Been busy getting my giant 700 c road E bike prepared for a foray back to the lucky country. Will be my first time using an E bike but with some longer distances between stopping points it seems a practical option 
My pre E bike touring routes completed over the last 20 or so years . In order
1 Alice to Darwin
2 Adelaide to Melbourne
3 Adelaide to Alice
4 Melbourne to Orange
5 Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie
6 Mt Isa down thru the Birdsville track to Adelaide
( opps forgot to mention my loop ride from Cairns to Cookstown – my first mainland ride )
Map above is my “unfinished business ” Looks like way too much for one , even 2 long rides . It will begin at Orange , where I finished my Melbourne Nth ride and pushes north up through to outback NSW and Queensland . Unsure how far I’ll get before I’ve had enough , we’ll see , but with only a one way ticket I have no deadlines to worry about .
Been testing my gear and getting everything ready for the big trip . Will again be taking BOB , my nifty trailer . It’s something of a leap of faith using the E bike as if it gives problems there will be no simple fix in the desert. Might finish the trip .
Haven’t settled on a name for the Giant — Black Bitch ? Nah — Betsy ?
The Giant E bike sports my old very expensive profile time trial bars from my very expensive ( now redundant ) time trial bike . A momento from days past when I used to test my body against the local competition . It’s set higher now , but provides a very comfortable platform from which to see my world pass by . Had to ditch the hydraulic brakes for simpler cable actuated calipers for the minimalist tt brake levers.
Power issues
Powering the Giant I will have 3 x 500 wh battery paks. My range test suggests I may be able to get up to 250 kms before running out of stored electrical energy. The bike can still be comfortably peddled without power assistance should I need to . This situation might occur if charging opportunities are not available .
For nutrition and energy requirements for myself I am going to attempt to make this trip using Fat . My nutrition experiment , begun last year on the Birdsville Track ride , was with adopting a Ketogenic approach which seriously restricts , avoids , abandons carbohydrates. A year down the track I now consider myself “fat adapted ” My Lonormal total daily energy expenditure results from metabolism of dietary fats and stored fat reserves of which I have ample stores , unlike Betsy .
So what does that mean ?
Steaks steaks and more steaks the fatier the better , Bacon and eggs and lots of quality olive oil – I’ll even make sure Betsy gets some on her moving parts. I know the Aussies have some excellent meat so I’m expecting I’ll be able to get the required FAT .
whatisbruceupto 
Wow… très impressant. Courage mon ami. ….. john v
Thanks John , last hurrah stuff eh — do it while u can 😉
Hope all well and rural French life agreeable. You must email me with details of your adventuring too
Hi Bruce.. call that bike “bike best friend”.. you will know every part of her by the time you complete that trip!
Good on you Bruce – look forward to your blog on this next crazy adventure.
Thanks Ros — slightly delayed but will be rolling by about 4 th June now 😊
Trust all well with u 2
Hey Bruce, great to see you setting out on your next adventure. I must say I bought my first eBike 18 months ago. A Reid Urban+ using a Shimano Steps 6000 motor. This bike has done 6600km. Since then I have bought a two other eBikes. A Merida eOneTwenty 500 duel suspension mountain bike which I clock over 10,000km on Saturday in just over a year. The Merida runs the Shimano Steps 8000 motor with a 512 watt battery. The last bike I bought 2 months ago is a Wilier Triestina eAdventure Gravel bike, once again using the Shimano Steps 8000 motor and 512 battery. This has the look of a racing bike but with fat off road tyres. I’ve done around 1600km on this bike. I did a ride 3 weeks ago with the Wilier of 153km using 2 batteries. This included 1800m of climbing and using the “Trail” (2nd) setting for the climbs and turing off the power at times to conserve energy. The second battery is carried in an Oveja Negra top tube bag. The battery sits nice and snug in the bag and doesn’t move around. I image on your trip 250km is quite reasonable expectation and the quality build of the Giant brand should give you trouble free travels. All the best for the trip, I will enjoy following. Regards Trevor
Thanks Trevor — all coming together now , the batteries are safe in Sydney as I had to purchase them there due to difficulty shipping ( flying with them a NO GO )
I depart nz on 3 rd June now — re scheduled actually — so should start up the blog anytime after then .
What speeds does the shimano motor produce ? Guess it’s country dependent as they are speed limited in Europe and Australia to about 30-35 km . In nz the speed can be higher ie my giant stops contributing at 44 – 45 kms .
Where are you ?
Hi Bruce, I’m in Adelaide and unfortunately my bikes are all restricted to the Australian limit of 25km/h. The Merida being so heavy (23kg) is hard to get over that assist speed whereas the Wilier and Reid are much easier to ride unassisted over the 25km/h limit. The trouble with having the higher limits is that going from 25 to 50km/h the power consumption quadruples not doubles. It took 2 months to get my second battery from Shimano and $700.
Cheers Trev