[Closed] E mountain bikes a dilemma

If buying one gets you out with your mates, then go for it.

But you have all the strength in your legs that you need to pedal a bike (assuming you can walk?)

Why not just try going for a bike ride (assuming you hven't already)?

You could even just go for a ride round the block on your own. I'm sure after a week or two you'll be right back into it

I was just about to type that in, go out on my own until I'm back into it.
I do miss riding

The top riders in the world don't use that much more strength than is needed to climb the stairs.
And as long as you've not set your bike up to fit some sort of a mutated spider monkey, it *should* strengthen the knees (in combination with some sensible strengthening exercises)

Not a great time to start now, since the winter is coming.....

Get yourself a roadbike, or a hybrid; something cheap with slick tyres. Do a few short road rides; half the battle with mountain biking is motivating yourself to **** about getting ready and driving somewhere.

Use some flat pedals and skate shoes; the inbuilt flex should help save your knees.

I lost my biking mojo about 18 months ago and have hardly turned a pedal which has meant I've lost my fitness and leg strength. I tried a comeback with a few mates but I thought I was holding them back and only did one ride feeling even more disillusioned and fed up with myself.

Strava twice weekly, work your way up the local segments, you'll be smashing it by Spring.

Just spent a weekend in Wales on one, my 2nd weekend of trying them out, they are very very good & great fun. Did twice as many miles as I could have managed on my 'dumb' bike (my e-MTB m8's term, not mine!), that ignoring the huge amount of climbing we took in, really enjoyed myself, especially as I wasn't blowing out of my arse at the top of every climb. I came away knackered but smiling, for me an e-bike may be added to my own collection, but won't replace the others, just compliment them (n+1)
I have 4 riding buddies with them now, 3 of them have come into it with little or no regular cycling, so it's opened up proper trails without a summer struggling to get cycle fit. The fourth has ridden three or more times as much as he did previously because he's having fun without being completely shattered after a good run out. When he is forced, to come out on a dumb bike, e-bikes do break unfortunately, he's the fittest he's ever been.
I would suggest your ripe to benefit from one, especially with the shorter colder winter days on their way.
Think about what's good for you, what will bring back your enjoyment of cycling

Well I'm about the same age and lost
Some mojo and incentive. I bought a high end ebike. It's been great I've enjoyed it so
Much. Much more fun and am doing rides 2-3 the distance I would normally do so getting samenexcercise
Out of it as normal bike. It's really upped my distances, amount of rides and average speed

Ps. Get One with the Bosch motor

Im 48, and ive had a cube stereo 120 ebike for about 6 months.
I havent done many miles on it, but probably twice as much as I would do in a year otherwise.
Its brilliant.
No issues with it, as the wheels/gears/brakes etc are all standard bike bits.
Ive been out with the lads from the local shop and i managed to keep up no problem, something I definitely couldn't do on a normal bike.
Im of the opinion that anything which gets more people out on the trails is good.

Much more fun and am doing rides 2-3 the distance I would normally do so getting same excercise

This makes so much sense.

I would need to sell my other mtb so there would be no way back???

You want mid drive for mtb, better for the climbs.

When I started proper mtb-ing my riding oartner was just shy of 60 and kicked my butt. Age dies not diminish endurance as much as strength and speed. If an e-bike brings the smiles then so be it but they are not for me. I am slow at the best of times so usually ride alone.

mid drive conversion kit

I ride alone, so no one to keep up with and so I don't care how fast (or usually slow) I am. So for me I would rather improve my fitness with a standard bike. However, I do understand that if somebody wants to ride in a group and their fitness is not as good as the other group members then an ebike may be useful.

Maybe 6 months ago i was in a similar position (also 46). I hadn't lost my mojo as such but a series of illness/injuries had kept me off the bike for the guts of two years. An e-bike was on the cards for similar reasons to yours - loss of fitness and a willingness to get up the mountains with mates. It didn't help that one of my injuries prevented me from pedaling. I started going on gentle local spins, to supplement my physio, while i mulled it over in my head and started saving the pennies. Fitness/strength gradually returned and i found myself searching out little hills and rode them repeatedly. It wasn't long before i was feeling good again so hastily blew my e-bike savings (it wasn't nearly enough btw - Levo's aren't cheap) on a Cotic Rocket 29er instead 😀 Now riding at least 3 times a week - weekends with mates in the hills and mon-tue solo rides in the local forest and loving it.

Might be an idea to try a similar approach? Keep on riding while you save and depending on how your body feels, decide what kind of bike to get. I still see an ebike in my future but hopefully it wont be for a few years yet.

If you could have seen how emotional my wife got when she rode parts of Exmoor she thought she'd never ride again on her new E Bike you'd know the answer 🙂
She's 58 , had a crap time with a broken leg followed by a knee replacement , originally intended to wait until she was 60 so glad she didn't .

I'm in my forties and a bit unfit, do I need an ebike?

NO

MTFU

😉

but I thought I was holding them back

If they are mates, they won't mind and i'm sure if you asked, you'd find out you weren't. Find i enjoy a ride much more with mates and push myself that little bit harder.

A bike with a motor is a moped, stopping kidding yourselves it's a bicycle.

mitsumonkey - Member
mid drive conversion kit

Aren't some of those you see on eBay illegal on the road? I've just looked at one with a claimed top speed of 40mph!

* Just what I've read, I have no first hand experience.

jambalaya - Member
When I started proper mtb-ing my riding oartner was just shy of 60 and kicked my butt. Age dies not diminish endurance as much as strength and speed. If an e-bike brings the smiles then so be it but they are not for me. I am slow at the best of times so usually ride alone.

Although a wee quick run about for commuting purposes now and again does appeal.

I'm 40.

I reckon I do about 70% or more riding on my own. (Its going down as I have a new riding buddy, who currrently has a broken finger since his 2nd time out with me.. oops!) I use the solo time to 'train' things like going up hills, and exploring the various nooks and crannies of the Quantocks (in particular).

Its a mind game thing, you have to find a way to motivate yourself. Mine is the exploring thing. I see some people on strava riding the exact same route week in, week out, night day, rain, shine.. personally that'd bore the tits off me. I vary where I start and which areas I explore regularly. So much so that it can be up to a couple months before I re-ride some trails.

Fitness wise. It took approx 3 months weekend (well sunday) warrioring to get from dying on my arse in an hour and feeling crappy the next day to being out for 3 hours. my 'gang' benefit from my explorations whenever they come out, which hopefully means they're also keener to ride more..

Weather wise. Apart from rain I'm lucky enough to ride a place that has enough sections bareable year round. Exploring AND learning your environment will help with that (knowing whats bad after rain the day before, or boggy, more clear in winter etc..). All this ttalk of road bikes for winter is amusing to me. I'll still be up on the quantocks over christmas and new year, just like i was last year. i guess i'm lucky, or not a massive pansy.

Whether you need an e-bike? you don't. if you can afford one as a toy, and can handle the negative looks and heckling then consider it. but if its just motivation. get off your ass and stop overthinking it. it all depends what you're motivations are.

Just get fit instead of dressing being lazy up with a fancy electric moped.

Ignore the moped comments, the people who make them generally haven't ridden an e-bike, have done no research on them etc.
There's was a guy on a nice Cube Stereo e-bike at Llandegla yesterday I was chatting to. He said it made Llandegla a blast (takes some doing), gets the boring bits out of the way quickly. He's still probably burned around 500 calories and had a laugh.

It's not mtbing, closer to Motorcross with slippers! different sport innit.

Ignore the moped comments, the people who make them generally haven't ridden an e-bike, have done no research on them etc.

Have not said anything about mopeds.
Have ridden one (albeit briefly).
I know someone who is a manager at one of the largest e-bike importers in the UK.

There's was a guy on a nice Cube Stereo e-bike at Llandegla yesterday I was chatting to. He said it made Llandegla a blast (takes some doing),

it "takes some doing" to make a dedicated MTB trail centre a blast? what are they doing wrong?

gets the boring bits out of the way quickly.

He's still probably burned around 500 calories and had a laugh.

probably? that's well scientific, i'm, sold. (not)

can't deny, it give you some fun. not the same fun. (but that depends on our style of riding)

the fitness benefits exist, BUT are not the same.

riding an e-bike will improve certain parts of fitness, but riding an e-bike for 2 hours a week for 6 months vs a bike for 1 hour for 6 months will not result in the same benefits as stresses on [i]certain[/i] parts of the body aren't the same.

Yes. except that my MX bike is around 55BHP which is roughly 40Kwatts, whereas a pedal assist eBike is 250watts, so the MX bike is just 160 x more powerful.
And you still have to put energy in to make the eBike work.
And the eBike is about 1/5 of the weight.
But yes, pretty much identical.

it "takes some doing" to make a dedicated MTB trail centre a blast? what are they doing wrong?

Descents aren't really worth the climbs, kickers on most jumps are totally eroded.
I think the whole thing depends on whether you mountain bike purely for the fitness side of it, or you tolerate climbing hills just for the descents. I'm the latter.

I've got an ebike ( fat bike) and a normal fat bike ( pedal powered).

Enjoy both, for me it's just about getting out on either bike and having some fun.

Technology just keeps on advancing.

Front suspension made it easier.
Full suspension made it easier.
Carbon frames made it lighter and somewhat easier.......

If we were just concerned about having a workout, then I suppose a draggy normal fat bike should be the ticket.

It ain't cheating, or riding a moped, it's just going out and having a laugh on your bike. Sure it makes climbing easier, and if I was 25 again, that would make it easier, but I'm not.

Just going out for some riding around Afan in the sun on my ebike now.

In the Alps this year I saw lots of 50-60 typically fat couples having fun using eBikes to tour around the edge of a lake, thats about it for me. That said, it would be a laugh doing a long multi day adventure on an eBike, oh wait

You don't need an ebike, but I can understand what you mean with going from a sedentary lifestyle to a more active job and not feeling the love for MTBing - I started a longer commute and the group rides in particular are more of a struggle in a lot of ways - specifically my MTBing used to be my "fitness" rides, but now my commute is and my MTBing is my chilling out (uphill anyway).

I reckon you might find if you can get a ride or two in on your own per week you'll be keeping up with your mates in no time though. Don't ignore it if you start getting sore knees from the riding though, and make sure your cleats are adjusted just so.

Age wise, my uncle turned 70 on Tuesday, and his daughter told me at his birthday party that he can still beat her on the road bike (and he assured me his new hip is great). Keep it up (if you enjoy it - if not, find a way to enjoy it).

Edit - If you do decide to get an ebike, think carefully about what other bikes that money could buy and see if you can't get the enthusiasm back that way as others above have done!

Still a different sport, you get out of it what you put in.

Have you tried golf, i hear they have electric buggies to get around, wouldn't want to put any effort in.

I dont think anyone is under any illusions that an ebike will give the same fitness benefits as a normal bike, even if it does get ridden further/more often.
However, the crucial point is that ebikes tend to get ridden further/or more often ime.
For me personally, an ebike means I will actually go out, whereas on a normal bike i just didn't.
Total pmsl at any comparisons to mopeds, not even close.
And as for a mx bike, if you cant tell the difference between 1/3bhp and 45bhp . . . . . .

+1 martymac

I think part of the issue is when people call it a sport.

Racing , yes, sport, training well yes.

I ride my bikes , any bike for fun really. I don't class it as sport but recreational exercise.

Often just stop somewhere with a nice view in the sunshine and have a read of my Kindle.

Each to their own, honestly, I don't mind anyone racing or training, they are riding and having a different challenge and type of fun.

fergal - Member
Still a different sport

Im just glad to get out and only be tired when i get home, instead of totally ****ed..

Still a different sport, you get out of it what you put in.

Have you tried golf, i hear they have electric buggies to get around, wouldn't want to put any effort in.

No it's the same sport. Just as golf is the same sport whether you walk between holes or ride a buggy between holes.

I think the whole thing depends on whether you mountain bike purely for the fitness side of it, or you tolerate climbing hills just for the descents

I really don't understand why climbs need to be tolerated?
What exactly is un-fun about them?

I really don't understand why climbs need to be tolerated?
What exactly is un-fun about them?

I agree. I'm loving them now I've got an ebike 😉

Go for it.

I don't need one but I still want one for the uphill giggles 😉

Whats going further got to do with anything, you are not putting the effort in, like i said it is a different sport, a bicycle is self propelled, an Ebike has a motor.

By all means buy into the ebike trend, it's a sign of the times, people are less willing to put the effort in and get a quick fix, YOU ARE NOT A MOUNTAIN BIKER.

PS. I don't want you on the same trails as me, we are talking trails for mtbing, not people going for a blast around a lake shore or commuting, i mean proper trails.

Took one out for a test at the weekend. What a hoot, and as it only assists to varying degrees of course you still have to pedal, and it's very much a mountain bike. At the end I was just as knackered as on my normal bike but I'd done an extra lap of the trail centre. I was with 2 others on conventional 11 speeds and as soon as they sussed I was maxed out at 15mph and pedalling a behamoth the race was on. Wouldn't have one as my only bike, but what a bit of kit.

Fun, maybe. But it's not cycling.

I don't want you on the same trails as me, we are talking trails for mtbing, not people going for a blast around a lake shore or commuting, i mean proper trails.

Cheers for clearing that up for me fergal, I now know my place and will ride accordingly as to your definition.

🙄