Considering an E Bike having been out of the game for a long time. Had a go on a Merida one recently and the chain snapped on the damn thing.

What are you experiences and are they all on air?

I preferred coil back in the day but has air improved?

Advice please.

Airs improved, but tends to be around the shock that frames are designed around, some are designed to match the nature of air/coil.

Biggest tips for any ebike purchase is to buy as local as you can, you can get seduced by long distance deals, but locally purchased, especially from specialists who also fix ebikes is worth it for back up.

I wouldn’t get too annoyed about the chain breaking, mechanicals happen, i had 3 of them today on a ride, including broken spokes, you just have to work out ways of working with the bike, there are loads to choose from nowadays, can’t think of any that aren’t good and do the job, Merida are very nice, but at this stage you have Cube, Focus, Specialized, Giant, Trek, etc, etc, all doing them, and getting their game together with making good ebikes, go test a few, work out what you’re after then see what offers are around.

preferred coil back in the day but has air improved?

You’re going to have to give us a date (and a style of bike) for ‘the day’ because that will affect the answer hugely.

I have 1, so does my wife.
They are great, they make you feel like you are fit again.
I would echo the advice above, about buying local.
They are more complex than a regular bike and if you need dealer support that’s going to be time consuming, at best.
Our bikes have done a combined 2500 miles or so with no problem of any kind.
I’ve snapped a couple of chains, but I’ve done that on normal bikes too.
Don’t get hung up on weight, unless you’re planning extended hike a bike sessions.
Both of ours are cube, bosch motors.

Whatever you do make sure you buy it new, from a dealer. Most of the ones I’ve seen have had issues with either the battery or the motor so make sure the warranty cover is good.

Just started looking myself.

Everyone says that bikes are brilliant, and the extra weight isn’t really an issue.

But then every single review I’ve watched so far on the Orbea Rise has said how much better it’s is for not weighing as much as any other ebike, whilst riding and even just putting in the car !

But then every single review I’ve watched so far on the Orbea Rise has said how much better it’s is for not weighing as much as any other ebike, whilst riding and even just putting in the car !

And to +1 buy local from a dealer, the two that my local dealer had sold were sat in his workshop a week or two back wait for warrantied motors…

My wife has a Scott E- something or other (aspect, I think). Brilliant for s lot of things, a bit clumsy on fiddly single track. And of course the weight “doesn’t matter”. Until you get to the CC footbridge, or a locked 6 foot gate on the Alvie estate!

Defo buy close to home,Have two mates who bought Giant E-trance and E-Reign and both had nothing but hassle with the bikes not powering up,Switching off in wet weather,Which isn’t helpful living in Scotland
Both had to return to Rutland a few times and got messed about,Both now have had either refund or replacement as bike not for for purpose
My mate has the Focus Jam2 and he’s just put coil on it,he rides big jumps and comes from DH so likes the plushness
I ride an Orbea wild FS and the top end model comes with Coil on the rear

What they all said above, their brilliant but ALL of them are unreliable to an extent, ignore anyone telling one is better than the other, as they can all fail (spesch/ brose/shimano/yamaha/bosch) and do. So again buy local is the best advise, as I waited 8 weeks for a mail order repair, I won’t be doing that again in a hurry.
All of that sounds very off-putting and yes if you are expecting a product that is 100% reliable and will never fails, go back to walking…
That said, there are loads of us here clocking up 1000’s of miles on these unreliable pieces of junk.
To me it’s made cycles good again, I’ve done loads of feet of descending I’d never have done on a manual, climbing is now a challenge (not a drudge) & I’m riding more with friends who were never going to get decently cycle fit, in places we would never have imagined before.
I thoroughly recommend e-bikes & am having loads of fun on mine

To give you a more specific recommendation, you need to tell us either what your local e-bike dealer sells, or if you going to consider the saving that can be had from mailorder.

as per all above around buy from a local shop who have good warranty backup. On the bike selection, have a think about what type of riding you will be doing. I am more of an xc, out in the hills type rider, rather than anything gnarly or overly technical. I had an Orbea Wild FS, but in honesty it was too much bike for me. I now have a Spesh Levo SL and it is much better for the riding I do, with the added benefit of being light and easy to lift over gates 🙂

They’re great, I see it as my own uplift service, allows more downhill for any given amount of effort uphill.

However they can be unreliable, mines (orbea wild fs) is currently in the shop awaiting a new motor after 550 miles. Looks like bosch have run out of motors in the UK so its being shipped from germany which is proving a bit slow. If this (motor failing after 550 miles) ends up being a regular occurrence I’ll be ditching it – but as said there are people who manage thousands of trouble free miles, so hopefully this is just a one off (yeah right!)

They’re great, I see it as my own uplift service, allows more downhill for any given amount of effort uphill.

That’s why I want one. I’m an ex-downhiller and reluctant pedaller. All I want to do is ride tech DH runs all day long but it’s horribly draining under your own steam.

I had a blast on a new 2021 Kenevo the other day. It belongs to someone local to me so I just went for a blast around the very hilly streets of Sheffield and for such a tank it feels absolutely weightless when you’re on the move. Sadly it’s about the same price as a Ducati Scrambler and it’s guaranteed to break down.

I’ll definitely have one in a couple of years.

“it’s guaranteed to break down”

I’d love to see some actual data on this. I know I rarely say anything in ebike reliability threads because I don’t want to jinx my over two year old Levo. Obviously if I’d had problems I’d be moaning all over the place.

Anecdotal evidence is rarely worth the paper it isn’t written on.

I live next to a Specialized dealer and I’m on speaking terms with the mechanics, does that help? It’s a constant cycle of replacement motors, sensors and various bit of electrogubbins. And with the supply chain being what it currently is it’s even less fun than usual.

From their ‘anecdotal evidence’ Specialized motors break more often than Bosch or Shimano.

Sadly it’s about the same price as a Ducati Scrambler

This is what pains me. I have seen some stunning looking e Motocross bikes in the local quarry that look amazing and much better engineered than ebikes costing the same/less than ebikes

from their ‘anecdotal evidence’ Specialized motors break more often than Bosch or Shimano.

With what ratio of sales? As spesch e-bike sales seeming out weigh all the other manufacturers put together (that’s anecdotal too..), if were gong to start suggest one is more reliable than the other….
Either way I’ve managed to do 4.5K miles on my ebikes, and the short times it been out of use, was annoying but not world ending (but then I did keep my old e-bike)

Well I’m not dropping in to ask them for a spreadsheet so I’ll just take their word for it. For what it’s worth if I was buying one I’d still go with a Specialized because the Kenevo is exactly what I want from an e-bike.

This is what pains me. I have seen some stunning looking e Motocross bikes in the local quarry that look amazing and much better engineered than ebikes costing the same/less than ebikes

Yeah, there’s more and more of those things hitting the market and they look amazing. The problem is they’re illegal to use almost everywhere and we live on a claustrophobic prison island full of angry curtain twitchers.

I’d be interested in actual data too tbh.
My anecdotal evidence would be, virtually all Ebikes worldwide are bosch powered and hardly ever break down. Based on the fact that my mate owns the lbs and sells cubes, he says hardly any of them cause problems.
Which is the opposite to what you find online.

😉

Well I’m not dropping in to ask them for a spreadsheet

TBH I wish someone would, as it made up stats anecdotal otherwise, now if only there was a magazine/journalist that could do a super useful investigative story like that?

I did 2500 miles on a Trek Powerfly with the old Gen 2 Bosch motor and needed 3 new ones in that time. I’ve got 1900 miles on my Rail with the Gen 4 Bosch motor and the only issue I’ve had was a false tampering detected error which was fixed with a software update. The Gen 4 does appear to much more reliable than the Gen 2.
My mate’s Levo shat itself at the weekend. Again. It’s already had the upgraded motor that’s supposed to have stopped the belt issues. In fact, every single person I regularly ride with who owns a Levo or Kenevo has had at least one motor fail. plus power cable and TCU issues. The only one of our group who hasn’t had a failure rides a Canyon with the Shimano e8000 motor but he’s only done about 500 miles in the last 2 years…
The Levo may well be the best selling model of eeb, but the Bosch motor is used by far more manufacturers and I’d expect that one to be the most prolific.

The manufacturers will never release failure stats unfortunately, which is a shame as it would help people make an informed decision.

Just wait until you find out that your “new” motor is a refurb…

ive had the itch a few times. i have it again at the moment. in the past a borrow or demo has scratched my itch and the novelty is gone after a weekend…

however if i were in the market, the new Marin is the only one that had turned my head. looks like a beast! comes with coil shock and a decent spec. competitively priced too. failing that maybe the new Spectral?

The Levo may well be the best selling model of eeb, but the Bosch motor is used by far more manufacturers and I’d expect that one to be the most prolific.

That’s pretty much what I’ve heard from the people who spend all day fixing them and trying to chase parts. I said it’s a Specialized dealer but they also sell Cube, Focus, Trek, Ghost etc…

I’m not sure what proportions of each brand they sell but they currently have more issues with Spesh motors than anything else I believe.

I wish magazines would chase this up too.

Most manufacturers seem to be chasing higher power outputs and/or lighter bikes, rather than making sure stuff can be fixed easily or maintained.

If a Shimano motor fails outside warranty (which is only 2 years) its off to landfill and you’ve got to fork out 800+ quid for another one or ditch the entire frame because it’s built around the motor.

I ride with 3 other ebikers. Out of us 4 we’ve had 3 motor failures
Bosch Gen 4 – Failed after 600 miles (along with quite a few other electrical gremlins)
Shimano EP8 – Failed after 100 miles
Shimano E8000 – Failed after 200 miles, replacement motor now on 1500ish miles with no other issues

The other E8000 owner hasn’t had any issues at all and is probably 2000 miles in (their motor is quite whiney sounding now though).

Love riding them but it’s always a worry when you park up wondering if it’s going to turn on or not…

Spotted this last week, Marin it appears are opting for coil.

Took me a while to find this, for the life of me i couldnt remember which company.
They’ve also decided in their infinite wisdom to opt for a 27.5″/29″ wheel set up.

https://www.marinbikes.com/gb/bikes/alpine-trail-e1 – £4295
And
https://www.marinbikes.com/gb/bikes/2021-alpine-trail-e2 – £5695

I suspect that adding a motor of any kind just adds something else on your bike to go wrong. The nicest e bike I have ridden to date is the Canyon Spectral ON. It felt much more akin to a normal bike than any other I have ridden. The Giant E Reign I had on test was faultless from a motor perspective and offered some proper range performance. However, the motor was very low slung and the bike suffered from regular ground contact, even on sets of stairs. It was VERY heavy too. It just wasn’t the bike for me.

I’ve tried a few Specialized and other than the Levo SL, I was a bit underwhelmed. The Orbea was fine but again it didn’t inspire me to want to buy one. The Scott I rode for a feature was a hefty old thing although I gather that the latest models are a darn sight better to ride. The Santa Cruz Heckler too didn’t really impress me either although that could be as much to do with it being 650 and not a 29er. It was also eye wateringly expensive when compared to what else is out there which would put me off (well that and I have owned a few Santa Cruz in my time and broke them all).

The advice about buying local is sound. It is good to have a shop you can walk into if and when the inevitable problem arises.

Your best bet is to test ride as many as you can they buy the one you like to ride the most. Personally, I still prefer a normal bike (well in so far as a 5 inch tyre behemoth can be considered normal!) but can easily see the attraction of an e bike.

Cheers

Sanny

Oh and plan for your drivetrain wearing out that bit faster than you are used to. The chain on the Giant I had was more than 75% worn within a couple of months of getting it. Eek!

heres a bosch gen4 with some water in it.

https://www.emtbforums.com/community/threads/bosch-gen-4-error-code-550.13197/#post-270044

There’s a chap in the Classifieds selling 2 of the 3 2020 Specialized S-Works Levo SLs he bought….

As others have said dealer is key and that there good, my local Trek dealer isn’t too good, but I got my bike from Blazing Bikes who are awesome! They delivered the bike to home and the issues I’ve had they have offered to fix there and then when I got there, about 40 mile drive from home so still localish…

I’ve got a Trek Rail and I love it! It’s such a well planted good bike, yes it’s a fitness replacement as I found out earlier when I took my stumpy out instead of the ebike poor legs..

The issues I’ve had are the front chainring locking bolt came off, currently there isn’t a tool you can buy so it had to go back to the dealer.

The software updates you can’t do yourself while the speshi levo I’ve been told you can? Other than that it’s a great bike you have to plan an ebike ride unless you keep the battery fully charged. Mine sits at 20% unless I’m going out then charge it day before but like today an impulse ride I can’t use it as it’s not charged.

There’s a chap in the Classifieds selling 2 of the 3 2020 Specialized S-Works Levo SLs he bought….

I saw that – a little odd, or way more money than sense!

I saw that – a little odd, or way more money than sense!

Well it seems like there was a plan…

 Selling these 2 was meant to reduce the outlay on mine slightly and allow me to justify it all to myself.

Wonder what he paid for all 3? 😳

Just checked on Orbea website, I can get an Orbea Rise in….. November 21 🤷‍♂️

Like all things bikes these days perhaps it’s a case of getting hold of anything is an achievement

Ahhh! As a proper cyclist 😉, it’s a real tonic to hear how much hassle these ebikes are causing people. Maybe they won’t take over the world as predicted? Maybe they’ll all end up as useless piles of junk, cluttering up sheds and garages? One can but hope.

Definitely make sure you can get the electrics repaired locally but that doesn’t mean you have to buy local. The Bosch CX has failed on my Orbea after 1200 miles. I bought from a dealer 160 miles away as there was no other stock around at the time and that was the bike I wanted. I checked I had Bosch service centres fairly locally. That said the dealer, who have been great, asked if I was happy to drop the motor out and they would arrange collection (which was fine by me) but my lBS/Bosch service centre have been great and are sorting it out. Gutted to hear of delivery problems as I am getting very bad withdrawals from my crack-bike.

Maybe they’ll all end up as useless piles of junk, cluttering up sheds and garages?

It’s a pity no-one makes a gearbox to fit in the motor mounting points, like those Pinion ones.

@LMT

The issues I’ve had are the front chainring locking bolt came off, currently there isn’t a tool you can buy so it had to go back to the dealer.

Here you go; https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/tools-c10/workshop-tools-c129/shimano-isis-compatible-8-pin-bb-tool-p4991/s11512

Many thanks! Pre-ordered, I’m hoping it won’t need it again as it’s been good since but always handy to have!