Mountain bike questions

[bigbasin]

I think my first ebike will be a mountain ebike, probably a hard tail.

I'm leaning towards a mid mount hub; I won't be using it on very technical hills, mostly fire roads or rutted forest paths. If you live in the SF Bay Area, the trail I'm looking at is the Berry Creek Falls trail from the Highway One entrance of Big Basin State Park. Then, later, some trails in the Eastern Sierras around June Lake.

Speed is not very important.

How do I figure out if a Mountain ebike will have enough torque to get me up the trail? I'd guess the steeper the climb, the more juice is used, but is there a way to calculate that before a ride?

I'd like to keep the price under $2500, preferably with twist and go.

Recommendations?

Thx

 

[Steve Ryu]

I think my first ebike will be a mountain ebike, probably a hard tail.

I'm leaning towards a mid mount hub; I won't be using it on very technical hills, mostly fire roads or rutted forest paths. If you live in the SF Bay Area, the trail I'm looking at is the Berry Creek Falls trail from the Highway One entrance of Big Basin State Park. Then, later, some trails in the Eastern Sierras around June Lake.

Speed is not very important.

How do I figure out if a Mountain ebike will have enough torque to get me up the trail? I'd guess the steeper the climb, the more juice is used, but is there a way to calculate that before a ride?

I'd like to keep the price under $2500, preferably with twist and go.

Recommendations?

Thx

So right off the bat. Mid-drive motors are definitely a lot more efficient than rear hub and will likely get you twice the amount of torque that you'd normally get from a rear hub. Mid mounts also have a better center of gravity and makes it easy for flat repairs when you're on the trail because both front and rear wheels are standard.

If you're looking for twist and go, mid drive motors aren't necessarily tooled to have throttle. The two/three exceptions are the IZIP Peak, Peak DS and Raleigh Tekoa which has the same IZIP/Currie motor, support a throttle that is made to get you off the line at 6mph. If you spin the crank while throttling, this will then take you to 20mph, of course depending on the incline.

The IZIP 2015 line is currently on sale. So a hardtail E3 Peak that would normally go for 3100 is now going for 2500.

Haibike is also set to come out with an SDURO line. The difference between the Haibike XDURO that uses the Bosch mid drive system, is that the SDURO will use a Yamaha mid drive system. Please keep in mind that these bikes will not have a throttle.

Haibike vs. IZIP. Haibike is a little more premium when it comes to components. Also Haibike drive systems are Max 350w with 36v batteries. IZIP/Raleigh bikes run at max 450w with 48v batteries. Haibike drive is more refined and smoother shifting. Smaller motor and chainrings make for smoother let torque-y drive while the 48v 450w max, makes for a very torque-y ride.

If you're in SF, i'd definitely look up Motostrano or I could assist in connecting you with a IZIP Territory Manager that would better assist you since i'm located at the company store down in Santa Monica.

 

[Steve Ryu]

I think my first ebike will be a mountain ebike, probably a hard tail.

I'm leaning towards a mid mount hub; I won't be using it on very technical hills, mostly fire roads or rutted forest paths. If you live in the SF Bay Area, the trail I'm looking at is the Berry Creek Falls trail from the Highway One entrance of Big Basin State Park. Then, later, some trails in the Eastern Sierras around June Lake.

Speed is not very important.

How do I figure out if a Mountain ebike will have enough torque to get me up the trail? I'd guess the steeper the climb, the more juice is used, but is there a way to calculate that before a ride?

I'd like to keep the price under $2500, preferably with twist and go.

Recommendations?

Thx

Another quick reminder that I tell all of our customers, remember, even though it's an electric bike/eBike, it's still a bike. The only way to really tell if it'll fit your needs is to do an actual test ride. Real world performance is always greater than calculations.

 

[Greg A]

You might also look at the Optibike Pioneer Allroad. They had a special @ $2,500 when I ordered mine
It's Mid-drive motor does hills and trails around Seattle fabulously, probably will work down in the Bay area for you just as well.
There are recent upgrades than what are currently shown on Court's review, as well as what is on Optibikes website.
Check out the Optibike forum here for the current model;

http://electricbikereview.com/community/forums/optibike/

 

[MLB]

My Stromer (rear hub) is considerably faster to speed than my Haibike (bosch mid drive). That is torque in action.
To say middrives put out twice is much is simply wrong and misleading as hell.
There are other reasons to choose a mid drive (weight of a rear hub mainly) but "being stronger" isn't one of them.