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Suns' succinctly summarizing the dilemma of the modern trail bike, especially at high altitude: tough to keep a bike fast and light and have great front traction. He is a true tire nerd and a wealth of tire info. For years I have been on a quest for this holy grail of fast, light, and big hook up! In the last few months I've ridden on the front the DHF exo+ 2.5 3c Maxxterra (my personal fav for years), the Tioga Edge 22, and now the Albert radial in soft. I consider the Assguy the benchmark for outright cornering and...

the steps in shifting between 4/5 and 8/9 also don't sound as nice in reality as on paper: " At this point, I would like to briefly address a well-known problem with the encapsulated gearshift in the Pinion E1.12 MGU: the gear jumps between 4th/5th and 8th/9th gear. In addition to the actual gear, the gear stage, i.e. the planetary gear set, must also be changed. While the problem is only slightly noticeable between 8th and 9th gear, it is very noticeable in 4th/5th gear. If you are not used to a Pinion gear system and shift under full load...

My Repeater EP801 is built with robot t-type, feels like total overkill. I'm thinking about going to 11 spd, probably SRAM X01 or the full steel version of GX. All my wheels are xd so I'll stick with that. I do a lot of punchy ass tech climbs (when healthy) and 32-42 is the lowest useful gear without spinning out up tricky climbs. 32-11 on a 29er is plenty tall to out run the top speed cutoff. I really don't get 12 spd for e-mtb. 11 spd mechanical t-type would be Goldilocks. That stuff really does shift amazingly under power.

I find brake tests with a controlled pad and rotor combo are far more valuable… it allows you to standardize some variables and compare the actual brakes performance. Brakes sets are hardly ever shipped with rotors and the brakes will far outlive the stock pads so you certainly aren’t stuck with them. I’ve run codes, trp, and dominions over the last several years most often with galfer rotors and have always moved to galfer or mtx pads if I even bothered to wear through the stock pads. Sure a test with both stock and controlled pads/ rotors would be ideal...

The people who are interested in these test results are the ones changing their pads and rotors! (Edit: although it's pad compounds I'm concerned about, per the original comment) The test wasn't even internally consistent. In some cases they have different OEM compounds within the same brand, meaning all that effort was a waste. Although given this is page 51, I doubt I'm adding anything new here.

yep have to agree, this arms race is the wrong direction. On the trail, EP8 motor in "trail" mode is sufficient for me, when I get tired after riding, I'll ride home on Boost to the pub/home where there again is ample power to literally barely pedal and go 32kph. Bring the weight down before making them more powerful. I suppose the Amflow has done this but it's not a build I would ride without breaking a lot of components.

Well the race to moto these is on, which sucks. I've ridden exclusively e-bikes for 2 years due to injury/surgery, so not saying this as a hater, but as a long-time trail builder/advocate. I'd like to see some large jurisdiction clamp down on specs. Limit peak, momentary torque to 85Nm (plenty!) and peak output to 650 watts (plenty!). Require that if it's going to be sold here and has pedals, it must be limited to the Class 1 specs. Sorry, you don't need to go 50kph/30mph on an e-bike. You don't need to soft pedal up a 20% grade. Get...

Looks like they fixed all the non sense Brian Cahal pointed out in his review. Actually quite surprising how terribly designed that bike was knowing it was coming from Cero. This one looks way more dialed!

I've wondered the same thing, and it makes sense. From my understanding, in Europe any e-bike that assists over 25kph (15.5 mph) and has a power output over 250 watts it's not even considered an e-bike anymore but rather a motorbike or moped. At that point they require licensing and registration and cannot be used on designated bike paths and trails.

Where I ride, eMTBs are not permitted in state parks, which are 90% of the trail systems here, and even MTB access is always challenged and at risk. It doesn't prevent ebikers from having fun, but as long as no one gets seriously hurt (hikers, dogs, kids, ...), enforcement won't exist. The moment someone mows someone else down at 28mph in a blind flat corner, things are going to change, for all of us.

The end of e-pretending.