Simple one this. Do you own or will you own an ebike soon?
Although we are a MTB oriented site if you own a commuter or gravel ebike or basically any ebike that conforms to the regs, then you are a yes. We aren't differentiating the genre of ebike here. If it's a bike and has a pedalec motor then we are interested to know your answers.
MIght be worth adding an option for "Had an ebike but sold it" which is my situation.
they've got that option: "No" 😀
So far the results feel right given the shift in balance of bikes I see out in the wild (mostly in summer 😆) as I am seeing an increasing number of ebikes out and about and a bike that you are the only engine increasingly rare.
Be interesting to see how this evolves year on year but for me it was a no, still love my hardtail.
James
Is this poll anonymous? I don't really want anyone to know I'm a lazy fat ebiker
It's the first time I've noticed a list of members' votes with a poll. Pity there wasn't one with the Brexit poll. 😋
Amongst my many mountain bikes and road bike I now have an Orbea Gain with gravel tyres and I will admit it's the best thing I've ridden for years and go my mojo back. Doesn't look like an electric bike, doesn't weigh too much and the battery lasts for a while as it's easy to be above the 15mph
On a cold windy evening it's ideal for a 25 mile mix of woods /road and tracks of any kind
It's not too keen on roots or mud
For me I've been very susceptible to colds, flu, viruses and general lingering grimness ever since I first had Covid around 3 years ago. I'd almost completely stopped riding apart from holidays and uplifts because it was miserable.
The e-bike has got me back out and motivated to ride because I know I can survive even when I'm having an off day.
I've just said yes but it's not my only bike , the majority of my riding is on a push bike 👍E Bike for big off road days out .
As much as I love my e bike it never gives me that post ride glow.
Im reading this after another day of contemplation about the same subject and even narrowing it down to two.
Got one in 2016, sold it in 2020. Looked at them in 2024, didn’t get another, probably will in the next 5 years.
or ‘No’.
Hired a Ridgeback hybrid ebike in Sept '24 at Longleat Center Parcs, was able to take it off campus to ride the local lanes I used to ride on my road bike like Park Hill, Gare Hill and Kingsettle Hill. Loved it, had a bit of a look online at prices, but procrastinated.
Hired a Specialized mtb ebike in Mar '25 at Longleat CP, again took it out and about no issues, quickly remembered how great it was ~6 months earlier.
Found a great deal on GT eGrade Bolt for ~£1250 soon after we got back and it was a gamechanger for getting me to places I used to ride to before long covid began just after Queen Liz died. Now wondering whether to get the ~200Wh Mahle X35 battery entender to boost the internal 248Wh, to make fairly hilly 4hr+ rides possible with good assistance on uphills.
A younger me would have loved a 160-180mm travel eBike for trail centres, these days though I realise my skill level (and ability to recover from injury) doesn't really match throwing myself down mountains all day so prefer the pedally side of MTBing
Nope. May well do in the next decade, but not any time soon.
where is the- yes, but you bought a trek fuel exe so it spends most of it's time in the shop waiting for another new motor
Mine is an e-gravel bike, almost exclusively used for commuting although occasionally if I've not been riding for a while, I'll use it to ease myself back into things.
Half of my 6000 miles last year was on that bike. It's been SO good.
I don't feel the need for any other e-bike though.
I'm not anti-ebike, but I have absolutely zero interest in them. I'd go so far as to say that they barely exist to me. If were to consider a new bike, "ebike" wouldn't even cross my mind let alone enter into the process I'd scroll past without even thinking about it. Interesting, now that I think of it.
I've voted 'probably will', but if the bike is bought it'll be an eShopper for nipping to the shops that are about two miles away down a bloody great hill. The days when I need/want an eBike for 'biking' on are, hopefully, a long way off.
Yes, but it’s a cargo bike. Makes the mundane jobs of life more interesting. It acts as our second vehicle. I can see the appeal of an emtb, but happy for now under my own steam
STW needs to embrace the "e" more.
Can't beat the ebike, but when I look at my 2000 stumpy hardtail and realise that will still outlast my Levo. A moment still fleats by for me to try the HT again. But, the the eeb to wins over.. so much fun and does so much more.
Crap when you get to kissing gates though 🙁
eeb,s are not so great when you go cheeky trails.
This thread takes me back 25 years ago when mobile phones most with the Nokia ringtone and because to write a text took forever I was one of the many that said I don't want one as I don't need one . I'd be lost without my phone now
Don't feel the hate for them, I don't own one, but I've ridden them a few times and it was huge fun every time. For local riding, I don't think I need one TBH, It's pan flat and it would be a waste of time. I could see me getting something for big days, but cost is an issue (obviously)
@Daffy - I think that pretty much duplicates my thinking. Also, with a number of bikes in regular use, I'd have to consider which one to replace 😂
Missing: How many eBikes do you own? 🤨
do cargo bikes count?
Quite keen on a nicolai pinion mgu, but theyre £12k
I was musing on a climb the other, week. 52 weeks to a year roughly, so assuming riding once a week every week keep a bike for 10 years (which is pretty ambitious i think)
thats still £24 PER ride before wear and tear and maintenance.
keep it for 5 yrs. £50 a ride.
I said yes because I have a Tern GSD cargo bike with 15k miles on it. I don’t have an e-bike that I’d ride any singletrack on though.
I do get the e-MTB thing… up to a point. But I feel strongly that the current limits on speed and throttles are a good thing and I don’t want any loosening of the regs. I accept that an increase in power limits for big cargo bikes may be a good thing… although most manufacturers seem to get round the whole power rating thing as is.
keep it for 5 yrs. £50 a ride.
Interesting cost examination there. I reckon using that system and applying it to my car, If we likened it to a once a week bike ride then it's £122
Our car does get used pretty much daily tho, so it's per journey cost is much lower.
I'd maybe think of it this way. If you are using it once/week and you put a price of £50/ ride on it.. Do you enjoy the ride more or less than going out once a week for a meal with the family/wife?... which can cost in the same ball park. Then maybe take that £50 and rather than price it as a per ride. Price it per hour. If your ride has you out for 3 hours then it's £17/hour - or an average main course in a local pub.
I think I have enough data to work out the cost per km / hour of the majority of my bikes, though not taking account of replacement parts, which will also have an impact (more on some than others).
I think I have enough data to work out the cost per km / hour of the majority of my bikes
I did that. At which point it became clear that I'd save money if I abandoned riding MTBs and instead took on the running and maintenance of a Chieftain tank 🙂
Best not to know I think.
I think I have enough data to work out the cost per km / hour of the majority of my bikes
My commute currently works out at £2/mile... 😳
Cost per km is a much more reasonable £1.24... 😉
I'm not particularly bothered about e-bikes but bikes are good and as long as people are getting out on bikes for the experience, fresh air and exercise then any bike is good.
A bit like FuzzyWuzzy above, I enjoy the challenge of up as well as down so don't feel the need to have a motor to take away the primary challenge of 'me' getting up the hill.
Maybe in time as I get older and less able but right now, it's analog all the way for me.
I have a e-hybrid - it has lights, guards and a rack and it gets used instead of the car for running errands and going to work - there’s also a stonking big hill back from the shops. Having worked as a shop mechanic I got to build and test various models. I sort of get the e-MTB thing, particularly the winch and plummet style of riding. I didn’t quite get the e-road/gravel thing - the speed limiter means that it’s simply not fast enough on the flat to keep-up with non-e-bikes.
I’ve done a loop of the island on mine and felt it quite frustrating over rolling terrain where you could use your momentum to get over small rises - the power dies when you need it most and the extra weight means you slow right down. For cargo and utility e-bikes absolutely no questions.
For a proper survey you need to add...
No and probably never will.
Technically yes but it's not in my hands yet, I rang one of my LBS last week to see if they would price match a Whyte Kado RS I'd seen online and they did, so have got them to upgrade the display to a kiox 400c, stick Hope evo GR4s and floating rotors on, install a rear cushcore and whilst at it convert to tubeless to safe me the faff and they threw in some hope f22 pedals too. Was a cracking deal.
2 week lead time on the hopes so I expect to have it in 3 weeks.
This will be my first ebike, a bloke went steaming past me riding neon green specialized turbo doohickey on a steep climb in 2016 and I told him he was cheating, he stopped at the top and wheeled it toward me and said here, ride down the hill n come back up. I was laughing cause it was ridiculous, and well I've wanted one since.
Like to think that 10 years of abstaining until the tech and issues got to a certain point of being really good, and I'd gotten fit enough to not need one at all sort of justifies it.
For me it means more time riding as currently I pick between running or mtb, and if I go for a long 12-18k run I usually need atleast 24-36hrs recovery, which with the motor hopefully means I can still go for a ride and not feel done in from my run
For a proper survey you need to add...
No and probably never will.
Agree, I'm no hater, I dont; care what other people ride, but the choices are skewed toward and e-bike bias. If you're going to have "No, but I want to be in your gang" you should also have "no, and I don't want to join your cult.... or just stick to yes & no.
But then the poll in sponsored by an insurance company so god know what they want the info for, I bet it will only be good for their pockets though...
I'd have thought that ruling one out "for all time" is the more cult-ish behaviour. For me, cycling is currently about the physical input/benefit side too much to want one but I don't rule out rethinking that when I'm a bit older and want a bit of assistance on hills and to get further afield than my legs will be comfortably able. However, I suspect (and hope) that's done time off yet as I'm still only 67.
Not convinced you'll get a particularly accurate response on this survey. To answer it you have to bother opening a post about ebikers. You are either the type that opens every post because you are a sad no life (me) or have an 'interest' in ebikers (that might be a pathological hatred or more likely a lard arse an ebike rider. The great swath of people who are ebike ambivalent just won't open it and therefore won't vote.
My hunch is if this was question 7 in a much broader poll of general mountain bike nonsense you'd have a smaller proportion declaring themselves a lard arse an ebike owner.
No.. No "EV" interest at all.. And still on 26" wheels, does everything a mtb needs to do.
It's the first time I've noticed a list of members' votes with a poll. Pity there wasn't one with the Brexit poll. 😋
My GF still lived in Gibraltar at the time of the Brexit vote... She said that when their vote percentage returned a not quite perfect 100% remain vote, there was a facebook group with hundreds of setup almost immediately to act as a lynch mob to out the half a dozen or so that had voted leave!
I'd have thought that ruling one out "for all time" is the more cult-ish behaviour.
You and me both, but cyclists on the whole are a weird cultish bunch, forming allegiances to things so arbitrary as a tyre brand despite paying to use them rather than being paid, more readily than your typical football fan even!
It's the first time I've noticed a list of members' votes with a poll. Pity there wasn't one with the Brexit poll. 😋
My GF still lived in Gibraltar at the time of the Brexit vote... She said that when their vote percentage returned a not quite perfect 100% remain vote, there was a facebook group with hundreds of setup almost immediately to act as a lynch mob to out the half a dozen or so that had voted leave!
I'd have thought that ruling one out "for all time" is the more cult-ish behaviour.
You and me both, but cyclists on the whole are a weird cultish bunch, forming allegiances to things so arbitrary as a tyre brand despite paying to use them rather than being paid, more readily than your typical football fan even!
No.. No "EV" interest at all.. And still on 26" wheels, does everything a mtb needs to do.
See above post for evidence... Calling an eBike an "EV" and still being absolutely wedded to 26" wheels is comically cultish! But there we go...
Yup.
I've even bought a 2nd 🙂
And still on 26" wheels, does everything a mtb needs to do.
But not as well as modern bikes, by some stretch...
2 x ebikes
Ti full suss
Alu 29'er HT
Gravel bike
2 x 26" steel HT's
I considered one when I changed my bike last year but since my pals don't I didn't bother. I will in the future but probably not until I retire in three or so years.
Based on what I see on the trails when I go riding, this thread is not at anll indicative of the MTB riding population. I tend to prefer riding steep, techy trails. There are days when I hardly see a “normal” bike on the trials , and almost every bike is an e-bike. There are other days when it could be 50/50. But I’ve been shocked at how high the overall percentage of e-bikes out on the trails is.
Now, if I was riding flatter, less technical trails, im not sure I’d be on an e-bike myself. So, like all biking in general, it’s horses for courses.
I'd have thought that ruling one out "for all time" is the more cult-ish behaviour.
How is it cult-ish?
This is a survey of all STW members.
I barely ride anymore - I might roll the bike out a couple of times a year. And I have no interest in dropping several £k on an e-bike.
As I get older I enjoy walking a lot more than cycling.
It's not really a proper survey if you only put the choices you are looking for.
I'd have thought that ruling one out "for all time" is the more cult-ish behaviour.
I mean, it wasn't really a serious post, I probably should have added a winking emoji or something. I just think that having 2 options for e bikes and one against seems to be a bias. I'm not saying I'll never have one, I'm 50 in a couple of months and well out of shape so would probably benefit from one, but they're just not on my radar at the moment and won't be for a number of years yet.
Why have the option of "no, but maybe in 12 months"? It just seems like the general industry pushing people that way. Go on, you know you want to....
As much as I love my e bike it never gives me that post ride glow.
That how I'd describe a full fat ebike.
Yes, although it's not in my possession yet.
I've gone for No.
I don't see me owning one any time soon - I have a bad back and live in an upstairs flat. The cost, inability for me to repair most of the bike's systems and relatively low range also count against the idea for me
I also don't want the faff of charging yet another device
I will admit, I find them fun to use (a couple of mates have them) but not for me ultimately
This is a survey of all STW members.
True - so it won’t be representative of real life.
As much as I love my e bike it never gives me that post ride glow.
Then put more effort in!
Yes I use a road bike for fitness, but I also work hard on the emtb 35 miles, 5,000ft climbing in 2hrs and I’m knackered
I love some of the remarks above about not needing one, or actually they are the devils work. Fine live in a deluded world. IMO they offer big benefit for any age group unless your idea of mtb fun is riding across a flat field
But then the poll in sponsored by an insurance company so god know what they want the info for, I bet it will only be good for their pockets though...
Yellow Jersey are sponsoring all our polls. This is not a YJ survey. I decided it was a bit of info we should all know about. That's all there is to it. Sometimes a question is just a question born from curiosity, asked by a bloke in a room while he's eating a sausage sandwich.
@Mark - I saw Benjis post on Facebook asking for ideas on which non-ebikes might be worth testing. Is it a general feeling that development has stalled in the non-e marketplace but continues for ebikes?
We're still seeing components being incrementally "improved" even if some of the claimed advantages are dubious but is it all about batteries and motors now? If so then I can see why ebikes would appeal to folk who are always after the next big thing.
26” MTB.. not cultish or wedded, just a brilliant bike, I don’t have a garage full of options.
The landscape and how you pedal through it is just a bit harder.. It’s still a big wheeler compared to all the bmx I rode in 70’s/80’s!
No ebikes for me at present, but could see one replacing the car when I retire (save me shopping in a sweaty mess) and emtb once I'm beaten into submission by the Chiltern hills - for now I still enjoy the challenge of getting up them with just leg power.
Sometimes a question is just a question born from curiosity, asked by a bloke in a room while he's eating a sausage sandwich.
Red sauce, brown sauce or no sauce at all?
"We're still seeing components being incrementally "improved" even if some of the claimed advantages are dubious but is it all about batteries and motors now?"
Ignoring ebikes, we've seen suspension systems generally converge to similar kinematics, geometry progress and converge on similar dimensions and angles, and wheels enlarge and/or mullet - so it does feel that there aren't a lot of places normal MTBs can progress significantly. But do they need to keep changing? Electric guitars are mostly the same as they were in the '60s and they don't even wear out!
But do they need to keep changing?
I don't think they do, but then I'm not trying to create/sell content.
@ads378
red sauce always. I’m not a savage.
Next poll will definitely be red sauce brown sauce.
sponsored by BIG Sauce.
GT E-Pantera Dash Unisex,bought this summer for £1299.00.Think it's going to become very useful as the the years roll on.
Yes but another cargo bike. It gets used a lot for school run & shopping duties. Once the kids are older I'll downsize to a more compact ebike for city riding, but that won't be for a few more years.
I don't own or particularly want to own an emtb, but I have occasionally hired one on holiday or at bigger trail centres.
I like the idea of hiring a particular genre of bike when I know I won't ride them enough to warrant the cost/faff of owning one myself. e-mtb fits into that category for me.
Mine is an "e gravel" commuter that I pretty much only use for getting to work and going to town. I won't take it on proper rides as I don't want to break it.
Would like an e MTB but can't justify it to my self.
I'm not anti-ebike, but I have absolutely zero interest in them
Same. I wouldn't rule one out due to age, illness or injury, if it enabled me to keep riding, and I think they're brilliant for transporting cargo and kids. But for my use case, there's no gap I need an ebike to fill.
I'd have thought that ruling one out "for all time" is the more cult-ish behaviour.
Ignoring the obvious typo 😉 ... agreed. A few years ago, I was in the "never" camp. Then things happened.
Thing is, i have zero interest in reading about them too. I've got one and that's it. People say, I'm thinking of getting an ebike, what would you recommend? I have no idea, for one thing the market is saturated! I'm happy with mine and don't really need to read about others. Certainly can't put a price per mile on it. Not having a bike, now that would cost a hell of a lot.
Don't own one but will have to give in one day due to health and long covid slowing eroding my motivation and fitness.
Next poll will definitely be red sauce brown sauce.
sponsored by BIG Sauce.
I do both - at the same time
Found a great deal on GT eGrade Bolt for ~£1250 soon after we got back and it was a gamechanger for getting me to places I used to ride to before long covid began just after Queen Liz died. Now wondering whether to get the ~200Wh Mahle X35 battery entender to boost the internal 248Wh, to make fairly hilly 4hr+ rides possible with good assistance on uphills.
When I posted this, I was looking at the battery entender on Amazon for ~£490, but found it on Ribble last night for £450... Trigger pulled!
Four years ago, I had no interest in ebikes, but back then I was a moderately fit cyclist putting out my best aerobic power numbers since getting into cycling with number machines in '18. Then covid turned into long covid and I spent '23 and '24 being limited to ~30mins of exercise a day, paying for it badly with Post Exercise Malaise when I tried to do the odd multi-hour ride even at a much slower pace.
Someone on here said an ebike was a game changer for them under similar long covid circumstances and while bargains under a budget I was prepared to pay didn't seem to come around often, in hindsight I wish I'd got one before Easter '25.
"Thing is, i have zero interest in reading about them too. I've got one and that's it. People say, I'm thinking of getting an ebike, what would you recommend? I have no idea, for one thing the market is saturated! I'm happy with mine and don't really need to read about others. Certainly can't put a price per mile on it. Not having a bike, now that would cost a hell of a lot."
I pretty much agree with this - I wouldn't say I have zero interest but I certainly don't have loads of interest. My ebike cost what seemed like a lot at the time, it gets used a lot (I commute on it most days - I'm sitting here in knee pads with muddy legs and damp feet) but "upgrading" it would cost so much, especially as I suspect its slightly dated geometry makes it better where I usually ride.
Another Long COVID-er here. I got a nice sensible hybrid ebike with mudguards and a rack in Sep 2022. If it wasn't for that, i wouldn't be doing any cycling at all.
I long for the day that i can flog it and have promised myself a sexy Fairlight Secan, if that day ever comes.
But in the meantime, it's the ebike or nowt.
i have a cube hardtail. I got it because mt local trails are far enough away that i could rarely be arsed riding out to them. Unfortunately I still haven't been arsed often and its now mainly a utility bike and even then i don't use it a lot.
OH has a city e-bike that I borrow sometimes and I'd use it more if it were my size. Great for popping into town over hills in civvies.
I've had good days riding great e-MTBs but it's like a track day or other 'experience' activity to me - fun, but it just isn't as rewarding as riding a regular bike. I can say that now as I'm lucky to have good health, after fairly recent events I know too well how fast that can change. I'm not in the 'never!' camp. I'm just appreciating the beautiful simplicity of pedalling through a landscape under my own power for as long as I can because it's life-affirming in a way that few other things can match. I also see a subjective, sort of values-based appeal in a simple bike, something that e-bikes don't have, and that also biases what I own and ride. 'FWIW' etc .. Hair shirt singlespeeder type mentality perhaps 😀
I'm fortunate enough to have a good few bikes of different types, including ebikes. I enjoy riding them all in equal measures tbh (the enjoyment), but the ebikes do get ridden the most
Not a hater, there may be one at some stage in my future but (hopefully) well beyond the 12 months in the OP so I answered "no". One of the things I love most about bikes, is their elegant mechanical simplicity. The fact that muscle power is very efficiently converted into forward motion. I ride motorbikes too and absolutely love it, but in a totally different way. I don't feel the need to ride something which (to me) blurs the lines between the two a little. I'm not making the argument that pedal assist e-bikes are motorbikes btw, just that the addition of any kind of motor removes some of the essence of what "bicycle" really means to me. Whilst I'm still able to, I get a bit of a masochistic kick from dragging my body up hills and over whatever ground I ride, knowing the motive power to achieve that came from me alone. I'm in my early 60s. Where I can see me getting one, is when it will allow me to ride trails with my grownup kids for a few years longer than I would have been able to do otherwise. I'm not quite there yet.
I borrowed one when I was struggling with long Covid and it was the only thing I could ride.
It served a purpose, but I couldn't wait to be able to ride a proper bike again. And for as long as remain able-bodied I will stick to proper bikes, I just didn't like it. Too much faff, and it's less type 1 fun than a motorbike, and less type 2 fun than a proper bike.
Ive got an E-cargo and i inherited an E-"mtb" from dad .
I them it for commuting / Nipping to the shops/Taking the kids out (both fit on the cargo bike) on days when i otherwise may not cycle because tired legs etc.
I wouldn't likely have bought the e-MTB but it has actually been really good its far more bike like to ride than the cargo bike - which in turn means i use it more. The Cargo bike i now only use when i have "cargo" or need to move both kids
I don't have one, because I can't afford one. I'd need a lot more disposible income than I've got to make me buy one too, I don't ride my full sus bike enough because I'm scared of the cost of maintenance. I think I'm going to sell it this year and buy a hard tail. An ebike would be orders of magnitude worse than that.
I'd love an ebike for commuting though, I'd go for one of those before an e-mtb, more useful I think and a lot cheaper.
How about an option "I looked at the prices and bought a motorbike instead" (I did)
I don’t see many self-propelled bikes here on the Quantocks… same when visiting Cwmcarn after work. Saddens me that it feels like something that was on the up has completely stalled and the shift to something I don’t value has put me off mountain biking a bit
Conversely, other than the potential for increased erosion in some places, I don't have any issue with folk riding electrically assisted bicycles. Unrestricted/illegal power is a separate issue.