Top 5 reasons why electric mountain bikes make great commuter bikes

[Browneye]

An update on this subject...
The other night I got both bikes out and rode them back to back on a few hot-laps around the block, just to compare. The Giant Explore and Trance E bikes.
Since I have the ride control app it was easy to see speed at the limiter, track distance, etc.

I pumped the tires up on the Trance to 40psi and locked-out both front and rear suspension. Full knobbies, lower gearing range, X motor, 500w pack vs. the Explore sport motor and 400w pack.

I was actually pretty surprised how well the Trance did in comparison. It wasn't hard to hit the speed limiter at all. And although the ergos are spread out quite a bit more, and leaned over a little more, it was surprisingly easy to ride and quite relaxed and comfortable. The lower gears aren't of much use, pretty much anything under 5th or 6th - these have an 11speed cassette.

So if I was going to spend much time with it on the road I would opt for some smooth tires - already have some Schawalbe Moto-X tires in my cart, and a bigger front chain ring. Even just a coupe of teeth would provide a better gear range for road speeds.

And just the cush from the big tires was enough for suspension, the locked out fork and shock was fine. I have no idea on range comparison between the two.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Nobody says e-MTB cannot be used for commuting, Chris. The point is the e-MTB has no lights, fenders*, rack. And a Class 3 commuter bike will always be faster without making the warranty void.
———
*) Ah, it never rains in California

 

[tomjasz]

e-MTB has no lights, fenders*, rack

Many old school pre-2007 MTBs are with all the above are sporting kit conversions to eBike. We've seen more than a few. BSA bottom brackets; 68mm, 73mm, 83mm ,100mm or 120mm are easily kitted with mid drives.

 

[smorgasbord]

But did you swap out the stock saddle? I thought Eric made it quite clear you are not allowed to put a comfy seat on that bike.

LOL, interestingly, the last couple batches of Apollos came with WTB saddles - a Volt and a Deva. Maybe they remembered that the second Apollo was for a woman? Anyway, not just the super hard carbon fiber shell any more.

A full-suspension bike without a rack suitable for carrying a laptop is not ideal for commuting.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

This works in the opposite way as well: A good commuter e-bike can be used for off-road and mountain biking but it is far from being perfect for the purpose.

 

[Asher]

The bike industry has a long history of aping carmakers and courting soft dudes who want to look hard tooling around their white bread cul-de-sac on 'off-road' vehicles. Extending it to e-mtbs was an inevitable progression.