6-5-4…Brands That Haven’t Made An e-MTB Yet

Sadly, Turner is closer to need an zap with a defibrilator than it is to build another bike, be it electric or not.

Quite surprised Surly haven’t produced a e-bike yet.

cotic e-rocket

Si’s no mug. If he sniffed a profit for cotic e-bikes he’d probably do it.
But for a small company the design overhead must be pretty large – and I bet he has his hands full with keeping his current line refreshed.
Or maybe he thinks that ebikes are just motorbikes. Wouldn’t like to speak for him 🙂

Cotic Steel-E-Span

@stwhannah Vitus and Fantic do it pretty well.

@captainclunkz – I’ve ridden them. They don’t “rely on pedal power” – you only have to spin the pedals and they whizz up pretty much anything.
They’re great fun, but stop lying to yourself – they’re motorbikes plain and simple – it’s just the motor is electric, not petrol. It’s still a fekking motor.
They enable my unfit (zero exercise and carrying long-term injuries) and obese sister to ride around the hills of the lake district at a rate a fit me I can’t remotely keep up with on my lightweight Ti hardtail.
They’re bikes with motors. Don’t really care if you’re horribly offended by that – but after riding them, and riding with “non-riders” using them it’s clear and obvious that it’s the “motor” part, not the “bike” part that’s the big feature.
@Gravalar – yep. Completely understand the *economic* reasons for ebike inclusion everywhere. Normal MTB users are absolutely the market manufacturers want to sell to and they’ve got a ready-made sales platform in MTB enthusiast forums, websites and pages etc.
The reason they’re the “growth” area is because people who would never bother trying MTB because it’s hard, physically hard, like the fact that the motor makes it easy for them.
Fair enough for them. But I dislike the lying about the fact that it’s not *all about the motor* – because the very fact that that’s where the “explosive” growth is, and the only thing different about them IS the motor puts paid to that lie.

“They enable my unfit (zero exercise and carrying long-term injuries) and obese sister to ride around the hills of the lake district at a rate a fit me I can’t remotely keep up with on my lightweight Ti hardtail.”
How does that make you feel?

I guess that Nukeproof doesn’t do an e-bike as CRC/Wiggle have Vitus with their e-bikes?

@Gavalar – Yeah, but they still look bloody chunky compared to bikes.
Won’t be long before you won’t be able to tell the difference I reckon. 5-10 years. (Battery tech will move along faster than engine tech IMO, so bottom brackets will still look fugly probably).
Either way – I ain’t getting one until my legs stop working. Not because they’re no fun (they absolutely are, as are cars, quads & trials bikes) – but because part of cycling is getting effing knackered – it’s in-build “free fitness” you get from doing the sport.
After having ridden ebikes I know damn well that my fitness would plummet if I got one.

rude AND slow..?

David Turner makes a really valid point, when he points out that if e-bikes were really just e-assist they wouldn’t put out as much power as Nino Schurter on an average day. 250W is quite a lot of poke for an ordinary rider. I’m reasonably fit – not WC, but good for a 50-mile club run – & I don’t turn out 250W or anything like it. So IMO if e-bikes were just gonna be a little bit of help, the motors would be maybe 40W, not 250W. Sorry, the truth is they’re motorbikes, plain & simple, & should have no place in the lives of people who are capable of doing their own shopping…

Thanks for the list. If a Brand produces motorbikes and markets them as bicycles in order to raise profit it definitely earned a place on my do not buy list.

Why do people make Blanket Comments I ride a e-mtb because it gets me out more often and for longer as I’m 73 and have a Heart Condition so now I don’t have to push up the really steep stuff in Wales or on Exmoor I use ECO mode and all the gears rarely Trail mode Never Boost, in years to come with new Technologies you will be riding machines without Wheels oh won’t that upset purists

I find most of these negative comments about ebikes hilarious. After David Turner’s rant above the only response I can muster is ‘so what?’. He and others are entitled to their opinion and I’m entitled to not care less.
Mountain biking keeps moving on and is a vastly different sport than 10, 20 years ago… and I suspect there were as many people mocking the all mountain sleds everyone started riding around trail centre blue/red loops, as there are people mocking ebikes now.
I have a hardtail I’d happily ride anywhere, and continue to. I also have/had a couple of full suspension enduro bikes that were monotonous riding up the hill and frankly way too un-engaging riding down for most of the non-uplift riding I do. The ebike equalises that equation, and I don’t have to freeze my ass off in an uplift van over winter now either. Also, the ebike has completely transformed my local Ashton Court loop from 75% dull pedal turning XC to 75% out-of-the-saddle technique-refining riding, which leaves me far more exhausted after a few laps.

Ban Ebikes!
Ban suspension!
Ban Disc brakes
Ban dropper posts!
Ban helmets!
Ban tubeless systems!
Ban mobile phones!
Ban bluetooth connected devices!
Ban having fun!
Do what I like and approve of!
I hate everything!
I hate you!
Riding mountain bikes are not about having fun! It is about doing what we, the entitled single speed non suspended mountain bikers of the world approve of.
Now piss off.

I went the other way with Ashton Court to make it more fun by getting a single speed. It was before ebikes and I was living in a flat in Clifton at the time so cleaning bikes was an issue. It never did solve the problem of most of it being dull though it was more of a workout.