Which would you rather? Production cs DIY emtb

Which would you rather have? Production VS *nice* DIY eMTB

  • Nice "budget" Production emtb - sub $5000 usd

    Votes: 1 9.1%
  • Nice DIY rig wirh new donor FS mtb and nice motor/battery., maybe controller upgrade too, if needed.

    Votes: 10 90.9%

  • Total voters
    11
I’d go with the Canyon. Lightweight, large battery, and programable so you can have a preset for street and for off-road. Programability is I big deal so you don’t accidentally launch yourself off a cliff. 85nm of mid drive torque will get you up any hill. The Shimano motor isn’t only programable via the screen, but also hackable to remove restrictions.
 
I’d go with the Canyon. Lightweight, large battery, and programable so you can have a preset for street and for off-road. Programability is I big deal so you don’t accidentally launch yourself off a cliff. 85nm of mid drive torque will get you up any hill. The Shimano motor isn’t only programable via the screen, but also hackable to remove restrictions.
I think if they were all the same price, a factory one is an appealing package for various reasons. Do you know what can be done with the hacked shimano? remove the 20mph motor cutoff and give more boost, im guessing?

Do you know if the bosch can be similarly hacked?
 
Now that everything is on a huge sale, my decision is still hard... Been looking at the Orbea Wild (3800 currently) and the Yamaha moro 07 (only 2500) as well as the Canyons...

I know I want something with quality pedal-assist, i don't want to just throttle all the time. Do the bolt-on motors (Maybe CYC or ToSeven?) compare well with the bosch/shimano/yamaha motors when it comes to pedal assist?

Anybody with experience with this? thx.
 
Now that everything is on a huge sale, my decision is still hard... Been looking at the Orbea Wild (3800 currently) and the Yamaha moro 07 (only 2500) as well as the Canyons...

I know I want something with quality pedal-assist, i don't want to just throttle all the time. Do the bolt-on motors (Maybe CYC or ToSeven?) compare well with the bosch/shimano/yamaha motors when it comes to pedal assist?

Anybody with experience with this? thx.
I have a bike with torque sensor and it is outstanding compared to cadence.Pedal harder get more assistance
 
I have been putting hub motors in these 20 yo MTB's. Low use MTB's go cheap:
If I had my druthers, I'd check out those production EMTB's. It would all depend on how it rides on the trail, and I don't think a guy in his basement can beat a bicycle company in that game.PXL_20240607_204004889.jpg
 
Not here to try to one up you, but..

bikeisland/bikesdirect makes a hell of a cheap base and the frames are generally made in taiwan, so pretty decent quality.. ( with crap parts on the low end )

1732155650891.png

Or you can custom order a chromoly frame to your own exact specifications from Peru for about the price of a motor.. ( reddit MTBers like this company )

1732155752716.png


So yeah.. us basement guys can do pretty good!
 
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I don't know about that. The build that Az. linked was a very high level build, and at that it all depends on how well it rides on the trail in comparison to the production eMTB's. It sure would be a great palooza to have a bunch of bikes to ride and compare.
I like to believe that I can build better than a quality production ebike, but at times I question that assumption.
 
I don't know about that. The build that Az. linked was a very high level build, and at that it all depends on how well it rides on the trail in comparison to the production eMTB's. It sure would be a great palooza to have a bunch of bikes to ride and compare.
I like to believe that I can build better than a quality production ebike, but at times I question that assumption.

You can if you put your mind, skills, and wallet to it. The only part you can't beat a production ebike on is the integrated battery really.

If we're talking high end bikes and you have fabrication skills, you can beat the top of the top ebike oin the price to power to handling ability ratio very easily.. it takes more skill.

..but most people would be happy with a basement build :)

Also as an old school bicylist, i find the integrated battery aesthetically negative and dislike it for it's proprietaryness... not a plus for me... this and the proprietary mid drive also.. just means it will cost more than a DIY build long term when one of the parts go out ( if you can even find a replacement.. )

1732160950677.png
 
Ready made bikes are great until they are not. Imagine you bought a bike like that:


Really cool bike, isn't it? Only around £5k

There is a battery recall now


Makes me wonder what owners can do now. They can't buy new battery, they can't use their bikes. All what they can do is to sit in the corner, cry and wait... or buy a new bike.

On generic non proprietary bike you just buy new battery and keep on riding.
 
Here's another example of why prebuilts..

Look at all the threads on broken controllers and displays on prebuilts on this forum over the last year when we started juicing the SEO & started attracting a more general audience by accident.

Few of these threads have a resolution or even successful identification of parts because everything's been relabeled or customized for 1 of the many 1000's of brands at any given point.

There's no support on other prebuilt-oriented websites so they discover ours, notice we're smarter, and ask their possibly helpless question.

In many cases the only reasonable route is to replace all the electronics except the battery and motor. Sometimes we need to replace the battery too.

In these cases, when you have to re-do the electronics, even if you got a smokin deal, you've crossed past the economics of 'build vs buy' and now have a more expensive build than us DIYers, unless you're an expert electronics hacker.
 
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