Hey! Greetings from Italy

[Ep0xis]

Hello everyone, greetings from Bologna Italy the land of Ducati's bike ( still using petrol i'm afraid)
Couldnt bike in the last years because of medical problems and wanted to start biking again. Do you guys have any tips for a newb friendly e bike that's well suited for long but calm rides ( mainly fireroads and some single tracks, i mean the natural kind not the bikepark kinda rides) i really wanna go back exploring the mountains.
Hardtail or fully?
Best motor?
2 batteries?
what budget should i put in it?
Cheers and sorry if my english is rough arround the edges.

 

[MinusPrevious]

Welcome aboard

Great to have you join us

Cheers, Joe

 

[Zimmerframe]

Hello everyone, greetings from Bologna Italy the land of Ducati's bike ( still using petrol i'm afraid)
Couldnt bike in the last years because of medical problems and wanted to start biking again. Do you guys have any tips for a newb friendly e bike that's well suited for long but calm rides ( mainly fireroads and some single tracks, i mean the natural kind not the bikepark kinda rides) i really wanna go back exploring the mountains.
Hardtail or fully?
Best motor?
2 batteries?
what budget should i put in it?
Cheers and sorry if my english is rough arround the edges.

Your English is good

Choosing is difficult. You have to decide what you think you want to do with the bike, how far you might go, how high you might climb in a day, what the trail conditions will be like you intend to ride on.

Then you need to imagine 3 months later that you're really enjoying it , will those criteria still be the same or will you possibly want to go further, ride higher, ride longer and possibly ride harder, rockier, bumpier trails.

Generally, with an e-bike, if you can afford a full suspension bike, then you should start there. The efficiencies of a hardtail over an FS e-bike are considerably smaller than they are with a normal bike.

Once you have a few number in your mind, you can then start deciding what you like the look of. If you want internal or external battery. Thok for instance make an attractive external battery bikes, so it's easy to change batteries if you have two. They're also Italian if you hoping to buy home grown and have excellent customer support.

 

[Ep0xis]

Thanks for the tip
Yeah Thok are also the guys behind the ducati e-bike but i'm not ready to buy an ebike that cost like a motorbike, however the mig looks awesome and isnt too bad price wise. If i choose a "cheap" fs bike what are the big things i have to look for in order to know if i can maybe upgrade some parts later?

 

[RCDallas]

Hello everyone, greetings from Bologna Italy the land of Ducati's bike ( still using petrol i'm afraid)
Couldnt bike in the last years because of medical problems and wanted to start biking again. Do you guys have any tips for a newb friendly e bike that's well suited for long but calm rides ( mainly fireroads and some single tracks, i mean the natural kind not the bikepark kinda rides) i really wanna go back exploring the mountains.
Hardtail or fully?
Best motor?
2 batteries?
what budget should i put in it?
Cheers and sorry if my english is rough arround the edges.

Ciao Ep0xis, Benvenuto nel questo forum! I live in northern Italy and ride the type of trails you're talking about in the dolomites and Alps. I started out with a hardtail ebike thinking it would be good enough, and it was doing a good job to be honest, but after picking up my 2019 Turbo Levo I can say FS is the way to go on an eMTB. The rear suspension really makes a big difference on long days and I am much less fatigued especially in my lower back. The only reason I would prefer a hardtail over a FS now would be for longer bikepacking trips but a FS can be adapted as well and would still be more comfortable.

 

[Ep0xis]

Ciao Ep0xis, Benvenuto nel questo forum! I live in northern Italy and ride the type of trails you're talking about in the dolomites and Alps. I started out with a hardtail ebike thinking it would be good enough, and it was doing a good job to be honest, but after picking up my 2019 Turbo Levo I can say FS is the way to go on an eMTB. The rear suspension really makes a big difference on long days and I am much less fatigued especially in my lower back. The only reason I would prefer a hardtail over a FS now would be for longer bikepacking trips but a FS can be adapted as well and would still be more comfortable.

The hardtail could be nice for long bikepacking trip but i wouldn't use an ebike if it is more than 2 day and for a week end trip i'm sure i can carry all i need mainly on a handlebar bag a backpack and maybe some small bags on the frame without putting weight on the suspension part.
Any calm " need to ride in your life trail" in the dolomites to try out next time i'm there?

 

[Zimmerframe]

If i choose a "cheap" fs bike what are the big things i have to look for in order to know if i can maybe upgrade some parts later?

In general, most things can be upgraded. Depending what manufacturers do, motors might not be exchange able for future models and batteries might not be. Who knows.

Ideally, find something which is generally good enough without having to upgrade. OK, you'll probably want to put better pedals on and you might have to change the saddle if you don't like the standard one. But in general, it's cheaper to buy the bike with at least a good basic spec than start swapping things out.

In terms of FS bikes, the Decathlon Stilus is pretty much the cheapest/level of spec bike and comes with the latest Bosch motor, rather than last years motor. It's probably enough bike for 90% of people.

The Thok's offer excellent value for money with the Mig for the standard of parts.

Bike discount.de do their own bike's - the Radon Render. This offers excellent specification for the money. If you look on their site there's often a "sale" section where they have a lot of last years bikes with large discounts. "Lord Gun" is also worth looking at for discounts.

I wasted a lot of money last year by starting with a simple/cheap hard tail. Then moving to a better hard tail ... then to a Kenevo. On that note - don't worry that anything might be "too much bike" for you. It won't be. If you don't use it to it's full abilities, it will probably be more forgiving than lesser bikes used at the extent of their capabilities, when you're using it at half of it's capabilities.