Urge to buy a non ebike !!! Am I crazy anyone still regularly use a non ebike

chrismechmaster

Well-known member
Subscriber
Dec 7, 2020
816
420
Newbury
Basically have a trek rail and orbea rise I totally love both bike for difference reasons I am more of a xc / light trail rider and the bit I miss the most is the fast light trails above the 15 mph cut off

I don’t want to de restrict either bike for warranty reasons and I would spend to much of my time worrying about giving the motors a hard time

but I don’t enjoy the feel of riding over the limiter and obviously compared to a light trail bike ( like a Santa Cruz Tallboy) it’s a fair bit harder and also the simplicity or a non electronic bike

but I wonder how much I would actually use it as I love the ebikes !!!

do I ditch the idea and man up over the limiters ha ha. Or do many of you guys and girls have regular mountain bikes for this similar reason ??
 

Scford

Member
Feb 10, 2021
25
20
Santa Cruz
I get the impression most people here stick to pretty much E-bikes exclusively. Maybe that’s just down to a lot of people in Europe where ebikes aren’t such a taboo. In America it’s a bit different, you see them a lot but still get leering looks and snarky comments all the time!

Personally I still very much enjoy riding a regular bike, comes down a lot to who I’m riding with, ie who has ebikes and who doesn’t. I had a heckler and loved it but was way more out of shape when hoping back on a regular bike. So I swapped to a rise, I love the motor tune and hoping back and forth to a regular bike is much easier now. But I miss the heckler for the suspension performance, the rise just doesn’t cut it in that department.

I think it mostly comes down to where and who you’re riding with as to whether it’s easy to justify having both, for me yes, for others maybe not.
 

Bummers

Well-known member
Mar 12, 2022
584
539
UK
That £13k lightweight e-bike Rob just did a review of sounds like what you need😁👍🏻
 

wildsau2

Active member
Jul 6, 2018
167
123
Germany, Karlsruhe
Canyon eMTB 22Kg - 2000km/year
Spesh Epic 10Kg MTB - 5000km/year

i use eMTB for bad conditions (rain, wind, snow, heat, sick) since 2017. thats the benefit of eMTB for me.

with my lightweight MTB i have much more fun when conditions are fine

but thats all personal
 

spicker

Active member
May 2, 2022
148
127
Newfoundland, Canada
Yep, my Brose does 32km/h as does my partners Bosch motor. Both stock but in Canada. 32 is enough for me on the trails right now. So you could de-restrict to 32 to stay within the ‘rules’.
 

Waynemarlow

E*POWAH Master
Dec 6, 2019
1,107
888
Bucks
You could take the EZesty route and have both a normal bike and a lightweight. My one works extremely well when I leave the motor and battery home when out riding with other analogues.
 

E-Bandit

Member
Sep 1, 2020
30
6
Australia
Hi guys, I have an e one sixty 9000 model ebike and I’m currently selling it to fund a non ebike build, I would love to keep the ebike but I can’t and has to go…. Maybe I am crazy but I hve loved just having an ebike for the lst two years and maybe it’s a mid life crisis HahHah
 

Chicane

Active member
Nov 11, 2020
363
316
SoCal
It makes since if you ride 3-4 times per week minimum, then you have time to ride it. I say buy yourself a 28lb trail bike. I had my Ripley prior to my Rise, but in the year I’ve owned my Rise, my Ripley has only seen 4 rides. This partly do to nagging injuries and my work schedule only allowing around 1 ride per week maximum. I like the simplicity and you never know if/when I could run into that dreaded Ebike motor failure and be without for a good month. You have a second option, so it comes down to whether you have the money to burn.
 

SiDobsFig

Member
Apr 20, 2019
45
51
Ross-on-Wye
I have kept my Whyte 901 hardtail because it just keeps me on my toes. My E-bike gets me out of trouble on many occasions because my mind seems to get lazy on the e MTB. Also if I ride with my spaniels with the EMTB they tend to wear their pads out so I take the hardtail and go for shorter slower rides.

A decent Hardtail may be worth considering.
 

Seraye

Member
Sep 8, 2020
63
42
Portland
I Love my Rail, but recently I purchased myself a Canfield Yelli Screamy Hardtail for riding xc trails where ebikes are illegal And find I LOVE riding the hardtail- probably due to being so much healthier and more fit and 20lbs lighter from riding the emtbs because of the ability and desire to put in more hours at a lower heart rate which give me the ability to recover More quickly and ride again the next day. But I honestly can’t wait to ride the hard tail again!
 

chrismechmaster

Well-known member
Subscriber
Dec 7, 2020
816
420
Newbury
I have kept my Whyte 901 hardtail because it just keeps me on my toes. My E-bike gets me out of trouble on many occasions because my mind seems to get lazy on the e MTB. Also if I ride with my spaniels with the EMTB they tend to wear their pads out so I take the hardtail and go for shorter slower rides.

A decent Hardtail may be worth considering.

a very good point I would be looking a xc rides only and never really thought about a hard tail I was mainly looking at something like a Santa Cruz Tallboy but can’t really justify 4grand
Where a fairly decent hardtail would be cheaper I guess

any nice light hardtails that recommended?
 

Chicane

Active member
Nov 11, 2020
363
316
SoCal
a very good point I would be looking a xc rides only and never really thought about a hard tail I was mainly looking at something like a Santa Cruz Tallboy but can’t really justify 4grand
Where a fairly decent hardtail would be cheaper I guess

any nice light hardtails that recommended?
A 4K Tallboy won’t be much lighter than your Rise.
 

Mitchb

Member
Nov 13, 2021
56
43
San Diego
Most of my rides involve lots of climbing due to the area I live- San Diego, CA. Riding a regular bike is just too slow sometimes, I prefer the faster paced rides of an eBike, its just more fun!
 

Kiteboy

New Member
Mar 30, 2022
63
37
USA
Being a long time mtber from early 90's on, I thought ebikes were for old or just lazy people when I first saw them. A young friend that I kitesurf with bought one to bypass heavy traffic over the causeway, onto the island where we kite from (You can sit in your car for an hour to go half a mile on weekends). So I saw the logic and bought one, and a bike trailer to haul my gear. Works excellent!

Anyway, now I ride single track with it all the time and don't touch my regular mtb anymore. I'm stoked any chance I get to go to the forest trails here and will probably never ride a regular mtb again.

That's my story. From thinking ebikes were a joke to being totally hooked.
 

Seraye

Member
Sep 8, 2020
63
42
Portland
Price is one reason I went with a Hardtail ( For myself - any bike over 4000 better have a motor 😊 ) I built the Yelli with “hand-me-down” parts from other bikes so didn’t cost me much to build - weighs 25.25 lbs with pedals. Depending on your riding style, the specialized epic HT or fuse might be worth considering. Also, bikes starting to go on sale now.
My Local bike shop in Portland, offering 20% off select Santa Cruz!
 

7869hodgy

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2020
395
628
Reading
I am selling my analogue bike (only bought last year) and my current e-bike and buying a new e-bike with bigger battery etc.

I always choose the e-bike now so all eggs going in that basket.
 

St4nley

Well-known member
Subscriber
Nov 17, 2020
160
330
Derbyshire
I possibly have what you are thinking of in a Santa Cruz Highball weighing under 10kg for fast xc rides, absolutely great bike owes me around 5k, but I simply cannot bring myself to ride it anymore, it’s a Stif ride so you need to be in great condition to get the best riding out of it, so it’s ebikes pretty much all the time for me now. The only other bike I really enjoy is my Gravel bike which cost a lot less money is simple to maintain, is fast and light and just different.
So you could possibly try something different.
 

Chairman

Active member
Feb 25, 2022
221
121
Nz
I have kept mt Zerode Taniwha and still love riding it but most of my rides I use the Moterra because it's more fun and I get more downhilling done per ride
 

#mitch

🦷 Tooth Fairy 🦷
Aug 23, 2021
162
311
New Zealand
I bought a non eeb again last year. Rode it 3 times and sold it after 5 weeks.
Pushing uphill seems pretty pointless. I didn't see a reason to own a bike that offered less riding. I won't buy another.
I fully agree with this. I think the difference is for me that I only ride uphill to ge to the top of the downhill again. If I was riding through the moors I might have a different opinion
 

LJR69

Member
Jan 4, 2022
79
98
UK
I still use my analogue bike (Orbea Occam) for any parks where we can get an uplift. It’s a different riding experience to my Giant Reign E+. I love them both equally.
 

E-Bandit

Member
Sep 1, 2020
30
6
Australia
I would be keener on a lighter ebike with long distance battery than an analouge bike. Maybe in 5 yrs. I would not bother with a non ebike again. I ride for fun these days and regardless of what non believers say- I get a fantastic workout too.
Yeah u get a great workout but doesn’t build muscle in legs like normal bike, but that doesn’t matter if u don’t ride normal bike,
The problem with light emtb is they cost twice the price at the moment
 

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