Top 5 reasons why electric mountain bikes make great commuter bikes

[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.
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*) 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.