A trekking mtb. Do they exist?

[Nandewar]

I am a long way from a bike shop. Seven hours by car. I have been riding a Koga Traveller for many years but am moving to a rather hilly rural area and am looking at switching to an e bike.

I like the trekking bike style but would also like to be able to explore some of the logging tracks and National Park access tracks in the mountains around my new home. Maybe carry a tent and some food for an over nighter. I also need to be able to ride the 50 km round trip to town with panniers.

Taking anything for a test ride is difficult. Having a very short list of potential bikes would make it much easier. Does anyone have any suggestions for a bike that will tick the boxes?

 

[Mac_user82]

i would seriously look into booking a holiday somewhere local to a few e-bike shops and haven a good look around and trying out all different style of bikes on the market which one might suit one will not suit another one

Nobody on the forum can really suggest a bike for you at all really because they won't be able to give that feel that you would get from the bike at all and everyone has different preferences.

To narrow it down a bit

* how much are you willing to spend
* how often are you doing to use it

Most e-bikes will tick your boxes but it down to your preference some are going to be better then others

I personally like the Bosch e-bikes and i have ridden on it for 2 years and enjoy riding it

 

[Woosh]

I like the trekking bike style but would also like to be able to explore some of the logging tracks and National Park access tracks in the mountains around my new home. Maybe carry a tent and some food for an over nighter. I also need to be able to ride the 50 km round trip to town with panniers.

I would recommend the Woosh Bermuda:

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?bermuda

 

[Nandewar]

Thanks Mac. I take your point about advise. It is difficult.

Presently I ride daily for an hour. With longer rides on the weekend. And I'm happy to spend what it takes, within reason. I suspect a full suspension bike would be very comfortable, but impracticable for panniers.

I like your idea of a holiday to test ride bikes. I will investigate.

 

[Nealh]

Any decent battery of 15ah or more will allow you to do your 50km return journey with some to spare, the spare will be handy as they will eventually lose some capacity in years to come. For full suspension options there is one which I use but not cheap, have a look at the Thule pack n ride complete rack with side racks approx £90 which I paid by searching the web.

 

[Mac_user82]

Thanks Mac. I take your point about advise. It is difficult.

Presently I ride daily for an hour. With longer rides on the weekend. And I'm happy to spend what it takes, within reason. I suspect a full suspension bike would be very comfortable, but impracticable for panniers.

I like your idea of a holiday to test ride bikes. I will investigate.

i would stop away from a full suspension it would be a nightmare to ride with panniers i should of thought i had a full suspension normal bike and it was a killer to ride to much effort required

if you are looking for a good bike and long distance if that is your key then i would suggest jumping on a riese muller with dual batteries it would cost you a lot of money but you would get a good distance if that is important to you of course it depends what you are after in the long run

if you wanted something low maintenance so you don't have to mess around with it very often then get the belt version so you don't have to bother checking and oiling chains all the time just get out and ride and enjoy it

i have tried panniers in the past and they are a waste of time they just not worth the hassle at all and they make the bike very unsafe using a bicycle
trailer it a lot more safer then using panniers and of course you can carry a lot more with you at the same time so it does have it benefits

Sometimes it would be more hassle to get the car out and do down the shops then just use your bike with a trailer

Myself i don't own a car and have no interest in even learning to drive at all
my e-bike and trailer suits me just find i can get on what i need to get on with no problems at all

As you can see in the picture a lot more freedom using a trailer then bothering use pannier this would be impossible to do with panniers

 

[Wicky]

Great up hills! Later models of the KTM came with a 562wh battery

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

All our KTM hardtail eMTB's have the ability to have panniers on the back, and an integrated kick stand mount to ensure stability when stationary.

We do them in 29, or 27.5 wheel size, so they come with mtb tyres but its very easy to change them to something less agressive, and you've got a bike thats very capable off road.

I suspect its why we sell so many.

A hard tail MTB eBIke is a very versatile beast.

 

[Nealh]

No issue here using pannier's on full sus mtb with BBS01, handling good and was no issue on twisty tight forest animal tracks. Horses for courses no good for down hill or fast rutty rough track riding but better then trying to tow a trailer off road. Heavier rear end means lifting is a no no, very pleased with my off road set up. No more sweaty back with a pack and no more issues having an off and spare battery digging in my back. As with life all our needs differ so what suits one won't suit another, if it does what you want it to do then it works for you.

 

[Nealh]

Great up hills! Later models of the KTM came with a 562wh battery

Lovely bike Wicky , Jimmy has a Panasonic hub drive adorning his office unit but has no battery for it.
He likes to look at them and wasn't really keen on selling.

 

[Danidl]

No issue here using pannier's on full sus mtb , handling good and was no issue on twisty tight forest animal tracks. Horses for courses no good for down hill or fast rutty rough track riding but better then trying to tow a trailer off road. Heavy rear end means lifting is a no no, very pleased with my off road set up. No more sweaty back with a pack and no more issues having an off and spare battery digging in my back.

.. a backpack is the worst of all worlds. Carried very high, means increased center of gravity, poking into back, every time you swing extra work is needed . A pannier is much much better. But has some limitations on what can be carried.. but with two panniers, you can carry enough gear for camping or touring.
If heavy and bulky packages , then it looks like a trailer is the only option.

As said horses for courses

 

[Mac_user82]

I am a long way from a bike shop. Seven hours by car. I have been riding a Koga Traveller for many years but am moving to a rather hilly rural area and am looking at switching to an e bike.

I like the trekking bike style but would also like to be able to explore some of the logging tracks and National Park access tracks in the mountains around my new home. Maybe carry a tent and some food for an over nighter. I also need to be able to ride the 50 km round trip to town with panniers.

Taking anything for a test ride is difficult. Having a very short list of potential bikes would make it much easier. Does anyone have any suggestions for a bike that will tick the boxes?

Living in in Australia like you do then i would advise getting something a bob
]'kat trailer so you are able to go in the mountains and able to carry water with you and ice blocks to keep the water chilled and at a good temperature that Australian heat will soon thaw them ice blocks out depending on the time of year it

One thing you cannot do in Australia is travel without water for long
Always have need water to hand

I don't think panniers are going to help you here because of the type of country you live in its best to take to much with you then not enough at all especially "water"

I would take some anti venom with you just in case you get bitten by a taipan or a king brown you just never know with nature best to be prepared then not prepared




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Crockers]

i would stop away from a full suspension it would be a nightmare to ride with panniers i should of thought i had a full suspension normal bike and it was a killer to ride to much effort required

if you are looking for a good bike and long distance if that is your key then i would suggest jumping on a riese muller with dual batteries it would cost you a lot of money but you would get a good distance if that is important to you of course it depends what you are after in the long run

if you wanted something low maintenance so you don't have to mess around with it very often then get the belt version so you don't have to bother checking and oiling chains all the time just get out and ride and enjoy it

i have tried panniers in the past and they are a waste of time they just not worth the hassle at all and they make the bike very unsafe using a bicycle
trailer it a lot more safer then using panniers and of course you can carry a lot more with you at the same time so it does have it benefits

Sometimes it would be more hassle to get the car out and do down the shops then just use your bike with a trailer

Myself i don't own a car and have no interest in even learning to drive at all
my e-bike and trailer suits me just find i can get on what i need to get on with no problems at all

As you can see in the picture a lot more freedom using a trailer then bothering use pannier this would be impossible to do with panniers

View attachment 19352

Looks like stabilisers...

 

[Nandewar]

Wow, thanks for all the replys. I'm very glad I asked people who know stuff from experience.
I use Orbleib panniers now, front and back. I have used them on many multiday trips on my Koga. Took it to Vietnam and Cambodia recently.

I like the look of the KTM hardtails. I will try to find a dealer in Sydney or Brisbane. I have rung around the major ebike stores and nobody has much stock of anything which is a bummer. Especially in the L or XL sizes. Everyone is waiting for shipments.

I will definitely check out off road trailers too.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Trevormonty]

Merida do some hardtails with shimano STEPs E6000 mid drive. Only for light trail work, ie no jumps but OK for 4wd tracks. Equivalent to Bosch Active 50NM. Shimano also have MTB drive E8000 70nm, but Merida bikes with them are lot more expensive.

For steep 4wd roads the more powerful MTB drives (63-80nm) might be better plus lower geared 1x11spd drive train.

If budget will go to it, get higher spec bike with air fork, as bonus gears and brakes will typically be better.

A hard tail with suspension seatpost like suntour NCX while not quite as good as FS is lot cheaper and will give comfortable ride on 4wd roads at 10-15km/hr.

 

[Deere John]

I use mine for that sometimes. As long as you can have rear rack it should be good.


Here is my Bosch-bike. I now have a different steering bar so I can attach a decent bag there also. Front lowliders or those that goes along the fork is popular on these kinds of bikes also.

Östra Långvattnet Ice by Daniel Cederberg, on Flickr


My "trekking bike", this was built with purpose to carry much, the rear rack has extra hangers for bags. Not so visible here though. But I wouldn't recommend a hub motor for terrain! Crank motors are very much better here.

Rallarvegen - 3539 by Daniel Cederberg, on Flickr


Actually when I built above bike I already had half the equipment. My preference was the original Cube trekking bike:
https://www.cube.eu/en/2017/e-bike-trekking/delhi-hybrid/cube-delhi-hybrid-pro-500-black-edition-2017/
I might buy the real one one day if my current one goes down (but it seems not to, have biked almost 10.000km on it now without a single problem on the non-electric stuff). But I would go for the disc brake version, those brakes are some odd thing I wouldn't buy for a trekking bike.

 

[flecc]

Panniers and trailers isn't either/or. You can use both like me:

 

[Mac_user82]

Panniers and trailers isn't either/or. You can use both like me:

Flec i really like your trailer did you build it yourself it looks really good i would love to have one of them to carry things around

 

[flecc]

Flec i really like your trailer did you build it yourself it looks really good i would love to have one of them to carry things around

Yes, it was made out of step ladders like the one being carried. You can read how it was made on this web page.
.

 

[Nandewar]

I just got an email from ktm hq saying they don't export their e bikes to Australia any more. Austria to Australia. What's the problem?

It got me thinking. Anyone know of a bike shop in the UK that freights to Australia? No VAT would help pay the freight maybe.