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Just wondering-have you ever ridden one? Because I'm an old school MTB guy and have been riding them since the early 90's and I thought e-bikes were super lame when they started coming out. Do yourself a favor and rider a current performance oriented e-mtb and I bet you change your tune pretty quick.
To you’re point. My wife wanted an e-cargo bike to ride around town with the kids. I competed at a fairly high level of MTB racing in the late 90’s- early 2000’s and was against an e-bike. I thought I’d stick with my MTB and the kids trailer. Well after riding her e-cargo bike around for 5min I had to have one also. They are so much damn fun!
Sometimes it’s hard to accept that new technologies can be way more fun! Same thing was said when Doug Bradbury, a MX’er from West Los Angeles, moved to Colorado and started building his own MTB, and then doing something silly. He built a pair of front suspension forks for his new MTB, like his dirtbikes had, and called he’s new bike company Manitou.
People thought you could never climb a hill with those heavy dumb things. But you’ll never guess who liked them! A guy named John. John and Doug became great friends and when John wanted to start his own bike company he asked Doug to design and build his bikes. John called his bike company “Tomac.” John’s kids did pretty well in life.
Chris Lauro he rides bicycles more now than dirtbikes , but his job is more the powersports side of things. I've known him for a while before he became my PU rep. He was not trying to talk me out of a Tazer. Just saying that the Expert would be a better fit for this area. And he rides in the same areas that I probably would ride. I was thinking the Pro would be a better bike mostly for the motor .
Now the Aluminium Tazer MX bikes have the newer motors that are not as down on torque as the E7 that the Expert has. The aluminum Pro has the bigger battery that Shimano has now too, I think a 630 wh. I've seen many good reviews on the Tazers. People that liked them better than other higher powered models. And how well the bike works and everything. One reason why I have yet to pull the trigger and buy one. Still consuming info on all of them to see what will fit what I think I want to do with one.
I know upgrading suspension would be expensive to do. But I think it would be easier than upgrading the motor . And a bigger battery might be even harder to upgrade , if its possible . So I'm looking mostly at the frame, motor and battery. and then the suspension , then components after that.
Yep I know Chris. And you’re right, the aluminum expert is going to be pretty tough to beat on the value side. It does come with the 504wh but you can toss the 625 in that the pro uses. But you get all the power and still a damn good spec.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Cycling has always been this way. Each new leap in tech you have people crying that you’re not a real rider unless you ride a 26” full rigid steel lugged frame with thumb shifters.
And yeah E-bikes are just a total blast to ride. All my buddies that I race dirt bikes have them now and we tend to put a lot more time on our e-bikes than dirt bikes anymore. It’s just so much less effort to load and unload when you get home, far less maintenance, and we have a ton of places to ride. Pretty tough for dirt bikes to compete with that. It’s part of why I seem less afraid to blow money on my bicycle because you spend almost nothing keeping it going.
The idea of training on an E- MTB is to be able to keep your heart rate at a the level you want for longer.
No one wants to bonk during a long training ride.
Most top level professionals train on these bikes now, especially for recovery rides.
Training on an E bike is hilarious, must be joking. Riding one for fun is also hilarious, as super fun.
For the 54lb comment the weight of a modern performance E bike actually helps going down. They are fast and fun going down.
Canyon makes very nice bikes.
lol god damn Katie....once a debbie downer always a debbie downer
Yt Decoy 29.
It’s the best thing I have ever bought.
I can’t believe I’m saying that after my whole life of MX but these eMTB have changed the whole game as far as I’m concerned.
Here’s an analogy:
No one has fun climbing hills on a single speed bicycle so they used multi speed bikes and MTBs evolved.
eMTBs will do the same to regular MTBs
Oh wow there are guys who ride emtb's in here. The pedal assist thread in the electric bike section fizzled so I figured hardly anyone in here was into them. Maybe it's just that no one wants to click on the electric bike forum ? lol. X2 on the YT decoy 29. My family got me one for Christmas and I'm addicted to it now. I'm on it after work 4-5 days a week. It's been a great way for me (64 years old and beat to shit) To get back in shape after a semi long (2 years) injury/recovery. As of last night I've put 434 miles on it and dropped 18lbs. Say what you want about cheater fat old man lazy bikes. Yesterday we went to Laguna after work. went down meadow and lynx, climbed cholla twice, covered 12.1 miles in an hour and 9 minutes. 10.5 avg speed, top speed was 36.3.
Steve Urchin - "50% easier going up hill and 50% less fun going down" For me it's more like 90/10
My neighbor has that mindset too. When he goes we do one downhill and cover about 3 miles in the same time frame. But it's all good to each his own. I'm diggin the shit out of mine.
Roger DeCoster had a signature BMX back in 76.
1. Right on
2. I didn’t know there are other forums on Vital. 😉
3. Between a fused wrist and ankle and a bad Aorta valve eMTBs don’t bother any of those MX injuries and it’s healthy for my heart because I customize the assist levels in the app to keep my BPM in the safe range.
4. My cardiologist (Cleveland Clinic) wants to start referring eMTBs to his patients.
I'm sorry that you're poor.
Bike industry person here. In regards to 'reputable'...canyon is one of the top 10 brands in the world, highly reliable, engineered very well, a large solid company. You can not go wrong with a Canyon and especially this new eMTB.
The only people that don't like ebikes are people that don't own them....
People that complain about the weight obviously don't ride dirt bikes.
I have a turbo levo and a trek rail and they are the funnest things ever, I ride them way more than my dirtbike these days. Group rides are the absolute best, everyone can ride together at the same speed and get the same workout by just adjusting the assist level.
You can absolutely send massive jumps and rip the crap out of these bikes.
Life is short - buy the bike
Anyone want to race me down trails at aliso/ladera ranch/San Clemente/luge let me know and you have to jump the jumps. 🤣
Could you imagine riding a 200+ lbs bike with an engine that went uphill just by turning your wrist? What a misery riding one of those hogs must be. Probably handles terrible off steep jumps.
/s
Why do I get the feeling that you work for a three-letter company, that you're active on other forums, and that we've met a couple of times?
Pit Row
The newer Levo is a much better bike then the Tazer. I have rode over 1000 miles on both. If you are considering either go for the Turbo Levo comp alloy $5600 on sale right now.
eMTBs are cool and I'll probably have one at some point. That being said, I always laugh when I see the same few dudes blasting by me on a local trail I hit after work a couple days a week that is about 8 miles round trip, so 4 miles of climbing. They blow by me on the way up and I blow by them coming down. I wonder if they even got a workout? It's a fairly decent ride, but I'm not maxed out.
Interestingly, I just started going full out on the descents again (6.5 months post op ACL) and I started closely tracking everything. My heart rate was way higher coming back down, which was crazy to me, but I guess makes sense as I'm not sitting, using more muscle groups, etc. Still, I "feel" the strain way more on the climbs obviously.
For LONG rides, I can see an eMTB being the ticket. One day I'll find time...
Fastest guy on the keyboard.
The 22 Levo is the best bike I ever owned.
bike comes with a mullet from the factory, I put a 2.8 Maxxis Minion on the back and it just destroys the rock fields.
I can type about 70-80 words per minute where you at? 🤣
Canyon Spectral ON8 E bike owner here.
Fit,Finish,Component spec is excellent value. 900w battery. All carbon frame.
29" front w 27.5 rear wheels so bike turns and maneuvers quickly when needed. Overall a really stable, planted ride. Power delivery is smooth and climbs most anything.
You can't go wrong buying a Canyon.
The only downside to a eMTB is the difficulty with wheelies and manuals. Everything else, including downhill and jumping, is 100% pure fun. I prefer my YT Decoy over my Capra nowadays, and not because I'm a "lazy ass." Your attitude about eMTBs is trite.
What makes them harder to wheelie? The assist ? how the extra weight changes them? I was riding a bike that was too small for me when I took that quick ride on the Bulls I tried so I did not try much more than figuring out the different assist modes and feeling how the power came on and stopped. I really enjoyed wheelies and manuals, hope I'm able to adapt. Or maybe it will be an extra incentive for me to get into better shape faster so I can hop onto a non assist bike too.
The battery weight along the downtube makes it hard(er) to keep the front wheel up and to hold the fulcrum point for an extended manual. I'm sure a super talented person can make it work but I sure can't. Wheelies are a challenge because the motor kicks in when torque is applied to the crank and forces the bike to loop out if you're not careful. I can do a wheelie for days on a non-assist bike but struggle on my eMTB.
I figured the motor kicking in would be the trickier part to learn to work with.
Not a signature big, this WAS his bike, and company... Tomac..
I’m sure you all know but be careful of twigs and branches on the trails this time of year, sometimes they’re not a twig or branch. Saw this lil feller on Monday
Closer look at that “branch”
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