eMTB Options For 2024

[PDoz]

Congrats - now I'm jealous.

Strange combination of rubber , recon rear and high roller f ? The high roller is grippier than a dh but I prefer them on the rear with dhf on the front . Since you don't like recons, perhaps get a dhr fitted and then decide if you like the high roller?

 

[Browneye]

By the way I checked out the giant electric bikes at The Path bike shop in Tustin and they have a Stance and at least a couple of Trance-1’s, and a Reign-1. I believe another Scott too, so they have three or four electric mountain bikes in stock, nice ones. Not sure of sizes.
Seems like they’re always sold out of the size you want, eh?

 

[Browneye]

I think they spec tires to best fit the bike. They are supposed to be exceptional climbers, so they spec tires to do that.
A Rekon will lose traction on hard braking downhill. BTDT, have Minions on the Trance now. They stick like velcro.

 

[FlatSix911]

Yeah, I did some reading on the Trance-3 components, and too many early failures with the SLX drivetrain. Everything I read said the XT shifts better than a SLX - I can't imagine downgrading from my e-Trance.
The Marzochi Z2 gets decent reviews, but doesn't stack up to Fox Float either. And everybody says the brakes aren't up to downhill, so for the $$ I would spend upgrading it over time, I just plunked it all down on a better model...

I put a deposit on a ORBEA Occam M30 Eagle: https://www.orbea.com/us-en/bicycles/mountain/occam/cat/occam-m30-eagle

They have two size M left in the dark gray finish, carbon fiber, 28lbs. It's a beautiful bike.
Should I ask them to change out the tires? Probly $50 for Minions. Or just run the fast-rollers 'till I'm tired of them?

Very nice... I would stick with the stock tires and ride it like you stole it!
When they are completely worn out, replace them with the tire of your choice.

 

[linklemming]

I think they spec tires to best fit the bike. They are supposed to be exceptional climbers, so they spec tires to do that.
A Rekon will lose traction on hard braking downhill. BTDT, have Minions on the Trance now. They stick like velcro.

Congrats on the orbea, looks like a sweet ride.

On the whole carbon thing, I wasnt sold but got a carbon frame on my santa cruz tallboy and love the ride. You typically lose about a pound going to carbon. I was also seriously considering the trance (alloy) last year. While there are many things that might make the ride better other than carbon, every ride on the tallboy has been pure bliss. The dampening seems so good, its like the frame isnt there. Im currently considering building up a acoustic carbon rigid hardtail (probably a ibis dv9).

FWIW, my Tallboy Carbon with pedals comes in at 30lbs in a size large

Not sure I would spend the $$$ for an carbon ebike though.

Gotta love the minions!! Best tire ever (except for pavement). Maybe put a minion on the front only, IMHO, the front is 150% more important than the rear in anything other than super steep climbing.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Fuming. The first flat in any of my e-bikes. Namely, the tube in the rear Rekon on my Trance. We've been already greatly delayed with our travel to West Pomerania but the trip was still feasible until I discovered the flat. The trip has been postponed to tomorrow's morning (with the car packed today). I couldn't drive for 6 or 7 hours on the day like this one.
I'll ask Jacek to determine the reason of the puncture and we'll have three options:

1. Fit a new inner tube (a thick Maxxis) or
2. Fit the Rekon tubeless if the old tube just got the snake bite but the tyre itself is intact or
3. Fit the High Roller II tubeless.

I had no idea tubeless valves (and fat inner tube) were so expensive!

 

[DaveMatthews]

Fuming. The first flat in any of my e-bikes. Namely, the tube in the rear Rekon on my Trance. We've been already greatly delayed with our travel to West Pomerania but the trip was still feasible until I discovered the flat. The trip has been postponed to tomorrow's morning (with the car packed today). I couldn't drive for 6 or 7 hours on the day like this one.
I'll ask Jacek to determine the reason of the puncture and we'll have three options:

1. Fit a new inner tube (a thick Maxxis) or
2. Fit the Rekon tubeless if the old tube just got the snake bite but the tyre itself is intact or
3. Fit the High Roller II tubeless.

I had no idea tubeless valves (and fat inner tube) were so expensive!

I kept getting blackberry thorn flats so I went tubeless. No regrets.

 

[FlatSix911]

Fuming. The first flat in any of my e-bikes. Namely, the tube in the rear Rekon on my Trance. We've been already greatly delayed with our travel to West Pomerania but the trip was still feasible until I discovered the flat. The trip has been postponed to tomorrow's morning (with the car packed today). I couldn't drive for 6 or 7 hours on the day like this one.
I'll ask Jacek to determine the reason of the puncture and we'll have three options:

1. Fit a new inner tube (a thick Maxxis) or
2. Fit the Rekon tubeless if the old tube just got the snake bite but the tyre itself is intact or
3. Fit the High Roller II tubeless.

I had no idea tubeless valves (and fat inner tube) were so expensive!

Sorry to hear that your trip was delayed... let us know what you decide to do with your tube vs. tubeless decision.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Gone tubeless
The rear tube had a microscopic hole, don't know the reason (no hole seen in the tyre) . Jacek has made the tubeless setup and everything looks good now!

 

[Marci jo]

Gone tubeless
The rear tube had a microscopic hole, don't know the reason (no hole seen in the tyre) . Jacek has made the tubeless setup and everything looks good now!

View attachment 62918

Yay Jacek!!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I thought to myself that since I paid for the tubeless, and that setup offers many benefits even if it can be messy, why not let Jacek have some fun True, it is better not to try it without the car compressor at hand And the other brother to help. The sealant name was Caffè Latex and indeed looked as milk coffee.

Still shocked with the valve-set price, equal to two good inner tubes.

 

[Browneye]

A thorn or even a small brush stem can poke through a tire and puncture the tube. And that intrusion can back itself out, but generally they're still in there, even breaking off at the surface so you can't see it on the outside of the tire. You really need to feel along the inside of the tire to make sure there aren't any protrusions. I've had them so small it takes a week to flatten the tire. And I've installed a new tube only to find it punctured as well.

I will generally remove the tube, blow it up to double size, and submerge it to find the pin hole. A patch fixes them.
In the field I carry a spare tube AND a patch kit. But the general rule is to install the new tube to get you going, then patch the punctured tube back at camp or back at the shop.

I thought tubeless stems came with the bike? A quick search online shows pairs of them from $12 to as much as $30 for fancy anodized ones.

I guess I really need to try the tubeless thing at some point. Perhaps I would be a convert. For motorcycles they're the shiznit, and they're safer. Generally a tubeless will deflate gently and give you time to slow and pull off, whereas tubes are known to blow catastrophically, and blow you right off the road.

 

[PDoz]

Stefan, since you have started the journey here's a few tips for the road to insanity.

For the first few weeks, it's perfectly normal to discover random flat tyres. Just check before each ride and carry a pump, keep telling yourself it's just the sealant settling. This IS normal . most of the time .

Don't spray soapy water anywhere near the rim - all those bubbles around the spokes , valve stem and edge of the rim will haunt you all night. That means the rim tape has a split , or just a bubble, or perhaps the stem isn't sitting right? After trying every brand of rim tape, give the cheap roll of gaffer tape a go. Trust me!

Did you just park the bike with the stem down the bottom? There's nothing worse than the first morning without a flat then realising the stem is now sealed solid. Sure....you can replace the core....but that'll just dislodge the last of the sealant around its base. You did buy stems with removable cores?

It's been 3 months without a problem and that PD guy was just playing tricks with your head. Now, when were you supposed to top up the sealant and how much to add this time? Can you mix brands? Is it safe to re use needles and which one had the hydraulic fluid in it?

Pray you don't have a perfect first install. There's nothing worse than 6 months without a problem on one bike but then you convert the other bike and e v e r y s i n g l e d a y having a flat. These tubeless things are awesome , so there must be something wrong. I spent the better part of an hour watching my lbs go through all the possible failure scenarios on a particularly stubborn wheel. I learnt a lot during that hour, and a month later discovered the hairline split in the rim tape . By this stage we had 3 bikes set up tubeless......I think we have 2 fronts and 1 rear left , and to be honest I'm still not 100 % certain about my intention to use tannus instead.

 

[Browneye]

And now you may come to understand why I still run tubes.
My LBS gave me a few, they're cheap to buy otherwise, and do a reasonably good job of keeping air in the tires.
I had the one flat on my mtb the first ride out, but after another couple of dozen rides, NOT. A. SINGLE. ONE. I know, now I've jinxed myself.

I rode over 50K adventure miles on motorbikes, about a third of it off pavement, and I can count the number of flats on one hand.

 

[FlatSix911]

I thought to myself that since I paid for the tubeless, and that setup offers many benefits even if it can be messy, why not let Jacek have some fun

True, it is better not to try it without the car compressor at hand And the other brother to help. The sealant name was Caffè Latex and indeed looked as milk coffee.

Still shocked with the valve-set price, equal to two good inner tubes.

Congratulations on your new tubeless setup... and don't worry, I think PDoz is just trying to have some fun.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, since you have started the journey here's a few tips for the road to insanity.

Do you realise I still carry spare tubes, the pump, and tyre levers with me?

then you convert the other bike

"Probably it's you!"

I thought tubeless stems came with the bike?

Tubeless-ready No stems/valves delivered, though.

 

[Browneye]

Maybe they don't include the stems. I'll look in my delivery pack tonight, see what's there. Yes, they're still nicely wrapped up in a plastic bag. LOL

 

[PDoz]

Giant ships the tubeless stems AND sealant in a box with the bike that has all the documents etc.

Browyneye- I can count the number of motorbikes that never had flats on 1 hand......but won't mention that motorbike was tubeless. Back when I was doing silly things on motorbikes we'd be fixing 3/4 flats every day ride , admittedly I only seemed to get flats 2/3 times a year and it was all my friends using my spare tubes and equipment. I was riding with some REALY good enduro riders who could fix a flat in under 4 mins- if it was raining we didn't even bother taking our helmets off!!! eg https://advrider.com/f/threads/another-vic-high-country-ride-australia.457798/

BTW, you got me wondering about how many adv k's I've done and now my brain hurts - the transalp had 200K , africa twin had close to that, an early tenere with 60 K , ktm 640 with 30 K. Then there are all the real dirt bikes I wore out during that time - including 30k on a ktm 400 , 30 k on a xr600, and I hate to think how many k's I put on that poor little it200 or the wr200 that replaced it. Oh, and I wore out a dt 175 and a dt 200 plus an assortment of much less memorable dirt bikes.

When it's time to bury my body they can leave it under a huge pile of work out tyres and tubes.....

 

[FlatSix911]

 

[Browneye]

Yeah, I don't even count the dirtbikes. Some of them didn't even have an odometer.
WTF did we do before GPS??? I know, we were freakin' lost! LOL

My buddies were pissed when I hung up dirtbikes the second time...none of them could navigate. My mother actually taught me how to navigate, we did so much crusing in the PNW san juan and canada gulf islands. My dad couldn't find his way out of the backyard, and we would go hunting together. He was ALWAYS lost. LOL