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.
