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the lightest frames ar the ones with the lightest motor and the battery mounted extrnally. Carbon could save even more weight but not if the battery is mouted internally.
Weight does alter how they handle. Ovrerall weight and weight distributon.
not sure how you remember Spesh dropping weight a yvar ago on a frame they didn't alter then.
The 2019 levo (only a few months old, and details were kept hush hush until released) is a LOT lighter than the previous ones.
Where are you getting "40lb" from?
most FS emtbs are around the 50lb mark. Hardtails aren't much lighter at all. 3lb maybe.
geex, my Steps HT was under 40lbs (just) with some decent spec, I realised pretty quickly that changing wheels & tyres to save weight made me slower & not faster, I'm not sure any of it is scientific but from my experience weight matters less on an eMtb.
Cheers.
what's a steps HT?
Ok. 3lb was a bit of an underestimate. What I meant was most siilarly spec'd hardtail versions of a FS emtb aren't all that much lighter than the FS.
mid motor emtbs vary in weight from sub 30lb to over 60lb. an air shock and pivots probably only make a couple of Kg difference to the frame weight.
weight matters less for what tho?
trundilng along sat down wheels never leaving the ground? probably
Bunnyhopping? not just doing it once, but doing it all day it gets way more tiring on a heavier bike. similarly so with most mtb skills like manaulling, lifting the rear, manouvering quickly in tight situations, even braking.
Been out on mine most of the day and I'm kinda hurting all over (in a good way) but not in a way I would have been had I chosen to ride my 16lb lighter regular bike with the same traval/Geo/spec.
an emtb is still an mtb. They definitely handle better in certain situations when they get closer to a regular mtb's weight.
@ geex, from experience.
I have a cube reaction hardtail, ive upgraded the forks wheels and gears.
That’s worth doing, it also dropped about 2kg in weight. But 2 kg on this bike is barely noticeable.
Upgrades to improve the bike are worth it, but doing something for weight loss? I wouldn’t bother.
https://ebike-mtb.com/en/best-affordable-emtb-2018-eleven-bikes-review/
I'm not currently in the market for an e bike but I found this article interesting.
Personally I'd go with a sprightly FS over a heavy HT....
At the money you are looking at, I'd wake up with cold sweats if I dropped that much on a HT unless I was a genuine racer.
@marty. Just looked at the Cube reaction (sorry hadn't heard of it) and it's listed as being 53lb!! That's ridiculously heavy for a hardtail emtb. My 170mm FS with a mid range gravity components,XT, Lyrik and Superdeluxe with no real upgrades is 6lb lighter. S
witching to tubeless and exo tyres took 3lb off from the tubed DD tyres it came supplied with and made a massive difference to handling.
How on earth did you not notice the handling difference taking 2kg off yours? or did you slowly replace parts and gradually lighten it?
also how do you ride it?. it's listed as a hybrid which to me hints at pretty tame off road riding. If that's it's use then fair enough but it does sound quite possibly like it's ridden in a style where the improved handling might not be so noticable to you.
Cube refer to all their ebikes as hybrid, they’re referring to the motor being there not that they are a hybrid bike in the traditional sense
The bike as standard weighed 45.5lb. It now weighs 41lbs. i changed the ridiculously heavy original fork for a fox float, this necessitated a change of wheels, which were also a truly ridiculous weight.
And i changed the gears from 9 to 10 speed, although that probably did nothing for the weight.
The bike does handle better, there’s no doubt about that, and the things i did to it were worth doing, there’s no doubt about that either.
But in the grand scheme of things it’s still a heavy bike.
The changes I’ve made have improved it’s performance, ie the fork actually has some damping, 10 speed better than 9 etc, but the weight loss really isn’t noticeable.
I have a cube stereo ebike as well, as standard it weighs 48lb, yet it feels better to ride than the hardtail.
So to summarise, weight loss on an ebike has much less effect than on a regular bike, because there’s so much more of it.
Ime.
I don't really have any experience of different weight e-bikes. I just know that so far, I prefer the handling of my 2019 Levo to my Spitfire despite all the extra weight. The geometry of the two is pretty similar, just more BB drop for the bigger wheels, and about 10mm more front centre and 20mm rear centre. It seems improbable that the Levo's weight is ideal downhill but what would be better - even heavier or a bit lighter?
I'd have thought that how heavy a rider is, how physically strong a rider is, and how quick their reactions are would have a bearing on the 'ideal' weight of a bike? I'm moderately heavy, quite strong but not the snappiest mover, so I can see myself preferring a bike that's a bit slower/heavier to respond.
geex what’s a steps HT?
Sorry, Steps is Shimano's motor system, as in my hardtail with a steps motor was just under 40lbs.
I tink I have decided on a short travel FS, well I have ordered one, whether it turns up or not I have no idea as it's coming from spain 😉
Cheers.
My Merida came from Spain (Motocard). Remember you need to switch the brakes and plug.
Cat like ninja hulk strong and incredibly good looking myself chief
GFJ, I have ordered mine form motocard, how was the transaction for you?
I’m a bit nervous as I have never heard of them before 🤔
“Cat like ninja hulk strong and incredibly good looking myself chief”
If you delete the first three words that’s me to a tee. And improbably youthful.
No problems at all, turned up very quickly in the biggest bike box I have ever seen!
Wish I could say then same, I can't /won't say to much at this point 🙁
Thinking about it, my Ebike has simultaneously increased my range (15-25 miles to 35-50) but also decreased my ‘range’ as my ‘exploring’, (use of footpaths) can be a right pita (esp when cold, wet and tired) as getting a 22kg lump with less good handholds than my orange 5 over a slippy wooden, wobbly stile with low shrubbery can go wrong, also I’m an xc bimbler in it for the scenery so happy to plod along (and there are lots more fpaths than other track types) and I **think** that plus tyres might take some of the horse hole/tractor track rumble away, so a 15kg version of what I have now is becoming more appealing
!awaits Fazua developments with interest
2unfit2ride - just incase this is your problem: the only problem I had was the bike didn't work on arrival, shifter did nothing. Turned out it was too close to the brake lever so wouldn't activate as it actually needs a lot of lever travel.
Rode a hardtail Eeb briefly yesterday.
It was heavy. (with more of a rearward weight bias than my FS Eeb)
it jumped fine though when you compensated for it.
it had a yam motor and was more punchy than mine too. Wasn't bad in the slightest but I think I'd prefer a shimano motor on one.
Get one if that's what you want. and can cope with the weight.
If your rides involve gates/fences and you're going to be stranded at the first stile maybe avoid. Can't honestly see how this would happen if you can lift an ordinary bike over though.
a little 32lb(ish) Focus Raven Fazua HT with shorter stem and higher bars woiuld be pretty ace for razzing about on. Bit pricy though.
“a little 32lb(ish) Focus Raven Fazua HT with shorter stem and higher bars woiuld be pretty ace for razzing about on. Bit pricy though.”
That’s the same weight as my full-sus! And only a few pounds heavier than my hardtail - neither with motors!
GFJ, thanks but thats not the problem, its with the seatpost & a few marks on the frame, they seem to be dealing with it so I don't mind mentioning it here but we will see how it goes, oh & this is what I bought totally ignoring some good advice 😉
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7899/39985687603_3aaf51bef3_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7899/39985687603_3aaf51bef3_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/23Vp6QX ]IMG_3736[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/94658862@N08/ ]Martin Robbo[/url], on Flickr
Thanks all that replied & made this an interesting thread.
Cheers.
Very nice, I love my Merida. The paint is probably the only negative I have found with mine, it chips very easily. I already have a lot of missing paint on the downtube and chainstay.