eMTB Options For 2024

Giant ships the tubeless stems AND sealant in a box with the bike that has all the documents etc.
It was not given to me: The battery, charger and the documents was everything I got together with the bike. Well but that the lockdown time; strange things happened. That LBS sell a lot of e-bikes and are respected so I cannot attribute the lack of extra parts to their negligence etc. Oh, I don't care.
 
I was with a guy that put a LOT of miles on, rather a famous kind of rider, did a lot of vids and RR's. We were in Death Valley, fifty miles from nowhere, at the trailhead for Suprise canyon that goes up to Panamint City. You can google it. (EDIT: I googled it, here's a good commentary: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-panamint/ ) Anyway, he got a flat, of course he had a spare, but it was so old it wouldn't hold air, so I had to give him mine, and he changed out his tire on his $1200 adventure jacket - TWICE!

I snapped his pic, and he was in typical ADV fasion...if somebody crashed, you had to get a pic first, before you rescued their a$$. LOL

He rode that Husaberg all over the bloody continent. Completely wore out the engine twice.

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It was not given to me: The battery, charger and the documents was everything I got together with the bike. Well but that the lockdown time; strange things happened. That LBS sell a lot of e-bikes and are respected so I cannot attribute the lack of extra parts to their negligence etc. Oh, I don't care.

I just dug up the bag of tire stuff that came with my bike...a valve core tool, 3 tubes of sealant, but no tubeless stems. :rolleyes:
 
It was not given to me: The battery, charger and the documents was everything I got together with the bike. Well but that the lockdown time; strange things happened.
That LBS sell a lot of e-bikes and are respected so I cannot attribute the lack of extra parts to their negligence etc. Oh, I don't care.

My BH Bikes came with a tubeless-ready kit that included a nice set of valve stems. Still not installed... ;)
 
Well, early morning here. I have inspected the wheels, everything seems alright with them :) Set the pressure to 30 psi in both of them. We're going to ride country dirt roads and fire-roads. I was told by a friend I need not to be afraid of sand, as it is none in that area. (I'm sick with all this packing...)

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The trip to the heart of West Pomerania will be a long one. That will be secluded and sparsely populated countryside with a lot of forests, lakes, and game. The type of area where the military loves set up training ranges. There is a road not far from the place we're going to stay, and there are road-signs like "BEWARE OF TANKS!" :D

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I hope I and Brix will be in the shape for a short ride to see her grandma in Tuczno today. (The bike route is four times shorter than the car one, so few paved roads are in the area. Tuczno is one of the smallest towns in Poland with the population less than 2000).

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I plan a longer ride for Friday. I'd like to go to some restaurant in that interesting area. The area is decidedly not flat, with the elevation gain of some 1500 ft. It will be dry and hot weather! The wind will be welcome! (We are to stay at an agrotourism farm where the hostess will cook breakfasts and dinners for us. The place has Booking.com rating of 10/10, sounds exciting!)


I cannot remember when I learned navigation but my Dad was teaching me how to read maps when I was a small kid. There is a large drawer full of obsolete paper maps at home... I value the GPS very much!
 
Navigation? Isn't that where you wander around until you come across your old wheel tracks then realise you are even more lost than last time?

When I first moved to this region I was riding motorbikes with a crusty old group of enduro riders . These guys had cut a network of single line for the Australian 4 day enduro and then extended that network over the following decade. No maps existed of the 4x4 tracks we kept crossing , never mind the single line. It was basically several blurred hours of fear and exhaustion with a vague memory of having seen the sun over my right shoulder a couple of hours ago. My greatest fear was having them get injured and me trying to escape that maze....

So when I finally bought a Garmin etrex which could give me lat and long , I started carrying maps - that thing would reliably tell me I was lost.....but I lived it much more that a modern gps that tells me how to get lost. Where's the fun in that?
 
Dirt bikes... those were the days...
How many trips came back with broken bikes and bones... yikes!

I only actually broke a finger, but nearly broke my back, neck, shoulder, and head, over several crashes over decades of riding. I did break a shoei racing helmet!

Not a single one of my riding buddies escaped injury. Not one I can think of. One in particular is in a wheelchair. I'm done. o_O
 
I only actually broke a finger, but nearly broke my back, neck, shoulder, and head, over several crashes over decades of riding. I did break a shoei racing helmet!

Not a single one of my riding buddies escaped injury. Not one I can think of. One in particular is in a wheelchair. I'm done. o_O
Yup... one ride the four of us went out and I was the only one that came back unscathed. One guy broke his collar bone, another wrecked his foot, and the other guy's bike was in pieces.
 
One of my buddies was the phone and IT tech for a hospital. Over a thirty day period he brought each of his two daughters in with broken bones, and then himself. The administrator told if she didn't know better she would have to report him to child protective services. 🤪

So many of these guys would be back riding, still hurting over a previous injury. One of them was broken so bad it took 5 surgeries and a couple of years to heal. A year after his crash he called me and said he was going to the supercross races at the stadium and had to park way out on the parking lot, and he was so worn out just getting to the stands he had to turn around and go home. He had just gotten his disabled placard. Three years later he was back riding.

Offroad is very addicting. It's an adrenalin rush that is very intoxicating and addictive. Once you get a taste of it, it's very hard to walk away.
The guy that ended up in a wheelchair from crashing his bike was always the one that chided ATV riders, telling them those were 'wheelchairs'. 😜 I quit riding with him quite sometime before his crash, got tired of rescuing him. He would split off from the group to go balls-out, then crash and either break something or his bike. One time he lead a group of noob riders I was along with, into the most difficult terrain he could find, then rode off and left them all there to try to get their bikes out.

Another acquaintance was out over a Thanksgiving holiday, passing a group of ATV's on a desert road, and hit another rider head-on in the dust cloud. Killed him and put the other guy in a coma.

I could go on, but you get the picture. I estimate I've ridden some hundred thousand miles of road riding on various bikes over the years, and not one single get-off. Not even a parking lot lay-over. I was always afraid of getting knocked off by a driver and then run over by another, especially while cutting traffic (lane sharing). I considered myself lucky, blessed, and had better quit while I was ahead. All my crashes were offroad.

Okay, onto our regular programming...
I'm picking up my new MTB today. 😊
I've already ordered a Minion DHF for the front, a Cateye bike computer, and a WTB saddle. LOL Wife thinks I'm nutz. "Whatever makes you happy honey."
 
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One of my buddies was the phone and IT tech for a hospital. Over a thirty day period he brought each of his two daughters in with broken bones, and then himself. The administrator told if she didn't know better she would have to report him to child protective services. 🤪

So many of these guys would be back riding, still hurting over a previous injury. One of them was broken so bad it took 5 surgeries and a couple of years to heal. A year after his crash he called me and said he was going to the supercross races at the stadium and had to park way out on the parking lot, and he was so worn out just getting to the stands he had to turn around and go home. He had just gotten his disabled placard. Three years later he was back riding.

Offroad is very addicting. It's an adrenalin rush that is very intoxicating and addictive. Once you get a taste of it, it's very hard to walk away.
The guy that ended up in a wheelchair from crashing his bike was always the one that chided ATV riders, telling them those were 'wheelchairs'. 😜 I quit riding with him quite sometime before his crash, got tired of rescuing him. He would split off from the group to go balls-out, then crash and either break something or his bike. One time he lead a group of noob riders I was along with, into the most difficult terrain he could find, then rode off and left them all there to try to get their bikes out.

Another acquaintance was out over a Thanksgiving holiday, passing a group of ATV's on a desert road, and hit another rider head-on in the dust cloud. Killed him and put the other guy in a coma.

I could go on, but you get the picture. I estimate I've ridden some hundred thousand miles of road riding on various bikes over the years, and not one single get-off. Not even a parking lot lay-over. I was always afraid of getting knocked off by a driver and then run over by another, especially while cutting traffic (lane sharing). I considered myself lucky, blessed, and had better quit while I was ahead. All my crashes were offroad.

Okay, onto our regular programming...
I'm picking up my new MTB today. 😊
I've already ordered a Minion DHR for the front, a Cateye bike computer, and a WTB saddle. LOL Wife thinks I'm nutz. "Whatever makes you happy honey."

Congrats on your new EMTB!

Your friends remind me of the group of backcountry skiers that I used to hang out with... their motto, wait for no friends on a powder day! ;)
 
I've bought a number of tires from BikeTiresDirect.com Good prices, very fast shipping, very reliable. Highly recommended.
And they price match if they're way off, so it's a can't lose proposition.

The sizing difference between 2.4 - 2.6 - 2.8 is just not that much. The overall width is also reflected in the overall tire volume. So unless you're super sensitive, a pro, or super keen eyeballs, they're REALLY hard to tell apart. For hardcore mountain bikers they can fine tune with PSI, and overall grip, by adjusting tire size. For a black and round donut to ride on, they all work. 😊
I like your recommendations here Chris. BikeTiresDirect.com do have very competitive pricing. I also was at the Schwalbe site and sometimes you can catch a sale on their line as well.

You mentioned before about finding the wheel size on the rims (very small markings near the valve stem). Mine are 584X35mm (DT Swiss-H1900). I reached out to DT Swiss and they were very informative regarding "ideal" tire/rim combinations they recommend. They indicated that my rims paired with 2.5 to 2.9 size tires were ideal, however, I could also pair them with 2.4 or 3.0 if desired.

Now getting back to tire styles. Wired or Folding bead. Seems like the folding style ride better, but are harder to mount. I also see compounds vary, so my pick would be an "all-rounder style for paved and crushed stone trail riding. Not to get too critical, I agree, just a round donut to ride on. 👍
 
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.
Agree! That's what I have always believed, run 'em down, then get the ones of your choice. Makes sense. I have also done this with other components as well. Works for me.
 
Garmin was like a godsend. We used to ride around in the woods getting lost till we ran out of gas. The 2-strokes were a pain cuz you needed oil too. BTDT got the t-shirt. Lol

The new bike is pretty cool. Evidently the High-Roller II is for loam, and slow rolling. Not sure why they picked that, cuz the Rekon is a much smoother faster tire. Evidently one of the Maxxis corporate types gave a list of tire rolling resistance. They tend to not publish that. The high-roller2 is near the bottom, DHF much higher up and better all around.

The new WT rims get wider tires - I ordered the wrong size, thinking 29's took 2.3's. Nope. :rolleyes: I need a WT 2.5.

All the Stamp1 pedals are sold out, but got a pair in white with gold studs. For heavens sakes. Lol
I might try and find a blue pair for the Trance and swap them.

Couple loops around the block - it's definitely not a Ebike! 🤣
The M10 is 28 lbs with carbon wheels. This M30 has the carbon frame but alloy wheels. I think they come in about 30 lbs. I'll have to weigh it. It feels really light to pick up, pedals super easy, ergos seem really good.

Shifting is crisp and very smooth. I like the SRAM shifter. I got used to thumb shifting the Shimano xt on the trance. Suspension seems just like the fox ones on the trance, but 34mm verses 36 on the Ebike, same shock.
Dropper is near perfect, reach and stance feels great - don't feel a need for more bar rise.

I'm selling a couple bikes including the Explore, to help pay for it. It was twice what I wanted to spend. Trace can do road duty fine with the road tire wheel set. 👍
 
At one stage I was running a high roller on the back with a dhf up front - amazing stopping power in a straight line but it was weird riding with more traction on the rear than front. Perhaps keep the high roller for shuttle assisted days?
 
Update: The sealant did its work. It was enough to give the thing some time and reinflate the wheel. On a ride for several hours now.

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The pride of the local foresters. They call it a "forest freeway". Unfortunately, the road has been paved with gravel of bike unfriendly kind.
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At that very moment, the sealant was
gushing through the puncture.
 
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