How the heck did you decide what to buy?

[Teriatric]

I bought this because it's shiny.

 

[Pickle1970]

For me, once the people I ride with and I had decided to make the move to an ebike (it needed to be a group decision as it's crap riding in a mixed group for all people) the choice was mainly narrowed down by looks for me.
The bike had to look right but also at a price point which I didn't feel took the p*ss, specification such as fork was a factor as well and some sort of dealer backup .
so for me I went for the Marin E2, although when I say went for, I still haven't actually got it yet.
I placed my order back in February and I have been told it is definitely coming February 2022 (I don't 100% believe that as I have been given many dates in the past) but I'll believe it when I get the call from the shop.

My mate has one, he did get his back in September and it's such a great bike, the XL fits perfect and the spec for the money is superb.

 

[BeBiker]

I bought this because it's shiny.
View attachment 78923

I bought this because it's not shiny

I wanted:
-Fully with 750Wh battery
-Integrated removable battery
-No Specialized, everybody already has one.
-No Jam/Sam, strange/ugly fork construction.
-No Giant/Scott, don't like the vertical seat tube.
-Brose or Bosch motor.
-Decent specs, under 7000k

Well then there's not much choice left.
iirc there was also a BH, Husqvarna and a Rotwild on my shortlist.

But it wasn't perfect. After some modifications it comes close:

Cube Stereo 160 S 750 2022 Specs Modifications

Well after months of hesitating, I finally bought a full suspension. Most of all I wanted one with a 750Wh Battery. The charts said I am in between M-L, but the first M will be available +-August. I intended to buy a 29" 140, but when seeing this matte desert 160S in stock 5km from my home...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[JP-NZ]

Was stuck in the same position buying/ordering my first EMTB. I haven't even ridden an electric bike yet but have years of riding history. There was no chance of doing a trial ride or even seeing a bike before ordering.

I wanted:
-Full power with 700Wh+ battery
-Shimano SLX or XT Brakes
-Brose, Yamaha or Bosch motor.
-Shimano drivetrain (again SLX or XT)
-No shimano EP8 motor
-Had to be available locally supported by dealer

Left me with 2 choices in order of cost
22 Trek Rail 9.8XT
22 Giant Reign E+1

The Giant wasn't avalible till 2023 so it was a pretty easy choice in the end even though the trek is about 1500 pounds more than the Giant

 

[RipGroove]

For me it was a case of finding something that had all of the following (in no particular order):

27.5" wheels
Bosch motor
A large battery
Cost under 3k (I bought used)
Was the right size (only an issue if buying used)
Was in a 50 mile radius from my house

Surely you just decide what specs are important to you and then figure out which bike has them all.

I ended up with a 2020 Cube Stereo SL 160 because it had everything in my list. I'm very happy with it and if I had the spare money right now I'd happily buy the 2022 version.

 

[RipGroove]

View attachment 91240

View attachment 91241

View attachment 91242

View attachment 91246

Hey I used to live in Stonehouse -_-

 

[Rich-EMTB-UK]

IMHO the Turbo levy is a good place to start, go for a carbon frame if you can stretch to it. Don't worry too much about components as you will soon upgrade those anyway. I went from a light Yeti to the heavy TL and found the TL good once you were rolling and very stable. Now on a Yeti 160e, price is crazy but it is all Yeti and I love it. An ebike lets me ride where I love and used to ride 20 years ago without the dread of the next hill/climb and taking days to recover. The SL bikes look great but it just depends on how much assistance you need to do 30-40 miles a day and a 1,000 metres or more climbing and still enjoy it and be fresh the next day.
Buy the bike you want not the one you can afford - MTB's are and always have been crazy prices.

 

[RipGroove]

from the pilot down they have tarmacked the hole path to Gloucester so every fooker down there now

You ever ridden up Robinswood Hill? I've not even walked up there for years, wondering if it's worth doing a little chill trekking through on the emtb.

 

[RipGroove]

if it is a sunny day the place is rammed tho

Oh nice! Thanks for sharing, I'll head up there then. I wasn't even sure if it was even bike friendly as it's been many years since I've been there

 

[RipGroove]

years ago it did have a big sign on the gate to the car pak that said no bikes but long gone now but horses also go up there and some big ruts on the one side and wheel destroyers.

I'll need to be a bit careful then but worth a look.

 

[Hamina]

How the bollox do you make the final decision?

The price was good for Trek Rail 5 on April 2020: 3700 euros. Been happy even though some (most..) of the components have been upgraded (replaced..) since but that shouldn't surprise anyone Trek felt trustful mainstream brand. Before the order I testride Rail 7 like 100m on asphalt.

At that time Rail seemed to good enough to be first EMTB. Levo was then and is still very very more advanced in integration but the motor problems sounded a bit too problematic for me. It was also a bit pricy.

Today the choice would be Voima or Levo.

 

[Daev]

As with everything ( in answer to your original question) - no f#@kin' idea. Same with everything, houses ( how the hell do you choose which house to buy, literally millions of them out there!!) , cars, baked beans etc&etc....
I can't be ar$ed to get into intricate analysis - give it 5 minutes, make a decision. Panic til you take possession. Do whatever you need to make it work - get on and enjoy it .
I'm 61 and been lucky enough for that approach to have worked with everything so far. Saved a {ahem} load of time and endless worry.
Life's too short.
As Nike once said - Just Do It!

 

[Winger]

My background is motorcycles, had a normal mountain bike hanging on the garage wall as did my wife and that’s about all they have/had done, covid came along and we needed a change of plan, wifey couldn’t keep up so gallantly suggested buying her am electric mountain bike……not realising the complications.

Which motor? narrowed it down to Bosch/Shimano/Brose with the complication the Brose had to come in a Speacilised, then what sized wheel set up 27.5 or 29 or a mullet, after that where to buy from and went to a local shop.

 

[Matt van]

I went on a come-n-try day with 99 bikes and they had a Merida hardtail to try and some Cube stereos, I enjoyed the Merida but wasn't too keen on the Cube stereo as they were dual suspension, so I ended up going for a Cube reaction hybrid pro 400 and am very happy mine has 85 NM motor as I'm over 100 kilos and it goes Great even en-Ecco I get 4-6 hrs out on it. This was a cheaper emtb $3200 but I do want to spend $10,000 Plus to not like it not like it

 

[Kingerz]

I'm down on the Mornington Peninsula, I've heard there' a place called Red Hill which has MTB trails and a bike shop.

Yes, there's shops in front of Red Hill MTB Park.
I have a guide to some areas to help inspire you here and Red Hill is described. It's the North Entrance and the shop is Chain Brain.

Best eMTB rides in Victoria

MTB eMTB ebike ebikes australia victoria mountainbike mountainbiking swimming offgrid solar

kingerzexperience.blogspot.com

 

[militantmandy]

I test rode every bike I liked that my local shops could sell me. I really didn't want to buy an ebike online. In the end I just bought the one I liked the most on demo. I'm lucky that there are a lot of bike shops around where I live!

 

[Makaany]

i know your pain bike buying process can be a very hard

 

[Mrj35]

Mainly the price point and set for my type of riding style (shocks,geo). I didn't care about the components and actually preferred lower end drivetrain as its going to wear out anyway so may as well be cheaper to replace.

 

[Dave_B]

@VWsurfbum is the expert at choosing a new bike, speak to him…..

 

[michael_bc]

Find a deal.

At the end of the day, a bike is a bike and each bike has its pros and cons. You won't find out until you've spent several hundreds of hours on said bike. Might as well buy one with a big discount and go from there...

Important to keep in mind: Tires arguably make a bigger difference than any other component on your bike (and are easily swapped).

 

[Anders]

Find a deal.

At the end of the day, a bike is a bike and each bike has its pros and cons. You won't find out until you've spent several hundreds of hours on said bike. Might as well buy one with a big discount and go from there...

Exactly what I did. I don't know much about eMtbs, but I do know a lot about motorbikes.

I went to my LBS an they said "as long as you get a Shimano, Bosch or Yamaha motor, it's all right".
My son and daughter in law both have Haibikes, while my other son has an Orbea.

I wanted a hardtail. Some of the reasoning was that I'd rather have a high quality hardtail than a lower quality FD for the same price.

The Haibikes are available locally, while Orbea is not. One of the more expensive Haibikes (Alltrack 11) came with a big (27%) discount. That one became my choice. I have used it approx 42 hours / 290km so far and am very happy.

I still don't know if another bike would have been a better choice, but as I'm happy with the one I got, I guess its all right.

 

[Singletrackmind]

A lot of bike shops offer demo days, which is a great way to test ride a bike you may be interested in purchasing. Some bike shops rent emtbs for a decent rate. Having owned many Amish and Electric mountain bikes since their inception, there are a plethora of bike/price ranges to choose from. Early in my mtb riding days, I would go with more of a base model and add upgrades over time. Have owned 6 emtbs over last 4 years from mainly big brand names and have been very fortunate and happy with their performance. To my friends who are just getting their feet wet on emtbs, I advise them to purchase used bikes with low miles if possible. Would be willing to give my opinion on the emtbs I've owned (Specialized Levo Gen2/Kenevo, Yeti-160E, YT Decoy Elite & MX CORE 4 and Orbea Wild).

 

[TommyC]

I woke up one Saturday morning and decided I wanted an emtb. I’d had a few Cube bikes before and thought they were alright so I found the nearest medium frame in stock and went to pick it up. Had it home by 3pm.

Just buy one. They’re fun.