10 Electric Mountain Bikes

Every day you find more people with their electric bicycles that in total effort pass you without sweating and almost laughing, of how fucked up you are, while they keep their faces impassive. I guess sooner or later, for the love that I have to practice cycling, especially the mountain, I will be one of those who goes with an e-bike.

These "toys" are not cheap at all and are not bargains at all, but it is what you get, it's the price of something new.

I have proposed a selection of 5 rigid mountain bikes and other double suspension bikes, within the range of economic bikes, but I wanted to include one that I saw that I love, such as the Specialized Turbo Levo, although it does not have the best engine aesthetically. The one that filled me the most. Now there are more models that the battery is integrated with the frame.

During the successive price revisions I will try to update the models and not exceed € 3500 / € 4000 in the doubles.

I wanted to leave a thread in the form that has many visits and comments.

Things to keep in mind when choosing electric mountain bikes!

In this type of bike before the box should have a good battery and that the engine, which offers at least 250W. I do not think it deserves to get into a carbon box, because we're going to pay a lot more to barely lower a few hundred grams. It is better to give priority to the group and especially to the brakes since we must stop a 20kgs bike, plus what we weigh ...

Type of engine : The cake is mainly distributed BOSCH , YAMAHA and begins to open hole SHIMANO with your Step. Most of the bikes carry the Bosch Performance CX, 250W (75 Nm) which is limited to 25 km / h, but it is eating the ground the new engines of the Japanese manufacturer. Specialized is using one called BROSE of German manufacture, in this article I read that it was the least efficient of the four. FAZUA is a minimalist engine that has been called Evation and has been developed in Germany. It emphasizes its lightness and is so discreet that it seems that you do not have an engine (it is already mounted on several Focus, Cube and Pinarello models)

There are numerous regulations regarding electric bicycles, particularly with regard to maximum speed and power, to differentiate them from electric bikes and scooters. The European regulation 168/2013, establishes that the power output must not exceed 250 watts and that the maximum assisted speed will not exceed 25 km / h.

Battery: This is the same as mobile phones, the more capacity more autonomy will have but also higher cost. The 10 chosen models carry batteries above 400W. The battery is better if it is removable (in all models they are), first to charge it at home (if you store it in a storage room without an electrical outlet) or in the office and second to avoid temptations to the cacos.
Weight : It is a determining factor for bicycle practitioners. We chose the models of the bikes that are not pedal-assisted, among others because of what they weigh, many of us have MTB that rubs 10kg. The normal thing is to find electric bikes that double the weight.
Group : This, as with non-electric bicycles, will determine "how fine they are" and how efficient they are. It is not the same a Shimano group of the low range that the top of range. Groups like the SLX can be a good option, so that the final price does not trigger. One of those improvements should be good brakes , and is that it is not the same to brake a 10kg bike than a 20-pound bike ..!
Material : In this aspect, choosing an aluminum frame or a carbon one, will not be so decisive when it comes to saving on the final weight of the bicycle, so unless the money is not an impediment, I would go for it aluminum bikes

Other aspects to take into account would be the driving type, this is if you are going to choose stony or slopes: Needless to say that the one that is harder, should definitely choose a double suspension. If you have a rolling profile, I would particularly go for a rigid 29 ". Once we have this clear, we will look at the type of forks, shock absorbers (in the case of the double), wheels, etc., but this is not exclusive to electric bikes, but to our style of mountain biking that we like to practice .

Interesting idea for future electric bikes

Pros and cons of electric mountain bikes ..!

In favor:

The main one is that it allows to enjoy the mountain bike that maybe due to physical conditions you could not do it.
Highly efficient ecological means of transport in cities where traffic is a problem.

Against:

Price: compared to one of similar assembly and equipment, the price can be twice as easily
Weight: the same happens with the weight, which is easily doubled compared to traditional MTBs
Expensive replacement of the battery: depending on the use that is after 2-3 years (I think they can reach 500 cycles of loading / unloading) should be changed, and are not usually cheap.
As you run out of charge in the battery you will have to suffer something more until you get home.

A point in favor of the electric, is that sometimes take out some aid plan for the purchase of electric vehicles including bikes. Like the PIVE plan for cars, they usually have a limited duration and leave every X years.

Specialized Turbo Levo HT 29