I am as green as they come in terms of E-bike knowledge. With so many brands out there these days, it’s a bit overwhelming to make a confident decision.

I’m wondering if you experienced riders can direct me to a good option that is 750W, Will do good on light off-road trails and carry a 250 pound load (rider+gear) efficiently. Value is what I’m looming for. For example, I do not believe for one second that QuietKat bikes are that much better than an E-bike that cost considerably less. They were just first on the scene and hold the “cool dude” spot (my opinion).

I would be willing to finance it if there are any zero or very low interest options out there

I would also consider buying an electric motor and mounting it on my regular mountain bike if I could get the same performance (or nearly the same) but I would want a center drive rather than a rear wheelhub

I looked into an E-bike and found them to be pretty expensive for my cheap ass. Even the conversions are more than the bike I have now. Maybe birdwatcher will drop in and help out. I found these conversions but I don't know how good they are. I have a friend that is into mountain bikes and his son is a tester for Mountain Bike Magazine. I'll hit him up and let you know. Are you riding street or mountain bike type stuff?
https://www.ebikekit.com/collections/bicycle-kits

PaulBarnard will be along soonish - he rides bikes 24/7 ..

TAG

Thanks for the help. My intended use would be to zip back national forest roads to save time while hunting before I begin walking..., some light mountain biking and then general use like down at the beach, at the family property, etc In other words, nothing crazy or anything that I would call technical mountain biking. I think a Hardtail would be OK But front suspension is mandatory in my mind

Stick with the brand names. Giant, Trek etc. they have way more experience and backing than some of these smaller companies. I have seen some of the Quietcats and you don't get much for your money. Cheap forks, cheap brakes, etc. all for a premium price tag. I think Giant (worlds largest bicycle manufacturer) has a model that is very comparable to the quietcat for 2/3 the price.
FWIW: I do not own an e-bike (yet) but have a buddy that ran a local shop and has been riding the crap out of a Giant Dirt-e for a couple seasons. He has recenty switched to a Trek dealer and will soon have one of theirs. Will be interesting to hear his review.

The mountains north of here have many miles of really good Nat. forest bike trails...all posted 'no e-bikes'. Apparently e-bikers' tax money doesn't buy as much as pedal bikers'.

Interesting. I haven't seen that down here yet. I wonder what the logic is behind that.

Have you considered one of those add-on bitty 2-stroke motors? Very nifty and a small fraction of the cost of an E-bike.

This is in the Sun Valley area where liberalism is supreme.

The Bfang center motors work, but the chain alignment is terrible. The older the mountain bike the better the Bfang will work. The new bikes for fatter tires have swing arms that are too wide. I would look for a Bosch.

Do the electric motors get static interference from the spandex bike pants with the little pads for each cheek?

The rule maker probably hates E bikes LOL that’s all it comes down to

Sometimes they are "No Motorized Use" trails.

E-Bikes have a motor.

Geno

E-Bike

There are some interesting ones on here:
https://shop.m2sbikes.com/collections/all-terrain-electric-bike-series

I think the center drive motor could haul more weight up steeper hills because you can use the gears as a transmission. Plus, I think it would be easier to attach a trailer.

I'd also get the QuietKat trailer to haul your junk and dead animals.
https://quietkat.com/product/2019-quietkat-cargo-trailer/

Not to be contrary but what is the point of a Ebike? I understand why they make bikes designed to peddle and I get why they make bikes designed to have a motor of some sort. I’d even understand if a guy had a peddle bike, wanted a motor bike but couldn’t afford one, and adding a little electric motor was a cheap way to get one. That doesn’t seem to be the case though. You could buy a used dirt bike for less than what they’re asking for those bolt on motor kits. Somebody tell me what I’m missing here.

Rule maker getting tired of people getting their ass into via motors - e or other.
Hiking and pedaling under own steam - to think. Or not - if no steam pressure. The very idea...

Sarcasm off and have a nice evening.

- Drastically reducing sweating my balls off on the way to my hunting spot “way back in” While still allowing me to carry the gear I need
- More efficient travel
- Hell of a lot of fun
- Small dirt bikes are loud and E bikes are silent
- Small dirtbike’s require gas and E bikes do not (scent)
.... I can go on and on

Mostly trails close to town and in the National Forest. BLM and any trail that was open to motorcycles previously are open to e-bikes. I suspect ignorance is the main reason they are banned on some trails. They are not motorcycles - they still take effort from the rider. Europe has it figured out, we are reinventing the wheel over here.

One other thing to keep in mind is to get a 9, 10 or 11 speed drivetrain. The extra power eats up chains and cassettes. 9, 10 and 11 speed cassettes and chains run about 1/2 the price of a 12 speed and with the motor you don't miss being in just the right gear like you do on a non assisted bike.

No

What’s that bike?

Two motored E-Bike for the ruff stuff...LOL

I've thought about getting something for the wife. We ride together sometimes and she's so frigging slow. Pedal assist would make the ride more fun for both of us when riding together.

My understanding of them after researching a little bit is that there are basically 2 types.

1. Pedal assist which basically boosts your power output, but you have to pedal to move. This is what I was looking at.

2. Basically a lightweight electric motorcycle which has a throttle and requires no pedaling. There are some Youtube videos showing some hotrodded bikes like this that are insane.

Not interested in those at all. Also Won’t be legal for hunting use, they need to be able to be pedaled too. For what it’s worth, even pedal assist bikes can run under power-only (no pedaling)

That thing looks awesome!

Where can I get one?

The only one I've seen and checked out for a short ride required you to pedal. No idea of the brand.

Got to talking to some old codger riding the trail around the lake we were fishing at and he insisted I try it out. IIRC the assist only kicked in after a certain power level of pedaling was reached.

It's a 2WD E-Bike..My son's who is off fishing right now without dad..Had honey do's to do today..

Sent him a text to find out what make etc..

Rather be fishing..LOL

I’d imagine some ebike companies have some good financing options right now... kinda like the car manufacturers Do

Night crew any input?

Lots of info on motors etc here as well as diy kits.

https://lunacycle.com/

I have no experience with 'em, but have a retired friend who swears by his. I've seen 'em used as really practical short to medium distance urban transportation. At the present time I have no use for 'em myself, for me the whole point of being on a bicycle is ya gotta pedal, the benefits of exercise as we age are enormous compared to the alternative.

This isn’t for exercise. It’s for hunting

You said you're 29 years old, it shouldn't be a problem.

You ain’t biking anything I’m talking about sweating your ass off. Plus having hunting clothes on and gear. Don’t feed me some BS like your bionic man either.....im looking for efficiency and assistance to get me deeper with less exertion.

I bought a QuietKat Ranger on sale last fall. All I can say is “do it”. Awesome machine. No issues whatsoever.

Mackey

I bought my first mountain bike around 1985. Eventually got into dirt bikes and pretty much stopped mountain biking. Sold my motorcycle a few years ago and replaced it with a fat tire ebike. I've been riding it for 2 years and really like it. Found a used model for my wife too. The newer models have gears and better batteries. I may upgrade at some point. This was a leap of faith for me. Bike is shipped in a box to your door straight from China. So far it's been reliable. Sondors eBike

Good info guys. Thank you

Any word?

Someone mentioned my name earlier as a bicycle person who might know something about ebikes, so I gave my input.

Browsing around, a 40 mile range seems about right, with a 6 hour recharge time. Perhaps in a mountain/off road application that mileage range oughtta be translated into minutes of operation before the cells run out.

They ain't cheap, and unless there's some sort of standardized battery pack by now I would worry about being able to replace those batteries in the long term. Sorta similar; how many incarnations has mountain bike suspension gone through now and can you still get parts for all the old ones?

Running through the woods on an ebike I'd think you'd run right up on all sorts of game, which around here would include a bunch of feral hogs.

We had an off-duty bicycle Cop shoot a boar he surprised with his .40 Glock, said it was self defense.

That’sa great point

E-Bikes are primarily garbage, the ones designed for the hunter are complete crap.

YT makes a really good E-Bike that could be used for hunting, though not it's intended purpose.

https://us.yt-industries.com/detail/index/sArticle/2381/sCategory/73537