Ultra-Lightweight eMTB
mark~p
Posts: 55
in MTB general
To give some background I have been riding an MTB for years now but the legacy of a Covid infection has left me with compromised lung function. For commuting and 90% of MTB rides everything is fine. The issue comes when short burst of high intensity effort are required as the is no longer sufficient oxygen being extracted from each breath.
I have always been sceptical of eMTBs, partly because of the weight and the handling. I recently tried a Levo SL as a hire and it was pretty good in many ways but is still heavy. That got me thinking, the lowest power mode and very occasionally the middle mode gave me everything I needed. What I did not get on with was the 29" wheel and length as it was not particularly manoeuvrable. My normal ride is an Ibis Mojo HDR so quite old by some standards but still a great bike.
So the question is, should there be a much lighter eMTB that is just to give the small boost when needed but as far as anything else is concerned, is pretty much a regular bike?
So a small, 150w battery, something up to 100w of assistance when high input load is detected on a compact motor, not just a downrated existing motor, 650b wheels. Could you get the weight down to 15Kg or 16Kg?
Is this just too niche?
I have always been sceptical of eMTBs, partly because of the weight and the handling. I recently tried a Levo SL as a hire and it was pretty good in many ways but is still heavy. That got me thinking, the lowest power mode and very occasionally the middle mode gave me everything I needed. What I did not get on with was the 29" wheel and length as it was not particularly manoeuvrable. My normal ride is an Ibis Mojo HDR so quite old by some standards but still a great bike.
So the question is, should there be a much lighter eMTB that is just to give the small boost when needed but as far as anything else is concerned, is pretty much a regular bike?
So a small, 150w battery, something up to 100w of assistance when high input load is detected on a compact motor, not just a downrated existing motor, 650b wheels. Could you get the weight down to 15Kg or 16Kg?
Is this just too niche?
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Comments
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This lower weight, (around 16kg) lower power assist e-mtb is something the bike industry is getting into right now. At least two brands are producing these bikes that I've heard of recently.
Not looked into it that much so not sure about your number comparisons.
Youtube and search 'superlight e-mtb' or similar phrase, maybe one of those will interest you.
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That looks an interesting development. Hopefully it will stimulate more manufacturers to look at the concept. As ever on these sorts of things, something like this starts at the top end of the price scale!0
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Does it have to be a full suspension mountain bike? A light weight hybrid ebike would weigh less than that, then put some gravel tyres on it and can do some light off-road. e.g. SPECIALIZED TURBO VADO.
Or you could just look at getting a motor for your current bike. Some kits only add 3KG to your bike.0 -
PMark said:
Does it have to be a full suspension mountain bike? A light weight hybrid ebike would weigh less than that, then put some gravel tyres on it and can do some light off-road. e.g. SPECIALIZED TURBO VADO.
I guess it's down to you to decide what would suit your specific needs best.
A riding acquaintance that I've not seen for a while showed up on a Specialized hybrid e-bike, dark grey, disc brakes and rigid forks, must have been the Vado I suppose. He bought it as he does an even mix of road and off-road rides.
His first ride was the Manchester to Blackpool run. "Breezed it" he said, 63 miles on eco mode in four and a half hours.
Nice piece of kit up close, didn't feel to weight much more than my alloy full sus when I picked it up to compare.
We've done a couple of gentle trail and towpath mix rides together recently, all good and he coped just fine even with stock road type tyres.
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There are several lighweight emtbs around, most with the "SL" tag added. They all have lighter motors, with reduced torque (50nNm vs 85NM is typical). More importantly the batteries are smaller and consequently have less stored energy (200Whrs vs 625Whrs is typical). Batteries are really heavy so they are important if you are weight averse.
The first bike I thought of when I read your post was the Lapierre eZesty. Below is a link to Lapierre's website for lightweight emtbs, but they do othrs.
https://www.lapierrebikes.com/gb-en/v/light-emtb/
The key difference between the eZesty and all other lightweight emtbs is that you can remove the motor and battery from the frame and ride it as a normal bike. See below:Fazua 1.0 System
The Fazua 1.0 system is simple: it offers you the solution of using the motor/battery pack to master ascents using its 50 Nm motor torque and 250 Wh of battery power. Alternatively, riding without it, making your e-Zesty AM 3 kg lighter to regain the feel of a normal Zesty - or almost!
How easy that is to do I don't know, but Lappy have it as a design feature so they will have put considerable thought into it.
There are other lightweight bikes as I said. I can recommend that you take a look at the EMTB forum.
https://www.emtbforums.com/
It is a global forum for electric mountain bikes and I have found it to be a very welcoming and helpful site indeed. Ask the exact same question on there and you will get a very informed response. It seems that there are experts on DIY routes and all forms of ready-made lightweight emtbs.0 -
Thanks for the links & suggestions0
