Court, please review FST for Commuters and light trail.

[Shaggy]

Hi Court,
As you were the first to suggest, full suspension EMTBs are great for sore knees and rut-filled streets. But most youtubes review FST ebikes for DOWNHILL bombing, not for people who have one ebike and use it to go places and secondarily ride dirt and trails. Some of us actually work! And use our bikes to get to work. So can you please do a vid on FSTs ideal for commuters?
I feel that ebikes are much like diving wrist watches that dont actually get used for diving underwater. Similarly, most mountain bikes see few mountains (although I do enjoy the downhiller vids).
Thanks and best holiday wishes to you and yours!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Shaggy: To be very honest, e-MTBs are designed solely for off-road use. And no, not for downhill riding. It is actually hard to find an e-MTB classified for DH. Most of them are Trail and some of them are Enduro. The reason is you don't actually need the motor for "downhill bombing" as you say. The e-MTB motor is for climbing; and for easier negotiating rough terrain. Moreover, e-MTBs are not equipped for commuting, and, worst of all, these are provided with off-road wheels/rims and thick knobby off-road tyres, unsuitable for road-riding.

Yes, you can make your e-MTB road capable: add fenders, lighting, a rack (very few of full-suspension/dropper post racks are available), and you might even imagine adding a kickstand. Of course, you would replace knobby tyres with something less aggressive (such as Schwalbe Smart Sam or Johnny Watts). But that's not an e-MTB anymore: it is a Frankenstein.

Next: Most of e-MTBs are Class 1 e-bikes. When we talk "a commuter e-bike", we're talking Class 3.

Yes, there exist several FS commuter e-bikes. I could mention:

• Moustache Samedi 27 Xroad 7 FS (Class 1)
• Riese & Muller e-bikes: for instance the Homage (can be Class 3 for selected models)

I'm sure other EBR Forum members could chime in and list more commuter-grade FS e-bikes. These are rare and very expensive though. FS doesn't come free.

 

[Latitude]

Good summary Stefan. The Trek Powerfly FS 9 Equipped would be another to add to the two you mentioned. EBR has reviewed it here:

Trek Powerfly FS 9 Equipped Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $5999.00 | Model Year: 2021 | A premium

electricbikereview.com

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Of course, Lat! @PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee rides one of them!

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Of course, Lat! @PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee rides one of them!

Thanks for the shout out Stefan! Haven't had a chance to really wring her out yet though, the covid has had me down for the count last few weeks. Getting better every day, though the battery is down to 40%. Should be fully charged up in a couple of weeks