I have been having a good time trying lots of eMTB’s and gathering information, reading reviews etc and watching lots of youtube videos! All good fun - enjoy the journey as they say not just the destination!
Hoping to finalise a deal early next week on two eMTB’s for the missus and I through our workplace cycle to work schemes which softens the blow a lot (as do the sale prices currently being offered on so many leading options). As long as you don’t mind buying last year’s model then it’s possible to buy at close to 40% of last year’s RRP and then save another 32 or 42% on the tax scheme. No way would I want to pay full price for these things frankly, but it’s coming out at not much more than a third of RRP all things considered which is compelling!
I can’t wait to get riding on some proper trails and take them to proper MTB parks which I haven’t really been up to riding for a few years now thanks to the ankles. It will be a fun way to get fit again I think…
The fashionising of things like this is totally deplorable. I get the impression that they want/expect people to change biles every year or two. Until 15 years ago I had never bought a new bike., I was shocked 3 years ago when, having had that bike damaged by an errant motorist, the person in the bike shop to which I took it for repair said something like “wow, what an old bike”. Now it seems that 3 years old is ancient! I expect my expensive e-MTB to b still going striping after 20 years, though probably needing new batteries long before that (I will probably need new batteries as well!)
BTW, if you try a light model like Rise with others, do try picking them up if you will be putting on bike carriers or any risk of having to lift over gates etc - thats you notice the difference! If you almost never have to lift it the weight advantage is reduced, though it still handles closer to a non-e bike.
I’ve skimmed through this so may have missed key points.
I’ve got a couple of motor assisted bikes, a Vanmoof and a Mirider. I have other “analogue” bikes for different uses.
There’s a lot of choice these days from folding compact occasional use bikes like the Mirider, commuter/shopping tarmac bikes like the Vanmoof and more high end bikes for road, trails and mountain/enduro uses.
Any decent retailer will be happy to guide you and let you test ride suitable bikes. The type you need depends mostly on what you need it for and your budget. Cycle to Work schemes are helpful as well I’ve found. I got both of mine using work schemes.
When I was looking I was surprised how many bike shops were not willing to allow test rides outside their car park, which does not allow you to get a proper feel for the bike at all. And the few that did allow going off premises limited to just a few minutes and on-road only, but as long as a steep incline nearby it would be possible to get some sort of comparison. The only place I found in the north half of England with an Orbea Rise (a bike I particularly wanted to try having done my research into e-MTBs) that I could try off-road was the place I mentioned in a previous post, having a hire bike available. I thought I might have to make a special trip to do that, but then I found one in Newcastle upon Tyne whilst I was on a visit there, allowing me 10 min in the city centre - but there are some good inclines there - and it instantly grabbed me as distinctly better than the best of the other bikes I had test ridden, so o need for that other trip.
YMMV absolutely. It may be worth a car ride to find a decent retailer or bike park. I’m fortunate round here and spoilt for choice for helpful shops. The bikes I have are for road/tarmac use and more utilitarian focused. My full suspension bike isn’t electric, it’s a carbon Specialized Stumpjumper. The electric Specialized are lovely bikes but pricey for decent spec overall.
There’s plenty of choice and price points if you just want a regular shopping/occasional use bike. The folding one I got to be able to put in the car for trips away or train journeys for example, the Brompton Electric is probably a better option but it cost a lot more than I paid for my MiRider.
I had to travel anyway to find an e-bike I liked, that was in latter half of 2021 when stocks were still very low post COVID. I searched out and contacted all Orbea deslers, very few had any Rises in stock, and the position I sited was what the few who had stock said. If nay of course be different now.
Just did quick google, and wow! yes the 2032 LTD (which is mine) can bd had for a lot less nos than when I bought though prices of current ones are still stupid money. And unfortunately at the time I was looking there was a waiting list (6 months or more with most dealers) - I was lucky to find one in stock, so of course not much bargaining to be had.
You’re so right - finding retailers with stock of bikes you’re interested in is a real challenge. I’ve ridden the aluminium framed lesser specced version of my number 1 choice, but not the Carbon framed XTR/XT equipped version I plan to actually buy - nobody is holding those in stock as far as I can tell and I have called retailers from Southampton to East Anglia!
So some of this is going to have to be taken on faith. It’s not ideal but that’s how it is. I guess the days when the UK market was dominated by a couple of brands where retailers could stock most models in every size is long since over and there’s a plethora of capable options from so many brands.
One brand that I’m particularly attracted to is Cannondale, not least because they seem to have made a real effort to move production back to Europe and the USA. These things are important, at least to me as I would like to support firms that continue to manufacture in the West rather than outsourcing everything to Taiwan or China like nearly everybody else. Their production plant in Almelo in the Netherlands is incredible!!! See their careers page for videos touring their principal locations: https://www.cannondale.com/en-gb/careers
It also feels a bit like ‘coming home’. When I was around 18 back in 1987 one of my mates who had a part time job as a mechanic in a bike shop bought the first mountain bike any of us had ever seen - it was a Cannondale and I must admit I lusted after that bike. Shortly afterwards I was out riding one evening on my Raleigh Royal 531 tourer with a friend and we saw a guy probably in his 50’s tearing down the road towards us in the golden glow of a summer evening on a beautiful navy blue Cannondale racing bike with a huge smile on his face. It was the most beautiful racing bike I had ever seen and looked incredibly fast and shiny. I recall my friend and I drooling over it as he whizzed past silently spokes glinting in the sun and I remember us discussing the fact he looked so happy on it that perhaps he had retired and bought it as a retirement present to himself and was loving the freedom of riding it.
Those teenage memories have stuck with me for nearly 40 years so maybe it’s my turn to be the fifty five year old guy on a Cannondale enjoying the perfect ride in the golden glow of a summer evening…
Popped into the bike shop for a quick visit as they let me know my bike had come in from Cannondale boxed.
Beautiful bike, can’t wait to get riding it - still waiting on the voucher scheme through work and am told it should be early next week.
So here it is! Cannondale Moterra Neo Carbon 1 (shot with my lousy phone cam!) It’s actually a really rich and lovely dark blue colour called Abyss Blue but my phone makes it look dull as ditchwater! Having spent the past 12 years riding a bright orange Cotic Soul I fancied something a bit more subdued and classy this time around…
It looks low because the air suspension comes unpressurised lol. It comes with a pretty decent WTB saddle, but I’ve ordered a black Brooks B17 anyway. I’ve had a B17 on my tourer since 1989 and a Brooks Conquest on the Soul since new in 2012 and they’re the most comfortable saddles I have ever used by far… The Missus has a Moterra Evo 3 due for delivery Wed. Now if payroll just do their thing!
Hi Innocent, unfortunately I didn’t get to try a Rise as nobody near me had one in stock in my size but I did ride an Orbea Wild and that was a great bike too. Quite a few of the bikes shops I visited took the view that if you weigh more than 80Kg (and sadly I do!) that I was better sticking with a full fat ebike for reasons of range and power to get you up hills on say the South Downs for a whole afternoon of riding.
It’s worth remembering that one of my key reasons for going with an EMTB is that I have been diagnosed with premature ankle arthritis caused by a rare inherited blood disorder. Thus the ability to get more power and assistance on the up-hills seemed beneficial in my case (at the expense of a lighter bike like the Rise which perhaps handles more like a non-motorised MTB).
When I tried the Moterra I also really liked its riding position which felt really roomy even for my 6ft 1 frame. It just felt “right” plus I loved its elegant and underatated looks which of course is a completely subjective reason for buying it lol! On a less subjective note all the bike shops also seemed to think that the Bosch system is the best in terms of performance, reliability and serviceability so that played into my decision making too.
I collected the bike on Tue but didn’t ride it that night as I had an early shift on Wed morning. The Missus Cannondale turned up yesterday so I fitted her pedals and we went off for our first ride last night on our local trail. Oh wow!!! What an absolutely game-changing experience it was, for those of advancing years who perhaps are lapsed cyclists ebikes are a way to rediscover the delight one found in cycling as a child, they make cycling into an absolute joy again! We were both utterly giddy with delight last night!! I parked the bike up after our ride and thought to myself: This is quite simply one of the very best things I have ever purchased in terms of smiles per £ and is right up there with my original Nait and my projector. I just want to ride all the time at the moment and frankly work is just a distraction!
Anyway here’s a couple of snaps from my crappy camera phone… The Missus Moterra 3 looks white in the pics but is in fact a lovely silver grey colour!
You clearly have found a pari of great bikes to suit your needs - hopefully the two of you will have many years of enjoyment with them.
I found this interesting:
I think it shows an ignorance and lack of experience of riding the Rise, given the extra 6+ kg of most “full fat bikes”, and that this year’s Rise has an option of a 540WH internal battery as well as an optional extra external 180WH supplementary battery. Its motor is downrated from the max possible in order to give a more natural ride feel, not the sudden kick-in-the-back effect that many e-bikes have when in max power mode. Of course for some people that effect is something that makes them love their e-bike! Before the Rise I tried two other Orbea e-bikes, a hardtail Keram and the Wild. I hadn’t been looking for full-suspension, just hardtail, and compared to all the dozen or so hardtail e-bikes I had tried I preferred the Keram and would have gone for that, but the shop had a Wild so I also tried that: I found its handling rather cumbersome, perhaps because the bike is so heavy, but the experience with the full suspension vs Keram is what made me want to try the Rise just to rule it out before buying a Keram. It was months before I managed to do that, and was instantly hooked - it was simply the bike for me, and that was despite the horrendous cost, more than buying two Kerams! (Something reminiscent there of when I first heard Dave DAC!)
Not of interest any longer to you, but for others reading this thread: with my normal style of riding & power use, as opposed to how I approached my previously described longest ride, part off road and part mtb trails in a hilly place, with my Rise (modified as described in previous post) I get a range of about 45 miles @ 4000ft elevation gain. I weigh around 72-73 kg, and take a bag containing emergency repair kit and a waterproof and/or discarded clothing layer, and a water bottle.
As for enjoyment, more or less echoing your observation, my wife summed it up (with her much more basic and heavier hardtail bike: “getting an e-bike has made cycling a joy not a chore, I can ride up hills without taking ages and getting exhausted, and I can enjoy the view at the same time as now enjoying the ride!”
