Bicyclist thread

[Rich B]

I ride alone or with my dog so that's not an issue. There's little information about how durable and capable they are compared to a normal MTB and at £2,500+ i'm on the fence.

Weight and lack of fitness is preventing me doing the climbing I need to get to the bits I enjoy. I'm hoping more fun and saddle time will improve both issues.

they’re plenty capable enough - you can test that on one ride.

[John]

I’ve got an ebike and it’s an absolute hoot, especially if there’s a group of you out on them. It is obviously a totally different way of riding but you can still get a good workout if that’s what you’re after. I still prefer riding my normal MTB though although the ebike is an absolute monster in the peaks.

[IanF]

Big fan of Mate and his Greyp e-bikes; every new generation halves in price so may wait for G3, but Rimac seems to be the go-to guy for e-everything.

[drcarlos]

I ride alone or with my dog so that's not an issue. There's little information about how durable and capable they are compared to a normal MTB and at £2,500+ i'm on the fence.

Weight and lack of fitness is preventing me doing the climbing I need to get to the bits I enjoy. I'm hoping more fun and saddle time will improve both issues.

We did one of those Evans rides a couple of weeks ago (doing another next weekend) there were quite a few ebikes on that ride, they climb like a flaming demon but a couple had issues in the wet and mud, not sure what the issues wer3 but they had the batteries out only 10 miles in. I think the endurance wasnt up to doing the full thing as not one took the long route (30 mile) they all seemed to do the medium (25 mile) due to battery anxiety according to one of the riders (who took pity on my mate and pushed him past me up a mega hill). It was quite lumpy with about 2000ft of climbing in the medium route and about 2500ft in the long, so maybe they don’t have quite the life to tackle that distance. I can see they benefits for someone getting back into it or older (I’ve provisionally given myself 11 years until I feel I need one) but for me at the moment I just don’t need one

[John]

I did a short 17 mile route on nine this week, 2200ft and had 44% battery left. The range obviously depends massively on what mode Is used and how much of a porker the rider is

[speedingfine]

What bike have you got John?

[John]

Haibike sduro full seven LT. I didn’t go mad spending on one but it’s a fairly decent spec which was reduced when the 2019 bikes were released.

[drcarlos]

I did a short 17 mile route on nine this week, 2200ft and had 44% battery left. The range obviously depends massively on what mode Is used and how much of a porker the rider is

Just checked my own ride I did 32 miles and climbed 3600ft. The medium route would have been just over 3000ft of climbing so my numbers weren’t quite right and I think the medium would have maxed out the range on the ebike.

[Carlos]

That's great, 50km of range would be ample.

Haibike HardSeven or an Orbea Wild HT is what I had in mind. I'll go and have a nose later and see if I can get a test ride.

[unzippy]

Anyone tried an eMTB ?

See loads about here and interested to find out firsthand if they work as trail bikes .

Paging @KiwiDave..

[ste]

Carlos, loads of top level guys who race use ebikes so that they can get more practice runs in a given time. They seem flipping ace on the trails. The all seem to use the Spec. Levos.


drcarlos, was that the Evans South Downs ride? I did it with my Son (12). We planned to do the med but got distracted by some of the trails on Leith (summer lightning etc) and detoured and then ended up climbing up Whitedown accidentally to get back on track after the 2nd food stop so ended up a bit longer. it was a good ride though, he enjoyed it and I think we’ll do some more.

[KiwiDave]

Yes I have one and spent a fucking age researching them before buying. Mine's a MY19 Specialized Turbo Levo FSR, the Mrs' is a MY18 Turbo Levo HT. They're both amazing. I've ridden them all apart from Haibike and the new YT Decoy and the new Intense one. The Specialized are a cut above frankly, especially noticeable on the full sus bike. (The MY19 HT isn't a patch on the MY18)

My suspicion is the new Decoy may be the only EMTB available which might topple the Levo I have. I'd love to try one. Writeups suggest mine is still more of a do everything trail bike, whereas the Decoy is a bruiser for DH.

I found when I rode one offroad it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I expected you'd use it to cheat going uphills and then ride like normal everywhere else. In part this is still true, I did a ride back in Jan with the fittest person I know and while we made the big climb out the back of the bike park, he just about killed himself doing it but I managed it and two extra loops of my fave trail while waiting for him.

But the surprise for me is that instead of the peaks and troughs of normal MTB - physical effort at 100% climbing, then fun bits, you ride everything constantly at 85% effort. I get such an amazing workout on mine I wasn't expecting - you're just pretty much full tilt for four hours straight and I think as an experience I'd never go back. The only way I want a normal MTB now is for a park with lifts to do downhills. For everything else the EMTB is just more fun.

This is me:

[ste]

Ace. Sums up exactly what the guys I know who have them say. These are super-fit guys who race, yet they spend time on the eebs to just get more runs in.

Is yours chipped? I understand MY18 / 19 Specialized are much harder to do than previous gen. ones. I've ridden an earlier modified one and it was essentially an electric motocross bike.


They keep badgering me into trying a new Levo FSR with them so I'll definiteluy do it at some point.

[KiwiDave]

Is yours chipped? I understand MY18 / 19 Specialized are much harder to do than previous gen. ones. I've ridden an earlier modified one and it was essentially an electric motocross bike.


They keep badgering me into trying a new Levo FSR with them so I'll definiteluy do it at some point.

Mine's not chipped no, probably won't be until the warranty is out, though to be fair I'm not sure I feel the need to go much quicker on it. I am kinda eyeing up the TrailWatts kit for it though - I can get about 40kms off road out of it, and about 65kms on smooth stuff if I nurse the battery a bit, but nearly doubling that sounds a lot of fun!

It'll be interesting to see what the MY20 Levo FSR bikes are like - I'm gonna assume the frame and motor will remain fairly similar, they've got to get a few years out of it to recoup all the dev costs, but I bet the next Kenevo's go to the asymmetric shock mount idea. But yeah, if the Levo's stay the same basic chassis I'll be pretty stoked as I don't feel any real need to ask for much more from the bike. Maybe brakes, eyeing Magura MT7s up.

[jamcg]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-d ... e-48961360

What sort of arse would even think of this shit??

[Gwaredd]

It's happened round here for years, and is mostly aimed at the motocross bikes, but it obviously impedes us mountain bikers too. Not a lot of stuff is head height anymore though after a lad nearly lost his head around 30 years ago & shit hit the fan, now it's mostly branches & logs dragged across obvious trails, a lot is strategically placed longitudinally to the trail around a bend so it's too late to react.

It has to be dog walkers, as no-one else who uses the trails would see any purpose to do it. I've yet to catch one in the act, and tbh, I hope I never do.

[Rich B]

I bought a bike seat to take Sam out this weekend, I’ve just put it on my bitsa hardtail (built for a few hundred quid and all the left overs from my garage a few years back), which is a fairly short Cove Stiffee FR with far too long and heavy forks.

I’ve just ridden it round the garden (obviously without toddler!) and it’s not too bad, but to get enough room for knee clearance I need to put the saddle fairly high up - which isn’t ideal when you basically can’t move forward in front of the seat when you stop, coupled with the restricted steering...!



Ah well, let’s see how it goes! If it’s a no go then I have a free rear mounted seat to try too!

[KiwiDave]

Is that an MRP chain guide?

[Rich B]

Is that an MRP chain guide?

nah, just a clear outer ring with a iscg guide - probably a gamut or e13 (can’t remember any more!)

[Rich B]

It went really well - the little chap stayed happily sat in his seat for about an hour and a half, then still wouldn’t take his helmet off for the whole way home (i had to put it on his panda toy to get him to go for a nap). I do need to adjust the helmet to sit better too.



Id definitely recommend this style over the rear seats, which just seem to bounce around and give the kid a view of your arse. It was a little ungainly to ride at first, and you can’t go up steep hills because you can’t shift your weight forward, but it’s great down hills as you can hear and see how the kid is reacting!

I saw another guy with a shotgun child seat for when he’s a bit older which I should be able to fit to my carbon fibre Capra - which will make everything easier than my old clunker.