I used to hike here, there and everywhere. Fifteen or twenty miles in a day wasn’t unusual and I loved being able to disappear into the hills for hours at a time. Then I got ill and it pretty much destroyed me for months. Even now I can’t hike the distances I used to because eventually I simply run out of energy.

I’ve always loved mountain bikes as well as motorcycles, and what I really missed was the freedom to cover those longer distances and get deep into places like Galloway Forest Park. I could still walk and climb hills, just much more slowly and not nearly as far, so I started wondering whether an electric mountain bike could give me some of that freedom back. Rather than buying one, I converted Liza, my Carrera Fury, myself.

This was the first proper test to see whether my idea had actually worked. Could Liza get me through the forest and up towards the mountains without completely exhausting me before I’d even got there? There was only one way to find out.

Let’s Give Her a Try

The route started near Loch Doon and the plan was to ride through the forest towards Loch Macaterick. Almost immediately I managed to demonstrate my technical competence by forgetting to turn the power on. Ah, I’m an idiot. What a plank. Once I’d actually switched the bloody thing on, things improved considerably.

The difference was immediately obvious. I was still pedalling and getting exercise, but it was a pleasant amount rather than the sort where I start wondering whether I’m going to expire shortly. On the flatter sections I was only using pedal assist one or two, with a little more help when the hills appeared. This is Scotland, of course, so there isn’t really such a thing as a wee gradient. It’s either flat or hill. There is no in-between.

Within the first few miles I was already thinking the same thing repeatedly: this is so much easier. I wished I’d had the money to do it years ago.

Getting Lost Is Apparently Still Possible

One advantage of having the motor was that taking a wrong turn suddenly mattered considerably less. Which was fortunate, because I took several.

I hadn’t been along some of these trails for about three years and was trying to navigate from memory. At first I thought I’d gone the wrong way, checked the map and discovered that my memory was surprisingly correct. A little later I became suspicious again, checked the map again and discovered that this time my memory was talking rubbish. I’d ridden towards a dead end near Loch Gower instead.

It didn’t really matter. I had plenty of time, plenty of battery and I was surrounded by beautiful scenery, so getting a wee bit lost was almost part of the fun. More importantly, I wasn’t looking at every accidental extra mile and wondering whether I’d have enough energy to get back.

That alone was beginning to answer the question I’d come here to ask.

Cheap Helmet, Cheap Gloves and Flipper Hands

I was also trying out some cheap bits and pieces I’d bought for riding Liza. I’d picked up a motocross-style helmet from Amazon because I’m used to wearing motorcycle helmets and wanted something with a bit more coverage. It was ECE 22.06 approved, but having compared it with my HJC motorcycle helmet, there was absolutely no way in hell I’d wear it on Lora. For trundling around forest trails at about 15 mph it was fine, but I was almost embarrassed to put the thing beside the HJC.

The gloves were another exercise in not spending money unnecessarily. I’d originally been looking at changing Liza’s grips, but the gloves were cheaper than the grips, so I bought gloves instead. Problem solved. Sort of.

Unfortunately, like seemingly every pair of one-size-fits-all gloves, the fingers were about three miles long. Not everybody has flipper hands. I’m not Slenderman.

I’m Here Already?

As I continued towards the mountains, the thing that surprised me most was how quickly I was covering ground. I was still getting exercise, but I wasn’t knackered and the bike was making the gradients dramatically easier. Then, while happily riding along, I suddenly realised I’d already reached the end of the section of trail I’d been aiming for.

What the hell?

When I’d hiked out here previously, reaching this point had taken me something like three or four hours. On Liza I’d arrived so quickly that I suddenly had loads of time left to explore. That was the moment I started to realise this might actually work exactly as I’d hoped.

I stopped for a drink, checked that nothing on my DIY conversion had moved and then wandered up the hill to visit a little loch nearby. On the way I passed a huge hanging rock that looks as though somebody has simply balanced it there. It must weigh an enormous amount, yet there it sits looking like it could tumble down whenever it feels like it.

Loch Fannie

The little loch I wanted to visit has a name that still appeals enormously to my schoolboy mind: Loch Fannie. Yes, really. F A N N I E. I suspect the actual pronunciation is probably closer to Fannie with the emphasis somewhere that makes it sound considerably more respectable, but where’s the fun in that?

It’s a beautiful little place regardless of what it’s called. The paths around here aren’t really paths in the normal sense either. They’re more like sheep and deer tracks disappearing through the vegetation, and the whole area had become much wilder since I’d last visited. Young trees were growing where forestry work had previously left everything looking bare and horrible, and nature was slowly taking the place back.

From higher ground I could see Craiglee, the Wee Hill of Craigmulloch and across towards the Rhinns of Kells. The scale is quite deceptive on camera. From Black Craig across to Corserine is a substantial distance, and many of the things we casually call wee hills around here are more than half a kilometre high. Corserine itself is getting towards a kilometre. Walking across this landscape can easily become an entire day’s hike.

Which was exactly why I’d built Liza.

On to Loch Macaterick

I headed back to the bike and continued towards Loch Macaterick. By now I was learning quite a lot about how the conversion behaved. The additional motor and battery had added around 10 kg to the bike, so the rear felt noticeably heavier, but the gearing was so low that it wasn’t causing any real problems.

In fact, the lowest gears were almost too low. With the Bafang fitted I was generally using the higher half of Liza’s gears because first and second were only useful for crawling along at two or three miles an hour. I wasn’t interested in making a fast e-bike anyway. I wanted something that could carry me and my equipment over long forest trails and help me climb hills without draining all my energy.

The trail towards Macaterick was also doing a fine job of testing whether anything would fall off. It was unbelievably bumpy in places, like sitting on the end of a road drill. Full suspension would have been rather nice, particularly for certain parts of my anatomy. My mechanical sympathy wasn’t enjoying it much either, so I stopped occasionally to check the conversion and make sure everything was still tight.

It was. So far, so good.

Loch Macaterick and the Mountains

Eventually Loch Macaterick appeared through the hills. The weather was beginning to close in by then, but if anything that made the place look even more atmospheric. Across the landscape were the Dungeon Hills, Merrick disappearing into the mist and the Rhinns of Kells stretching away in the distance. It was absolutely stunning.

I carried on to the end of the trail and then turned back, which gave me another chance to test the part of the conversion I was most interested in: climbing. Liza simply went back up the hill without any drama. She had no problem with it at all.

That was exactly what I wanted her for.

I wasn’t trying to remove every bit of effort from cycling. I still wanted to pedal and get some exercise. What I wanted was something that would take the edge off the climbs and allow me to travel much further before my energy disappeared. So far, that was exactly what she was doing.

A Deer and Some Scottish Weather

On another little exploratory detour I came across a deer standing directly ahead of me. I stopped and tried to be quiet while it looked around before eventually noticing me and disappearing across the terrain with ridiculous ease. Watching it move across the hillside made me rather jealous. Imagine being able to travel over ground like that.

By now the mountain mist was becoming increasingly suspicious. I kept telling myself it might not actually be rain, right up until I sat down and could hear the rain hitting everything around me. Aye, that’s definitely rain.

Fortunately I’d brought waterproofs, including a rain cover for Liza’s battery, so I stopped and put everything on before I became soaked and cold. This also revealed that I’d managed to leave the house wearing odd socks because I’d emptied the tumble dryer and simply grabbed the first two that worked. Fashion has never been a particularly important part of XploraLora.

The rain meant the Mini 2 stayed grounded, which was a shame, but I decided I’d probably explored enough anyway and started heading back towards the car.

Had It Actually Worked?

On the return journey I started thinking about what I’d originally built Liza to do. I wanted to get into the mountains much faster than I could by hiking the entire distance, arrive with enough energy left to explore or climb and then still be able to get myself back out again.

That’s exactly what had happened.

I wasn’t interested in speed. In fact, most of the time I was only using the lower assistance settings and travelling at normal cycling speeds. I was after an easier time, not a faster one. The bike had allowed me to cover ground that would normally have taken hours on foot while still giving me some exercise, and I hadn’t arrived completely exhausted.

Suddenly an enormous amount of Galloway felt accessible again.

Exactly What I Wanted

By the time I was riding back through the rain I was absolutely delighted with Liza. There were things I wanted to tweak, including the annoying auto shut-off that reset the assistance level every time the system powered itself down, but those were small details. The important bit worked.

I’d covered 8.35 miles, climbed more than 400 feet, explored around Loch Fannie and Loch Macaterick and still felt good at the end of it. At one point I actually said I was well happy because it was exactly what I’d wanted, and that really was the verdict.

Building Liza wasn’t about creating some ridiculously powerful electric mountain bike or avoiding exercise. It was about getting some freedom back. I wanted to be able to explore the forests, reach the mountains and cover the sort of distances that had become difficult for me on foot.

On this first proper test, it looked as though I’d done it.

Liza had opened the door to a whole lot of territory I could explore again, and I couldn’t have been happier with her. 💞

Now I just needed to get her back in the car, get out of my soaking waterproofs and go home for a nice cup of tea.

Adventure Details

Date filmed: 31 July 2026
Location: Galloway Forest Park
Bike: Carrera Fury “Liza” DIY eMTB
Route: Loch Doon to Loch Macaterick
Ride distance: 8.35 miles
Walking distance: 0.10 miles
Ride time: Approximately 48 minutes
Total time out: Approximately 2 hours 30 minutes
Ascent: 404 ft
Descent: 400 ft
Highest point: 1,095 ft
Lowest point: 732 ft
Difficulty: Sunday stroll
Total cost: Approximately £4, coffee and chocolate cookies
Items forgotten: None for a change 🌚

Main camera: DJI Osmo Action 4, 4K 25fps, Wide Angle, RockSteady
Drone: DJI Mini 2
Handheld camera: DJI Pocket 3
Edited in: Adobe Premiere Pro 2024