This month the RFN Ares Endurance has continued to settle into its role as my go-to bike for riding with the kids. The more time I spend on it, the more I realise it’s not trying to compete with an enduro bike or replace a motocross bike. It’s a bike that makes it easy to ride more often, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

One of the highlights this month was taking Jax and Bonnie down to the local park to work on some riding skills. I jumped on the RFN and started showing them how to do pivot wheelies. The beauty of the RFN is that it’s light enough and responsive enough to throw around, but it isn’t intimidating. The instant torque makes lifting the front wheel easy and predictable, and before long Jax was having a crack himself.

The power delivery continues to impress me. It’s still very much in that XR200 sort of category when it comes to outright performance, but the instant electric response makes it feel far more lively than the numbers suggest. It remains a surprisingly good match against Jax on his Surron Hyper Bee and we’ve had plenty of races this month. Considering I’m carrying a few more kilograms than a six-year-old, the fact it’s such a close contest says plenty about how usable the power is.

I’ve also continued using the RFN as a commuter. Before Sydney’s winter really arrived, I was regularly riding it to the gym instead of taking the car. For short trips around town it makes perfect sense. It’s narrow, easy to park and costs next to nothing to run.

The bike itself has been faultless. Nothing has broken, nothing has come loose and it continues to start every single time I hit the button.

The one area that needs improvement, however, is the braking performance. While the brakes are acceptable in the dirt and perfectly manageable when riding with the kids, they’re underwhelming on the road. In traffic I find myself having to think well ahead and leave extra stopping distance because the bike simply doesn’t pull up as strongly as I’d like. It’s not dangerous, but it is noticeable, particularly when you’re riding amongst cars and need confidence that the bike will stop quickly if required.

I’d really like to see RFN investigate either a brake upgrade package or some form of performance improvement in this area. The chassis, motor and overall package are good enough that the braking system feels like the weak link.