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BOOOOOO E-BIKES

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,003
708
SLO
I just stared at my dirtbike and went on a soliloquy about how the modern ebike is simply the most impressive machine man has ever created. More impressive than flight and interstellar propulsion....just eating up all of it.

fuckin weirdos

You fucked up 2nd gear buried and dropping the clutch to shatter his plastic frame with rocks with have been the exit move.......
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
21,904
21,429
Canaderp
The best is 5-6 e-dorks in full roadie pace line buzzing up the climb and the one in back pushes you right off the trail because he has to keep his nose firmly planted in his bros ass. :thumbsdown:
I mean to be fair, this isn't really isolated to e-dorks.

Just yesterday I passed two dudes going gung-ho on a flat piece of trail. Dude in the pack had his head down, phone on the handlebars and didn't respond to my "hey". He then pretty much straight up road through my girlfriend, who was behind 30-40 feet, she had to swerve out of the way. :think::think::think::think:
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,824
5,201
Australia
There's always been annoying cunts on the trail. Just seems to make people more annoyed when they're on e-bikes.

Us riders like a good whinge
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
You fucked up 2nd gear buried and dropping the clutch to shatter his plastic frame with rocks with have been the exit move.......
he didn't mansplain to me how my dirbike was ruining all kinds of things he barely understands. Some do and they get that treatment.

if a guy wants to ride his ebike to the top of a mountain and whackit in his bibs with a view, I don't want to hurt him, I just want to get away from him
 
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SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,634
1,084
coloRADo
he didn't mansplain to me how my dirbike was ruining all kinds of things he barely understands. Some do and they get that treatment.

if a guy want's to ride his ebike to the top of a mountain and whackit in his bibs with a view, I don't want to hurt him, I just want to get away from him
I recently passed a hiker that was clearly carrying a hatchet. Like not your REI type hiker. Like Whiskey Tango. I'm pretty sure it was in his hand because he was ready to use it. I'm like imma get the eff outta here! "hello sir, thanks for letting me by!"
 

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,403
212
Vancouver
I see people riding e-bikes more and more and think: "What's the point of an e-bike with less than 180mm of travel front and rear?"

You're basically getting an e-bike so you can get to the top of the mountain with ease just so you can ride down. So if riding downhill is all you want to do, why bother with a 150mm e-bike??
 
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Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,944
21,978
Sleazattle
I see people riding e-bikes more and more and thought: "What's the point of an e-bike with less than 180mm of travel front and rear?"

You're basically getting an e-bike so you can get to the top of the mountain with ease just so you can ride down. So if riding downhill is all you want to do, why bother with a 150mm e-bike??
Because riding slowly on buffed flow trails doesn't need 180mm of travel.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,645
8,687
Maybe it’s because I avoid the rox* but I’m quite happy with my 11 speed, 150/140 mm, 504 Wh e-bike.

.

* I do not avoid teh rox
 

Lelandjt

adorbs
Apr 4, 2008
2,636
998
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
I see people riding e-bikes more and more and thought: "What's the point of an e-bike with less than 180mm of travel front and rear?"

You're basically getting an e-bike so you can get to the top of the mountain with ease just so you can ride down. So if riding downhill is all you want to do, why bother with a 150mm e-bike??
Same, but 203mm travel. I'm genuinely confused by the lack of essentially DH bikes that can self shuttle. I have my Surrons set up to feel like a DH bike with a throttle and they're awesome. Why are most "big" ebikes 160-170mm, there's only a couple 180mm, and no 203mm?
 
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SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,634
1,084
coloRADo
Well if all you want to do is shuttle your xc trails, all you need is an xc bike.

Save the enduro/dh bike for the real stuff.

I'm currently testing a 360wh bike with 150/140 F/R. I will probably be buying this. Totally silent. It's fine for my locals.
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,109
1,799
Northern California
I see people riding e-bikes more and more and thought: "What's the point of an e-bike with less than 180mm of travel front and rear?"

You're basically getting an e-bike so you can get to the top of the mountain with ease just so you can ride down. So if riding downhill is all you want to do, why bother with a 150mm e-bike??
I have a Rocky Powerplay which can be setup as an Altitude with 160mm rear travel or an Instinct with 140mm via a different eye-to-eye shock and shock mount; the long travel version winds up .7 degrees slacker. It also has 11mm of chainstay length adjustment. The shorter travel version feels better in the short chainstay position; it's really good in tighter terrain setup like that, and it feels much better in rocky terrain than the 140mm of travel might suggest - probably due to the mid-high pivot. You also get more boost off of lips and trail features than when in the longer travel setup. Long travel version feels better in the longer chainstay position. All the usual apply - better in rougher terrain, more stability (although the short travel version already feels very stable as is). So just like a meat bike - choose what suits the terrain you ride the most.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,494
6,385
UK
You're basically getting an e-bike so you can get to the top of the mountain with ease just so you can ride down. So if riding downhill is all you want to do, why bother with a 150mm e-bike??
If riding DOWN is ALL you want to do I hate to burst your bubble but that's NOT how an Emtb works.
Even if you're only using it as a shuttle bike for DH runs you're still spending a shit load MOAR time pedalling the thing UPHILL than you ever will descending. And bearing in mind even a 700wh battery may only give you around 6000ft of climbing that's not a whole lot of DHing in comparison to an Uplift/Chairlift and a DH bike
Most 180mm+ travel Emtbs also weigh an absolute ton (*26kg+) and that can feel pretty fucking horrendous with way poorer maneuverability than a more Enduro/All round set up everywhere except descending.
*A true DH build would weigh even MOAR.

a lighter 170mm Emtb is generally a lot more versatile and can be used for everything from XC loops to Enduro DH. They even turn your shitty local XC loops into a much more fun ride. ESPECIALLY in muddy/wet energy sucking conditions. Fuck I even commute 20miles each way on mine when the weather conditions aren't suitable for my roadbike.

Having said all that I really don't see much advantage in looking at most full power large battery sub 150mm travel Emtbs over 170mm as they're generally no lighter and because of that no MOAR maneuverable. (lightweight smaller battery SL bikes definitely are tho).
While I'm splaffing about maneuverability there are very few left now but Smaller 27.5" Emtbs are also massively more playful and maneuverable than the equivalent 29" Emtb. Mullet adding maneuverability is mainly marketing BS and in reality in most situations will only really benefit shorter legged riders in that respect.

If you want a bike just to self shuttle proper DH tracks for just a few runs (a couple of hours riding) on tracks with no uplifts (or outwith uplift hours) then by all means go for a DH Emtb - but that's kinda a niche
 
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SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,634
1,084
coloRADo
Wadisit? n What motor?
This guy. Alloy even. Probably don't really need the axs, but the bikes battery powers the deraileur. So only one thing to charge. Pretty cool. And light. And looks like a normal bike. To me. :D

And is the only bike I'd buy that is actually in inventory at the moment. Graveyards everywhere...even for cars. It's like you used to be able to pick any model, any year, and they'd ask you what color. Now it's like. "This is the only one we have. Take it or leave it".

Fuel EXe 8 GX AXS T-Type - Trek Bikes

Oh, motor is the TQ. 50NM. So not very strong. But I did mention the XC thing, right?
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,494
6,385
UK
Cool. (for an Ebike 8-) )
Geometry isn't very XC so I'd expect it to still be a lot of fun away from your local XC trails. 50nm is fine TBH. Especially on a lighter bike. It's how it's implemented that matters really.
I have one bike I mainly (road) commute on with a Fazua ride50 and it's 50Nm is plenty assistance for climbs. Breeze (Eco - 100w max asst.) spins it up from a stop or low speed to assistance limit nicely and the transition past power assisted is pretty seamless. I find even at a chilled pace I'm almost always riding it above the assistance unless riding an ascent that's more than a 20sec effort. Eg. on my way to work it's around 18miles with just a couple of short rises but the final 8 miles is Town/City traffic (Slow moving traffic, pedestrians, trafic lights etc.) and leaving it in Breeze for the whole ride I generally only use one bar of five from the 250wh battery for the full 18miles. But on the way home I'm often in more of a hurry and there are two longer climbs. The last ending right at my house. So to avoid arriving home so sweaty I tend to flick it into "River" mode. Similar to Trail and adds up to a max 210w based on how much power the bike detects from the rider. I barely ever use the max assistance mode "Rocket" which has a 250w max delivered in a more boosty style. ie. not really based on rider power.
You being in the US I'd assume your assistance will be limited to 20mph rather than the stupid 15.5mph Emtbs are limited to here? My Emtbs have always been derestricted because of this but TBH if we had a 20mph limit I possibly wouldn't have bothered as 20'd be enough to hugely reduce the horrible yoyo effect of limit/assistance kicking in and out everywhere. I'd get more range too.
Be interesting to hear what sort of range you get from it. and whether you'll feel the need for the l'il battery extender. TBH tho at 44lb it won't be a complete pig to pedal with no battery. Especially if you're running fast rolling XC tyres.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,645
8,687
I am fine with the 20 mph limit on my Shimano E8000 setup. Most of the time on my rides I'm in 2nd or 3rd from largest cog, spinning uphill at 4-5 mph... instead of 2-3 mph in granny gear as I would unassisted.
 

Andeh

Customer Title
Mar 3, 2020
1,182
1,147
So... for a long time I've been in the camp of "Why would anyone want an SL ebike?" given that my primary use case is to bang out some quick laps on days when time commitments would not normally permit riding, or only doing a single lap. But what I'm coming to realize is that only 1 of my local riding buddies has a full power ebike (and 1 who moved to another state). I rode this weekend with a couple of guys who were on normal bikes, but I brought my ebike. It did let me smash out 1 more lap than them, tow one of them up for a final lap when his legs were smoked, and I wasn't so tired after the ride that I couldn't do stuff around the house when I got home. So literally as the ride was happening, I was starting to wonder if maybe I would like one of those mid-power bikes a bit more. I'd lose out on the ability to blast 5,800 ft in 2 hours, but I could still probably do that same distance in eco in more time without feeling very tired.

I mean, I'm not rushing out to sell my Levo and get something different, but I'll definitely be window shopping. My ideal I think would be ~60nM torque, 350-400wh battery with ~200wh range extender. I don't need 90nM of torque.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,634
1,084
coloRADo
Cool. (for an Ebike 8-) )
Geometry isn't very XC so I'd expect it to still be a lot of fun away from your local XC trails. 50nm is fine TBH. Especially on a lighter bike. It's how it's implemented that matters really.
I have one bike I mainly (road) commute on with a Fazua ride50 and it's 50Nm is plenty assistance for climbs. Breeze (Eco - 100w max asst.) spins it up from a stop or low speed to assistance limit nicely and the transition past power assisted is pretty seamless. I find even at a chilled pace I'm almost always riding it above the assistance unless riding an ascent that's more than a 20sec effort. Eg. on my way to work it's around 18miles with just a couple of short rises but the final 8 miles is Town/City traffic (Slow moving traffic, pedestrians, trafic lights etc.) and leaving it in Breeze for the whole ride I generally only use one bar of five from the 250wh battery for the full 18miles. But on the way home I'm often in more of a hurry and there are two longer climbs. The last ending right at my house. So to avoid arriving home so sweaty I tend to flick it into "River" mode. Similar to Trail and adds up to a max 210w based on how much power the bike detects from the rider. I barely ever use the max assistance mode "Rocket" which has a 250w max delivered in a more boosty style. ie. not really based on rider power.
You being in the US I'd assume your assistance will be limited to 20mph rather than the stupid 15.5mph Emtbs are limited to here? My Emtbs have always been derestricted because of this but TBH if we had a 20mph limit I possibly wouldn't have bothered as 20'd be enough to hugely reduce the horrible yoyo effect of limit/assistance kicking in and out everywhere. I'd get more range too.
Be interesting to hear what sort of range you get from it. and whether you'll feel the need for the l'il battery extender. TBH tho at 44lb it won't be a complete pig to pedal with no battery. Especially if you're running fast rolling XC tyres.
Yeah, we are limited to 20mph. Which is plenty for trail riding. Maybe not if you are a commuter. I just told a neighbor how he could hack his commuter. He hasn't tried it yet. LOL

I haven't depleted the battery yet. But only have done like 10 miles on semi flatish trails is the most I've done so far, in one go. If you're lighter and fitter, I bet you could get a lot of miles out of these littler eebs. The TQ motor has no drag when it's off. So not really a big deal if you run out of power.

On the big eeb, (700w) I could do a bigger ride and still have a couple bars left. 2500' climbing, 20 miles-ish. But you are kinda screwed if you run out of power. Mostly because of weight and drag. YMMV.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,494
6,385
UK
Yeah, we are limited to 20mph. Which is plenty for trail riding. Maybe not if you are a commuter
For me. It turns out I wouldn't want assistance to 20mph commuting as holding 20mph unassisted on the flat with fast rolling tyres isn't actually difficult but ascending at 15mph with assistance sure can be super nice to have. The bike is 35lb but the 250wh battery and motor drive pack can be removed and replaced with a fazua metal (or third party plastic) downtube cover leaving me with a (still kinda lardy) 28lb bike.

Emtb is derestricted to 32mph and zipping along roads at 30 on a pretty capable mtb can be a lotta fun. Way more fun than riding any normal mtb any sort of distance by road for sure. Pedalling above 30 actually requires a fair bit of effort. Ebikes are good but they can't cheat wind or rolling resistance
 

Milleratio

Monkey
Oct 24, 2021
118
75
a lighter 170mm Emtb is generally a lot more versatile and can be used for everything from XC loops to Enduro DH. They even turn your shitty local XC loops into a much more fun ride. ESPECIALLY in muddy/wet energy sucking conditions.
Couldn't agree more. First prize!
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,634
1,084
coloRADo
OMG I accidentally clicked on a forum that I have no value contributing in! Then I said something. And it was really lame.

You're forgiven.

Yes much passive aggressive. But so are you.