New Orbea Rise

[Lionel]

This is having me seriously interested.

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/orbea-rise-e-mtb/

[skouri1]

? for what application?

[Lionel]

Mountain biking !

[sk_tle]

Looks like an occam with a motor.

[ldamelio]

Interesting technology. Maybe for my 90th birthday in 30 years.
Lionel - you're worrying me. Would you trade the GT3T for a Tesla?

[Lionel]

Interesting technology. Maybe for my 90th birthday in 30 years.
Lionel - you're worrying me. Would you trade the GT3T for a Tesla?

Definitely not !

But on these eMTB after now rising with a few people on them I think with the light assist they fill a segment that I see the interest in. Instead of doing 40km in 3 hours you do 65 or 70km in 3h, I think the exercise and calories burned are the same between the two but you may be having a whole lot more fun on the eMTB ride.

[sk_tle]

E-mtb are only really interesting if you have huge gradients / elevation changes in your rides so you have to take that into account. Like for going from 450m of altitude to 2000-2500 in an hour while it would need a much longer and exhausting ride to do that on a "muscular" bike. On flattish trails you end up really quickly at the 25kph limit and it can be really frustrating as the loss of power usually feel like you are taking a headwind. It is more psychologically annoying than physically as you wouldn't go much faster on a standard bike but it was still there when I last tested an e-bike.

I'd do a test ride before buying because I am quite skeptical of the 65-70km unless you disable the electric assistance for a large part of the ride. At 16.5kg it might be doable without feeling like shit on flat sections but that something I would have to try first.

[Lionel]

A typical MTB ride here now on my Fuel EX is 40km with 800m of vertical done in about 2h45 at 15km/h average. It has quite a lot of steep sections, many of them I hardly clear (with a huge knee killing effort) or do not clear at all. It also has routes that have extended steep climbs that I avoid right now.

My wife has a Levo SL and I am pretty certain that 65k/1500m vertical is no issue at all without the battery extension that you put in the water bottle holder. She recently did a 32km/400m vertical ride with the dog, when she came back the battery was 85% full. This is with the assistance 100% of the time on "eco" mode 90% of the time. On top of that with a 16kg bike coming back even without the motor is "doable".

[Saab2000]

I wonder if battery regeneration (like electric cars) is in the future for e-bikes. I'm not really kidding. When you talk of descents there's no reason that energy can't be recovered.

E-bikes aren't for me, at least not now. But Lionel rides enough that I'll defer to his experiences. If he says they're OK I'll listen.

[Scott G.]

I wonder if battery regeneration (like electric cars) is in the future for e-bikes. I'm not really kidding. When you talk of descents there's no reason that energy can't be recovered.[snip]

A Surly Troll with a Bionx kit, hub drive, with 4 levels of regeneration, it feels like engine braking
in manual car. A beast at 45lbs, a ride 35miles with 2500 feet of climbing + 2500 of descending
would use 20-25% of the battery. The hub drive with the rack mounted battery made it really
tail heavy and awkward to move about.

[Saab2000]

A Surly Troll with a Bionx kit, hub drive, with 4 levels of regeneration, it feels like engine braking
in manual car. A beast at 45lbs, a ride 35miles with 2500 feet of climbing + 2500 of descending
would use 20-25% of the battery. The hub drive with the rack mounted battery made it really
tail heavy and awkward to move about.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a hub dynamo generator, which is virtually invisible in terms of drag, at least it would be downhill. Not to power a light (though it could) but to regenerate the battery when not pedaling.

[Lionel]

One point that I wonder about is whether if you have a "light" eMTB you continue to use your muscular bike. My guess is not much if at all. But I am still thinking of adding an e-MTB rather than replacing my Fuel EX. A real +1, have not done that in a while :)

Now on the disappointing piece the new Orbea does not seem available for another 6 months ! I may have access to an S-Works Levo SL frame that I could pimp up.

[ides1056]

I have friends in California who have ebikes to ride in the Sierra Nevada. They are more than reasonably fit to begin with, but the ebike allows them to extend their rides in the mountains at altitudes above 7000'.

[rwsaunders]

Greg LeMond has a bike waiting for you, Lionel.

https://lemond.com/prolog

[sk_tle]

I'm thinking more along the lines of a hub dynamo generator, which is virtually invisible in terms of drag, at least it would be downhill. Not to power a light (though it could) but to regenerate the battery when not pedaling.

I think the industry has come to realize that regeneration created more problem than it resolved, at least for mountain biking. First you want the weight at the center and regeneration on early bionx kit was problematic when bike reached high speed in the descent (overvoltage or whatever).

[Saab2000]

I think the industry has come to realize that regeneration created more problem than it resolved, at least for mountain biking. First you want the weight at the center and regeneration on early bionx kit was problematic when bike reached high speed in the descent (overvoltage or whatever).

You're probably right. It's just something that made me think out loud as someone who used to use generator lights. The benefit may not be worth the trouble.

[Lionel]

Found an S-Works Levo SL in XL complete should I do it ? It's costing more than a car....

[takashi]

Found an S-Works Levo SL in XL complete should I do it ? It's costing more than a car....

do it

[skouri1]

Lionel what is the point?
I thought you were still capable, doing group rides etc. you already have two pretty insanely nice MTBs. is it just to get a boost uphill? I know traction in aix is probably tough with the rocks you have out there, but still, can't it be solved by spinning an easy gear?

[Lionel]

Lionel what is the point?
I thought you were still capable, doing group rides etc. you already have two pretty insanely nice MTBs. is it just to get a boost uphill? I know traction in aix is probably tough with the rocks you have out there, but still, can't it be solved by spinning an easy gear?

It's not about being capable. The point is that this may be a more fun way to mountain bike with the same calories output.