eMTB off road photo thread.

[EddieJ]

With Court being kind enough to have added a mountain, trail section of the forum, it seems like an ideal opportunity to start a photo and introduction thread for those eMTB owners that use their bikes for their intended purpose of being ridden and used off road.

I'd say that 98% of my eMTB use is off road, and my bikes are treated as very much a tool to do job.
I also don't see the point in owning an eMTB, and using it for fair weather use only. I ride all year round, and in all conditions, be it muddy or dry, night or day. My preference is actually for dark winter nights on muddy single track.

I have tried out and owned many eMTB's over the last few years, and have settled on using one particular brand, that I have found to be extremely well built and well supported, KTM.

I currently own two KTM's the fist being a Macina Lycan GPS+ full suspension which no longer has Nyon fitted, as it is too big and bulky for eMTB use, and currently has Intuvia fitted, but even this is about to go, to be replaced by the latest eMTB dedicated Purio console.
The bike also no longer has it's original Performance Line motor, or 400wh battery. Bosch have kindly upgraded both, to a CX motor and 500wh battery.
I'm not into making changes to OE bike spec or adding bling and tat just for the sake of it, and the only modifications have been the addition of a Rockshox Reverb Stealth seat post, a Neo Guard, Toro tyres/tires, which I find superb in every respect, and a tubeless set up for both. Beyond these changes, the bike required nothing.



The second bike is Macina Race hardtail that already came fitted with a Bosch CX motor and 500wh battery.
This bike was bought to use along side the full suspension bike, and to even possibly replace it. I consider full suspension bikes to be a bit of a waste of time for 8 months of year here in the UK, when the bonus of running full suspension cannot be used to the max, due to wet muddy conditions. Full suspension also means more maintenance, and added weight.
Once again, the only mods from OE, have been the fitting of a Rockshox Reverb Stealth seat post, a Neo guard, and Toro tyres. I might well ditch the SRAM set up at some stage in favour of Shimano, but won't do this until everything wears out.



A typical KTM/Bosch weekend.



Currently both bikes are undergoing a bit of swap about. I want to winterise the hardtail, and the motor cases aren't ideal for this use, so I have swapped the motors across. I still need to carry out further work in respect of waterproofing, but that will have to wait for a moment.

.

Sadly no riding for the next week due to chiropractic treatment, but then the Swiss trip begins, so hopefully I can get some serious riding time in.

 

[Ann M.]

Excellent, @EddieJ! and happy trails on the Swiss Trip. BTW, my chiropractor and lots of yoga are the only way I can keep riding

 

[EddieJ]

Now that the Swiss trip is just a distant memory, it is time to get out riding local trails again.

A friend is now considering buying KTM hardtail, so yesterday morning provided the ideal opportunity to take both bikes out for a play.




With the evenings quickly drawing in, it won't be long before roughly six months or so of night riding set in. I was working it out yesterday, and I estimate that I probably complete about 2,000 miles a year riding off road in the dark.
I really can't get enough of it.


Yesterday evening. (Two rides one day, can't be bad)



And just a couple of random shots from last weekends riding fun.

 

[arnold ziffle]

Vision realized, part 1 -- ebiking far into the Rocky Mtn. wilds in pursuit of fish; usually catch & release. 8 th 20"+ trout this summer. This bike draws awe, curiosity & perhaps ridicule, but rarely ire. Currently angling for Bigfoots & cougars with a warm piece of meat attached to some shiny metal rolled slowly along the shorelines at dusk while stinking of fish ...

 

[EddieJ]

Certainly a superb location. I'm also very envious of the quality of the fish as well.

 

[Ann M.]

@EddieJ, what headlights are you using in those night time rides? it's extremely bright for such a wide angle.

 

[EddieJ]

High Ann, it is a Fenix BT20.

I also have several cheap Cree lights sitting around unused, as the Fenix is my go to light. The spread of beam is the sole reason that I use it, as seemingly most lights are a spot beam, which does nothing to highlight any hidden danger to the sides, and being a spot beam, they create an annoying focussed beam, that creates shadow over objects when used in an off road situation.

The Fenix is also lovely to use on road, as the beam is deflected, so avoiding dazzling on coming traffic.

The photos don't really show it very well, but the light colour also has a slightly dull/yellow tinge, which again works in it's favour in darker situations, but this colour can blend into the background if you were to ride on a busy street.

I have removed the original Fenix supplied battery pack in favour of using 6 cell cheap packs that came with an Ebay Cree light. I find that two cells are just not enough for a full evening of riding, and swapping batteries on a dark wet winter night when everything is covered in mud, is not something that I enjoy.


I'm about to take delivery of a newly released 1 Cree light as a back up light to the Fenix, and I'm also planning when the evenings have drawn in, to take a series of relatively controlled photos using all of my various lights, so that direct comparisons can be made.
There is an abandoned cricket pitch close to me, that is set in the middle of a woodland, low to a valley, with next to no light pollution. I intend to go to one end of it, set up each light in turn on a tripod at handlebar height, place a 2 metre wide run way type strip along the length, and a series of markers at say 2 metre points working away from the light. The plan is then to take a series of photos all on the same evening, with the same weather conditions etc, and using the same camera settings for each photo. I then intend to do the same in a more wooded situation, and hopefully an accurate appraisal can then be shown of each light. I might well contact a few companies with the view to testing a few other lights as well.


Sadly I either lost or had my main camera stolen on the way back through France, and now need to buy a replacement.



The shots above were taken using a point and shot Fuji Fine pix XP70, and whilst seemingly good for basic night shots I have no idea of what the camera settings are for each shot.



As an aside, whilst writing this, I am getting constant data base error messages.

 

[Ann M.]

Got more than I bargained for in that answer @EddieJ but thanks! Night time rides in the country have some interesting challenges here: rabbits hopping onto the road during the spring and summer right in front of skinny road tires, shy deer leaping out of the dark when you startle their evening roadside munching and my favorite; a stray young bull (black, of course) trotting down the middle of the road acting a bit skitterish. All hazards that better lights would've helped with.

BTW thanks for mentioning the database issues. I see this occasionally but this time we could notify the programmer right away to do a fix.

 

[EddieJ]

Trying to make the most of the last of the summer sunshine, I decided to have another play on the South Downs. The weather couldn't have been better.

 

[Alphbetadog]

A couple of shots of my Haibike in the wild...

 

[EddieJ]

Time to catch up with the thread again. Back to night rides.

 

[EddieJ]

More day time and night time fun.

Although the full suspension Lycan is shown here, I have now started a very thorough nut and bolt service of it, so the hardtail will now become the go to bike. I don't need full suspension in the winter anyway, so it is no great loss just to store it away once the rebuild is complete.



I have also started a Facebook group for 'Legal' e-MTB's if anyone fancies joining. https://www.facebook.com/groups/313908402329634/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

 

[EddieJ]

Frustratingly a heavy fall a month or so ago at an organised mtb event has finally caught up with me, and I haven't been able to ride for a few weeks now.

With that in mind, I thought that I had best put my time to good use and pull down both bikes completely and service them.

Considering the abuse that they both get, they still don't clean up too badly.

 

[EddieJ]

Not a bad way to spend a bit of Xmas Eve, out on the South Downs.

Not an overly long ride at 23.5 miles with an elevation gain of just 2,292ft, but it did feel very tough today as there was a very strong head wind, which made for punishing riding and killed the 500wh battery after just 21.6 miles of use in tour.



Seven Sisters from East and West.

 

[EddieJ]

Heading off for a very early Xmas Day morning ride.

 

[EddieJ]

And of course Xmas wouldn't be Xmas without a very muddy Boxing Day night ride.

 

[EddieJ]

Bringing things up to date.

A very light dusting of white stuff.



Trail building.



Out and about.



Back to wet and muddy riding.




A night ride that was cold enough to freeze the water in the Camelbak, freeze mud to the frame as it hit, and freeze mud to the rear mech, so making gear changes impossible. All good stuff.



Then more cold weather today.




The eMTB FB page appears to be growing nicely as well, with both photos and eMTB related comments. https://www.facebook.com/groups/313908402329634/




.

 

[EddieJ]

Catching up on things, I guess that I should really add some more shots over the next day or so.

 

[Jeff Backes]

Here is my adventure in the woods a few weeks ago.

 

[Ann M.]

That's pretty cool shot, @Jeff Backes! I generally warn folks that ebikes are not submersibles