eMTB Options For 2024

[FlatSix911]

Be careful out there... and live to ride tomorrow.

 

[Browneye]

Ya...just when you think you got it all figured out some chap comes along and ..WHOA....LOL

 

[mogulskier]

Be careful out there... and live to ride tomorrow.

For many years, I was commuting to work on a motorcycle. about 80 miles RT. In California, "lane sharing" aka "lane splitting" is not against the law, but rather "permissible". No matter how badly cagers (car drivers) acted or distracted they were, I was always happy to arrive home safe and in 1 piece, and therefore, as you say, alive and able to ride another day.

Funny. The very same traits I have as a motorcyclist are the exact same traits I find myself doing on an ebike. It becomes like auto muscle memory that has developed over years of riding.

 

[Browneye]

I just realized there were a few pics in my gallery from our trip to share. We spent two weeks exploring Arizona backcountry, riding mountain bikes every day.

These are from McDowell Mountain Regional Park - mountain bike heaven. Hundreds of miles of trails. Way off in the distance, half way to the next 'mountain', the little white specs are the RV's in the campground. The day before I was riding over at the mountain in the background. As I mentioned, the campground has 75 sites, all well spaced out from each other, all were full, and every site had mountain bikes.
If'n ya ever get a chance to visit, do it - really nice place to wring out your bike. I hear it's kinda hot in the summer though.

And zoomed...

Lots of really nice smooth trails like this...

And this...Good signage, well marked.

The trailheads in the Phoenix area are really nice facilities - hiking and biking is WAY popular here. Paved parking, bathrooms, shade, signs.

We staged quite near my BIL's house. BTW, he had a bike rack by KUAT - gotta have one of them - just fantastic.

 

[PDoz]

Having a ball at falls creek , although at 1600 m it's taking me a while to recover after each run. We spent most of this morning doing shuttle runs with 3 families - there's a nice section with about 250 m drop over 2.5 km , tight rocky flow track amongst snow gums. I'll gave to remember to rake some photos when I stop giggling.

This afternoon we'll play on " flowtown" , about 5 km and 450 m descent. There's only 2 ebikes in our group of 14 riders - we're using cars to get back up.

 

[Browneye]

Surprisingly baren.

 

[PDoz]

Surprisingly baren.

Because this time last year it was incinerated for as far as you can see -if you look closely the snow gums are bare white trunks with about 3 feet tall new growth from the base.

 

[PDoz]

Still no photos of the trails - it's sensory overload with magnificent scenery trying to distract us from demanding trails. Most of the tracks are unforgiving, with rocks and drops a constant reminder to stay focussed. We had a few gravity attacks , with my younger daughter performing a particularly nasty over the bars routine off a rock drop - watching her knee take the full impact was scary, but a good reminder of why we wear armour - she just stood up and checked her bike for damage! Not so lucky for one of the women in our group - I watched her tumble down another rocky section and just lie tangled in the bike . She'll have some sore ribs this morning but still managed a smile for the rest of the ride . Both of them showed impressive bravery - kept riding even though they were slightly outside their skill set.

It's got me thinking that I should invest in some skills training for the kids. They've learnt as much as I can teach them , but there are so many techniques the modern mtb allows that we never really perfected in the bmx era....eg I was braking down a trail yesterday with the rear in the air and pivoted into a berm without thinking. I have no idea how to teach that sort of stuff to my kids! I'm not even sure I could intentionally do it!

Anyway, some views without as much fire damage - this was a walking trail we did after lunch

 

[PDoz]

And some more views in the evening - that's about half of the kids in the bottom picture

 

[PDoz]

I think all the bike stunting started about 10 years ago with Martyn Ashton doing tricks in a road bike with 23mm road tires.

I think bmx started the whole bike gymnastics move. I remember when wheelstands on our dragsters was considered cool, then a couple of years later we'd be pivoting around the front wheel of our bmx, or spending hours looking for objects to bounce off. As a clumsy kid who could fall over whilst sitting in a chair, it was fantastic to have this 2 wheeled stunt machine

 

[RandallS]

BMXing was standard fair for that type of bike so tricking on a BMX was not new.
But to do BMX tricks on anything but a BMX bike was new 10 years ago and Martyn Ashton took it to a whole new level. Sadly he can't ride anymore due to a horrific accident

Au contraire, mon frere, he has indeed ridden again, albeit with assistance from his support team.

Inspirational eMTB video

Martyn Ashton was a world class mountain biker before he had a serious crash that left him without the use of his legs. This video shows him riding a specially modified e-bike at a race at Whistler. He has a fabulous support team that helped him achieve his goal of competing. Keep the Kleenex...

electricbikereview.com

 

[FlatSix911]

That guy has good balance on a mtn bike
I think all the bike stunting started about 10 years ago with Martyn Ashton doing tricks in a road bike with 23mm road tires.

Watch what he can do... scroll to 3:09 to be totally amazed. - and a backward flip at 4:37

His video went viral before the term viral was even a thing

One of the best riding videos I've seen... amazing control on a Road Bike!

 

[FlatSix911]

BMXing was standard fair for that type of bike so tricking on a BMX was not new.
But to do BMX tricks on anything but a BMX bike was new 10 years ago and Martyn Ashton took it to a whole new level. Sadly he can't ride anymore due to a horrific accident

Yea, Martin was the man and really started the extreme riding phenomenon and pushed the limits of the sport.

Martyn Ashton - Wikipedia

 

[BillH]

Interesting comparison video between the Shimano EP8 vs the EP8 RS.

 

[FlatSix911]

Here is the second video in the series on the Future of EMTB technology.

 

[FlatSix911]

Here is a new video from Danny and Duncan... a great way to close out the year!

 

[PDoz]

This thing is now 4 generations old, realistically I should be handing it down to one of my kids and spending silly $ on an orbea unobtanium ....but I'm starting to get a kick out of riding a " vintage" emtb...one with a visible battery ! There's also something reassuring about knowing extra chips / scratches don't matter....

 

[ruffruff]

Went and looked at a Norco Sight today..hell of a bike!

All Mountain Bikes | Norco

As at home descending as they are on the climbs, Electric All-Mountain riders tackle more of everything mountain biking has to offer.

www.norco.com

It's winter here, they wouldn't let me ride it. It's got a Shimano steps7000 and Norco continues with that motor on some of their 2021 models.
Wonder why?

 

[McCorby]

Went and looked at a Norco Sight today..hell of a bike!

All Mountain Bikes | Norco

As at home descending as they are on the climbs, Electric All-Mountain riders tackle more of everything mountain biking has to offer.

www.norco.com

It's winter here, they wouldn't let me ride it. It's got a Shimano steps7000 and Norco continues with that motor on some of their 2021 models.
Wonder why?

Probably because it’s not at the end of its lifecycle. It was introduced after the E8000, as a less powerful, lower cost option. Maybe sometime this year or next, they‘ll announce that they will be replacing it with an EP7??? Similar to the E8000 recently being replaced by the EP8.....

 

[ruffruff]

ah, bad assumption on my part. I just figured it was a sequential thing with a 7000 being older than a 8000