579 down the ebike rabbit hole
If you're interested in acquiring an electric mountain bike or electric cargo bike, here's what I've learned.
Let's start with eMTBs.
First, there are a lot of fat tire ebikes available, calling themselves adventure bikes. Most of them have about the same specs. 26x4 inch tires. 750 watt rear hub motor. 48 volt battery with maybe 13-15 Amp Hours. Two caliper disc brakes, likely mechanical but sometimes hydraulic. About $1.5-2k.
All of these might be perfectly serviceable ebikes. There's a reason there are a ton of them available, it's the new standard. (Although I did see one seller on Alibaba saying fat tire bikes were for Americans, because we're heavy.)
Also, none of them are really mountain bikes. For that, there are a few qualifications. A mid-motor. (There just isn't a rear hub motor that provides real "bike" feeling while peddling. Plus there's the issue of sprung weight, coming up next...) A full suspension.
Yes, there are some bad-ass bikes with mid-drive and only a front fork for suspension. They might be totally fun, great for most riding. But, local experts assure me: a hardtail won't be a pleasant experience on single track mountain bike trails.
Where a full suspension bike loves a bit of extra weight, like an ebike motor and battery, making the whole ride smoother, with a hardtail you get the opposite: that extra unsprung weight hits the obstacles extra hard.
So, full suspension is necessary. Mid-drive with full suspension isn't impossible to find under $5k. I found a bunch of options. There are a few North American brands, reselling stuff from China.
But apparently fat tires aren't really the best for trail riding, you want something a little skinnier, but bigger around. Fatter than an old mountain bike tire, but not too far. Something like a 29x3 or 27.5x3.
There go all the "hunting" bikes. Rambo, QuietKat (Jeep), Himiway, it was fun checking you out.
Ok, there are still maybe four bikes that fit. Under $5k, mid-drive, full suspension, modern geometry, big wheels but not too fat tires, torque sensor.
(Oh, about that "modern geometry." I don't know much about mountain bike geometry. But one thing I picked up on: vertical rear shock absorbers are older, horizontal ones are newer. Is newer better? All the top bikes, the expensive ones, seem to think so. It could just be marketing, something to do with patents. I don't know, so being your average idiot, I just went with the theory that newer is better.)
The Biktrix Monte Capro Lite. (The full Capro is over $5k.) No dropper tho.
The FLX Weapon. (The X is over $5k.) (Ok, that's "old" geometry, so maybe it's out, especially at this price point.)
The Wattwagon Hydra.
And the Luna X-2.
Yes, there are close variants. There's the Luna Z-1, but there's a catch: too much power.
See, most of the high performance eMTBs out there, the Specialized Turbo Levo and Canyon, Rossignol, Yeti, Orbea, Rocky Mountain, the over $5k club, many closer to $10k, they all use motors made in Germany or Japan: Brose, Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha. Most of them are 250watts, at least nominally. That's a bit under powered. A few come in closer to 500watts, which is pretty good. Plenty of power but not too much.
But out of China, one of the most popular motors is the Bafang M620, also known as the Bafang Ultra. That's a 1000watt motor.
The result? Stripped gears and broken chains. No thanks.
So, a slightly less powerful mid-drive motor. Bafang makes several. The M-600 jumps out, slightly smaller than the Ultra, just a bit less power (750 watts, but it can be hot rodded up to 2500.) There are a few no-name brands as well.
Of the four I've found sold direct in North America, not all have dropper posts. A dropper post is a seat that goes up and down at the touch of a button on your handlebars. This is necessary apparently for going downhill. You lower the seat and get it out of the way of your junk.
That sounds pretty critical, and I can assure you after a couple laps on my brother-in-law's Specialized Turbo Levo ($7.5k, 500watt rebranded Brose motor, 48v 700Wh aka 14.5Ah battery) on the new flow trail I've been volunteering to help build: a dropper post is very useful.
Then there are the direct from a China options, mainly on Alibaba. The hitch here is you never know quite what you're getting, specs sometimes differ from reality, weight is usually a question mark, there's no convenient customer service, shipping is an extra cost, delivery times vary from weeks to months, and good luck finding a YouTube review.
But, still, there are a few potentially attractive options.
So what does it all add up to? For me, looking at a lower budget but full performance eMTB with plenty of power but not too much, the best option, the most bang for your buck without banging so hard that you break yourself, we're looking at the Luna X-2.
Now we just need to commit. And hope they have some in stock, which is far far far from guaranteed.
And what about cargo bikes? Let's cover that in a later post.
In the meantime, here's my whole glorious journey, spelled out in screenshots. Looking at these, I think I may have overlooked a few good options. Should we roll the dice and order direct from China? And what about the cheapo Amazon options, is there something in there that's maybe a bit older tech but still viable for the price?
Had early promise. Pros: mid-drive. Cons: hardtail. Deal killer: 36volt. No power.
Still a maybe. They "make" a bike called the Mullet that's a real contender, but it's never in stock. Cons: old school geometry. Pretty sure there's no dropper. Still, worth another visit before making up our mind.
Cons: heavy. Fat tire.
Cons: fat, over powered. Expensive for what you get.
Think this was on Amazon. Honestly, there were a few up there that looked semi-appealing. Don't have much info on the screenshot itself, this was early in the game. Guessing this has cheapo components, like mechanical brakes and no dropper. It's also not even set up for off-road.
This might be worth another look, too. That geometry, though. Particularly that link to the rear suspension. You're about to see that particular piece a lot. This is the "me too" frame. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we just need a cheapo bike that will get the job done.
On the other hand, there's the "buy it nice or buy it twice" rule.
Frey is a big name in direct from China. Pros: decent stuff. Cons: kinda pricey, shipping takes forever. Ugly second battery. But maybe could learn to love it.
Nope. Hardtail. For a while I was thinking I could get one bike to do it all: mountains and hauling. I could, but not keep up with my brother-in-law, too.
Maybe. Cons: over powered. Fat tires.
Now we're talking. It's got mountain bike wheels, mountain bike parts. It's a little over powered, but you can always just not use all the power.
Cons: shipping from China not included in price, which is, um, over $5k.
Ok, this post is getting too big for one posting, let's do this...
To be continued...
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