Electric Mountain bike for roughly £2k, any recommendations?

[Martylaa]

Anyone into their E-Bikes on here?

I'm thinking about getting back into Mountain Biking again but my knee wouldn't thank me for it so thinking of maybe a E-Mountain Bike for around £2k, I'm thinking new or second hand model nothing older than 2 years tbh.

Anyone recommend something or things to look out for please?

[Harry Smith]

Stick with the main makes such as Specialized, Trek, Cube, Whyte, Giant etc. You will pay more but get better build and components. New you will only get a hardtail for 2k. Full suspension, you could find a 2017/18 for that budget. If you want trouble free riding - not guaranteed with ebikes - you will need to buy new or s/h from a dealer. Only some makes will extend limited warranty to subsequent owners, Trek and Specialized do.
It does really depend on what sort of riding you will be doing for best advice.

[joe narvey]

If you go for a specialised I have a brand new unused battery for a Levo for sale.

I’ve mentioned this here in case you can get one cheap because the battery is no good.

[Martylaa]

Stick with the main makes such as Specialized, Trek, Cube, Whyte, Giant etc. You will pay more but get better build and components. New you will only get a hardtail for 2k. Full suspension, you could find a 2017/18 for that budget. If you want trouble free riding - not guaranteed with ebikes - you will need to buy new or s/h from a dealer. Only some makes will extend limited warranty to subsequent owners, Trek and Specialized do.
It does really depend on what sort of riding you will be doing for best advice.

Thanks, I’ve started scouring eBay and the classified ads online to see what’s about.

[Martylaa]

If you go for a specialised I have a brand new unused battery for a Levo for sale.

I’ve mentioned this here in case you can get one cheap because the battery is no good.

Thanks, I’ve got a Specialized on my watch list.

[wallyuk]

Good luck, this is quite hard to do. I ride with ebikers and after two years a lot of expensive bits can go wrong. You will need some sort of backup. My one has been ordered some 10 months ago and still a few months away.

[higham5]

Echoing the above , my wife has a Specialised E bike and loves it , however emtbs are a different kettle of fish. Not all at the same time I ride with lads and lasses who have
Cube
Haibike
Trek
In total 5 people , of the 5 all of them have had problems , two of them have had complete bike swaps eg old bike replaced with new. Main issues , electrical pick up problems , computers, intermittent power. One guy is on his second pair of ebikes for him and his missus as the bearings in their Bosch motor? Were worn and irreplaceable! Motors are a mix of Yamaha and Bosch/ Brose.

All of the the above problems appeared in the first 6 months. Only one guy is on the same bike 2 years down the line. So please be cautious with your hard earned on pre owned e mountain bikes.

Steve

[junglebert]

My cousin has an EBike shop in Stamford, this is his website:

https://www.cranking.co.uk/

He knows his stuff, and will do you a good deal.

[Martylaa]

Echoing the above , my wife has a Specialised E bike and loves it , however emtbs are a different kettle of fish. Not all at the same time I ride with lads and lasses who have
Cube
Haibike
Trek
In total 5 people , of the 5 all of them have had problems , two of them have had complete bike swaps eg old bike replaced with new. Main issues , electrical pick up problems , computers, intermittent power. One guy is on his second pair of ebikes for him and his missus as the bearings in their Bosch motor? Were worn and irreplaceable! Motors are a mix of Yamaha and Bosch/ Brose.

All of the the above problems appeared in the first 6 months. Only one guy is on the same bike 2 years down the line. So please be cautious with your hard earned on pre owned e mountain bikes.

Steve

Bloody hell that's not good, especially if I purchased a 2nd hand unit only for the motor to go, more research needed me thinks...

[RickChard]

I have two bikes, one new and one eBay special. The new MTB has been faultless for well over 1000 miles.

The eBay one, a gravel bike, which was only 3 months old, failed after only 300 miles and I was told over a year wait for parts. Repaired now, but was off road for 5 months with the supplier waiting parts, I gave up and took it to an independent who repaired it in 90 minutes!!

Definitely do some research.

Issues aside, previous years I’d covered maybe 2-300 miles, since having the ebikes I’ve done maybe 1500 miles in the same timeframe.

[Harry Smith]

Bloody hell that's not good, especially if I purchased a 2nd hand unit only for the motor to go, more research needed me thinks...

Don't assume that they all go wrong but it is more prevalent with ebikes due to electronics. A month ago I went out with a group on Cannock Chase and the conditions were utterly crap. Some puddles were a foot deep or more. I also fell off and cracked a rib but that's another story lol. Although I cleaned the bike reasonably well it seems there was some water ingress and I've had to send the motor off for repair. It's had new bearings and a mudstop device fitted, cost £130 all in but at least there is a year warranty on the motor now and it would not have cost me much less to do the job myself (and no warranty). All I'm saying is treat them correctly eg don't expect them to be submersible or maintenance free and they will give good service.

[Martylaa]

So I've spent a bit more looking into these, I was looking at a second hand model but the problem is that any motor warranty is only good for the first owner, it doesn't transfer over, that's stopping me from buying one tbh and there's no way I'd spend £4k plus on a new one tbh...

Anyone care to comment on the reliability of the motors? Are they ok?

[docd]

I bought a 2nd hand Ghost Teru eMTB via Jack / GC2012 of this parish last Christmas. It was supplied from Germany with a two year warranty on the major components, it uses a Bosch CX Gen 3 battery and motor. Cost was £1200 (about half RRP) it had 1940 km on the clock on arrival and now has just over 4000 km. Consumables have been tyres, chain, front sprocket, brake pads, ie. the usual but the motor is harder on chains, sprockets and rear tyres. The motor was a bit rattly to start but torquing up mounting bolts and sorting the upper battery mount fixed that. It has been used off road in the Peak district (read rocky and steep) and has been excellent, I wouldn't have ridden trails like Mam Tor, Edale Cross, Doctor's Gate etc. without the motor. It will do 35 miles of off road with climbing on one battery charge (over 40 miles on the flat and using eco mode). Reliability on the electrics has been good - I have been careful not to drown it in fords etc, but it hasn't been babied. I fitted a suspension seat post as the hard tail was giving my backside a pounding. All in all an excellent purchase that I am very happy with.

Original sales thread here :

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...+mountain+bike

[Martylaa]

I bought a 2nd hand Ghost Teru eMTB via Jack / GC2012 of this parish last Christmas. It was supplied from Germany with a two year warranty on the major components, it uses a Bosch CX Gen 3 battery and motor. Cost was £1200 (about half RRP) it had 1940 km on the clock on arrival and now has just over 4000 km. Consumables have been tyres, chain, front sprocket, brake pads, ie. the usual but the motor is harder on chains, sprockets and rear tyres. The motor was a bit rattly to start but torquing up mounting bolts and sorting the upper battery mount fixed that. It has been used off road in the Peak district (read rocky and steep) and has been excellent, I wouldn't have ridden trails like Mam Tor, Edale Cross, Doctor's Gate etc. without the motor. It will do 35 miles of off road with climbing on one battery charge (over 40 miles on the flat and using eco mode). Reliability on the electrics has been good - I have been careful not to drown it in fords etc, but it hasn't been babied. I fitted a suspension seat post as the hard tail was giving my backside a pounding. All in all an excellent purchase that I am very happy with.

Original sales thread here :

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...+mountain+bike

I do remember the initial thread, its good to hear an actual customer talking about it, I'm actually talking to Jack about some upcoming models and the bonus is he's literally about 10 mins drive from me.

Looking at these as I think going uphill on a bike wouldn't be the best ideal for my knee but a motor assisted one sounds fun, plus a good mate of mine swears by his as the reason he's re-discovered biking again...