E-bike owners, any regrets with your choice/hindsight

I went from full fat to Orbea Rise in 2022 I just found full power was overkill for me . Had a few niggles which got sorted under warranty , on/off switch went duff and the shock linkage like others have found .

540W battery never not been enough, most importantly whatever you buy I would definitely get through an actual shop.

I see some back-and-forwards on reducing fitness with e-bikes. This was my main fear. And for certain, I’m not long enough into owning mine to post a fair analysis. But I’m hoping that the way you ride affects the impact on your fitness. This is one of the reasons I bought a light e-bike and tend to stay in the low settings. I know for sure it vastly reduces my peak heart rate. But, at least for the moment (which is summer!!) I’m riding so much more than I am able to without assistance that I feel my fitness is not reducing. Basically, I’m almost riding myself into the ground right now on the e-bike! Currently, it’s not one extra lap each ride, it’s 2-3 extra.

i think winter will tell whether my fitness is damaged. But in winter my local trails are so cut up, that’s when I tend to introduce trial running anyway.

“I know for sure it vastly reduces my peak heart rate.”

I think this is one of the really great things about e-bikes because it means people who need to keep their heart rate down for medical reasons can still go MTBing.

However if that doesn’t apply to you, you can choose to ride your ebike to max out your heart rate / power etc. I commute on mine and one thing I’ve taken to doing is pedalling in trail and then seeing if assistance increases if I swap to turbo. If I swap to turbo and the bike doesn’t go any faster then I know I’m putting out almost 400W myself (which I can’t do for very long). When I feel like I’m about to die I can then back right off and let the motor do most of the work. It’s a much nicer way of doing intervals than on a normal MTB.

I think with hindsight now maybe a cargo bike might have been a good option except for a couple of reasons

1. I’ve never had a decent full suss

2. I prefer better quality of components, and didnt want to spend more upgrading

3. Cargo bikes are long and heavy and I was considering storage

4. Most are limited to a ‘one size fits all’ when the reality is as we all know, it bloody well doesn’t

That said, after owning the better bike for 3 years I’ve been very happy, and have spent on those upgrades anyway because basically im obsessed and can’t help myself.

I’m on my 3rd e-bike now (2 x Trek Rail & 1 x Kenevo SL).

My only regret was bothering with the SL. It didn’t really add anything over what I can ride anyway, unless you turn it down so much, it was mostly pointless. It was also not very ‘SL’ when built up with appropriate parts.

For me, e-bikes are about smashing laps in when I’m time restricted, so full power makes the most sense. Also in the middle of winter & im head to toe in waterproofs, I’m not slogging a normal bike out for a trail ride. I’m either full XC, or effectively self uplifting.

No noticable drop of fitness either, as I don’t ride it enough to impact really.

or even slight disappointment that the one they bought doesn’t have X or should have Y

Might be worth reading my recent thread, some of the things might matter to you https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/lightweight-emtb-systems-specialzied-vs-tq-vs-bosch/

Or I wish I’d gone for a full fat/lite version for what I do.

I demoed both types back to back on some enduro-ish trails. When I arrived at the top of the climb on the full fat, I felt like I was doing a different sport. By halfway down I knew it wasn’t what I wanted, felt a bit of a passenger on it.

So then you go range extender, but why not just get a full power bike….etc etc.

Still a fair bit lighter. I’m currently fattening up my lite bike which was 18.3kg list, it’s now 19.5kg, or 20.7kg with the extender. That’s after replacing the XC grade brakes, replacing carbon handlebar with alu, adding sealant, and adding pedals. Got front and rear mudguards and light tyre inserts to add again.

If (health issues aside) you go into it thinking “it won’t make me lose any fitness, I’ll just be able to go further” then you’re delusional :)

I’m hoping to improve with my SL. Riding from home to the local trails on an evening will become feasible. And I’ll be able to ride rather than walk steep climbs in the lakes and dales.

if i could change one thing it would be a removable battery for me. Although i`ve only really wanted/needed this feature about 3 times in 4 years.

This was pretty important to me. I can stay overnight wherever as I would with a normal bike.

Focus Jam2 for over 3 years now.  No regrets.  Original frame bearings, front tyre, cassette (2 chains) and chainring after 2600 miles!  Yes, it’s a lump (over 25kg!) but I’ve got used to it.  As for fitness, it’s hard to tell now because I’m not getting any younger at 69, but I still ride my ‘normal’ road bike and run a bit, so still reasonably fit.  If the Focus (Bosch) motor were to require a refurb at £400, I would consider that to be money well spent.

or even slight disappointment that the one they bought doesn’t have X or should have Y

I actually collected, over more than a year, things that were mentioned in eMTB reviews or threads on here. Here are those that were significant differentiators between SL eMTBs I compared:

* Minimum chainring size – some of the SLs come with 34/36T can officially shorter are not supported. Important if you want to use eco and have steep hills, many of the motors need a normal or slightly high cadence.

* Cable routing type – headset is a pain in the arse, but I decided there aren’t enough options on the market for it to be a deal breaker. Also on some designs puts a minimum on the number of spacers you must have under the stem.

* Cable routing compatibility – if your preferred brake has hoses thicker than big S, some bikes won’t take it.

* Chainstay length – especially if you’re a shorter rider. Lots of bikes with 450mm+.

* Space and mounts in the frame to carry a bottle and range extender at the same time.

* Removable battery

Orbea Rise H30. 3 years in. Love it. It does impact your fitness but I have ridden more and further, and enjoyed it more as well. The financials are just hard. Mine is on C2W but I’m very lucky to be able to do that. Mid 50’s and riding lots of steep stuff so it feels acceptable. I have taken an unholy level of grief from my non powered cycling buddies. My engine/battery have been faultless so far. I wonder how I might have felt if they’d gone wrong?

Vitus e-Mythique in the CRC fire sale last year
Bought in the knowledge that I probably wouldn’t have a warranty, but there’s a point where things get so cheap you’re happy to take a punt
When it worked I was very happy with it, but it’s currently broken (won’t turn on – 350 miles ridden in mixed conditions before this happened)
I’ve taken the motor (Bafang) apart and identified one of the boards had been subjected to some water ingress, so hopefully a new one (£25) will fix it
The Vitus FB owners group has been useful for diagnosing the problem
Money no object I’d be after a Bosch motor
The Bafang has better power delivery/battery life/modes than the Shimano but not Bosch IMHO (I’ve only ridden these three)

Bought a whyte e-180rs about three years ago. It’s been bloomin brilliant. A proper bulldozer of a machine that somehow will lap up full blown adventure days in the hills or mountains. The only thing I’ve touched on it in several thousand miles are the brakes: code RSCs that simply got overwhelmed by alpine descents and motorbike-levels of heft.

I sometimes wish I’d bought the carbon Rise instead of alloy as for most of my rides, the smaller battery would probably be sufficient. At the same time though, it’s nice having the larger capacity for those rides so I’m not worried about the battery all the time.

To be honest, I’d have been happy with either and I don’t regret buying the alloy frame at all.

Sometimes I wish I’d bought something with more power and more travel but then I know I’d have spoiled ‘normal’ riding where it’s not mega steep or rough.

My biggest regret is buying an ebike at all. My fitness has suffered hugely. I’ve still got the legs to pedal all day but just haven’t got the lungs anymore. When it went back for a new motor, jumping on my HT nearly killed me and I was only riding in Surrey where the climbs aren’t exactly huge.

I know people say just dial back the power but it just doesn’t work like that for me. Even with it set to minimum (20nM) I still struggle to properly get my heart rate up the way a normal bike does. It’s only on really long/ steep climbs that I get close and I don’t always ride places where those exist. I think if my legs were stronger it would be different. The bike must weight 30% of my body weight and I don’t have the power to keep it moving at a decent pace.

I say that’s a regret, I still don’t regret buying it. It’s taken me to some awesome places and on some epic rides that I’d never manage on a normal bike. I just wish I could spend more time riding bikes and less time being an adult.

I know people say just dial back the power but it just doesn’t work like that for me. Even with it set to minimum (20nM) I still struggle to properly get my heart rate up the way a normal bike does.

Specialized SL’s enable not only the power/torque to be turned down in the App but I can also put the bike into MicroTune while riding along (hold down the + key) and then I can toggle up/down in 10% increments.

Therefore minimum is 3.5nM, so running at 30% is only 10.5nM – more than enough when riding on my own to get up hills.

I’ve also learned to run a far higher cadence than I ever did on a normal bike, as the ebike works better when +80rpm.  And this has translated into increasing my fitness on my road, gravel and non-ebike MTB’s.

I just don’t ride my Eeb like a MTB at all. It’s a tool like an uplift bus. Drag me up, fly down (relatively anyway). Getting my HR up on the Eeb isn’t even a discussion, that’s just not how we hang.

I only use the Eeb once or twice a month, this weekend at Hopton for example to maximise runs in a short period of time.

In regards to losing fitness with an ebike, I would have though5 that they would make it much easier to do lots of Zone 2 training.

I find I can get a good cardio workout on the Ebike, it’s the legs that don’t get worked enough.

Even riding a 25kg bike at just 12% assist, I’m not working my legs the way I would on a normal bike and it tells

I figure I’ll get a better workout on an ebike than my old DH bike as at least I’m now pedalling up to the top and not walking/shuttling and whenever I’ve ridden one I’ve done a lot more laps and descents of wherever I am than usual.  And I have a gym to supplement my fitness as well (and a hardtail)

On my 3rd eBike here, currently no regrets…

I was one of the last out of my usual group of riding mates to entertain buying an eBike, but caved in during COVID when everybody else was riding 3/4 times a week and getting fitter as well and I was still working all the time and my fitness went to shit…

First eBike for me was a 2021 Vitus eSommet, the cheapest one with Shimano E7000 motor and budget suspension, but great geometry. I upgraded the suspension immediately, loved the geometry and the natural feel of the E7000 motor, but disliked the fact that the bike was a proper tank @ 26kg (even with only 504Wh battery) and I felt a bit of a passenger on it at times. In the end, the paint started falling off the frame in places (seemed to be quite an issue with a batch of these frames) so I submitted it for a warranty claim, and they hadn’t got any new frames in stock, so gave me a choice to wait or take a full refund… I took it as a sign that I’d had almost 10 months of sporadic use out of it, returned it to original spec (fortunately I kept the stock suspension), and sent it back and got a full refund…

This was at the height of the COVID boom though, and bikes were expensive… Even for those of us working in the trade. I decided I’d wait a while, when I was then offered a loan bike by a good friend for a while, a Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 Action Team… So I rode this for a few months whilst deciding what to buy next. Must say that whilst I wouldn’t normally choose 27.5″ wheels, it was good fun, far more playful than the Vitus was if not as planted. At 24kg and with surplus battery for my needs, it did help me decide to go for a lighter weight bike next time though…

So I bought an Orbea Rise… a 2022 model M10, the carbon version with 360Wh battery, Fox Factory suspension etc. I upgraded a few bits on it, rode it a few times, was just getting used to it and then… Well… I got diagnosed with bowel cancer! And then worse than that, I had various complications, infections etc. afterwards and couldn’t ride the bike at all for about 18 months! When I finally could ride it again, I’d upgraded all sorts on it, bought the Cascade link for it, a range extender etc… But realised that 18 months unable to ride, barely able to exercise at all, had taken its toll. And so just as it was coming out of its 2yr motor warranty, I decided to look around for something else full fat again, but a lighter full fat, with good geometry, preferably Bosch motor, and slightly slacker and more relaxed geometry as good though the Rise was, it felt like a trail bike when arguably I wanted/needed an Enduro bike when I was pushing it harder down some trails…

Good fortune happened, I ended up with a 24 model Orbea Wild M10 (carbon again) with Bosch Gen4 CX smart system, a 750Wh battery (which I was convinced I would swap out for a smaller battery), and wow… What a machine!!! At 23kg I do notice the extra heft compared to the Rise which was just under 20, but it feels way lighter and more playful than the Vitus did. In fact, it’s probably the best descending bike I’ve owned, and arguably it is the bike that has given me the most confidence in the air so far (for the record, I’m not a big air merchant, but the Wild really has given me confidence over some jumps that I would never have previously contemplated)… The 750Wh battery is still largely redundant as I rarely use half of it even on longer rides, but it does allow me to ride 2 or even 3 consecutive days if I want to when travelling for work which is a real bonus. I did try to flatten the battery one day and carried on on my own for hours after my mates had gone home from our sunday morning ride… 65km and about 1700m of climbing later, split between Tour+ and eMTB, it still had 14% battery left but I was totally spent!

Good points have been made earlier in this thread about eBikes being really helpful for people coming back from illness, or people who need to keep their heart rate down… I have been in both of these situations recently, something that I never expected to happen in my early 40’s… Riding a normal MTB would basically have been a non starter for me. I have ridden my road bike a few times, but it was seriously hard going, and not really any fun at all… Having an eBike has really helped me get back on a bike at all, but being able to work more in zone 2 and 3 and keep the effort there if required (by changing modes), has really helped my recovery too.

Currently I can’t see me riding a “normal” MTB again for some time, although I do still own a couple and would like to get to the point both fitness and strength wise where I feel happy taking them out again on a decent ride… Though to be honest, I think any unassisted MTB’s in my future will firmly be limited to lightweight short travel full sus and even hardtail bikes going forward… I just can’t imagine the scenario any more where a 16kg 160mm travel Enduro bike with no assistance is at all advantageous over my 23kg 160mm travel E-Enduro bike quite frankly, regardless of fitness and strength levels!

My biggest regret is buying an ebike at all. My fitness has suffered hugely. I’ve still got the legs to pedal all day but just haven’t got the lungs anymore. When it went back for a new motor, jumping on my HT nearly killed me and I was only riding in Surrey where the climbs aren’t exactly huge.

I suspect that what actually happens is not that you lose a load of ‘fitness’, but that you’re working mainly in zone 1 and 2 on an e-bike, because basically sustained higher levels of effort – as per VO2 / above threshold intervals – hurt a lot. Normal mountain bikes on jagged terrain basically force you to do this or get off the bike, however it’s not all bleak as you can build up that higher end punch quite quickly, so while taking a non-assisted bike out may make you feel like you’ve ‘lost all your fitness’, in reality you could probably get that top-end power back quite fast.

Not a expert by any means, but that’s my lived experience too. Also, it’s rarely mentioned, but e-bikes do away with the dead-sport in the pedalling cycle, which is quite disconcerting if you go back to a normal bike after some times on assisted ones. Again my personal experience, again you adapt really fast.

As someone who basically used an e-mtb as part of recovery from long covid, which it was brilliant for – reduced effort and HR but huge emotional and low level physiological benefits – but still has the bike, I find I now use it quite differently. It is brilliant for zone 2 – sub-threshold stuff and recovery rides and for the less tangible upper body thing of chucking a great heavy lump around. If you want to get your HR up on an e-mtb, go chase a few Strave e-bike uphill KOMs and see how your HR does then.

But anyway, in brief, my take would be that zone 2 / endurance stuff building works fine with electrical assistance, it’s tougher to build higher end power unless you’re bloody minded and like a bit of suffering, but there’s no reason why you can’t get that back relatively fast. Of course it also depends on how many hours you’re ridiing. Low time at low levels won’t be great, a normal bike would work better in those circumstances, but if you view the e-bike as your low level endurance stuff, it should work and actually help recovery from harder non-assisted rides.

There’s always the thing in these threads that different people ride e-mtbs in a different ways. If I want a smash fest, I take a normal bike and hit every climb hard. For me the e-mtb is more about being able to take in trails with reduced effort levels, still be in nice places and ride interesting stuff off road. Other people just want to go e-fast everywhere or use it as a self-powered shuttle. It all depends, there’s no ‘e-bikes will make you fitter’ or ‘e-bikes will destroy your fitness’, it’s down to how you use the things. All imho.

find I can get a good cardio workout on the Ebike, it’s the legs that don’t get worked enough.

Even riding a 25kg bike at just 12% assist, I’m not working my legs the way I would on a normal bike and it tells

Ride with someone whose bike cuts out a fraction after yours. Pedalling a 50 lb bike trying to keep up with an e-bike gives you all the work out you’ll ever need!

My first e-bike purchase – YT Decoy  A great bike but too heavy for me to lift over gates or manoeuvre into the back of my car.

Did not have an issue with range or power or reliability issues with the Shimano motor.  Due to its weight it wasn’t a nimble bike and road very differently from my non-e-bike MTB’s.

Changed it to 2022 Orbea Rise, and this suits me much better.  Lighter and far more agile, rides like a normal bike.  It’s liwer weight mean I can lift it more easily over gates and get it in and out of my car.

I’ve had no issues with range from a much smaller battery, or powered from the EP8 RS motor.  The Shimano motor had been faultless although my BiL who has a different model of the same bike, has had an issue with the battery and it is being replaced under warranty by Orbea.

BadlyWiredDog
Full Member

I suspect that what actually happens is not that you lose a load of ‘fitness’, but that you’re working mainly in zone 1 and 2 on an e-bike, because basically sustained higher levels of effort – as per VO2 / above threshold intervals – hurt a lot. Normal mountain bikes on jagged terrain basically force you to do this or get off the bike, however it’s not all bleak as you can build up that higher end punch quite quickly, so while taking a non-assisted bike out may make you feel like you’ve ‘lost all your fitness’, in reality you could probably get that top-end power back quite fast.

See, I tend to get a bit lost when people start talking about vO2 and heart rate zones as they’re not something I’ve ever measured but the bit about top end power hits the nail on the head.

When you start off climbing something that gets incrementally steeper and the going starts getting tough. Then you’re faced with a step or whatever and you know you’ve got to accelerate up an already stupidly steep hill, then muscle the front end up and over followed by lifting the back wheel, the whole time maintaining some momentum and then carry on cranking out of the saddle to get yourself going up. That’s the type of situation where my heart rate would go through the roof (scientific measurement).

That type of situation is where I usually measure my ‘fitness’. Being able to pull off manoeuvres like that hours into a tough ride made me feel like I was fairly fit and strong on a bike. Since (pretty much) all my riding now is assisted, I feel like I’ve lost that power.

I’m trying to work out whether I can replicate that sort of effort of a turbo trainer. At least that way, I can get a bit of work in mid week.

Inspired by this thread I’ve just done a quick bit of reading about all this zone stuff – I’ve never ridden road bikes or done organised training on a bike so Z2 etc meant very little to me. There’s clearly something about the way I like to exercise in that I’m not big on constant moderate power, I’d rather vary between working super hard and then recovering.

Anyway, if you ride an ebike all/most of the time you can do this to yourself – either find stupid stuff to ride up (things too steep for a normal bike unless you’re a super strong XC racer type) or deliberately turn the power down (or off!) and make yourself suffer – safe in the knowledge that just before you feel like you’re about to break you can press a button and let the bike help out.

“When you start off climbing something that gets incrementally steeper and the going starts getting tough. Then you’re faced with a step or whatever and you know you’ve got to accelerate up an already stupidly steep hill, then muscle the front end up and over followed by lifting the back wheel, the whole time maintaining some momentum and then carry on cranking out of the saddle to get yourself going up.”

Next ride go and do one of those bits but with the assistance turned down and see if you can manage it without stalling or having to turn the assistance back up. If you can’t then keep trying until you do. Then turn the assistance down again and repeat. And again, until you can finally pedal your ebike up that bit with no help, which means you’re working harder than you were before you got an ebike. It’s not as mad as it sounds!

3rd post on this thread, but I thought these screenshots would be interesting. I screenshotted my heart rates from Strava/Garmin on 2 identical rides – one on my normal HT and one on my newish light e-bike.

But before that I need to say that these don’t tell the whole story. The issue is that I almost never ride for the same distance/time as I do on a normal bike. I don’t think there has been one single ride on the e-bike where I haven’t extended the ride. So I chose this shorter ride since it is a typical short ride on my normal bike, but my normal e-bike ride would be much further. But I specifically wanted a like-for-like comparison.

but anyway, you can clearly see the huge difference in maximum heart rate. Since I ride in minimum-assistance mode, I am wondering if my heart rate stays in the good fitness zone anyway. But the max rate is a huge difference.

I’m trying to work out whether I can replicate that sort of effort of a turbo trainer. At least that way, I can get a bit of work in mid week.

Definitely. Try doing 30/30s. So… warm-up, then go flat out as hard as you can for 30 seconds, recover for 30 secs – easy spinning – then repeat say six times. Take five minutes recovery – spinning – then do the whole thing again and ditto, so you do three sets.

Do that a couple of times a week – maybe start with 20/40 for the first week or two – and you’ll notice the difference pretty quickly ime. You can add reps or even go to 40/20 as you get better at it. The actual power you put out is less important, as I understand it, than it being pretty much a full-on effort. Give yourself a couple of days at lower intensity between those sessions, eg: Tuesday and Friday or Saturday would work well, avoid consecutive days as although it’s a quick session, it’s quite intense.

Tabata, which is 20/10 would do similar, I guess. This stuff is short and brutal and painful, but works and works quite quickly too. I’m sure someone with training experience, sports physiology qualifications will have other, maybe better, ideas, but that’s what I’d do.

Ride with someone whose bike cuts out a fraction after yours. Pedalling a 50 lb bike trying to keep up with an e-bike gives you all the work out you’ll ever need!

What’s this ‘cut out’ you speak of? ;-)

To answer OP question (sorry, late to thread) – regret getting a Mullet bike. Even with my shit skills, yes, it is deffo more manoeuvrable, dips into turns quicker etc, but the smaller wheel gives up traction on dodgy surfaces to larger 29er contact patch, and gets caught up on roots/rocks/steps etc much more easily when going up, down or along.

What’s this ‘cut out’ you speak of? ;-)

It’s a feature that automatically switches off if you wear a balaclava instead of a helmet

 you can clearly see the huge difference in maximum heart rate

S’why they are a game changer for those of us with heart issues.

I can get a good cardio workout on the Ebike, it’s the legs that don’t get worked enough

Completely the opposite for me. The cardio stays at a comfortable rate, legs nearly always ache after a ride.

Apologies for the number of typos in my previous post on this thread – should have worn my reading glasses.

There’s always the thing in these threads that different people ride e-mtbs in a different ways. 

BWD makes a very good point here… There’s big numbers of people riding eBikes on trails now that simply didn’t ever try Mountain Biking before there was the option for it to be done electrically assisted, and I find that more often than not, these people are riding their bikes in full power mode all of the time until the battery runs out, and often even taking a spare battery with them…

And then there’s people for whom the challenge is that the bike never comes out of Eco unless they are absolutely spent, who just use the bike to go a lot further and get more trails in for a given amount of time, but still want to be putting a significant amount of effort in…

And then there’s everyone inbetween too…

It’s also worth remembering that for a lot of people, the choice hasn’t been eBike or conventional MTB, it has been, for whatever reason, eBike or sitting at home watching the TV instead… For lots of people, eBikes have become real game changers for their fitness as it allows them to get out and enjoy doing something, rather than just suffering and it never becoming fun!

There are benefits to exercising at more consistent effort and HR levels at times too (just as there are for doing intervals)… Nothing is clear cut here and the “eBikes make you fat” or “eBikes make you lose your fitness” crew really don’t know what the hell they’re talking about… They just can’t see beyond their own ill informed prejudices!

As someone who is hard wired to put effort into riding a bike (been MTBing since the early 90’s), I sometimes have to tell myself even now to relax a bit more on my eBike, and not feel guilty using Tour+ or even eMTB modes rather than Eco (NEVER Boost!) if and when I am lagging or trying too hard to keep up with others or simply that I feel my heart rate is getting higher than I want it to be in a given situation. That there are others who ride their eBikes like a 450cc Enduro bike and want all of the power all of the time is up to them…

Having just recently got back onto Zwift and using that to batter myself, the e-bike makes for nice active recovery. I can go for a fun ride but keep a fairly steady Z2 output which is fiercely dull on a turbo.

Or if my legs feel a bit dead/worn out after a hard day or when I was recovering from pneumonia I can run a bit more support. Or yesterday I could do 2 rides one in the morning with the wife and one at night with the boy.

E-bike gets me out more, which keeps me happier which means I want to do more as opposed to ending up in a black hole sat on the sofa. And that’s a good thing.

Just thought….. in addition to my earlier post on this thread.  Having the e-mtb has meant that I readily explore new areas and potential trails that I probably wouldn’t have bothered exploring.  You know, the kind of thing where you see the traces of what has been a trail but not clearly defined. All too often they sort of tail off and it’s a pain to retrace your ride back to where you left the original well defined trail.  Now, with the e-mtb I’ll happily go have a look and, as a result have discovered all sorts of hidden gems (at least previously unknown to me).

The things are superb! Complete game changing.

I guess the only regret is seeing my Stanton full suss frame hanging in the shed covered in dust as it’s never been ridden for 3 years.

No regrets at all. I had pretty much packed up riding, lost all my fitness and desire to get out until i picked up my Mondraker Chaser in January. Been out every weekend and usually twice a weekend in the summer since i got it. I have my mojo back. Took a couple of rides to get used to it though – I went from a 26″ 120mm Pivot susser with SPD’s to a 29″ slack long wide bars dropper posted 160mm with flats bike so everything was different.

I have a complaint about my bike to work bike. I have had it for  4 yearsA cube kathmandu hybrid which has been virtually flawless given the spasmodic maintenance I lavish on it. It has been reliable till now. Three or four  of days ago it would switch on then switch off again after a few seconds eventually it got going, The next day it would not switch on at all. Did all the usual cleaning connections looking for loose cables etc , nothing worked.

After more searching online I discovered that the bosch intuvia display has its own battery  which sometimes fails, and stops the bike from switching on.  Also sometimes has plastic poured on top of the small screws making it very difficult to remove them to replace the battery. I have bought a new display unit at £80 if that does’nt work it ll be into the shop for a repair which will be expensive when it doesnt need to be .

I got a rail the weekend we went into lockdown, I’m 30 miles from the trails and as it was permitted to ride from the door at the time and I didn’t have the fitness I got the rail, rode to the trails did 20 miles then rode home it’s an awesome bike.

As things relaxed I went back to the other bikes as my cycling mates didn’t emtb, my rail sits largely unused  it’s 4 years old and 1200 miles on it, original motor and spec tbh. Do I regret it no, I do wish I had a lite version Levo SL or Fuel ex-e but then there’s moments where I love riding the rail, recently went to Glentress and took the rail and the climbs for the new stuff meant I could session and do loads of laps so at that point it made perfect sense again.

It all depends on what you ride, where you ride and how you ride, fitness as I doubled my mileage on the  emtb I didn’t see a drop off but I do commute via bike and I road ride as well as mtb so one ride a week emtb had no effect.

As someone who is hard wired to put effort into riding a bike (been MTBing since the early 90’s), I sometimes have to tell myself even now to relax a bit more on my eBike,

What a legend. Love these threads in which a bunch of people who ride expensive engine-powered bikes convince each other that it’s great for fitness.

Having the e-mtb has meant that I readily explore new areas and potential trails that I probably wouldn’t have bothered exploring.

possibly the most feeble justification yet! For me curiosity & satisfaction of occasionally finding a decent new trail/route trumps “oh I can’t be bothered” :) I also actually enjoy riding a bike which helps I guess.

possibly the most feeble justification yet! For me curiosity & satisfaction of occasionally finding a decent new trail/route trumps “oh I can’t be bothered” :) I also actually enjoy riding a bike which helps I guess.

Thanks for the ringing endorsement :)   But when your old and feeble like me you need a bit of help occasionally.

And yes, I do enjoy riding my bike but time catches up with you.