Was anyone on here a full blown ebike hater who converted?

[#mitch]

I’m interested to hear what you thought of ebikes and what made you change you mind.

 

[blueglide]

Never a 'hater' but it only took one ride to convince me an ebike was fun. My Heckler was so much more fun than my previous bikes and I wasn't totally wiped out at the end of a longer ride. I personally never 'enjoyed' uphill slogs like some might and at my age I don't have the strength and stamina I had years ago.

 

[#mitch]

Very cool to hear! I have still never actually ridden one ? very excited for mine to arrive.

 

[blueglide]

Very cool to hear! I have still never actually ridden one ? very excited for mine to arrive.

What are you getting?

 

[#mitch]

What are you getting?

22 Kenevo comp. I had a 21 ordered Christmas last year but they never got the shipment ?. Hopefully it arrives in November like they said this time

 

[MOTO13]

You want to see full on emtb haters? Go over to Vitalmtb forums. These numb nuts will say emtb's suck because you don't earn your ride when being assisted by a motor...it's not natural, organic riding. These guys are friggin looney tunes. These EXACT same emtb haters are the ones who will take a shuttle service back up the friggin hill or jump on a fuckin chairlift...lol. They even busted my balls and called me a troll in my own post and basically asked me why I was posting about my Trek emtb on their forum. I said people like emtb's, they're fast as hell and they are LITERALLY ADVERTISED ON THIS SITE.

 

[Pdoz]

I know a few pendulum people. They swung from hate to have, then are swinging back - everything from weight to range and reliability concerns. Thankfully the market is maturing to meet their needs - sl style bikes, range extenders. Unfortunately we're a long way off from easy motor / frame repair / replacement.

Keen the oldbike as a back up is the common theme

 

[#mitch]

You want to see full on emtb haters? Go over to Vitalmtb forums. These numb nuts will say emtb's suck because you don't earn your ride when being assisted by a motor...it's not natural, organic riding. These guys are friggin looney tunes. These EXACT same emtb haters are the ones who will take a shuttle service back up the friggin hill or jump on a fuckin chairlift...lol. They even busted my balls and called me a troll in my own post and basically asked me why I was posting about my Trek emtb on their forum. I said people like emtb's, they're fast as hell and they are LITERALLY ADVERTISED ON THIS SITE.

I have never understood why people feel so strongly against it. I just about spat out my coffee when I read in another thread that places have banned ebikes... WTF. I can understand people seeing it as "Lazy" but I expect that anyone who has tried one would say they are awesome (having never actually tried one myself)

 

[#mitch]

I know a few pendulum people. They swung from hate to have, then are swinging back - everything from weight to range and reliability concerns. Thankfully the market is maturing to meet their needs - sl style bikes, range extenders. Unfortunately we're a long way off from easy motor / frame repair / replacement.

Keen the oldbike as a back up is the common theme

Yeah and that totally makes sense. As they say in the tech world: having 2 is 1 and 1 is none.

 

[Pdoz]

I have never understood why people feel so strongly against it. I just about spat out my coffee when I read in another thread that places have banned ebikes... WTF. I can understand people seeing it as "Lazy" but I expect that anyone who has tried one would say they are awesome (having never actually tried one myself)

Imagine slogging away up a technical climb , sweat saturating your genitals and every muscle aching. That hard earned downhill run is almost in sight.....and 4 emtb riders blast past . Now imagine being halfway back up and they pass you again. Then again before you get to the top. Oh, and they're having a cool bear when you reach the top, they offer you one.....

 

[#mitch]

Wasn’t but now I’m becoming an ebiker hater.
Every single time I’m cruzin down a trail and there’s some fckwit moving like molasses on the trail it’s always an ebiker with zero interest in moving aside for faster riders. Literally, it’s every time.

Is that an ebike problem or a COVID problem? It sounds like you just have a problem with inexperienced riders and there has been a massive increase in people picking up the sport? I get how thats bloody annoying. You know your problem is that you are just riding trails that are too easy? Pick a black.

 

[The Hodge]

Why would you buy an ebike without at least trying one first ..any ebike..you may not like it ..( doubtful..but you might not..)..?

 

[The Hodge]

Oh, and they're having a cool bear when you reach the top, they offer you one...

It's usually sheep around here ..
What..?..that was a typo? ...oops !☺

 

[Gyre]

Nah, a random generous ebiker I met out in the forest let me try out his bike (this was roughly 2010) and I immediately got the appeal.

 

[millemille]

Was a fully signed up hater, ticking all the stereotype boxes, until last year when an e bike riding mate I was at BPW with said he'd hired a couple of their trek powerfly's for customers of his for a day out and they weren't coming now. So did i want a go?

Did one ride up and down and literally went into the shop, held my wallet open and said "..just shut up and take my money, this is brilliant..".

 

[#mitch]

Was a fully signed up hater, ticking all the stereotype boxes, until last year when an e bike riding mate I was at BPW with said he'd hired a couple of their trek powerfly's for customers of his for a day out and they weren't coming now. So did i want a go?

Did one ride up and down and literally went into the shop, held my wallet open and said "..just shut up and take my money, this is brilliant..".

Thanks for being brave enough to reply ?. How was it different to what you thought? Eg what was the thing that made you convert

 

[cozzy]

Never a hater but they weren't even on my radar till 2.5 years ago. I knew they existed but didn't know how far they had come.
I had just spent 7k on a Bronson and the decoy came out 4 weeks later for less money. It was the first ebike I had really noticed that looked great, probably due to yt's superb marketing and I was quite annoyed I had spent so much when I could have got one of these instead.
Anyway I hated the Bronson, sold it after 6 months and brought a kenevo. Haven't looked back.

 

[R120]

I always thought they where a gimmick and wouldn't be seen dead riding one, but in late 2017 I went on holiday in Italy with my extended family, and one of the things we did on the holiday was an ebike tour of some local vineyards.

The bikes we where riding where Bosch powered dutch style bikes, pretty basic by todays standards, but they worked so well and got up the hills so easily, that it made me think that it would be worth trying an EMTB as my riding is predominantly lapping my favourite trails, and I could see it as a way of getting a lot more riding into a shorter timeframe (I have a young family so all day epics are few and far between, with local blasts being most of my riding).

This happened to coincide with the emergence of what I would term proper EMTB's coming to the market, the Gen 1 Levo, the launch of the E8000 systems, etc etc - so when I started to look into EMTB's it became apparent there where some proper bikes out there, not just shitty hardtails with a motor bolted on which was my impression of EMTB's at the time.

It was also the same time the forum started, and in those early days it was by far and away the best resource for getting info on EMTB's (as it still is ). At that time you didn't tend to bump into any serious riders locally who had rides on them to give feedback, but on here there was (at the time) a bunch of proper MTB riders who had also begun to see emtbs's as something viable for proper shredding, so all of a sudden you could get some real world info, whereas most ebike forums back then where focus on the self build market and not really the riding side of things, and if the bikes where actually any good to ride compared to a regular mtb.

I took a Focus Jam2 out for a test when I got back to the UK, and my mind was made up from that point - I had to have one. Initially I was going to get the Focus, but then found out about the Vitus e-sommet through the forum, which was exactly the style of bike I was looking for, and when you had people like @Gary vouching for it as being a proper hard riding bike, the trigger was pulled.

I have to say one of my best memories was the first ever forum ride. @Rob Rides EMTB organised it in summer of 2018, and IIRC there where about 10 of us and several people came from all over the UK, having never met each other before. It was like we where all in on this secret, rob is obviously infectious with his enthusiasm for riding, but so was everyone else - I though it might end up being a gentle ride along some mellow trails, but all of us where MTB addicts, all smiling and laughing as we sought out stupid climbs etc to try on our new bikes, and had a riot. From that moment on I knew that EMTB's where the real deal, and where only going to get better, with more people riding them.

The rest is history.

 

[#mitch]

Why would you buy an ebike without at least trying one first ..any ebike..you may not like it ..( doubtful..but you might not..)..?

I assume that questions to me. Because there is literally none in the country that I can try... If I really tried hard maybe but given I come from a Moto background and fucking hate riding up hills and love going down hills I think ill be good

 

[#mitch]

I always thought they where a gimmick and wouldn't be seen dead riding one, but in late 2017 I went on holiday in Italy with my extended family, and one of the things we did on the holiday was an ebike tour of some local vineyards.

The bikes we where riding where Bosch powered dutch style bikes, pretty basic by todays standards, but they worked so well and got up the hills so easily, that it made me think that it would be worth trying an EMTB as my riding is predominantly lapping my favourite trails, and I could see it as a way of getting a lot more riding into a shorter timeframe (I have a young family so all day epics are few and far between, with local blasts being most of my riding).

This happened to coincide with the emergence of what I would term proper EMTB's coming to the market, the Gen 1 Levo, the launch of the E8000 systems, etc etc - so when I started to look into EMTB's it became apparent there where some proper bikes out there, not just shitty hardtails with a motor bolted on which was my impression of EMTB's at the time.

It was also the same time the forum started, and in those early days it was by far and away the best resource for getting info on EMTB's (as it still is ). At that time you didn't tend to bump into any serious riders locally who had rides on them to give feedback, but on here there was (at the time) a bunch of proper MTB riders who had also begun to see emtbs's as something viable for proper shredding, so all of a sudden you could get some real world info, whereas most ebike forums back then where focus on the self build market and not really the riding side of things, and if the bikes where actually any good to ride compared to a regular mtb.

I took a Focus Jam2 out for a test when I got back to the UK, and my mind was made up from that point - I had to have one. Initially I was going to get the Focus, but then found out about the Vitus e-sommet through the forum, which was exactly the style of bike I was looking for, and when you had people like @Gary vouching for it as being a proper hard riding bike, the trigger was pulled.

I have to say one of my best memories was the first ever forum ride. @Rob Rides EMTB organised it in summer of 2018, and IIRC there where about 10 of us and several people came from all over the UK, having never met each other before. It was like we where all in on this secret, rob is obviously infectious with his enthusiasm for riding, but so was everyone else - I though it might end up being a gentle ride along some mellow trails, but all of us where MTB addicts, all smiling and laughing as we sought out stupid climbs etc to try on our new bikes, and had a riot. From that moment on I knew that EMTB's where the real deal, and where only going to get better, with more people riding them.

The rest is history.

Epic story thanks for sharing!

 

[millemille]

Thanks for being brave enough to reply ?. How was it different to what you thought? Eg what was the thing that made you convert

Being epic up hills and not being terrible down hills.

My concern/dislike of emtb's had been driven by their weight and my perception of what it did to the handling, which turned out to not be the case.

However, I'm a big fella - a gnat's over six foot and close to 16 stone (and I'm not saying which side of 16 stone I'm close to) - so the extra mass of an emtb is insignificant as a percentage of overall combined weight of bike and rider, and I've got a motorbike riding background so am used to muscling around a heavier two wheeled machine. A significantly lighter rider, or one without motorbike experience, might have a different view....

 

[#mitch]

Being epic up hills and not being terrible down hills.

My concern/dislike of emtb's had been driven by their weight and my perception of what it did to the handling, which turned out to not be the case.

However, I'm a big fella - a gnat's over six foot and close to 16 stone (and I'm not saying which side of 16 stone I'm close to) - so the extra mass of an emtb is insignificant as a percentage of overall combined weight of bike and rider, and I've got a motorbike riding background so am used to muscling around a heavier two wheeled machine. A significantly lighter rider, or one without motorbike experience, might have a different view....

Hahaha well I’m 6ft 3 and 18 stone with an mx background so I feel ya ?

 

[andyb2]

I wasn't a hater of ebikes, but I was a hater of thinking about spending even £2k+ on a bike.

In the end I spent £4k, and I still can't belive spent more on a bike than my daily driver car

 

[Dannyned212]

At the beginning of this year I had set my sights on a new mountain bike, more suspension travel was the main reason for switching. Because I had ridden an E-MTB on holiday and I could therefore make longer rides and multiple descents, less interest was therefore drawn more to the E-MTB. However, my mind said, you are still young enough and fit, why support...... despite the fact that I had already experienced the benefits... also when I talked to my MTB friends about it, I was a wimp, yes , you get older Etc. etc. made me doubt. Nevertheless, I took the plunge and in the two months that I have my E-MTB, I ride twice the number of KM, and I enjoy it more. We still have the discussions about my support along the way, but I notice that they understand more and more the benefits, also for people who are fit!

 

[MOTO13]

I have never understood why people feel so strongly against it. I just about spat out my coffee when I read in another thread that places have banned ebikes... WTF. I can understand people seeing it as "Lazy" but I expect that anyone who has tried one would say they are awesome (having never actually tried one myself)

In some areas... even in certain states in the US here, any bike with a motor is considered a "powered" bike or vehicle and not allowed on public trails. At least that's my understanding.

 

[Binhill1]

Very cool to hear! I have still never actually ridden one ? very excited for mine to arrive.

Pure accident I got one . Had booked guide and bike for morning in Finale Ligure. Poowood the idea of Ebike when booking as I was only 61. Anyway didn't feel too good on day so jot Lappier ebike the rest is histery

 

[Webby1805]

Having bought a 5k FS mountain bike a year later one of my mates bought a fat bike (de restricted it) and was given anyone of my mates a shot,i was the only one not to,then at new year for something to do whilst drunk we had a race on another mates e-hardtail (which i managed to beat all my super fit mates)but instantly caught the bug ,bought a 2019 Levo which was nicked and now have the 2020 which has had the most security any bike I’ve had.
Where i stay their are so many older folk with ebikes from hub to integrated.

 

[Canmore TLCC 29]

I used to tell people who rode them that they were cheating in a loving way. Most were old ladies in their 70’s. Now-a-dayz you see all sorts on ebikes. I love my TurboLevo, and because of it I have hit trails I would have avoided 15 years ago. When I get off my eMTB and my Garmin tells me my recovery time is less than 12 hrs, I’ll start riding those difficult trails on my old mountain bike, or treat myself to a new non-electric mountain bike.

 

[infodave]

Not really a hater, but thought ebike riders were "cheating". Old age, slowing down and unable to keep up with friends changed my mind. Also more and more riders my age (80+) were getting ebikes.

 

[gsum]

I was never an ebike hater but I have found that there are several things I don't like.
Falling off is incredible unpleasant as the extra weight of the bike can do a lot more damage compared to an unpowered bike. I don't make a habit of this but I'm a 70 year old rubbish rider.
I find downhill riding on an ebike technically far harder and more strenuous due to the additional momentum and I don't like the way the bike 'takes over'. It's just not necessary to have 75 nm to get up the hills. Traction is lost before so much power can be used.
Lugging the thing into the van and through gates is a real pain.
As a result I've just swapped my Powerfly for an Orbea Rise which is 7 kg lighter and feels like a 'trad' mountain bike. Lower powered, lighter ebikes are definitely the way to go as far as I'm concerned.