- You have to admit there is a beautiful simplicity
to riding a mountain bike.
At the same time an E-mountain bike will allow you to go
to places you might not have been to before
and definitely allows you to do more riding.
So the question then, whether to buy a mountain bike
or E-mountain bike has never been so tough.
So let's have a look at some of the questions.
(upbeat music)
A mountain bike and an E mountain bike,
pretty much the same beast
and both differing in performance
depending on what model you choose
and whether you're a newcomer to mountain biking
or a more experienced rider, you could argue that both have
their strengths and weaknesses.
The big question, however remains.
If you had to make the choice between one of the two,
which one would you make?
Today, I've got two bikes.
I've got a Stumpjumper and 140, 150mm travel
and the Levo and 150 front and back.
Both examples of trail bikes.
So today we're going to be looking at some of the band tests
and the questions, some of the facts
and maybe some of the performances of the two bikes
to help you make that decision.
(upbeat music)
With 29 inch wheels and a full carbon frame set.
The stump jumper and the Levo are actually pretty close
and when you factor in such things as the sizing
and the geometry, those are quite similar too.
Now the biggest difference between these two bikes
is actually the weight.
The stump jumper, depending on what model,
about 13 to 14 kilos.
The Levo on the other hand about 20 to 21 kilos.
Now, the important thing to remember here
is that they're just different numbers.
One number isn't better than the other because both bikes
require different techniques to ride them.
(upbeat music)
They're starting off with arguably
one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself
before buying a bike is what style,
what category of mountain bike do you want?
Do you want an all day mile muncher
or do you want a downhill bike?
Do you want a trail bike or do you want an Enduro bike?
Now the good news is that you can actually have E-bikes
and mountain bikes in all those categories.
Although I would say that if you're going for the big miles,
then if you'd like to even go further
or we would just need an extra battery.
Now the second point is probably weighted more towards
the E-mountain bike and that is,
do you actually have any preconceptions
about E-mountain bikes?
Well, here's the list of commonly quoted reasons
for not buying an E-mountain bike.
Well, first of all,
are we talking E-bike or E-mountain bikes?
There's actually a big difference here.
Secondly, he bikes make you unfit so say a lot of people,
well actually there's no scientific studies
to prove otherwise, and then there's that old nugget.
You only just turn the throttle, what throttle?
It's pedal assist.
Now, two classics that I frequently hear are,
"I'd only get me bike when I can't get up the hills
"or actually when I'm unfit."
Now, to me that sounds like negative forward planning.
And of course there's the other one.
"While I would make an E bike in 10 years time?"
Well, I mean, why 10 years?
You could probably go mountain biking
when you're 80 or 90-year old.
Maybe it could be that you simply do not like
the idea of E-mountain bikes,
and if that's the case, then fair enough.
Number three on the consideration list.
Have you actually ridden both styles of bike?
Have you ridden an E-bike and a mountain bike?
If not, you'll actually find it really difficult
to come up with a definitive answer
and maybe the answer should be based around
are you having fun, yes or no?
Now, an important thing to think about is actually
how much time do you have to ride your mountain bike?
Remember an E-mountain bike can probably do more riding
in a short space of time, wow.
Now, how much money you have
is incredibly important consideration.
Two of the bikes you'd be looking at today as examples.
The stump jumper and the Levo
are actually pretty high end bikes are also full suspension,
but you also get hard tail mountain bikes too.
A decent hard tail mountain bike will start at around
about 800 pounds whilst a entry level mid drive,
E-mountain bike cartel about 1500 pounds.
Obviously there's quite a big difference there in the price.
Now sadly weight does come into the equation too.
Heavier riders will always struggle a bit more on hills
than lighter riders, it's simple physics,
power to weight ratio.
And the same applies to E mountain bikes as well.
But in some other ways too in terms of the battery range.
For example, a 90 kilo rider can probably do
about 5,000 feet of climbing in a day,
whereas a 50 kilo rider can probably do
about 10,000 feet of climbing in a day on the same battery.
So when it comes to your decision on buy the bike,
that's certainly something you need to think about.
But obviously there's fit riders and not to fit riders,
the experienced riders and not so experienced riders.
And the great thing about an E-mountain bike,
you can actually choose to ride in eco mode
and get a huge workout or if you're new to mountain biking
and you've not been out and experienced the countryside,
then maybe you are used the turbo mode,
which actually gives you a bit of an easier ride.
Which brings us onto the next question
and that is what can each of these bikes do
that the other cannot?
Or probably a better way of putting is
what are the strengths and weaknesses of both?
Let's start off with the stump jumper.
Beautifully simple, any time, any place.
You are simply not governed by your ability
to charge a battery or indeed how much battery you have left
in the tank as far as range goes,
it's all about you, your power, your imagination,
a truly physical experience, a truly all around bike.
Now the Levo on the other hand
is everything a mountain bike can do, but much, much more,
more riding, faster riding, and probably go to places
you wouldn't necessarily get to on a mountain bike.
In terms of the effort, It's all down to you.
You can either go hard or you can go easy.
And that's why bikes such as these
have become such an incredible trading tool.
At which point I'm going to throw a gigantic curve ball
into this conversation.
Now so far we've been talking about mountain bikes
and E-mountain bikes, but then there is this,
the new Levo SL from Specialized.
In many ways it's a new milestone in E- mountain bikes,
a different landscape, certainly terms of its powers,
lower power, low weight and in many ways it's more
mountain bike than a lot of the E-mountain bikes out there.
Because there are such things as like I mentioned
the low of power, low weight,
but also the nimbleness and the geometry.
So this whole conversation of what mountain bike
or E-bike to buy has suddenly become
incredibly more complex.
Now the opportunities for exploring big technical mountains
are insane on an E-mountain bike,
but you shouldn't discount riding on flat ground either
because you might want to tell your child
or maybe commute on that E-mountain bike.
On a mountain bike on the other hand
it's a really easy flexible tool too.
You can use the uplift but those super technical climbs
might just be a little bit more difficult.
So what will your mates say?
Well your mates might have different levels of experience
and knowledge when it comes
to E-mountain bikes or mountain bikes.
Out here in Cape town, I actually caught up with two riders
of both disciplines.
Now a lot of people are actually genuinely worried.
What happens if they buy an E-mountain bike?
What happens to their mates?
What happens to the rider, actually what happens
to the dynamic of a mountain bike ride with your mates?
Well, I'm joined with Guy and Bradley.
We're here in the Hills North of a Table Mountain.
Guy, you've been riding for a while, right?
- Yeah, about 30 years now.
- Whoa, and I hear you started off in England?
- Started off in England, yeah, with Gary Fisher way way.
- Yeah, so how long have you had an E-mountain bike?
- About five months now.
- Yeah, and has it sort of changed?
Has it changed how much
or if you go riding a few climbs?
- Yeah, it's completely changed my riding,
my riding style, I'm more confident on the downhills.
But I'm doing a lot more riding now, but my best part
is being able to keep up with everybody now.
- You mean fit guys such as Bradley here on my left?
- He's a bit of a problem, yeah.
- (giggles) So Bradly,
I mean obviously it goes the opposite way around.
Do you actually go riding here in Cape town
with people on E-Bikes?
- Yes, actually all the time.
I've got a group of guys that ride very often.
Obviously big difference in skills of riding
and fitness of riding, Guy's on E-bike
obviously just able to do better rides, longer rides,
more technical rides, more comfortable on the bike.
It also gets to the top of the hill and enjoy the down lows.
Definitely (mumbles)
- And a good bit of banter with people such as Guy.
- Exactly all the time, so it's a lot of fun.
- But it's a difficult question, isn't it?
At this moment in time, do you buy an E-Mountain bike
or do you buy a mountain bike?
- It's not for sure it's a tough one.
And I think personally anyone that's just not able
to get to where they used to on the hill
or wants to do longer hours,
but is not maybe physically able anymore
in their sixties or seventies
and they're still wanting to be on the bike.
If you could get out there for beautiful trails around you.
- But what about when you come from a downward background,
What about if you want to go and hit a lot of downhill runs,
surely it's tempting you right?
- For sure, that's the other other option.
Guys like Goodwin who do a lot of technical riding.
A lot of downhill don't feel like picking
up a hours with a climbing.
The combined down and we didn't have shuttles
or ski lists and stuff like this most of the time.
- I guess that's an interest, that's not a consideration
of where do you live?
That's going to have an effect on whether you get an E-bike
or not - For sure.
- Okay, great. Awesome guys.
Let's get down to the eucalyptus.
- Cool
- Interesting chat there with the guys.
But what about if you ride your mountain bike by yourself?
Like just so happens we've bumped in to Johann
up in the vineyard.
So we're literally on the sides of the trail
and we've bumped into Johann, now Johann has got
a shinny new specialized Levo expert.
Is this your first E-bike Johann?
- That's right, Steven.
- Right. - Yes.
- Do you have yourself have another mountain bike as well?
- Yes, I've got an Epic Evo.
- Yeah. - Yes.
- So the question is how much time do you spend
between the two bikes then?
- I spend a lot of time on the E-bike
but since I had the E-bike I'm spending more time
on the normal bike as well.
- Whoa, that doesn't add up,
so you're spending more time mountain biking?
- That's the thing, right? Yeah.
- You mentioned a turbo trainer earlier?
- Yes. - And what happened to that?
- I considered buying a trainer to practice indoors.
I just couldn't see myself sitting indoors.
So I got this instead.
- Well, so there you go, E-bike as a training tool.
Thanks Johann. - Thanks Steven.
- To the bottom line in all this chitchat is,
is the bike fun, yes or no?
And the only way you could find this out truly
is by getting yourself to a demo day
and trying `all these bikes out.
Does the bike tick all the boxes?
Does it do it for you in terms of visually?
And is it built for the type of riding
you intend to do on that bike?
So like I said, get yourself to demo day, try it all out.
Try different sizes, different models.
And that's the only way you can find out
whether you like mountain bike or E-mountain bike
or like I mentioned that little bike in the middle
called the Levo SL, which is lower power.
So got a brief look into the biggest question
mountain bikers are faced with today.
Do you go for mountain bike or do you go for an E-bike?
Or like we mentioned, there's that whole new discipline
which is the Levo SL throws at us in terms of lower power,
low weight, more agility.
Is it simply a question of wine, spirits or beer?
I don't think it is beer
'cause I think we all like a bit of both.
But guys, let us know your thoughts on this huge subject
and what was the decisions you're making today.
Let's know in the comments down below.
In the meantime,
if you want to see what E-mountain bikes can do.
Obviously this is an electric mountain bike channel.
I'll leave in two videos down below,
I guess thumbs up if you like it and hit the globe
to subscribe for more electric mountain bike content.