How does Pedal Assist on the top Electric Mountain bikes compare to Rad Rover/Volt Yukon etc

[FoxtrotAviator]

I want to get back into mountain biking. And I have owned a RAD ROVER E-bike for 3 years now. I actually love it. But its not a "mountain bike".
Obviously The Rad rover has a throttle, and also pedal assist 1-5. And the Top name mountain bikes (Specialized,Trek, Cannondale, Haibike etc)
Are pedal assist only. And Specialized Levo doesnt even have a Display. just 3 pedal assist settings, and Bluetooth conn.
My question is basically... How do these mountain bikes FEEL? Power wise? Lets say on the highest setting compared to the Rad rover on pedal assist 5?
Is it comparable? meaning the power given when you start pedaling.
My thoughts if I had to guess would be they would be much weaker. But I don't know.
Unfortunately , none of the bike shops near me have any available to test ride. But I can order one and they will set it up.
I would be up for the ridiculous price they are asking for these bikes, if the power was somewhat comparable.

Sorry If this has been asked before. Ive searched all over and watched a thousand bike reviews and haven't seen much on a comparison.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Completely different experience, just due to the hub drive vs mid drive thing. Much more natural, to my way of thinking. They’re more flexible. On my first hub bike (an eJoe Koda) and my wife’s Pedego, it felt like level one was good to ten mph, level two was ten to fifteen, three to twenty, like that. The big surprise on a mid drive was that you could ride along all day at eighteen or twenty mph in the lowest setting on flat ground and the wind wasn’t killing you. The hub motor just didn’t work that way.

I would expect a Powerfly with the CX motor and a 42 largest cassette, or any of the other brands set up similarly, would feel great to you. You gotta go find one and try it out. I see your line about no one has any mountain bikes to try, but if you can find any good Trek, Specialized or other mid drive, give it a go and see how life is on that side of the fence, so to speak. Doesn’t have to be a mountain bike, just be on that torque sensor system.

This is my experience, others may have a different take. I never rode a high end super sophisticated hub setup (like a Stromer, for example). People with CCX bikes swear by them!

I really liked my hub bike, put 1400 miles on it in less than a year, but I just learned I was a mid drive person. Everyone has their own preferences. Sure is a good time learning all this stuff, though!

 

[FoxtrotAviator]

Completely different experience, just due to the hub drive vs mid drive thing. Much more natural, to my day of thinking. They’re more flexible. On my first hub bike (an eJoe Koda) and my wife’s Pedego, it felt like level one was good to ten mph, level two was ten to fifteen, three to twenty, like that. The big surprise on a mid drive was that you could ride along all day at eighteen or twenty mph in the lowest setting I fit was flat and the wind wasn’t killing you. The hub motor just didn’t work that way.

I would expect a Powerfly with the CX motor and a 42 largest cassette, or any of the other brands set up similarly, would feel great to you. You gotta go find one and try it out. I see your line about no one has any mountain bikes to try, but if you can find any good Trek, Specialized or other mid drive, give it a go and see how life is on that side of the fence, so to speak. Doesn’t have to be a mountain bike, just be on that torque sensor system.

This is my experience, others may have a different take. I never rode a high end super sophisticated hub setup (like a Stromer, for example). People with CCX bikes swear by them!

I really liked my hub bike, put 1400 miles on it in less than a year, but I just learned I was a mid drive person. Everyone has their own preferences. Sure is a good time learning all this stuff, though!

Hey Thanks Saratoga Dave . Much appreciated.
I have heard mid drive is absolutely the way to go. It just seemed as if I was going to have to buy one of these things in order to try one out.
As long as the power output (not so much top speed) was comparable to what I have in the Radrover , I would be happy. Just for some reason, I thought those mountain bikes were a lot less in terms of power output. I was trying to go by the NM output ratings. But I’m aware that all changes from Hub to mid drive as well.

 

[vincent]

In my experience owning both the power is not the same, the rover is more powerful/quicker

But if you want to get into mtn biking I would definitely get a mid drive, the mid drives tend to be lighter, more agile and they climb hills better to me

It is just a different type of bike, hard to explain but I will almost always pick my mid drive for mtn bike type riding

I do think it would be worth the drive somewhere to ride some different ones
That being said I don’t think in the flats you would be able to see the benefits of a mid drive
In the flats it will feel slow compared to the rover

If possible try a long test drive in a hilly area

You must use the gears correctly to get the power from the mid drive, unlike the rover where brute motor power can overcome some of that

 

[vincent]

Where are you located? Maybe someone on the forum has a bike you can ride

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Completely different experience, just due to the hub drive vs mid drive thing.

Well, not exactly, more like cadence sensor vs Torque sensor.

Any system with a torque sensor would feel smoother compared to the cadence sensor. There are cadence sensors in both mid-drive (tranzx) and hub-drive (pedego, Rad power) etc.

How do these mountain bikes FEEL? Power wise? Lets say on the highest setting compared to the Rad rover on pedal assist 5?

If you're not a cyclist or not adept at using gears, mid-drives would feel sluggish but if you know how to shift correctly at all times, mid-drive provide a very pleasant experience.
Brose system used on specialized bikes provide very silent and smooth assist. But, they are limited to 250w or 350w nominal power. They are great for mountain biking. Brose, just like Bosch is a German company and have been making motors for power steering. It is estimated that 2 out 4 cars in the world have their motors. Certainly, most German cars make use of their system. It's a nice system that provides much more organic power output. Yamaha comes close second. Compared to these two, Bosch feels a little mechanical.

So, in short both bikes you mentioned would feel very different.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

They’re strong as hell. I had the same fear when I bought the streak, that it wouldn’t have as much power. Cross that off the list of things to worry about! If you jump on the pedals in Turbo in a low gear on a Bosch system, you are going for a ride and you are doing it right now.

We got plenty of people here with a ton of expertise on this stuff, but apparently they’re out riding.

Ravi, for example, has a few miles behind him ?

 

[FoxtrotAviator]

Thanks everyone! . I appreciate all the replies!

 

[FoxtrotAviator]

I am very proficient with shifting .I was into Mountain Biking pretty heavy maybe 15 years ago . And I was actually considering a new full suspension mountain bike (pedal only) , but reminding myself how much I love my E-bike , and how much I HATED walking my mountain bike up hills, my brain has sort of shifted gears . And there seems to be Some mountain bike trails open to ebikes out in Northern Va....so I’m thinking hard! I live in Pasadena Md btw . About 20 min south of Baltimore , 50 min north of DC.