. Let's
get right to the fun trails,
see what's at the top of that
hill, explore that ridge over
there. I enjoy the technical
aspect of mountain bik-
ing more than the cardio
suffer-fest, so this shifts the
ratio in my favor for an even
more enjoyable time. And of
course, if cardio is the goal,
it's always something you
can work toward, at your
own pace, with the help of
the motor's flexibility.
The Embolden E+ 2 fea-
tures the SyncDrive Sport
motor, which is the mid-level
offering in Yamaha's line
of SyncDrive Core, Sport
and Pro motors. The Sport
offers 70 Nm torque at up
to 140 rpm, and power up to
350%. The six-sensor Smart
Assist Technology is what
meters the power delivery
in a natural-feeling way, and
I found that keeping your
gears low and pedal rpm
high will pump out the most
muscle from the motor. It
was particularly useful to
keep this in mind on long
climbs. The more you
understand where/how the
motor delivers power, the
better you will get along with
the Embolden E+ 2.
The RideControl ONE
unit mounted on the left
handlebar allows you to
toggle between five power
levels. Level two is enough
to get the bike out of its own
way, level three is great for
cruising, four was my choice
for technical climbs, and five
for utter laziness. But rather
than trying to dial up the
juice as the climb sharpens,
it was more useful to use the
gears to keep my cadence
(Above) The clean and simple RideControl ONE unit takes care
of the power settings. Do as much work as you want to and let
the motor handle the rest. (Left) The Yamaha-powered 250W
SyncDrive Sport motor helps you make quick work of long climbs.
