All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Just for kicks, last year, I drilled into an old frame to install a water bottle cage. It wasn't that difficult to install the rivnuts. It would be more difficult with small front triangles though. It should be easy enough to do and you may find other uses for the tool.

 

So I had an Orbea Wild M20 on order at 25% off, well delays and delays since December the dealer got with me today saying Orbea told them it could be May if not farther out due to more delays.
I mentioned possibly going with a Heckler SL since they had a Large in stock and the MSRP is the same, they didn't say no, but what's anyone's thoughts in here over the Full Power vs Lightweight?

 

All the juice or none of the juice.

 

My opinion is full power or bust when it comes to ebikes. You are usually spending the same amount for an SL compared to a full power. If you are in the southeast and want to make weekend trips to Jarrods or Kanuga, the bigger battery will come in handy at these mostly self shuttle parks. The geo is usually more aggressive and the components are burlier on the full powers, so its going to stand up to the abuse of bike parks better imo.

 

Full power E bikes in my mind get really close to the point of a surron honestly. Other than the fact surrons arent allowed on as many trails

 

Not even remotely close. Surrons are pushing 140LBS, they have over 10x as much power, more suspension, more tire, and a throttle. A Surron is closer to a motorcycle than it is to an Class 1 EMTB by a lot.

 

Full power are 50-60#… that is too heavy to pedal on a trail IMO.

 

Funny i've ridden my 55lb ebike for years on the same trails that I ride my trail bikes. Seems to do just fine?

Even with the surge of emtb popularity there has been zero change to the trails I frequent. The wear and tear argument is tired and has been repeatedly proven incorrect.

 

I didn't realize they were 120+ lbs hm. Interesting. wear and tear I feel would depend on the type of terrain and difficulty of trail. Place like phoenix with only rock and loose gravel I never noticed any change when Ebikes came around, but here in Reno and Tahoe its noticable if someone rides a trail when its too wet even on a normal bike. And a lot of E bike riders I've seen tend to be less informed on ettiquette and could tear up some of the easier trails if theyre not careful. Still, small %

grow the sport by *almost* any means necessary and we'll all benefit eventually

 

No I’m talking about pedaling that bike with no power when your pack runs out. I don’t like heavy e-bikes.

 

It's not that bad with a 12spd big ring. I've definitely grinded out a few miles on a dead battery. That's kind of the point of the full fat eeb though, you're done well before you run out of juice. Especially if you've got anything over the standard 630wh size packs.

 

Spur came in today and I just finished bedding the brakes. Pretty stoked to get out on it.

 

Unknowingly spurred a full fat vs LW ebike convo…
I have a full fat. But for the next one, I don’t know…
I think so much depends on the rider, terrain, intended use, etc…
Having ridden both, I’m on the fence. When I’m in good MTB shape the LW is awesome. I can ride it like my enduro, while feeling like I get a little boost. Excellent for knocking out 3-4K of vert with some work.
If I’m just out to bust out some laps, and get 4-5k of vert easy (new ones get 5-7k) then it’s full fat.
Two other factors:
Riding tech, steep, gnarly pucker style runs, LW all day.
Flow style rides, FF is awesome.
And last thing, with my kiddo and the shotgun seat, FF every goddam time.

im hoping the newer mid-fat trend picks up a little. A 40 lb bike with an add-on pack for longer days and adjustable near full power motor would be excellent. LW when you want it, FF if you need it.
Let me choose the battery and power levels I want for the ride I’m going on.

 

90% of my riding gear is secondhand from thrifts or used gear shops. Better for the environment. I do buy new gloves and socks though...

Gloves: HandUp
Socks: Stoke Signal (they last for many years)

 

Gloves I’ll buy whatever. And socks I’m an animal and wear my normal bike crew socks.
I just bum a discount off my friend who works in the village at the dh park and get some Troy Lee stuff for at-cost pricing

 

Super excited that my 9yo has gotten tall enough to get a 24” bike. He suffers from a genetic condition that impacts his musculature, so we got him a really nice battery-assisted bike so he can ride further, ride longer, and have more fun.

It’s a Woom 5 Up. Has an air fork, 1x11 drivetrain, hydro brakes, and weighs 35lbs. Governed at 12.5mph assist. The power onset is so smooth.

Who needs money!

 

This. This is the perfect reason why bikes are great, and in this instance the woom up too!

 

A friend rides lightweight e-bike and loves it. Did a 40 mile ride with him last year and he only ran out of juice on the last mile. He was able to pedal his 35 lb (ish) lightweight e-bike back to the truck without much issue.

 

I have no skin in the game as I don't own an e-bike and not sure they are in my near future. However I would be looking towards a lightweight e-bike if that is where I went for a few reasons:

-Here the terrain can get technical and I'm not sure a 50 lb bike would be much fun to muscle around.
-Elevation can be found, but a typical ride is sub 2,000' for 10-15 miles unless you head up into the mountains.
-Loading a full weight e-bike into my truck would suck.

The controversial side of it also falls into the legality of riding an e-bike on trails that are classified as prohibited. While most trail networks don't seem to enforce the rules and people are understanding that its not the e-bikes which cause trail damage (looking more at the dirtbike riders and surron folks), an SL seems to blend in more and looks closer to a regular bike. A new stumpjumper evo looks like there is a motor mount in the bottom bracket area with how beefy it is. A Turbo Levo SL has the same frame shape and does not draw attention to it is the same light as a regular Turbo Levo.

Not saying I am for people riding ebikes on trails that are prohibited, but at some point you need to be honest with it. I wouldn't want to drop that amount of money and not be able to ride all the trails I normally do because there is a motor assist. As an example, we do a trip a couple times a year to Kingdom Trails in Vermont and those trails only allow ebikes with written permission due to mobility issues (a lot of other popular trail networks in VT do not allow ebikes in general). Its plainly obvious they do not enforce that policy as you see them in the network more and more as time rolls on, but I would not want to be in a position that draws attention to my bike if there was a motor there.

 

My $.02 on this and its very limited experience so take it with a grain of salt. Oct 2023 my LBS had Transition Demo Day at a local trail system that I frequent and am very familiar with. A buddy and I got there late but were still able to ride their bikes. We went solely for the purpose of riding E-bikes. He took the Relay and I took a Repeater out and we did a 5 mile loop and switched bikes and did the same loop over again.

My/our take was that the Relay (SL) felt so much like a regular bike but with the boost, so cool riding a big travel bike around without it feeling like a big bike. The Repeater was definitely more powerful (noticeably) and heavier. Just for the record I'm in SWPa so its tight twisty trails thru the trees riddled with rocks and roots, very little wide open double track. That kind of riding can be had if you want, just not what I prefer.

Biggest take away was the Relay was quicker on the trails because of how it felt more like a regular bike, the Repeater was a handful and really kept ya focused a bit more. More so when things got tight/twisty. It really wanted to push you into corners, that's where the weight came into play. Don't get me wrong it was fun but different and I could get comfortable with it, I have a bit of a dirt bike background so dragging the rear brake will help in those situations. It IS different than the Mid-power. Up hills is where the full power shines and IMO the only place it shines over the Mid. I was using trail mode casually up a long hill and my buddy had to use boost and work a bit to keep up on the Relay.

Once again in my opinion, if you still enjoy pedaling then the Mid is the way to go to transition into e-bikes. If you're lucky enough to have the means of owning both then so be it, best of both worlds. Talking to a group of younger riders that ride e-bikes exclusively I was told if you ride fast and hard you will not lose any fitness or cardio but if you just cruise along or do mixed bike (analog) rides then you may lose some fitness. IDK, my e-bike purchase will have to wait a while, just put together a Ti hardtail so maybe next year. It will definitely be a mid power and prolly one with the Fazua system.