harr
New Member
- Region
- USA
Looking for an ebike that'll take me through mostly groomed forest trails throughout the Midwestern US. Some packed sand beaches around Lake Michigan. Video below of the roughest "singletrack" terrain I'd expect to encounter (but this is maybe 5% of my standard usage, 95% being standard wide exercise trails). I'm not an extremely seasoned rider by any means, but I do own some other bikes (Salsa Warbird Carbon Hybrid, Trek Marlin 7) and have a few seasons under my belt. I have no experience with ebikes.
- Budget - $5k USD
- Riding Time - Spring, Summer, Fall, not much in winter.
- Distances - Would like to do up to 40-60 mile trails (think forest service roads, not so much Colorado mountain trails). Will have the bike on my bike rack (RockyMounts Backstage) to get to locations. Maybe 4-5 miles on the road at times to get to a trail if I go without a car.
- Me - 42 y/o, 5'7 (170cm) / 165lbs (75kg). 30" inseam.. step-in is fine, but probably prefer something in between a full height and step-in.
- Details
- Looking for a fat (or fat-adjacent...3" ?) bike that has a rear rack (or can be added easily). Never had a fatty, but I have a nice hybrid road bike and an entry level MTB already. I guess ability to step down to 3" if the 4" tires aren't for me.
- Would like front suspension, bonus points for full suspension.
- Mid vs hub... don't really know, I don't have big hills, a little intimidated by changing a rear flat on a hub.
- Torque sensing seems like a good idea based on my limited research
- Must have solid track record of good customer service. I'm OK with the smaller China-based options (Bafang motors, etc..) and am OK with the bigger brands that use Bosch (Giant, Cannondale, Trek, Specialized, etc..). Prefer not to pay more for the brand name unless there's a big differentiator.
- Prefer shop maintenance, I'm not a big tinkerer. Assuming VeloFix can help me out for the smaller brands that don't have store support.
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