Joining the dark side

[weeksy]

What’s considered the best bike at that price point?

I don't think there is a best. There's too much choice.

I'd personally go totally different than you and buy a Mondraker Sly

https://www.biketart.com/products/mondr ... XLEALw_wcB

But what i want from a bike isn't what you want. If I was spending big bucks it'd be an Atherton but that's mostly pointless for your use

If spending a bit more id go for the Dune
https://www.biketart.com/products/mondr ... 3946&_ss=r

But again that's low power small battery

I'd argue a Trek Rail+ though with the Bosch and Trek quality

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/bikes/ele ... oke__71403

[Nordboy]

£7600

I'd probably go Trek, Specialized or Canyon for that price if i'm honest. All proven bikes, good back up and normally availability is good.

But tbh, I'm a bit out of date with the new stuff, mine is a 2019 model and as I'm not currently getting much use out of it and not considering upgrading then I haven't been reading much.

[formula400]

"Dark side" means Road Bikes...

Getting eMTB is arguably seeing the light!
M

Not sure I ageee with you there
Love my road bike

[weeksy]

"Dark side" means Road Bikes...

Getting eMTB is arguably seeing the light!
M

Not sure I ageee with you there
Love my road bike

*plonk*

[Mr Moofo]

F400 - you obviously have biking skills so buy the best equipped bike that has a dealer nr you. So RS Zebs / Fox 38s and equiv rear suspension. XT or SRAM Gx or above gears - or the electric equivalent. Most frames these days are very similar . The people I ride with are all Specialized fanbois. One however one has just built up a Litecarbon (?) with a Bafang motor. It is very light! At Surrey Hills everyone was on Santa Cruz , but that has probably been eclipsed by Amflow now.
It’s probably difficult to buy a bad bike

[mboy]

"Dark side" means Road Bikes...

Getting eMTB is arguably seeing the light!
M

Not sure I ageee with you there
Love my road bike

OK o for the 25yrs or so I've been posting on MTB related forums, "Dark Side" has always meant Road Bikes... When an MTBer talks about "going over to the dark side" it means that they are getting a road bike... That's just accepted MTB forum parlance for well over 2 decades now. Buying an eMTB?

Right, frame is 5 years, motor 2 years,

Budget wise £7600

But need to be cycle scheme and need to be bought asap

All the reviews I’ve read have been positive,

Also my riding buddy has a trek rail and he was the one who pointed me there.

Riding will be the odd peaslake, odd swinley and then a few flat rides where I live.

Amount of use, not loads until the little man starts going longer distances

Ok so all of my advice comes from the point of view of someone who's spent 2 decades in the cycle industry, owned my own shop, worked for big brands, dealt with consumers and customers at all levels and sold bikes of all shapes and sizes... What's more, I am still a keen rider... So...

When you say "needs to be bought ASAP"...? Do you have time to test ride bikes first? It sounds like to me you're not sure of what you need (have ideas of what you'd like though), and are about to spend a huge chunk of wedge before having done more thorough research...?

How so...? Well for "flat rides where I live", an eMTB is about the worst way to spend a load of cash! I have seen it countless times, people go and spend a huge chunk on a full fat eMTB for riding flat local trails, then complain that it's heavy, slower than their previous unassisted MTB, and it was a pointless waste of cash... And they're right! A 25kg bike with a draggy motor and a speed assist limit of 15.5mph will be rubbish on flat trails compared to a nice XC/Downcountry or even a decent shorter travel trail bike... Where full fat eMTB's come into their own, is on bigger, steeper terrain... The basic rule of thumb is, the steeper the terrain, the more an eMTB makes sense...

Of course, you don't have to go full fat... Lighter weight eBikes with more efficient motors and smaller batteries feel a lot closer to a regular MTB when over the 15.5mph assist limit, and they still give a reasonable assist up to that limit... @weeksy is vocal about his preference for them... I like them myself (I like all bikes though), and I own both full fat eMTB and a lighter weight eMTB too, and for flatter terrain, would always take the lighter bike out of preference... It's just faster and more like a regular bike on flowing trails, the full fat bike only makes more sense on steeper terrain.

So... The AmFlow by now you're thinking must make more sense...? It's lighter AND has the full fat motor... Well here's the issue... That Avinox motor has a LOT more drag above when it's not assisting than any other motor system. It takes around 30W just to turn it when it's not switched on I am told! This is mostly why it has about 10% worse range for a given battery size compared to other systems... But it's the torquiest and most powerful system out there, which is the massive appeal... Just don't buy it thinking cos it's light, it'll be fun to ride on flatter trails...

What’s considered the best bike at that price point?

"Best" is highly subjective... For many people it will be the AmFlow PL Carbon Pro on offer right now... For someone who's just sessioning DH runs, then something with longer travel and beefier components would make a lot more sense... For someone just riding their local flattish trails, then a sub 20kg "SL" eBike with much less assistance and less drag would make more sense... It's not a one size fits all thing you see! It's actually very hard to answer without asking lots and lots of questions... If you want to chat in more detail, I drop me a PM, happy to help so you don't end up with an expensive bike that isn't suitable for purpose...

[formula400]

ASAP means before end of Feb pay roll and also tax year. I am in a situation where I am better off spending 7.5k than 4/5/6k, and can’t see my self being able to again for quite a while.
I’ve still got my white t140s. And will be keeping it.

Also it will fill a green laner bike want/need


Epsom/esher common, swinley, peaslake
Trip from Wimbledon to Richmond park and back.

[mboy]

ASAP means before end of Feb pay roll and also tax year. I am in a situation where I am better off spending 7.5k than 4/5/6k, and can’t see my self being able to again for quite a while.
I’ve still got my white t140s. And will be keeping it.

Also it will fill a green laner bike want/need


Epsom/esher common, swinley, peaslake
Trip from Wimbledon to Richmond park and back.

Self employed I take it...?

OK, in this case, get the AmFlow PL Carbon... They've got the strongest residual values and a keen following, if you don't like it, you'll lose the least on it selling it on, but to be fair, there's a good chance you'll like it anyway and you can get it from a local shop and it already has discount on it...

But it'll feel draggy on flatter rides is all I'm saying. But then most eBikes do anyway...

[formula400]

No I am Pastry chef, but you’re close.
I’ve riden 3 e bikes so far and liked them all over the last 4 years.
I don’t and won’t get out much, but I just wanted to get the best I can, I really like the “slimmer” look of the Amflow and the range seemed very good.

As for being a decent rider, that’s up for debate.

[Mr Moofo]

No I am Pastry chef, but you’re close.
I’ve riden 3 e bikes so far and liked them all over the last 4 years.
I don’t and won’t get out much, but I just wanted to get the best I can, I really like the “slimmer” look of the Amflow and the range seemed very good.

As for being a decent rider, that’s up for debate.

Have you bought the Amflow yet?
May need an April. session at Peaslake

[formula400]

No I am Pastry chef, but you’re close.
I’ve riden 3 e bikes so far and liked them all over the last 4 years.
I don’t and won’t get out much, but I just wanted to get the best I can, I really like the “slimmer” look of the Amflow and the range seemed very good.

As for being a decent rider, that’s up for debate.

Have you bought the Amflow yet?
May need an April. session at Peaslake

Not yet, waiting for work to short the cycle voucher
But for sure up for it

[Count Steer]

No I am Pastry chef, but you’re close.
I’ve riden 3 e bikes so far and liked them all over the last 4 years.
I don’t and won’t get out much, but I just wanted to get the best I can, I really like the “slimmer” look of the Amflow and the range seemed very good.

As for being a decent rider, that’s up for debate.

Have you bought the Amflow yet?
May need an April. session at Peaslake

Not yet, waiting for work to short the cycle voucher
But for sure up for it

Peaslake eh? Anyone for a spot of lunch?

[weeksy]

Me and @crust are always up for a bit of a ride as long as we're not away somewhere. I'll borrow something with a motor of course so i'm not holding everyone up.

[Couchy]

Big question are you gonna want to derestrict as 15mph gets dull really quickly. Where I ride mostly is very much XC type riding with some nice berms and features. On a restricted bike you hit the limiter all the time, the xc boys are quicker. On a derestricted bike it’s great fun and makes the whole place feel more downhill.
Of the new bikes most are locked down pretty good so can’t be derestricted easily. The amflow can apparently and most shimano ones too. Bosch are pretty much done, it’s the reason I haven’t bought a new one. I’ve got two, the trek rail is 3 years old and previous gen and is a great bike with Bosch motor, also have a previous gen spesh Levo. The motor is listed as more powerful than the Bosch 90nm vs 85nm but dig deeper it doesn’t give the same max watts of power. It’s also very linear where the Bosch is more full on more like a two stroke. I much prefer the Bosch.
£7600 will get you a great bike there’s some huge discounts around.
If you want the dji motor the just released megamo looks a lot better than the amflow

[mboy]

Big question are you gonna want to derestrict as 15mph gets dull really quickly. Where I ride mostly is very much XC type riding with some nice berms and features. On a restricted bike you hit the limiter all the time, the xc boys are quicker.

It always amazes me the amount of people who are ready to drop the best part of £10k on a bike, then completely null and void their warranty almost immediately because they didn't understand what they were buying properly... Hence my questioning in my previous post, and the assertion that for flatter trails, most people are FAR better served with a decent XC bike than they are an eBike...

[Couchy]

Big question are you gonna want to derestrict as 15mph gets dull really quickly. Where I ride mostly is very much XC type riding with some nice berms and features. On a restricted bike you hit the limiter all the time, the xc boys are quicker.

It always amazes me the amount of people who are ready to drop the best part of £10k on a bike, then completely null and void their warranty almost immediately because they didn't understand what they were buying properly... Hence my questioning in my previous post, and the assertion that for flatter trails, most people are FAR better served with a decent XC bike than they are an eBike...

Mine was £4k and I knew exactly what I was buying, derestricting doesn’t make the motor work any harder so little risk of it breaking because of that. Mine is three years old now and running fine. Where I ride the fastest xc riders average 15-16mph and these are super fit athletes. I’ve ridden the course in a normal bike and it’s 45mins averaging 11-12mph and half of it is boring climbs. On my ebike it’s 18-19 average and this makes it exciting. I’m too old to get super fit and I’ve no interest in being a cyclist. If I lived near a DH park great but I don’t so I use my bike to make a relatively flat course exciting, always turbo always as fast as I can go

[formula400]

So…. The PL pro is arriving 7-10 days.

I did’t really have a preference in motor brand, but went with a suggestion of a mate, did some reading about, and it looks great. Cant wait.

[formula400]

Something wicked this way comes

[formula400]

Had to bring it indoors as it started to rain.
All put together and just charging.

I need a sim card format now.

[weeksy]

Out at FoD yesterday, i think every 3rd bike was an Amflow lol. Lots of them about.