Best production offroad ebike?

Dual suspension is better: that's a no brainer.

I can argue it's not always better..

I'm not used to it, and don't care to go much past 20mph anyway. Why waste half of my pedaling effort to bounce the bike up/down? I can more easily predict a hardtail.
 
Well, the number of hardtail bikes I've seen on the tough top section of the local mt trails,,,, ZERO. See plenty of em on the lower trails, where I would ride a beach cruiser anyday. Hardtails have their place, that's for sure. But pedal bob on a good off road ebike is non existing, you'd have to be pedaling for starters.

20 mph is about my speed too, but I don't pedal till it's too steep to stand on. Don't have to, too busy just steering through the shit I ride.

It does matter what "offroad" is in your area. Here it's rock staircases. But I do know what you mean, I've seen DH hucks that are mind blowing using hardtails. Like the 100' cliff jumps I once took snow skiing, it's all in the landing slope angle. Same with vert riders that don't use shocks. But you wanna bend a rim, come ride a hardtail on my local trails. Riding over bowling ball size rocks for a few miles on flattish slopes will do ya. It's the "rocky" mts here.
 
Here's a vid of some riding in my area.

Note, this vid is still on a road! The trails make this look smooth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfoFxm1GGwk&feature=relmfu

Wanna come keep up with me on a hardtail? I'll carry a tube for ya. We won't leave you out there,,,,, after dark.
 
So, what batteries are they using on the Stealth bikes? I saw that they are Lifepo, but what voltage? they say they are pushing 4500 watts. That's pretty impressive if the system can handle it.
 
MikeFairbanks said:
So, what batteries are they using on the Stealth bikes? I saw that they are Lifepo, but what voltage? they say they are pushing 4500 watts. That's pretty impressive if the system can handle it.

I known it is LiFePo4 for sure. And it is 74V or 24s lifepo. So 76.8V nominal. So 60A is expected at full throttle. I'm pretty sure 4500W is not that impessive given many other users here have pushed it to those level and higher before.

But don't get me wrong, 4500W is some serious power. I have experience 3.7KW and it is pretty powerful.
 
Both awesome choices. I'm betting the Optibike would win the Bronze medal for sure.
The Hanebrink... I'd put my money on the Stealth beating it, but I can also see situations where the Hanebrink is just a better bike to have. Snow, Sand, Ice, bogs, off trail back woods, golf course greens, long steep hill climbs. ... I'd still bet on the Stealth but I wouldn't bet more than I could stand to lose. The Hanebrink is a solid contender.
 
Dunno why I didn't think of either of those two. Certainly the hanebrink can do soft sand better than nearly anything. Optibike is no slouch either, though I really don't know how well they work off road. Damn sure they handle a little hill, like pikes peak, pretty darn good!

There are other similar bb drives appearing in Europe, but I don't know names or which is good for off road. Not sure if anything offering less than 2000w can be "best". It simply takes a few more watts than 1000 regardless of gearing to get up some hills.

But again, the original question is just too vague to come up with anything narrowed down to just one. Stealth bomber might be "best hubmotor production bike for offroad" for many people. Too fast for my taste though, and part of why my dirt bike takes a more slow speed yet still 3000w approach. 25mph is plenty fast in my terrain. If I get air, I want to be right side up.
 
Timma2500 said:
I'd like to throw a leg over this one, the 44lb 2000w Conway E-rider:
I like the weight. It is the same as the DH racing bikes only a few years ago, so I believe it could be very good DH.
The speed and torque looks good too. The only downsides are gears and noise.

[youtube]FiYsoiLCB4M[/youtube]
 
No shit, they should be sending them to us three ( skunk, dog, and rhino) for beta testing. I'd ride em till they broke and they'd know what to strengthen. Probobally getting tested by guys who pedal now. :lol: What's that going to tell em?

2000w is enough power to get up some good steep hills if it's not getting wasted into heat as much as typical hubmotors do when they slow down on a 20% grade. I don't think the 500w mid drives have the grunt. It just depends on what the needs are, keeping it light, or having the power to get weak old farts like me up a hill. To a serious single track pedaler, 500w would be plenty of assist. I've come to prefer just hanging on for the ride on trails though.
 
Just watched the whole vid. Maybe the noise is louder to the cam than to the rider. I never saw anybody turn their head and go "what's that coming?" Many never had time to, and were in thier own world of pain anyway. Who wants to hear all those people you just pissed of cussing at you anyway?

Pretty impressive, though that path is not really very steep by my standards. I'm sure the thing goes faster without the crowd in the way, and can get up a hill waaaay steeper than that. A few sections were a good 10% for sure, but most of it much much less. You could tell by the angle of handrail to the posts it was below 5% grade for sure. If that was real trail, 15% grade or more, you'd be riding it without all that crowd. Gotta be a blast riding through all the cool tunnels. 8)
 
2000w is nice, but as you see, not that fast up a hill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDqSHJYVXnc&feature=relmfu

Can't find any other vids that really show it's speed on the flat. But surely 2000w is good for 35 mph.
 
Performance wise, it is very far from my bikes that pull 150A batt, but it is in the weight category to make a good downhill ride and likely can climb much better on slow technical trails. That is what I like of it, yet the noise and gears would probably make me leave it sleeping in the garage most of the time. I got used to the loss of DH maneuverability, and I believe I'd still prefer power and silence to noise and lighter weight. Of course those vids don't show it at its best, because a powerfull hub motor setup would beat it bad on that trail. Its qualities should be shown climbing steep and riding DH.
 
That doesn't look like 2kw in the 2nd video posted on the road. More like 1kw. If it's really 44lb, that's impressive. I wonder what the battery specs are.
 
I think the camera was really picking up the noise, did you hear how loud the brakes were? And then at the end when he is just pushing it, its still loud. Definitely not quiet, there were a few people that looked back, but not as obnoxiously loud as it seems either. Definitely looked like a load of fun though!! :mrgreen:
 
Miles said:
In the specifications, the motor is shown as having a rating of 1kW.
Sorry guys, i quoted gizmag: http://www.gizmag.com/conway-e-rider-electric-mountain-bike/16305/

They said 2kw peak, 1kw continuous...


Paul :D
 
Timma2500 said:
Miles said:
In the specifications, the motor is shown as having a rating of 1kW.
Sorry guys, i quoted gizmag: http://www.gizmag.com/conway-e-rider-electric-mountain-bike/16305/

They said 2kw peak, 1kw continuous...
It's not a large hub motor that can be overloaded for extended periods. It will have quite a short thermal time constant and will only be "belting out bursts of 2,000 watts".
 
Ahh, 1k continous. Pretty hard to get any motor to do it's theoretical amps continuous. My slow wind hubmotor is in summer mode, 72v 20 amps controller, to avoid cooking it off. So I rarely see much more than 1000w when I glance down at the CA.

I'd say it performs about the same as I see in the vids. But at the price of the weight on the rear wheel. I like the look of the balance of that thing, I bet it rides nice. Out trail riding, nobody would be overtaking you, you could just crank up some headphones if the noise was that bad.

But I do like the near silence of my hubmotor dirt bike. Just a tiny bit of 9c grunting and lots of tire grinding. Occasionally sneak up on wildlife that way.
 
what about the nicolai eboxx
JS_0664_nicolai.jpg

http://www.nicolai.net/158-0-ION+20+E-BOXX.html
 
dh-paule said:
what about the nicolai eboxx
JS_0664_nicolai.jpg

http://www.nicolai.net/158-0-ION+20+E-BOXX.html
Wow! That is gorgeous! Now if they only made a 3 wheeler that also tilts.
otherDoc
 
Drunkskunk said:
OP was asking for Production bikes, not kits. The ego is a kit. Wrong catagory.
I contacted EGO a few months ago. They sell kona bikes with their kit on it ready to go. They sent me a list of ex demo bikes 'cos they sold out of normal stock. I think the best option they had for me was a kona stinky medium size about $4k
 
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