E-mtb electric mountain bikes

More and more of the people I ride with have bought E-mtbs and I am now considering one for myself. This is so I can ride with them rather than force everyone else into eco mode and they then don’t get as much fun time as they could have if I hadn’t been on an analogue bike.

Currently considering something like an Orbea Rise or a Levo sl. So a semmi skimmed rather than full fat mtb. Who else has made the plunge?

But it stills feels like newish tech and I think everyone I know who has an E-mtb has had some kind of warranty issue…

Two friends both have Vitus E-Sommets (a bit bigger bike than you're talking about) and while they are excellent value for money, they've both had motor issues. One of them worked the morning driving up to Scotland, but didn't work when it arrived and said "general error"... useful.

Anything with Bosch. Things go wrong yes, but they’re amazing with their warranties and service. UK based too.

However, I will 100% be buying one as soon as I get to a point where I've got more time to ride, yet also require time to recover from a ride. I'm not quite there yet.

A second for Bosch Liz’s Dutch bike has one and she’s put 4,500 miles on it in the last 20 months. It’s had one ‘general issue’ type event in that time. She took it to the first shop she passed, they plugged it in, did a reset and undated the system. They didn’t charge her. She didn’t buy the bike from them, but as it was Bosch, they sell them they were happy to help. To be honest that’s good enough for me.

E-bikes kind of feel like an end of an era for cycling.

lol wut

Judas
:D

Or arguably the beginning of an era for those who were unable to partake in it before due to mobility issues

I only want one so I can do more laps, so to an extent, your point stands.

I hate the idea of having another thing that has batteries and needs charging, but I am a bit jealous sometimes of these guys easily doing 2000m climbing in a day and riding the downhill sections twice (or three times) as much as me

@D_Mars

I usually find gmtb videos annoying but seeing someone ride the same trail on the analogue bike and it’s electric sibling was instructive. https://youtu.be/vAi4wVkhNj0

He covers it significantly faster but is still at a very similar heart rate level on the emtb (actually higher heart rate). As such it is possible to still get the same physical workout in an hour but get to cover loads more distance.

It was particularly informative for me as it was on my local trails, and yes electric bikes do increase the wear and tear on the surface but I volunteer there as a trail builder and maintaining so I won’t feel much guilt. It’s come to the point that I am one of the few trail builders at the Forest of Dean who isn’t on an e bike.

Charging one more battery isn’t a big deal when I already have watch, phone, iPad, Garmin, di2, axs, power meters, toothbrush, coffee scales, laptop, power tools, headphones, earbuds etc that all need to be recharged.

What’s your experience of Specialized warranty/product support?

Specialized use Brose motors (they build all kinda motors for cars etc), the motors are good but the warranties from Specialized are very hard to deal with, got 2 levo hardtails I’ve been working on and they both have had problems, the motor is the only thing that has been good

Went fuck it and getting the Levo sl 2023

specialised are apparently the best e bikes out the now, but they can have battery issues with I think is quite a big issue.

LBS reckoned they saw a lot of failures on Spesh from water ingress.

It’s a new motor design and enclosure so fingers crossed.

@konastab01 I’ll get the range extender when they finally start selling the connector cable.

Did manage to resist the s-works bargain versions :-)

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Had first ride yesterday. It was a fucking blast. Just means you get more fun stuff and the fire roads and draggy climbs whizz by. It was amazing how fast the rewarding bits of the trail kept coming up. Definitely still got a cardio workout.

Havibg the ability to nip back and have another go at sections makes sessioning bits so much easier. Getting back to the top but not needing to wait a minute for heart rate to recover also speeds up the fun rate of return.

Need to put even more air in the rear shock and to drop tyre pressures. Also looking forward to cush cores arriving but not looking forward to the battle of installation! 3rd gear was skipping a little so have now done a micro adjust using the sram app.

Bike handles brilliantly corners well and suspension feels plush.

I had sworn I wasn’t going to ride it in the rain for its maiden voyage. Did one loop of the trail centre and it was warm and dry, stopped at cafe for a flapjack and set off again. On first fire road it started to drizzle, 500m later and the heavens opened and I was soaked through, but was too fucking happy to care.

I even bumped into this fellow creating content.

https://youtu.be/VYKu07sKEzc

And said I blamed him for the smile on my face and the dent in my bank balance.

I spent 2 days in Wales on orange e mountain bikes with my dad who's just turned 79. We had a guide. We had amazing weather. We climbed up and down hills and had 5 hours in the saddle both days. It was superb. If I had the money and lived anywhere with hills I'd be all over one.

Don't know how to put a smiley face on

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We went to coed y brenin yesterday and hired a 2023 levo sl for my wife. She hasn’t had an opportunity to go mountain biking for many years but the emtb levelled the playing field. It was great fun and brilliant she could get on a bike and ride straight off without straining herself or blowing up on the climbs. I had been sceptical of e bikes but now see them as a way to eliminate barriers and get people out on bikes. Today I met up with a friend and we did a slightly more strenuous ride. Being able to fuck up on a bit of trail and then go and session it and not get tired is amazing too.

I have been loving my e-mtb. There is a guy at my lbs who has the 2023 levo sl but one size smaller. He only did 170 miles on it before being offered an electric yeti at a ridiculously low price which was the bike he had really wanted. So he is selling the Levo sl with £2k off. So as of next week we will have his and hers e mtbs as my wife is buying it.

My wife hasn’t been riding at all in the past few years because of work, but this year is scheduling Friday mornings as time off work so she can have a weekend morning of uninterrupted time for work. So Friday mornings will be mountain biking time for us. The electrickery will mean her lack of bike fitness won’t be much of a problem. I could also aim to use one power setting lower than her if I want more of a workout.

The only issues with the specialised is water ingress on the batterys, that was quite an issue for a while.

Haven’t seen any reports of this on the 2023 levo sl. Fingers crossed