What's the most durable ebike frame and motor?

[Jumbleross]

Hi Peeps, I'm 6"2 and 15 stone and have a full fat Trek Rail carbon in XL which is a great point and shoot bike but just too heavy for my style of riding, I like to pop off rocks and flick it around a bit plus I ride in eco most of the time to keep fit and not have range anxiety. I have already damaged a frame and had it replaced under warranty.

I'm thinking the superlight ebike such as the Rise could be the solution as it's lighter so in theory would put less stress on the frame and have less of a "void" in the downtube which would make the frame stronger. Also looking at Kenevo SL or maybe new Levo SL when it comes out.

I do have a concern about not easily being able to access the battery but will accept that if it means the frame is stronger.

All my other ebike buddies ride in ECO to keep fit so keeping up is not an issue, so maybe we should all get superlight ebikes or just ride our normal trail bikes again and save some dosh!

Can anyone spot anything obvious I've missed in my thought process?

 

[Jackware]

Have you checked the max weight allowed for those bikes, as you need to include your 95kg, the bike's weight and any pack you may normally ride with?

 

[Jumbleross]

Have you checked the max weight allowed for those bikes, as you need to include your 95kg, the bike's weight and any pack you may normally ride with?

Hi Jackware, Trek confirmed I’m well under the weight restriction for the Rail Inc pack, and I checked Kenevo SL as Specialized have a really detailed weight chart you can download and again we’ll under the weight restriction. But yeah I guess I’m not the heaviest ebike rider out there but a few less beers would help. Surely these bikes are tested to handle someone heavier than me.

 

[yorkshire89]

How did you break the trek out of interest?

IMO - A lightweight Ebike won't be any stronger than a full fat, reducing the overall weight could mean it's less durable. Weren't there a few people with snapped chainstays on the Orbea's?

 

[Jumbleross]

How did you break the trek out of interest?

IMO - A lightweight Ebike won't be any stronger than a full fat, reducing the overall weight could mean it's less durable. Weren't there a few people with snapped chainstays on the Orbea's?

I don’t know about snapped chainstays, my gut tells me to go with Spesh but then again it’s also telling me to stick with my Hightower that has been hammered and not missed a beat.

 

[Mikerb]

For ultimate strength combined with durability I would chose ally over carbon for the frame and choose a frame with a fully closed downtube. I like to see the welds.......you can see how well the frame has been constructed. Double welds as on the new hydro Rise are aesthetically pleasing but a bit like carbon tube joining on carbon frames you cannot see the engineering to inspect it.
Closed downtube may increase the time or difficulty to remove the battery but from a strcutural point of view it is far superior. The Levo and the Whyte bikes are good examples.
You could say that going for a lighter weight bike is a positive but how has that weight been saved, and where? Keeping the weight low on a bike makes a huge difference to the handling.

Over and a bove considerations of the frame I think the most important factor for heavier and harder riders is the suspension platform. After all, the majority of the bike is sprung weight but it becomes a very violent force if that suspension is bottomed out. So the higher cost shox and forks with both HSC and LSC adjustability become important to enable sufficient support together with some plush initial stroke characteristics.

 

[Jumbleross]

For ultimate strength combined with durability I would chose ally over carbon for the frame and choose a frame with a fully closed downtube. I like to see the welds.......you can see how well the frame has been constructed. Double welds as on the new hydro Rise are aesthetically pleasing but a bit like carbon tube joining on carbon frames you cannot see the engineering to inspect it.
Closed downtube may increase the time or difficulty to remove the battery but from a strcutural point of view it is far superior. The Levo and the Whyte bikes are good examples.
You could say that going for a lighter weight bike is a positive but how has that weight been saved, and where? Keeping the weight low on a bike makes a huge difference to the handling.

Over and a bove considerations of the frame I think the most important factor for heavier and harder riders is the suspension platform. After all, the majority of the bike is sprung weight but it becomes a very violent force if that suspension is bottomed out. So the higher cost shox and forks with both HSC and LSC adjustability become important to enable sufficient support together with some plush initial stroke characteristics.

Cheers for that info sounds very interesting. I always used to have alloy but other than my Orange Five they tended to crack at the welds. In your opinion who do you reckon makes the strongest ebike frames?

 

[Mikerb]

Cheers for that info sounds very interesting. I always used to have alloy but other than my Orange Five they tended to crack at the welds. In your opinion who do you reckon makes the strongest ebike frames?

extruded ally tubes are virtually all made in Taiwan or China so I doubt there is a great deal of difference in that respect. The frame design and the quality of the welds is what I look for. So as I said before it makes sense that a complete downtube without a section cut out of the bottom or side face to allow battery placement is a far stronger and probably stiffer construction. You can see the welds on most ally frames. The weld should lie a significant amount onto the edges of the tubes being joined and be consistent in "pattern". I can only speak for bikes I have owned ..and if I restrcit that to E mtbs, that is Whyte and Specialized. Both are well constructed, if anything the Whyte tends to be a stronger overall build. The other area I look at is how the top tube to seat tube junction is reinforced especially on bikes with shox attached to the top tube as opposed to trunnion/vertical. The Levo has the crossarm behind the shock and the Whyte has a shorter but full tube triangulating that joint so both are good in my book.

 

[Doug Stampfer]

Just gotta ask... why do you ride an ebike? My rail in eco mode is just like riding a normal bike- I feel bugger all assistance, or if anything just enough to negate the weight of the bike. I need an Ebike to keep up with my mates on their normal bikes. Occurs to me that if your riding buddies are riding in eco as well & you are fit & like spirited riding (you obviously have the skills) then a 16kg bike would be heaps more fun with the added benefit of no range anxiety.
Maybe keep the Rail in the shed just for those lazy days.

 

[jamied]

Just gotta ask... why do you ride an ebike? My rail in eco mode is just like riding a normal bike- I feel bugger all assistance, or if anything just enough to negate the weight of the bike. I need an Ebike to keep up with my mates on their normal bikes. Occurs to me that if your riding buddies are riding in eco as well & you are fit & like spirited riding (you obviously have the skills) then a 16kg bike would be heaps more fun with the added benefit of no range anxiety.
Maybe keep the Rail in the shed just for those lazy days.

I was thinking the same thing, if riding in eco mode all the time you are paying the extra cost to get an ebike and enduring the weight penalty but not gaining any of the benefits. If you got an acoustic bike you'd be able to get a much better spec bike for the same money and you would get the more playful and flickable characteristics you are looking for and you'd be riding at a similar speed.

 

[Jumbleross]

I was thinking the same thing, if riding in eco mode all the time you are paying the extra cost to get an ebike and enduring the weight penalty but not gaining any of the benefits. If you got an acoustic bike you'd be able to get a much better spec bike for the same money and you would get the more playful and flickable characteristics you are looking for and you'd be riding at a similar speed.

Hi Guys, yeah I know Eco ain’t much more than a normal bike but enough to make a difference if doing a long ride imo maybe it’s a phycological thing I also like to kick it into emtb lite when the climb get’s steep and techy or in the snow or if I’m hungover but rarely go into emtb and never turbo which is why I think a Kenevo SL or Rise might be a good option for me, just not sure if they are strong enough to be thrown about a bit

 

[jamied]

What about something like this? Same power as eco I'd expect

But seriously though a Kenevo in an enduro bike, the only thing you'll be getting with a stronger frame would be a downhill bike. Frame strength wise the SL bikes are going to be largely the same as the full fat bikes, the main difference being only the size and weight of the motor and battery. But if you want playful handling then you want to be looking for a bike with less travel than an enduro. I have a Focus sam2 which is in the same category as the Kenevo, it's a brilliant bike and I love it, but it's not skipping over all the rough stuff, it's sailing through it and the suspension is soaking up all the bumps. You need to throw it about and manhandle it if you want it to be more playful.

 

[mtb-steve]

Having riden OTE="Doug Stampfer, post: 357684, member: 662"]
Just gotta ask... why do you ride an ebike? My rail in eco mode is just like riding a normal bike- I feel bugger all assistance, or if anything just enough to negate the weight of the bike. I need an Ebike to keep up with my mates on their normal bikes. Occurs to me that if your riding buddies are riding in eco as well & you are fit & like spirited riding (you obviously have the skills) then a 16kg bike would be heaps more fun with the added benefit of no range anxiety.
Maybe keep the Rail in the shed just for those lazy days.
[/QUOTE]
Having riden a normal bike and my ebike in eco I can assure you eco on a bosch gen 4 does give you a significant boost over a normal bike, aspecially up long climbs, I ride mine in eco most of the time and I'm far less tired after a 5-6 hour ride on my ebike than a 2-3 hour ride on a normal bike.
Re frames, on an ebike I'd stick to Aluminium, I hate how carbon can go from being fine to shattered with no warning, I've seen carbon reach it's limit with no warning.
The most amasing was a set of arrows, you always roll them to check for any noise before using them, half way through a match the woman next to me had 3 shatter in a row, she obviously didn't trust the rest after that!

Steve

 

[maynard]

The frame and motor you own .

 

[Doug Stampfer]

Having riden a normal bike and my ebike in eco I can assure you eco on a bosch gen 4 does give you a significant boost over a normal bike, aspecially up long climbs, I ride mine in eco most of the time and I'm far less tired after a 5-6 hour ride on my ebike than a 2-3 hour ride on a normal bike.
Re frames, on an ebike I'd stick to Aluminium, I hate how carbon can go from being fine to shattered with no warning, I've seen carbon reach it's limit with no warning.
The most amasing was a set of arrows, you always roll them to check for any noise before using them, half way through a match the woman next to me had 3 shatter in a row, she obviously didn't trust the rest after that!

Steve

Ahhh you nearly had me believing you until you mentioned 5-6 hour ride. Pah!! Noone can ride for that long, it's not humanly possible.

 

[DLSFAN]

Hi Peeps, I'm 6"2 and 15 stone and have a full fat Trek Rail carbon in XL which is a great point and shoot bike but just too heavy for my style of riding, I like to pop off rocks and flick it around a bit plus I ride in eco most of the time to keep fit and not have range anxiety. I have already damaged a frame and had it replaced under warranty.

I'm thinking the superlight ebike such as the Rise could be the solution as it's lighter so in theory would put less stress on the frame and have less of a "void" in the downtube which would make the frame stronger. Also looking at Kenevo SL or maybe new Levo SL when it comes out.

I do have a concern about not easily being able to access the battery but will accept that if it means the frame is stronger.

All my other ebike buddies ride in ECO to keep fit so keeping up is not an issue, so maybe we should all get superlight ebikes or just ride our normal trail bikes again and save some dosh!

Can anyone spot anything obvious I've missed in my thought process?

I would get a Giant with a Yamaha motor. The frames are guaranteed for life and the motors are by far the most reliable according to shops that deal with all of them. The Brose motor is said to be the least reliable of the big 4.