newheights
Member
- Region
- USA
I am excited to get into e-bikes and fat bikes, and am new to both. Currently riding HT 29er MTB.
Researching around, it looks like there are a lot of options, but I am noticing many e-Fat bikes seem to only come in standard sizes (17" - 19").
Are there any e-Fat bikes you would recommend for taller (~6'4") and shorter (~5'5") riders?
For reference, my current MTB has ~20.5" frame with 33.5" standover height and rides OK, sometimes feels a bit small as I have to jack the seat up higher than I would otherwise like to get comfortable leg extension
Other rider has a 15" MTB and feels it is OK, but perhaps a bit on the smaller side.
Neither of us seem like we would fit comfortably on a 17" or 19" frame.
So far what I have come up with for the larger frame is the M2S All Terrain Ultra HT (unfortunately out of stock currently) with a 21" frame. (https://shop.m2sbikes.com/collections/all-terrain-electric-bike-series/products/all-terrain-ultra-ht)
- in addition to lack of availability, the tire width is limited to 4.5". I had hoped to be able to upgrade to 5" for snow in the future, but perhaps 4.5 vs 5 is not a big deal?
For smaller frame, it seems the Bolton Sabre with step thru (https://boltonebikes.com/products/sabre), also unfortunately out of stock currently, or potentially the Biktrix Stunner X (https://www.biktrix.com/pages/stunner-x-details) might work.
- downside here is the cruiser geometry, really would prefer something better for trails, though maybe that is not a big deal when using a pedal assisted bike?
- the Biktrix it appears uses the BBS02, which I had read does not handle slow technical steep uphill as well as BBSHD or ultra-max
- not sure on the max tire size yet
For shorter rider, might it be necessary to go down to 24" tires, and does that negatively impact the ability to ride rough trails or handle snow?
I would consider doing a conversion, though would prefer a bike that comes prebuilt and tuned. Still, had trouble finding appropriate sized frames that weren't fairly pricey to start, or out of stock. That also would limit it to BBSHD instead of ultra-max, which power wise I think is fine but means no torque sensing, and a slightly more exposed motor.
Any thoughts regarding other options that would work well, or on if any of the bikes I listed are good/bad ideas? I'll list some specifics of how we plan to use these if that informs the recommendations.
Our use case will be
- predominantly ~10-20 mile rides on flowy single track / forest service roads
- rides of 40-50 miles on occasion
- very hilly, lots of up and down, shortest ride we do currently has ~1,200 feet of climbing, but some rides we would like to do would climb 5,000 ft +
- some very steep grades (old logging roads) that go for 0.5-2 miles
- winter use including snow, mostly on graded, drive-able (though gated off to cars in winter) dirt or paved roads, to access back country. Good traction (which I think means wide tires?) particularly important for long descent
- otherwise will mostly be dirt vs mud and gravel when not at elevation
- occasionally heavy towing, trailer vs paniers, with camping gear, backcountry skis, or dogs
- mostly plan to use low level pedal assist to augment our own efforts, but do want a throttle for starting from a stop on hill or in case of injury/exhaustion while out
Based on that and my initial research, some items I thought sounded important were
- mid drive motor, particularly for slow steep climbs under load (preferably BBSHD and I think ultra-max also handles this ok?), from my reading, BBS02 and especially hub drive motors would not be good options here
- option for wide fat tires, for good snow traction
- reliable brakes that can handle a 15 mile 5,000 ft descent
Researching around, it looks like there are a lot of options, but I am noticing many e-Fat bikes seem to only come in standard sizes (17" - 19").
Are there any e-Fat bikes you would recommend for taller (~6'4") and shorter (~5'5") riders?
For reference, my current MTB has ~20.5" frame with 33.5" standover height and rides OK, sometimes feels a bit small as I have to jack the seat up higher than I would otherwise like to get comfortable leg extension
Other rider has a 15" MTB and feels it is OK, but perhaps a bit on the smaller side.
Neither of us seem like we would fit comfortably on a 17" or 19" frame.
So far what I have come up with for the larger frame is the M2S All Terrain Ultra HT (unfortunately out of stock currently) with a 21" frame. (https://shop.m2sbikes.com/collections/all-terrain-electric-bike-series/products/all-terrain-ultra-ht)
- in addition to lack of availability, the tire width is limited to 4.5". I had hoped to be able to upgrade to 5" for snow in the future, but perhaps 4.5 vs 5 is not a big deal?
For smaller frame, it seems the Bolton Sabre with step thru (https://boltonebikes.com/products/sabre), also unfortunately out of stock currently, or potentially the Biktrix Stunner X (https://www.biktrix.com/pages/stunner-x-details) might work.
- downside here is the cruiser geometry, really would prefer something better for trails, though maybe that is not a big deal when using a pedal assisted bike?
- the Biktrix it appears uses the BBS02, which I had read does not handle slow technical steep uphill as well as BBSHD or ultra-max
- not sure on the max tire size yet
For shorter rider, might it be necessary to go down to 24" tires, and does that negatively impact the ability to ride rough trails or handle snow?
I would consider doing a conversion, though would prefer a bike that comes prebuilt and tuned. Still, had trouble finding appropriate sized frames that weren't fairly pricey to start, or out of stock. That also would limit it to BBSHD instead of ultra-max, which power wise I think is fine but means no torque sensing, and a slightly more exposed motor.
Any thoughts regarding other options that would work well, or on if any of the bikes I listed are good/bad ideas? I'll list some specifics of how we plan to use these if that informs the recommendations.
Our use case will be
- predominantly ~10-20 mile rides on flowy single track / forest service roads
- rides of 40-50 miles on occasion
- very hilly, lots of up and down, shortest ride we do currently has ~1,200 feet of climbing, but some rides we would like to do would climb 5,000 ft +
- some very steep grades (old logging roads) that go for 0.5-2 miles
- winter use including snow, mostly on graded, drive-able (though gated off to cars in winter) dirt or paved roads, to access back country. Good traction (which I think means wide tires?) particularly important for long descent
- otherwise will mostly be dirt vs mud and gravel when not at elevation
- occasionally heavy towing, trailer vs paniers, with camping gear, backcountry skis, or dogs
- mostly plan to use low level pedal assist to augment our own efforts, but do want a throttle for starting from a stop on hill or in case of injury/exhaustion while out
Based on that and my initial research, some items I thought sounded important were
- mid drive motor, particularly for slow steep climbs under load (preferably BBSHD and I think ultra-max also handles this ok?), from my reading, BBS02 and especially hub drive motors would not be good options here
- option for wide fat tires, for good snow traction
- reliable brakes that can handle a 15 mile 5,000 ft descent
