e-MTB's in 2025

[MadManMike]

Howdy folks!

I started a new job last month and they operate a cycle2work scheme - I'm waiting to hear the budget, since the old flyer said £1000 max (and I was told it was more, they just need to confirm it).

I'm very lucky to get a monthly allowance to spend which works out at £216 a month, so assuming the max budget is half decent, I can spend £2,600 for the year without having to add any of my own cash at the end.

I've seen this one on clearance which would be well within my allowance (any allowance not spent is added to my pension, so I don't necessarily have to max out the price to spend it all):

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/fathom-eplus-3

I'm out of the loop on mountain bikes and I've never been in the loop on electric ones. I'll use my "proper" mountain bike for places like Bike Park Wales, so the plan for the e-MTB is to put some miles down on road and trails, not serious downhill stuff (and I know what you're thinking - no I don't want a roadie / hybrid / gravel, not my bag really).

Any tips welcomed, whether I should spend more and add cash to it or if for my simple requirements, a cheaper one will do the job...

Cheers!

[isitafox]

You can get two types they refer to as either full fat or half fat, that Giant looks like a full fat bike but as it's a hardtail it doesn't matter as much as you've not got the extra weight from the rear suspension to deal with. 

Can ask my lad what the motors are like as he works with ebikes a lot, that would be the deciding factor for me or can see what he'd recommend based on your budget, definitely don't want to go full sus? 

 

[Ali C]

I feel the ideal situation for an ebike is for riding in hilly places. If you’re riding flatter trails you may find you can pedal faster than the motor which kinda defeats the point. My dad loves his roady ebike but he is nearly 80 and lives in the Pennines so that’s an ideal situation.

Unless you REALLY want an ebike you could get a MUCH better specced normal bike for the price. 

[cwtrials]

Viral internet videos tells me ebike = trials 

So that's a win?

[MadManMike]

On 5/5/2025 at 6:06 AM, isitafox said:

definitely don't want to go full sus? 

 

I'll find out what my budget is hopefully later today, but no I don't want full sus as I'll be doing a mix of riding on it and nothing big enough to justify full sus - I suspect the budget on one would be significantly higher too.

On 5/5/2025 at 8:35 AM, Ali C said:

I feel the ideal situation for an ebike is for riding in hilly places. If you’re riding flatter trails you may find you can pedal faster than the motor which kinda defeats the point. My dad loves his roady ebike but he is nearly 80 and lives in the Pennines so that’s an ideal situation.

Unless you REALLY want an ebike you could get a MUCH better specced normal bike for the price. 

Yeah I definitely want an ebike, there's plenty of hills around here as I live near the valleys. I've always been terrible at climbs too, so it's time to accept that fact and get some electric assistance

It'll be used for a real mix of stuff - I'd quite like to ride over to Bristol for beers some evenings (40 mile round trip), sometimes it'll be with my family, other times it'll be a trail centre like the Forest of Dean. If I go to Bike Park Wales I'll take my 'proper' bike as it has longer travel and is set up for flying downhill.

12 hours ago, cwtrials said:

Viral internet videos tells me ebike = trials 

So that's a win?

...qué?

[isitafox]

1 hour ago, MadManMike said:

I'll find out what my budget is hopefully later today, but no I don't want full sus as I'll be doing a mix of riding on it and nothing big enough to justify full sus - I suspect the budget on one would be significantly higher too.

 

Can land on some occasional bargains, there were a few GT full sus ebikes a few months back for £2500-2600 as GT been having problems so everything got reduced but yeah generally. Plus the full fat full sus bikes are absolute tanks, my lads Merida is a monster compared to the carbon half fat Heckler they've got as a demo bike but again the prices are ridiculous. 

Will see if him or his boss have any suggestions or what to avoid

[MadManMike]

4 hours ago, isitafox said:

Can land on some occasional bargains, there were a few GT full sus ebikes a few months back for £2500-2600 as GT been having problems so everything got reduced but yeah generally. Plus the full fat full sus bikes are absolute tanks, my lads Merida is a monster compared to the carbon half fat Heckler they've got as a demo bike but again the prices are ridiculous. 

Will see if him or his boss have any suggestions or what to avoid

Nice one, thanks mate.

It also depends who the scheme is with - hopefully not Halfords, I looked at their selection, it was... er... not great.

I haven't heard back from HR yet, so none the wiser on budget today.

[Ross McArthur]

15 hours ago, MadManMike said:

Nice one, thanks mate.

It also depends who the scheme is with - hopefully not Halfords, I looked at their selection, it was... er... not great.

I haven't heard back from HR yet, so none the wiser on budget today.

If you get the Halfords voucher, they also cover Tredz. Its always worth looking for what bike you want outside of those two shops, then speaking to the bike shop its in and ask if they will accept the Halfords C2W voucher. Leisure Lakes isn't listed as an approved dealer but they accepted my voucher  Just watch though, the bike I was looking at had 16% off but they put back on 10% so that they could "make some monies on the sale". Whatever...

[MadManMike]

17 minutes ago, Ross McArthur said:

If you get the Halfords voucher, they also cover Tredz. Its always worth looking for what bike you want outside of those two shops, then speaking to the bike shop its in and ask if they will accept the Halfords C2W voucher. Leisure Lakes isn't listed as an approved dealer but they accepted my voucher  Just watch though, the bike I was looking at had 16% off but they put back on 10% so that they could "make some monies on the sale". Whatever...

Ah OK thanks, that's good to know. Tredz had a couple of good deals when I looked a few days ago, so that could be an option then.

Hopefully I'll hear back from HR today and it doesn't end up being a £1000 limit.

[Ross McArthur]

A thousand pounds?! Ain't nobody got time fo that. 

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

On 05/05/2025 at 08:35, Ali C said:

If you’re riding flatter trails you may find you can pedal faster than the motor which kinda defeats the point.

My wife recently got an eeb and though I was determined to hate it for being fat and heavy and ugly I actually mainly hate riding it because the motor cuts out so early (standard 15.5mph). On anything other than uphill slogs you end up at that limit and it feels harder to ride than if there wasn't a motor. I just don't really get it unfortunately for the type of riding we do and where we live. She loves it which is great and it means she can keep up with the boys and I and enjoys riding but I just don't get on with it at all. 

One thing I would say is that if I were to get one I'd definitely be looking at FS. remember that the bike will weigh ~25kgs and so any kind of rough stuff that weight will make for a pretty uncomfortable ride without the cushioning of rear suspension. The fact you've got a motor means the extra weight of a FS setup doesn't matter but you'll be glad of it off road I think.

[Ross McArthur]

Yep, the speed limit on the road to the trails is pure shite but once you get it on the trails, the topping out of speed isn't so noticeable unless its a long ass straight DH section. 

[Rusevelt]

7 hours ago, monkeyseemonkeydo said:

My wife recently got an eeb and though I was determined to hate it for being fat and heavy and ugly I actually mainly hate riding it because the motor cuts out so early (standard 15.5mph). On anything other than uphill slogs you end up at that limit and it feels harder to ride than if there wasn't a motor. I just don't really get it unfortunately for the type of riding we do and where we live. She loves it which is great and it means she can keep up with the boys and I and enjoys riding but I just don't get on with it at all. 

One thing I would say is that if I were to get one I'd definitely be looking at FS. remember that the bike will weigh ~25kgs and so any kind of rough stuff that weight will make for a pretty uncomfortable ride without the cushioning of rear suspension. The fact you've got a motor means the extra weight of a FS setup doesn't matter but you'll be glad of it off road I think.

Can you not derestrict the EU 15.5mph limit to US 20mph, usually there is something within the display controls to switch it from EU to US.

[MadManMike]

7 hours ago, monkeyseemonkeydo said:

My wife recently got an eeb and though I was determined to hate it for being fat and heavy and ugly I actually mainly hate riding it because the motor cuts out so early (standard 15.5mph). On anything other than uphill slogs you end up at that limit and it feels harder to ride than if there wasn't a motor. I just don't really get it unfortunately for the type of riding we do and where we live. She loves it which is great and it means she can keep up with the boys and I and enjoys riding but I just don't get on with it at all. 

One thing I would say is that if I were to get one I'd definitely be looking at FS. remember that the bike will weigh ~25kgs and so any kind of rough stuff that weight will make for a pretty uncomfortable ride without the cushioning of rear suspension. The fact you've got a motor means the extra weight of a FS setup doesn't matter but you'll be glad of it off road I think.

 

Fair point about the rear suspension, definitely something to consider. It's more the cost that was my issue - a decent full susser is significantly more than a hardtail.

And as Rusevelt said, you can get them chipped to remove the speed limit - or raise it, anyway.

Ultimately if I can get one around £2600 it's a free bike that will be fun to try out, if I don't get on with it I'll still have my Dartmoor to use, but I reckon I'll enjoy it as it'll give me freedom to go up hills - something my legs have always struggled to do, no matter how much I trained. And talking of training, my bike has gathered dust on the garage wall for about 4 years, so a new bike will definitely give me a kick up the arse to get out and about, especially since I need to put down some decent miles to get to anything fun - the assistance will help with that.