Best EMTB under 5.5k?.

[Alex Ebiker]

Hi,
I’m in the market for my first emtb after loving a friends Orbea rise.
I have a budget of 5.5k and do a mixture of XC riding on bridleways and days at trail centres.
I have done hours of research and test rode an Orbea Rise, Cube stereo and will shortly be trying a trek rail. There seems to be a massive bike shortage at the moment so I am struggling to find demo bikes I can take off-road so any feedback from the following bikes I’ve shortlisted below would be fantastic:
Trek rail 7
Specialized turbo Levo alloy
Orbea rise M20
Merida eONE sixty 8000

All I’m sure are fantastic bikes in their own right, but if it was your money, what would you chose?.

 

[lightning]

l would ride each bike if possible and then make my choice.

However l would prefer to have a Bosch motor, and this would sway my choice.

My Kona has the Shimano E8000 and while it's very good, my friend's 2021 Bosch powered Cube Ebike wipes the floor with it.

 

[Alex Ebiker]

l would ride each bike if possible and then make my choice.

However l would prefer to have a Bosch motor, and this would sway my choice.

My Kona has the Shimano E8000 and while it's very good, my friend's 2021 Bosch powered Cube Ebike wipes the floor with it.

In what way does it exceed it?. I tried the Bosch motor in a cube and it didn’t appear to give me a considerable amount more of assistance uphill than the 65NM EP8 RS motor in the Rise.

 

[Gary]

I'm not going to suggest any particular bike but instead give you a little first time buyer advice. You don't need the "best" 5.5k bike. You'd be far better first deciding on what sort of bike is most suitable for your needs, riding style and preferred terrain/routes so just be honest with yourself about that. eg. Bridleways and trail centres don't really require a 25kg+ 38mm steel stanchion fork & coil shock suspended burly, slack long travel bike adorned with agressive DH race tyres.. infact. a bike of that ilk can actually be LESS enjoyable on tamer terrain .
also bear in mind when comparing specs that a decent fork and shock from the outset is going to make way more difference to how the bike rides and performs than higher end gearing components and consumables like a fancy cassette. Brakes are generally all pretty good and plenty powerful enough on all 5k + bikes but we all still have a personal preference as to lever feel and ergonomics. Swapping those could get expensive idepending on your POV. Finishing kit will also be kinda personal too so don't get sucked in by more expensive branded names adorning the bars/stem. There's a good chance you'll be changing stem, grips, saddle and possibly bars.

 

[madsen203]

orbea or Levo. I like the former due to weight specs. And they have cool colors.

 

[wildsau2]

i recommend the levo and the orbea from your list and perhaps a bh ilynx.
the merida and the trek are „ships“, no joy on xc rides.

 

[Chrisjones6699]

I'm not going to suggest any particular bike but instead give you a little first time buyer advice. You don't need the "best" 5.5k bike. You'd be far better first deciding on what sort of bike is most suitable for your needs, riding style and preferred terrain/routes so just be honest with yourself about that. eg. Bridleways and trail centres don't really require a 25kg+ 38mm steel stanchion fork & coil shock suspended burly, slack long travel bike adorned with agressive DH race tyres.. infact. a bike of that ilk can actually be LESS enjoyable on tamer terrain .
also bear in mind when comparing specs that a decent fork and shock from the outset is going to make way more difference to how the bike rides and performs than higher end gearing components and consumables like a fancy cassette. Brakes are generally all pretty good and plenty powerful enough on all 5k + bikes but we all still have a personal preference as to lever feel and ergonomics. Swapping those could get expensive idepending on your POV. Finishing kit will also be kinda personal too so don't get sucked in by more expensive branded names adorning the bars/stem. There's a good chance you'll be changing stem, grips, saddle and possibly bars.

Perfect advice there! I bought a focus jam2 6.7 last year and as much as I loved it, I had an absolute nightmare with things going wrong with it and in the end, it went back and I was lucky enough to get my hands on an Orbea rise M20 at a really good price. I had really fancied the light weight ebike for some time and now that I have it, I realise that it’s much better suited to my riding style than the Focus.

 

[lightning]

In what way does it exceed it?. I tried the Bosch motor in a cube and it didn’t appear to give me a considerable amount more of assistance uphill than the 65NM EP8 RS motor in the Rise.

Probably because mine is the E8000 which only delivers 70Nm torque

The Bosch just felt smoother, stronger and more refined. Maybe the Shimano EP8 is better, the E8000 is an old motor now in the rapidly changing tech of Ebikes.

 

[Gary]

The bosch's smoother and stronger delivery actually translates to LESS "natural" feeling for me. Ie. More detached from your own physical effort at the crank and less like pedalling a real bike. Especially in high load pedal input situations. . Whenever I read someone say the bosch is natural feeling I tend to assume they probably just no longer ride normal bikes very often anymore.
Would this be the case here?

 

[lightning]

Possibly yes.

l still love my Kona but thought maybe things had moved on since the E8000 motor it's fitted with.

l won't be changing the bike any time soon.