Haibike meets France – 2022’s reader survey winner of the Haibike AllMtn CF 12
Allez Les Bleus! The first prize of the 2022 reader survey goes to the north of France, just off the Belgian border! This means that the French are richer by a Haibike AllMtn CF 12, perhaps a small consolation for losing the World Cup final. We paid a visit to the winner Olivier Leclercq in Lille in the far north of France.
Olivier took part in last year’s reader survey, just like over 12.000 other electric mountain bike enthusiasts – we were blown away by that number! Like the other participants, he answered up to 90 questions, quite a commitment for which we would like to thank you all again. But don’t worry if luck wasn’t on your side this time round, we have another reader survey coming, and we will be tempting you once again with great prizes, hoping that you take this opportunity to actively help shape our magazine and the world of eMTBing. On top of that, many manufacturers also draw on the results of our reader surveys and design some of their products based on the answers you give. So by participating, you are also actively influencing the decisions of the manufacturers – pretty cool, hey? If you would like to know more about the 2022 reader survey results, check them out here. We will be letting you know about the 2023 edition of the reader survey soon, but for now let’s focus on Olivier, last year’s winner.
Anyone who has ever been to Lille knows that it is flat there so how does an eMTB fit in there, you may ask. The winner of the 2022 E-MOUNTAINBIKE reader survey filled us in. Olivier Leclercq is 49 years young and lives on the outskirts of Lille in a cosy brick terraced house. From here you can quickly get out of town and onto the local “trails”, but to really go mountain biking it’s half an hour’s drive, Olivier tells us. The old open-cast mining sites near Saint-Amand-les-Eaux offer riding fun and the sparse vertical metres you desperately seek here in Lille. Even further away, after about a two-hour drive, you reach mountainous regions where Olivier often takes part in guided tours. He has been riding an eMTB for four years, and before that he had already over eight years of experience on a mountain bike. When he’s not on his bike, he can usually be found at his computer working as an IT front-end developer for a start-up. So the change of pace and the exercise on the eMTB is more than welcome!
We were greeted by Olivier with a rather incredulous expression as he was putting his old ebike away. He just couldn’t believe that he had really won, he confessed to us. What’s more, his previous blue eMTB had broken down only the previous week, apparently due to water damage. So we were right on time with the new red Haibike AllMtn CF 12 at an original price of € 7,299, and the dream of a new and functional eMTB became a reality for Olivier sooner than he could have imagined! We took the choice between the blue and red pill away from Olivier and simply opened his eyes so that he can explore the world in a completely new way – very much à la Matrix ;). We congratulate Olivier on his new full-suspension eMTB and wish him many safe and happy rides! And in Neo’s words: “Follow the white rabbit!”
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Words: Gabriel Knapp Photos: Manfred Schmitt
