New e-bike recommendation please?

broona

broona

broona

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I've just donated my old Rose Granite Chief to my son, and I'm looking to get myself something that I can keep up with him on.

Probably looking at full suspension again, 140mm or so of travel, preferably a Bosch motor, up to around £3k, any recommendations please? Cheers
 
If you have a Rocky mountain service centre near you, I'd look into one of them also.
Powerful motors, but the way they deliver power is different from all other motors, as it direct to the chain rather than the crank arms.
Great frames but you need to go up in price to get into the better specs.

Rocky

I'd have gone for a Rocky, but there are zero service centres near me. Personally, I'd go for the brand that your local bike shop supports, for when an issue arises.



If you want Bosch powered then a Mondraker is a good choice.

Crafty

Or Cube offer very good value for money on most of their range.

Cube
 
broona said:
I've been looking at that one, and I'd have bought it instantly with a Bosch motor, but not sure on the Yamaha, thanks for the link.
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It's the PW-X3 which is pretty much on par with the Bosch performance line CX gen4.

The Bosch is arguably a little more refined in the way it delivers power and possibly has better app support, but the Yamaha will be equally powerful (if not so refined) and possibly easier to derestrict if you wanted.

To be honest, any of the big brand motors are good, if you have a Yamaha service centre near you, it's worth considering.

Here's a review of most of the big name motors of the last few years, It's not the perfect test but gives a good idea as to how the motors perform.
Bear in mind the Shimano ep801 got a massive update recently which added a fair amount of upgrades to bring it closer to it's rivals

 
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Thank you for the links, it looks like I've got a Rocky Mountain authorised dealer about 30 miles away, so that could be an option.

My LBS was a Giant dealer, but I think they've lost the franchise, so I'll pop along next week and see what they've got in now.

It looks to be all about compromise (especially on my budget) when looking at the specs, whether that be on the motor or the components, I'll do some more research.
 
I'd avoid anything with a yamaha since they stopped selling their own brand bikes in the states etc.

they could just abandon their electric motors as well
 
glitch said:
Rocky Mountain are not a safe bet right now - currently going through restructuring to avoid bankruptcy. Be very aware of what that may mean for warranty, support, etc.
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Thank you, I hadn't seen that, I'll do some googling.
arknor said:
I'd avoid anything with a yamaha since they stopped selling their own brand bikes in the states etc.

they could just abandon their electric motors as well
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Funnily enough, I was just reading about them not selling their own brand bikes, think my initial instinct of Bosch might be the way forward.
 
broona said:
Funnily enough, I was just reading about them not selling their own brand bikes, think my initial instinct of Bosch might be the way forward.
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Impossible to derestrict though, Shimano are good and people get good miles on them

Who's got the highest mile bike & motor?

Just hit 5000miles today on the bike, which seems high, but got me thinking there must be a few who have done mega miles by now. Taking the bike to really mean 'frame' as I'm already on the second motor! Leaderboard added below for bike mileage and column added for number of motors if provided...
www.emtbforums.com www.emtbforums.com

I have Bosch and if I could derestrict it I honestly probably would. seems most ebikes around here aren't legal and the copes don't care.
 
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arknor said:
Impossible to derestrict though, Shimano are good and people get good miles on them

Who's got the highest mile bike & motor?

Just hit 5000miles today on the bike, which seems high, but got me thinking there must be a few who have done mega miles by now. Taking the bike to really mean 'frame' as I'm already on the second motor! Leaderboard added below for bike mileage and column added for number of motors if provided...
www.emtbforums.com www.emtbforums.com

I have Bosch and if I could derestrict it I honestly probably would. seems most ebikes around here aren't legal and the copes don't care.
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Not exactly derestricted but you can use a speedi to get around 23mph instead of 15. I've got one fitted.

For your budget OP cube is probably your best bet, I'd absolutely stick with a Bosch motor as well.
 
broona said:
Do I need to derestrict an ebike for general use?
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no, you can go faster than 16mph but it's hard work with a 20 odd kg bike and beefy tyres.

I guess most people just bounce around 15mph with the motor kicking in and out, it's boring if your on any long straights.
probably will still seem really good for the first month or so, then you'll end up wishing you can go faster.

if you get a 5th gen motor theres probably absolutely 0 chance if can be derestricted, seems 4th gen probably can be now with bikespeed rs

but you'll ruin your warranty if it gets detected, so I'd avoid trying one out for 2 years.
IDK what motor you'll end up with but bosch cx are something crazy like 600+ outside of warranty.


They can handle the speed as there's S pedelecs in the states with the same motor and no restriction that can go upto 28mph
it would just suck if you ended up with a motor that dies early in the warranty period, but the software has flagged that you've derestricted it.


police will seize derestricted biles btw, and you get charged with something like driving a motor vehicle without insurance etc, because they no longer class it as a bike.

your risk of being caught are probably like 0.0% unless your an idiot, but its still something to consider....

almost every Deliveroo rider I see is breaking the law
 
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arknor said:
I'd avoid anything with a yamaha since they stopped selling their own brand bikes in the states etc.

they could just abandon their electric motors as well
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I think it's highly unlikely they will abandon the electric motor business. I believe they have sold the largest amount of motor units of all the big brands, so there must be some profit to be had in it.
It's more likely they will concentrate on their stronger European market and continue supplying motors to 3rd party bike manufacturers like Giant and Haibike.
The US market is just too volatile at the moment.

I wouldn't be concerned buying into Yamaha at the moment as long as there is a reputable local bike shop to offer support.

It will be a massive shame if Rocky go under, same as Nukeproof was, I hope they get the backing they deserve.

The Bosch smart system on the gen 4 with a disc magnet is notoriously difficult to derestrict, there have been many devices on the market that have ceased to work after a certain mileage or patch from Bosch, they are not cheap either.
The gen 4 with a rim magnet is even harder to derestrict, and I suspect the new gen 5 will be harder still if not impossible.

If you want a system that is easily derestricted, then Bafang or Shimano are better options.
 
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arknor said:
none of them work on smart system? according to what I've read on EMTB forums they all get detected after a while and you end up in limp mode
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Speedi does as it's mechanical, not a chip. You're advised not to link your GPS to the flow app when riding though as that's the only way it could possibly tell there is a discrepancy. (Just use Strava if you want to track your rides).
Don't think there's been any issues on the cube FB group from people that run them.
 
Apparently the smart system can detect a mechanical device like the Speedi, I've seen a few people report this who've had them.
There was a detailed post about it on the EMTB forums from the creator of the planetary system (similar to the Speedi) which suggested it's more to do with how you ride the bike rather than any GPS data collected.

It's something to do with continued riding at the upper limit of assist compared to speed, cadence and input power.
So as long as you're not spending prolonged amounts of time near the limit, the system shouldn't detect it.
 
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famas said:
There was a detailed post about it on the EMTB forums from the creator of the planetary system (similar to the Speedi) which suggested it's more to do with how you ride the bike rather than any GPS data collected.
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The whoe thing is retraded imo...

They don't sell cars locked to motorway speeds... It's not on Bosch to limit the motors....

EMTB will be a huge target for thieves, and you have no chance of escape at 16mph vs someone on a normal bike unless your going up hill..
 
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So, I'm still pontificating, and back to full suspension again, don't ask...

I've now got 2 specific models on mine, one a 2024 model, the other a 2025 model :-

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Any opinions please? I'm hoping to use it to hit a couple of local trail centres, and also for some road rides with some hard tail mates with a different set of tyres.
 
Indeed, and it's my only gripe with the Bosch system, why Bosch are so hell-bent on preventing derestriction is beyond me.

What's wrong with making it unambiguously clear that manipulation will void your warranty (which they pretty much do) then it's down to the consumer if they want to take that risk or not, but they are actively going out of their way to find and prevent it, why?
 
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