The Cheap EMTB Challenge

[Zimmerframe]

I have a friend coming over in March and we hope to squeeze in several days MTB. He's not hard core and is mainly road orientated. Whilst I'll still probably take him down all the silly runs, because they're there and why not .. I'm sure we'll be going steady rather than brain out mode.

I've not noticed anyone doing hire of EMTB's and haven't found any dealers offering demo rentals. This is rural France, so it's generally at least 10 years behind the rest of the world in most things.

I started wondering about getting a "guest bike" .. but in reality it won't get that much use, so it's difficult to justify. The OH would take a horse if she went with me and most other people I ride with obviously have a bike

With the recent releases of the Levo SL (less is more) and the Santa Cruz Heckler (more of the same is a lot more) .. the average price in my fantasy bike garage has got a bit stupid.

I just noticed I can buy a second hand Decathlon E-ST500 for €500. OK, it's 420wh. The tyres should be illegal, the early ones would only work for 2 days max, a toaster has a more effective spring and dampening system than the front forks and it's a rear hub motor.

On the flip side of that. I've already had one, so I know what it's like. It's a rear hub motor - so potentially reliable. You can buy all the parts for virtually nothing (compared to most emtbs) from Decathlon. It's simple, it's cheap. I can put some e-wilds on it .. buy another dropper (as I sold the last one) and probably find some considerably better second hand forks for less than the price of a specialized sticker for my Kenevo.

Any better ideas in the world of Cheap Fantasy EMTB ?

 

[GrahamPaul]

Stick a hub motor kit onto your existing non-E MTB - assuming you, like most of us around these parts, have at least one of them hanging around unloved in the back of your garage.

The advantage is that you can always "change it back" if you ever feel the need for busted lungs... and they are as cheap as chips on eBay and Amazon.

 

[Mabman]

Here in the US you can get a TSDZ2 mid drive and 48v/500wh 2170 cell battery drop shipped for under a grand. The system is totally trail capable as it has a good enough torque assist and @ 18a peaks at 864watts in turbo. There is some open source software that can fine tune it just like the big boys.



The only scenario I have had success with for mtb use with a hub motor was an install I did for an older gentleman that used his bike for commuting to the office which was primarily a down/up situation with potentially greasy conditions and steep terrain. I put a 350w front hub motor and the appropriate torque arms on and the two wheel drive gets it done for him.

Hub motors have more potential for drop bar any road eX type bikes such as my new wheels

 

[Akiwi]

Keep your eyes open on e-bay and the likes, people upgrading and and wanting to get rid of their old bikes sometimes ask pretty low prices.
I have a second guest bike now, as I just bought the new Cube with the 2020 motor. My old bike is only 2 years old (5000km) and has a new motor (1000km). I offered it to the bike shop as trade in, and they offered me €900 for it!!! It was €4000 new. I decided for that price I would keep it. Of course I could also sell it on e-bay, and from what I see I could possibly ask €1800 for it. which is also not much.

 

[Waynemarlow]

TSDZ2 all the way, we are only paying £ 255.00 for a full torque sensing unit, plus the cost of a battery. Got to admit though we are having a few winter troubles with water ingress but as 1 of them we put totally into a river and the other literally the mud around the crank grinding its way had cut through a plastic cover, then we are pushing the limits and this year the UK has just been a sludgefeast since Sept. Nice thing for another 250 notes you just get another, although all parts are widely available at low prices ( motor itself is 40 notes ).

The FreeWare available and the range of displays now has everything and more than most factory bikes including totally adjustable 9 riding levels ( if you want that many ) and a totally adjustable EMtb level that you can set to what you want.

The FOC control also available on the FreeWare has transformed the motor into a real energy efficient little beast. We build our batteries and get 360Wh for about £ 80.00 which gives us pushing 2 1/2 hours at quite a good pace. Simply get your spare out your back pack and you have another 2 1/2 hours.

 

[outerlimits]

Standard Mtb with Battery drill attached with zip ties friction driving the rear wheel should be ok.
No higher than a 24v as you don’t want him to overtake you

 

[Zimmerframe]

Standard Mtb with Battery drill attached with zip ties friction driving the rear wheel should be ok.
No higher than a 24v as you don’t want him to overtake you

Great idea. Even better, I use an impact driver instead of a drill. Then when the going gets hard it'll start impacting, resulting in a noisy jerky feeling. I can box it all in cardboard and paint it and just tell him it's the latest brose motor and I think the belts slipping. He'll be so chuffed !

 

[Beekeeper]

Argos..

 

[Waynemarlow]

Nice idea but hub mounted motors are just a bad idea for mountain bikes if you're going to use them on anything with more than a slightest of a whiff of a hill off road ( think it through motors have to spin to be cool )

 

[Beekeeper]

Apollo Phase £499 from Halfords.
I can’t actually see a motor on it.
A battery but no motor? Interesting ?

 

[Beekeeper]

Haha! I’ve seen the motor. It’s on the front hub ?
The last place I would have looked.

 

[Beekeeper]

Two new e-mountain bikes side by side.
One is 25 times the price of the other.

 

[B1rdie]

Jeez man, tie a rope to your bike and pull your friend is better than giving one of those bikes. Sorry I cant help more because im converted to specialized now and will always buy the most expensive one so when someone asks me I can answer “ this is surely the best bike for me since it was the most expensive I could get...

 

[R120]

There’s a couple of E-Bike rental places in Normandy around the Granville/St Lo/ Coutances area, I don’t know any specific names but have seen them advertised

 

[R120]

Two new e-mountain bikes side by side.
One is 25 times the price of the other.

View attachment 25964 View attachment 25965

I would go with the lightest option

 

[Zimmerframe]

I would go with the lightest option

But which one is that ? Could @Beekeeper have found an alternative for SL buyers ? ??

 

[Beekeeper]

But which one is that ? Could @Beekeeper have found an alternative for SL buyers ? ??

Cheap one is 19kg

 

[Zimmerframe]

Nice idea but hub mounted motors are just a bad idea for mountain bikes if you're going to use them on anything with more than a slightest of a whiff of a hill off road ( think it through motors have to spin to be cool )

I have to agree with you there 100% I still have climbing anxiety now after the number of times I flipped out backwards on the Decathlon due to the rear weight and the system only having a pedal movement sensor and not a torque sensor ..

 

[Zimmerframe]

Cheap one is 19kg

So lighter than the Levo SL in Ally ... WOW ... you've just found the new latest and greatest thing

 

[Beekeeper]

So lighter than the Levo SL in Ally ... WOW ... you've just found the new latest and greatest thing

Just shows that ebikes are a classic example of diminishing marginal utility.
The more we spend on a product the lower the “extra” satisfaction gained.

There would be a big difference in happiness / performance between a £100 bike and a £1100 bike but hardly any difference in happiness and performance between a £11000 bike and a £12000 one.

 

[Beekeeper]

A simpler analogy is number of pizza slices eaten. Big difference in happiness eating 2 pizza slices compared to one. However not much difference in happiness eating 13 compared to 12.
But you are still paying the same for that extra slice in each case ? ?

 

[Akiwi]

I also think, if you are wanting to impress your friends with how much fun an e-MTB can be, you are not going to be doing anyone and favours if you put them on a cheap, piece of sh!t ;-)
If you go out on a ride together you will probably end up on the cheap bike while your visitor who doesn't have as many mtb skills is on your expensive bike, otherwise they can't keep up.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I also think, if you are wanting to impress your friends with how much fun an e-MTB can be, you are not going to be doing anyone and favours if you put them on a cheap, piece of sh!t ;-)
If you go out on a ride together you will probably end up on the cheap bike while your visitor who doesn't have as many mtb skills is on your expensive bike, otherwise they can't keep up.

All very true and valid ! Merd ! .