Electric Mountain Bikes

An electric mountain bike (often abbreviated to E-MTB) is a mountain bike with an integrated motor to help you pedal. Important to note is that you must pedal to engage the motor so nobody’s getting a free ride!

The key difference between a hardtail and full suspension electric mountain bikes is the suspension. Hardtails do not have rear suspension while full-sus mountain bikes have a rear shock.

An important distinction between most bikes on the market is the frame material. The weight of the frame will be less of a consideration when buying an e-bike since most of the benefits of a lightweight frame are negated by the additional weight of the e-bike motor and battery.

As a general rule of thumb the more travel an E-MTB has the gnarlier the terrain you’ll be able to comfortably ride. Suspension acts as a dampener for rocks and roots so the bigger the rocks you anticipate riding the more travel you’ll need.

We get asked this question a lot and there’s no one answer. Obvious factors like battery capacity motor and rider weight will affect the distance you can travel but there’s a number of other little hacks you can keep in mind if you want to extend your e-bike’s range.