I Think I'm Done With EMTB

[dimitrin]

As much as I enjoy riding my EMTB I think I'm done with owning one. In the summer of 2023 I was rehabbing from a hip injury and I hadn't done much riding in the previous year. I purchased a new Trek Rail 7 from my local Trek dealer, and after a lengthy delay with delivery (bike was damaged multiple times during assembly and prep, this was my first red flag) I was able to get a few rides in before winter hit. The next spring I started riding the Rail a little more enthusiastically, but I quickly ran into an issue where the stock drive side crank arm failed. This was a warranty issue so I took the bike back to the shop for a crank arm replacement. After six weeks of waiting I learned that the replacement part hadn't been ordered so I took my bike home and purchased a crankset and installed it myself. Please note that I'm a former bicycle mechanic, professionally trained and experience in multiple shops. Recently I decided to replace my shift cable and housing, and in my experience this is overly complex for something that should be relatively simple. A mechanic shouldn't have to drop the motor in order to route a shift cable through the bottom bracket area. This adds at least an hour of extra labour if everything goes well, and is prohibitive to home mechanics and their right to repair. When I dropped my motor one of the wires caught up inside the frame and pulled out of it's connector. Now I'm stuck going back to the shop where I purchased the bike and have had nothing but problems, because they are the only Trek dealer within 150km of me. As much as I like the idea of EMTB, the inability to do my own repairs is a massive turn off. That coupled with the major trail centres in my area prohibiting e-bikes, and the low BB clearance causing multiple cracked motor covers has turned me off of EMTB. Apologies for the rant, hopefully the manufacturers can get to a point where maintenance becomes a little more user friendly.

I can understand that, at least for now. Though as you get older that mindset may change...
In my experience they definitely require more maintenance if you ride the piss out of them, and they are a bit more of a pain in the ass to work on. They wear out wheels, tires, brakes faster as well as require more attention to spoke tension and every fastener on the bike.
Consequently having strong dealer support as well as manufacturer support for a new emtb is far more important than for analog bikes, and would always be at the top of my concerns when buying a new emtb.
And they certainly have not made me any stronger, although I do think they've made me faster and my reaction times and ability to anticipate proper body English when hauling ass through techy terrain has improved.
Like most things it has its pros and cons.
It is a little odd to me that the associated engineers involved in the integration between the frames and motors haven't come up with a better solution for running the cable housings past the motors though.

 

[sandspit]

As much as I enjoy riding my EMTB I think I'm done with owning one. In the summer of 2023 I was rehabbing from a hip injury and I hadn't done much riding in the previous year. I purchased a new Trek Rail 7 from my local Trek dealer, and after a lengthy delay with delivery (bike was damaged multiple times during assembly and prep, this was my first red flag) I was able to get a few rides in before winter hit. The next spring I started riding the Rail a little more enthusiastically, but I quickly ran into an issue where the stock drive side crank arm failed. This was a warranty issue so I took the bike back to the shop for a crank arm replacement. After six weeks of waiting I learned that the replacement part hadn't been ordered so I took my bike home and purchased a crankset and installed it myself. Please note that I'm a former bicycle mechanic, professionally trained and experience in multiple shops. Recently I decided to replace my shift cable and housing, and in my experience this is overly complex for something that should be relatively simple. A mechanic shouldn't have to drop the motor in order to route a shift cable through the bottom bracket area. This adds at least an hour of extra labour if everything goes well, and is prohibitive to home mechanics and their right to repair. When I dropped my motor one of the wires caught up inside the frame and pulled out of it's connector. Now I'm stuck going back to the shop where I purchased the bike and have had nothing but problems, because they are the only Trek dealer within 150km of me. As much as I like the idea of EMTB, the inability to do my own repairs is a massive turn off. That coupled with the major trail centres in my area prohibiting e-bikes, and the low BB clearance causing multiple cracked motor covers has turned me off of EMTB. Apologies for the rant, hopefully the manufacturers can get to a point where maintenance becomes a little more user friendly.

I definitely can see the cause for disheartenment. I got a YT Decoy last November, and although I have had unusually good fortune with regard to general maintenance, I had to replace rear shifter cable and housing as well, not an easy task. Two chain and cassette replacements so far, motor fault codes, etc. yet only 1000 miles on it. Definitely more time worrying about the ebike than any other MTB in my 30+ years riding. But, I will say: when it runs, it is really an amazing experience. I hope you choose to tough it out, and find a modicum of mechanical cooperation in the future!

 

[jcismo1]

I can understand that, at least for now. Though as you get older that mindset may change...
In my experience they definitely require more maintenance if you ride the piss out of them, and they are a bit more of a pain in the ass to work on. They wear out wheels, tires, brakes faster as well as require more attention to spoke tension and every fastener on the bike.
Consequently having strong dealer support as well as manufacturer support for a new emtb is far more important than for analog bikes, and would always be at the top of my concerns when buying a new emtb.
And they certainly have not made me any stronger, although I do think they've made me faster and my reaction times and ability to anticipate proper body English when hauling ass through techy terrain has improved.
Like most things it has its pros and cons.
It is a little odd to me that the associated engineers involved in the integration between the frames and motors haven't come up with a better solution for running the cable housings past the motors though.

Absolutely! They need to install tubing inside the frame and chain stays that is part of the bike, that the cable housing or hose just pushes through.

 

[Purple parznip]

The manufacturers of all internally routed cables need to use some sort of tubing/conduit in the frame. It would make cable/hose replacement a piece of cake! It would also get rid of cable rattles.

My cube stereo has two plastic channels that run either side of the battery down the down tube,cables just push in,no rattles whatsoever.

 

[sandspit]

My cube stereo has two plastic channels that run either side of the battery down the down tube,cables just push in,no rattles whatsoever.

I just saw those cable channels on a picture of the bike. Nice feature.

 

[Purple parznip]

I just saw those cable channels on a picture of the bike. Nice feature.

Yes,only three are used,one is spare,if you need to run a cable for a front light.

 

[LYONSCO]

I’m going to try converting my Yeti 575 to EMTB using the Bimotal, have not received it yet. My big fear was the motor looks exposed to easy damage in a wreck, but on the plus side its easy to remove the motor on long continuous descent.

 

[rzr]

I'm not "former bicycle mechanic, professionally trained and experience in multiple shops.", but somehow I was able to drop a motor on Rail7 and change a cable (I don't remember which one was that now.) without issues - maybe because my bike was upside-down and I didn't have to drop anything?

now I own Levo for 3y, I did ~9000km without any issues (only motor replaced 2 times, I had to wait around a week)

 

[BuckSaw]

I feel your pain . I’m not as skilled a bike mechanic as you are but I’ve only returned 3 of my EMTB’s to Trek (local Bike Shop) for warranty issues once. (Wheel on the Fuel EXE was assembled incorrectly).

I installed the AXS dropper and Derailer systems after dropping the motor a few times. Those weren’t cheap upgrades but they made my life a little easier.

My bike also had issues during assembly, which delayed delivery by close to a month. Maybe it's a Trek dealer thing.

 

[BuckSaw]

When I installed the new cable dropper on my wives Levo I just reused the housing. No motor touching, hardly any tool

Well, maybe eMTB's are not for you. There's always the old style mountain bikes, road bikes, or stationary bikes in the gym. Good luck to you!

My Rail is just one of my bikes, purchased when i was rehabbing from a hip injury. I'm happy to ride my enduro or xc bike all day as well.

 

[BuckSaw]

Meybe title should have been "I'm done with Trek emtb and my LBS"? Looks like some of your problems are related to the shop and as mechanic you should know that there might be some issues with parts ordering/delivery? What comes to the cable management, bikes are different, ebikes also. Same thing with BB drop and motor protection, not all ebikes have these issues.

But mine did. That was enough to sour me on the experience.

 

[BuckSaw]

I definitely can see the cause for disheartenment. I got a YT Decoy last November, and although I have had unusually good fortune with regard to general maintenance, I had to replace rear shifter cable and housing as well, not an easy task. Two chain and cassette replacements so far, motor fault codes, etc. yet only 1000 miles on it. Definitely more time worrying about the ebike than any other MTB in my 30+ years riding. But, I will say: when it runs, it is really an amazing experience. I hope you choose to tough it out, and find a modicum of mechanical cooperation in the future!

I feel for you YT owners. I've got a couple of friends riding YTs, and given their recent struggles I'd be looking for another bike before I ran into a problem that required brand support.

 

[BuckSaw]

Valve caps.

I'm struggling to see the proportionality. A bad LBS is one thing & I sympathise with that but dropping a motor for a time served mechanic should not be a big deal, it's six bolts on a Trek Rail, an idiot like me can do it in ten minutes. The rest of the issues were foreseeable. a little research would have revealed what can & can't be ridden locally, same with cable routing which is hardly unique to Trek in any event & pulling a wire out of a connector is straight user error of the kind that people do all the time.

The speed sensor wire was wrapped around the dropper cable housing within the frame. There was no way I was going to see that.

 

[BuckSaw]

Maybe you should take up pickle ball....



From the rest of your rant I see why you are a former bicycle mechanic, I don't think you should be touching anyone's bikes.

I'm a former bike mechanic because consulting in my previous career pays 5x per hour what wrenching on bikes does. Does insulting strangers on the internet make you feel better about yourself? From your comment I can see that you're a small man with personal insecurities.

 

[Stihldog]

I'm a former bike mechanic because consulting in my previous career pays 5x per hour what wrenching on bikes does. Does insulting strangers on the internet make you feel better about yourself? From your comment I can see that you're a small man with personal insecurities.

This just gets funnier with each response.

If this type of response was directed at me I don’t know how I would react. I can only summize that this was a knee-jerk reaction with some humorous overtones. I didn’t sense any ill intent.

Edit; …at least my spidey-senses weren’t tingling.

 

[irie]

As much as I enjoy riding my EMTB I think I'm done with owning one.

Byebye

 

[BuckSaw]

This just gets funnier with each response.

If this type of response was directed at me I don’t know how I would react. I can only summize that this was a knee-jerk reaction with some humorous overtones. I didn’t sense any ill intent.

Edit; …at least my spidey-senses weren’t tingling.

It wasn't.

 

[ckkone]

I'm a former bike mechanic because consulting in my previous career pays 5x per hour what wrenching on bikes does. Does insulting strangers on the internet make you feel better about yourself? From your comment I can see that you're a small man with personal insecurities.

 

[BuckSaw]

It's a little humorous how some of you took my criticism of my bike as a personal attack and chose to insult me for it. I really didn't understand the hate for E-MTB riders because I'd never witnessed it, but some of the replies in this thread have really opened my eyes. Maybe it's the decline in testosterone levels, maybe it's a perceived lack of status, maybe it's just arrogance but if some of you behave the same way in life that you do online you need to do some self-reflection.

 

[Pizzman]

It's a little humorous how some of you took my criticism of my bike as a personal attack and chose to insult me for it. I really didn't understand the hate for E-MTB riders because I'd never witnessed it, but some of the replies in this thread have really opened my eyes. Maybe it's the decline in testosterone levels, maybe it's a perceived lack of status, maybe it's just arrogance but if some of you behave the same way in life that you do online you need to do some self-reflection.

What happened in here is no different than every public thread. It’s public, so when that shitty day ends, and the spouse has had enough of you… the internet is your only option. Go online and troll!!


Manage your expectations on forums. The anonymous public thinks they are pretty smart and they are definitely judgmental AF.

Finally consider a title like the one you started here. You set yourself up from the start.
Trolls come running for these threads!
If you hang out enough, you get to know the trolls. Like piles of poop on a trail that weren’t picked up. Drying out, changing color, always there, even after a hard rain or earthquake. Telling everyone how sucky their bikes are compared to trolls bike, how trolls push the EDGE…and hard. The favorite troll trick….. YouTube PH.D! All of them !!!
Good luck out there. It does not get better

 

[Stihldog]

This might be only translatable in Canada but …

If you’re walking down the street and someone says you look like a Wigwam …and the next block someone says you look like a Tipee. You might be two tents.

 

[irie]

It's a little humorous how some of you took my criticism of my bike as a personal attack and chose to insult me for it. I really didn't understand the hate for E-MTB riders because I'd never witnessed it, but some of the replies in this thread have really opened my eyes. Maybe it's the decline in testosterone levels, maybe it's a perceived lack of status, maybe it's just arrogance but if some of you behave the same way in life that you do online you need to do some self-reflection.

No hate for eMTB riders, only for arrogant pricks. Not saying you are, of course.

 

[Pizzman]

This might be only translatable in Canada but …

If you’re walking down the street and someone says you look like a Wigwam …and the next block someone says you look like a Tipee. You might be two tents.

That’s an in tents thought…..

 

[Stihldog]

That’s an in tents thought…..

I was kinda worried that it wouldn’t make any centsfor some members.

 

[BuckSaw]

No hate for eMTB riders, only for arrogant pricks. Not saying you are, of course.

This comment tells me everything I need to know about your character and maturity. Cheers.

 

[ckkone]

It's a little humorous how some of you took my criticism of my bike as a personal attack and chose to insult me for it. I really didn't understand the hate for E-MTB riders because I'd never witnessed it, but some of the replies in this thread have really opened my eyes. Maybe it's the decline in testosterone levels, maybe it's a perceived lack of status, maybe it's just arrogance but if some of you behave the same way in life that you do online you need to do some self-reflection.

 

[pagheca]

I’ve been riding a Trek Powerfly for over three years on very rough terrain, and I’ve never experienced any real issues, just the usual wear and tear.

It’s always important to distinguish anecdotes from statistics. With any product, if you search online you’ll inevitably find someone who had a bad experience. Unfortunately, it sounds like you ended up on the wrong side of a gaussian distribution curve. Sorry about that.

 

[pagheca]

It's a little humorous how some of you took my criticism of my bike as a personal attack and chose to insult me for it. I really didn't understand the hate for E-MTB riders because I'd never witnessed it, but some of the replies in this thread have really opened my eyes. Maybe it's the decline in testosterone levels, maybe it's a perceived lack of status, maybe it's just arrogance but if some of you behave the same way in life that you do online you need to do some self-reflection.

I fully understand you. I’ve been active on various topic-focused forums since the very early days of the internet, but I’ve noticed that the key to a productive discussion is firm moderation toward anyone who crosses the line with their tone. In fact, I stopped using also this forum for years because I really didn’t appreciate that kind of attitude by some people.

It’s a shame, because we could actually have calm and enjoyable discussions about anything. In the end, we’re not debating matters of life and death — there’s no need for anyone to get worked up to the point of seeing red.

---

 

[Stihldog]

Ye

I’ve been riding a Trek Powerfly for over three years on very rough terrain, and I’ve never experienced any real issues, just the usual wear and tear.

It’s always important to distinguish anecdotes from statistics. With any product, if you search online you’ll inevitably find someone who had a bad experience. Unfortunately, it sounds like you ended up on the wrong side of a gaussian distribution curve. Sorry about that.

Yeah …I don’t know what the silver bullet is but I expected things to break or fail. I’m probably a prolific water-ingress-abuser. Rain, snow, creeks, deep rivers etc. But the drivetrain and motor must sound perfect to me.

Maybe it’s the consistent cadence and torque that I apply? Maybe it’s regular maintenance? I do know that a roadie or gravel bike would not survive the trail’s I use.
Tips and tricks on these forums have been helpful …but sometimes I just stumble through it and learn from my mistakes.
The only thing(s) original on my 2020 Trek Rail is the frame, battery and motor. (Re-built motor). I don’t think I bought a lemon .

 

[Pizzman]

I fully understand you. I’ve been active on various topic-focused forums since the very early days of the internet, but I’ve noticed that the key to a productive discussion is firm moderation toward anyone who crosses the line with their tone. In fact, I stopped using also this forum for years because I really didn’t appreciate that kind of attitude by some people.

It’s a shame, because we could actually have calm and enjoyable discussions about anything. In the end, we’re not debating matters of life and death — there’s no need for anyone to get worked up to the point of seeing red.

---

I agree 100%
But…..
I am here for the bad attitudes, trolls, crap opinions, arguing, out right lying, psychos. It’s part of the fun. Calling out virtue signaling, putting out gaslighters. Just a hoot in general.

In a public forum. Get to know the trolls, they are angry little ankle biters, wanting attention. Pop em over the head and send them back under the bridge. It is VERY entertaining.

Never take anything personally from/said in a public forum. That is a bad habit.