Electric bicycles - who buys them?

[Coolbanana]

yellowjack said:

I found out that Strava had added an "e-bike ride" to their activity type list when a chap I followed was riding loops in the woods around my old stomping ground, and he looked pretty fast. But when I checked his segment times there was no sign of my own times on the lists, despite me knowing I'd ridden those segments literally hundreds of times. So I asked him, and he pointed out that his rides were all tagged "e-bike". He'd previously ridden a non-assisted MTB, but he'd found that there were often "no segments on this activity" when he uploaded a ride as an e-bike. So he set about re-creating a load of his favourite segments, in the same places, with the same names, as e-bike segments. So as far as I'm aware, so long as you tag your ride as an e-bike ride, it will record only those segments set up from e-bike rides in the first place. Obviously, I may be wrong, especially if I've gotten the wrong end of any particular stick along the way, but that's how I understand it to work...


...try it by editing you activity type from "Ride" to "E-Bike Ride" on a normal ride you've uploaded. (you can then re-edit it back to "Ride" so don't worry). I just did that on a 50-mile mixed road/gravel ride from this week. It went from more than 50 segments on the activity page to only 1. Even the "Don't see the segment you're looking for?" button only yielded another 2 segments for e-bikes. So it seems I'm right in what I was suggesting, and that confusion only reigns whena committed e-biker duplicates all the old segment names from their pre-e-bike days. not sure how it works in Garmin's own sites though.

Edited by yellowjack on Friday 11th October 14:07

Yes, I did discover how to get it to work and add segments for e-bikers etc. However, I've largely stopped riding my eMTB now because thanks to the base fitness it provided, I moved on to my non-assisted bikes, joined a local Club and, now, 22 Strava MTB and Road KOM's (since the beginning of August) later on race routes, I've started training to race myself again soon.

I'll be keeping my eMTB as a recovery ride bike and for winter use but won't be recording those rides. Also it was the bike that got me back into cycling and that's a big deal for me, having been extremely competitive (Elite Amateur level) for a long time followed by an equally long absence, so it now has a special place in my garage.

[Phil.]

Put this together for my wife today. Think it’s worth a photo before it get mucky.

[Cupramax]

Looks great, really like the look of Cube bikes. if I ever go over to the dark side from home builds to an OEM I’d definitely have one.

[Bearings]

Phil. said:

Put this together for my wife today. Think it’s worth a photo before it get mucky.

I've got the same bike! Mind letting me know what mudguards are fitted on yours?

[Pvapour]

So after hiring a giant last year and being sold on emtb (but not the bosch unit) we’re now in a position to get a couple of bikes now the new hip is 100%...

Tested the schimano unit in a cannondale 130 neo yesterday (the 8000 unit) and it was way better than the bosch when exceeding the 25kmh limit, plus the dealer has 2 end of line ‘19’ bikes in stock in our sizes for a good price (a 4 & a 3 @ 6k € for the two)

Question is..

Why oh why the big fat tyres? Whats wrong with normal mountain bike tyres? Is it just an aesthetics thing? They make the steering sooo slow and heavy.

Im not bothered about the looks so can i fit normal mountain bike tyres to the rims? I’d like to fill the tyres with sealant but imagine the weight in the ballon tyres to be horendous to ride, no?

Apparently the wheels are: wtb stx i29 tcs, 32h, tubeless ready

Tyres are: wtb ranger comp, 27.5 x 2.8”, dna compound, tubeless ready

Some advice on the tyres and the bike if anyone has one, would be much appreciated..

[spyder dryver]

You could fit 2.3" tyres which might help with your feeling of heavy steering. It could be to do with a slack head angle though. ( The bike's, not yours )
The weight of the bike will be a factor too. A relatively cheap experiment might be to fit a shorter stem which could make the bike feel more "pointy", if you know what I mean.
If you "fill" the tyres with sealant they will weigh a ton. If you put the correct amount in, they won't.
For general trail riding I would pump the tyres up to the max allowed.

[Phil.]

Has anyone tried a 2020 Bosch unit yet which is supposed to have the lag above 15mph removed and compared it with earlier versions?

Hoping this is not too controversial. I rarely ride my eMTB much above 20mph even on the road, but (I understand) the Bosch system with a Speed Box 2 makes it a delight to ride.

And yes, I understand the legalities and the risks. I’m not aware of the US have any major problems with their e-bikes reaching up to 28mph with assistance. So may be the UK will adopt the more sensible US standard on assisted e-bike speed restrictions once EU rules no longer apply Most e-bike forums seem to agree that common sense should apply to the lifting of the UK restrictions and circumventing them in the meantime.

[Pvapour]

spyder dryver said:

You could fit 2.3" tyres which might help with your feeling of heavy steering. It could be to do with a slack head angle though. ( The bike's, not yours )
The weight of the bike will be a factor too. A relatively cheap experiment might be to fit a shorter stem which could make the bike feel more "pointy", if you know what I mean.
If you "fill" the tyres with sealant they will weigh a ton. If you put the correct amount in, they won't.
For general trail riding I would pump the tyres up to the max allowed.

thanks spyder, done some research and found these continental tyres https://www.cycletyres.com/blog/test-of-the-new-co... that have a pretty continuous centre pattern which’ll help sharpen response and decrease rolling resistance, it’ll help with the road work needed in getting to our off road sections...

I’ll see if the dealer is happy to install 2.3” onto the rims..

[Bill]

Won't that affect the gearing?

[Pvapour]

Bill said:

Won't that affect the gearing?

Yeh, thought that, and speed sensor and limit, that but can be got round though, hearing not so easy

[Bill]

Trail bikes particularly seem to be going bigger on tyres for more grip. The bike will have been designed round the wheels so pedal strikes will be more likely too. You're probably better looking for a less trail focussed bike to start with.

[benny.c]

I think you get used to wider tyres. Prior to getting my Levo which is on 27.5 x 3.0, I had a relatively light titanium hardtail on 2.25 wide tyres (IIRC). Initially the Levo felt slow to turn and floaty but now I’ve had it a while I’ve got used to it and chuck it around a bit more. There’s bags of grip and importantly for me, the ride is very plush. I see weight and rolling resistance as far less of an issue on eMTBs compared to regular bikes.

[Trophy Husband]

You need to exploit the CoG of an eMTB. My Bergamont is I think 23kgs, my riding pals Whyte is 13kgs there or there abouts. Downhill he says he has to back off in the berms whereas I can flow through them based on CoG purely because I get more bite from the tyres. I've got around 6kg about 250mm off the ground plus another 3.5 within 450mm off the ground which is the battery. That really is a great pull downwards into grip and bite if that makes sense?
Gravity is your friend.

[Pvapour]

I wont be doing any berms or table tops or hard off road courses we’ll enjoy gentle off road riding where the speed limit of the bike even on smaller circumference wheel wouldnt be an issue, big cozy saddle and swept back bars on my wifes bike to giv an idea

[Adrian E]

In that case I'd just ride it with what it comes with and see how you get on - worth noting that e-bike specific tyres for MTBs tend to have a MUCH stronger sidewall to deal with the extra weight and expected big landings - smaller stuff intended for a diddy carbon bike may struggle to cope.

Maybe try the Whyte just to see what it's like with the narrower tyres? Think it runs 2.5", but does have the Bosch motor (Gen 4)

[Pvapour]

I rode the giant for 2 weeks on 3.0s and it was one of the things i wanted to change..

Re side wall strength, the continental tyres have radial cords in the side walls, do the emtb have more strengthening then?

I honestly cant see a difference of 5kg to be have that much of an effect on the tyre, i mean 120kg v 125kg total mass, really?

Tyre/bike Manufacturers must allow for 100kg + riders versus 60kg riders, thats a huge margin, it leaves that 5kg bike difference looking rather unimportant to me.

i think the radius is more an issue re gearing, but even this isnt a biggy, the 20mph i logged up the road on it still left loads of pedal speed left and we wont be exceeding that speed together for sure, range and miles logged on bikes computer will be irrelevant as our phones will be mounted and doing all the logging, i’ll probably delimit them so the 15mph cut off isnt 13mph...

Im guessing the 5-10mm max (10-20mm overall) sidewall difference wont make that much of a difference to bikes calcs anyway, anyone work it out?

[rs4al]

Phil. said:

Put this together for my wife today. Think it’s worth a photo before it get mucky.

Nice, which Cube is that, as looking at either the Liv Vall-E or a Cube for the better half, she is only 5’ tall and these are the only manufacturers that seem to do x-small e-bikes.

[Phil.]

rs4al said:

Nice, which Cube is that, as looking at either the Liv Vall-E or a Cube for the better half, she is only 5’ tall and these are the only manufacturers that seem to do x-small e-bikes.

It’s the Cube Eagle Reaction 500 (19’’ frame on 29’’ wheels) but it’s the last of the 2019 models which are selling at up to a 20% discount, if you can still find one. Best price is just above £2k and I think it’s a lot of eMTB for that money.

The difference between this and some of the other Cube Reaction range is the SRAM Eagle gearing.

Cube seem very robust - German engineering as someone else put it earlier on this thread.

[rs4al]

Thanks Phil, hope your wife enjoys and you can keep up with her on the hills !

[Phil.]

rs4al said:

Thanks Phil, hope your wife enjoys and you can keep up with her on the hills !

Thanks, I’ve got one too otherwise I wouldn’t be able to keep up