Electric Bike Thread

[jm2e]

Summit, with the investment you'll be making, do yourself a favor and try to get on a couple before you buy. It's really hard to understand what you'll want out of it until you get on one.

[summit]

Summit, with the investment you'll be making, do yourself a favor and try to get on a couple before you buy. It's really hard to understand what you'll want out of it until you get on one.

Excellent point.

Today I rode a Kenevo SL Comp S3

Two laps, about 25mi 4500vert. For the time I spent, I worked just as hard but rode twice as much. I actually worked harder considering the upper body work on the climb/descent. I rode steep tech descents and during those the motor was unused (because it was unneeded, not because of trail ethics). On the climb it made incredible differences particularly over punch climbs, loose rocky jeep roads, etc.

On the descent it felt like a DH bike except the Fox Rythm 36 felt under gunned and the Code RS needed 220mm rotors not 200s.

At 44lbs with the extender for a 170/170 29er, I killed the built in 320wh battery and most of a 160wh range extender on the two laps with the motor in "turbo" for all the climbing. The SL has the weakest motor on the market. There is basically no time you would want to use anything but the full power mode on it unless you were truly focused on range or just using it to keep up with more fit pedal bikers.

My conclusion was that I wanted:
1. A little more powerful motor
2. A little more battery life
3. No extra weight
4. No less travel.

Basically I want to have my cake and eat it too. This does rule out the EXe. A Turbo Levo would need the long travel Cascade link, a new shock, and an upgrade to 170mm fork.

I'm mostly thinking Kenevo SL vs a Relay (PNW?)

[rideit]

I love the power of my Rocky, but it’s WAY too much bike *most* of the time. I wouldn’t want something with less range or power, but it’s a pig in some ways. Once they have 42-45 pound bikes that can go similar distance and power, I’ll get another. (I have gotten 5800k climbing and made it home). It weighs about 53 with my stuff on it.
Until then this thing smashes, but doesn’t have much finesse. (Under me, of course!)

I really, really prefer descending on the 32 pound bike. Maybe a day or two at the JH bike park with the ebike might get me more in tune with it.

[grinch]

If youre looking at the sl segment the new bosch sx is what all the other companies will be chasing. More battery more power, seemless, rebuildable. Bosch smart system is at the forefront. Lots of 40ish pound bikes w that system. They have an extender as well. With some bikes itll be possible to have 1000w of battery. I like that it has 600w of power available w the motor and you get that with higher rpm pedal stroke. Seems like a perfect fit for that segment

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[rideit]

I’m spoiled with 108NM

[grinch]

Nice bikes, id like to try one. I think theyre having a demo day for them here soon. Last weekend they were the next city over

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[Andeh]

Basically I want to have my cake and eat it too. This does rule out the EXe. A Turbo Levo would need the long travel Cascade link, a new shock, and an upgrade to 170mm fork.

This is what I did on my Levo. 170 Zeb up front, Cascade link (~163mm rear) with Super Deluxe Air shock out back. It makes the head angle about 64 degrees with the neutral cup, and brings the BB up a bit. With the same fork at 160, I was getting a fair number of pedal strikes going uphill in ruts, or rolling over drops. That almost completely went away with the overfork. I've run it a bunch with coil also in this setup, but like the bottomless feel with the air shock, plus it gives it more pop. The really high starting leverage rate of the Cascade link makes the air shock track crazy good, like as good as a coil on a normal bike. I joke that the bike I built is basically what a full power Kinevo should be. On this most recent Saturday, I did 5,000 ft vert / 19.3 miles in an 1:40 in full turbo, and had 25% battery left.

I like to alternate my rides between this bike and my Nomad. The super Levo gives me an upper body workout, the Nomad works my legs.

[summit]

This is what I did on my Levo. 170 Zeb up front, Cascade link (~163mm rear) with Super Deluxe Air shock out back. It makes the head angle about 64 degrees with the neutral cup, and brings the BB up a bit. With the same fork at 160, I was getting a fair number of pedal strikes going uphill in ruts, or rolling over drops. That almost completely went away with the overfork. I've run it a bunch with coil also in this setup, but like the bottomless feel with the air shock, plus it gives it more pop. The really high starting leverage rate of the Cascade link makes the air shock track crazy good, like as good as a coil on a normal bike. I joke that the bike I built is basically what a full power Kinevo should be. On this most recent Saturday, I did 5,000 ft vert / 19.3 miles in an 1:40 in full turbo, and had 25% battery left.

I like to alternate my rides between this bike and my Nomad. The super Levo gives me an upper body workout, the Nomad works my legs.

Outstanding!

Did you keep it MX? Go 29? 27+ rear? Can you do that with the cascade? To clarify did you go to the long travel link or the standard cascade link? Did you get the alloy one? Is that the newer Turbo Levo with the 700wh battery or the older one with the 500wh?

[nickwm21]

It’s amazing how quickly the local community went from outrage to “meh” regarding Ebikers poaching trail systems.


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[Benneke10]

It’s amazing how quickly the local community went from outrage to “meh” regarding Ebikers poaching trail systems.

They probably started buying ebikes

[Andeh]

Outstanding!

Did you keep it MX? Go 29? 27+ rear? Can you do that with the cascade? To clarify did you go to the long travel link or the standard cascade link? Did you get the alloy one?

I kept it MX because I'm 5'8", and like mullets. Definitely not 27+. I didn't look into running 29 rear. I got the standard link because it was on sale, but if I had to do it all over again (and was getting a new shock at the same time), I'd get the LS link. The LS is only like 1mm more travel, but with the 230x65mm shock you can run much, much lower air pressures / spring rates for the same sag. Plus longer stroke shocks are easier to find ideal pressures / spring rates based on sag - being off by 0.5mm on a 55mm stroke is a lot different than 0.5mm on 65mm stroke. The LS link is sturdier too (has a cross member between the links).

I got the Levo Comp Carbon on sale for a lot less than the framekit (wasn't on sale at the time), and basically stripped it and built it up how I wanted. The Comp Alloy is basically the same but heavier, and without the nice LCD display. The truly bad parts on the Comp builds are the 36 Rhythm fork, the Code R brakes, the NX chain, and the 150mm dropper on an S3. I've heard the Float X is a decent shock but I never rode mine since the Performance model doesn't have compression adjust. The wheels are ok - I didn't have issues before I sold them but I've heard they have a tendency to break spokes. I think I probably got a little under $1k back in takeoff parts that I sold.

The Expert build whittles the junk parts down to basically the dropper. The Code RS brakes are fine, although most people get along better with the RSC levers to get better bite and thicker/bigger rotors and aftermarket pads. The X2 will probably shit itself quickly but I've heard Fox just sends back a brand new '24 version now when you send in a '23 under warranty.

[summit]

I kept it MX because I'm 5'8", and like mullets. Definitely not 27+. I didn't look into running 29 rear. I got the standard link because it was on sale, but if I had to do it all over again (and was getting a new shock at the same time), I'd get the LS link. The LS is only like 1mm more travel, but with the 230x65mm shock you can run much, much lower air pressures / spring rates for the same sag. Plus longer stroke shocks are easier to find ideal pressures / spring rates based on sag - being off by 0.5mm on a 55mm stroke is a lot different than 0.5mm on 65mm stroke. The LS link is sturdier too (has a cross member between the links).

I got the Levo Comp Carbon on sale for a lot less than the framekit (wasn't on sale at the time), and basically stripped it and built it up how I wanted. The Comp Alloy is basically the same but heavier, and without the nice LCD display. The truly bad parts on the Comp builds are the 36 Rhythm fork, the Code R brakes, the NX chain, and the 150mm dropper on an S3. I've heard the Float X is a decent shock but I never rode mine since the Performance model doesn't have compression adjust. The wheels are ok - I didn't have issues before I sold them but I've heard they have a tendency to break spokes. I think I probably got a little under $1k back in takeoff parts that I sold.

The Expert build whittles the junk parts down to basically the dropper. The Code RS brakes are fine, although most people get along better with the RSC levers to get better bite and thicker/bigger rotors and aftermarket pads. The X2 will probably shit itself quickly but I've heard Fox just sends back a brand new '24 version now when you send in a '23 under warranty.

Awesome! Is yours the 700wh battery or the 500?

[Andeh]

The Comp & up has the 700wh.

[Bunion 2020]

They probably started buying ebikes

Nope, just sick and tired of fighting about everything. And when trails start getting shutdown.....

[grinch]

Damn, i was just getting warmed up

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[XXX-er]

I've had a Yeti in 29/29 and now an SC in mullet and I prefer the snappy handling of the mullet,

maybe I lose the roll over ability of having a 29 on the back but with a motor I don't think it matters

[grinch]

Mullet and a lil less compression and rebound dampening give them a lighter feel, and shorter reach if youre willing

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[Bronco]

Picked up a Canyon Spectral a few weeks ago when they were on sale. Have a handful of rides on it and curious if anyone else on an E MTB is getting a lot of pedal strikes. What's up with that?

[skinipenem]

Picked up a Canyon Spectral a few weeks ago when they were on sale. Have a handful of rides on it and curious if anyone else on an E MTB is getting a lot of pedal strikes. What's up with that?

How much sag r you running?

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[MegaStoke]

Picked up a Canyon Spectral a few weeks ago when they were on sale. Have a handful of rides on it and curious if anyone else on an E MTB is getting a lot of pedal strikes. What's up with that?

Ebikes generally have pretty low BB heights, and being less than nimble doesn’t help.

Solutions include:
Shorter cranks
Lower profile pedals
More skillz

[Andeh]

Picked up a Canyon Spectral a few weeks ago when they were on sale. Have a handful of rides on it and curious if anyone else on an E MTB is getting a lot of pedal strikes. What's up with that?

Yes, it's a common issue. I solved mine by overforking and running a bit less sag (~28% instead of 30%). That's why most of them come with 160mm cranks.

[Bronco]

Cool, I'll have to check into the sag and probably slow down a little. I think increased speed has something to do with it.

[skinipenem]

Cool, I'll have to check into the sag and probably slow down a little. I think increased speed has something to do with it.

In running 27% sag rear on yt decoy. 160mm cranks. Rarely pedal strike.

The bike is heavy and will create a significant amount of static sag resulting in more sag than intended. To avoid this issue, measure sag with the bike unweighted by lifting the bike from the seat. If confused, look up race sag vs static sag for moto. Not exactly what I am referring to, but should clarify.

Slowing down is not the solution.

Other issues although less likely could be in your suspension settings Rebound too slow, too little compression, bottoming out etc... of sag setting and 160mm cranks don't solve your woes then report back.

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[XXX-er]

I get a lot of strikes with my Bullit , suspension is set properly but the BB is low also my tendancey is to keep pedaling so the motor keeps putting out which is I think the main reason i don't think i would be doing it on an acoustic bike, I wouldn't worry about it

the pins in my pedals got pretty trashed so on the next pair of Race Face Chesters I took the pins out of one side and so I just flip them around to pin side to ride, they don't sound as bad hitting and i got another set of pins

I haven tried SPD on the ebike yet

[Andeh]

You know you can usually set the motor to provide assist for a certain amount of time when you stop pedaling, right? At least you can on the Levo. It's pretty helpful for techy stuff because you can crank hard, then level the pedals and the motor keeps going for a half second or so.