# Considering an e-bike, but which one?



## aphilso1 (5 mo ago)

I’m starting to look at e-bikes and don’t even know what all bikes to consider. Currently I own a short travel trailbike (Giant Trance) and a fully rigid fat bike (RM Blizzard). There is a 0% chance I can ever add a fourth bike to the fleet, so this e-bike would need to fill all the gaps in my stable. Why I am considering an e-bike and what I would like it to do:

Allow for longer rides. There are some 30 mile/4k vert trails in my local area that I know I can’t climb unassisted, or at least not in a single day. There are also some doable rides that I only tackle once per year, because it’s hard to set aside 4-6 hours for a bike ride.
Serve as my “big bike.” I’m not a downhill junky nor much of a park guy, but I would like to have an option in the garage with more travel than my 130/115 Trance. The local lift-served bike park allows for e-bikes up to 60 pounds, so that is my hard cap on weight (although I’d prefer to stay well below that anyway). 
Be a backup bike. Whether it’s because my Trance is in the shop or because a buddy is in town and wanting to ride, there have been times that an extra bike would have been really nice to have on hand. And an e-bike seems like a much better option than just snagging a cheap hardtail backup, because an e-bike would allow a house guest to keep up on the trails without fully acclimating to elevation.
Make lunch break rides more fun. I’m lucky enough to live close to trailheads that I can pedal to from my house. But for a 30-45 minute ride, that means almost half of the ride is on pavement getting to and from the trails. An e-bike would allow for quicker commute to the trails, leaving more of that lunch break time spent on singletrack.
Allow for a good cardio session. Having no familiarity with e-bikes, I’m not sure how much effort they are to pedal. I know the Rise-class of lightweight e-bikes have the reputation as still feeling like pedaling a normal bike but with more efficiency. That’s awfully appealing. I don’t know how much of a workout I would get from a more traditional e-bike, and thus am unsure whether I should be focusing just on the lower powered options. Do most full-powered e-bikes have a "just a little bit of help" power mode?
And there’s the criteria. Preferably something that has travel close to 160F/150R, has a battery range to tackle rides up to 30 miles and 4,000’ vertical gain, and still feels like I am getting a workout when I pedal it. Realistically I will need to go with an entry level build option, as I can more easily justify a $5-$6k bike with periodic upgrades than an $8k bike out of the chute. I’m leery of an aluminum frame due to the added stress and fatigue caused by an e-bike’s bulk, but am equally leery of taking a fatal rock strike on a carbon frame due to our loose gravelly terrain. So I guess I don’t really have a huge frame material preference. 

Alright ladies and gents, what are your recommendations?


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## Varaxis (Mar 16, 2010)

Considering your unrealistic prejudices, likely from just a lack of experience (ignorance), you should just get whatever's on sale, and learn from the experience regarding what you want on your next bike.

You're going to be checking out other bikes and will get the urge to try something better.

You probably still have to get used to caring for an emtb, which will likely come with some mistakes involving water ingress and electrical connection deterioration. Before you move up to even nicer things, you should prove that you're ready for it.

Bikesonline.com has a *Marin Alpine Trail E2* on sale, which would probably be $6k with tax & SH.

It's a good looking bike that would likely recoup some of its value, in case you move up to something more drool-worthy like a Simplon Rapcon Pmax emtb.


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## Bikeventures (Jul 21, 2014)

Hmmm where to start?

So as far as I know, all major motors will have 3-4 power modes and then using a phone app, you can customize each mode to give you the power output you like. For high end Specialized Turbo Levos, you can even control power out by increments of 10%. So yes, you can easily adjust the power output to give you "a little bit of help".

Right YT has a sale 25% off all their ebikes. Best deal right now imo. Their battery is smaller than other brands. 540wh battery vs 600-900wh. You can upgrade to 720wh for another $900. I'm not sure what their range is, but I did 3k of climbing in 16miles and only used half of my 700wh battery on my Levo.


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## areeves08 (Jan 7, 2020)

Although it's 10/10mm below your ideal on travel, I think the Rise would be a great fit. Last years colors are on sale as the 2023's hit the shops.


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## Bob Dobbss (3 d ago)

aphilso1 said:


> I’m starting to look at e-bikes and don’t even know what all bikes to consider. Currently I own a short travel trailbike (Giant Trance) and a fully rigid fat bike (RM Blizzard). There is a 0% chance I can ever add a fourth bike to the fleet, so this e-bike would need to fill all the gaps in my stable. Why I am considering an e-bike and what I would like it to do:
> 
> Allow for longer rides. There are some 30 mile/4k vert trails in my local area that I know I can’t climb unassisted, or at least not in a single day. There are also some doable rides that I only tackle once per year, because it’s hard to set aside 4-6 hours for a bike ride.
> Serve as my “big bike.” I’m not a downhill junky nor much of a park guy, but I would like to have an option in the garage with more travel than my 130/115 Trance. The local lift-served bike park allows for e-bikes up to 60 pounds, so that is my hard cap on weight (although I’d prefer to stay well below that anyway).
> ...


Take a look at the Canyon Spectral On. Two people I ride with have recently purchased a CF7 and CF8. Geometry is close to a Turbo Levo, mullet, 150mm F/R, carbon fiber frame, and a 900 W/Hr battery with a Shimano motor. I currently have a 2019k Turbo Levo and 2021 Orbea Wild FS which will be replaced with a Canyon Spectral On CFR once it is available (end of the month maybe). Because Canyon sells directly to customers, based on the build level, this is the best value in e-bikes at the moment that I have seen (CF7 $5300, CF8 $6300, CFR $9000).
-If you want to do 30 miles with 4k vert, the 900 W/Hr battery is the best choice at the moment.
-The Spectral On has 150mm F/R, but can take a 160mm fork. That would put you in the Trail-Enduro realm. Plus the Canyon is about 50 pounds. My Specialized is 50 lbs and my Orbea Wild with internal 625W/hr battery and external 500W/hr battery is 62 lbs. 50 lbs sounds heavy but 62 lbs is a bit much.
-I have taken two people out, both who didn't think they were old enough to need an e-bike (early 50s), and after the first big climb they both had big smiles on their faces and said "I think I might need an e-bike".
-If you are going on short rides under an hour, you can put the bike in "turbo" mode and get to the top of the hill quickly and enjoy the downhill, maybe even get two down hill rides in when you could only get one in before.
-Most e-mtbs have three modes: Eco, Trail, and Turbo. Some bikes like the Turbo Levo allow you to fully customize the amount of assist you get but in reality the best set up for me is 33/66/100% assist. If you want a workout leave the bike in ECO which gives you a small amount of assist, it will feel like a normal bike. Most of the time we ride in Trail mode which makes climbing fun and easy but isn't overkill. Turbo is reserved for long steep climbs.


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## aphilso1 (5 mo ago)

Bikeventures said:


> Hmmm where to start?
> 
> So as far as I know, all major motors will have 3-4 power modes and then using a phone app, you can customize each mode to give you the power output you like. For high end Specialized Turbo Levos, you can even control power out by increments of 10%. So yes, you can easily adjust the power output to give you "a little bit of help".
> 
> Right YT has a sale 25% off all their ebikes. Best deal right now imo. Their battery is smaller than other brands. 540wh battery vs 600-900wh. You can upgrade to 720wh for another $900. I'm not sure what their range is, but I did 3k of climbing in 16miles and only used half of my 700wh battery on my Levo.


YT Decoy wasn't even remotely on my radar. Looks appealing! But I need to research a lot more before I can pull the trigger. Now I'm wondering how likely it is to see the current prices again in the future. How often does YT do a sale of that magnitude? Less than $4,000 for the Deore level build looks like a heck of a deal.


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## Bikeventures (Jul 21, 2014)

YT like many other bike manufacturers overestimated demand due to the Covid bike boom. Now they have too many Decoys and they aren't moving them like they had hoped. Also there's good reason to believe a redesigned Decoy is coming soon. The current version has been out for a couple of years now.


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## aphilso1 (5 mo ago)

Varaxis said:


> Considering your unrealistic prejudices, likely from just a lack of experience (ignorance), you should just get whatever's on sale, and learn from the experience regarding what you want on your next bike.
> 
> You're going to be checking out other bikes and will get the urge to try something better.
> 
> ...


What part of my criteria is unrealistic? I am admittedly ignorant when it comes to e-bikes, hence why I'm crowdsourcing information.

I'm not worried about water ingress, since I live in an extremely dry climate and never ride in the rain. Electrical connection deterioration wasn't on my radar but maybe it should be; what do I need to know?

I'm not looking at this as a bike that I plan to sell after only a season or two. I fully expect my short travel bike to remain my main bike, while the e-bike would join the fat bike as more "situational" rides. I'd plan to get 7 or 8 years out of this e-bike purchase and upgrade components as I go. I recognize that's not normal anymore, with a lot of people swapping out bikes annually. But for me, I just want to buy once.


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## Ezra E (Jul 24, 2021)

Trek fuel exe sounds like the most appealing option for me currently.
Nice to have local support when anything craps out.
But each their own.

I don’t currently own an eBike.


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## Wabit (Jul 9, 2021)

could be worth considering the Transition Relay, its release is right around the corner. A long travel light-weight e-bike with some customization. Quite curious about the Fazua60 motor, just hope they last longer than many of the horror stories I'm hearing about other motors.


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## Kootbiker (Feb 2, 2016)

Buy something local so when you have an issue with it you can get the issue resolved quickly without sending it back overseas or across the country. The Marin looks good for affordablity, the Rocky Mountain is really good and quite the price spread. Get the biggest battery, try and ride some demos.


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## Kootbiker (Feb 2, 2016)

The Giant lineup looks good as well, Yamaha motors are good, pricing looks reasonable. Forget the carbon frames, go with aluminum.


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## BicyclesOnMain (Feb 27, 2021)

I'm happy with my Giant Trance X E+ 2 Pro at $6300 MSRP, it was a nice upgrade from my second gen Levo.

Buy whatever your local shop sells, you'll want help if there's ever warranty issues.


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## Aggrin (5 mo ago)

Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, KTM


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## plummet (Jul 8, 2005)

aphilso1 said:


> I’m starting to look at e-bikes and don’t even know what all bikes to consider. Currently I own a short travel trailbike (Giant Trance) and a fully rigid fat bike (RM Blizzard). There is a 0% chance I can ever add a fourth bike to the fleet, so this e-bike would need to fill all the gaps in my stable. Why I am considering an e-bike and what I would like it to do:
> 
> Allow for longer rides. There are some 30 mile/4k vert trails in my local area that I know I can’t climb unassisted, or at least not in a single day. There are also some doable rides that I only tackle once per year, because it’s hard to set aside 4-6 hours for a bike ride.
> Serve as my “big bike.” I’m not a downhill junky nor much of a park guy, but I would like to have an option in the garage with more travel than my 130/115 Trance. The local lift-served bike park allows for e-bikes up to 60 pounds, so that is my hard cap on weight (although I’d prefer to stay well below that anyway).
> ...


That seems like a reasonable thought out list to me. 

Check this shoot out for a good starting point.









2022 eMTB Shootout: Crowning the Best eMTB


The time has finally come to crown the best mountain eBike of 2022. Visit The Loam Wolf to see who came out on top of this year’s eMTB shootout!




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My 5 cents worth. Get some time on an e bike before you pull the trigger. Beg, borrow, steal, rent. 

From house description it sounds like you will suit a medium or full power e bike with a battery of 600 w hour or better.

Look closely at weight if the bikes. Full power ebike vary about 6kg some as heavy as 26kg. That is HEAVY.

Get an bike that's is as light as you can afford.

Also expect the ebike to take over and be your primary bike. .....


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## Koban (Aug 8, 2021)

I ended up with an Canyon Spectral CFR LTD with 720Wh battery + extra 720Wh for bikeparks etc. You can also spec it with an 900Wh battery For longer rides. It is heavier and I personally do not like the feel of the 900Wh battery. With the 720Wh the bike feels better in balance for me.

Advice: try to ride some bikes for your self.


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## weeksy950 (Jan 11, 2012)

The one with the closest dealer who can swap batteries/motors in the shortest time period


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## Juansan (Dec 30, 2020)

One without a motor.


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## _CJ (May 1, 2014)

aphilso1 said:


> I’m starting to look at e-bikes and don’t even know what all bikes to consider. Currently I own a short travel trailbike (Giant Trance) and a fully rigid fat bike (RM Blizzard). There is a 0% chance I can ever add a fourth bike to the fleet, so this e-bike would need to fill all the gaps in my stable. Why I am considering an e-bike and what I would like it to do:
> 
> Allow for longer rides. There are some 30 mile/4k vert trails in my local area that I know I can’t climb unassisted, or at least not in a single day. There are also some doable rides that I only tackle once per year, because it’s hard to set aside 4-6 hours for a bike ride.
> Serve as my “big bike.” I’m not a downhill junky nor much of a park guy, but I would like to have an option in the garage with more travel than my 130/115 Trance. The local lift-served bike park allows for e-bikes up to 60 pounds, so that is my hard cap on weight (although I’d prefer to stay well below that anyway).
> ...


My needs are almost exactly the same as yours. I bought a Bulls E-Stream Evo AM3 a little over two years ago, and it's served my purposes really well. I think they still offer a similar bike, the AM4, but there are lots of others that will do the job equally well.

On frame material, I actually prefer aluminum because it costs less and it's more durable.

A "full power" bike is probably what you're going to be most happy with. You can set the assist level as low as you want to get whatever kind of workout you want, and it's nice to have full power available when/if you want to use it. It should be used sparingly though if you want the bike to last. I wouldn't buy anything with a battery smaller than 700wh. Some motors have more issues than others, but to a large extent, if you don't abuse them, they're all pretty good. That said, Yamaha seems to do better than most.

As for brand, again, not that big of a deal, but if you have a shop local to you that carries ebikes, going with whatever they sell can be a huge advantage if you have anything that needs to be addressed under warranty. For that reason alone, I'd probably buy a Specialized if I were to do it again. There are companies out there that fix/rebuild motors once you're out of warranty, so having one that's common can be an advantage in the long run.


.


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## CrazyIvan (Aug 4, 2015)

I'm perfectly happy with my Mondraker Crafty. You can get some great deals and use the exchange rate to get the price even better from Stoked Canada. 
USA Distributor for Mondraker is zeitbike and you can contact them for any Warranty issues they've been very helpful with my one issue.


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## nativeson (Apr 4, 2005)

The 4 Best Electric Mountain Bikes of 2023 these folx have nice reviews.

I bought an ebike over the summer to ride w/some of my older boomer bruhs (that have mostly transitioned to ebikes), to access some remote/steep terrain here Henry Coe SP (rides under 20 miles can have ~3500'+ climbing, specialized tests their bikes there), and sadly I just bought into the capitalist kool-aid since they're really popular around here now. 

after almost 25 years of owning my last specialized bike, all the analysis paralysis, I bought an aluminum specialized turbo levo after really enjoying my newer stumpjumper. for me the sizing/fit is perfect and the suspension designs are relatively similar, a priority since I do the majority of my own maintenance/wrenching.

it's heavy af, can climb like a goat (really), has a ton of range, still fun on flatter type trails, turns some uphills into roller coaster singletrack, and the parts are decent. I don't ride it all the time, I still love to pedal! for shorter 35-45 min rides I'd rather just ride a pedal bike if I wanted exercise, maybe a rigid bike to mix it up, or go hit the pumptrack.

there's so many nice bikes out there now, you might be surprised if you go test ride. the new norco's look pretty legit too. have fun shopping....or not!


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## Koban (Aug 8, 2021)

There are always people who think that an Emtb is for old people or people with disabilities. If you really think this then you have a limitation yourself 🥳 

Live and let live


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## BmanInTheD (Sep 19, 2014)

Juansan said:


> One without a motor.


Oh gawd...so clever.


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