Ghost E-Ndure Electric - Eurobike 2010
You have to have an open mind for this one... Ghost is showing off their second generation prototype E-Ndure electric mountain bike at Eurobike 2010. No, this is not your average electric town cruiser, but a proper 170 mm travel bike-park capable machine that just happens to have a built in motor. I know that you're curious for more information - inside you'll find both photos and a video explaining the design and purpose of the E-Ndure!
Read on...Curious for more info? Watch the movie to see what the E-Ndure is all about
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What do you think of Ghost's prototype electric mountain bike? It may not be your cup of tea if you live at or near a resort, or if you are a XC/AM rider, but does it make sense for some other riders? Put your thoughts down below!
Stay tuned for more Eurobike coverage!
Read on...
Far from your standard electric bike! The Ghost E-Ndure is built to do anything and everything that other 170 mm travel bikes are capable of, it just happens to have a built in electric motor and removable battery. I have to admit that the E-Ndure looks fast while sitting still, isn't that always the trait of a great bike? Despite looking fairly dialed, this is actually only the second complete prototype that they have built. Ghost plans on entering production with the E-Ndure at some point in the future. Are you ready for it?
This is not an electric bike that you can ride on trails, but rather a full on mountain bike that has an electric motor - if you've seen past attempts at most electric mountain bikes you'll know what I'm getting at. The rear suspension design and components are actually the very same as Ghost uses on their new DH race bike, albeit with a slightly shorter stroke damper. They employ a high main pivot that results in a axle path that has a more rearward element than if they had placed the pivot in a more conventional location. Because it is so high they bolt on a chain idler to keep chain tension and growth in check. Have you spotted the battery yet?
That's a big 'ol chainring! Because the bike uses an electric motor for an assist, the rider is able to easily push a bigger gear than you'd find on a standard bike. Get ready to set some new personal land speed records. Just as you'll find on their standard bikes, all of the E-Ndure's pivots rotate on sealed bearings. Both upper and lower shock mounts use needle bearings to keep everything running as smooth and as active as possible.
The E-Ndure uses an electric motor that is hidden within the above crank housing. The bike does not go forward under it's own power as a motorbike would, but instead uses the electric motor for an assist. When you put the power down, it puts the power down. Stop pedaling and the motor stops working. Due to German legislation the motor will only help you out until you hit 25 kph, after that you're on your own if you want to go faster. Even though Ghost has specd a motor that is capable of easily dealing with 800 watts, the E-Ndure gets up to speed using only 250 - 300. This makes for a very reliable system. Yes, those are cooling fins. The cooler the motor runs, the more efficient and reliable it will perform. You can just spot the battery that is held in place within the downtube and nearly out of sight. From the side the E-Ndure looks pretty much like a regular bike, which was one of the goals when designing it.
Welcome to the cockpit! The small black box on the left lets you control the power output of the electric motor. There are three levels of juice to select from, but keep in mind that the more power you want to use, the shorter your battery life will be. The bigger box on the right with the screen tells you all your important stats, including battery remaining, as well as all of the usual bicycle computer functions. If you're battery expires while out on the trail, the E-Ndure can be ridden just like a regular bike, albeit slightly heavier than the average mountain bike. Total weight comes in at around 26 kg, including the battery. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but the extra weight is placed as low as possible on the frame.
The E-Ndure has all of the bells and whistles that most all-mountain and freeride machines come with, including a tapered head tube that uses a integrated headset. While the angles aren't set in stone quite yet, this model uses a slack 65 degree head tube angle to keep the bike stable at the higher than average speeds that you can expect the electric assisted E-Ndure to be able to hit on many sections of trail that would leave a regular bike in it's dust.
Out back you'll find a Syntace X12 compatible 12 x 142 mm thru-axle system to keep everything stiff and inline. Like I've said above many times, this is not your standard electric cruiser, but a machine that is designed to take all the abuse that you can throw at it.
Jordan out from behind the lens and having a go on the E-Ndure. No, a quick spin in a grassy field is by no means a test, but after some circles on the bike we could both see the potential for good times out on the trails. The important thing to keep in mind about the E-Ndure is that it is built to be a truly capable bike. Take it out to your local bike park and send it off whatever booters and drops that you'd usually hit, or ride it fast down the hardest DH tracks that you can find - it is designed to handle it. Where the bike's true powers will shine are locations that don't let you take an uplift to the top of the trail. I'm of the opinion that one should certainly earn their turns quite often, but acknowledge that a lot of riders are strictly shuttle rats when it comes to shredding, this could be their ticket to fun without having to load up a truck or head off to the local ski resort. Keep in mind that you do still have to pedal the E-Ndure, the electric motor works as only an assist, so don't expect to be scooting up the steepest of hills with zero effort. Are electric assist mountain bikes the future? While I'm not going to go that far, I can definitely see them being an option soon, especially if they are going to look as dialed as the E-Ndure.
What do you think of Ghost's prototype electric mountain bike? It may not be your cup of tea if you live at or near a resort, or if you are a XC/AM rider, but does it make sense for some other riders? Put your thoughts down below!
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when did pedaling in mountain biking bacame a pain in the butt ?...
find a way to the trail heads , shuttle , lift , epic muscleling climbs , what ever.
just please , please , ....leave motor out of biking.
this is not communting , this is not even transportation ,...
this is a sport , i demands comitement , blood , sweat and tears , if you give that to the sport , it will pay it back 100 times in 100 different ways.
if you put a motor in , you loose.
anyone who finds this a good idea should stick to PS3s , Xbox and laziness.
This bike is attempting to take the amazing lightweight feel of a FR MTB and give it some power so that you're able to accomplish a number of things more effectively (effectiveness being the key priority here). Climbing (normally sucks on anything beside a AM or XC bike) and flats are obviously greatly effected, but everything else about the ride is effected as well. You are able to gain speed quicker and easier (which is a big deal on a 45 lbs. bike)so less of an elevation change is required, and your ability to gain speed before features is going to be far better as well.
For those of you trying to "protect the integrity of mountain biking!!!!", go ride something else, no one cares except for you. For those of us looking for an adrenaline rush no matter if it's on something powered by an engine, gravity, legs, or an electric motor, we'll continue to have fun on whatever two wheeled contraption we happen to be on that day and absolutely loving it! Who would you rather be?
Can you imagine if people would have tried to protect the integrity of the horse and carriage? We wouldn't have cars for hell's sake. Some people really need to lighten up, open their minds, and actually view the world through unbiased eyes rather than someone on the war path at all times.
It's hilarious to me that you speak of not hurting the planet, yet don't even know what actually hurts the planet, then on top of that you bag on the electric motor, yet electricity powers the computer you're typing from. How can one person be so incredibly self contradictory? You seriously need to educate yourself.
Also, your lack of grammar makes you appear unintelligent, as if your post hasn't already accomplished that. It still boggles my mind that you actually think that electricity is "bad for the planet". Oh and global warming is a myth, perpetuated by people hoping to make a dollar off of those ignorant enough to buy into that myth.
It could be a new market for an other target group and that's all fine, but I think it's to heavy, bulky, fragile, out of touch for it to be called a Mountain Bike. It should be called a Electrical Assist Mountain Vehicle, EAMV or what ever.
But it's a good way of making other people buy bikes and for making more money on a bike... what's next?
it might be the future of MOTOR CYCLING but definatly not the future of DH or MTB
some body mentioned earlier, it could be good for riders with dissabilitys an I agree
if you wanna get up hills quicker then get an AM bike
would be funny to see someone show up to race on one of these
a bicycle is a HUMAN-POWERED VEHICLE (HPV), the relationship between the human and the bicycle (vehicle) is fundamentally based around the fact that the human rider is powering the bicycle
the bicycle is mechanically the most efficient form of transport that is available, in terms of efficiency of movement for a specific energy input
once you lose this fact, and supplement this effort with an assisted motor, its not the same thing
in an interview with the boss of Shimano in Japan last year (in MBUK magazine) they asked the boss if Shimano had plans to enter the electric market and he specifically stated they did not see electric motors having any place on a bicycle - its a human powered vehicle
sorry, but a big fail...
the only function I can see for electrically assisted bicycles is for disabled riders, or unfit riders with medical problems, but even in this situation they are more suited to an electric vehicle like a buggy than bolting a motor onto a bicycle chassis?
A mountain bike is the most capable and versatile off road vehicle. This off-road moped isn't
Someone has to come up with a properly powered downhill type bike. Think something like this or a big hit but with a proper 3Kw brushless motor in it, put some Lithium batteries in it. You'd be getting 65MPH from it easily and it would have a good few hours battery wise. Enough to do a fair bit of tooling about on.
In short it'd be faster than a normal learner's 125cc motorbike and accelerate like nothing you've felt before. Just having a problem working out the capacity of cells I'd need, the numbers are not looking good!
I would love to try this as a novelty but I don't like the idea of yet another battery being created, used and then having to be recycled/throw-out for an activity that is primarily an enthusiast sport.
Although, if this system gets even 0.1% of the obese people in North America AWAY from their mega-flat-screen TV's and stupid game consoles I'm all over it, since the cost of medicare for them probably far outweighs the cost of the manufacturing of the bikes and recycling of the batteries.
www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/index.html
Also, what impact do bikes of this weight have on trails AND what's it like sending off an 8' drop, how does it handle in the air, etc, etc...
Me: "Well sonny back in the day we had bikes that you had to peddle uphill. None of those fancy electric motors that did all the work for you."
The Grandchildren: "Whats a peddle?"
LOL, yeah because a motor or engine automatically takes away your ability to judge speed and gauge distance. Wow, I don't know how dirt bikers are able to jump the largest gaps of any land vehicle in the world by such a huge margin...
"...who knows maybe theres that one dude who rides a dh trail to the grocery store and instead of walking or granny gearing back up the hill,hes got this!"
As i was just thinking how sick this would be to have when you gotta go pick up a sixer or 12... maybe pass a trailhead on the way there or back... dual duty son.
once the noveltys worn off of course!
Heavier bikes are more stable in the air, and more stable at speed. So the people saying weight would make it worse... think again. Weight makes a bike ride good.... but not fast. IE why racers crunch grams to shave seconds. Freeriding isn't like that so who cares if a bike is 10 lbs heavier. 10lbs is nothing.
(I don't agree with earning your downs though - a days pushing usually gets me about 1/2 an hour on the bike!)
Also open your mind a bit to this idea-this doesn't mean you don't pedal, it just means that you can do more runs or more miles with the same effort. It's about will power, but there's nothing stopping you from putting out 100 W of power throughout your ride (adding it to the 400 W from the drive), but now you will cover 25 km of trails in one hour instead of 10 km, and you'll get the same workout. How is that bad?
E
If I need to get to the top of the mountain so I can enjoy the sweet DH track, I will pedal up there...its my mission to earn the descent by enduring the pains of the climbing, and it makes me a fitter, stronger, tougher rider as I have the higher fitness level from climbing and then descending
a fit bike rider is a great physical example of the human condition - an "athlete" for sure!!
when you bypass this physical function by introducing an electric motor, the game is done...lost...over...it sucks! what happens when the battery runs out of power? you are left with a heavy / dead bicycle
how much CO2 is generated to charge the electric battery? how long does this battery last...
That being said, I love it!
What imapct does the extra weight and speed have on our hand built trails?
That would definitely have to change to consider a bike like this.
All that said, I can see the potential for fun with this bike, but I don't see the need. Final thoughts being..."lets see if we can make a not so crap electric bike... is anyone gonna buy it? who cares, we just wanna see if it's possible"
"the lighter your bike is.. the faster you'll go down the trail..."
Heavier bike has more momentum but you need more energy to accelerate it. This bike isn`t a DH bike, it`s enduro/freeride thing. The idea is good but as that guy said they are still working on it. The solution is much lighter electric engine. I assume that now it weights ~7kg + batteries. Of course they`re not heavy lead batteries or acid ones (from the cars).
BUT it can`t be called a bike because of engine. It`s designed for lazy ass fat hamburger eaters. I ride a bike, who cares that with an engine
a ref="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbV6lzBwnVA">testride 1/a>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQHOpRC68cE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbV6lzBwnVA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGVaCOxSGg
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Takes away one of the true essence of Mountain biking in my opinion.
me 2
whistler blackcomb allowed one of these hunks of junk to ride the bike park.
because it had pedals, they sold him a ticket.
HUMAN POWERED ONLY!
What type of motor BDLC? 3 phase, what kind of controller Block, Stepper, trap, sin.
Does it use regenerative charging et, battery type etc. etc.
Regen is over-rated in light EV's with small battery packs. You might be lucky to add 5% to your range depending on riding. Spend the money on 5% more battery.
E
well in that case Lift-serviced bikeparks also take away the "essence of mtb". And yet there don't seem to be that many overweight ppl at Whistler ...
its not a mountain bike, its not a motorbike, its just the retarded result of cross breeding
So think of it this way... this technology could evolve into something the size of just a normal bottom bracket one day... weighing almost nothing. Everything starts somewhere. It will just get smaller, more powerful, and more efficient. I'd be down for something like this because of the length of rides I go on on my dh bike. Pedaling for 10 miles on a mid 40 lb bike sucks butt... sure I can walk it the entire way but that sucks even more. So having something give the assist to help you get to the top then you can rip down is awsome. I think a lot of you guys forget not everyone wants to or does own an AM/XC or enduro rig, not everyone owns a hard tail. Not everyone lives by somehwere you can shuttle, or take a lift. Some of us just like our big travel big hit heavy bikes and still want to be able to go ride em for longer distances. Its a great idea... and I bet in the next 10 years it will be a completely different idea (IE technology changes... and fast in the electronics world)