Interbike 2014 Coverage

DashRiprock said:
I certainly wish that I was there also, Ravi and actually feel like I am thanks to your reporting. There is nothing like seeing the latest and the greatest in person...yet riding them?...nothing more to say.
Here's somebody else's view which answered some of my questions above as well:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=56951&p=944872#p944872

Btw...I would have flew out there just to ride that M1...what a rush that must have been! :)
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Lots of photos coming up this weekend.

I am leaving Thursday afternoon and if you can make it, I'll give you my pass/badge (valid till Friday evening).
 
Ravi Kempaiah said:
This is my first time at the Interbike and really great to experience the whole industry in such a setting.
Sitting in front of computer, reading stuff was educational but THIS is a whole new experience to interact with manufacturers, dealers, business managers and see the industry from their POV. Great expo and highly recommend it for anyone who is really interested in bikes and ebikes.

Highlights of the day:
  1. Brief 20 min chat with Pete Prebus of Electric Bike Report on the way to bootleg canyon where the outdoor demo was held.
  2. overwhelming experience of --> seeing all the MTB'ers going up the single tracks and canyon trails.
  3. Felt ebike systems (outfitter and the whole line up). What great bikes. Probably the best Bosch system ebikes.
  4. Took the full suspension 2015 E3 peak, Izip Sumo and 2015 E3 Dash for a spin (very nice bikes)
  5. Quick chat with Court from EBR and Chris Nolte of Long Island Ebikes.
  6. Ride+chat with Claus Fleisher (Bosch eBike system director) and I was on BionX D series motor (great bike).
  7. Some fun rides on various ebikes like (OHM, Xtracycle, BBS-02, Polaris, Juiced Riders, Haibikes)
  8. Visit indoor booths and check out some cool bikes like Stromer ST2, Grace, Neo Nitro etc
Will update tomorrow.

Cheers
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Very jealous Ravi! Did you get any info on prices of these bikes?
 
So, any news on a fat bike mid drive? Already have the bike, certainly not going to spend $4K on one of the new electric fat options. I know California ebikes is ready to announce theirs, but if they follow their current pricing I might as well get a custom motor from lightning rods, or order from AFT Ebikes in Australia. Need mid drive news!
 
Any decent fat bike starts around 2000 and bikes with great specs are 4K and up. How much do you think you'll spend on an electric fat bike?

The surface 604 can be had for 2K, the eRanger is really interesting for 2K, Surly Moonlander with BionX is around $4400, The Felt Lebowski around 6K

Any other mid drives besides the Felt Fatbike that should be arriving this fall and the Haibike FatSix that will probably be here next year?
 
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My brand new motobecane boris x7 is an extremely nice bike clocking in at $700 - significantly better components than the surface 604 and I expect to build it out nicely for another grand, give (mid drive) or take (hub). Plan is to use for myself in the winter and my wife in the summer while I ride my easy motion neo xtrem; she has an ejoe epik lite but it won't keep up with the neo, so rides aren't as fun as they could be...Sorry for the slight hijack!

20140905_142540.jpg

and my new upgrades!...
20140906_161004.jpg
 
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Brambor said:
Any decent fat bike starts around 2000 and bikes with great specs are 4K and up. How much do you think you'll spend on an electric fat bike?

The surface 604 can be had for 2K, the eRanger is really interesting for 2K, Surly Moonlander with BionX is around $4400, The Felt Lebowski around 6K

Any other mid drives besides the Felt Fatbike that should be arriving this fall and the Haibike FatSix that will probably be here next year?
Click to expand...

Just an added thought to my post above - while there are a few options out there, they are just too high priced compared to DIY - the components on my motobecane are significantly better than what you're getting on the 604 or the eranger (hadn't seen that one before, it definitely looks better than the 604, smarter choice with the battery placement too). I can do a lot better than the surface 604 with $1,300 to build with!

With a hub motor I'll have to build my own wheel, which I haven't done but is something I'd like to try (trued a couple of mine before so I'm comfortable working on it) - but, a mid drive and fat bike seem like a match made in heaven - they are both such relatively new markets that it is just a matter of time before someone makes a reasonably priced bracket the fit their mid drive to the fat bottom bracket spacing. I know there are a couple of small company options out there pushing $1K, but I'm crossing my fingers for a mass produced bbs02 version around $500 - after all, the bracket is just a matter of fabricating a longer bottom section to accommodate the 100mm bottom bracket on fat bikes. I could just be dreaming, but I think it will happen sooner than later.
 
pxpaulx said:
Just an added thought to my post above - while there are a few options out there, they are just too high priced compared to DIY - the components on my motobecane are significantly better than what you're getting on the 604 or the eranger (hadn't seen that one before, it definitely looks better than the 604, smarter choice with the battery placement too). I can do a lot better than the surface 604 with $1,300 to build with!

With a hub motor I'll have to build my own wheel, which I haven't done but is something I'd like to try (trued a couple of mine before so I'm comfortable working on it) - but, a mid drive and fat bike seem like a match made in heaven - they are both such relatively new markets that it is just a matter of time before someone makes a reasonably priced bracket the fit their mid drive to the fat bottom bracket spacing. I know there are a couple of small company options out there pushing $1K, but I'm crossing my fingers for a mass produced bbs02 version around $500 - after all, the bracket is just a matter of fabricating a longer bottom section to accommodate the 100mm bottom bracket on fat bikes. I could just be dreaming, but I think it will happen sooner than later.
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Agreed.. Lectric Cycles is selling mid drive kits for Fat bikes on their website, and they have some customer bike pics to prove it.. But their kits are 1500.
 
JoePah said:
Agreed.. Lectric Cycles is selling mid drive kits for Fat bikes on their website, and they have some customer bike pics to prove it.. But their kits are 1500.
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The customer photos shown here? http://lectriccycles.com

I don't see any fat bikes - I know they have a couple of their own, but I've read they use frames that happen to be able to squeeze a 4 inch tire while still having a 73mm bottom bracket. All 3 of their mid drive motor listings also indicate they work only with the standard 67mm or 73mm bottom bracket sizes, no reference to 100mm fat BB. None of the pictures in that link are of a fat bike - are there any other photos? I'd like to see it! Maybe I should email them to ask.

Maybe I should just buy a mid drive kit from em3ev (or go even cheaper with the gng motors) and get a mount bracket fabricated locally.
 
pxpaulx said:
The customer photos shown here? http://lectriccycles.com

I don't see any fat bikes - I know they have a couple of their own, but I've read they use frames that happen to be able to squeeze a 4 inch tire while still having a 73mm bottom bracket. All 3 of their mid drive motor listings also indicate they work only with the standard 67mm or 73mm bottom bracket sizes, no reference to 100mm fat BB. None of the pictures in that link are of a fat bike - are there any other photos? I'd like to see it! Maybe I should email them to ask.

Maybe I should just buy a mid drive kit from em3ev (or go even cheaper with the gng motors) and get a mount bracket fabricated locally.
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Scroll down there is an orange one. ;)
 
Was Ravi (who is evidently on his way back home; thanks for the the offer; glad that you had a great time)...the last member up here to leave SinCity? Anybody reporting 'live' from Day 2? Were the two TranzX drives (Peak/Dash versions) the only other alternate drives (other than Bosch) exhibited at InterBike 2014 ...or were they using something else on the cargo bikes? Any other 'throttle drives' besides the Dash/Peak?
Was there a single word spoken by anybody on either side in regards to the very bikes exhibited for sale at InterBike...being BANNED in the very places that current ebike owners most desire to ride...yet can't?
I must have asked 20 questions in this thread to date...anybody? :confused:
 
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Here is another video I snooped, Ravi lookin cool, fairly random stuff.

Here is the Day One footage, Chris Nolte near the end, looks hot.
 
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Ravi Kempaiah said:
Click to expand...

Are the Europeans racing these higher powered ebikes off-road presently...or will this be the 'Pro Class' in 2015 with say my lowly Peak competing (soon) 'just for fun'?

Everybody right now (with any common sense) knows darn well that ebike racing will (finally) drive the VanAbles (IMTB elitists) out of the sport for good. If you're going to call MTBing "human powered..period" (both before and after meeting with ebike leadership) I'm not certain how the ebiking community responds other than to confront same at the earliest possible convenience...in numbers at InterBike 2014.

How anybody up here can view that video, listen to Ravi's account
of riding the blasted thing (in real time) and 'still' be afraid(?) to discuss the information that we should be discovering RIGHT NOW (again in real time) AS OWNERS (regarding local access)..is frankly beyond me.
 
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Dash,

You really think users are afraid to discuss information about local access?

I could tell you that most are probably uninterested because there isn't a large mtbking contingent on this forum. I am not totally into it either and in between 3 jobs and hobbies I don't have the time for it.




DashRiprock said:
Are the Europeans racing these higher powered ebikes off-road presently...or will this be the 'Pro Class' in 2015 with say my lowly Peak competing (soon) 'just for fun'?

Everybody right now (with any common sense) knows darn well that ebike racing will (finally) drive the VanAbles (IMTB elitists) out of the sport for good. If you're going to call MTBing "human powered..period" (both before and after meeting with ebike leadership) I'm not certain how the ebiking community responds other than to confront same at the earliest possible convenience...in numbers at InterBike 2014.

How anybody up here can view that video, listen to Ravi's account
of riding the blasted thing (in real time) and 'still' be afraid(?) to discuss the information that we should be discovering RIGHT NOW (again in real time) AS OWNERS (regarding local access)..is frankly beyond me.
Click to expand...
 
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Brambor said:
Dash,
You really think users are afraid to discuss information about local access?
I could tell you that most are probably uninterested because there isn't a large mtbking contingent on this forum. I am not totally into it either and in between 3 jobs and hobbies I don't have the time for it.
Click to expand...

You edited (deleted) your obvious interest in MTB racing (above)...yet obviously aren't interested in MTB access for those of us who aren't even able to ride our local (dedicated/non-MTB) ) 'public' bike trails with an ebike...let alone our own 'public' lands that we've paid to build.

My reference to 'afraid' above is the lack of information that we are receiving right now out of InterBike 2014 that would finally put this inequality 'for the rest of us' to rest (or at least kindle the fire). 'Sales' are not going to help those of us out here in flyover country or tasked with confronting the local eco-nuts blocking our right to ride.

If it takes stating the obvious when nobody obviously gives a rip (see InterBike 2014) as to what their fellow riders are up against...then so be it.
 
Brambor said:
it was a mistake. I'm not at all into racing.
Click to expand...
...and I don't expect you to care about access issues...simply making the point that if nobody else does either...especially at the let's-all-get-together-and-talk-biking-but-once-a-year level ...then what's the point of owning an ebike if one can't ride it anywhere but in the street?
 
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