Buying my first e-bike.what are the most reliable/have the best back up?

[Neverbeentomoab]

I will be buying my first e-bike soon I've had the chance to demo the levo through my lbs (bikescene)quite a lot and the levo is everything I need and specialized aftercare seems great and bikescene are always fantastic and I'll probably end up buying a levo from them. but have started looking at other bikes too like the trek powerfly lt7,canyon spectral on and the whyte that's coming later and a few others.which brands are the most reliable and any I should avoid.

 

[Mikerb]

The approach I took was to buy from a lbs with lots of E Bike experience. The direct sales bikes have tempting prices but both in terms of bike fit/size and feel....and the added security of a lbs back up convinced me to avoid them. After that it was a matter of test riding bikes to find one I like and the most important things for me were just how the bike felt and how the motor performed. The Brose outshone the rest for me and the Levo was immediately impressive to ride even without proper set up .

 

[Neverbeentomoab]

The approach I took was to buy from a lbs with lots of E Bike experience. The direct sales bikes have tempting prices but both in terms of bike fit/size and feel....and the added security of a lbs back up convinced me to avoid them. After that it was a matter of test riding bikes to find one I like and the most important things for me were just how the bike felt and how the motor performed. The Brose outshone the rest for me and the Levo was immediately impressive to ride even without proper set up .

Cheers Mikerb that's pretty much my way of thinking to.

 

[MattyB]

I'm not sure there is a truly reliable motor unit for EMTBs out there at this point - they all seem to have their issues. However every Levo owner (6) I know has had at least one motor swapout under warranty, some two; most were within a year of purchase. That tells me the Brose may be at the top in the performance and noise stakes, but not for reliability, especially in a bike like the 19 Levo where the heavy integration gives additional challenges. YMMV.

 

[Jamsxr]

Shimano seems the most reliable, purely based on forum and user feedback. I went Commencal as they’re reliable and the bike ticked all my boxes (burley, charger). I would say don’t just pick a bike on reliability, although it’s an important factor, you want the bike that most floats your boat and suits your riding.

 

[Fivetones]

I made sure I went for a good local LBS (Blazing Saddles, Hebden Bridge) with e-bike experience. I had a Levo Comp Carbon on order but having ridden an Orange I switched to the Surge which is being built up right now.

 

[snowie]

I'm in a similar position myself, i.e. looking to buy first emtb. I've noticed here, and other mtb sites, many owners suggesting, 'get a test ride'. I have 3 possibles from lbs, but for Merida, I pay £80 for a test, Focus £50, and £60 for Specialized. All will give the money back if I buy a bike from them, but not if I don't buy a bike. So, if I go for the Focus, I'll get £50 back, but will have spend £140 'testing' the other two bikes. How do you get a decent test on various bikes without costing a packet? N.B. Halfords gave me a Voodoo emtb for 30 minutes riding around Inverness, but that's hardly mtb territory.

 

[Jamsxr]

I'm in a similar position myself, i.e. looking to buy first emtb. I've noticed here, and other mtb sites, many owners suggesting, 'get a test ride'. I have 3 possibles from lbs, but for Merida, I pay £80 for a test, Focus £50, and £60 for Specialized. All will give the money back if I buy a bike from them, but not if I don't buy a bike. So, if I go for the Focus, I'll get £50 back, but will have spend £140 'testing' the other two bikes. How do you get a decent test on various bikes without costing a packet? N.B. Halfords gave me a Voodoo emtb for 30 minutes riding around Inverness, but that's hardly mtb territory.

Dedicated MTB festivals are the best place to try bikes, but it’s not that practical. I’ve bought my last few bikes from direct to consumer brands without trying them, I’ve looked at the geometry, forum and media feedback. Thankfully they were both great purchases and I’m not planning to buy a bike from a LBS anytime soon, although I tend to get all accessories and servicing done at my LBS.

 

[James_MTB]

Might be worth asking Antony if they will be stocking the Whyte ebikes.

I'm on my third Levo from Bikescence 2015, 2018 and 2019. The aftercare is second to none.

I wouldn't buy an ebike with less than 700wh battery.

I ride with Bosch, Shimano and Brose riders we've all had similar issues. I would say the Shimano has had the least but after 15months he now has problems with the battery randomly dying below 20%.

 

[snowie]

Dedicated MTB festivals are the best place to try bikes, but it’s not that practical. I’ve bought my last few bikes from direct to consumer brands without trying them, I’ve looked at the geometry, forum and media feedback. Thankfully they were both great purchases and I’m not planning to buy a bike from a LBS anytime soon, although I tend to get all accessories and servicing done at my LBS.

Do you ever have warranty issues buying direct? One of my 'not quite local' bike shops told me they would not touch any bike bought online.

 

[Neverbeentomoab]

Might be worth asking Antony if they will be stocking the Whyte ebikes.

I'm on my third Levo from Bikescence 2015, 2018 and 2019. The aftercare is second to none.

I wouldn't buy an ebike with less than 700wh battery.

I ride with Bosch, Shimano and Brose riders we've all had similar issues. I would say the Shimano has had the least but after 15months he now has problems with the battery randomly dying below 20%.

Hi James.yeah Antony always looks after me he's a top bloke like all the team at bikescene. I'm nipping up on Saturday so I'll ask him about the whytes.

 

[Mikerb]

Forum feedback can be misleading. Firstly I doubt anyone can say what overall percentage of buyers of any brand actually also actively participate in this kr any other forum. It is likely most forum users will also be mtb enthusiasts riding their bikes further and harder than more casual riders.
E mtb is also relatively new and it is probably inevitable that problems that occur after extensive use are only identified over time.....the difference being the development or remedy processes employed by the brands to fix them. There is also likely to be a fair degree of user error in the early stages of a product development. Even the top car brands have these problems despite virtually all the technology in a car being well proven over many years.
The initial inexperience of the lbs also contributes to problems and can be the cause of local clustersof failures/problems.
Manufacturers typically flaunt the total feature set of products.....and that should not be taken literally. Better to use your own nudgement and experience to identify potential design or functionality weaknesses and use the bike accordingly.

 

[MattyB]

Do you ever have warranty issues buying direct? One of my 'not quite local' bike shops told me they would not touch any bike bought online.

They are pretty stupid if they have that attitude and may not last long in today’s market - why turn away perfectly good custom that you can turn into a repeat customer just because they bought a direct sales bike last time around? Today’s derailleur alignment might be tomorrow’s £7k ebike. One of my local LBS’ has gone the opposite way and uses their bike fit skills and equipment to size people for online purchases, then build and check them over on delivery; they are doing very well out of it apparently.

Ps - I have personally bought loads of quite major purchases online, and whilst a few have gone wrong the amount I have saved over the years dwarfs the small losses. Look at the Levo vs an equivalently specced Decoy or Canyon; you can buy a spare motor, battery and several paid troubleshooting services at your LBS and still have change left. The obvious counter to this argument is of course “but what if I have to send my bike away and be without it for a period?”, but this doesn’t seem to happen often (for instance Shimano motors can be serviced by their UK partner direct irrelevant of the bike brand), and in all honesty how many of us only have only one bike? You can just ride your backup for a few weeks, it’s not a disaster. YMMV.

 

[R120]

Well the least reliable has the best customer support - Specialized. The Levo has a number of niggly issues that are usually easily sorted by a good dealer familiar with the bikes.

Bosch and Shimano tends to have all our motor failures and not much in between, however I only know two people who have had to replace the Shimano Motor, and both of those rode the bikes about as hard as you can ride an MTB.

 

[MattyB]

Well the least reliable has the best customer support - Specialized. The Levo has a number of niggly issues that are usually easily sorted by a good dealer familiar with the bikes.

Agreed. The problem on the horizon though is what happens when they go out of warranty? Buyers are going to be making lots of expensive motor swaps, and with reports there are none available in their supply chain now until the 2020 models hit it must be a concern. Or maybe they just rely on the average Levo owner deciding this is a prod to get back down to their LBS and spend out on a new one... ?

 

[Mikerb]

Someone always fills a market opportunity!!

I wonder if the issue with some LBS about servicing/fixing direct sales bikes is a result of conditions imposed on them as accredited dealers of one or more brands?

 

[Neverbeentomoab]

Agreed. The problem on the horizon though is what happens when they go out of warranty? Buyers are going to be making lots of expensive motor swaps, and with reports there are none available in their supply chain now until the 2020 models hit it must be a concern. Or maybe they just rely on the average Levo owner deciding this is a prod to get back down to their LBS and spend out on a new one... ?

If you buy a new motor after your original warranty has ran out does the new motor have a new warranty?

 

[Doomanic]

If you buy a new motor after your original warranty has ran out does the new motor have a new warranty?

Yes.

 

[snowie]

They are pretty stupid if they have that attitude and may not last long in today’s market - why turn away perfectly good custom that you can turn into a repeat customer just because they bought a direct sales bike last time around? Today’s derailleur alignment might be tomorrow’s £7k ebike. One of my local LBS’ has gone the opposite way and uses their bike fit skills and equipment to size people for online purchases, then build and check them over on delivery; they are doing very well out of it apparently.

Ps - I have personally bought loads of quite major purchases online, and whilst a few have gone wrong the amount I have saved over the years dwarfs the small losses. Look at the Levo vs an equivalently specced Decoy or Canyon; you can buy a spare motor, battery and several paid troubleshooting services at your LBS and still have change left. The obvious counter to this argument is of course “but what if I have to send my bike away and be without it for a period?”, but this doesn’t seem to happen often (for instance Shimano motors can be serviced by their UK partner direct irrelevant of the bike brand), and in all honesty how many of us only have only one bike? You can just ride your backup for a few weeks, it’s not a disaster. YMMV.

Totally agree. Which is why I walked away from this lbs.

 

[Jamsxr]

Do you ever have warranty issues buying direct? One of my 'not quite local' bike shops told me they would not touch any bike bought online.

My LBS did actually send my dropper back to SRAM and just charged to fit the new one, but to be fair, I used to use them a lot. The trick is, if you’re mechanically inept like me, to have a good relationship with your LBS. I might not buy my bikes from my LBS but I spend more than a few quid with them on parts and servicing.

Out of my riding friends, most of us have directs to consumer brands (YT, Canyon, Propane, Commencal), they’ve all been mechanically sound.

Having a motor adds additional complexity but thankfully Shimano have a good network of service centres.

I’m not saying direct to consumer is better for everyone, clearly it isn’t, but it’s well worth a look.

 

[Pdoz]

I'm in a similar position myself, i.e. looking to buy first emtb. I've noticed here, and other mtb sites, many owners suggesting, 'get a test ride'. I have 3 possibles from lbs, but for Merida, I pay £80 for a test, Focus £50, and £60 for Specialized. All will give the money back if I buy a bike from them, but not if I don't buy a bike. So, if I go for the Focus, I'll get £50 back, but will have spend £140 'testing' the other two bikes. How do you get a decent test on various bikes without costing a packet? N.B. Halfords gave me a Voodoo emtb for 30 minutes riding around Inverness, but that's hardly mtb territory.

I'm jealous -I wish I had a chance to try multiple bikes in a pay as you try setting - no pressure to " do the right thing " by the shop , and you'd feel comfortable having a decent test ride since you are paying. More importantly, you're buying from shops where test riders pay rather than purchasers, so you're not indirectly covering the cost of joy rides.

Added bonus, those are some great bikes to test ride

 

[MattyB]

Dedicated MTB festivals are the best place to try bikes, but it’s not that practical. I’ve bought my last few bikes from direct to consumer brands without trying them, I’ve looked at the geometry, forum and media feedback. Thankfully they were both great purchases and I’m not planning to buy a bike from a LBS anytime soon, although I tend to get all accessories and servicing done at my LBS.

I agree with this, at least for people who have been riding a while - if you know what type of riding you like and what geometry suits you then I don't think you need to test ride. If you can ride some kind of bike with the motor your target bike has that's great, but even then the characteristics of the different motors are pretty well known and understood now so it's not mandatory. Ultimately the fundamentals of it as a bike (geo, wheel size, suspension type) are more important than the e-powered bit - it is those that will define long term whether you like and enjoy the bike, the motor far less so.

 

[lamerecycles]

LaMere Cycles can build you a 42lb Diode or 39lb eVade with Shimano E8000 motor built any way you like at a price way below lbs pricing as we buy our frames direct from Asia and our components and motors directly from Shimano and all the other big brands and sell direct. See more here and please get in touch with us. Our external battery may not look as cool but super easy to change batteries and saves 2lbs of weight. We also sell Yamaha and Haibike and can customize them with carbon wheels or any other upgrades you want at way below retail pricing.

 

[raine]

I will be buying my first e-bike soon I've had the chance to demo the levo through my lbs (bikescene)quite a lot and the levo is everything I need and specialized aftercare seems great and bikescene are always fantastic and I'll probably end up buying a levo from them. but have started looking at other bikes too like the trek powerfly lt7,canyon spectral on and the whyte that's coming later and a few others.which brands are the most reliable and any I should avoid.

To be fair, if you stick to any of the popular brands (Specialized, Trek, Giant, Canyon, Commencal, Haibike, Rocky Mountain, Focus, etc.) their e-MTB reliability would be about the same as their non-e-MTB reliability; they're still mountain bikes, using mountain bike components - just with the added electronics.

On top of that, part of "reliability" is on the actual customer/owner of the bike. You know - if the owner takes care of their bike, uses the electronics properly, etc.

That said, if you had the chance to demo a Turbo Levo and it's "everything you need" plus you have support of that LBS, then you already have a lot of positives as to why you should buy the Turbo Levo... unless you don't like the Turbo Levo itself.

Do you ever have warranty issues buying direct? One of my 'not quite local' bike shops told me they would not touch any bike bought online.

That bike shop isn't worth returning to. A good bike shop doesn't care what bike you have or where/from whom you bought it from, they care about helping you with your bike and any issues or upgrades or modifications or repairs or maintenance you need.