Morning..

Looking at getting a full suspension electric mountain bike..

I have narrowed the search down to either a cube stereo 140 or a cannondale habit neo 4,both bikes about the 4K mark..

Any advise would be greatly appreciated..

I'm sure those are both excellent bikes. You need to say where and how you expect to ride for anyone to give sensible advice. There are lots of very good bikes out there that are a lot cheaper.

Thank you for your prompt reply..

Basically I am a middle aged novice who wants to try a bit of off road riding on forest tracks..

I would like a full suspension as I would rather buy the better kit from the start than regret it later..

I have heard of both makes but just wondered if one manufacturer was better than the other??They both use the Bosch motor so basically it was just quality of the frame and components..

Regards Simon

I would like a full suspension as I would rather buy the better kit from the start than regret it later..

I can't make useful suggestions on those bikes; very different from the plodders we ride! In the current market it might just come down to what is available.

 

There is something to be said for getting more basic but very good quality kit first so that you gradually get to know what you really really want. It looks as if you are pretty sure of what you are looking for, but just in case:

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rio-mtb

 

Be aware that the Bosch motor is pretty reliable, but if anything does go wrong it is likely to be a slow (return to Germany and wait) and very expensive (if out of warranty) repair.

Are the motors which are competitors to Bosch better in regards to repair speed and cost?I’m thinking of Yamaha, Shimano and Brose for example.

Are the motors which are competitors to Bosch better in regards to repair speed and cost?I’m thinking of Yamaha, Shimano and Brose for example.

Good question, and I certainly don't know the answer. I suspect you will get lots of opinions very soon, some much more knowledgeable than mine. I think that Bosch are so common that you can get some fairly good idea of risks, though some posters here will weight those risks very differently from others. The others brands are rare enough, and failures on almost all brands rare enough, that any information you get will be individual experiences and difficult to deduce much from. At least with Bosch there is a well established network in the UK; even then some bike shops are very unhelpful with bikes bought from elsewhere.

 

There are a couple of sad exceptions to the lack of adequate statistics. The Suntour system on several Halfords bikes, and the Impulse system on some Kalkhoff bikes a few years ago had a grossly disproportionate number of failures.

 

A sad fact of ebike life is that a combination of the risk of very high repair costs and technical advances means that the useful life of an ebike (?? 10 years) is likely to be much less than the useful life of a good quality regular bike (?? >20 years). You should factor that into any buying decision.

With these mid drives you have to think about what happens after the two year warranty runs out as sourcing parts is nigh on impossible ( unless things change) and replacement motors/batteries are very dear.

Edited June 26, 20205 yr by Nealh

I have the Cube Stereo 160 i can not fault it or the motor

Bought the 160 last week,superb machine,plugged my 18.5stone frame around with ease,just short of 30 miles and used 2 of 5 bars from battery...purion was showing 28 miles in eco left or 13 in turbo..