At the beginning, the tester was simply afraid. Afraid that the Stevens P-Carpo would be so bulky that his intervertebral discs would start to twitch on the basement stairs. And he was also afraid of having to use his body to heave the bike over the test course, which he had just flown over on the lightweight Crossway. On the stairs, a cautious all-clear: the bike carries itself perfectly if you grab it by the seat tube offset. It then hangs perfectly balanced and is easy to manoeuvre up the stairs. In the courtyard, it's a total flash, as you might say: Once you're sitting in the Stevens (yes, "in", not "on"!), with perfect balance between the huge 29er tyres, the handlebars over 70 centimetres wide in your hands, and you start pedalling, the P-Carpo takes off like Schmidt's cat. It must be an extremely supple animal: we've rarely rolled so smoothly! The long wheelbase (1152 mm) and rear triangle (496 mm), the beautifully centred balance and a low centre of gravity give the Tourer outstanding handling.
Stevens P-Carpo Tour: Outstandingly confident riding experience
The steering geometry is perfectly tuned, it steers effortlessly and precisely, with a pleasantly smooth ride that gives the Stevens majestic handling. The bike has no twisting, the fork, thru-axle and the large number of frame triangles make it truly unshakeable, even with luggage. Its construction plan identifies the P-Carpo as a pedelec model, with a different bridge allowing it to carry either a mid-motor or Pinion. For us, the P1.18 clearly has the edge: its fine gradation and huge range perfectly complement the P-Carpo as a cultivated everyday and touring bike. Even on the junction-free Isar cycle path, you can feel these advantages in the form of a consistent cadence and a fast ride with a low heart rate - it just rolls so well! The tyres are not innocent of this, as a Big Apple of this size weighs just 810 grams and at 1.8 bar can propel the 75 tester kilos forward with a perfect blend of rolling pleasure and damping. We have a designer with motorbike experience to thank for the P-Carpo's only shortcoming: horizontal dropouts! To remove the wheel, you first have to set the belt tension completely to zero in order to be able to take the belt off and remove the wheel. Stevens would like to change this as soon as possible.
The complete article "Top bikes 2017" was published in Trekkingbike issue 1/2017.
