Help an old man find his ideal ride

[backstep]

I’d like to buy an e-bike to spend more time in nature and increase my fitness. I’m not interested in racing, technical downhills, bike parks etc. I’m almost 50 years old and due to multiple major surgeries in the past I need to avoid any high risk activities likely to result in big falls. So I expect to be riding 70% fire roads and 30% mild single tracks. My justification for going e-bike is that I can cover more distance so I see more. Based on my research the most efficient bike for this style of riding would be a XC bike.

As I understand, XC bikes are designed for speed on non-technical trails like I expect to be mostly riding. As a result they are lightweight and have better pedal efficiency due to their short-travel suspension and steeper geometry. But they are obviously less comfortable on more rocky trails and at my age a comfortable ride is very important to me. However if I’m buying an e-bike and not racing anyone then why should I care much about pedal efficiency, it doesn’t matter to me if I spend 34 or 38 mins climbing a hill. In this case doesn’t it make more sense to get a trail bike with 130-140mm suspension both front and rear so I get the most comfortable ride?

I’m trying to decide between a Cube stereo hybrid 120 race 625 or a 140 HPC SL 625 (which I assume is XC vs trail). I have a budget of €5000 and am living in Spain.


Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be better or perhaps another bike?

 

[Akelu]

If your worried about your previous surgeries impacting what you ride, i would go for the full suspension. It will negate a lot of impacts on your body from everyday bumps.

 

[backstep]

If your worried about your previous surgeries impacting what you ride, i would go for the full suspension. It will negate a lot of impacts on your body from everyday bumps.

Thanks. Yes I’m 100% going FS. Its the amount of suspension I need that i’m trying to figure out.

 

[Akelu]

Thanks. Yes I’m 100% going FS. Its the amount of suspension I need that i’m trying to figure out.

I think you would be well served by 130mm front and rear. Enough to give you nice cushioning even off-road trails, yet not too much to make the ride boring. Will still give you nice feedback and keep the ride engaging and dynamic.

Check out the Focus Thron², I think that bike would perfectly suit you. More upright seated position for good comfort, yet still well suited to beginner-medium trails. Also good to be used for touring on-road for long period of time without getting sore.

 

[highpeakrider]

I'd agree Focus Thron² or Jam² would be a perfect ride for you, the Jam would allow you to set the suspension to be plusher giving you a smother ride.
I'd look at something about 140mm travel and decide what fits you the best, also look at something with a dropper seat post which if you lower when getting off the bike make it easier to get your leg over the seat when getting back on.

 

[Akelu]

I think for "70% fire roads and 30% mild single tracks", 130mm would be sufficient, and I wouldn't go more then 140 otherwise it's going to impact on how dynamic the riding is (aka make for a less engaging ride) I think jam² could be slightly over biked for at most '30% mild single trail's. Jam2 is more of an all mountain bike.

 

[backstep]

Thanks everyone. My local bike shop is a cube dealer and not Focus. Is the Focus that much more suitable than the Cube stereo 140 HPC SL and if so why? I can get a Focus but it will from a dealer 70km away.

 

[B1rdie]

I ride a canyon spectralon and for the kind of riding you described would suggest a bike with less suspension like the neuronon. As per comfort aspect, anything with 120mm will be enough. More travel would be an advantage only for going faster on the rough.
Besides the ebike I ride 120mm hardtail and a rigid 29 trailbike.

 

[Rusty]

I think it can sometimes be counter productive to go too short in the travel.
Basically, when you go shorter you are usually going to have steeper head angles, which gives sharper steering and twitchy(sh) handling. I would recommend something from your LBS rather than an online purchase and think something like a Giant Stance, Scott Strike, Norco Slight VLT. Shorter travel options are the Cube Stereo, Merida One20, Trek Powerfly FS5.

 

[steve_sordy]

I agree with the suggestion of the Focus Thron2.
However, for your first ebike, getting one from your local (ie close!) dealer trumps brand loyalty. CUBE produce good ebikes and I'm sure that they will have something to suit you. I would agree that 120-130 would be good for your intended purpose.

PS: Even almost 50 years old is not OLD. But I have no idea what impact your previous major surgeries will have had upon you, nor how recently they were. But you will greatly benefit from getting out there and exercising. I would strongly advise taking some skill lessons. Even if you have been riding a bicycle for years, mountain biking is not the same. If you have concerns about falling off get yourself some knee and elbow guards. Get them now, don't wait until after you have fallen off (as you will!) I would have a lot fewer scars and aches and pains if I had followed that same advice I was given years ago. I'm 20 years older than you and I'm not the oldest on here.

 

[B1rdie]

Neuron:ON 9.0

Alimenté par une batterie parfaitement intégrée et doté des meilleurs composants de sa catégorie, le Neuron:ON 9.0, avec sa géométrie progressive et son débattement de 130 mm, définit ce que peut (et doit) être un VTTAE polyvalent.

www.canyon.com

Less suspension and less weight will be an advantage for me, I like rough natural terrain and like to climb downhill tracks. After climbing I do go down doing all drops and hucks, just avoiding the doubles. Have hardly ever bottomed out the lyrics at 160mm in two years though I also allways thought 160 would not be enough.
The ebike is just too heavy for me and I feel safer riding it slower than with a bike that has the same amount of suspension when having to bail out or crashing is more of a threat.

 

[MPJ]

Do you have a Commencal dealer nearby?
COMMENCAL 2021 | META POWER SX RIDE 2021

 

[paquo]

Don't alot of 150 travel bikes have adjusters to reduce travel ? I know my levos go from 150 to 120 to full lockout. As someone who is careful not to be exposed to big impacts i can't imagine not having the full 150

 

[flash]

I think you need to look at geometry rather than travel. A bike with a head angle of 69 degrees is a lot twitchier than one of 66 degrees. A shorter seat stay will be more nimble in the corners and a longer one better at climbing and slightly more stable feeling in a straight line. I don't think you need something super slack but a bike with 66 degree head angles a steeper seat angle and slightly longer chainstays will give you a confident stable ride on fire roads and not so technical tracks compared to a true trail bike.. Most of those bikes are going to come with 140-160mm of travel (but maybe not all) so that's where you'll end up. You can always change tyres, grips etc to get the ride you want with a longer travel bike.

Also, people fall of bikes. If you have injuries you need to protect then buy protection for them. There are various threads here about protection gear. If you think you can't come off on a beginner trail my ribs will convince you otherwise.

Gordon

 

[steve_sordy]

....... If you think you can't come off on a beginner trail my ribs will convince you otherwise.....

I have fallen off on a flat tarmac strip, within sight of the carpark. I was going at just above walking pace.
The high speed trail had just finished and we were cruising leisurely back to the car park, cooling down. I was leaning down to adjust my right knee&shin guard. I pulled up with my hand, unfortunately I also pushed down with my foot! I want careering off to the left at speed, just missed a tree and ended up amongst the brambles and nettles with the bike on top of me! My son-in-law didn't come to my aid as he was too busy laughing. It was a lady walker, at least ten years older than me who pulled the bike off me and gave me a hand up. The nettle sting pain lasted until the early hours. It was pretty much everywhere that I didn't have some form of protection (wrists, forearms, ears, back of neck, ankles, back of knees).
This would not have happened on an analogue bike! That #!%## emtb took on a life of its own!

 

[JoeBlow]

I only started mountain biking last year. I've fallen off 4 or 5 times. Only once was it on a piece of what could be describes as technical, gnarly ground. Like steve_sordy my other times were on very benign ground. Indeed on one occasion I walked back up the trail to see what had caused it and found nothing. Another time I stopped before going blindly over a steep slope to a fire road in order to inspect it. I put my foot down but there was only gorse, branches and heather that looked like solid ground and I went someway down the slope. After the first one I bought knee guards, after the second one I bought elbow guards, After the third one I bought knee guards that had shin protection as effective flat pedals are vicious.

Al

 

[steve_sordy]

Always remove the front centre pin on each side of your flats. They are the ones that do the painful damage. Bruising is bad enough, but you don't want the pin shredding the bone.

 

[nickfrog]

Tinder

 

[JoeBlow]

Always remove the front centre pin on each side of your flats. They are the ones that do the painful damage. Bruising is bad enough, but you don't want the pin shredding the bone.

Interesting suggestion. What makes you think it's mainly that specific pin that does the damage? I've had several shin cuts and bruises but I don't think I would be able to lay the blame on one specific pin. Do many riders do this? If it genuinely helps I'll do it.

Al

 

[Hebegebe]

Thanks everyone. My local bike shop is a cube dealer and not Focus. Is the Focus that much more suitable than the Cube stereo 140 HPC SL and if so why? I can get a Focus but it will from a dealer 70km away.

Go with the 140SL it's a great bike, I doubt you would notice the pedal efficiency between 120mm & 140mm travel with the new Bosch motor & the 140mm will give you a much better ride when you point it downhill.

 

[steve_sordy]

Interesting suggestion. What makes you think it's mainly that specific pin that does the damage? I've had several shin cuts and bruises but I don't think I would be able to lay the blame on one specific pin. Do many riders do this? If it genuinely helps I'll do it.

Al

I had three grooves down my shin. The centre one was deep and unpleasant, the two outer ones were not too bad. The centre one had contacted the shin bone. Since removing the centre pin, I've only had bruises and a few light scores.

The worst no longer happens since I started wearing knee&shin guards on every ride, but they still get that gap between the top of my Sealskinz and the bottom of my guards, and the back of my leg of course. Pins gouging flesh is bad enough, but when one hits the bone is when it gets really nasty.

 

[MPJ]

I had three grooves down my shin. The centre one was deep and unpleasant, the two outer ones were not too bad. The centre one had contacted the shin bone. Since removing the centre pin, I've only had bruises and a few light scores.

The worst no longer happens since I started wearing knee&shin guards on every ride, but they still get that gap between the top of my Sealskinz and the bottom of my guards, and the back of my leg of course. Pins gouging flesh is bad enough, but when one hits the bone is when it gets really nasty.

Sounds like you might be safer in SPD's!

 

[steve_sordy]

Sounds like you might be safer in SPD's!

Years and years ago. I went from trainers and plastic pedals to SPDs. I stuck at if for 18 months, but as my riding became more adventurous, I found that SPDs were not working for me. When my pedal was in the top quadrant of its rotation (roughly), I just could not eject reliably. The need to eject when I couldn't was therefore roughly one times out of eight. Even at only 1:8, comedy falls were becoming too frequent and I was getting injured. It was the instructor on one of the MTB courses I was on that advised me to switch to flats. I had always been a bit suspicious of those nasty spiked pedals, they looked proper dangerous!

But a pair of 510's and some Kona WahWah pedals and I was away! Brilliant, but I bought some knee&shin guards soon afterwards.

Then I had to learn to lift my foot off the pedal to put my foot down, not just twist to one side. Queue a few more comedy falls!

 

[paquo]

I just could not eject reliably.

When i first tried spds i found them to be sketchy, i tried the sh-56 multi direction release cleat and much better

 

[Nicho]

When i first tried spds i found them to be sketchy, i tried the sh-56 multi direction release cleat and much better

I agree, also make sure you play about with the release pressure screws so that they just hold your foot in place, but release easily if you need them to.

 

[steve_sordy]

I agree, also make sure you play about with the release pressure screws so that they just hold your foot in place, but release easily if you need them to.

Yep, did that.
Anyway, my 18 month trial with SPDs ended years ago, I still use them from time to time on tarmac rides just for a change. But I'm now a firm flats fan.

 

[Bellefield]

I’d like to buy an e-bike to spend more time in nature and increase my fitness. I’m not interested in racing, technical downhills, bike parks etc. I’m almost 50 years old and due to multiple major surgeries in the past I need to avoid any high risk activities likely to result in big falls. So I expect to be riding 70% fire roads and 30% mild single tracks. My justification for going e-bike is that I can cover more distance so I see more. Based on my research the most efficient bike for this style of riding would be a XC bike.

As I understand, XC bikes are designed for speed on non-technical trails like I expect to be mostly riding. As a result they are lightweight and have better pedal efficiency due to their short-travel suspension and steeper geometry. But they are obviously less comfortable on more rocky trails and at my age a comfortable ride is very important to me. However if I’m buying an e-bike and not racing anyone then why should I care much about pedal efficiency, it doesn’t matter to me if I spend 34 or 38 mins climbing a hill. In this case doesn’t it make more sense to get a trail bike with 130-140mm suspension both front and rear so I get the most comfortable ride?

I’m trying to decide between a Cube stereo hybrid 120 race 625 or a 140 HPC SL 625 (which I assume is XC vs trail). I have a budget of €5000 and am living in Spain.


Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be better or perhaps another bike?

Hi, don't forget that you will also be spending a lot of your time on roads and backroads getting to the trails. I've got a hardtail and its perfect for my riding, also in my mid 50's, and I prefer a more upright style.

 

[JoeBlow]

I bought myself an e mountain bike last year. I had done mountain biking before but as I got older (Currently 72) the pain began to outweigh the pleasure. I bought it thinking I would be riding in a similar way to previously i.e. long cross country exploration, fire roads and fairly easy downhill but with less pain on the uphills. Since then however trail centres have improved and increased in number so together with an e bike the MTB scene has changed significantly, at least for me. I now find myself very enthusiastic about single track and down hill riding at trail centres, the problem being that I now recognise that I bought a less appropriate bike than I would buy today. I would advise that you may want to try the different disciplines as well as different bikes before parting with any money. I wish I had.

Al

 

[Mteam]

Interesting suggestion. What makes you think it's mainly that specific pin that does the damage? I've had several shin cuts and bruises but I don't think I would be able to lay the blame on one specific pin. Do many riders do this? If it genuinely helps I'll do it.

Al

No - many riders dont do this, it sounds like a bad idea to me, it will just reduce grip and make it more likely that you'll slip off the pedal in the first place, just learn the proper technique (drop your heels on downhills) , get the right shoes (grippy soft soled flat pedal specific shoes such as five 10s), and use decent pedals.

I cant remember the last time I bashed my shin with a pedal, or slipped off one.

 

[blancysteve]

I have had multiple back surgeries and ended up with a Cube HYBRID Stereo 160. Perfect for single track and long rides but perhaps the 140 Cube is most suitable