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

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 😊

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!

Slab Arête and Chimney crux!

Slab and Chimney plus Arête Variation

Scottish Alpine Training - Glacier Travel Techniques

Scottish Alpine Training - Movement Techniques

Aladdin's Couloir Rockfall (24th April 2021)

An account of thre climbers lucky escape during the rockfall can be found at https://trib.al/wKDB9RW

Learn how to assess potential risk and objective mountain hazards on our bespoke winter mountaineering, skiing and alpine preparation skills!

360 Video Cairngorm Skiing 19th March 2020

Guided Ice Climbing Tasters

Why not give someone you know a Christmas activity gift voucher? 

This video was filmed on the 12th December 2019 so there is ICE and SNOW in the Cairngorm's!

Winter skills, snow-holing, guided winter climbing, ice climbing taster days and much much more can all be arranged from £120 per day, each for two people. 

 For the ice climbing you'll need to have done previous winter skills and be hill fit!

 See https://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/product-page/gift-voucher

First Winter Skills course of the season

A good couple of days with Tom looking at Scottish winter skills and winter navigation in a variety of weather and snow conditions.

On the first day we had good firm snow for cramponing and step cutting and as the snow softened we looked at ice axe arrests before climbing up to the summit of Cairngorm for lunch. After lunch we looked at digging emergency snow shelters before heading down as the winds increase to storm level.

In contrast to Saturday Sunday was wild all day with gale force winds and heavy snow which was perfect for learning about winter navigation and looking after yourself in a winter environment, see the video!

Details of our winter skills course can be found at https://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/winter-skills-courses

Climbing Mhearad's Fall Chimney Finish 18th Nov 2019

Not as much ice as expected, but enough and it's only November, and a fun day's adventure on snowshoes checking the ice out and ice climbing on Mhearad's Fall Chimney Finish :-)

The climb on the day felt about Grade II with two cruxy boulder moves of 4/5 due to the deep soft snow and thin brittle ice but as the short ice wall and chimney are so well protected it's really good fun, especially early season in November! :-)

Later on in the year with good neve and ice it eventually banks out to about Grade 2 or even Grade 1.


If you too fancy a few days of bespoke and unique early, mid or even late late season off piste skiing, snowshoeing, winter mountaineering or winter climbing adventures that are well away from the queues and crowds, booking details can be found on our website at https://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/winter-skills-courses under private guiding.

Two November days guided winter climbing with Henry

A great two November days winter climbing and snowshoeing with Henry, long may the wintry weather continue! :-)

We're now running our winter skills and snowshoe courses and private guiding with free axe, crampons and snowshoe hire, if booked and run before Christmas!

If you too fancy a few days of bespoke and unique early, mid or even late late season off-piste skiing, snowshoeing, winter mountaineering or winter climbing adventures that are well away from the queues and crowds, booking details can be found on our website at https://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/winter-skills-courses under private guiding.

#cairngormnationalpark #cairngormmountain #visitaviemore #visitcairngorms #scotwinter #scottishwinterclimbing #snowshoeing #winterclimbing #wintermountaineering #winterskills

Snow Shoeing on Cairngorm 13th Nov 2019

Winter skills and snowshoeing in the Cairngorm's near Aviemore in November!

If you too fancy a few days of bespoke and unique early, mid or even late late season off piste skiing, snowshoeing, winter mountaineering or winter climbing adventures that are well away from the queues and crowds, booking details can be found on our website at https://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/winter-skills-courses under private guiding.

Winter Skills Courses for 2020

As can be seen from the photos above, a great start to the winter 2019/2020 season with the first proper snows falling on the 21st October and further cold temperatures and snowfall since. 

We are currently taking bookings for winter skills and winter mountaineering courses with the Christmas and New Year courses now almost full. We've now got just one place left on the 27-31 December 2019 course and two places on the 4-8 January 2020 course.

Our winter mountaineering courses are again proving popular with some of the January and early February courses already filled. 

Still plenty of spaces available on our weekly winter skills weekends and with private guiding as well as from mid-February onwards. 

We've got a short video showing the first snow of winter on Cairngorm at https://youtu.be/2U3pBDcuXy8

Learn more

Henry Climbing Jacobs Ladder 16th Feb 2019

Winter Sunset Reflections on Ice

Some of yesterdays stunning drone footage of the sunset on a frozen Loch Morlich in the Cairngorms set to music - please share!

Petzl Gully Review and Good Ice Starting to Form :-)

Today I was out looking for thick ice while testing a the latest ultra lightweight Petzl Gully hammer with the new Petzl Sum'tec ice axe. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Petzl hammer's thin pick easily penetrated the water ice despite it's ridiculous low weight (280 grams). 

I didn't get a chance to try the hammer and it's maybe not the tool for hard mixed, extreme ice and dry tooling but for general mountaineering on snow and ice it works really well.

The Petzl Gully is sold mainly as a steep skiing snow gully/couloir tool but when reviewing the hammer I found it was equally well suited to easy ice climbing on some steep ice bulges especially when paired with the slightly heavier and more robust Sum'tec mountaineering axe. 

Quite worrying approach over any hard snow towards 'Mhearad's Fall' due to avoidable depth hoar or facets, so I am told, unless of course you are trying to access the ice route but being able to plunge the Sum'tec into the ground below gave added confidence!

Once on the ice it was nice, relatively safe and really enjoyable. With a brief freeze thaw it'll get even better unless it all melts OR gets buried by lots of fresh snow ;-)

Bespoke Guiding and ice climbing on Cairngorm's 'hidden Alpine Face' routes can be booked online here >>>

A winter mountaineering and introductory winter climbing stunner!

A few photos and video of Reena and Paul's winter mountaineering course in the Cairngorms. The weather had been mild since before Christmas and snow cover was limited.

Despite all this Reena progressed from her very first steps using an ice axe and crampons, having lunch in a snow-hole and learning about weather, avalanche risk and basic winter rope-work, to mixed climbing and alpine style rope-work.

Then finally on the last day Reena and Paul climbed a Grade 2 winter route in Coire an t-Sneachda to experienced the most amazing views.

Although sheltered and sunny on the climb they topped out through a blast of freezing spindrift onto the wild wind swept arctic alpine plateau of the Cairngorm's.

Despite the freezing wind and windchill temperatures of minus twenty both Reena and Paul loved the whole experience and their Scottish winter mountaineering course and Scottish winter adventure with Talisman Mountaineering.

A short winter climbing video of Reena and Paul's last day of the winter mountaineering course is at https://www.facebook.com/CairngormMountainGuides/videos/2250518108529434/