Honest question for e-bike buyers: What's your long term ownership strategy when you buy an e-bike?

Add another option robot

"I'll update when the tech advances enough it becomes impossible to resist" ie weight, range, price.

My last eeb I had for 2.5 years, I think I'll do the same with this one. The tech is not evolving at a rate for me to want to upgrade. When 180mm travel full power bikes that have burly gear are 22kg I'll upgrade.

We are in a chaotic time of rapid improvements with E-Bikes. Eventually these questions will be answers. I witnessed this first hand as a working photog at the advent of digital cameras. Once they got good enough to be considered for professional applications they became necessary because of the workflow efficiencies. However each successive years camera was so much better than the last that you had to upgrade or you being left behind. 

I just saw a comment on a local group ride, "Is any bringing a conventional bike tonight, I don't want to get left behind again?" The days are numbered for non-motor bikes.

I sporadically think about buying an e bike, then as I delve a bit deeper I start reading all the stories about motor replacements and other issues.

The amount of used e bikes where the seller says it's got a brand new motor or motor and battery are really off putting, the failure rate is unacceptably high IMO. Manufacturers only offering a two year warranty on motors and batteries is also scary to me.

No way I'm spending £5k+ on something that's potentially worth jack shit in 3 years. 

This is a very valid question that I think most ebike owners dont really think much about pre-purchase. Some because they are newish to the sport and dont realize it and others probably don't really care (if you can afford an 8-14K emtb, you're probably not hurting too bad for cash). 

I plunked down coin for an Orbea rise hydro and a bunch of upgrades to slightly change geo and cater it more to my descending focused riding preference. After a largely disappointing experience with the EP8 motor, Orbea CS and the bike itself; I pulled the ripcord and sold it with low miles and right before the used market took a dump. Got out feeling like I didn't totally get taken to the cleaners and learned a few lessons. I have a number of friends that are trying to sell used emtbs right now that simply wont sell almost regardless of pricing. Really nice builds too.

I think I will see another ebike in my future, but it's probably going to be a while. I'd like to let the advances settle a bit and give time for some of the issues on the newish lightweight motors to get figured out. 

It's also interesting to ponder the impact of the industry downturn and demand on pedal vs e mtb bikes. Are bike companies going to have to start trimming pedal bike model / size offerings as emtb continue to chip into pedal bike sales? Are companies really going to continue opening thsoe 2XL and XS carbon molds for pedal models knowing they will only sell a handful. What about an offering of 5 different models with 20mm travel increments? Are we going to start seeing less and less options for pedal bikes in the next 3-5-10 years? I would have to believe so. 

I bought an ebike for $4k on discounts with pretty decent spec back in 2019 and spend three wonderful years on it.  When the motor inevitably failed I paid out of pocket for a new one, around 700eur IIRC.  I moved between continents since then and plan to sell it for $2-3k now.  If I didnt move, I'd be happily riding it now.

Now I got Levo for 3.8k with a battery deal, and plan to grind it to the ground.

(That's also my plan for my Orange regular bike, but that thing is virtually indestructible sans wear parts like fork a shock)

No plans to move elsewhere, the technology doesnt really advance in mtb or emtb since many years that warrants replacing a bike just because.

I don't own an e-bike, but it's on the horizon. The plan is to buy a low-to-mid priced alloy eeb with good geo, strip off all the crap parts and put on good stuff, ride it for 1.75 seasons, put the original parts on and sell it in the last 1/4 of the local season. Rinse and repeat. 

I look at it exactly like a pedal bike. Ride it as long as it’s fun or still holds value, and then get something new when it’s time. The reality is that there are far more avid riders who hold onto their pedal bike for 3 years, max, and get something new. I don’t see it being any different with emtbs. And yes, there’s more tech that can fail, but I think that the horror stories rise to the top of forum and reviews just like they do with pedal bikes. You can look up literally any bike, motor or no, or part and find a seemingly endless list of complaints about failures or how it’s a POS. With consumable toys sold at a large scale, that’s just a statistical reality.

I have had very good luck with my e-bike(knock on wood). I got a great pre-lockdown deal on an 2020 Orbea Wild and have loved every minute of owning it.  I think the overbuilt nature of e-mtbs add to their longevity. Yes they require more maintenance and  you will burn through brake pads, chains, and rotors, but you can get away with buying the lower end(SLX, Deore, NX, SX) because weight is less of a factor.  The only drawback for me is battery life and cost of battery replacement. I have a 625W battery and always want more, when the battery on my bike goes bad that will be the point I look to purchase a new e-mtb.  Hopefully that is years away and 700+ W will be the norm by then.  

This is 100% the thing I feel is the biggest problem with e-bikes right now. There is no long term plan for maintaining the motors and electronics yet, so a big chunk of my customers are in the "sell it once its out of warranty" plan of owning one. The current repair model of manufacturers is just throw a new motor at it until the warranty runs out, but then there isn't any real option for preventative maintenance before then, or repair once its out of warranty. You just cross your fingers and hope it doesn't die too far from the car park!

Giving someone a new motor is barely passable in the short term, but not only are people going to get sick of going back for a new one but it puts a huge strain on the manufacturers having to build roughly twice as many motors as bikes they sell, which is just wasteful and innefficient from a business perspective too. 

I think the development has gone too fast without any long-term plan for servicing, and I hope they sort it out before the people who have come in to the sport in the last few years get over it and leave!

No option for:

I ride bikes for the non motorized experience. So I will keep pedaling.
 

  Why so much anger towards those of us that want to keep mountain biking, cycling? 
 

[x] i work in a shop so expensive parts are only the problem of other ppl

I've been an ebiker for 4 years, 3 with the current gen2 kenevo. It's been faultless in that time.

I had intended to keep it for a few more years, new or refurbished motor if necessary and a battery if the original lost noticeable range.

Potential costs are all part of ownership as far as I'm concerned. If I didn't have an ebike I wouldn't be riding. I have no desire to slog round on a motorless bike these days.

But the current sales were too much to resist and I've just ordered a new ebike.

The kenevo is still worth a decent amount of money.

Happy new bike day to me!

In the UK there’s a few small companies reconditioning motors and making improvements, so once the two years warranty is up, there’s a some hope! I guess I will treat it as something that needs removing from the bike, sending to a service centre, like your fork or shock.  I want to keep my 18 month old Levo for at least another two years, or more. I can’t see the tech or geo making big leaps in that time.  

I need an option for i dont own an ebike because I'm not willing to pay the premium price for a bike with lower end components.  The current deals are certainly making that argument invalid.  But its only just now that we are at this point.  For so long i was seeing $5000 usd for a bike with Gold 35 fork and sub model brakes.  Hard for me to feel good about that even if i swap parts over.

I got a Rocky Mountain Altitude power play and I hope to just ride this thing into the ground, I know I won't get jack shit for it as a used bike and that's if I could even sell the thing. I"m sure there are many bikes out there like mine for sale and I would never be able to ship that thing anywhere, it would cost me $400 at least! If I could do it all over again, I'm not sure what I would have done. 

I have a Decoy MX base model uncaged 3. I’m going on my 3rd season and I plan to use the bike as long as possible. The only thing that I changed are the brakes (switched from sram to XT). I would love a coil shock but that’s a huge investment in my opinion. Tbh for my next ebike I would like to try a gearbox, the MGU from Pinion looks very good on paper. The only issues that I see for the moment are the prices and the limited availability (I think there are only 3-4 small brands that are offering a bikes with MGU). 

Plan? We’re talking about a PLAN? Going with no plan is pretty much the whole thing with ebiking…everything is awesome. 

Personally I bought a shimano ebike in 2019 with over 30% discount for 3350€ and converted it into a mullet. If motor or battery fails I can buy e8000 or upgrade to ep800/801 and even but a bigger capacity BT-E8016 battery for a few hundred euros. I think a new motor costs between 700 and 800 €. BT-8010 batteries start at 400. Used stuff is considerably cheaper. I'm in the market for a new bike as the geo got a little too short with the mullet conversion but I have time because the bike still rides awesome and so I'll wait for a deal.

One question I have, is how much do regular MTBs bought for 5-8k get sold for, especially these days? 

Over the last 15 years I have bought about 10 bikes ranging in value from 1.4k to 2.8k, some of which simply died, most of which I sold for roughly 50% of the original price (usually with quite a few new parts one them for the sale).

That is why I took my time and got good value ebikes for under 5k each, to reduce the losses when comes time to sell them. Maybe more expensive models hold their value better, but there is a very real chance of the bike ending up in a skip if you ride a lot.

Back when I was still doing the math on eeb vs pedal bike costs, I think it worked out that it was only like 1000-1500 bucks to get boosting with electrical assist. Pretty consistent across brands 3 years ago and a quick look looks pretty much the same today. I’d imagine they depreciate similarly. 
 

But don’t really care about that. As for Robot’s poll—it’s pretty obviously taking an angle but I’ll play along: I’m exactly like Lando with bikes and I’ll be in your second category. Expected resale value is not a factor for me. I’ve only been doing this 20 years but i tend to go about 3 years with a bike before it gets too clapped out to reasonably maintain or outclassed by its competition. I spend a maximum of ten days to get whatever I can (cash, locally) for my used bikes, I do ride a lot but I’m pretty mellow (for here, I’d imagine) and have always followed my dad’s advice on taking care of my rig so it’ll take care of me. 
 

So yeah. I had a TALAS fork and I had a Bosch motor croak on a commuter and I tried the XTR brifters and I had that DT Equalizer shock that required 280psi from a special shock pump and I went tubeless and I hated skinnies and I brake check too much and I sold a Nomad for more than I bought it for but I could’ve kept it longer and sold it for even more but I’d just got my first eMTB and I knew pedal bikes were done so cool have at it and I wanted desperately for that Tomahawk tire to be sick but it wasn’t and I put about 4000 miles in three years on that first eeb which is 200 20 mile rides (!) AKA a lifetime for many self-identified mountain bikers and the battery lost some capacity and I re-upped to this new one and it’s even better and holy shit 

it’d be nice to be able to just order up a crate motor and slap it in an aging eeb but im not going to stand around and wait for the sales marketing product manager roadie directors to come together and allow that lol you’ve seen how this lumbering industry “works” cmon!

so yeah. Category two. My “plan” is to roast dirt for as long as I’m able. 

You guys just gotta sell your electric mopeds and buy the next one so you can forget about the schmuck who buys who buys it used will eventually be forced to dispose of it in the least ecologically documentable way & the polluto-ped simply vanishes & we don't speak of it again.

You know...like when you throw  a Ryobi dead battery in the battery  recycling bin at Home Depot & that bad boy always hits the bottom unimpeded by a single contractor's battery ever.

I always bought my ebike used at a low price. I don't race my e-bike so it just got hands me down part from my other "race-ready" bikes. Unfortunately, my latest motor (Bosh on a Trek) died and I was shocked by how bad the warranty and service were. Trek was only offering me to put it in the trash and get a new one at a small discount.. So much for repairability and sustainability. I ended up changing the motor myself from a space found on eBay.I paid around $500 when the dealer was asked to change the whole system for 5 times more
I would argue e-bike (and electronics in general) should not be impossible to repair but there is zero infrastructure to maintain our gadgets.. What do people do to change a 25-cent transistor.. Toss the whole thing and get a new one.. 
I'm now on Levo SL, I have slightly more hope on Specialized services but I still feel e-bikes are ticking bombs I should move around faster than an analog bike until it dies under my butt.. I

imagine having the time to stand around after a ride! And a pedal bike one at that? I’m envious. 

Current shimano motors have the same mount standard. Also mostly all other parts are compatible and there is the possibility of buying spare motors. But the downside is that servicing or repairing the motor is tricky as shimano doesn't offer any spare parts and when the torque sensor fails you can only salvage it for parts.

With most other motors like bosch and Brose this is not possible as the motor mounts changed between generations. But the spare part situation is a bit better.

That a great question and I didn't factor this myself prior to buying.

I still had a really good 2 years ownership period with 0 issue related to electronics or motor, but I realized once I started trying to sell my eMTB that it was more of a pain in the ass versus selling a regular bike.

You have to specify mileage which will scare some potential buyers even if your bike is in excellent condition, some of them are scared to buy out of warranty and then with the current market your left with nobody to buy unless you sell for a really low price.

Higher price of entry also means it's harder to swap bike each 2-3 years.The maintenance was also through the roof on chains, tires & suspension maintenance which add on top.

I'm out of the ebike game after selling mine and will head for a lift accessed park when I don't feel like pedalling.

Yes, you can fit EP8 to E8000 mounts.  You'd need to replace some cabling too since they moved to an even thinner ones with EP8, and I believe you'd need a different cable to the battery, but my memory is bad on this one.

They don't sell the motors directly, but I was able to buy E8000 aftermarket a couple years ago to replace one that failed on me.  Fun fact though is you'd also need either a dealer visit, or to buy that derestricter app so you can input the wheel circumference - mine new one came with some ridiculous number that you cant change yourself, and speed cut-off was at around 10mph or so.

So it's a hassle, but it's all doable.

Are you confident in in that? My group has found tire, drivetrain, and suspension to wear/require maintenance at the same rate as on pedal bikes. We’re riding in soft dirt where tires last forever, but mileage-wise I’ve not seen a statistically significant increase in wear rate. Dudes that don’t maintain their bikes are going from bad to blown in a week but they’re putting a month’s-worth of mileage in…

Anecdotally I’ve found if the motors make it a couple hundred miles, they’ll outlast everything on the bike. 

I’ve been a bad businessman since my first paper route, but even I see mountain biking as an expensive hobby—not an investment. I’d rather get more than less for a used bike, duh, but this is how it goes. 
 

also:

the environmental angle is washed, the trail damage argument fried, and the paternalistic gatekeeper shit ridiculous. 
 

pedal on…

E-bikes are not stock options,  this is a stupid questionnaire.   Why don’t you make a questionnaire about how your going to spend your time?

a. Creating stupid polls on the internet

Or

b. Going on a bike ride