Just got back from a riding vacation in Moab, Utah, USA with my buddies. We all had different e-bikes from 150 to 190mm front suspensions (Fox Live Valve, Fox Factory and Rockshox ZEB). After four days, and 125 miles of riding every crazy trail our bodies would allow us to do, the winner was….190mm of travel! That would be my new Pole Voima with 190mm front and back. The rest of the guys were feeling every muscle and joint in their bodies by the end of each day. I was just loving life. Technical uphills and downhills were handled with ease. By the last day of riding, I was the rider leading the group on all ascents and descents. We rode so hard, I actually managed to bend my seat rails. That’s some big hits that I never realized. If you have a motor and a battery, just get the most travel you can afford. Your body will thank you later. 😃
My wife and I were in Moab with our eMtb's this past July. I noticed most of the trails did not formally allow ebikes. Did you see the same thing and if so did you just ride the trails anyway? It seemed the only trails open to us were those used for jeep 4x4's and a nice trail in the national park. note: I think we need to "critical mass" ride with ebikes all the mtb trails in all the long standing Mt. Bike area's is the US where the acoustic mtb community is trying to keep out emtbs. Yes Moab and Bend, I'm talking to you.
the Whyte E160 RSX is a brilliant bike that climbs as well as it descends.I have the E160 and an E180 ( 180/170). The E160 is faster and more agile and excells in a bigger variety of rides/trails. It is very nearly as capable as the E180 on gnarly downhill but the E180 gives a much more comfortable ride and will blast through anything thrown at it. The downside is that the E180 just feels a little dead and bored unless it is blasting downhill so limited to more gravity type rides in terms of enjoyment.
Good video, I'm currently researching Ebikes as I'm going to buy one in the spring. I was swaying towards the 160 travel 29ers. This video has shown that thus is definitely the type of travel that suits and covers all the types of riding I do & want to continue to do as I'm getting older 😂
In late June I went from a 120/120 acoustic to a 150/160 eMTB. No true downhills in my area (lots of rollercoaster style trails), so it's been perfect. So much more capable than the XC. The 63-degree head angle took a lot of getting used to, but I dropped in an angle headset to steepen to 64 and that's helped. Still an occasional tight switchback that proves troublesome, but it's a small price to pay for amount of fun I'm having.
Where I live 150/140 on my Trance E+ is plenty and for acoustic bikes XC and even hard tails are popular like my Anthem X (100/100) or my Redline Monocog 29 with 100mm fork instead of full rigid. No problems whipping the Trance E+ around the same tight twisty corners as my non-e mtbs.
My yt decoy has 180mm up front, and my levo has 170mm up front and a cascade link in rear. They are my do it all bikes. Im that guy thats happy when the tires leave the ground.
The 160/150 Norco Sight VLT A1 is working magic here in Alberta, Canada. Until we got this damn snow anyways. Oh well, a set of Winter/Studded and I'll be riding again soon.
I've bumped up my Trek Powerfly to 140/140. It's great for all trail riding and, can do even the janky downhills (although I am not a fan of such terrain since, I've found that I'm too old for it these daze)
How about 170 or 180 but a 27.5 front tire. My buddy and I have the same bike (Canyon Spectral On CF8) and I upgraded to fox 38 with 160 mm of travel. He upgraded to fox 38 with 170 mm of travel but switched from 29 front to 27.5. (note: this bike already has a 27.5 rear). The bike is now more nimble than mine but has 170 mm of travel in the front. We ride some pretty rocky technical trails here in Tahoe and he has not noticed the 27.5 being unstable in any way.
Got my first full suspension and first e bike and I don't think I could ever go back to a normal mountain bike. I get durability, a tone of comfort and more speed and honestly more fun for me. Plus hills no longer take ages and un enjoyable as I can just throw up with minimal effort. I got the specialized turbo levo and it's definitely worth the money
I rode this bike (the non RS version) at the Forest of Dean trail center recently and it was super heavy, terrible on the jumps. You’d need to have a lot of upper body strength to lift this or go a lot faster than comfortable. I’d like to see a jump test, on a track like Launchpad so we can find the sweet spot on weight. I’m not chasing super light I’d just like to lift the bike over a jump and a gate.
160mm front&rear on my 2019 Merida eOne-Sixty 800...does great on both XC and enduro. DH you'll quickly fin the limits, as in the video. eBike weight doesnt help there either. Mine has old-fashioned battery on top of the frame but in practice great due to weight being lower and more central.
What? XC bikes don’t have steep seat tube angles. They’re typically slacker than enduro bikes as they’re not just designed for sitting down shuttling back up a hill. They’re designed for spending more time in the saddle up and down undulating terrain so they are at a more optimum angle for your knee angle to the pedal.
I think the title should have been "Is it wise to run no front mudguard? Answer no!" 😂 I was expecting a more in depth comparison or discussion regarding travel specially on emtbs though... such as where that sweet spot really is. Embn discussed it in more detail back in the early days, when there were far fewer choices such as Levo vs Kenevo, and Haibike had offerings of 120, 150, &180mm. It would be good to have a recap of this with some honest opinions of which travel suits which riders, and when underbiking or over biking may want to be avoided or desired.
Lots of talk about 160mm being the sweet spot... but how much does rider weight influence the travel you want ? Surely a 60kg rider has a much different experience to me at 6'5" and 105kg for the same travel..? Just as I am looking at 750+ kWh to just keep up with my smaller friends' range, should I also be looking at 170+ travel...?
It's more about finding the sweet spot for your style of riding and local trails which is something I wish they had discussed in more detail in the video. If you are underbiked you can make tame trails feel more fun, but may you sometimes reach your limits. Equally if you are overbiked the same trails might feel quite dull and boring leading you to search for harder ones to get the thrill you are after... and depending where you live that may mean travelling far.
Just got back from a riding vacation in Moab, Utah, USA with my buddies. We all had different e-bikes from 150 to 190mm front suspensions (Fox Live Valve, Fox Factory and Rockshox ZEB). After four days, and 125 miles of riding every crazy trail our bodies would allow us to do, the winner was….190mm of travel! That would be my new Pole Voima with 190mm front and back. The rest of the guys were feeling every muscle and joint in their bodies by the end of each day. I was just loving life. Technical uphills and downhills were handled with ease. By the last day of riding, I was the rider leading the group on all ascents and descents. We rode so hard, I actually managed to bend my seat rails. That’s some big hits that I never realized. If you have a motor and a battery, just get the most travel you can afford. Your body will thank you later. 😃
My thinking when i got my 180mm front and back with a Flyon 120Nm Haibike Xduro Nduro 10.
that's my opinion as well. If I have a motor that's doing the heavy lifting, give me the biggest susp. travel possible!
Will agree as well. The motor does the work so you might as well be comfortable doing it. My 180 goes up as well as down
My wife and I were in Moab with our eMtb's this past July. I noticed most of the trails did not formally allow ebikes. Did you see the same thing and if so did you just ride the trails anyway? It seemed the only trails open to us were those used for jeep 4x4's and a nice trail in the national park. note: I think we need to "critical mass" ride with ebikes all the mtb trails in all the long standing Mt. Bike area's is the US where the acoustic mtb community is trying to keep out emtbs. Yes Moab and Bend, I'm talking to you.
the Whyte E160 RSX is a brilliant bike that climbs as well as it descends.I have the E160 and an E180 ( 180/170). The E160 is faster and more agile and excells in a bigger variety of rides/trails. It is very nearly as capable as the E180 on gnarly downhill but the E180 gives a much more comfortable ride and will blast through anything thrown at it. The downside is that the E180 just feels a little dead and bored unless it is blasting downhill so limited to more gravity type rides in terms of enjoyment.
Good video, I'm currently researching Ebikes as I'm going to buy one in the spring. I was swaying towards the 160 travel 29ers. This video has shown that thus is definitely the type of travel that suits and covers all the types of riding I do & want to continue to do as I'm getting older 😂
I had 160 mm fork before and was the best solution to make all aspects on the mountain bike. Had fun with
160mm is definitely where it's. My 2022 Orbed wild is as happy riding to work as it is going up and down Snowdon and anything in between.
In late June I went from a 120/120 acoustic to a 150/160 eMTB. No true downhills in my area (lots of rollercoaster style trails), so it's been perfect. So much more capable than the XC. The 63-degree head angle took a lot of getting used to, but I dropped in an angle headset to steepen to 64 and that's helped. Still an occasional tight switchback that proves troublesome, but it's a small price to pay for amount of fun I'm having.
Where I live 150/140 on my Trance E+ is plenty and for acoustic bikes XC and even hard tails are popular like my Anthem X (100/100) or my Redline Monocog 29 with 100mm fork instead of full rigid. No problems whipping the Trance E+ around the same tight twisty corners as my non-e mtbs.
My Whyte E160 is a great allrounder for me, it was limited to 25kph when it arrived, but in NZ we can do 32kph so I had it reset, so much better now
Perfectly presented!
Yeah, hiding his ugly tattoos was a good change.
Love all your videos so informative. Hi from OZ
My yt decoy has 180mm up front, and my levo has 170mm up front and a cascade link in rear. They are my do it all bikes. Im that guy thats happy when the tires leave the ground.
The 160/150 Norco Sight VLT A1 is working magic here in Alberta, Canada. Until we got this damn snow anyways. Oh well, a set of Winter/Studded and I'll be riding again soon.
I've bumped up my Trek Powerfly to 140/140. It's great for all trail riding and, can do even the janky downhills (although I am not a fan of such terrain since, I've found that I'm too old for it these daze)
How about 170 or 180 but a 27.5 front tire. My buddy and I have the same bike (Canyon Spectral On CF8) and I upgraded to fox 38 with 160 mm of travel. He upgraded to fox 38 with 170 mm of travel but switched from 29 front to 27.5. (note: this bike already has a 27.5 rear). The bike is now more nimble than mine but has 170 mm of travel in the front. We ride some pretty rocky technical trails here in Tahoe and he has not noticed the 27.5 being unstable in any way.
Got my first full suspension and first e bike and I don't think I could ever go back to a normal mountain bike. I get durability, a tone of comfort and more speed and honestly more fun for me. Plus hills no longer take ages and un enjoyable as I can just throw up with minimal effort. I got the specialized turbo levo and it's definitely worth the money
I rode this bike (the non RS version) at the Forest of Dean trail center recently and it was super heavy, terrible on the jumps. You’d need to have a lot of upper body strength to lift this or go a lot faster than comfortable. I’d like to see a jump test, on a track like Launchpad so we can find the sweet spot on weight. I’m not chasing super light I’d just like to lift the bike over a jump and a gate.
160mm front&rear on my 2019 Merida eOne-Sixty 800...does great on both XC and enduro. DH you'll quickly fin the limits, as in the video. eBike weight doesnt help there either.
Mine has old-fashioned battery on top of the frame but in practice great due to weight being lower and more central.
Thank you
Is 85Nm Bosch same as Yamaha only in Turbo Less in Other power modes
What? XC bikes don’t have steep seat tube angles. They’re typically slacker than enduro bikes as they’re not just designed for sitting down shuttling back up a hill. They’re designed for spending more time in the saddle up and down undulating terrain so they are at a more optimum angle for your knee angle to the pedal.
I ride a Niner RIP E9 that’s 160/150 travel. It’s my only mountain bike.
I think the title should have been "Is it wise to run no front mudguard? Answer no!" 😂
I was expecting a more in depth comparison or discussion regarding travel specially on emtbs though... such as where that sweet spot really is. Embn discussed it in more detail back in the early days, when there were far fewer choices such as Levo vs Kenevo, and Haibike had offerings of 120, 150, &180mm. It would be good to have a recap of this with some honest opinions of which travel suits which riders, and when underbiking or over biking may want to be avoided or desired.
180 perfect thanks
I have both and prefer 170mm even 180 would be ok, more travel - more confidence, and climbing is great.
May I ask , how does this compare to a trek rail 9.7 ?
Lots of talk about 160mm being the sweet spot... but how much does rider weight influence the travel you want ?
Surely a 60kg rider has a much different experience to me at 6'5" and 105kg for the same travel..?
Just as I am looking at 750+ kWh to just keep up with my smaller friends' range, should I also be looking at 170+ travel...?
im happy camper w my 18,5kg less pregnant bike- 160/170 is my sweetspot-greetings from sunny Algarve(portugal)
IMHO, and a PNW rider, 170/170 , 80-90nm, and 600-700wh battery @
I have a dh e bike and the only thing that is hard is steep punchy clinbs. Bug I think e dh bikes coukd do it all!
170mm 😊
64.5 er no horrible flop.
Whyte e160 has 150 mm rear travel
180 180. Less travel makes 0 sense on an ebike
No such thing as a sweet spot. 180mm travel can do anything a 160 travel can do and a 160mm CAN'T do everything that a 180mm can!!!
Nonesence
It's more about finding the sweet spot for your style of riding and local trails which is something I wish they had discussed in more detail in the video. If you are underbiked you can make tame trails feel more fun, but may you sometimes reach your limits. Equally if you are overbiked the same trails might feel quite dull and boring leading you to search for harder ones to get the thrill you are after... and depending where you live that may mean travelling far.
The same is if you have 180/180....Like the NOX Hybrid 7.1 Enduro 😆😘🤩
The answer to the 160MM question is , not if I hit a 161MM pothole ! lol
A pothole is a depression, so that would mean riding it completing compressed to handle a pothole. Probably mean a rock so it compresses.
Whyte great bikes need 2 lose some weight