Got a taste of emtb... it affected me more than I expected.

[ninjichor]

I got to ride an emtb, but found that the geo was all wonky, with the front end being super heavy and OTB prone. I said it wasn't for me, but the pedal assist made me wonder why I was paying big bucks for cheap flimsy carbon parts to drop weight to get the same feeling.

It got me to think what geo would work with such long chainstays, to get rid of that front heavy feel, so I ordered a custom geo FS frame with sliding dropouts, 445-455, with 1295-1305mm wheelbase. I figured if you couldn't shorten the rear, why not lengthen the front. It definitely got the effect I intended, but it's just that my legs are aching from the 40+ lbs of weight.

Feeling like I should move forward with this geo experiment to get it motorized, so looking to learn more. Already experimented with mixed wheel size, steep STA, slack HA, long reach, etc. Can't say it's any better mainstream bikes, but it's better than that emtb I rode.

 

[steve_sordy]

Ref the long geometry, someone got there before you!

Mojo/Nicolai GeoMetron review

Google "Geometron review"

I'm pretty sure that the company "Mojo" that I used to send my Fox suspension to for servicing is behind it. The owner decided to see how extreme he could make the geometry. It was all over the clockwork bike mags a few years ago.

PS: Maybe the emtb you rode was not a good example of its kind; what was it?

 

[Slowroller]

How'd you get a custom huffy? ?

 

[ninjichor]

The first emtb I rode was a HaiBike 'nduro something. Was kind of weird how it was accelerating while going downhill, due to pedal kickback, but it was super fun. Totally kept it longer than the 1 hr I was alloted, going all the way to the far side to the bottom, and climbing back. Just didn't want to take it off anything black diamond, since the front really was reluctant to leave the ground.

I've ridden at least 1 more, but they weren't anything prestigious. Just wanted to try different motors.

In defiance to what people think is trendy, I'm running stuff based on utility now. At this rate, I'm going to end up going full geek, as opposed to enduro. xD

 

[R120]

An emtb is like any other bike, in that you should look at bike with the right geometry and kit for the riding you want to do. There are as big a range of EMTB's in terms of capabilities as there are normal MTB's.

 

[ninjichor]

This is my checklist for what I want an emtb to be designed around:

For "balanced" weight distro, I want the CS and WB to match any one of these:

415mm CS, 1150mm WB
420 1170
425 1190
430 1210
435 1230
440 1250
445 1270
450 1290
455 1310

To get the front end long enough, I'd like to first make the reach as long as possible 480-525mm, with the HA and fork length making up the rest of the distance. For steep HA, I want a short offset fork, but slack HA I want a long offset.

I want the head tube long enough so the stack is 635mm or so, at least 120mm long.

I want the ETT to be shortened, to allow for a super short stem. 580mm for my torso length. Whatever the STA needs to be to do this, between 85d and 73d.

I want the seat tube short, with plenty of standover clearance. Any extra is a luxury, even if I can't drop the seat that low due to the tire buzzing it.

So far, bikes I've found that get the weight distro close:

RM Altitude PowerPlay M
Vitus E-Sommet VR L
Canyon Spectral:ON L
Pivot Shuttle L
Lapierra eZesty L
YT Decoy XL
Fezzari XL

There's more, but don't pay much attn to bikes that wouldn't fit me in ~M. Some of these in M would come close if I added a -2 angleset on them.

 

[R120]

EBOXX E14 • Nicolai Bicycles