jerome

@iammarkstewart: lol no I don't work for a shop. I build asphalt pumptracks for a living and I build mtb trails as hobby. I am pretty passionate about ebikes and I find that PB is doing a piss poor job at writing articles about them.

@Pinemtn: yeah no I'm real!

wow Mike that was pretty basic and missed a few important points: -you missed a very important point that people who don't own an ebike need to seriously consider. The drivetrain on full power ebikes gets chewed up really quick and that includes rear hubs that get destroyed on the regular. It is very important to consider these parts when buying an ebike. The hub should be ebike specific and/or one that is bombproof. In regards to drivetrain, would you buy top of the line drivetrain parts if you knew they would done in 3 months if you ride a lot? -I also think for the wear and tear that people should consider buying a rear tire with thicker casing than their normal MTB and that tire should be a harder compound than your typical Maxxis 3C as you will burn that tire so fast your head will spin! adding an insert should also be seriously considered as you will flat more regularly as you tend to hit things with more force than when you are riding a regular mtb -currently there are also electric conversion kits for regular MTB, there are also rear hub motors that should be touched upon as to why they exist and why it is a bad idea to take it on a trail. There are also really powerful ebikes that are legally not an e mountain bike and a quick explanation would be very useful ( tell that to Simon Cowell) -as for rear shock, I agree fancy is not necessarily better but if you are going to ride an ebike up and down and drain your battery because you love doing laps, you will discover that a coil shock is a really good idea as a regular air shock is ok but the added weight of the bike and the longer rides affect the air shock significantly but the performance on a coil shock is consistent from the first minute you ride to the end of your day and since you are riding an ebike, the extra weight is worth it. My ebike came one and my friends have been looking to upgrade or have already done it! -one part that is also overlooked are the cranks as most of us find that the stock length (usually 165-170 mm cranks) causes most people to bang them a lot more regularly with the new long long slack geometry and switching to a 155 or 160 mm crank really helps with cornering and doesn't affect the climbing abilities very much since you have a motor to help. These are the sort of tips that newcomers to the ebikes should be told as people who ride ebikes know this because they have experienced it. Also, this article could have been written by AI and it would probably have done a better job at motivating people to buy an ebike. I don't know how much riding Mike has done on an ebike but his clear lack of enthusiasm in this article will not gain support for ebikes. Saying that ebikes are a blast when going up technical climbs is completely missing the point about ebikes. They are game changers everywhere you take them and sometimes the most fun you can have is flat singletrack that zigzags and you don't need downhills to experience the thrill and the speed of a downhill on a regular bike. In regards to cost compared to a regular MTB, yes you will realize that parts are not as high end as the regular bikes we see but if you are investing $6k or more into a regular Mountain bike, there are a few ebikes that would be at that price point that will bring a lot more joy and fun than buying the best components/carbon frame on a regular MTB. To me it's all about the smiles per mile and an ebike does that in so many more ways than a regular MTB.