eMTB Options For 2024

[Browneye]

I do care Maxxis Minion DHF and High Roller II are excellent tyres but I cannot hear my own thoughts when on-road And tyres noisier than a Yamaha motor really means something!
Find me slick, tubeless tyres for WT rim, OK?

For roading use, I'd just put tubes in them.
Those Bontragers I got are really nice. Schwalbe has the MotoX, and Big Ben. I don't think any of them are tubeless, but you could always try them, see if they hold air. Generally one adds slime sealant to a tubeless setup anyway.
The difference is the bead configuration, and the rubber lining inside the tire is sometimes different for tubeless, but most regular tubed tires will hold air tubeless.

 

[bob armani]

Schwalbe makes some nice tires that are a good compromise between the extremes of full Road (Super Moto-x) and Mountain tires (Nobby Nic).

Take a look at the Marathon Plus MTB and the new Hurricane ... both have a central rib for smooth on-road riding with outer lugs for offroad traction.

https://www.schwalbetires.com/sites/default/files/E-Bike-Tires_2019_English_low.pdf

Marathon Plus MTBs look like a nice future replacement for my Nobby Nics. Nice breakdown of the full line here.

 

[FlatSix911]

Marathon Plus MTBs look like a nice future replacement for my Nobby Nics. Nice breakdown of the full line here.

Yes, that is my plan also. I may even try to run them tubeless, although the MTBs are not rated TLE, tubeless easy.

 

[bob armani]

Yes, that is my plan also. I may even try to run them tubeless, although the MTBs are not rated TLE, tubeless easy.

FYI-My bad. I just noticed in the specs for this tire has available widths that do not fit or match my existing 2.8" wide tires: I would opt to stay with the wider style.

27.5x2.10,
27.5x2.25,

 

[FlatSix911]

FYI-My bad. I just noticed in the specs for this tire has available widths that do not fit or match my existing 2.8" wide tires: I would opt to stay with the wider style.

27.5x2.10,
27.5x2.25,

The other option for an all-around tire is the Smart Sam... it has a central tread rib for on-road and is now available in 27.5x 2.6"

 

[Browneye]

Tire size 2.25 should be good enough for road, and will fit fine on a WT rim. JMHO

 

[Browneye]

WT=Wide Tire I presume.
Just to confirm: The 2.25" width tire would fit my existing wheels that currently run the 2.80" sizing? Or, perhaps that depends upon the width of the rims that I currently have.

I would think so. You're talking a half inch difference in tire width. Your WT rim is either 30 or 35mm bead width. It should say on them.

You don't really need wide road tires, other than for some additional cushion. Here's my Maxxis 2.8 vs E6 Hardcase in 2.4. Trance rims are 35mm wide:

2.3's on the Explore, 2.4's on the Trance. The Explore rims are 19 and 21. I've since gone back to a 1.75" on the Explore, put 2" on the wife's LIV:

 

[Stefan Mikes]

WT = Wide Trail, precisely.

 

[PDoz]

All these slick tyres are making me nervous. ( my driveway is a rutted out loose rocky mess at the moment - I can't find the energy to fire up the tractor and run the grader blade across it)

 

[BillH]

@Stefan Mikes take a look at the Maxxis Chronicle if you can still find them in 27.5". Versatile tire and they roll well and are surprisingly quiet and reviews bear that out. I put a 27.5"x 3" pair on a new set of 40 mm rims and they are noticeably quieter than my Schwalbe Nobby Nics.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thank you Bill. Presently, the Ikons stay uncollected in the parcel locker, and I'm awaiting the Rekons to arrive on Monday.

PDoz, when it comes to just riding a bike, most of the area I live doesn't require off-road tyres unless I ride in any forest here The "Mazovian sands" are really nasty. I intend to go by car to West Pomerania with my gf and our e-bikes and even slick Electraks on the Vado might be enough there as long as we go no further than gravel or fire-roads. The agrotourism farm we will live at is located 18 km to her home-town and can be accessed by a road.

 

[PDoz]

Thank you Bill. Presently, the Ikons stay uncollected in the parcel locker, and I'm awaiting the Rekons to arrive on Monday.

PDoz, when it comes to just riding a bike, most of the area I live doesn't require off-road tyres unless I ride in any forest here The "Mazovian sands" are really nasty. I intend to go by car to West Pomerania with my gf and our e-bikes and even slick Electraks on the Vado might be enough there as long as we go no further than gravel or fire-roads. The agrotourism farm we will live at is located 18 km to her home-town and can be accessed by a road.

99% of the time I don't need aggressive rubber either, but I learnt a few years ago how painful that 1% can be.

Back in my pre emtb era I had an italian mistress called stella ( moto guzzi stelvio if you need a visual ) .

Stella had fancy shoes for wandering around country roads as well as some chunky boots for when we had dirty weekends.

One day I was taking Stella into the shed and her fancy shoes decided it was time for some sadomasochistic gymnastics. The resultant text to my wife read " I think I need some adult supervision " ....something to do with 6 brocken ribs, punctured lung, brocken shoulder, 5 broken bones in my foot....

Having said that, sliding around on dark icy roads with only mm of rubber for contact can also be fun.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Oh, my! (I was looking for some English expression to express terror and awe in one short exclamation to find none) Honestly, PDoz, the thing I hate, really hate is loose sand. The Trance with its tyres is the first bike making me capable to ride through sand without stopping, although it is still a scary experience for me. Last winter was mild - no snow, no ice. I wonder how the coming winter be like... As for now, let's enjoy the Summer! Oh, wait... It's winter in Australia!

 

[PDoz]

Oh, my! (I was looking for some English expression to express terror and awe in one short exclamation to find none) Honestly, PDoz, the thing I hate, really hate is loose sand. The Trance with its tyres is the first bike making me capable to ride through sand without stopping, although it is still a scary experience for me. Last winter was mild - no snow, no ice. I wonder how the coming winter be like... As for now, let's enjoy the Summer! Oh, wait... It's winter in Australia!

In a normal winter I head into the outback - real sand. Thousands and thousands of km of it. Whooped out rutted trails snaking their way across sand dunes for days on end. Motorbike heaven but it takes a special sort of crazy to enjoy that on a mtb.

This winter, I'm trapped in my little corner of Oz by covid - not just closed borders but even the urban boundary 100 km to my west is closed. Theoretically I still have hundreds of km of coastal trails to ride on the emtb, plus thousands of alpine trails - but it's not quite the same as camping on a dune in the middle of the simpson dessert. I could probably nip up into the snow , which is really just cold slippery white sand...but between this summers bush fires and recent flooding there is a high probability of an alpine trip turning into a serious adventure. Work life is adventurous enough this year.....

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I apologise for my ignorance: Are you getting snow in Australia?

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Are you getting snow in Australia?

One of my favourite parts of the continent country…

The Overland Track is open only to bushwalkers, but there are many areas that are ideal for eMTB adventures.

And now we'd better get back to our theme of eMTB Options for 2020… and travelling anywhere beyond our own backyards doesn't seem to be a realistic eMTB option for this year!

I am certainly planning dreaming of some Tasmanian or, more likely, New Zealand eMTB adventures for next year.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Where's that, David? Australia is such big!

 

[PDoz]

I apologise for my ignorance: Are you getting snow in Australia?

I live in the south east corner of Australia - Gippsland Victoria, to be precise. Just to the south of the great dividing ranges ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dividing_Range ) , rught at the base of the victorian high country ( https://www.hemamaps.com/high-country-vic )

From my bedroom I can see a 1500 m alpine ridge with snow down to about 900 m at the moment , I can get into the snow along 4x4 tracks in about 30 mins but it's remote country and you very much need to be self sufficient if you head up there. I used to ride my motorbikes up there in winter , but not this year - we had devastating bush fires across most of our alps over summer - about 190,000 square km burnt- so all those fire damaged trees are at risk of falling and blocking tracks. Plus we've just had extensive flooding in the ranges so those tracks are just a bit slippery. Oh, and we went back into covid lockdown a couple of weeks back due to our second wave hitting - so technically I'm not supposed to leave home unless for work or exercise. Whilst mtb riding through deep snow and cutting my way through fallen trees would probably be an extreme form of exercise....it'd be pretty hard to justify to the emergency workers who would spend several hours in a snow mobile coming out to find my body.

For perspective, I took this photo last time we had this mix of fires then floods

https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Paul-Dandys-photos/i-K2nKF8m/0/32c9e5e6/D/PICT0015-D.jpg

 

[PDoz]

Where's that, David? Australia is such big!

That's in Tasmania - the island to the south of the continent

The overland track is one of those bush walks that defines you as a real walker. My wife did it during summer and was walking through waist deep snow!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

That's in Tasmania - the island to the south of the continent

My Dad was one of construction workers at a dam down there