Please help with bike selection

[Slow as]

Hi all, newbie to emtb, trying to decide between a ’21 Merida e160 8000, or a ‘21 focus jam 6.8. I’m almost 50 yo ( yikes..) and not a “jumper” , looking I guess for an all round bike, and have narrowed it down to these two from my lbs. any input on good, bad or otherwise on these 2 bikes would be really appreciated.
Thanks guys !

 

[Paul Mac]

Mates just bought the Merida and loves it.

 

[steve_sordy]

If you cannot do a test ride on either bike, then you need to compare the geometry. The website for each bike will have the geometry charts. Compare with a bike that your comfortable with. I find that examining the stack and reach dimensions particularly helpful.

I have had a Focus Jam2 29er for over two years now and I absolutely love it. I had the benefit of test riding 8 different bikes and although all were good and I would have happily ridden any one of them if I had been given it, the Focus was the first one I rode where I just forgot the bike had an "e" and I just rode it for the fun of it. It felt natural. It was a 6.8 with 27.5x2.8 wheels & tyres, but despite that successful trial I decided to go for a 29er on the simple grounds that I had never owned a 29er before and I preferred the narrower tyres. I have never regretted it.

Edit: Another key selection criteria for someone new to emtbs is how close is the supplier of the bike? Being able to drop the bike off for any warranty or repair work is very valuable compared to having to box it up and ship it, or face a 3 hour round trip. Sometimes what appears to you to be a serious fault is responded with "Oh is that all, this is what you do (click), fixed! five mins later you are on your way.

 

[Winger]

Blimey where do I start....

A year ago with Covid just starting got our two Lapierre’s off the garage wall but spent way too much time waiting for my other half to catch up...decide to buy her an electric mountain.....then realised it’s more complicated than that....after more home work it was down to which motor the bike was not the important factor.

Finally went Bosch(Whyte 150s) and that has been changed for Cube 160, I quickly worked out the wonders of lecky mountain bikes and bought a Turbo Levo.

Conclusions....

The Brose motor is quicker than the Bosch
Going off posts on here the Brose has its hiccups compared to the Bosch so needs to be bought new for the 4 year warranty.

Now I come from a motorcycling background so i’ve Done my fair share of changing 21” front wheels to 17” for quicker steering, but i’ll Hold my hands up and confess never gave a thought about wheel size on a mountain bike, my wife loves her 27.5 wheels and I love my 29 and currently that is unlikely to change.

The only other comment I can add, I think the quality of my wife’s Cube is a quantum leap better than my Turbo Levo, even though i’ll Be biased and say I think the TL works better, so take out of that what you will.

But the bottom line slightest sniff of a straight track you’ll never keep up with the Brose motor on a Bosch.

Hope that helps or not....

 

[nomad66]

Going off posts on here the Brose has its hiccups compared to the Bosch so needs to be bought new for the 4 year warranty.

i think its only 2020 bikes you get 4 years, back to 2 for latest bikes