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I admit it, a winter off the bike, feeling another year older and fatter (working in an office and long commute not helping) and not looking forward to the climbs has let the bike industry plant their dirty little marketing promises of more enjoyment and getting out more often in my head...
I have never got on with off the shelf bikes and my current 3 bikes which I love are all built up myelf using decent parts. To give an idea of size and what I like both the C456 (16") and Solaris (med) are running 2deg headsets and the Bird (med) is normal but running 160mm pikes. All have 35mm stems, plenty of post and wide bars and I have got to that point through trying different set ups one bike at a time until I was happy.
Am considering getting rid of 2 or maybe all 3 and getting an e-bike but geometries are concerning me, was thinking something in the £3500-4000 range, maybe a Levo, Focus Jam/Sam but they look short and I have never got on with specialized frames. I did see a Mondraker on sale, terrible spec but that is fine as I could put a lot of my Bird parts on it (hope brakes, Eagle GX etc).
Any suggestions other than just man up and get out and ride what I have and love and then demo a few over the summer and make a better decsion?
well I got the Trek powerfly9 and that is long and quite low as do suffer more pedal strikes than on my hardtail
I demoed a mates Focus Sam2 from Leisure Lakes, which he has since bought.
It's an awesome bike. The piggyback battery pack is a great idea.
We are both around 5'7"-5'8". The demo was a size large and felt perfect in reach etc, the only thing that may have become an issue was seat tube length. It goes up a bit on the large and so limits the drop you can get which can be an issue if you're not tall.
We both sat on the medium in the shop and it did feel a lot shorter reach-wise, but the rest of the numbers made more sense so he's ordered the medium and may just end up running a slightly longer stem, say 60mm which is long considering what we both run these days.
The Sam is a great bike though. The mid-range one we demoed, at about 4k was a good spec.
I feel the same as you regarding time to ride versus fitness versus enjoyment, but luckily I'm too skint to afford an ebike... 😉
The Merida E-160 isn’t the longest or the slackest, but it’s pretty long and slack, and crucially it seems to best everything else in the reviews!
I sold one of the £6350 Fox and Di2 equipped versions the other day. It has changed my perception on e-Bikes more than a little I can tell you, and I’m more than likely going to end up running one as a demonstrator myself!
They also do a slightly more reasonable spec at £4700 with normal XT and RockShox both ends.
Not quite what you're looking for but I'm desperate to have a go on one of the new Spesh Kenevos, doubt I'd buy one but it looks insanely fun.
Having ridden a Kenevo and a Jam2 they're very different beasts.
The Kenevo is basically a self-uplifting DH bike if your usual riding is pure winch and plummet then it makes sense.
If you're more into covering distance then the Jam2 is much lighter and covers the ground more efficiently meaning you can can run it on eco more of the time.
Horses for courses, went for the Jam2 myself.
Just got* a Vitus E-Sommet, (and had been lining up to buy one, if refunded TBH), as much as I wanted the Merida E-160, the base model at just shy of £5K is still pretty hard to swallow. The top model Vitus at 3.6K it seem pretty good value, and reasonable geo wise.
Have to say yesterday was my first proper ride (lots of test and rides with faults) and it was extremely civilized. Stopping to chat amongst ourselves and other bikers we came across, instead of gasping for breath. I'd been lamenting local riding as being a 'bit' boring on it, until I remember on my HT is currently a joyless slog and of no mileage compared to the e-bikes.
*warranty replacement
(lots of test and rides with faults)
Care to expand on this a bit more please?
Any chance I could take a look at your at some point please?
Been testing a number of different ebike (cube/mondraker/trek).. finally bought a bike, it was faulty out of the box, rode it anyways while I spoke to the supplier, until the fault became ridiculously bad, & it went back. Waited quite a while (manufacturer and shinamo being rubbish), supplier gave me this bike instead. Had a fault displayed on this one too, so tightened everything up and checked the connections were secured, and a very bumpy ride round Cannock, and fingers crossed, suggest the fault may have cleared.
Stuart your more than welcome to take a gander/have a go, you know were I am, just txt/email me when your coming over this way.
Cheers mate.
Will do.
Had my Levo 8 months and love it
Demo as many as you can as its not just about the geometry but also how the different motors work
Some are noisier than others, some have a real kick when you pull away, others like the Levo's Brose motor make the bike feel more like a normal bike and are easily custom tuned via the app
Once you have made your choice join that bike's Facebook page and ask some questions as you will get honest answers
Ask who the best dealer is local to you and who is good for warranty work as you will need some at some point
I know a great dealer who does a same day motor swap and is happy to advise via messenger on any issues before you go to him, Ive heard of others who after a week of trying to diagnose the fault (with no luck) then remove the motor and send it back and wait for a replacement motor to arrive which took another week!
Ask the dealer you choose about ex demo models too as these normally have little mileage/use and come with a warranty and a nice saving on top
I've got a 2017 Trek Powerfly LT and it's transformed my riding. I did 22 very fun miles today at the Forest of Dean. That might not sound like much to some, but it's twice what I used to manage on my clockwork bike before my hip gave out. Anyone who says it's cheating is welcome to look at my HRM traces.
The Powerfly LT has the Mino Link, so can be fairly long and slack. I'm still running it on the steep setting and I'm faster downhill than I was on my Nukeproof Mega.
Thanks for the replies read them all when posted but been mulling it over and taking a look around.
I actually really like the look of the new Canyon Spectral On with it's Shimano set up. The $4999 euro ones with Fox suspension looks like the best bang for the buck. But I did see the Vitus e-Sommet at CRC/Wiggle and with my Wiggle 12% discount it is £3100 with Lyriks and Shimano STEPs so around £1500 less which is hard to ignore. The canyon has a weird 29" front, 27.5+ rear set up which does kind of put me off.
Something tells me I should be going fat on the ebike for something completely different and to take advantage of the power by using it to offset the weight of those huge tyres so that would be a Levo fatty (full sus) or maybe just pick up a 2nd hand fat bike and fit a DIY mid motor system for a laugh? Only problem with DIY mid motor ones seems to be the lack of any torque control like the OEM stuff does.
Having a similar dilemma myself. Most bikes are out of the running due to no XL/being too short. I have decided I would like the Shimano motor and would prefer the SRAM EX drivetrain.
Canyon - I think they've gone too short on the chainstays, particularly on an XL. Don't see why they couldn't have sized them by frame size like YT on the Jeffsy, 440 would be OK although I'd prefer 450. Other than that would probably suck up the extra over the Vitus and get one. The 29/27.5 wheels sounds great to me
Vitus - only wiggle have an XL left and I don't get any discount with them. Geo looks better than the Canyon to me, longer CS, bit more reach, bit slacker and more travel. No EX gears though and I have the idea that the Canyon would be better frame quality wise although that could be a misplaced perception
Commencal - decent geo, coil shock, same price as the Canyon. Dunno about frame quality though and an ebike from a direct seller with Commencal's warranty reputation? Pretty much discounted that one
Any other options I've missed?
Whatever you buy; make sure you buy it from your LBS.
They do go wrong; having local support is crucial.
I've had a Levo for 22 months (on my second one).
For me that means Specialized which are too short and don't have the Shimano motor or Scott which look great but are bloody expensive. Hmmm.
Agree buying from an LBS would be a good idea though .
My mate is a pretty handy Enduro rider. He has a Moustache E-bike and it is the dogs danglies whether up (he managed to ride every inch of the Llanberis path going up Snowdon - with pauses 🙂 ), or down.
He has this one which I guess may be a bit out of the price range you quoted (Fox 36s etc), but would have the kind of geometry you were after...
http://www.moustachebikes.com/uk/samedi-27-race-8.html
Drover Bikes in Hay, who are regular contributors on here are dealers.
Agreed, the Shimano motor is the best at the moment. Bosch has more torque. But the Shimano battery management is incredible.
The other people I ride with have the powerfly lt and the Merida.
I guess this is why canyon spent so long designing their new shipping box, it's easy to send it back when it goes wonky. Still, the canyon looks good to me, or the Scott, but as mentioned it is spendy.
Moustache looks nice but again too short. Same as the Merida, no XL
You will ahve great difficulty in fitting after market BB mount motors to a fat bike - BB too long.
There is a fat bike version of the Bafang HD motor but the other brand with the torque sensor is the one i am interested in but it only has a 68-73mm BB. It's only square taper so I guess it should be possible to have a custom shaft made up or maybe even rig up some kind of extension to the NDS.
Really liking the look of the Levo fatty but concerned over the TT length. Might try and pop into the specialized concept store after work. Really worried that my Bird Aeris will become obsolete if I get a full sus e-bike though.