eMTB Options For 2024

Browneye said:
Gee...you guys have been busy while I was gone...

Setup a new 'toad' for the RV, took my eMTB to northern CA for a family reunion.
Stole away one day and met up with Ted - @FlatSix911 and his old-timer buddy "Lou" who knows the trick trails in the redwood forests on the south San Francisco penninsula.
Absolutely epic trail riding in old-growth redwoods...more to come.
This is the Rocky Mounts MonoRail2 rack - just excellent.

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Chris, we're glad you made it up to NorCal for a ride through the Santa Cruz Mountains Redwood Forest. 😉

Here are a few photos of our weekend adventure alongside the 1800-year-old-growth redwood “Methuselah”!

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The Story of an Old-Growth Redwood

This is the story of Methuselah, a 1,800-year-old redwood tree growing on the Skyline just west of Woodside, CA. It is the largest redwood in the Santa Cruz Mountains, outside of the trees found in Big Basin State Park, and is a living testament to our local history. Its stories are the...
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Left to right... me, Chris, and Lou tackle the mountain singletrack.
 
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THE most epic singletrack I have ridden to date on my eMTB. Absolutely spectactular - the entire reason I bought my bike in the first place.
Turns out the area we rode used to be dirtbiker paradise. Just for hikers and bikers now. ;)

Lots of bridges - instead of riding thru creeks and runoff, everything has a bridge over for protection. The topography and trail network is unsurpassed. Lots of tight singletrack, and lots of wide trails. All gentle slopes, some tough steps going up, and all way fun on a mountain bike. A little bit of heaven right here.

You only get a break for pics on the wide flowing trails....nothing in the tight singletrack in the rocky steps - you're too busy just trying to get through. LOL




 
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I charged for 20 mins on the way to the track , which gave me enough power to tow sprog 3 up the first hill and then I ran in eco for the next hour. I was surprised the ford rangers inverter had enough guts to put that much charge in so quickly ! Gotta love an easily removable battery!
 
Should I ever decide to upgrade to a FS from my HT, or add a different ride to the collection, there's a new player in Canada.

Canyon is now "live" in Canada, but with no e-bikes yet on their menu.
They have to sort something out with the batteries and my guess (an easy one) is it's the shipping.

I really like the looks of their bikes and would have considered one had it been available last year.
 
RandallS said:
Should I ever decide to upgrade to a FS from my HT, or add a different ride to the collection, there's a new player in Canada.

Canyon is now "live" in Canada, but with no e-bikes yet on their menu.
They have to sort something out with the batteries and my guess (an easy one) is it's the shipping.

I really like the looks of their bikes and would have considered one had it been available last year.
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Me too. However I really think YT Industries has them beat. Well, Giant for that matter as well.
Another brand that peaks my interest is Commencal from Colorado. But I don't really know anything about their bikes.

Another that does show up in local shops around the US is Cube. Seem to also have a good reputation, but again, no first hand experience with them.

EDIT: PIVOT was the other brand I was trying to remember. Seem to get very high marks. A bit spendy, but nice bikes.
 
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It would likely come down to pricing, although I won't dither over a few hundred,.
I love the Trance, but if a similarly specced out Canyon was cheaper in a measurable way, I'd consider a Spectral:ON.

The downside would be the inability to share chargers, batteries and things like that. But that scenario wouldn't be likely, as I'm not sure I'd keep both.
To be honest - no plans for changes at this time. Just another COVID time wasting activity...
 
Browneye said:
THE most epic singletrack I have ridden to date on my eMTB. Absolutely spectactular - the entire reason I bought my bike in the first place.
Turns out the area we rode used to be dirtbiker paradise. Just for hikers and bikers now. ;)

Lots of bridges - instead of riding thru creeks and runoff, everything has a bridge over for protection. The topography and trail network is unsurpassed. Lots of tight singletrack, and lots of wide trails. All gentle slopes, some tough steps going up, and all way fun on a mountain bike. A little bit of heaven right here.

You only get a break for pics on the wide flowing trails....nothing in the tight singletrack in the rocky steps - you're too busy just trying to get through. LOL




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What?!? You guys are in E-bike riding paradise. Congrats on your trip and the photos tell the story quite well. More California dreamin! 👍 o_O
 
Browneye said:
Worth a read...

www.singletracks.com

Mountain Bikes Are More Capable Than Ever Before, and 2 Innovations Deserve Much of the Credit

"Mountain bikes have never been so good," write the authors in Pro Mountain Biker. We uncover two big reasons why today's mountain bikes so much more capable than the bikes of the past.
www.singletracks.com www.singletracks.com
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We live in interesting times - the last 4 years have seen more advances than the previous 10!

2009 giant trance x - I bought it because giant had finally worked out rear suspension dynamics and built a dual suspension bike that could almost get up hills .

2017 - 8 years later before I decided a dropper post justified upgrading bikes! Geometry had crept forward and bikes were becoming a bit more stable but not as agile. At the time I was tempted by the specialized levo , ebikes were almost at the stage where they could match normal bikes for handling but prices were scary. So I whimped out and spent exactly the same $ as 10 years ago , buying a norco optic

2018 - less than 12 months later. The merida e160 brings emtb prices down to just twice what I paid for those two oldbikes. The thing handles better than both of them and suddenly emtb's sell like hot cakes. I spent a week too long researching and everything sells out - for months! A freak of supply vs desperation has me test ride and buy my giant full epro ( the dealer had been promised a merida e160 but the giant was all he could get) . I'm hooked, and my daughter inherits that norco.

2019 -The geomoetry jump, long and low is becoming mainstream. I spend as much on my daughters 2019 scott genius 940 as I did on " my" 2017 norco, but those 2 bikes are like chalk and cheese. The new bike is stable yet agile, as easy to get up hill as my emtb in eco, yet has amazing capability for down hill - same numbers as my emtb but there is simply no comparrison. I'm tempted to buy one and survive without e!

2020 I start looking for an emtb with geometry....covid hits, shops are empty, and by 2021 we start seeing the next big jump - LIGHT emtb's with modern geometry.

But modern prices and availability. If you told me 4 years ago that I'd be thinking of spending more on 1 bike than I had spent of FIVE , I probably would have changed sports.....buying an or ea rise m10 is going to cost more than all of them - IF I can find one! What scares me is the prospect that 2022 might be the year someone brings out a light emtb with modern geometry and a mid gearbox
 
Browneye said:
Worth a read...

www.singletracks.com

Mountain Bikes Are More Capable Than Ever Before, and 2 Innovations Deserve Much of the Credit

"Mountain bikes have never been so good," write the authors in Pro Mountain Biker. We uncover two big reasons why today's mountain bikes so much more capable than the bikes of the past.
www.singletracks.com www.singletracks.com
Click to expand...
Great article... thanks for sharing.
TLDR... 😉
Four years ago, I posed this question to Singletracks readers: What is the biggest mountain bike innovation of all time? Responses included the usual suspects like better tires and brakes, dropper posts, and improved suspension. Of the big four, Lenosky singles out dropper posts, which he suggests unlocked all the other innovations we’re seeing. “The biggest innovation was the dropper post, that allowed bikes to have longer travel suspension yet still be rideable, since you could get a decent saddle height for climbing and still be able to drop your saddle low enough to take advantage of the travel.

“Once that floodgate opened it pushed the industry to refine geometry and shock performance which led us to the amazing bikes we have today. Long travel, flat pedals, even E-Bikes wouldn’t be possible or at least nearly as fun without dropper posts.” As Lenosky hinted in his definition of capability, bikes — in particular trail bikes — should be comfortable and efficient for both climbing and descending. The magic of dropper posts is that they essentially allowed designers to deliver two bikes in one. Consider that dedicated downhill bikes often don’t include dropper posts since they are only focused on one side of the equation. And at the other end of the spectrum, today’s top-of-the-line cross-country race bikes like the Scott Scale RC 900 still ship with fixed posts.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
I spent FIVE times as much on my e-bikes as I spent on my used car...
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I have absolutely no problem with that.

A year ago I was offered $500 trade in for my trusty triton ute - I was hoping someone would crash into it so I could make an insurance claim for $500 worth of car loaded with $15,000 of bikes hanging fron the tailgate.

Now it's just a kids toy ( paddock bomb for my 12 yo)
 
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