e-MTB parts YOU want to forget

goroncy

Well-known member
May 1, 2020
272
345
Munich
If you don't remember these, here are the main features:
Almost the only lights available throughout the 70, the batteries would last around 3 hours if you were lucky. The rear mount would gouge your frame as your foot clipped the light smashing it into your spokes ripping the lens off and spewing the batteries randomly. The front mount needed a headset bracket that relied on a shitty spring clip to hold the light in place, which it didn't as the slightest bump would have the thing fly off again sending two halves and the HP2 batteries in different directions. They were heavy as hell and dim as a candle in a stadium.
On the positive side they did help convince my mum to let me ride my Chopper to school in winter aged 8.

This seems like fun :D. Fortunately this is the thing of the past. And now we have wonderful things like CARBON CRANKS that nobody needs, they last months or weeks, cost a fortune, and need rubber boots that are getting destroyed during first real ride.
 

StuE

E*POWAH Master
Patreon
Jun 4, 2018
282
298
Leeds
Come on Guys. Be more specific. I am a bit into the subject and I cannot recollect much about E8000 being that horrible. Is it about serviceability?
Hate not being able to service/repair it, I'm not sure I will even buy another ebike until someone brings out a motor that is serviceable
 

goroncy

Well-known member
May 1, 2020
272
345
Munich
Hate not being able to service/repair it, I'm not sure I will even buy another ebike until someone brings out a motor that is serviceable

This is a problem with Shimano overall. Not their motors. Try to service their brake calipers. There are no parts available like pistons. For SRAM, Hope, ... for all of them you will find parts. Not for Shimano. You have a broken Shimano caliper, buy a new one, throw away the old one. Bosch motors are serviceable. Yamaha are serviceable. Shimano is a good company, but their practices of parts that go straight to the bin are there from the beginning of the company. Try to replace a chainring in one of these:

3e91e5b6f0eb06cb1d709306fe8fd33e.jpg
 

goroncy

Well-known member
May 1, 2020
272
345
Munich

I was seriously considering Polini. I once tested MDE Damper enduro bike and it was absolutely awesome. They have an ebike too. I didn't buy it because the battery capacity was unfortunately not sufficient for me. MDE are hand made in Italy BTW. Their frames had an option to buy them with custom geometry. If I was more like 63kg not a 83kg monster I am now, I would buy MDE Pusher.
 

Doomanic

🛠️Wrecker🛠️
Patreon
Founding Member
Jan 21, 2018
8,490
9,970
UK
Hate not being able to service/repair it, I'm not sure I will even buy another ebike until someone brings out a motor that is serviceable
 

Planemo

E*POWAH Elite
Mar 12, 2021
587
685
Essex UK

Brilliant :LOL:

I was running a few RC cars at the time and, fed up with my 1 candlepower Ever Ready front light I decided to hash together a 10 cell NiCad and fit a halogen 12v car headlight bulb into it. Jesus it was bright. I lit up the local park, my mates were well impressed. That was until a few minutes later when the front lens turned to lava and the light just disintegrated into a molten mess as we stood there. I think it caught fire in the end (which gave me additional bonus points - kids starting wee fires back then was a right of passage).
 

MrSimmo

E*POWAH Elite
Apr 24, 2020
1,056
987
The Trail.
Not specifically ebike but f*** you presta valves! I hate them. Vicious pieces of crap.

Emtb rims are usually wide enough for Schrader these days. Why oh why do they keep using Presta t*rd valves.

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Did I mention that I dislike Presta valves?!
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
13,814
20,505
Brittany, France
Not specifically ebike but f*** you presta valves! I hate them. Vicious pieces of crap.

Emtb rims are usually wide enough for Schrader these days. Why oh why do they keep using Presta t*rd valves.

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Did I mention that I dislike Presta valves?!
It would be nice, then we could all use Spincore (©) easily.

You know, the one which comes in a 200ml can, expanding polyurethane based, but sticks to nothing but itself, so it's easy to remove and doesn't collapse like normal pu foam. Remove valve, squirt it in, spin wheel for 60 seconds to equally spread the product, viola !
 

Mikerb

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
May 16, 2019
6,158
4,683
Weymouth
My list of retrograde engineering:

Frame designs that enable the fork crown to hit the down tube
Cables fed through the stem spacers
Carbon frames
Down tubes cut away for battery access..........often protected only with a flimsy plastic cover.........on one of the most vulnerable parts of the frame
Poor..even non existant ....waterproofing of electrical components and connections
Use of OEM/no brand components ( e.g. hubs/freehubs and even suspension)
Poor quality/cheap/ badly sealed cartridge bearings
1x extreme chainlines
12 speed cassettes on full fat EMTBs
Displays that are an integal part of the CAN
Supposedly "maintenance free" motors
EMTB suspension tuning.........invariable designed for 85kg plus riders .
 

goroncy

Well-known member
May 1, 2020
272
345
Munich
My list of retrograde engineering:

Frame designs that enable the fork crown to hit the down tube
Cables fed through the stem spacers
Carbon frames
Down tubes cut away for battery access..........often protected only with a flimsy plastic cover.........on one of the most vulnerable parts of the frame
Poor..even non existant ....waterproofing of electrical components and connections
Use of OEM/no brand components ( e.g. hubs/freehubs and even suspension)
Poor quality/cheap/ badly sealed cartridge bearings
1x extreme chainlines
12 speed cassettes on full fat EMTBs
Displays that are an integal part of the CAN
Supposedly "maintenance free" motors
EMTB suspension tuning.........invariable designed for 85kg plus riders .

Nice one.
 

goroncy

Well-known member
May 1, 2020
272
345
Munich
also after smashing the weak ass things

Most of DH WC scene went MX or full 29. I mean marketting aside, maybe they are up to something there 😉. But seriously. 29" wheel in the front is awesome for making the rough more smooth. No question about it. Full 29 I don't know. It's probably more about the esthetics and maybe MTB world will get over it. That said I would NEVER throw 29 wheels into the bag with bad ideas. And I'm more than sure I'm in majority here. Freeride and bike park? 29 is a joke there period. They have absolutely no use there.
 

Gary

Old Tartan Bollocks
Author
Subscriber
Mar 29, 2018
10,496
10,691
the internet
it was a joke.

but there's absolutely no doubting 29 is weaker than 27.5 which is weaker again than 26
 

goroncy

Well-known member
May 1, 2020
272
345
Munich
it was a joke.

but there's absolutely no doubting 29 is weaker than 27.5 which is weaker again than 26

I'm super high on autistic scale. I don't know when people are joking. And I'm not sorry for that. Usually it makes my life funny 😂.
 

Tim1023

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2020
645
565
Hamburg, Germany
Oh I also dislike Dunlop valves.
Don't get me started on Dunlop valves! I service my mother in law's e-trike (Van Raam Easy Rider). Here's the front wheel with integrated motor and Dunlop valves:
1642581673170.png


I need an adaptor for the Dunlop + a 90° adaptor just to be able to pump the tire up
 

MrSimmo

E*POWAH Elite
Apr 24, 2020
1,056
987
The Trail.
Don't get me started on Dunlop valves! I service my mother in law's e-trike (Van Raam Easy Rider). Here's the front wheel with integrated motor and Dunlop valves:
View attachment 80200

I need an adaptor for the Dunlop + a 90° adaptor just to be able to pump the tire up

They're absolute bas****s aren't they!

My wife has them on her Dutch bike, I got so fed up I ripped out the tubes in favour of mis-sized Prestas (which in themselves are truly awful, but one less on the terrible scale than Dunlops). I would have gone Schrader but it would have meant drilling some very narrow rims.
 

RustyMTB

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Jul 22, 2020
2,559
6,261
UK
Exposed drive trains in general. Not a part I want to forget per se but roll on cheap, reliable & relatively drag free gearbox systems & an end to cable stretch, chain slap, indexing, b screw fannying about, cleaning, lubing & generally smashng off deraileurs on tree stumps.
 

All4Fun

Member
Aug 5, 2020
106
46
the Netherlands
They're absolute bas****s aren't they!

My wife has them on her Dutch bike, I got so fed up I ripped out the tubes in favour of mis-sized Prestas (which in themselves are truly awful, but one less on the terrible scale than Dunlops). I would have gone Schrader but it would have meant drilling some very narrow rims.
Dunlop and Schrader are the same size, all Dunlop tubes here are replaced with Schrader, even most Prestas.
Now my wife too can pump the tires with the compressor and digital manometer.(y)
 

MrSimmo

E*POWAH Elite
Apr 24, 2020
1,056
987
The Trail.
Dunlop and Schrader are the same size, all Dunlop tubes here are replaced with Schrader, even most Prestas.
Now my wife too can pump the tires with the compressor and digital manometer.(y)

Maybe she had a weird oddity, the dunlops she had have the tube size 2mm smaller than schraders… Maybe a specific to her type of bike.
 

Gary

Old Tartan Bollocks
Author
Subscriber
Mar 29, 2018
10,496
10,691
the internet
Don't get me started on Dunlop valves! I service my mother in law's e-trike (Van Raam Easy Rider). Here's the front wheel with integrated motor and Dunlop valves:
View attachment 80200

I need an adaptor for the Dunlop + a 90° adaptor just to be able to pump the tire up
Adapter?
Woods/Dunlop valves use the same valve thread (size and pitch) as presta
 

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