Your preconceived reasons for choosing an emtb?

[steve_sordy]

My preconceived reason was that it would stop my knee pain whilst riding.

It did. I wish I'd got one sooner.

 

[OldGoatMTB]

I'm sure everyone had preconceived reasons in their mind to justify their strong emotional desire to purchase an emtb. I'm wondering if any of them actually were true.

For me, these were the reasons:
- To get away from the weight weenie and hotrod culture.
- To get away from the strava race culture.
- To get a fresh new experience totally different from my other bikes.
- To appease my curiosity for ebikes in general.
- To commute further by bike and possibly ditch my car.
- To get out more, regardless of my fitness and condition.
- To ride safer, factoring in exhaustion less into my line choice.

My last bike was a literal superbike. A Yeti SB5c, built to 26lbs/11.8kg. Valor wheels, carbon everywhere, superlight 220g SRAM XX cassette. It cost a pretty penny. It wasn't really any faster than the 27-29lb/~12.7kg 29ers I had, but sure rocketed up climbs if I we to put out the effort. I cringed at the thought of damaging the bike. I figured putting the money instead into a motor, I could ride as fast, but be able to use more affordable parts that could be considered heavy duty. I'd ride all the stock stuff to the ground and replace them with even more robust yet affordable parts. Alas, I am still tweaking parts on it. Upgrade-itis is a disease.

I still am comparing myself on Strava. I've certainly tried to cheat on DH and flat sections in the highest level of assist, and was shocked that there were those that were faster still. On climbs over 2 minutes, even Eco is enough to take KOMs. I switch to ebike mode, not to ruin the integrity of my records, but I do like the time I spend comparing.

Every bike I've bought was a fresh experience. Even changing tires was a fresh experience on a bike. Sometimes even changing the pressure, or choosing a different goal. If anything, the emtb has made the experience of my other bikes change. It sort of has spoiled me. When I pedal on an emtb, it continues to turn the chainring at least a quarter turn. When I pedal on my on my regular bike, it scoots forward then I feel the drag slowing it down.

I'm still very ebike curious after getting an emtb. I want to try the other systems and perhaps get a better emtb. I want to try both a long travel one (e.g. Jam^2, Kenovo), and want to try something that cuts the difference between a current emtb and a mtb for XC/trail purposes (e.g. 35lb/15.9kg 25-100W emtb).

I've done 40mi/64km on a regular basis on my normal bikes, riding 15mi/24km to and from a trailhead, adding another 10mi/16km of trail riding. I've only extended that to 66 and 4500ft/1372m of climbing (batt died at 54mi/86.4km). I didn't use a car much before and could rent a car or truck (e.g. Home Depot) if needed for hauling something big.

Seems that rides under 15mi/32km are not really worthy to take out the emtb out for. 5mi/8km rides I still take on my SS HT. 12mi/19.2 is a good range for my trail bike. I did do 200 miles one week, with 3 straight days of 50 mile rides. My quads started bulging to the point my pants fit tight after that, which wasn't a feeling I had since my roadie days.

Riding safer is a huge game changer. This changes SO MUCH. I can take technical sections with better posture. I can choose to ride well away from the traffic lanes on the road, take backroads, etc. Less worry about sweat and effort and exhaustion, allowing me to be a bit more adventurous. I've been taking detours that fill up the travel time I have. Everything can turn into a joyride. It's excellent. This is the big reason that has me having no regrets about my purchase.

I just wanted to go on longer rides, be able to make it through rides and up hills without having to stop, and to be able to keep up with my mates! So far the experiment has been 100% successful.

 

[Varaxis]

Update on my reasons:

I've cured my weight weenism, but not my upgraditis. I've also went from hotrodding to a more geekier functional style. I reinstalled reflectors on my bike, run a big cushy saddle, run fenders full time, and have a bunch of accessories mounted, like a big bright headlight and sometimes a bike lock.

I still Strava, but it's more of a data context thing. I spend like 10 minutes reviewing my ride, rather than treating it as some social media thing. It's more of a ride journal these days. It's curious to me to learn how long certain components lasted.

I've stopped riding classic bikes. The only bikes that interest me any more are innovative ones, that interest me in future ebikes making use of similar concepts, such as high pivot suspension with idler. My quiver has shrunk and I have no urge to keep one.

I've gone as far as 66 miles on bike. I'm glad that the ebike I have rides basically like a regular bike, without it turned on. I'm anxious about range issues with bikes that require the battery to even be ridable, like the concepts with integrated transmission. I've hauled other complete bicycles while on my ebike, which I've sold and had to drop off at the shippers, and the assist made it bearable to even take off-road detours while doing so.

I've sold my car, and have been car free for close to two years now. I think I've only ridden in a motor vehicle perhaps two times in the past year, both as a passenger. I'm comfortable with a daily commute of 25 miles, but I imagine that I can stretch that much longer. Helps that the weather here is fair and I have quality clothes.

My riding style has been more safety and world-view oriented, rather than oriented on personal thrills/fun and comparing speed and progress to others. I feel like there's a huge interestingly diverse world out there and that life's not long enough to adventure it all. I'm open to anything new and novel, and find that there's more to expanding my comfort zone than subjecting myself to risk of personal harm for the sake of giving in to the pressures of a masculine culture.

 

[Norcalsl]

Undergoing cancer treatments.