One Ride Away: Zermatt to Chamonix

Cycling 185km on a single charge is a bold claim for an e-bike. Cycling that distance across the Swiss and French Alps is a whole other prospect. Beyond just the sheer scale, it’s an endeavor that requires imagination, planning and determination to push past what might be possible. The Tesoro leads with a promise; to be your trusted companion wherever you take it. And yet, it still takes courage to tackle a ride as long and mountainous as this. This is the story of how one bike's claim to “go the distance” was really brought to life.

The Tesoro is supremely functional in urban environments, but it’s really a Grand Tourer at heart, ready to get far from the madding crowds. When our engineers calculated it was technically capable of doing around 185km on a single charge, a brave colleague named Christian jumped at the chance to see if they were right. But this was to be no laboratory simulation or pedal in the park. This was to be a proper test. Somewhere infamous for challenging the most hardened cyclists and outdoors sports enthusiasts in the world. And somewhere that also happens to be spectacularly beautiful.

The ride started bright and early in Zermatt some 1620m above sea level. Even in September the morning temperatures are already below freezing at this altitude but seemed to have little impact on the Tesoro’s 800 watt-hour battery capacity. Buoyed by the adventure ahead, Christian wove his way between these two jewels of the Alps, taking in all manner of roads, vineyards, microclimates, and picture-perfect alpine villages. The terrain would rise and fall, offering 2km of vertical descent along its route, but also a substantial 1860m of vertical ascent to climb back up to Chamonix from the valleys below.

The wide range of gearing and automatic, electric shifting of the Tesoro Automatiq meant all these terrain changes were managed seamlessly by the bike, leaving Christian free to focus on his pedaling and the vistas ahead.

Meanwhile Tesoro’s low center of gravity and 100mm suspension fork ensured the long descents on rough alpine roads were smooth, comfortable, and fully in control no matter how many potholes popped up!

And that sense of safety and security was further enhanced thanks to the integrated front and rear lights being left on for the entire riding time. That’s over seven hours of illumination time on top of powering the Bosch motor, thanks to their latest and largest battery.

And so, seven hours and thirty-nine minutes of riding time later, Christian rolled triumphantly in Chamonix. Covering a total distance of 189km and 1860m of vertical, he still had 6% charge left thanks to the bike’s highly efficient Eco mode! You can check out Christian’s actual ride here.

So what’s next? “That’s up to other Tesoro owners now,” says Christian. “I hope they’ll be as blown away as I was at what’s possible on one charge. With range like this, so many great places are now only one ride away.”