Can An Electric Mountain Bike Improve Your Riding?
Undoubtedly, you’ve seen the rise of electric mountain bikes on your local trails. There are still plenty of people riding traditional mountain bikes, and many are sitting on the fence about whether to go electric. But Can an electric mountain bike improve your riding?
In this blog, I’ll go into how an electric mountain bike could improve your riding.
1. You Can Ride More
All electric mountain bike manufacturers tell us that an electric mountain bike will take us further and faster than ever. This is 100% true, as you can pretty much double the amount of riding you would typically do in the same time as when riding a regular mountain bike.
This means you spend more time climbing, descending, and tackling techy terrain. All this is excellent practice, gradually improving your skills as you spend more time on two wheels.
On top of this, there’s a good chance you’ll ride more times per week. This frequency will come from squeezing a quick loop in that would be too slow on a regular mountain bike.
2. Electric Mountain Bikes Allow You To Ride Faster
The extra help you get from the electric motor allows you to ride your favorite routes much faster. You can climb and ride undulating singletrack without struggling or needing to push uphill, speeding up your rides. Therefore, you can ride with more flow, which in turn will teach you how to read and react to changes in the terrain, further improving your bike skill
3. Bad Conditions Become More Manageable
Riding in the rain doesn’t put hardcore riders off heading out to the trails. But boggy ground can be tricky to negotiate on a regular mountain bike. However, riding through these sections on an electric mountain bike becomes a fun challenge rather than a nightmare. Rather than pushing your regular bike, you can power through thick mud and up steep slopes.
Riding your electric mountain bike in the winter and adverse weather conditions means that you will pick up some excellent bike handling skills.
4. Learn New Skills
The faster pace of riding an electric mountain bike means you’ll pick up skills much more quickly. For example, you’re not sitting in the back of an uplift van or on a chairlift waiting to ride; instead, you’re spending valuable time on your bike.
When you visit trail centers on a regular bike, you may only manage to ride a loop once or twice. However, an electric mountain could get you around ten times!
Even with help from the motor, your technical climbing ability will improve. After a short while, you’ll be able to flow uphill confidently. You’ll get the opportunity to find the smoothest line and develop trials skills while mastering gear selection and cadence.
5. Improve Your Slow Speed Skills
Although flicking your electric mountain bike into boost mode for easy climbing is fun, so are slow and engaging climbs. Hunting for new hills to climb is entertaining, especially when they feature technical sections with large rocks and roots. Doing so massively improves your balance and bike handling skills at slower speeds.
6.Electric Mountain Bikes Build Muscle
Due to the motor and battery, electric mountain bikes are heavier than regular mountain bikes. The extra weight gives you a full-body workout while riding. It won’t be long before your arms, legs, and core become stronger, which helps immensely when you get back on your regular mountain bike.
Performing slow-speed maneuvers such as bunny hops and manuals becomes a real challenge on an electric mountain bike. So when you can do them confidently, you’ll find them way easier on a mountain bike.
7. Improved Confidence On Techy Terrain
An electric mountain bike’s low center of gravity means it will hold its line on slippery surfaces and gnarly terrain better than a regular mountain bike. The result is that you’ll ride terrain you’d typically shy away from, improving your skills further.
8. Electric Mountain Bikes Teach You About Weight Distribution
Getting the most out of an electric mountain bike on tech terrain requires a lot of wrestling and moving about. You may struggle to gain traction when riding an electric mountain bike up a steep, slippery hill. But rather than trying to climb with your seat post raised, simply lower it to get more of your weight over the rear tire for grip.
9. Improve Your Pedaling Skills
You can only get the best out of your electric mountain bike by using the correct cadence. But you’ll soon learn how to optimize your pedaling to use the bike’s assistance best. But this skill massively transfers to a regular mountain bike, allowing you to ride more efficiently.
10. Become A Smoother Rider
When out on a long ride on an electric mountain bike, you must manage battery power to ensure you can reach your destination. Your battery will deplete quickly if you constantly brake and accelerate hard unnecessarily. Riding smoothly by planning, choosing good lines, pre-selecting gears, and using the terrain profile well increases battery range. In turn, your riding becomes more flowy, which transfers to your mountain bike.
So, Can An Electric Mountain Bike Improve Your Riding?
Absolutely! Riding an electric bike will make you fitter, faster, and increase your time on the bike. All of this translates to more fun, whether you become a full-time EMTBer or mix it up with your regular mountain bike.
You can expect more EMTB content from me, as I’ve just ordered a Focus Sam2. I plan to pedal it around my local mountains, exploring the natural trails away from the bike park. But this doesn’t mean my trusty enduro bike will gather dust or go to a new owner. I’m looking forward to improving as a rider and getting out on the mountain more often.
