Our Tandem Gets a New Look

July 6, 2017

After months of research and many emails to the Akkurad company we are super excited that we are going to be reunited with our bike. So far, we have been so impressed by our dealings with Akkurad. They have made it easy for us to make decisions and to entrust them with our bike.
Staying at the studio apartment run by the family at Eis Cafe Garibaldi has been a good choice. The location is a convenient, short walk from the train station, the apartment is well appointed with everything we need and it is situated in a quiet neighbourhood, close to the town centre. Reviews on Booking.com had given high praise for the breakfast provided by Eis Cafe Garibaldi, and we fully agree. We had an excellent breakfast outside on the terrace.

Breakfast is included with the price of our apartment. It is an easy walk of 150 feet to the Eis Cafe Garibaldi to enjoy an outstanding breakfast.

As arranged, the owner of Akkurad picked us up to take us to the shop in the nearby village of Westerhausen. This small business has a team who are passionate about what they do and committed to providing personal service. Jurg spent the afternoon with us (along with his colleague) patiently answering our many questions, gave us invaluable tips and took us for a test ride. Our response after the test ride, was "why didn't we do this sooner?"

Jurg explaining the finer points of riding our bike with the new electric assist. This is the first time Barry has ever ridden an electric bike so the learning curve is going to be steep like the hills in this region of Germany.

To handle our loaded tandem and hilly terrain (as well as mountain passes), we now have a 500w Bafang mid-ship mount motor and 2 batteries which should give us generous range and power. The countryside around Akkurad is very hilly, and we really enjoyed cruising up the hills! Now, that's a first.

Barry is a happy boy after his successful test ride.

Mary Ellen and I followed Jurg in his velomobile around the beautiful countryside near Hennef. We had many questions for Jurg about riding with an electric assist. At the end of our ride we felt much more confident about riding our bike.

Jurg is passionate about electric bikes and the how they are so much better for the environment than cars.

We can't say enough positive things about the Akkurad company and the team. Ulrich, who also worked on our bike, is away on holidays. The man on the right is Oussama, the co-owner of the business, the young man beside him is an amazing bike mechanic, in the middle is Joerg who was so helpful answering all of our questions, next is an intern who is designing 3D computer models of future designs and last but not least is Mary Ellen, the co-owner of the newly rebuilt e-recumbent tandem

To cap off a terrific day, and to escape a fierce rainstorm with thunder/lightning, we returned to the German restaurant we enjoyed last night for dinner.

We had such a great meal last night that we decided to return to the same German restaurant. We were not disappointed. Mary Ellen had sauerbraten with all the fixings(dumplings, cooked red cabbage and apple sauce). Barry had schnitzel with cognac pepper sauce. We sampled more of the brewery's beers.

Off to bed early as Akkurad will be picking us up after breakfast to take us and Seavo back to its second home with the Reitz family.

Today's ride: 15 km (9 miles)
Total: 15 km (9 miles)

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