eMTB Options For 2024

[Stefan Mikes]

I tried to get two different Trek dealers to bring in a Trek Rail5 and none of them would do it.
One said they only bring in the CF bikes cuz that's what their "customers want". Sure.
The other said he didn't know if their inventory budget could support it. Yep.

So I bought FOUR Giant ebikes.

Actually, the Częstochowa Giant dealer lost Dany as his returning customer (Dany's wife rides a Liv E+). Dany works hard and can spend money but his means are not endless. He expected getting a discount and good credit terms. Only the Trek dealer really cared; and that's why the guy runs the largest Trek LBS in Poland. Dany -- with his 115 kg -- really liked the massive looks of the Rail 5. He was neither baffled with Purion display nor 2 A charger. I'm so happy for my friend and hope for some vacation rides together with his family! Both man and wife are "electric" now, and their son rides Specialized Enduro Comp.

 

[Browneye]

"That won't fit you, and it's VERY expensive."
The best revenge always...live your life grandly, in all ways.

We've bought new Trek and Specialized bikes in the past, and they were always just great. We are on set number five over the past 32 years.

 

[PDoz]

"That won't fit you, and it's VERY expensive."
The best revenge always...live your life grandly, in all ways.

We've bought new Trek and Specialized bikes in the past, and they were always just great. We are on set number five over the past 32 years.

I had a similar experience recently - the Bairnsdale specialized / orbea dealer has a demo levo sl . I asked for a test ride , including offering to pay. Shop boy " had to speak to the boss" and came back to tell me it's not available.

Whilst I recognise it's a $10 k bike and they don't know me , it was very tempting to reply " no worries, there's not much room left on my rack" ( there were 5 high end mtb's on the rack) .

Once I calmed down , I realised I'd dodged a bullet. There is another specialized / orbea dealer in Traralgon.....same distance but opposite direction.

 

[Browneye]

Went out on the 'loop' yesterday with my grown son, he on my Trance, and I tried out the new Stance.
I have already installed Schwalbe Hurricanes on the Stance for the wife's mostly road-going, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try them out on the trail. To my surprise, they worked remarkably well, only just a little squirrely in a couple of sandy spots, but otherwise they worked great.

I also got a set of SmartSams for the second wheelset on my Trance - they have a nearly solid center row of knobs that are very close together - to make pavement low resistance, and with good knobs beside the center and on the shoulder. They also work really well. I'm just not sure why these newer tires from Schwalbe are not tubeless-ready. Oh well.

We had a ball, and the new bike rides just outstanding. I got some gear clicking in low, hard uphill, so I'll have to check out the derailleur tune on it. I really liked the auto-mode, worked great everywhere but hard uphill - then I would just click it up to level-5. It's very fast and smooth, I really like it.

 

[Haystacks]

Here's a 21-22 prediction;

The lines between brand bought and custom/DIY ebikes will become indistinguishable, the only feature discerning the two will be some words printed on a frame.

 

[ruffruff]

"That won't fit you, and it's VERY expensive."
The best revenge always...live your life grandly, in all ways.

We've bought new Trek and Specialized bikes in the past, and they were always just great. We are on set number five over the past 32 years.

I like the fact that Julia Roberts played Browneye!

 

[PDoz]

I like the fact that Julia Roberts played Browneye!

So which admin do we petition to get his avatar changed? Definitely using images from early in the scene......

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm just not sure why these newer tires from Schwalbe are not tubeless-ready.

Smart Sams are not, unfortunately.

 

[Browneye]

So which admin do we petition to get his avatar changed? Definitely using images from early in the scene......

I'll change it for a bit...

Smart Sams are not, unfortunately.

Neither are the Hurricanes. But Schwalbe makes really nice tires, they are very nice otherwise. My guess is they would probably do fine as tubeless if the bead would seal well enough. I may try a set and see how they do.
BTW, tubes are getting very hard to find in certain popular sizes. Seems, like everything else, demand is outstripping supply. Finding 27.5x2.6 tubes was nearly impossible unless you are willing to fork over nearly $20 for a tube. NOT. One of the old tubes I installed on the Trance had a slit in it, started to go flat a few miles from home. I'm surprised it held air inside the tire as well as it did - about a 1/4" tear. Tossed that one.

 

[reed scott]

I'll change it for a bit...

Neither are the Hurricanes. But Schwalbe makes really nice tires, they are very nice otherwise. My guess is they would probably do fine as tubeless if the bead would seal well enough. I may try a set and see how they do.
BTW, tubes are getting very hard to find in certain popular sizes. Seems, like everything else, demand is outstripping supply. Finding 27.5x2.6 tubes was nearly impossible unless you are willing to fork over nearly $20 for a tube. NOT. One of the old tubes I installed on the Trance had a slit in it, started to go flat a few miles from home. I'm surprised it held air inside the tire as well as it did - about a 1/4" tear. Tossed that one.

That is one toothy bro..., er lady.

 

[Browneye]

Turns out the Stance E+1 eMTB is an outstanding choice for a lot of riders, new or otherwise. It stacks up very favorably to the TranceX for a lot less $$. Sure, it's down-spec a bit in components, and the Sport version of the assist-drive is just slightly less, but performance is nearly that of the TranceE. If you push it harder the shortcomings show up, but for general riding it's really good. The 29" wheels really roll nicely, it's easy to get the bike up to speed. Sure, the suspension isn't quite as plush, and will come up short in really rough stuff, but for casual riders, new riders, for a lot of not-so-hardcore riders, it's a very good option at quite a savings compared to other eMTB's on the market. Plus the new 625w pack offers very good range. I highly recommend it, we're very happy with the new bike.

My son is a big boy, 6'2" and over 200lbs - he had no trouble keeping up with the old man. I didn't even pump up the suspension for one ride. Big smiles all around.

 

[PDoz]

Julia, is there any chance of you doing a trance / stance cross dressing thing with photos for us?

I'm thinking long legs , say forks from the trance but perhaps a tight butt with the trance rear wheel ( sorry, I can't bring myself to use the m word)

When I upgrade from fuglee , I'm considering keeping it for sprog 3 but if / when it dies transplanting the quality bits onto a stance for him. ( depending on what dies)

 

[PDoz]

This mornings ride involved a constant battle through spider webs. We're talking enough that I looked like I was masked.....and suspect 10% extra battery drain from tearing through them.....I was getting a bit frustrated , but then perspective tapped me on the shoulder. All those webs meant nobody was out riding. It was a magical Autumn morning, I wasn't at work, and wrecking webs was less annoying to me than the poor spiders who had to rebuild them.

Then there were the kangaroos - they hadn't expected a giant fuglee to disturb breakfast. Or the scorpion - why was that bike shoe blocking his path?

It was almost a relief to meet other riders - a bloke on a kenevo and his girlfreind on a Zerode. Is it wrong that I was excited by seeing a zerode (pinion drive) in the flesh ? Someone needs to motorise one of these things!

Another insight today - my tyres are stuffed! I'd been riding a bit faster than usual and getting very skatey. Back at the carpark I noticed the dhf is badly scalloped and the dhr almost bald.

 

[Browneye]

Julia, is there any chance of you doing a trance / stance cross dressing thing with photos for us?

I'm thinking long legs , say forks from the trance but perhaps a tight butt with the trance rear wheel ( sorry, I can't bring myself to use the m word)

When I upgrade from fuglee , I'm considering keeping it for sprog 3 but if / when it dies transplanting the quality bits onto a stance for him. ( depending on what dies)

Uh, no. It would be kind of interesting to install the front end off the Stance though, no? They call this a 'mullet' here. I thought mullet was a haircut. LOL
They went with narrow rims on the Stance - 25mm...not sure why. And the rear axle is the old QR from road bikes, not the new 15mm hollow axle like the Trance.
There are a lot of minor differences, they are really completely different bikes. The Stance is definitely down-spec a bit - they had to cut corners here and there to keep the price down. With a USA MSRP of $4550, it's really a bargain - the E+2 spec is even less, but that doesn't even have a dropper seatpost. Like most model upgrades, the benefits for the $$ really make the higher spec well worth it.

BTW, I finally tore down my dropper post on the Trance - my kid knocked it hard enough to get it off center again - that's what I had done sometime in the past on a crash. It was getting loose and sloppy back and forth. The slider guides are just plastic, and if you knock the front of the seat off center hard enough it literally breaks the edges off the slider guides. It's amazing how them things are put together, actually quite simple once you disassemble it. I was able to flip the plastic guides and reassemble and it works again, and also ordered a Giant service kit from AMAIN Bike parts. Great source for parts and accessories, shameless plug: https://www.amaincycling.com
I know these guys from the RC hobby, their other retail arm. Great company in northern CA, just an outstanding online retailer.
Anyway, the actuator cable was also kinked, so straightened that out, slathered the slider with white-lithium, and the whole thing works better than ever now.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

BTW, I finally tore down my dropper post on the Trance - my kid knocked it hard enough to get it off center again - that's what I had done sometime in the past on a crash. It was getting loose and sloppy back and forth.

The same happened to my Trance. Following PDoz advice, I've just replaced the crappy Giant Contact Switch with an OneUp dropper.

 

[PDoz]

browneye- if you have the option to cancel that service kit order, I'd suggest you look into the one up components dropper post.

You get a longer drop in the same space (ie I replaced my 125 mm giant with a 150 mm one up , I could probably have gone longer!! ). You can adjust the drop using inserts(they come with the unit) - so it's easy to fine tune the position of the seat raised/ dropped . It's less likely to need fully inserting / kink the cable and the mechanism is more forgiving of poor cable routing (central action rather than front / rear action - giant are unreliable in where they route the cable relative to the suspension pivot). Their service kits are cheaper , and you can adjust pressure in the canister using a shock pump - this changes the speed / force it pops back up

added bonus - the one up doesn't have a positive stop for extension, so if you catch the back of a dropped seat it's more forgiving. Think about it......

it's still not perfect - there's a bit more side to side movement than a high end dropper post (less than the giant) , but it's a much better unit than the giant one

 

[DaveMatthews]

browneye- if you have the option to cancel that service kit order, I'd suggest you look into the one up components dropper post.

You get a longer drop in the same space (ie I replaced my 125 mm giant with a 150 mm one up , I could probably have gone longer!! ). You can adjust the drop using inserts(they come with the unit) - so it's easy to fine tune the position of the seat raised/ dropped . It's less likely to need fully inserting / kink the cable and the mechanism is more forgiving of poor cable routing (central action rather than front / rear action - giant are unreliable in where they route the cable relative to the suspension pivot). Their service kits are cheaper , and you can adjust pressure in the canister using a shock pump - this changes the speed / force it pops back up

added bonus - the one up doesn't have a positive stop for extension, so if you catch the back of a dropped seat it's more forgiving. Think about it......

it's still not perfect - there's a bit more side to side movement than a high end dropper post (less than the giant) , but it's a much better unit than the giant one

These boys are local to me. They quit Raceface and started this up.

 

[PDoz]

These boys are local to me. They quit Raceface and started this up.

go buy them a beer , they do an awesome job

 

[Browneye]

OneUp Seatposts...
Let's see...$10 verses $200. I'll see how the stock one does for a bit longer, but surely if it doesn't hold up the new V2 looks like the cat's pajamas.

BTW, one of the very best features the wife likes on her new bike is the dropper post. Mount and dismount is just so much easier.
I also found a mountain bike skills course up in NorCal that looks promising. We may have to schedule a mini-vacation trip this summer for some training and riding.

 

[Browneye]

Have you guys checked the stats on this thread lately?
We hit a hundred pages today. 2000 posts, and 90,000 views. WOW!!
Thanks for following along.
We’re international!