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E-MTB'ers


TheX
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I rode with someone on a enduro(?) e-mtb recently. the rider was not heavy, but he kept smacking his tiny chainring on rocks because the thing was so heavy. I don't feel like it gave him an advantage on the twisty, natural trails we were riding. if you can't keep up with a singlespeeder, maybe the motor is a liability. It seemed useful if you want to go to someplace with a lot of downhill runs and you don't want to have to pedal the top. if that was my goal, I'd be saving up for one too. beats making your buddy shuttle you to the top in a truck, but there are not enough places like that to ride in central Texas for that to be worth the expense.

 

I feel like we've beaten this topic to death already. can we discuss religion, flat pedals, or the national debt instead?

Edited by mack_turtle
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I’m really interested in taking one out for a spin just to see what it’s like to have an extra 100-200 watts at my disposal.


I’ve almost got City Park down to a science and my main issue getting my lap time down at this point is endurance. I’d be curious to see if an e-MTB could bridge that gap, or would the extra weight make getting over the harder features difficult enough that it would be a wash.

Anyways, I’m in theory pro e-MTB and could possibly see myself owning one in the future as the technology continues to improve. 

Edited by WLemke
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48 minutes ago, WLemke said:

I’ve almost got City Park down to a science and my main issue getting my lap time down at this point is endurance.

My endurance and strength has been diminished by a couple of major events over the last 7+ years and I have had to adjust what I do to compensate. I hadn't really considered an e-bike to get back where I was. I'm more interested in maintaining the ability to ride at my current level. Maybe if e-bikes were a thing back then it would have been different.

It's similar to when I quit smoking 20 years ago, vaping wasn't a thing. I'm glad, I'd probably still be vaping today.

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2 hours ago, TheX said:

I see this term thrown around a lot, but does anyone here have one? If you do, is it your primary bike?

 

I'll start...

 

No, I don't own one, but if I need to convert as I get older I have no issue with buying one.

My buddy back in utah has a turbo levo 29. He's mid 30s, fit and has a fatbike for the snow, sentinel for bashing, trials bike for being stupid and the levo for getting miles in. Says he runs it on minimum assist and loves it, and can climb trails to over 10k ft in half a day when before he'd give up well before the summit. Was a total convert.

I'd seriously consider buying one for the wife so she could do all day rides with me, but they are just so expensive. 

 

https://www.commencalusa.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?ActionID=67174912&PBCATID=3995085

 

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I am going to get one for my wife. We were riding some hills in East Texas and she was not having a good time with the climbing. She was LOVING the downhill runs though. Imagine that!

I'm going to get one that is bigger than the perfect size for her. The reason is that I want to ride it too 😄. I'm going to take it to the Meridian Bowl and wear out that battery! 

I hoping to get one that has everything we want for around 5K. There was a very slightly used one on Craig's List for just under 5K (just below it's list price) a few weeks ago and I vacillated too long on pulling the trigger. I won't make that mistake again. It might be awhile before one that I want is available.

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I feel like we've beaten this topic to death already. can we discuss religion, flat pedals, or the national debt instead?


Government and wokeness is the new religion, flat pedals are awesome.. bigger the better, national debt obviously does not mean anything...print it baby

Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

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4 hours ago, WLemke said:

I’ve almost got City Park down to a science and my main issue getting my lap time down at this point is endurance. I’d be curious to see if an e-MTB could bridge that gap, or would the extra weight make getting over the harder features difficult enough that it would be a wash.

Even if it did bridge the gap, would you really be satisfied knowing that? I've ridden with you and sense that you would prefer to conquer those challenges without the assist. I have no doubt that within due time you will achieve everything you set out to accomplish at Emma. Me on the other hand, I just go there for the extreme workout, knowing I will never make some of those climbs. Still, I'd get no pleasure from getting over the hump on an eMTB. As others have stated, I think they have their use cases, one being repeated shuttle runs. 

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4 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

I feel like we've beaten this topic to death already. can we discuss religion, flat pedals, or the national debt instead?

You brought it up in that other thread. 

*shrugs*

Not sure what to tell ya'.

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12 minutes ago, throet said:

Even if it did bridge the gap, would you really be satisfied knowing that? I've ridden with you and sense that you would prefer to conquer those challenges without the assist. I have no doubt that within due time you will achieve everything you set out to accomplish at Emma. Me on the other hand, I just go there for the extreme workout, knowing I will never make some of those climbs. Still, I'd get no pleasure from getting over the hump on an eMTB. As others have stated, I think they have their use cases, one being repeated shuttle runs. 

Oh. Let me clarify. It’s just a curiosity of how capable an e-MTB is not just for “going the distance” but also for navigating advanced technical terrain. My hypothesis is that the added weight will hamper my ability to clear some of the gnarlier features and any time savings from making it easier to hammer the flats will be negated. Just something I was thinking about the other day. I looked online and I wasn’t seeing anywhere I could rent a real e-MTB. I’m hoping one day I’ll be able to test one out just for fun. 
 

I have no immediate plans to buy an e-MTB. I’m perfectly happy with my analog bike and will probably continue to be happy pushing my own weight unaided for many years to come. 

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I put a motor on my hard tail and it was awesome. Could easily do 5 laps of cat to work on downhill vs like 2-3 normally

The specialized levo carbon expert SL is around 39 pounds and runs about 7K used. 

Im looking to buy one but just waiting for the right deal. I did find one forsale in norcal but the guy doesnt want to ship it.

If anyone wants to buy a bafang motor kit I would sell mine.

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I've demoed a Specy Turbo Levo SL (the lowest end aluminum version). It was awesome. We rode in a group with 2 e-bikes and 4 or so regular bikes. The e-bikes were definitely faster, but not the point that it wasn't fun riding in a mixed group. 

To address WLemke's speculation about weight and technical climbs, I think it puts more focus on balance, timing, line choice, ya know...bike handling skills. The power is there for you, but that heavy bike makes a mistake in bike handling go south quick. If you are a good bike handler already, you'll crush it on an e-bike. Hammering the flats is probably not as much of an advantage on the e-bike. That heavy bike and those loose corners require you to keep it under top speed.

It wouldn't be my only bike, but I'd love to have one in the stable. 

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I don't personally have a use nor interest in an ebike right now--other than spin-around novelty, I suppose. But both @Jessica I fully expect that as age really catches up with us that we'll end up on them eventually. 20 years? 25 years? Hopefully longer. Maybe by then we'll have much more impressive battery life as well. 

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