No matter what you are doing, like shopping, lounging, or climbing mountains, ebikes are just everywhere. It is no wonder many of us want to have a chance to try one of those marvelous ebikes.
When it comes to purchasing an ebike, that is a lot of choices waiting out there, including hardtail ebikes, full-suspension electric bikes, electric mountain bikes, etc. It could be quite confusing to make a choice between them, which needs pretty much information and research. After all, an ebike is not that cheap and it is a great loss if you buy an electric bike that doesn’t meet your expectations. So here comes the question: How do you choose the first electric mountain bike? Check out the rest of the content to get the answers.
What Are the Reasons for Buying an Electric Mountain Bike?
As we said that there are all kinds of electric bikes out there on the market, why do we have to choose emtbs? Below are 3 reasons for that.
Bring New Experiences
The world of electric mountain bikes is an all-new one, and it could be a little bit different from that of regular electric bikes. We know that most of you have ridden a regular mountain bike before. It already performs greatly on mountain bike trails. And what about adding a motor and a battery? Things will be totally different. You can ride with much more freedom and confidence thanks to the electric assistance from motors. Also, you won’t need to pedal hard to keep riding as the PAS or the full power mode will cover you all the way. It is just like you can get an improved mountain biking experience.
Fewer Worries about Terrain
Electric mountain bikes are always called all-terrain ebikes because they are specially designed to cruise on all kinds of terrains. Without any doubt, electric mountain bikes are able to do the best job on mountain bike trails, but you don’t have to use them for mountain biking just because they are called electric mountain bikes, do you? Not all of us can always ride on smooth city streets. Some people just live in urban areas where roads and paths can be a little bit bumpy. With electric mountain bikes, you could simply get rid of those worries about the terrain.
Smooth Handling
To put it simply, electric mountain bikes do provide smoother control. They are usually equipped with suspension and hydraulic disc brakes. With the suspension, electric mountain bikes could absorb shocks and dampen vibration, which could have a huge impact on your ebike riders. And hydraulic disc brakes enable you to control the bike easily with strong braking power. Putting those things together just brings you the best handling.
5 Tips Before Buying Your First Emtb
Well, if you never buy an emtb or an ebike before, you’d better think twice before getting straight to the purchase. Here are several things you need to consider.
Define Your Riding Style
First of all, no matter what you are going to buy, you need to narrow your search to save some time. Here you must confirm how you are planning to use an electric mountain bike. Are you sure you need them for mountain biking, or do you just use them for recreation or exercise? Will you buy it just for commuting or running errands, all these purposes influence your decisions.
If you used to be a mountain bike lover, then it is fine and perfect to own an electric mountain bike. As I said above, emtbs could bring you the best experiences. Also, to get some more different fun and pleasure, there is no doubt that you could buy an electric mountain bike. However, if all you need is just an ebike for running errands, or commuting, it may be unnecessary to directly jump to electric mountain bikes. We don’t mean to say that you can’t purchase an electric mountain bike for that, it is definitely your choice. But it could be kind of a waste if you don’t have requirements for suspensions, brakes, motors, or other components. For only commuting or running errands, maybe a commuter ebike is a better choice. Generally speaking, riding style affects your choice of ebikes to a large extent.
Appropriate Price
Honestly, if you are going to buy electric mountain bikes online, you could find out there are many options. And you are even likely to buy one for less than $1000. Sounds great, right? Beware, price sometimes equals quality. Electric mountain bikes could cost you quite a lot of money as they are not simple or ordinary things. So here, we recommend you never purchase an electric mountain bike that is under $1000.
So what is an appropriate price range? If you got enough budget, you could even buy an electric mountain bike for over $5000. However, for many of us who want to spend less, the price range between $1500 and $2000 could possibly be suitable. The reason why we highly recommend you spend at least $1500 is that you could expect to get an electric mountain bike of higher performance for that price. Checking out those ebike forums and groups, you could find out many buyers complain about some quality issues with other ebike brands, and they don’t always receive good results or feedback. Moreover, it is kind of a waste of time. Every buyer can’t wait to ride the emtb they purchase and none of them wants to miss out on that first ride just because of some quality issues, like broken components.
Needed Range
We all know that an ebike usually weighs more than a regular bike, and electric mountain bikes can even weigh more than normal ebikes as emtbs are usually equipped with suspensions, either full or front suspension. They are really heavy components and make up a large portion of the total weight of an electric mountain bike. The point is that the heavier the bike is, the more energy it needs to keep moving, which will consume a lot of battery capacity.
So before purchasing your first electric mountain bike, first you can make sure how much range you need. If you love long trips, then you must select a battery with a capacity of at least 15Ah, which could provide an estimated range of 40 to 60 miles. Oppositely, if you don’t care too much about the range, you may just need to consider the quality of the battery.
Cadence or Torque Sensor
For you guys who are going to purchase your first ebikes/emtbs, the sensor can be a component that can be easily neglected. There are basically 2 kinds of sensors, cadence and torque sensors. They are quite different and can bring you a different experience as well.
These two sensors are all about pedaling. When you try to pedal on a cadence-sensor ebike, the electric power will come to you when the pedals reach a point. And when the ebike comes to a specific speed, it takes you no effort to keep pedaling. That is how cadence sensors work. However, a torque sensor delivers electric power based on how hard you put it on the pedals.
Hardtail or Full Suspension
All electric mountain bikes should be equipped with suspension, but not all of them are full-suspension ebikes. Some emtbs can have only a front suspension front fork, which is the reason why they are called hardtail ebikes. Apparently, the only difference lies in the suspension. With the full suspension, the bike could be heavier and the price higher. With only the front suspension, the bike is lighter and cheaper. You can make a choice between hardtail ebikes and full-suspension electric bikes based on your own needs.
Alright, that is all about our advice for purchasing the first electric mountain bike. For more information, just feel free to contact us at [email protected].
