Can we see more reviews like this one?

Jeremy McCreary said:

Seth's an accomplished mountain biker and a pretty thoughtful guy. He also knows a lot about bike tech in general. It would be a mistake to dismiss him out of hand.
Click to expand...
Not the point.
Is he an e-MTBer? I don't think so. So far, he's ridden the cheapest Amazon e-bike and the Reevo. It doesn't give him any expertise in e-MTBs.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Not the point.
Is he an e-MTBer? I don't think so. So far, he's ridden the cheapest Amazon e-bike and the Reevo. It doesn't give him any expertise in e-MTBs.
Click to expand...
Watch again — all the way through this time. He rode a $6,500 eMTB in this video. Couldn't make out the brand or model, but nothing about it said cheap or junk to me.

And I would think that being a skilled and experienced mountain biker with a thorough understanding of the mechanical tech would give him a pretty valuable perspective. Said himself that he was wasn't fundamentally against ebikes, and was starting to see some of the appeal on this test, despite some initial reservations. Sounded like he was keeping an open mind pending more e-MTB experience. What more can you ask?
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Watch again — all the way through this time. He rode a $6,500 eMTB in this video. Couldn't make out the brand or model, but nothing about it said cheap or junk to me.

And I would think that being a skilled and experienced mountain biker with a thorough understanding of the mechanical tech would give him a pretty valuable perspective. Said himself that he was wasn't fundamentally against ebikes, and was starting to see some of the appeal on this test, despite some initial reservations. Sounded like he was keeping an open mind pending more e-MTB experience. What more can you ask?
Click to expand...
Looked like a Trek with a TQ motor.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
What more can you ask?
Click to expand...
Him being an e-MTB expert? That's why I watch EMBN, the guys who started the channel when the e-bikes were new, are expert riders, and have resources.

As an experienced MTBer Seth is, he is no match for these people. He seems to share his time between the workshop and a groomed rock garden...

Mr. Coffee said:
That hubless e-bike is even worse when you tear it down:
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I mentioned that video.
  • He buys that junk and proves it to be a junk
  • In his next video (on completely different matter), you can see him riding the Reevo in the background
  • In the third video, he asks the mechanic to dismantle that junk.
He should have dropped that contraption into a skip after the first video. Or, he could use his common sense not to take his interest in that c*ap in the first place.
 
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Steve Jones is an incredible rider for his age, used to be a trail rider and moved to ebikes.

I think hes 59 now, undoubtedly he does the rides unless they are using a helicopter :)
I feel hes starting to pass on to younger riders.
Seth is a totally different youtuber, kind of an mtb Casey Neistat, he does some great buddy rides that draw you in to the magic of it.
Ive visited and ridden/walked some of that trail, Cader Idris is brutal, Festiniog is a surreal post industrial landscape , but Ive never ridden it, Brian an I have adventures planned, hes cruising Singapore at the moment.

IMG-20250208-WA0002.jpg
 
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I can remember an older EMBN video when Steve and his younger colleague were testing a cheap supermarket e-bike on a real trail. The other man did a jump and the e-bike battery separated from that junk :D Unfortunately, they made too many videos involving cheap e-bikes, so I cannot locate the proper one...
 
Mr. Coffee said:
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Yikes!

My Vado SL easily climbs 15-20% dirt roads that I'm then too chicken to ride back down on the 38 mm gravel tires with center slicks. Doesn't help that all hard-pack around here has a very thin loose sand coating.

20250210_075033.jpg


Guess I need to learn how to "Jedi mind-trick the tires" (see video just after 2:10). And then Jedi mind-trick myself into thinking that that's all it'll take to get down in one piece.
 
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Mr. Coffee said:
You just described nearly all E-MTBs.
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Funny to say it but a good e-MTB has its battery secured inside the frame by a wrench. Not by a lock.
The e-MTBs that use a lock, have the battery mounting designed to be inserted from the bottom, protected by a rock-guard, and virtually impossible to separate from the e-bike.

Never heard of the e-bikes Seth rode in his videos but the supermarket one tested by EMBN had a hump of a battery on the top of a thin downtube.

Mr. Coffee said:
Just because he ain't on some Strava leaderboard doesn't mean he doesn't ride.
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It is hard to prove he rides, isn't it :)
Please check one Kilian Bron on Strava :)
www.strava.com

Kilian Bron | Strava Pro Cyclist Profile

Kilian Bron is a professional cyclist from France
www.strava.com www.strava.com
 
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Stefan Mikes said:
Him being an e-MTB expert? That's why I watch EMBN, the guys who started the channel when the e-bikes were new, are expert riders, and have resources.

As an experienced MTBer Seth is, he is no match for these people. He seems to share his time between the workshop and a groomed rock garden...


I mentioned that video.
  • He buys that junk and proves it to be a junk
  • In his next video (on completely different matter), you can see him riding the Reevo in the background
  • In the third video, he asks the mechanic to dismantle that junk.
He should have dropped that contraption into a skip after the first video. Or, he could use his common sense not to take his interest in that c*ap in the first place.
Click to expand...
I too watch EMBN and have subscribed from day one of the channel (7-8 years?). Great content. On that channel, the riders consider themselves MTBers, cyclists, as do I. I suspect you consider yourself to be a cyclist. Getting a perspective from an experienced cyclist on an eMTB has value. Seth seems to be very knowledgeable about ebikes and he brings people onto his channel that add expertise to the topic at hand.

That is exactly what EMBN does. EMBN grew out of GMBN. I watched GMBN long before there was an EMBN, because I was a cyclist long before there were ebikes. The guys on the E channel came from the G channel. E has a couple hundred thousand subscribers, G has millions. They are one and the same company with a lot of financial backing from the industry. Both channels are very polished, and both are scripted. They have a marketing department and a research and development department.

Seth started his channel on his own (now 1 mil subs). I don't think he thinks he is an expert or the final word on anything. He has good content and his information is valuable. His subscribers and others will send him products. He shows all, and if they are stupid or dangerous, he tells you. He takes a financial hit to his media business, but he's honest.

Stefan, I think much of the information you offer on Specialized ebikes has a lot of value, but I don't think you are an expert. Seth is far more an expert on mountain biking than I'll ever be, and I've been doing it for decades longer than him. I'd bet he's more an expert about how an ebike should work than many on this forum. I want the cyclist's opinion. I am a cyclist.
 
Him being an MTB expert doesn't make him an ebike expert... Hard to understand it?

He misses a long time experience in e-bike systems; simply because he cannot afford e-bikes or has no sponsors to provide e-bikes to him. The Original Post is the proof.
 
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