New to Ebikes but not Mountain Biking
- Thread starter wb3jma
- Start date
Paulquattro
Meet & Greet Elite
Welcome to the forum , It can be a mine field 
. List your riding style. Where, how, budget.
There’s a good deal around you somewhere.
LBS is always a good start, they know your local trails, plus you want factory support with these E things.
- Thread starter
- #6
Wasn't even on the menu.My two cents- “ Don’t end up like me with a YT”-*trying to find spare parts atm is a nightmare and I can only imagine what it will be like in another year or so “
- Thread starter
- #7
Local trail riding and bike park downhill when I can manage it. I'm 200lbs in my gear and ride an upgraded Marin Rift Zone with 150/130mm travel. Looking for Class 1 only for the pedal assist uphill and nothing more.
Adding bike park downhill adds a layer of shopping.
I bet your best bet is LBS support.
If you don’t wrench, you should live close by a bike shop so they can fix it.
Vs
A skilled mechanic can go without an LBS close by.
We will only steer you to the poor decisions we made in the past. It helps justify our spending. If we can convince you brand X is top. Then our bike is best.
There are a lot of used alloy Turbo Levos out there. I just bought a 2022 for a reasonable price. Btw avoid Pink bike, I got scammed on a bike earlier this year. They don’t do a good job of vetting sellers.
Matt van
Member
get an emtn with centre mount motor, Ive heard people say just pick a colour you like and make sure it is a bosch motor so for me cube won, but I killed 3 rear wheels in 2 years besides that great bike mine is a 400w battery that gets me 40-50kms in hilly trails or 80 kms on foot paths with the 85nm motor it can be a bit of a hang on until it gets to 28kph
If you are currently on a 150/130 MTB, and are looking to occasionally downhill an EMTB. 160/150 or there abouts is a common size.
Just get something that is easily supported by your LBS. If you want motor recommendations. IMO, I would stick to the big 4. Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha or Avinox. There are others that are OK. But there are others that are bad. It really comes down to how the owner treated it.
Water ingress is a big issue. So if the previous owner has been pressure washing around the motor or just general water abuse. Corrosion could be already forming inside. And it's a ticking timebomb.
Battery, 600Wh or greater. If smaller, ensure you can get a range extender later.
Suspension, You won't go wrong with Rock Shox or Fox. But there are others that are fine too.
Brakes. 4 pot Shimano, SRAM or Magura will see you stopping.
Transmission. Shimano 12S Deore or better, or 10S or 11S Linkglide or better. 12S SRAM eagle or better, including any of the T-Type.
Use this formula as a guide. If you have been into MTB for a while. Then add in your personal experience.
Best of Luck.
Just get something that is easily supported by your LBS. If you want motor recommendations. IMO, I would stick to the big 4. Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha or Avinox. There are others that are OK. But there are others that are bad. It really comes down to how the owner treated it.
Water ingress is a big issue. So if the previous owner has been pressure washing around the motor or just general water abuse. Corrosion could be already forming inside. And it's a ticking timebomb.
Battery, 600Wh or greater. If smaller, ensure you can get a range extender later.
Suspension, You won't go wrong with Rock Shox or Fox. But there are others that are fine too.
Brakes. 4 pot Shimano, SRAM or Magura will see you stopping.
Transmission. Shimano 12S Deore or better, or 10S or 11S Linkglide or better. 12S SRAM eagle or better, including any of the T-Type.
Use this formula as a guide. If you have been into MTB for a while. Then add in your personal experience.
Best of Luck.
If trail and bike park then I'd recommend a trail / enduro spec bike. So min of 150mm rear travel, front 160-170mm. With brakes and tyre / wheel combo to match.
Every decent manufacturer has bike options in the range.
Next question is preferred motor - read / watch lots of reviews to get a feel for what type would suit you.
If you know what sort of distance / elevation you want to achieve then you can also answer the approx battery size question?
Try and demo some bikes in your area and go from there.
- Thread starter
- #13
Well yea this goes without saying I upped my Marin from 140 to 150 and considered turning it mullet for exactly that reason. Again been Mountain biking for 5 years and I reasonably understand geometry and suspension. What I'm completely ignorant of is the electric part specifically motors and batteries and their control systems. The only geometry question is why I see so many of these bikes in say size small have such large reaches which technically I would not be able to use unless the effective top tubes numbers are shorter than non electrics.
- Thread starter
- #14
Yea I'm all to aware of that.
- Thread starter
- #15
I'm hearing things about Shimano vs Bosch to the effect that Shimano has done Jack shite to support it's motors and in effect no one really services them and you might wait weeks or months for a replacement.
- Thread starter
- #16
So Fazua is out of the question despite a couple of high end bike makers using one?
It's not out of the question. It's just a risk management issue. Bosch, Yamaha and Avinox have been far more robust. The latest Shimano motors have also been good if you keep them dry.
Good advice here. I would recommend also figuring out where you want to be on the weight / support spectrum. Full power bikes are generally heavier than mid-power. Some people don't mind the extra weight, some do. E.g., I am on a mid power with a 480wh battery and like the power / weight. Others want lots of support and prefer full power and bigger batteries. Test riding might help you answer the question for yourself.
Yeah, we all got burned bad with YT. You find any batteries out there anywhere?My two cents- “ Don’t end up like me with a YT
I can only imagine how betrayed and pissed off you must feel about the demise of YT. I had a YT Capra for a few years and it was a brilliant bike. I was shocked at the news. Did anyone see the collapse of YT coming?
CaptChip
New Member
Like buying any bike, my advise is get the best you can afford. I purchased my Giant Trance +0 EMTB during Covid n it was 10K. Now you can get one (retail) for $7,500. + tax. I've got @ 4,000 hard single track miles on it now at 3 years old and have had very few problems with it. No one has made a bike yet that I'd trade it for.
Tosser
