Rhain E-MTB

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

**Admin move if needed**

Hi everyone,

My name is Jackson the owner of Rhain E-MTB.Co based in Brisbane, Australia. We are a very small business (2 people) who will be building our E-MTB's starting December this year. Our whole aim is to bring the cost down sub 5.5k but still provide quality componentry. Some quick specs on our first model which is still a prototype at this stage. 150mm travel front and up to 200mm rear which we will refine after testing. 27.5 front and rear, Bafang M500 mid drive motor paired with an integrated/in-frame 525wh battery, dropper post as standard. Once our frames arrive we will be hosting multiple demo days. We are always open to ideas on what you guys would like to see from e-bikes and we are super keen to get started. We have an Instagram page we just opened @rhain_emtb.co and our website should be up and running by the end of next week

Cheers guys,

Jackson

 

[Matt_Rider]

Cool! Good luck. Hope you can ruffle some feathers!

 

[Steve38]

Agreed, Good Luck !

Prices in AUS for eMTB's just seem to keep going up each year for essentially the same spec level

Hard to get any discounts as the demand is so high

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Cool! Good luck. Hope you can ruffle some feathers!

Just trying our part to get people involved in this great sport of ours!

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Agreed, Good Luck !

Prices in AUS for eMTB's just seem to keep going up each year for essentially the same spec level

Hard to get any discounts as the demand is so high

Thanks mate! We are certainly keen to get stuck in once our frames arrives!

 

[JChristo]

160/150 mullet setup seems to be a sweet spot (for Sydney riders anyways), look at the sales of the Meridas for example. Be good to see an Aussie eBike!

 

[sparked]

Make a version for the height challenged amongst us!

There is very few FS EMTBs that have standover lower than 74cm... actually maybe 2 or 3 bikes.. thats all!

Manufacturers have left us out

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

160/150 mullet setup seems to be a sweet spot (for Sydney riders anyways), look at the sales of the Meridas for example. Be good to see an Aussie eBike!

Our specs for the fork and shock are pretty close to that mullet setup.

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Make a version for the height challenged amongst us!

There is very few FS EMTBs that have standover lower than 74cm... actually maybe 2 or 3 bikes.. thats all!

Manufacturers have left us out

It's on the cards mate!

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

***Quick little update***

I've been overwhelmed with enquires left right and centre and haven't had much chance to get much done but I got a little insight into our tentative choice of specs..

Fork: E-Bike ready SR Suntour Zeron 150mm Travel with 35mm stanchions
Shock: Rockshox Deluxe Select+ 205mmx57.5mm
Brakes: Tektro HD-M745, 4 piston brakes with 203mm rotors front and rear
Groupset: Shimano SLX 11-50T
Seatpost: X-Fusion Manic with 150mm travel

At the moment we are sitting at a tick over 20kg on a full built bike just going on manufacturers weight.

More to come... Website is almost there.

Thanks guys!

 

[Steve38]

***Quick little update***

I've been overwhelmed with enquires left right and centre and haven't had much chance to get much done but I got a little insight into our tentative choice of specs..

Fork: E-Bike ready SR Suntour Zeron 150mm Travel with 35mm stanchions
Shock: Rockshox Deluxe Select+ 205mmx57.5mm
Brakes: Tektro HD-M745, 4 piston brakes with 203mm rotors front and rear
Groupset: Shimano SLX 11-50T
Seatpost: X-Fusion Manic with 150mm travel

At the moment we are sitting at a tick over 20kg on a full built bike just going on manufacturers weight.

More to come... Website is almost there.

Thanks guys!

It's probably just brand snobbery, but an SR Suntour Fork, no matter how good they actually are, will probably put off a number of people straight away

If you can get an equivalent RS or Fox Fork I reckon it would help your cause

Forks are an expensive upgrade when you've already dropped $5k plus

Otherwise specs look good for this price point

Just my 2c worth

 

[Matt_Rider]

It's probably just brand snobbery, but an SR Suntour Fork, no matter how good they actually are, will probably put off a number of people straight away

If you can get an equivalent RS or Fox Fork I reckon it would help your cause

Forks are an expensive upgrade when you've already dropped $5k plus

Otherwise specs look good for this price point

Just my 2c worth

Took the words out of my mouth. If it's not RS or Fox it's going to be a hard sell. Also 35mm when the enduro market has been 36mm and now moving to 38mm stanchions means people will probably budget for an expensive fork upgrade. Might be worthwhile making a poll in as many forums or Facebook groups as you can to see what the market wants.

 

[Rusty]

Just my 2cents worth, but 150/200mm makes no sense. 20 years of MTB and 45+ years of MX - being in on the full suspension MTB evolvement and the long travel MX revolution tells me rear suspension at 80-100% of the front works much better than the other way around.

I agree about the Suntour forks too. On a low to mid-range MTB they are a possibility but on a heavier eMTB I would say not a chance - based on riding several bikes with them.

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

It's probably just brand snobbery, but an SR Suntour Fork, no matter how good they actually are, will probably put off a number of people straight away

If you can get an equivalent RS or Fox Fork I reckon it would help your cause

Forks are an expensive upgrade when you've already dropped $5k plus

Otherwise specs look good for this price point

Just my 2c worth

Thanks for your feedback! I am still debating on what to run up front and the price point we are going for. In the future once we get up and going we will do this model in a higher spec version for sure.

Cheers

 

[Steve38]

Just my 2cents worth, but 150/200mm makes no sense. 20 years of MTB and 45+ years of MX - being in on the full suspension MTB evolvement and the long travel MX revolution tells me rear suspension at 80-100% of the front works much better than the other way around.

I agree about the Suntour forks too. On a low to mid-range MTB they are a possibility but on a heavier eMTB I would say not a chance - based on riding several bikes with them.

This "205mmx57.5mm" doesn't mean 205mm Travel

I'd assume it would be 150mm travel to match the Fork

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Took the words out of my mouth. If it's not RS or Fox it's going to be a hard sell. Also 35mm when the enduro market has been 36mm and now moving to 38mm stanchions means people will probably budget for an expensive fork upgrade. Might be worthwhile making a poll in as many forums or Facebook groups as you can to see what the market wants.

Thanks for your feedback!

I have found the biggest thing is value for money vs performance. After comparing from different manufacturers in our price bracket we are aiming for most are essentially the same spec unless they have a design change or something like that. We are contemplating different forks from RS and Fox at the moment also.

Cheers

 

[Steve38]

I have found the biggest thing is value for money vs performance.....

ahhh the Holy Grail of biking

It's why we all spend hours pouring over Spec Sheets and Product Reviews

get this mix right and as they say, the world is your oyster

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Just my 2cents worth, but 150/200mm makes no sense. 20 years of MTB and 45+ years of MX - being in on the full suspension MTB evolvement and the long travel MX revolution tells me rear suspension at 80-100% of the front works much better than the other way around.

I agree about the Suntour forks too. On a low to mid-range MTB they are a possibility but on a heavier eMTB I would say not a chance - based on riding several bikes with them.

Thanks for your feedback Rusty.
We are not running 200mm travel in the rear I was just stating it is possible with the frame design. We are shooting for 150mm travel F&R.
The 205mm is eye to eye length of the rear shock and 57.5mm is the stroke length on the shaft.

Cheers

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

ahhh the Holy Grail of biking

It's why we all spend hours pouring over Spec Sheets and Product Reviews

get this mix right and as they say, the world is your oyster

Tell me about it!

Thanks mate. Between working full-time and all that, we are chipping away at it.

 

[brw0513]

Tell me about it!

Thanks mate. Between working full-time and all that, we are chipping away at it.

Hi there.

Well done for taking this on. I live in Brisbane too, so especially keen to see you succeed!

Happy to be a Customer too if all works out.

I would already own an eMTB if I thought the Specialized Levo was good value for money at A$7600.

If it helps, one of the Brisbane bike shops had a sale on the Focus Jam2 6.8 with tek pack for A$5999. I thought that was reasonable value.

But I'd pay up to A$7000 for similar with better components.

Commencal here in Australia seem to be selling a handful of A$9000 eMTBs every week. Their previous Meta Power SX colour scheme was lurvly

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Hi there.

Well done for taking this on. I live in Brisbane too, so especially keen to see you succeed!

Happy to be a Customer too if all works out.

I would already own an eMTB if I thought the Specialized Levo was good value for money at A$7600.

If it helps, one of the Brisbane bike shops had a sale on the Focus Jam2 6.8 with tek pack for A$5999. I thought that was reasonable value.

But I'd pay up to A$7000 for similar with better components.

Commencal here in Australia seem to be selling a handful of A$9000 eMTBs every week. Their previous Meta Power SX colour scheme was lurvly

Thanks mate!

With our spec list currently we are sitting well under $6000 RRP. This first model will eventually become our entry level model and we will offer an upgraded model also if everything works out. Once we have our first run built hopefully in the first quarter of 2021 we will be cruising around the local tracks getting peoples opinions, having test rides, testing/crashing, reviewing and filming to get our name out there!

Cheers

P.S I love the Commencal Meta Power range!

 

[maynard]

Hi there.

Well done for taking this on. I live in Brisbane too, so especially keen to see you succeed!

Happy to be a Customer too if all works out.

I would already own an eMTB if I thought the Specialized Levo was good value for money at A$7600.

If it helps, one of the Brisbane bike shops had a sale on the Focus Jam2 6.8 with tek pack for A$5999. I thought that was reasonable value.

But I'd pay up to A$7000 for similar with better components.

Commencal here in Australia seem to be selling a handful of A$9000 eMTBs every week. Their previous Meta Power SX colour scheme was lurvly

Ummm try over 8 for base model Levo

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

***Another small update***

Thanks for following our progress and offering feedback it's greatly appreciated!

After reviewing our specs from your guy's feedback and locals at the trails we have changed some specs slightly.
We've worked with our manufacturer and have managed to squeeze in a bit more battery to bring it up to just over 600wh and have also swapped out the front SR Suntour fork to a Rockshox Gold 35 160mm travel. Rear shock stays the same. We struck a deal to run a Sram NX/GX Eagle groupset also.

Happy Trails!

 

[brw0513]

***Another small update***

Thanks for following our progress and offering feedback it's greatly appreciated!

After reviewing our specs from your guy's feedback and locals at the trails we have changed some specs slightly.
We've worked with our manufacturer and have managed to squeeze in a bit more battery to bring it up to just over 600wh and have also swapped out the front SR Suntour fork to a Rockshox Gold 35 160mm travel. Rear shock stays the same. We struck a deal to run a Sram NX/GX Eagle groupset also.

Happy Trails!

Sounds good to me.

Keep us informed of your journey. Exciting times.

Would you be intending for owners to do their own servicing or do you have something else in mind?

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Sounds good to me.

Keep us informed of your journey. Exciting times.

Would you be intending for owners to do their own servicing or do you have something else in mind?

Any servicing/programming with the electrical/motor system will be done with us or a Bafang dealer but more to come on that.
First service is free also.
We are exploring the possibility of contracting a mobile service company to provide the first service on us if you are in any other part of Australia.

Cheers

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

***Afternoon update/backstory***
Long post I'm sorry
When I originally started this I wanted the bikes built from carbon and every manufacturer knocked me back or charged insane amounts of money to produce. So I was destined for alloy (as of starting this thread) as it is a lot cheaper to produce but heavier and turned out to be 3 month lead time on manufacturing which was really bugging me! I just happened to be going through some enquiries and had an email from another carbon manufacturer just this morning saying to give me a call so I did, not thinking much of it and after a good hour chat discussing design, costs and what not they who jumped on board even though I am only small time and that didn't bother them! F@$% yes! I am thrilled with this outcome and they manufacture on a monthly basis which works out way better than 3 months!

Anyways enough of that! Obviously having the bike made from carbon there is a price increase but comparing to other manufactureres who offer carbon e-mtb's we are well below on price for our carbon bike. All specs from before are carried over except the swapping to the Rockshox fork from the SR Suntour, SRAM GX/NX Eagle groupset and have also swapped out the X-fusion dropper to a KS dropper, 29er front and 27.5+ rear.

I will hopefully have some pictures in the next few weeks of progress! We are still aiming for that first quarter of 2021 to launch.

Time for a beer I think!

Cheers guys!

 

[Matt_Rider]

Sounding awesome!!

 

[Steve38]

Hey Jackson

Shaping up as a very promising package

I know it's not emtb related but earlier this year I was looking into Gravel bikes here in Aus and came across these guys Grove Bike Co - Gravel | Cyclocross | All-Road

Their model looks to be very close to what you are attempting - good quality / reasonable pricing / direct and personal service

The owner Dave Musgrove is a passionate bike man - you could do worse than to pick his brain

Most other 'boutique' brands in Aus tend to be very high end only

Cheers

 

[urastus]

Well, just some feedback. I'm all for good value everything, and have bought such a bike myself. I don't see cf as good value; I think it is more fickle, harder to live with, and only 500gm lighter. Also, I would have thought x fusion dropper is better than KS; better and cheaper and they just work, unlike KS. I've lost interest at this point, but I do wish you well and success.

 

[Rhain E-MTB.Co]

Sounding awesome!!

Thanks mate!