eMTB Options For 2024

Thread jack warning...

The Challenger is awesome. I would never have even looked at one, Dodge was always the red-headed stepchild. But Mercedes Benz really straightened them out when they owned them. The factories and design parameters were all dramatically improved during their stint with them, as was quality control and company management. The under-carriage is basically a Mercedes Benz. I worked at a Dodge dealership when I was in high school back in the 70's when these cars were sold new. They were pretty crappy cars back in the day. Good motor, but the rest of the car just fell apart.

So an acquaintance, who is a vintage car collector, told me it was the best value performance car in the country. "Just get the R/T 5.7 V8, it's plenty." I've owned nearly fifty cars in my driving career, lots of sports and performance cars from Europe, a couple of Porsches, a bunch of Benzos, a T5 Volvo, Pontiac GTP, Turbo Thunderbird, but none of them had a V8. I've had trucks and vans, but not a car with a V8. I made the mistake of actually going to look and one, drive one. Oh dear, completely sucked in. The measly 5.7L output of 375hp is intoxicating, and the SOUND!! I was smitten. You basically buy a high performance drive train and get a really nice and roomy car with it, with all the modern luxuries. For $35K it was a bargain. It passes everything but a gas station.

For another $3500 you can get another 100hp. And for twice the price you can get 800hp. Oh my. :cool:
It's a year old this week, I absolutely love it. By far the best car I've ever owned over nearly fifty years of driving. And not a single flaw or hiccup. It's a nose-thumb to electrics. LOL

Thread-jack off...

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Beautiful car... I have very similar forged performance wheels on my EV. ;)


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e-MTB, yeah! :D

On-topic:
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The Bell Air R MIPS helmet as recommended by @PDoz. (Or, was it you @FlatSix911?) The jaw protector is a tad too narrow for my face. To be worn offroad only.

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The very same helmet with the jaw protector unfastened. The protector can be carried in the backpack on-road.

The cheek pads in the jaw piece are adjustable - ie you can remove 2/3 pieces of foam to allow more grin space
 
Thank you, @PDoz. The major issue was to fit my glasses in. I'll give it a try now.
P.S. It worked!
 
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Friends!
Our new member @Steku (who is my compatriot from Lower Silesia, the mountain country) has opened my eyes for new opportunities! (For which I am grateful to him!) It turns out there are plethora of groomed single tracks in the Sudety Mountains. Steku has shown me maps and described difficulty levels. Most of the new single-tracks have been created with the EU money and, as he says, most of them are very easy. I'm going to try some of them during the last weekend of July.


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One of the groomed single-tracks recommended by Steku. I'm excited!


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An off-road route around the Table Mountains, which are in my opinion the most picturesque mountain range in Poland.

I only need to learn braking and cornering :) My coming Sunday's trip to the Holy Cross Mountains will be a perfect opportunity for that!
 
Thread jack warning...

The Challenger is awesome. I would never have even looked at one, Dodge was always the red-headed stepchild. But Mercedes Benz really straightened them out when they owned them. The factories and design parameters were all dramatically improved during their stint with them, as was quality control and company management. The under-carriage is basically a Mercedes Benz. I worked at a Dodge dealership when I was in high school back in the 70's when these cars were sold new. They were pretty crappy cars back in the day. Good motor, but the rest of the car just fell apart.

So an acquaintance, who is a vintage car collector, told me it was the best value performance car in the country. "Just get the R/T 5.7 V8, it's plenty." I've owned nearly fifty cars in my driving career, lots of sports and performance cars from Europe, a couple of Porsches, a bunch of Benzos, a T5 Volvo, Pontiac GTP, Turbo Thunderbird, but none of them had a V8. I've had trucks and vans, but not a car with a V8. I made the mistake of actually going to look and one, drive one. Oh dear, completely sucked in. The measly 5.7L output of 375hp is intoxicating, and the SOUND!! I was smitten. You basically buy a high performance drive train and get a really nice and roomy car with it, with all the modern luxuries. For $35K it was a bargain. It passes everything but a gas station.

For another $3500 you can get another 100hp. And for twice the price you can get 800hp. Oh my. :cool:
It's a year old this week, I absolutely love it. By far the best car I've ever owned over nearly fifty years of driving. And not a single flaw or hiccup. It's a nose-thumb to electrics. LOL

Thread-jack off...

IMG_2207.jpg
EA2E71D3_47D5_4D6A_B65E_90A9845FF94A_IMG_3304.JPG
I'll go with the new mid-engine Corvette, thank you. Fastest automatic shifter in a production car, and the base model is only $60k (if you can find one). Hoping to get a used one in a few years @ around $45k. 500HP on the base model.

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I'll go with the new mid-engine Corvette, thank you. Fastest automatic shifter in a production car, and the base model is only $60k (if you can find one).

Hoping to get a used one in a few years @ around $45k. 500HP on the base model.

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A very capable mid-engine machine... and the best performance/dollar value ratio available! ;)
 
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I'll go with the new mid-engine Corvette, thank you. Fastest automatic shifter in a production car, and the base model is only $60k (if you can find one).

Hoping to get a used one in a few years @ around $45k. 500HP on the base model.

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The design reminds me a bit of of the new NSX. I drove the mid-engine hybrid gas/electric last year at Laguna Seca... a very impressive package.

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God I wish all this had been around when I was in my early 20s!:p
That Corvette is makin me drool! I miss my ‘05 but that thing is a wicked pissah!!
 
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Curious, when it comes to mountain bikes I searched the forum and the web for that matter and came up empty, but theoretically speaking, say you had a mid drive mountain bike with 27.5 tires on it and you took the same mountain bike, same rider, same weight, same battery, same trail same everything but you switched out the tires for fat tires (knobby) how much of an approximate reduction in range would you expect?
Hey Harry Ellis, from Die Hard, like your avatar. Looks familiar...
 
My favorite pro racing couple rides their Team Niner EMTBs for the first time... go Syd and Macky! ;)

Check out their other YouTube videos or subscribe if you want to learn more about mountain biking.

 
I had to chuckle as they removed the battery to mount 2 bikes on that rack.- it's designed for 5x downill bikes......Admittedly mine is the Australian version so might be built tougher..
 

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Ah, all those car racks are so distant notion to me... I don't want to even understand that ;)
 
I'm so glad to be able just put my Trance inside the Megane (minus the front wheel) and just transport it wherever I like. Driving out soon! That would be the Włocławek-Gostynin Landscape Park as it is one of few large forest locations at reasonable distance where it does not rain today :) Some 64 km/40 miles to be ridden. It will be muddy!
 
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