Riding E-MTB: 10 Unexpected Benefits

I’m one of those people that is pretty much average at most things. I’m not totally uncoordinated but I’ve never been naturally super sporty so I have to work pretty hard to improve. The eMTB appealed to me as, like some of you out there, my husband is a much stronger and more experienced rider than me which has meant we don’t ride together all that much.

Could an eMTB change that?

As you can imagine, my first real ride on an eMTB I had some pre-conceived ideas of how it would be. In no particular order, these were that:

• I’d feel great and not too puffed
• I’d feel smug but a little guilty
• The bike would be super heavy

 

Note: This is less of a product review and more of an ‘experience review’. What does that mean? Well, I’m not looking so much at what gear it has on it (though you can check it out here if you really are interested). I’m looking at how I felt – during and afterwards!

Bike: 2019 Specialized Levo Comp Carbon
Cost: $9,500
Ride: 75km

You can see from the profile of the ride that this thing was chock full of lumps and bumps… and not the lovely lady kind.

Although anyone who did downhill in the 90s or early 2000/ would comment on how lovely and light the bike was (“you should have seen the absolute bricks we rode downhill in the 90s”), theres no getting around it. They’re heavy. On the plus side - they’re heavy but well balanced... as in, you don’t feel there’s a massively heavy front or rear and the bike handles similarly to a normal bike. It’s just... heavy.

On my faithful steed for the day, there are 4 settings:

• Level 0 = You and your legs
• Level 1 = Smallest amount of assistance imaginable
• Level 2 = Hell Yes
• Level 3 = Woah Nelly

I chose to flick between Level 0 and Level 2 because Level 1 kind of felt like, “ok so this is like me but with a tail wind”. Not enough to make me feel like I was getting enough of a benefit for the battery drain and potential stranding situation in which I might find myself.

 

1. Easier to get through intersections

This is something I didn’t realise I stressed about until the eBike made it oh-so-easy. When it comes to turning right through an intersection or going straight across a road that has no traffic lights or crossing area – I get stressed out. I don’t trust myself to be able to judge a gap correctly and to be able to get my foot clicked in and imagine myself falling and getting run over by cars going in both directions.

One of the first things I noticed was that with an e-bike, this fear disappeared. I put the bike into blast-off mode and as soon as I saw my gap in the traffic and put my foot down, the bike helped do the rest.

2. Hill starts were a dream

Semi-related to the intersection point above, stopping on a hill is always The Worst. Whether on a road bike or mountain bike, you’re forever trying to clip in and inevitably you’re in a super low gear because climbing, and then can’t get enough momentum to get going and so you get off and push your bike up the hill to a flat point where you fumble around on your pedal and try to get some momentum… Ugh.

With an eBike, it was ridiculously easy. Same method as intersections, just put your girl in KAPOW mode, start pedalling and let the momentum take you to new levels of smug.

3. It was very easy to conserve battery

So obviously my worst nightmare taking an e-bike on a long ride was that I’d use up all of the electric juice in the first 20 minutes and then have a 20kg bike to ride all the way back. So in my frugality, I discovered that you can actually use the ebike’s super zoom power to get momentum on flats and rolling landscape and then shut it off… and it was pretty easy to keep up the pace from there (so long as there isn’t a headwind).

40 km in I had only used 2 bars (very technical I know) of my battery using this method and look at this profile:

4. Hours in the saddle are still hours in the saddle

The E Factor so does not make up for not having 4 hours conditioning in the saddle. I don’t know why this surprised me... I guess I figured if I wasn’t working as hard as I normally would be by pedalling then my under carriage and muscles wouldn’t be as sore.

Wrong.

My core and back as well as butt area from sitting for 4 hours was around about the same as if I’d been on a non e-bike. Next time I’ll work my way up to that time in the saddle... 

5. I got to look around and notice a lot more things

So my husband and I went on this 4 hour bike ride and for the first time, I was looking around at the nature because I wasn’t mentally writing my own obituary.

When you’re not sweating from every square inch of your skin and staring at your stem and handlebars it’s amazing what you notice! Flowers, birds, trees, beautiful old cottages, animals... it was an all natural assault on the eyeballs.

PS South Australia really is a beautiful place - come visit. 

6. Magpies seemed to hate me more

If you live in Australia, this is a relevant factor. For whatever reason, I don’t normally get swooped on bikes. I guess I have a face they don’t hate quite as much as other people’s faces... but as soon as I rode past Swoopie Boys on my e-bike they were all about diving on me.

Just a thing I noticed. Moving on. 

7. I still got a very nice workout

I was pleasantly surprised by this as part of me was expecting to feel as if I rode a Vespa around instead of a bike. The truth is that you can make it as much or as little of a workout as you want. Because the pedal assist e-juice carks it at 25 k/h if you’re reaching any speeds over that it’s all on your own steam anyway.

I could definitely see myself getting fitter using an e-bike because I would feel more confident saying ‘yes’ to more rides which means I’d get out more and be able to do more things. After all, getting out on the bike is a lot better than continually making excuss for your fitness and missing out on going bike riding (guilty).

8. I stay hydrated more than on a usual ride

Normally I’m so focused on what gear I’m in, what’s up ahead, is that a stick or a snake, why am I so unfit etc… that I forget to eat and drink as much as I should.

After a ride of 3-4 hours, there used to be a good chance that I’d be dehydrated, crackled salty lips and a bit of a headache. Not this time! I sipped away on my camelback consistently - while on the flats, while going uphill, even while going downhill.

Amazing what difference it made to recovery too! I felt great that evening and even the next day.

9. You need to match gear with e-power more than you think

So the e-power means that you get this speed boost as soon as you level up, right? So picture you’re on a hill in an easy gear and you click the button, the bike speeds up but then you’re pedalling to fast and your cadence gets out of whack. I found it was important to shift at least 2 gears harder before pushing the button which meant being aware of getting e-boosted before you need it.

Not a big deal and you totally get used to it quickly but just something to think about.

Reminds me of before most mountain bikes had 2 (or 3) chain rings up the front and you had to continually do ratio math in your head of what gear you needed when’s clib was coming up.

10. Smug? Yes. Guilty? No.

For some reason I thought that, within my smugness would be a spattering of guilt. I should be riding this with my own steam etc. But the reality was that I just didn’t! I loved being able to beat my husband up all of the hills. Actually, I don’t know about you but I love to sing while I’m riding and an e-bike not only made this much easier, but I was able to pick appropriately smug songs to sing while whizzing by him at 25km/h going up a steep incline.

It felt goooooood.

 

 

Conclusion

Though the price tag is not for the faint hearted, I give this bike 7.5/10

It’s extremely comfortable, the battery is powerful, and it’s fun as hell to blast up hills.

I can see myself getting one of these in my fleet and using it so much I wondered how I coped without it.