Steep mountain trail commuting- advice on bike

[NikkiK]

As the crow flies my mountain commute would be relatively short- but by road it's about 26 miles round trip and with an elevation of 1200 ft up/down each way. The good news is that it's all paved, but the last part of my climb home is very steep with the majority of the 1200ft climb within less than a mile.
I'd also like to have the option of single track trail riding in the mountains as well. The trails can be very rocky and technical at times. So if any of you experienced riders can recommend a tougher e-mountain bike, I would appreciate very much.
Thank you! -Nikki

 

[Chris Nolte]

I'd recommend a center drive bike. We tend to prefer Bosch in the shop due to it's reliability and refined power delivery.

The benefit of the center drive motor is you can control the traction really well in the trails and you can use a low gear while climbing.

I would then consider if you want full suspension or not. The industry is trending towards plus size bikes and I tend to prefer them on trails.

One bike you might want to consider is the Riese & Müller Delite Mountain. It's comfortable for street riding but still quite capable on the trails. It also comes standard with lights and gives you the ability to run two batteries as well as a rear carrier which could be really nice for longer rides and makes the bike a bit better for commuting with a pannier or two.

You could also setup another full suspension or hardtail mountain bike from Haibike or Bulls to handle your needs. They'll tend to be a bit more sporty in their positioning and could get a bit tiring over a long commute. You could swap the bars and stem for something more comfortable though. I would encourage you to stay away from the super long travel bikes as they can be a bit of a drag on the road.

I hope this helps you get started in your search. Let me know if I can assist in anyway.

 

[rich c]

I agree with Chris about most everything, except for the longer travel bikes. It would depend on the size of the rock on the trails. I think all higher end full suspension bikes have lockouts on the fork and rear suspension shock for street riding. But, I love the suspension over expansion joints and hopping curbs. Another thing to consider is how much gear you need to carry on the commute. I know they have rear racks for full suspension bikes, but no idea how well they work or what weight capacity they have. I have a Haibike XDURO Full Seven S RX and am in love with it. I have Schwalbe Super Moto tires on it so I don't get the knobby tire noise on pavement. They work very well on dry single tracks. I'll take about 15psi out of them on the trails.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Btw - when I said long travel I was more speaking of over 120mm. If you went with more travel I would highly suggest something with the Fox CTD system and you can run it on trail mode on the street.

If I had the Haibike Full Seven S RX I would totally run Supermoto X tires as well. They're great! You can even get them in plus size now as well.

 

[Bicyclista]

I second what Chris Nolte said, although some of it requires translation if you're a newbie. "Plus size bikes" are not oversized bikes! Rather, they are bikes whose frames allow using (around) 3-inch-wide tires, i.e. wider than most mountain bikes (around 2.25 inches) and thinner than fat bikes (4 inches wide or more). For me, plus-size tires are the sweet all-terrain tires, allowing you to ride anything from pavement to gravel to sand.

You should ALWAYS get a frame that is the right size for you.

As the owner of a full-suspension Haibike Sduro AllMtn Plus, which uses a mid-drive Yamaha motor, I can tell you that Bosch is not the only good motor around. My bike can climb hills really well, and it matches my 60-90 rpm cadence. If, however, you're a high cadence rider you would probably be better served by Bosch. Court Rye, the owner of this site, has noted in his reviews that Yamaha motors' power output goes down at high cadence whereas Bosch motors' power band continues on. However, bikes with Yamaha motors are substantially less expensive than those with Bosch motors, at least in the Haibike line.

If you need to have a rack to take things with you, a hard tail with front suspension might be better. I have yet to find a good rack for my full-suspension, plus-size tire bike, i.e. a rack that attaches to the moving seat stays AND is wide enough to clear the plus-sized tires. (I don't like cantilever racks that attach only to the seat post; they are inherently weak.) But I would definitively recommend a suspension seat post if you get a hardtail.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

As the crow flies my mountain commute would be relatively short- but by road it's about 26 miles round trip and with an elevation of 1200 ft up/down each way. The good news is that it's all paved, but the last part of my climb home is very steep with the majority of the 1200ft climb within less than a mile.
I'd also like to have the option of single track trail riding in the mountains as well. The trails can be very rocky and technical at times. So if any of you experienced riders can recommend a tougher e-mountain bike, I would appreciate very much.
Thank you! -Nikki

The new models from Trek (Powerfly series) and Giant (Dirt E) are really good. The big advantage would be extensive dealer network for you test it out and get service down the line.

There are few E-MTB with speed motors:
E.g., Haibike Full Seven S 7.0 and Bulls E-stream EVO 45 FS.

You could put Thule pack-pedal on most full suspension bikes for commuting purposes.

Have you tried any of the eMTB so far?
Personal preference plays a big role in selecting a proper bike.

 

[E-Wheels]

I'd recommend a center drive bike. We tend to prefer Bosch in the shop due to it's reliability and refined power delivery.

The benefit of the center drive motor is you can control the traction really well in the trails and you can use a low gear while climbing.

I would then consider if you want full suspension or not. The industry is trending towards plus size bikes and I tend to prefer them on trails.

One bike you might want to consider is the Riese & Müller Delite Mountain. It's comfortable for street riding but still quite capable on the trails. It also comes standard with lights and gives you the ability to run two batteries as well as a rear carrier which could be really nice for longer rides and makes the bike a bit better for commuting with a pannier or two.

You could also setup another full suspension or hardtail mountain bike from Haibike or Bulls to handle your needs. They'll tend to be a bit more sporty in their positioning and could get a bit tiring over a long commute. You could swap the bars and stem for something more comfortable though. I would encourage you to stay away from the super long travel bikes as they can be a bit of a drag on the road.

I hope this helps you get started in your search. Let me know if I can assist in anyway.

Chris can you fit full length front and rear fenders to the R&M Delite Mountain

 

[Chris Nolte]

Chris can you fit full length front and rear fenders to the R&M Delite Mountain

Technically yes, but the issue is that the Mountain has wider tires than the other Delite's so the stock fenders wouldn't provide the same coverage. Fenders on full suspension bikes had always been a challenge. We've been able to make some creative solutions work, but it's been great to have bikes like the R&M ones which are ready to ride out of the box.

 

[NikkiK]

Thanks guys, there's a lot of information in here to digest. After thinking about it some more, I wonder if I should not try to get the best out of all worlds (trail and road) because I may end up getting a mediocre at everything type of bike. I'm a traditionalist with my actual mtn. bike - Stunt Jumper hard tail from mid 90's. Every time I go to upgrade, I have a hard time justifying the purchase of something that doesn't have a motor. In this case of an ebike I guess I can make that justification a little better, but going up to the $5-7K range seems like I should be driving an entire car around (albeit a cheap car). I'm headed out to go 'test drive' a few bikes in Salt Lake and hope to be able to get a better feel for it. Considering the Magnum Peak as an all around, but will give the longer range ones a try too. Chris, the Riese & Muller Delite Mtn. looks like the top of the line and of course once I try one of those on (or it's equiv. bike in SLC) I'm sure I'll throw all caution out the wind and then want the best / most expensive. At this point though, I'm trying to keep the range closer to 2K. Maybe that's a pipe-dream, but I'll want to save some $$ to upgrade my actual mtn. bike one day. ;-)

One quick question though, how important is weight on these bikes? I noticed that some 'carbon fiber' bikes are only a few pounds difference than some other bikes and I would assume with the bike the Chris mentioned weight would really be a factor. Is there a different SOTP (seat of the pants) feel when driving vs peddling all that weight up hill / long distances?

 

[rich c]

How important is the weight? How fit are you? If you have good legs, you can keep the bike on a lower assist setting and extend the range, and still not notice the weight. When I ride my Trekking bike, it's probably close to 90 pounds with a days gear in the bags. Plenty nimble and controllable at that weight. Now if you need to get the bike up a flight of stairs, or load it on a roof rack, it's a big deal.

 

[WilliamT]

The Magnum Peak looks like a pretty nice bike that will have no problems with the hills. If your looking at that one, you should also look at Luna's Hardtail

https://lunacycle.com/luna-alite-hard-tail/

Two different technologies; one geared hub and the other a mid-drive. For steep hills, I would probably go with the mid-drive. I believe all the ones mentioned in this thread are mid-drives too.

If your comfortable fixing your own bike, you could also just buy the kit to put on your Stunt Jumper for about $1k. (assuming the battery fits in your frame)