What do you prioritize from an e-bike?

I have very limited experience with e-bikes so far, but my takeaway has been that the range isn't where I want it to be. At least yet. 

I rode a Canyon Spectral On with the giant ass 900wh battery and went from fully charged to one bar remaining over the course of a 18 mile ride with about 3,500 feet of climbing in 2 hours. Trail conditions were slippy and I'm a big dude, but I was also toggling between modes and didn't use full power until the last gravel climb out. 

It was fun to ride, but for how I like to ride (big, pedally backcountry days) the range was very disappointing. I want to ride more not get my usual ride over with faster. My ideal e-bike would be 150-160mm travel, weigh around 40lbs and be able to go for 4-5 hours of ride time. 

I would say a balanced feel.  Range for 3+ hours in the mid setting, but not more than 44-46 pounds with a low center.  Some of the fire road climbs I ride are 25% grades for a section, so full power is nice for that, keeps the legs fresh for the DH’s and the HR doesn’t go into the red zone so much.  The bike should handle like a mountain bike; turn well, handle jumps, drops, chunky braking bumps, etc.  

After some time on an ebike, you get used to the weight, the braking points, lean angles, bunny hopping ability and so on.  Would it be nice to have a 40 pound full power ebike with a 1k watt hour battery?  Yes!  But until then, I’m happy with my Levo Gen 3.

RAAANGE! Having spent the last 3 years riding with a 500Wh battery on the bike and another one in my backpack, moving to a 800Wh system has been the bomb! I do giant Alpine rides in under 3 hours, and have a second battery if my body can handle a bit more once I get back to the car.

Also, once you go 100% ebike (I have a full time desk job and a baby... put your torches away!), I would personally say weight is a very small concern, and handling can be compensated with the right tune and components. And I say this as someone riding a 26kg, massively long giant reign on tight twisty trails.

Would I like my next ebike to be 20kg? Yes. But most likely my next bike will have 1000Wh and weigh closer to 25kg at least until solid state batteries arrive in 2028.

Big ebikes are fun. But lightweight ebikes are very similar to mountain bike fun. If a rider does not actively focus on getting the wheels off the ground, a lightweight ebike will be very similar to a mountain bike to them on the downs.

lighter weight with same power and range as my current full powered fezzari timp peak with 640 w/h battery.  pinion drive with integrated motor would be great!  I'm not bothered with the current weight, I've learned how to ride it just like my pedal bikes,  but if we're talking wish list then dropping 5lbs would be awesome.

Doesn't look like a whale, light weight (max 42 lbs), long travel, powerful as possible given the lightweight requirement.

Where I live now there are a ton of moto trails that'd be great on an e-bike. But I won't even consider one until the aftermarket support improves significantly. 

In my mind a used E-bike is worth essentially nothing, because if you have motor or battery issues you are SOL. Which also makes buying a new one less attractive because it's difficult to sell.

I want to be able to tear into it and replace individual components in the motor if they go bad or wear out from normal use. I don't send my stuff anywhere and I'm not willing to do it for an e-bike either. 
 
IMHO E-bikes are positioned as "black box" products, that the even the technically proficient consumer can't work on because of design and parts availability issues.

Just my opinion, and willing to be proven wrong if anyone knows of user serviceable systems I'd love to know about them.

Bafang might be the closest, as the whole unit is cheap as chips; but the low price might be for a reason.  
 

I want the thing to be as close to riding a dirt bike as it can be..... more power, more speed, more stiffness. Basically a DH bike with a motor.

For me it is all about the range.  I can go out on 2+ hour rides on my regular bike and have a lot of fun.  I have an Intense Tazer with the 500w battery, I was lucky to ride it for 1.5 hours, sure I was covering more ground in a shorter amount of time, but I wanted more.  I picked up an Orbea Wild this year with the 750w battery and 3+ hour rides are no problem.  I ride mostly in emtb mode but will switch it based on the section of trail.  The bike is heavy but handles great, not as good as my Sentinel, but it works fine.  For me I don't see a point in the light weight lower power bikes, they do look so much better than the full power bikes but I want to get more distance and explore and not worry about running out of juice.  To each is own and I see a place for all of them and hope that the haters get out for a 2-3 hour ride and see what it is all about.  I ride it about once for every 3-4 times I ride my Sentinel, I ride 5 days a week.   I am just about to turn 55.  (man it feels weird to see that number for my age!) Not sure if this helps people understand me having an ebike LOL

As another person who voted range, I'd like to qualify it.  I can get ~6000 ft of climbing/range in on my Levo with its 720wh battery mostly in Turbo, but I don't need that much range all the time.  I'd love to be able to drop 1/3 of the battery weight for shorter rides (i.e. have a smaller / lighter 500wh main battery and 250wh extender).  My ebike is one of the lighter full power ones in the market, right at 50 lbs, but would love to be able to trim 5-8 lbs off of it with a magic wand without changing performance.  I don't *need* 90NM of torque - could easily go down to 60ish but I don't think that torque is a major factor in weight.

Also, not top priorities, but these will also be major considerations when I replace this ebike in ~2025:

* NO HEADSET ROUTING

* clear, functional display with battery percentage (like Brose / Bosch / Rocky)

* doesn't sound like a shopping cart going down the hill (*cough* Shimano)

Its a frustrating compromise for me. Full power ebikes are fun, but being on a 42 pound or lighter ebike feels the same as a natural mountain bike on the descents. Descending on a fat pig isn't nearly as fun as one of these lighter ebikes. 

That being said, my Bafang m820 build with a 410wh battery (42 pounds) can sustain 580 watts, which if you do the math gives you less than 40 min of climbing in Boost mode before you hit 20% when it defaults back to eco mode. I can do about a 2,000 foot climb in the 2nd highest mode (S+, about 390 watts) before hitting 20%, and to do my normal 3,000 foot loop I have to keep it in the lower modes, under 300 watts of output. I do this same loop on my natural bikes too, so the only benefit of the ebike is keeping up with my more fit friends or if I have time constraints (job, 4 kids, another coming any day now). 

I've had an ebike since 2018, and they are expensive to run with wear and tear. For that reason it now mostly only comes out as an uplift for big days out, or dig days. I use a normal bike for my local mellower trails, partly to keep cost down, and partly for a better workout riding with other non-ebikers (if everyone is riding an ebike, it's still a good workout). Range is very important for riding all day on MTB trips. I would prefer a slightly lighter bike. I'm not worried about power, just get me to the top so I'm not knackered for the descent. I don't know why you would want a short travel ebike, as pedalling isn't an issue, and you want the bike to be capable of anything you come across on your travels.

So the ideal would be an enduro lightish ebike with a range extender, something like a Rallon version of an Orbea Rise.

As an aside, I prefer 27.5 wheels, and as they are a rarity, I'm thinking my next bike(s) (ebike or not) will be an overforked mullet with the front wheel swapped with a 27.5 to get the stack height I'm after, but retain the intended geometry.

I will also probably wait until the gearbox motor has hit the mass market before buying a new ebike. Something like the SIMPLON Rapcon Pmax Pinion, but from a big brand.

Whatever other features it has i just want to see an extra $1000 added at the point of sale, $500 to the purchaser’s local trails and $500 to the eventual disposal of the worn parts and environmental remediation. ‘Internalize externalities.’

I love it. That's a really wise and well thought out idea that will never, ever happen.

Length and girth are equally important for downtubes 

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

1. You're planning to sell it within a year and buy a new one so you don't get stuck with expensive (or impossible) repair problems.

2. You're hoping the e-bike will still have a reasonable resale value at the end of a more normal MTB ownership timeframe, like three years.

3. You will ride this very expensive e-bike until you turn it into garbage. You're fully expecting to be the last owner and to eat the entire $6-15k purchase price when the motor or battery eventually becomes unrepairable, when parts are no longer available or firmware is no longer supported, or when repairs become cost prohibitive.

I might be converted once u can get something that isn’t heavy (I hated big heavy old DH bikes) and something that can also be used like a regular bike with not big weight penalty.  Oh and not cost more than my first car 

@TEAMROBOT and @PeteHaile these are really good points and questions and a large part of the reason why I'm not in the market for an e-bike currently (the other factor being cost). I'm not a new bike every year kinda guy, more like 3 years. I see 2-3 year old e-bikes for sale around me for a fraction of the original sticker price. The used bike market is jacked for anyone trying to sell a bike right now, but the hit on e-bikes seems even bigger.

Back on the topic of range - I want all the battery built into the bike. Call me vain, but I think the extenders look silly and I want to be able to use my bottle cage for, ya know, bottles of water. I have zero interest in carrying around a spare battery in a pack either. 

I was so curious I made a poll, too: What's your long term ownership strategy when you buy an e-bike? https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/honest-question-e-bike-buyers-whats…

Great question:

Bought my first ebike in 2018 online for $4.5k, motor died early 2022 requiring a new motor for 1k. Completely missed the the timing of the crazy high prices post COVID, tried selling early 2023 with all new components, no buyers, just updated the ad today trying to do "frame only" (with motor+battery+cranks) for under 2k, not holding my breadth. Would be happy to keep it, but it is too similar to the new bike and no space in the garage.

Bought my new bike at the start of the year for 5k at the local shop. I know they do trade-ins and reckon I'll swap/sell it after 18 months taking a huge loss in the process. 

My ideal answer would be buy a nice bike and ride it for 10 years until the wheels fall off, but the reality is barely any of these bikes last 4+ years without motor or frame dying. I could happily do this with a regular mtb as absolutely nothing has interested me in terms of innovation for the last 5 years. Ebikes is a whole different story, better range, lower weights, way better geometry, looks and the next few years will bring solid state batteries and motor gear box units, upgraditis is already happening.

Still not sure if my strategy of buying "cheap" but struggling to sell is better off than splashing out and selling at a big loss, buddy just sold his 8k bike for 3.7k 3 years later. My wife and I have been cheap/frugal our entire lives, so she thinks I have absolutely lost the plot financially!

Right to repair. I don't see it mentioned here other than sorta in @TEAMROBOT comment about dumping it before repair is an issue. 

I've got a mid-drive e-kit on my family hauler cargo commuter and I've been into it several times to repair it, I can order all the individual parts from China to repair it. 

These things aren't rocket surgery, it's an electronic board, a motor, some bearings and gears. Sure the average joe might not have an arbor press and the dies but it should be possible for a competent shop to repair these things. Make the electronics available so these can be repaired. 

Battery modularity would be good. For most afterwork hot lap rides a smaller lighter battery would give the bike more playfulness, then tag in an larger battery for times when a bigger battery is needed. Not just offering a wee bottle sized extender pack but multiple options for main pack size along with extenders. 

For AM riding, but not in real mountains with real mountain climbs, my Relay has absolutely hit the mark for me.

The capability of the chassis with enough range for 4 hours is everything I need.

I can't answer that poll.

I never buy anything with the resale a consideration, it is what it is.  I get an item out of need or want and then let the chips fall where they may.

Side note, anyone want a medium size Intense tazer expert with about 900 miles on it over a 3 year period, was ridden about 3 times this year, I need to get as much as I can out of it hahaha.

This is why I've been experimenting with Bafang motors. The m510 is weight & power competitive with Shimano/Bosch/Brose, and I think the Bafang m820 is BETTER than whatever motor the Levo SL uses, better than Trek's TQ motor but IDK about the new lightweight motor from Bosch. The weakness is that they don't feel quite as refined in power delivery, but its still really good. 

You can buy replacement parts or an entirely new motor on alibaba for $600 or less, you can build your own battery, use a tiny, discrete display or a large one, etc. 

I have a Norco Range VLT A1 in XL. 720Wh battery

Amazing bike, Geo is perfect pretty much, Literally rides like a downhill bike and then pedals like Nino on the way up.

720Wh is heaps, can do 50km and 1500m climbing and have battery to ride to the pub later

Shimano EP8 is ok, the rattle annoys me no end

The big gripe is weight, mine is 30kg on the dot! Cushcore, DD tyres..... that's a huuuuuuge bitch! Knock 5-8kg off that and it would be perfect, I'm a big enough dude where a 25kg bike is no problem.

So in the future, I want my current bike but with 8kg knocked off and a motor that doesn't rattle, power and range are fine for me.

I'm normally the guy saying weight doesn't matter, but 30kg is a lot.

She thicc, originally we put it on a park tool bike scale and it came up "ERR" we were like wtf is going on, turns out they only go up to 28kg lol

I had to convert 25kg to see what they were happy with and was like WTF?  That’s the happy medium?  

I could up my battery capacity from 410 w/h to 720 w/h with a 2.8 pound weight penalty. My bike with EXO+ tires and Tannus (air suspension) is 42 pounds on the dot  with pedals. So it would be 45 pounds with a 720w/h battery, and the Bafang m820 in boost mode is about 90% as powerful as the EP8, when comparing side by side with my friends Fezzari Timp

Just take a 7kg dump before you ride.