You want an E-bike?

Here are 5 relevant questions you should ask yourself:

1- What is my budget?  Yes, E-bikes are expensive but wait and think for one minute. Entry cost to cycling might be high but remind yourselves that there are almost no recurring cost, the bike season last 365 days and if you spread the cost of a bike over its lifetime, you understand clearly that biking is more affordable than many other sports.  Compare this to alpine skiing… You spend 1500$ in equipment and you are not even enjoying the hills without spending an average of 75$ per day forever.

2-  Are you a technical rider? Do you enjoy going downhill in intermediate or difficult single-track trails? If yes, consider a dual suspension bike.  The point of an e-bike is that you’ll climb more hills… and what comes up must go down, usually reasonably fast.  I am a dual-suspension guy.

3- Do you like winter biking?  If yes, an electric fat bike is a good all-round e-bike that you can use every day of the year. A fat bike is a compromise 8 months per year compared to a dual suspension bike that’s much more agile when there is no snow.  Remind you that with a little skill, a good mountain biker can ride a regular mountain bike probably 350 days per year. Be aware that there are restrictions to tire size in certain winter trails. Studded 29 x 2,8″ or 27,5 x 3″ do well in most conditions.  I prefer a dual-suspension to a larger tire. I prefer riding smaller tires  and picking my trails / conditions in the winter.

4- How long or how high will you ride?  If you like long day rides up and down mountain terrain, you will either want a high-capacity battery or a removable / swappable battery.  I love downhills so going up and down all day without requiring a lift ticket is an interesting feature for me. I picked a high capacity and removable / swappable battery.

5- In the future, who will help you solve problems and maintain your bike?   Buy your bike at a local shop. Build a relationship with your bike shop. You’ll get great service.  After-sale service is one of the most important things if you want to enjoy your bike for a long time.  If you buy a cheap foldable Chinese e-bike on Amazon, it will eventually break and good luck finding someone to fix it.   Good reliable brands sell good reliable bikes in good reliable bike shops.

There is no perfect bike for everyone and every condition.

I’ve found my answers to these questions I asked myself.

In the last 6 months, I also had the privilege to ride a Norco VLT1 electric fat bike, a Kona Remote 160, a Santa Cruz Heckler and Haibike Xduro FatSix.

I bought a Scott Genius E-ride 930 at Bicyclette de Hull last month. I ordered a second set of wheels with studded 3″ winter tires.  It’s a dual-suspension e-bike with a swappable high capacity battery and the frame can be adjusted to handle both 27+ and 29-inch tires. In the summer, my second set of wheels will be mounted with road tires and I will enjoy the twinlock that controls the suspensions for road / trail / mountain conditions.

After riding it over 300 km in the last 5 weeks, I could not be happier.