I’ve been thinking for a while that my next major sporting investment would be an e-bike for Mrs BigJohn.

I love riding with her, but there’s quite a difference in our speed and stamina so the rides are always slower and shorter than when I’m out with mates.

Yesterday we demo’d a 2017 Trek Powerfly 5, a fairly basic hardtail MTB with a Bosch motor. It was pretty good: I rode my Cotic Soul and she rode the Trek. We started on some paths then did a fair bit of Follow the dog on Cannock Chase, then went over and did some of the trails we usually ride on the other side of the road, plus fire roads and a bit of tarmac.

It was good enough for her to want one, although the smallest size has got quite a high front end, it’s not as nimble as her current bike and it weighs a ton. She reckons that she’ll have to get good at riding over fallen logs at speed as if she can’t ride them she’ll never lift the bugger over! And when we went down a tight trail that turned out to have been logged she had to push it backwards to a clearing as it was too heavy to turn round on the trail.

How do you manual or bunny hop these things?

I guess the riding position can be sorted out with a few tweaks but it looks like all proper e-mountain bikes are heavy and non-nimble.

We’ve looked at Giant & Specialized today and it doesn’t seem that the 2018 models have made a massive step up over the 2017s.

Therefore, I’m probably going to look for a 15″ ex-demo model.

Anybody have any observations or know of something going that might suit. Money’s burning a hole in her handbag.

I’ve a Levo FSR, but I’ve ridden the HT version and it’s very good, esp with 6fattie tyres.

Manual and hop it the same as every other bike, just have to put a bit more effort in. They are the same weight as DH bikes from a few years ago so it can be done, although smaller ladies might struggle to begin with.

I have a cube stereo, my wife has a cube reaction hardtail, i find it pretty easy to lift the front wheel tbh, on either bike.
Both bikes have the same bosch motor.
Any time I’ve went out with the lads ive had no problems going at my usual speed downhill, uphill of course im quicker than my usual speed.
Confidence is probably the key point here, my wife has very little, so she won’t even attempt anything remotely technical.
Perhaps get her used to it on familiar terrain?

You should have asked to feel the weight of the battery 🙂

There’s no getting away from the weight thing. The battery and motor are heavy.

How do you manual or bunny hop these things?

s’easy

scotroutes – Member

You should have asked to feel the weight of the battery

There’s no getting away from the weight thing. The battery and motor are heavy.

Yup – figure on 15lb of so for the motor and battery. My ebike weighs 50 lb in its current guise with dual ply tyres etc. Also a £2000 ebike will have the frame and components of a £500 bike. Got to spend some real money to get the good stuff I guess

Mrs M has a cube stereo ebike 140 travel FS. (650b). She loves it, bossed it down some of the big rocky trails on Dartmoor and flies around the South Downs.

She finds it far more confidence inspiring than her trek ex8 (non e). She did demo a powerfly hardtail 29er and enjoyed it which set the ball rolling and the cube came up at to good a price to argue.

Well I got mrs T an Ebike. cube hardtail and just had a weeks holiday in the Jura France where we rode every day
Together and some goodish climbs
Fantastic that we could ride together. ( well with me at the back on the climbs ) but we had a great week on holiday
And looking forward to lots of rides together in the future .

Cannondale Moterra looks interesting as they’ve made a custom Bosch motor mount so the weight from the motor/battery is a lot lower. Apparently handles very well. Still bastard heavy though!!

Wheelies/manuals should be a piece of piss with the extra help from the motor.

Manual them? Get the most powerful motor, stick it in turbo and tug the bars gently…. UP SHE COMES! 🙂

I’ve had a hai bike fat six (with bosch motor) for almost a year and love it

It has proved to me thats the way i want to go with my bikes now,

so I’ve just bought a cannonade moterra 120mm travel full sus, fox 34’s 2.8 tyres

it streets ahead of the hai bike to be fair

motor and battery integration is great, and handling is awesome

will be doing 40 miles on it to work and back tomorrow through the woods

Planning to join the ebike revolution in 2yrs time @65yrs 😛
Currently planning a few upgrades to my RM Alltitude for my summer visit to Switchbacks. Some DTSwiss wheels from lbs @a good discount and some other bits’ pieces from another lbs to be agreed on. i.e. “big” cassette ” for the Spanish climbs, chain rings, mech, mech hanger, shifter, etc…. + rear and fork service === freckling expensive holiday 😐 🙄

[video]https://youtu.be/ACvb_DYEpDE[/video]

Dont know your price range but there are some good discounts to be had on the Turbo Levo FSR Expert

Cube units seem pretty good (too short for me but..) going by a number of friends with a selection of different makes, and what few are left at the end of the season, are reasonably discounted IME but sell quickly. Or if you pre-order early you can get a bargain. Obviously neither of these matter if you buy now..
Again going from my friends, I reckon the Bosch unit is the more reliable (& a warranty is still definitely worthwhile!), trek sold out this years* well before the new model was announced, giants were reduced but use their own inhouse switch gear (crap and all one piece!) instead of Yamaha full kit.
I’d suggest going FS, as the weight difference between a HT and FS e-bike is so negligible that the FS ride benefits are well worth it.

*from the distributer, shops may still have stock but I take this to mean they were very popular.

this is good fun.

I ended up getting a Giant Dirt-e at a really good price.

I’m very impressed by it and somebody I know is chuffed to bits. Heading out on our first “together” 30 mile road ride tomorrow. It’s a small. Still can’t get my head round the idea of a small giant though, I thought they were huge.

“Enjoy”. Mrs M has become my evil hill pace setter since getting hers.