rwmccon

I think we are going about it all wrong, don't limit the motors, limit the battery size to something like 250 w/h. Run as much power as you want, but you will run out of juice if you are pushing too much for too long. This could force the industry to make more efficient batteries/motors and bikes with less motor drag when pedaling with no assistance.

Two friends with Berd wheels. One has had to replace spokes two different times, and the other once. We have a number of rocks that get flung up into your wheels when riding sometimes and this has been the culprit in two of these events. The third was a chain that went over the top of the granny gear and broke some spokes when it wedged in between them and the cassette. I love the idea of the Berd wheels, but have serious concerns for durability with our local trails.

@owl-X: anywhere and everywhere. Grew up in Colorado, currently ride mostly in Arkansas. Our average trail systems around here average 100-140 feel per mile of elevation. Fair bit of climbing. On my longer days we will do 35-50 mile rides with 4000-5000 feet of elevation change.

Started my ebike journey with an SL... I like long days in the saddle and was always running out of battery. Went to full power ebike just for the extra battery. Wish I had just bought a different SL bike with an optional range extender. Don't really understand the need for more power. 50-60 nm of torque and 400 watts is plenty! My full power ebike never gets out of trail mode, even on steeper climbs. The average cyclist can hold about 250 watts of power at best for any length of time. Do we really need ebikes capable of putting out 3-4 times a normal human power? I understand needing a little help sometimes to keep up with your friends, but we have gone so far beyond that. All we are doing is making mtb more like motorcycles. It's changing the nature of how trails are built and more and more people are just plain lazy. I get the excitement of sticking the bike in turbo and blasting around everywhere, but it isn't doing our sport any favors. We alienate our own brethren on normal bikes, really irritate hikers, cause more damage to trails, and I would bet that the people that do this are not the ones that volunteer on trail work days to help fix the trails and keep them running well.

Rotor has some cool ideas and products, but absolutely horrible support. They lost me as a customer years ago with their terrible support on a power meter crank that would never go into sleep mode and go through a battery every 4-5 days as a result. Wound up being a complete waste of money. Won't ever buy anything of theirs again.

@Austink: agree on this particular bike. I was referring more to Yeti bikes in general...should have qualified that. For example the top level Stumpjumper vs the Yeti SB140, 10,200 for the Yeti, 10,999 for the Stumpy. Stumpy has carbon wheels, and the Yeti can upgrade to those for 1k more which puts them within 200 bucks of each other. Trek Fuel EX is probably the most similar here, and their top spec 9.9 bike is 12k. More than either of the other two. Santa Cruz Hightower top spec is 10,999 with carbon wheels, so again about 200 different than the Yeti. All of these are highest grade carbon, xx axs builds, fox factory, etc. Pretty comparable and same pricing across all of them basically. When I compare most models I find Trek to be noticeably higher than other brands for similar specs.

@leopuurd: I suppose I should have qualified that somewhat... maybe not on this particular bike from yeti. But when I look at their other bikes, like an SB140 for example I find them pretty comparable. It also helps if you know how to shop for Yeti, there are a couple of online retailers that sell for a bit less than others. Potentially with free shipping and no sales tax as well. Given that I have found them to be even cheaper than a similar Specialized or Santa Cruz. And they often go on sale as well making those discounts even larger. I have a Yeti 160e that had an MSRP of around 12k. I paid $6800.

I see comments like this often and don't get it. A similar spec'd bike from Specialized, Trek, Santa Cruz, and Pivot costs the same. Yeti just doesn't sell aluminum framed bikes, and so their cheapest lowest end bike is pretty highly priced. But no more than a similarly spec'd bike from other brands.