Some mountain bikes are made to take 5 -10 foot jumps and the equivalent of 250 kilos at least, That is why i say that alot of rear suspension is too stiff for a bike with a motor on it, and you cant have too responsive a suspension on a pushbike because it absorbs the pedal power. you dont need that on a mountain e-bike, you arent pedalling up hills with it. I dont know much about how soft vs hard suspension, the different makes and models and adjustability, but i do know that if you aim for comfort rather than 10 foot jumps, those 10 miles of rocky terrains will feel alot better. (isnt it possible to have 2 suspensions in one, one squishy and one harder?). I was bombing it along clear tracks and grassy areas with hills, 50kph is abit dangerous if there are rocks and bumps and you dont know the track.
The probem here is'nt big jumps vs comfort , it's GRIP vs comfort.
And the problem here isn't the weight on the bike , but the weight on the wheel (including the motor) wich is accelrated upwards when you hit a bump. If you have to soft compression settings here , the wheel will not be able to follow the ground , but is trown into the air. The weight of the motor makes for a massive increase in force wich needs damping, hence the harder compression setting. If this takes some of the comfort away , so be it.
A mountain bike is always goint to have stability, the wheel base will be the same give or take 4-6 inches, if you and up doing 3 hour rides crouched down for months on end you will prefer being able to sit upright.
The point on the front wheel wich touch the ground is right under the axle. But the axis wich the wheel turns around will touch ground in front of this. As the distance between these two moints increase , so will the leverage of the bike's weight , trying to tip the wheel to either side.
This means that at a lower head angle you'll have to go faster for the gyro effect of the wheels to be strong enough to keep the front wheel upright.
The angle of the fork is the same, i dont mean way up vertical, just i am noting that i love doing miles with no hands going nice and slow and so that is essential for me. I dont think the difference in angle between bikes makes them more agile for you once i you totally tuned to the bike as regards riding with handlebars, the most important for me is comfort rather than speed on tracks. i dont think i can bomb it very technically with a 25 kg frame.
A raked out fork makes a more stable ride, bigger turning radius, and the steering response , being slower, is well suited for higher speeds.
Steep forks give a zippy, fast reacting ride with smaller turning circle , well suited for slower speeds.
Placement of the weight is all the art in building a responsive bike as it is the biggest dilemna. it makes the riding style completely different. best is centre it in the crank but that is impossible. at the back makes for a weird bike. you can pivot on the back wheel and you can make fast adjustments to the front but the back becomes an elephant. in the middle i dont know, but if there is too much weight to move the front wheel fast i think that is a mistake. like more than 2kg transferring to the handlebars is clumsy imho.
Yeah , weight distribution is important a bike /e-bike . But you need weight on the front wheel!! No weight equals no grip!
Allso remember that the sentrifugal forces pull your bike outwards , exactly at the CoG.
I once had a Hond MT5 50cc road legal bike , with allmost no weight on the front. It was downright dangreous to drive in the woods or on wet roads. You had to sit on the fuel tank to get grip on the front , wich felt dangerous and unnatural.
The fast turns are not really possible on a heavy frame mountain bike, the wheels grip less, they are half as responsive, the frame is half as responsive, if it goes out of line you have no chance of pulling it straight again, especially if the handlebars are heavy, because the frame is abit of a dead wheight, it carries on wherever it is sliding you cant cruise through bends very safely on one.the centre of gravity of the frame is high, etc etc. but that is just my i have a long distance bike, i went up a 1400meter hill recently.
Fast turns not possible? No difference in what's possible with a 40 kg e-bike and a 40 kg dirtbike. A eventual hub motor will limit the e-bike a bit , but hey , thats my point here in the first place.
the motor weight doesnt affect the suspension as it has no suspension. the battery and the rider only do. I dont know about the classifications of dh/xc/trail/etc bikes, i meant xc as in mountain bike.
This is outright wrong , see at the beginning of this post.
*edit: Oh , anotherting 18kg ping?? my frame WITH battery will be around that weight.
.manitu