There isn’t anything that is as relaxing as being in touch with nature. If you have a taste for adventure, then mountain biking will be a good sport for you. Biking is not just about having fun, it can exercise your body and keep you fit. For this reason, the mountain bike has become a favorite sport of this generation. If you already love it, then we have something that will make you love it more.
A new generation of mountain bikes that will let you ride faster giving you a much better experience than the best mountain bikes you have tried until now. The worst part of mountain biking is when you have to climb uphill but if you have the best electric mountain bike then it could be done with ease. You will have to put your own work into it but the electric system can assist you in making the climb a bit easier.
So, there won’t be a time where you curse your stamina while riding. If you try out the e-bike, you will never leave it again. We all are now in the run to make both ends of our lives meet. We have too many frustrations just because you want to live a happy life. A lot of stress from the family and the work can dull your mood at any time. To recover from that kind of situation, having a good electric bike ride can be a quick fix for your troubled mind.
Since they are powered by an electric motor, it will be easier for you to take longer rides on the electric bikes without getting much tired. The places which would have broken you with a whole day’s ride can now be reached within an hour or so. Moreover, it takes you back to your childhood. You become a kid again and you surely will have fun like you did when you were a child while having your pleasure trip.
If you have tried the electric bikes earlier and hate them, then it will be for the heavy construction that was too common in the first generation of electric bikes. They were really difficult to ride without the help of an electric motor. But times have changed and technology has been developing at a great pace too. So, you don’t need to be prejudiced about their form factor. These electric bikes are comparatively lighter and are easier to handle than ever before.
Buying Guide to Find the best Electric Mountain Bike
To find out the best electric mountain bike, you should be looking at a different set of features that are different from the conventional mountain bikes you have tried. The common features like weight, suspension and pedal efficiency do not play a big role in the quality of electric bikes.
How Significant is the Motor Really?
Electric mountain bikes will let you travel much faster than your normal speed. In fact, they have a speed of around 25kph. With that kind of stable assistance, you will be able to cover more than twice the distance with the normal time you take. The nearby places you visit after work won’t be tiring anymore and you will be to find more secret places down the mountains.
People who love exploring will love electric bikes because they will take away the barrier of distance away from you. The hard climbs that you only took once in a while just because they were difficult will now become much easier. The idea of the drivetrain has been revolutionized by the introduction of electric bikes to the mountain biking domain.
With new combinations, we are seeing a variety of efficient players in the mountain biking region. The best electric mountain bikes in the market are now produced by companies like Bosch, Shimano, Brose, and Yamaha.
1. Frameset: The quality of the frame determines the durability of your bike and this is important when you buy something that is expected to be rugged for driving in harsh conditions. Most of the bikes are made with aluminum. Recently the superior and lightweight carbon fiber is slowly making an appearance in the affordable category too.
Bikes made with aluminum and carbon fiber are usually good with the ability of the materials to be molded into any shape we like. Because of their easy manufacturing capacity, we have got many bike designs that are innovative and also have good battery system storage.
2. Weight: You have to think a bit differently when it comes to weight. Unlike the traditional mountain bikes, the weight of the electric bikes may be contributed by the addition of useful technology so never make a sacrifice on features so that you could reduce a bit of weight from it. The total weight of the mountain bikes may be around 20 kg.
Even if it is more than that like 21kg or 22 kg, think of it as a big deal for an electric mountain bike. From all the bikes we have reviewed, the maximum difference between the lightest bike and the heaviest one was around 4 kg. You should consider the features with the added weight. From what we have seen, the heavy bikes usually had better construction and battery capacity so you will be getting more with them.
Therefore, choose wisely and don’t go for the lightweight trap. After all, what you want is the best electric bike and not the lightest electric bike.
3. Batteries: The stamina of the battery determines how long you can go without the need for a recharge. The present rechargeable batteries available in the market can be designed in any way so their placement is not awkward. But since it carries a lot of weight, it must be placed where the center of gravity should be for maximum stability.
For long drives, you might be able to carry an extra pair of battery but this won’t be an ideal solution since these batteries are heavy and can disrupt your smooth riding experience. And on some bikes, this extra battery placement is quite awkward like in the Shimano-Intune which will force you to stay away from the idea of spare batteries.
Anyway if you are ok with the weight and are in the habit of taking long mountain rides, it will be a good idea to carry an extra pair so that you don’t have to stop in between.
4. Wide Tires: This is the most striking feature by which you can distinguish a mountain bike from normal bikes. The mountain bikes are built rugged and their tires are so wide enough that you won’t ever lose the grip of the ground. Electric mountains too have wide tires. Having wide tires will give you more traction and good comfort whenever you are riding over rough terrains.
If you take a traditional bike for mountain rides, you will end up breaking the bike and breaking your back. The best electric mountain bikes we have seen usually have a tire width of around 2.5 inches to 2.8 inches. The best tire brand we have seen is the MAXXIS Minion which offers the best grip and control over the mountain bike. The air pressure on the tire should be in a comfortable range of 1.2 to 1.6 bar air pressure for getting the proper cushioning effect.
5. Budget: The budget is the ultimate deciding factor whatever it is that you are buying. There are electric mountain bikes available at all price ranges. But is it wise enough to buy an electric mountain bike which is priced over $5000? Even if it is affordable for you, in most of the cases this can become a stupid buy as you won’t be able to get many extra features at that level.
But, if what you need is a piece of a luxury product then, of course, they can be a good choice. At that price, owning one of them will be like owning the Ferrari in the cars. You can boast around friends all that you want. All of these bikes will obviously be having great looks and design. Other than that you might even get some advanced technological integration.
Of course, the ride will be much comfortable than the normal electric mountain bikes but is it worth the price? That’s questionable. Always remember this price alone won’t make any bike the best electric mountain bike. We have tested out the best models and you can check the review out to know more about them.
6. E-Bike Controls: Technology has advanced a lot and different manufacturers are using different techniques to achieve the same result, to make their bikes the best. The major difference you can see in them is the usage of different e-bike motor system. With this, the control of the system, the user interface is all different. They are important but there are many important things inside the bike you must look for.
To get the best experience out of an electric bike, it must be easily usable by the user. Otherwise, you will fail to get the best experience out of them. The shifters of the bike must be intuitive and ergonomic. The display gives you information about the bike while you ride so it must be clearly visible outdoors and the charging system of the bike must be easily accessible and fast.
Electric mountain bikes are almost like the premium category in bikes so all the manufacturers have made a dedicated mobile App for interacting with your bike. Using this app, you will be able to control the motor drive system and change its settings. You can also analyze the charging of your battery from the display screen itself.
Don’t think that the app integration is necessary to use the electric mountain bike properly. You can use the bike on its own without any app but it will be quite interesting for you if you are a tech-savvy person.
7. Downhill Performance: Every mountain bike uses its full potential when it is on the downhill ride. So, how well a bike is capable of handling the ride can be used as a technique for analyzing the quality of a bike. For the Electric mountain bike too, the downhill performance is of great importance to consider. This performance cannot be calculated by just looking at the bike or its feature set.
What you need is the first-hand experience and for that our testers rode each and every bike many times down the hill. All of them had mixed opinions regarding every bike. Most of the comfort related opinions are quite subjective. The geometry of the bike design and the form factor were the greatest determiners in the performance of the bike when driven down the hill.
All the testers had the same opinion that the electric mountain bikes are better performers down the hill than the normal non-electric mountain bikes they usually ride. They offer a completely different riding experience and to know for sure we subjected the bike to texting in all kinds of riding patterns.
8. Climbing Performance: If you are a mountain rider, you will know the part everyone loves is the downhill bike ride and what people hate the most is bringing the bike back up the hill after every ride. Electric mountain bikes exist for removing this trouble away from you. With powerful motors, your uphill bike climbing is much easier now.
Since uphill climbing is tiring, we reviewed it more in that category to know how much better electric mountain bikes performed in those rides. You will know the difference when you ride an e-MTB every single time you are riding the uphill because the pain you have to go through without the pedal assist powered by the electric motor is quite much. The assist we are talking about is much more than what you would expect.
The bike will ride up with a lot of power and speed to an extent where you might even lose control of your bike while riding up the hill. Already the mountain bikes are heavy with wide sized tires and electric mountain bikes are much heavier than this. This heavyweight will help you keep the bike stable on the ground during the entire ride.
If you keep the dampening switches wide open, the rear suspension will take up its role and give you a comfortable ride. The form factor and design of the bike mattered a lot in determining the performance they had during the uphill climbing. We understood this by riding them many times up and down the hill.
9. Distance Range: This is the determining factor if you are the person who is a travel addict and always wishes to explore new places that are far to reach. The distance range of each bike is the distance an electric mountain bike can go without getting another battery charge. This is greatly dependent on the capacity of the battery. Don’t take it for the exact distance it is just an average measure done in ideal situations and it will vary.
Almost all the bikes tested by us had similar battery capacity and they all gave the same distance travel in one single charge. Bull E- Stream was the only bike that showed a bit different performance in this category. The bike design and the quality of the motor will affect the distance travel range a lot.
But there are other factors too that you need to consider like the weight of the individual riding the bike, the roughness of the terrain you are riding and finally the weather. All these can change the measured battery capacity. So, you might enter into confusion in this area. To make it as simple as possible, we put them down for a test.
All the bikes were ridden of the same track back and forth with their highest settings and in the same other physical conditions. The results were taken out of this test and we have determined the best electric mountain bike in the category.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, an electric mountain bike is an upgrade over your old mountain bikes. If you are a mountain rider, you will surely love it. They are more expensive than the old models but the benefits you get with it justify the price. All the tiresome uphill climbing will be made easier with their powerful electric motors. For finding the best electric mountain bikes, the techniques you use to get the best-known mountain bike won’t work.
So, check out the features that we mentioned carefully and come into a conclusion. For a mountain bike lover, everything you used to do with your mountain bike will now get even better. For the explorer in you, it unlocks a new range of possibilities. Having a good battery backup and a pedal assist, you will be able to cover more distance at the same time.
They are much rugged and spending your money on them will never become a waste. Check out the best electric mountain bikes we have selected, and go for the one you liked the most. Get the best electric mountain bike out of them and ride through the mountain track to your heart’s content.
