E-HELL OR E-HARMONY?

We test six of the latest e-MTBs to ind out if they really do make the climbs lat-out fun and the descents absolutely mental

We’ve been through a bunch of wheel, axle and bottom bracket changes recently, but they’re small change compared to the biggest thing to happen in mountain biking since it started – motor assistance. If you think the ‘26 ain’t dead’ crew and 29er haters get nasty on forums, then it’s nothing compared to the civil wars between everyone from riding buddies to land managers that break out when you mention e-bikes. But whatever you think of the rights and wrongs of hitting the trails with some extra wattage behind your legs, what are the latest e-MTBs actually like to ride? And which ones manage to minimise the downsides and maximise the upsides of electrically-assisted riding?

Even though we’ve been riding e-MTBs regularly for a couple of years, living with half a dozen of them has been a steep learning curve, and we’re not just talking about remembering to charge them. We’ve had to work out where to fit lights on bars that have a great big display on them and perform emergency restarts on bikes that have died mid ride or shaken their batteries loose. Loading them into vans or heaving them over gates is a whole new pain in the arse. And then there’s the increased battering the tyres suffer as a result of the extra 10kg or so of weight and the fact you’re hitting stuff faster, even on climbs.

Even when an e-MTB works fine, the extra weight means that bossing it down the trail requires a significant adaption to your normal riding style. Trying to balance power pick-up, initial torque surge and overrun adds a whole new element too. It’s also different for every bike. We’ve had a ton of fun ragging these rigs round our favourite trails though, and if you get the right one, you’re opening up a whole new world of easier, further, faster, riding.