- This video is all about riding your e-bike down the hill.
I'm gonna tell you what I think about when I'm riding
and hopefully give you some tips.
(rock music)
So, it's on the fast, rough stuff
that the e-bike's really come into their own.
All that mass, so sprung mass of the bike
makes it super stable and makes that suspension work
really well.
Of course, that doesn't mean you don't have to still
set up your suspension.
You don't want it bottoming out really hard.
That can get you in trouble.
Where the weight does work against you slightly
is when the stuff gets really rough
and maybe very technical, you need to hop
or unweight that bike over roots or rocks.
Of course, you now gotta put a bit more input
into the bike to get it up off the floor.
So, with the steeper sections like this one here
the weight is gonna work against you slightly.
It's really important to get your entry speed correct.
Because if you're coming too fast
you're gonna find it hard to slow down
in these steep sections.
Also, you've got big breaks on most e-bikes.
They're 200 mil rotors, but if you're dragging your brakes
a lot they will get hot, and they will fade.
So, as Steve likes to say, power is nothing without grip.
The same case with breaking.
So, you can have big 200 mil rotors and downhill brakes
but you still need some grip on the fall
to actually slow down.
So, on my specialised (mumbles) a big bike
is 180 mil (mumbles).
It's capable of going downhill very fast.
I've got these Butcher Grid tyres.
They're downhill tread, they do stop fast
although if I really wanted to stop fast
I could get even more aggressive
and put some bigger nob tyres on there.
When it comes to drop offs on the trail
it's the same really as applies to normal bikes.
You really need to know those drop offs are there.
So, hopefully, a friend's gonna tell you about that
or just ride steady and work out where
these drop offs are first.
Because with an e-bike, you've got the extra weight
of the bike, it does make it a little bit more tricky
to get a good manual.
So, you're really gonna need to pump
and get back down to that rear wheel
to get the front wheel up.
Or you can rely on a little bit more speed.
That momentum is not gonna let your front wheel drop
quite so easily.
As a last resort, you can rely on a paddle wheelie.
Using your power, but for me, that seems a bit risky
because you've got to nail the timing
and the petal stroke to get off this drop off.
So, after the drop off, I've got a corner coming
and I can see I'm gonna have to break pretty hard.
So, yes, I've talked about grip already.
I've got plenty of grip, bike's really stable.
But to slow the bike down is gonna take
a little bit more effort because of that weight.
So, it's really the case of just keeping your head up
trying to predict your braking and brake slightly
earlier than I would do on a normal bike.
Same skills with cornering, trying to get my weight low
to the outside, and look around that corner
so I can come off my brakes as early as possible
and carry on the speed.
So, when it comes to going fast in the corners
my approach differs slightly to actually my speed
on the trail already.
So, in these corners it's quite fast
and I need to be fairly close to my level of pedal assist
so over 20 miles an hour that motor isn't gonna help me out.
So, in these faster corners, I'm really thinking about
trying to carry as much speed as I can
because I can't rely on that motor.
Whereas in the slower turns, if I miss the mark
I can get back on the pedals and on we get back up
to speed really quickly, so I'll be a bit more aggressive
in those corners.
Of course, the consequences of falling off
at lower speed, are hopefully gonna be
a little bit less, anyway, I can rely on that motor
get me going again.
So, there's a few tip on riding an e-bike down the hill.
It's definitely a case of when you can use the power
to your advantage, but also the weight.
But also adapt in your riding to those situations
when the weight doesn't necessarily help you out.
If you want to see some more videos
click over there for a video with Nicolas Vouilloz.
A 10 times World Downhill champion.
He's got some more tips for you
and over there for how to climb an e-bike.
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