- You have decided to buy an E mountain bike,
and I have to say, it is a mighty fine idea.
But how and where
do you actually drop that hard earned cash?
Do you buy it online?
Do you go to an independent bike shop?
Do you go to a chain store?
Or do you buy your bike from a direct sales brand?
Lots of things to think about.
So let's have a look at the detail
on how best to go about it.
(upbeat electronic music)
But what you need to know or find out before you
hand over your cash.
Well, first of all, you need to decide,
are you buying an E bike or an E mountain bike.
Now an E bike tends to be city orientated.
It's got slick tyres.
It doesn't have any suspension.
And it's usually got mud guards and some racks.
Whereas an E mountain bike, it is made for the mountains.
It has got knobbly tyres, full suspension,
and a seat dropper.
Now I mentioned earlier that mountain bikes
come with full suspension, but not all the time.
As you can see, there's this bike here
which has got suspension up front, but not on the rear.
This is a hard tail.
So, if you are just gonna be riding forest trails,
or smooth tracks, then that could actually be
a great bike to tackle that.
However, if you're venturing off road into more
technical mountain terrain,
then you really need to be looking
at a full suspension bike.
There's lots of other things too.
You need to be looking at your budget,
how much are you gonna spend on your bike?
What brand are you gonna choose?
Maybe that's important to you.
But critically, there's things which are specific
to E mountain bikes.
And two of those, most important ones,
are battery and motor.
Now, the battery, they can go from say
200 watt hours, up to 700 watt hours.
But the thing with that is that the smaller battery's
gonna give you less range than the bigger battery.
So that's something you might need to bear in mind
when you're buying your E mountain bike.
You might wanna go for smaller rides,
or you might wanna go for bigger rides.
So it really is important you get that right.
Secondly is the motor.
Now, there's a huge range of motors on the market,
from brands such as Bosch to Bros, to Shimano,
to Yamaha, and they all have their
own individual characteristics.
Now one way to buy your E mountain bike
is actually from a chain store.
Obviously this depends on the country that you live in.
Here in the U.K. we have many such as Gordo's,
as Decathlon, as Halfords,
or indeed this shop which is Evans.
Now this is the Cheltenham branch of Evans Cycles
here in the U.K.
I come here because it's the closest to my house.
It's about 40 minutes away.
Obviously there's gonna be a chain store in your country
and you probably have the same experience,
is that proximity, which means you can go and
check out all the bikes.
Now in terms of the bikes,
lots of choice, we've got Cannondale, Trek, Norco,
Specialised, BMC, and of course Cube.
So let's go and have a look inside
at what these guys have got to offer.
Now the great thing about coming to a chain store
such as Evans is they're quite likely to have
a lot of brands, a lot of models, lotta sizes,
and of course a lot of colours.
And because it's a big store,
then it's quite likely the prices will be slightly less
than you'll get elsewhere.
And of course if there's a bike that you fancy
that they haven't got in stock,
they can actually get that bike in for you.
Another great thing about coming to a shop
is you can actually look and you can try the sizes
which we'll talk about later.
Plus of course, you can have that personal
relationship with some of the staff.
Where's my coffee?
Now it's often the case that a lot of chain stores
offer last year's bikes at discounted prices.
This Norco Sight has caught my eye and I'm looking,
it's a 2019 bike and it's been reduced by a thousand pound
from 5,000 down to 4,000 pound.
The cool thing is, you can come into the shop,
you can have a chat with the staff,
you can get on the bike,
you can see yeah, is it for me?
And of course remember, you can actually take this
bike away for 30 days, and decide if it is for you.
And if it's not, you can bring it back
but if you do bring it back,
remember, you can't get your money back,
you'd actually swap it for another bike.
But then again, there's a huge range.
Now buying an E mountain bike can be a scary business
what with all those electronics and batteries and motors.
So that's where a reputable bike shop comes into its own.
They'll have technicians and engineers
which will do such things as software updates,
run diagnostics checks, or any other electrical fancy work.
Luckily for you, it won't be me behind the counter.
Where's that bike?
(hammer banging)
Now another cool part about buying from a chain store
is that they will price match.
Which means they'll equal the price
offered by another store.
There's loads of other things and I really like that
personal touch although I'm still waiting for that coffee
which I ordered earlier on.
And all the other things that comes with
buying a mountain bike.
Such things as cleaners, tyres, wheels,
it's components, clothing, there's such a wide range here.
You can come here, you can try it on.
You can try the bikes.
So, in short, it's a great way to buy an E mountain bike.
(funky hip hop music)
Now there is of course online shopping for E bikes.
Go onto the website, check all the different prices out,
or the different specs.
It's a really great way of comparing all those different
bikes out there, just with a click of a mouse
rather than travelling miles to a bike shop.
When it comes to ordering a bike from a bike shop website,
it's super simple.
All you need to do is just go online,
select the bike you want
in the colour and the size, get it ordered,
then boom, it magically appears upon your doorstep.
All you've gotta do is unbox it.
And then get out for a ride.
Some shops it'll actually even let you order in a bike
online in the size and spec and then
they get it in the shop, let you have a quick look at it,
quick spin round the carpark,
and then you confirm the purchase.
But, one thing you really need to bear in mind
is that you need to really do your research
when it comes to buying a bike online.
Now when it comes to online shopping,
there is another option and it's warehouses.
Basically these guys are retailers,
that don't actually have a shop.
They just deal purely online.
So you order from them and the bike turns up
exactly the same way.
These guys definitely do have some really good deals
especially on like last year's models.
Things like that, so it's definitely worth
checking them out.
However, there are a few drawbacks when it comes
to buying online.
Now, downsides when it comes to buying online,
it's quite difficult obviously to demo that bike.
So you don't actually know what you're buying
without actually testing that bike out
to make sure you've got the right size and motor,
the spec, things like that.
I think another thing is that bikes actually look
a lot better in the flesh.
So go along and check that bike out, touch it,
feel the shape of it, sit on it.
And the other thing I think
it's quite impersonal buying online.
If you to a bike shop to buy a bike,
you kinda build up a relationship with the staff,
and the owners, things like that.
Meaning that you can go in there,
grab a coffee, and talk about all things bike.
Something you definitely are gonna be missing out
if you're buying online.
(funky hip hop music)
Now alternatively you could go to a bike shop
or even better, a specialist E bike shop
such as this one, Racecoast Cycles in the
Midlands of the U.K.
Now, there's knowledge and there's knowledge.
I hear a lot of time that people simply
turn up to a bike shop,
they pump the tyres up,
turn the handlebars,
and they ship that bike out the door,
and that's the last you hear of it.
However, a specialist shop such as this one
will give the bike a PDI check,
that's a pre-delivery inspection
which they check everything,
from the motor to the battery to the displays
and get that setup right.
They'll even probably give you some basic
suspension setup tips, which is really invaluable.
They'll also tell you how to charge the battery,
how to look after the battery.
The key point here is that,
there's a person there to discuss all these points with.
And what they'll also be able to do is
be able to tell you what's right or wrong with the bike.
Because they will be E bike motor specialists,
and trained such as with Bosch or Specialised.
And you can bring your bike in and they'll wire it up
to see whether the software needs updating,
anything that's right or wrong with the bike,
they'll be able to tell you things
that you won't be able to find out by yourself at home.
They'll also be able to set you up with an app
such as E-Tube from Shimano,
or Mission Control and Specialised,
they'll get that setup for you.
So you don't have to do it
when you're out in the woods in the rain.
It's all done, and you're good to go.
So what are the pluses then when dealing
with an independent bike shop.
For me I think more than anything,
it's all about being personal.
You can build a relationship with the people
on the shop floor, the shop owner.
You can work a deal out.
And more than anything, they actually know about these bikes
and they can help you with your decision making.
Of course, you've got such things
as the range, you can
browse all the different brands and models.
And you can see exactly what's for you.
But I think for me it's the fact that you can
actually touch the bike,
and sometimes you can actually take them out and demo them.
You can pull it out, and you can jump on it,
sit on it, touch it, and go, yeah,
wouldn't mind taking this for a spin.
So what other limitations then when dealing
with an independent bike store?
Well obviously you're restricted to the brands
and the models that they've got in store at the time.
Second point is, yes, they can be slightly pricier
than a direct sales bike.
But there's lots of really good bikes on the
market at the moment.
And the final thing of course is,
you've actually gotta get outta the house
to go and buy that bike.
But, actually that's quite a good thing, right?
- Now, another option when it comes to buying online
is to go direct sales.
If you don't know what that means,
it means the manufacturer sells directly to you.
So it misses out the middle man.
In turn you get a really well specked bike,
for not a lot of money.
And these are definitely super popular with people.
So, if you're gonna buy a bike direct,
you need to get on the bandwagon quick
as soon as that new model comes out,
'cause it's gonna sell out super quick.
Only downsides to these there's obviously
limited demo days.
So if you are buying one, you need to get along
to a demo day to make sure you're riding the
right size bike and the right specked bike.
And obviously warranty and returns,
seems like that can be a little bit more involved.
But these guys are a really good programme.
When you send the bike back,
they're gonna turn it around super quick.
They've got a team that deals with that.
They're gonna get that bike straight back to you ASAP.
So, direct sales, is something you should
definitely be checking out.
(upbeat funky pop music)
- One thing you might wanna consider
when you're choosing your bike is actually
what display that bike has got.
Now there's different philosophies
between the different brands.
For example, we've got this Cube here which has
got a Bosch motor, as you can see you can see
what mode you're in,
you can see how much battery you've got left,
you can see what speed you're doing.
Whereas say the Specialised system
is much more minimalist.
So all you've got is a plus or minus,
which switches between low power and higher power.
But how then do you know if you prefer
a minimalist approach or an in depth display
orientated E mountain bike.
Well, the only way to find out is actually to go and
try out a bike for yourself.
And demo events are a great way to find that out
because brands do them, magazines do them,
shops do them, in fact, we've done a video
just on that whole process of demoing an E bike
just up here.
Let's move on now to sizing, because,
you come to a shop, and sizing is the most important
thing to get right on your E mountain bike.
So let's have a look at the details on sizing.
And what sizing really is important
I'd actually say that sizing is probably the most important
thing to get right when you buy your E mountain bike.
Now the thing with sizing is,
it actually varies from brand to brand.
And that's why it's important to get to a demo event
or to a shop or maybe to try out your mate's E bike
to see what size is for you.
In fact, we've done a detailed video on the
whole business of sizing just up here.
Moving on to other things such as warranty.
Now warranty actually is dependent on the brand.
Some brands offer one year.
Some offer two years.
So that's something you can find out when you
choose your E mountain bike.
And what about setup?
Now, this could be your first ever E mountain bike.
How do you set it up?
Especially if you're buying a bike with full suspension.
Find out if the shop will give you a setup lesson
when you buy your E mountain bike.
This is a really important thing to get right
before you get out on the trails.
So you've dropped the cash, you've got your
E mountain bike.
And I have to say, it is the best decision
you have ever made.
What now?
Well, check out some beginner skills videos
that Chris has done just up here.
Meantime, just thumbs up, like the video.
Any questions, any questions,
just leave 'em in the comments box below.
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