Cairngorm Snow 22nd Jan 2025

My Thoughts on the MX03 6 Months Later

Sharing my thoughts on the full suspension Shengmilo MX03 fat tired Chinese e-bike 6 months later while filming with the DJI Mavic Air 2 drone along the River Dulnain and over Burma Road toward Aviemore. The main cameras used were the DJI Mavic Air 2 and the DJI Action 2 as well as the Insta360 Go2. Now after six months of using it mainly off-road in the Scottish Highlands how have I've found it?

The impromptu video was filmed on the tiny Insta360 Go2 camera mounted on the handlebars just using the cameras inbuilt microphone as I headed home from filming some drone footage on the Burma Road and along the River Dulnain back to Slochd.

I hadn't originally intended to publish this clip but was so impressed by the Go2 video and sound quality given it was just clipped to the handlebars that I thought it may be worth sharing, what do you think, is this of interest and should I do more?

Originally when I started to look at fat tired e-bikes I was told by so called biking experts that I'd need to spend at least £4000-7000 to get a decent e-bike for off road use and that cheap Chinese e-bike were a waste of money compared to the well known European and American brands.

As an OAP I'd never had that amount of spare cash in my life and the thought of ever owning an of-road e-bike seemed an impossibility. Now after using the bike off-road for close to six months I'm pleased to say that despite my initial reservations about how the front and rear suspension and the hydraulic brakes would fair on the rough off-road tracks here, they have performed great and certainly as well or better than my Specialised Rock Hopper MTB which as a non e-bike cost actually about the same!

The fat tyres are simply amazing on an e-bike and cope with every type of terrain whether it's normal roads, heather, grass, rocky loose tracks, gravel and sand, mud and even snow as well as absorbing a lot of the bumps . The hub motor, controller and battery have all survived the often wet and snowy Scottish conditions though I do take care to clean and dry the bike off after use and avoid dunking the bike in deep local rivers to clean it, though it's been OK with the odd shallow river crossing!

The only issues I've had so far were with the folding pedals hitting rocks and jamming, the rear mudguard/fender hitting the rear tyre and frame going over deep potholes and a failed pedal sensor covered in mud, all of which were either changed by myself or sorted with spare parts been sent out under warranty. Also my bike originally didn't have brake motor cut-off's but when queried via Shengmilo factory support they quickly sent out a complete set of brakes and later an updated controller once pandemic lockdown supply issues were resolved. So generally the bikes quality is good and any issues are quickly sorted by support.

Would I buy another MX03 bike and would I recommend Shengmilo, well my friends have already bought two bikes a MX02 and an MX03 and support at the factory are keen on feedback about improvements, any potential ware issues on how the bikes are fairing in the Scottish Highlands. so the bikes are only going to get better and better! :-)

Now the bad points the bike is big and heavy compared to a normal bike but then so are most e-bikes and you do need to do your own assembly and maintenance or know a friendly bike shop. Finally, I should also point out that I'm not well off or sponsored by the camera's or bike manufacturers and it was only after a lot of online research and financial sole searching with the aid of a glass of wine that I pressed the PayPal button and I bought the Shengmilo MX03 bike and I'm glad I did as it's great fun!

I hope this helps and if you find this useful please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and like the video as well a post any comments which I promise to answer ;-) The Shengmilo MX03 e-bike was purchased at an amazing all inclusive discounted price direct from the Chinese manufacturers rather than through a reseller at often double the price by using the following link to https://www.shengmilo-bikes.com/discount/RonWalker. There was great communication in English with the bike arriving surprisingly quickly without the additional Brexit customs or delivery charges to Highlands of Scotland!

Some DJI Drone Footage and thoughts on the Shengmilo MX03

Sharing my thoughts on why I bought the full suspension Shengmilo MX03 fat tired Chinese e-bike and now after six months of using it mainly off-road in the Scottish Highlands, how I've found it. The impromptu video was filmed on the tiny Insta360 Go2 camera mounted on the handlebars just using the cameras inbuilt microphone as I headed home from filming some drone footage on the Burma Road and along the River Dulnain back to Slochd. I hadn't originally intended to publish this clip but was so impressed by the Insta360 Go2 video and sound quality given it was just clipped to the handlebars that I thought it may be worth sharing, what do you think, is this of interest and should I do more? Originally when I started to look at fat tired e-bikes I was told by so called biking experts that I'd need to spend at least £4000-7000 to get a decent e-bike for off road use and that cheap Chinese e-bike were a waste of money compared to the well known European and American brands. As an OAP I'd never had that amount of spare cash in my life and the thought of ever owning an of-road e-bike seemed an impossibility. Now after using the bike off-road for close to six months I'm pleased to say that despite my initial reservations about how the front and rear suspension and the hydraulic brakes would fair on the rough off-road tracks here, they have performed great and certainly as well or better than my Specialised Rock Hopper MTB which as a non e-bike cost actually about the same! The fat tyres are simply amazing on an e-bike and cope with every type of terrain whether it's normal roads, heather, grass, rocky loose tracks, gravel and sand, mud and even snow as well as absorbing a lot of the bumps . The hub motor, controller and battery have all survived the often wet and snowy Scottish conditions though I do take care to clean and dry the bike off after use and avoid dunking the bike in deep local rivers to clean it, though it's been OK with the odd shallow river crossing! The only issues I've had so far were with the folding pedals hitting rocks and jamming, the rear mudguard/fender hitting the rear tyre and frame going over deep potholes and a failed pedal sensor covered in mud, all of which were either changed by myself or sorted with spare parts been sent out under warranty. Also my bike originally didn't have brake motor cut-off's but when queried via Shengmilo factory support they quickly sent out a complete set of brakes and later an updated controller once pandemic lockdown supply issues were resolved. So generally the bikes quality is good and any issues are quickly sorted by support. Would I buy another MX03 bike and would I recommend Shengmilo, well my friends have already bought two bikes a MX02 and an MX03 and support at the factory are keen on feedback about improvements, any potential ware issues on how the bikes are fairing in the Scottish Highlands. so the bikes are only going to get better and better! :-) Now the bad points the bike is big and heavy compared to a normal bike but then so are most e-bikes and you do need to do your own assembly and maintenance or know a friendly bike shop. Finally, I should also point out that I'm not well off or sponsored by the camera's or bike manufacturers and it was only after a lot of online research and financial sole searching with the aid of a glass of wine that I pressed the PayPal button and I bought the Shengmilo MX03 bike and I'm glad I did as it's great fun! I hope this helps and if you find this useful please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and like the video as well a post any comments which I promise to answer ;-) The Shengmilo MX03 e-bike was purchased at an amazing all inclusive discounted price direct from the Chinese manufacturers rather than through a reseller at often double the price by using the following link to https://www.shengmilo-bikes.com/discount/RonWalker. There was great communication in English with the bike arriving surprisingly quickly without the additional Brexit customs or delivery charges to Highlands of Scotland!

MX03 Timelapse 21st April 2022

Cairngorm ski mountaineering (24 March 2022)

Me and My Shadow

Guided Winter Climbing 1st March 2022

Turf Turf!

Hero Ice 27 Jan 2022

Dave's First winter climb for 30 years!

KMC Winter Mountaineering 16 Jan 2022

Accessing winter routes by abseil!

Winter Mountaineering, Climbing & Coaching (11 Jan 2022)

Winter Returns 3rd Jan 2022

Flake Chimney Right 22nd Dec 2021

Cairngorm Mixed Climbing Headcam View 22 Dec 2021

Winter Mountaineering 20 December 2021

Alpine on Cairngorm 18 December 2021

Winter mountaineering 13th Dec 2021

The icing on the cake!

Shengmilo MX03 Snow Bike

Some Insta360 OneX2 clips of the Shengmilo MX03 snow e-bike put to music! The Shengmilo MX03 e-bike was purchased at an amazing all inclusive discounted price direct from the Chinese manufacturers by using the following link here.

There was great communication in English with the bike arriving surprisingly quickly without the additional Brexit customs or delivery charges to Highlands of Scotland!

The video footage was taken on the Insta360 One X2 and the tiny Insta360 Go2 cameras 😊

Cairngorm Winter Climbing by Headtorch!

Scottish Snow Biking!

Early Winter on Central Ridge

Ramping Up Dodger Ramp!

October 2021 winter climbing in the Cairngorms!

22 October 2021 - Climbing 'Right of Flake Groove' in early season conditions in the Cairngorms! At an altitude of over 1100 metres and facing E to NE the shaded damp grooves are surprisingly reliable and quick to ice up especially when it's minus 5! Similarly situated climbs can make really great excursions early season or in lean winters before they are buried by deep snow and overhung cornices! With a few days of proper winter weather being forecast I decided to check out some future new lines and variations and headed up and over the Gorm. Just as I arrived at the top of the crags the clouds lifted and revealed the winter wonderland below. I had a quick look at Torr Buttress climbing back up via Left Rampings/DodgerRamp. I then headed back down to check the lines at around 900 metres which although looking good and snow covered were wet and sticky underneath. With crampons balling badly as the sun rose I headed back up onto Central Ridge. This being a bit higher at 950 metres and on rimed and snowed up rock was in much better condition with lots of fun mixed variations to explore and play on, including a couple new winter starts! At the top again I decided on one last climb (the one in the video!) near Torr Buttress. The sun had move off the face everything had undergone a quick melt freeze cycle to create some surprisingly good crusty ice smears on the rock and grooves for enjoyable climbing to end to a very productive day!

Upper Central Ridge Climbing and Cragging Variations

Climbing ‘The Underworld’

Central Ridge Flyby Topo!

Slab Arête and Chimney crux!