Hello everyone.... some advice welcome

[Newbie60]

This is great looking site and love the international feel. Well done whoever created and maintains.

Some newbie advice would be welcome. About to buy two ebikes for my wife and I, after an utterly convincing test ride for both of us on some hire HT Cubes. We are not young (60 in my case), my knees going and my wife keen to get more active, improve fitness etc. I am doing the no doubt typical internet search of doom for what to buy and may well go with a 2019 FS lower spec Levo on the advice of keen mates - only stories of water ingress making me hesitate. For my wife, who is not tall at 157cm, not sure whether to buy HT or FS. Planning to go round local shops this week but notice FS only come as small as 16inch, or metric equivalent or size S, and suspect she may need 14/15 inch or XS. When we cycle together we are likely to just do quiet roads and simple off road tracks for now, ie no rocks, big bumps or silly downhill. However, we were both a little saddle sore on the hired HTs cycling on just a canal towpath and similar and friends saying FS so much more comfortable.

Suspect folk will say just go and sit on a few and see how it feels but any experience of people with similar choices most welcome.

 

[Rusty]

I think most of the motor manufacturers need to do better as far as bearing quality and water sealing goes. I think the biggest issue with the Levo was that they missed something in the initial design - which was rectified and parts made available to fix the issue.
I would suggest that for your type of riding you could get by with a HT but with the new 2020 bikes coming out there are some great deals on 2019 bikes available. That your wife usually rides something smaller may not be a big of a deal on an ebike as it is on an analogue one. If it is purely a size thing there are female specific bikes such as the Womens Levo, the Scott Contessa (awesome bikes) the Giant LIV and many others - as well as Junior bikes.

 

[33red]

A bike too big is unpleasant, go with less than 16 she is definitely too short even more so for a beginer. Run away if they try to fit her on 16.

 

[Newbie60]

A bike too big is unpleasant, go with less than 16 she is definitely too short even more so for a beginer. Run away if they try to fit her on 16.

Thank you so much. Sounds like good advice but that does mean she cannot have full suspension, which people advise us makes the ride much more comfortable.

 

[Pukmeister]

I intended to buy a Levo (former Specialised fanboy) but did my homework and went for the Giant Trance E +2 2019 spec (discounted) instead.

I adore this bike, its one of the best decisions I have made. I don't tend to send it downhill anymore at 53YO and with bad knees and back, I'm now more of a x-country green lane rider. My Giant is rock solid and just lets me get out in the countryside and enjoy myself, you'd need to be a great rider to find fault with the bike. I did 20 miles of local trails yesterday with a riding buddy (also on a Giant Trance E) after a weekend of heavy rain, it was more like bog snorkelling than bike riding but my EMTB just happily cruised over/through it all, over hill and down dale. I had a real fun ride despite challenging conditions.

The LiV bikes are also engineered specifically for women, not just small mens models in pretty colours, and come in full suspension which is a must have really, like the LiV Intrigue 2019 for example. (I would push for a 15% discount on any advertised 2019 price if purchasing outright and not on a finance package.)

Liv Intrigue E+ 2 Pro 27.5"+ 2019 | Tredz Bikes

The above bike comes in XS and Small with full suspension.

My local Giant/LiV dealership in Southampton have been fantastic to deal with. I can't speak highly enough of them.

 

[Donnie797]

Thank you so much. Sounds like good advice but that does mean she cannot have full suspension, which people advise us makes the ride much more comfortable.

My wife is just 150cm big and we had big trouble finding an eMTB with full suspension for her. In fact we didn't find one at all, but then we found that Mondraker e-Prime+ Hardtail at a lbs. It has extra-wide 27.5+ tyres and with her weight just being 45kg, she can ride them with 15PSI (tubeless!) with gives her a very good suspension for what she rides. She's not into the roughest rocky trails, but she rides with me every week now and she loves her eMTB

 

[Rich-EMTB-UK]

my wife 5'2 inch and gets on well with the cube sting 120/140 in small but I would probably recommend HT bikes for you local riding and a good quality bike seat and padded shorts. Even if you buy expenses seat and padded shorts, which I would recommend, still cheaper than full suss. A carbon seat post is another great vibration damper.

 

[MattyB]

...When we cycle together we are likely to just do quiet roads and simple off road tracks for now, ie no rocks, big bumps or silly downhill. However, we were both a little saddle sore on the hired HTs cycling on just a canal towpath and similar and friends saying FS so much more comfortable.

Suspect folk will say just go and sit on a few and see how it feels but any experience of people with similar choices most welcome.

I would tend to agree with the posts above - if you are confident you will not be doing anything more than fire roads and gentle, smooth single track then a HT will be absolutely fine, especially one riding on 27.5+ tyres (which generally means 2.5-2.6” these days). Remember the right contact points (pedals, grips and saddle) and cockpit setup can make a huge difference to your comfort levels, so don’t worry too much that you were a little sore on a HT on your test run - that would probably be true of any returning cyclist first time out, irrelevant of the bike they rode. My Dad is 70 and rides a Trek Powerfly HT on 2.5” (tubeless) tyres; with a lighter coil spring in the fork and using low (12-15psi) tyre pressures on smooth trails the ride is magic carpet plush! Riding that on a rocky trail would be puncture-tastic though.

However if you think you and your wife may take on more demanding trails in time, and/or you just feel like you want an FS I would say go for it. Why? You are more likely to regularly ride a bike that you really like, and this is supposed to be fun! If you have the funds just go ahead and buy the bike you really want. Life is short, enjoy it!

 

[MattyB]

Ps - Bargains abound at this time of the year for bikes the shops want to clear before the new model year. If you decide on a HT I would also recommend keeping a close eye on the Rutland website - they will be selling off their 2019 hire bikes from about now, and they can be super bargainous. My Dad’s Trek Powerfly had only ~400 miles on the clock, but was pretty much half price. Just don’t expect a Levo, as they don’t hire those out.

Electric Mountain Bikes | E-MTB | 0% finance | Rutland Cycli