Mountain biking has long been a thrilling outdoor activity, allowing riders to connect with nature while pushing their physical limits. In recent years, the introduction of electronic mountain bikes, or e-bikes, has added a new dimension to this adventure. E-bikes offer an alternative to traditional mountain bikes, equipped with electric motors and batteries to assist riders in conquering challenging terrains. In this article, we'll delve into the key differences between electronic mountain bikes and regular mountain bikes, focusing on aspects like price, weight, battery, motor, components, and ease of riding.

OOne of the most significant differences between e-bikes and regular mountain bikes is the price. E-bikes are generally more expensive due to the additional components, such as the motor and battery. A decent entry-level e-bike can start at around $3,000, while high-end models can reach over $10,000. In contrast, regular mountain bikes can be more budget-friendly, with a broader price range starting from $1500 for basic models and extending to over $5,000 for premium ones. The cost of maintenance and repairs can also vary, with e-bikes often requiring specialized attention.

Weight plays a crucial role in determining the ride quality and handling of a mountain bike. E-bikes tend to be heavier than regular mountain bikes due to the added motor and battery. The extra weight can make e-bikes less agile and responsive on the trails. However, advancements in e-bike technology have led to lighter components and frame designs, reducing the weight gap between the two types of bikes. Nevertheless, if you prioritize a lightweight bike for agility, a regular mountain bike may be the better choice.

The battery is the heart of an e-bike, providing the power needed to assist the rider. The range and capacity of e-bike batteries can vary significantly, depending on the model. Entry-level e-bikes may offer a range of 20 miles or so on a single charge, while high-end models can exceed 40 miles. Regular mountain bikes, of course, don't have batteries, so their range is essentially unlimited as long as the rider has the stamina to pedal. It's important to note that battery life can be affected by factors like terrain, rider weight, and usage of assist levels.

You might have noticed over the past few years that more and more people have their bikes attached to their cars in some way or another. Whether it be mountain bikes or road bikes, it seems like every other car these days has people in it on their way to a ride. And if you don't see bikes on a car then you at least see bike racks attached to cars.

Unless you have a variety of trails that are riding distance from your house, you most likely need a way to get your bike to the trails so you can enjoy your investment. Depending on the type of car you have, you will have a few options to get you there. If you have a pickup truck then you will have the most options because there are several ways to transport your bike. The easiest way is to throw it in the back and hit the road but then again that is not the best way to keep your bike from getting damaged. If it's just sliding around the bed of your truck you can end up with scratches which for most people are no big deal, but you can also do things such as bend your derailleur or bang other parts into the bed of your truck.

Another option is to use a tailgate pad that drapes off the back of your bed. This way you can have the rear of the bike inside the bed and the front hanging over the back and have the bikes be held in place by the tailgate itself. There are many tailgate pad manufacturers and they usually also come with built in straps to hold the bikes in place.

Another option for tuck owners is the in bed type bike rack. There are many different configurations out there and some allow you to put the bike in the bed without taking anything apart and other types require you to remove the front wheel. These racks will of course take up the valuable space in your bed that can otherwise be used for your gear.

One of my favorite types of racks for truck is the type that can sit on top of the bed. That way you still have the bed open to hold all of your gear, as long as it doesn't go any higher than the top of the bed. Depending on your truck and the rack you can mount this type of rack right to the bed by bolting it on or using clamps. If you have a non-metal bed then bolting it on is probably not an option. These can be a little pricey and the size of your truck will determine how many bikes you can fit on this type of rack. The width of your handlebars will also make a difference but if you have a long enough bed, you can alternate front to back with the racks, so your bars won't be touching each other.

Buying your first mountain bike can be a minefield. There will be a lot of language used that you might not have come across before; there will be lots of marketing used to sway your opinion. The good news is there are a few simple tips that will help make choosing your first mountain bike easy.

Get the right size
Buying a bike in the wrong size because it was in a sale is not and never will be a bargain. Buying a bike in the wrong size can be dangerous or can simply just ruin your riding experience. Manufacturers will put out size guides for their bikes, try and buy the bike that you fit in the middle of the sizing range, don't lie to yourself about your height either.

Simply put, if you ignore this step, then none of the other tips will be able to help you.

Buy a hardtail
Everyone will tell you to buy a full suspension mountain bike as they will make your life easier. They will, but you'll miss out on developing good mountain bike skills. These skills can save your life one day, or at least make a crash a lot more manageable.

Mountain biking offers an experience that no other sport can match. From the great workout to the fresh air and adrenaline mountain biking is straight up fun. Getting started  can be an intimidating prospect for beginners, however - mountain bikes are pricey and their specs are full of jargon, riding techniques are new, and let's face it - falling hurts. While we can't put training wheels on your mountain bike, we can offer some tips to help flatten out the learning curve and get you out on the trails ready to ride and learn.

1. A Nice Bike Isn't Everything
While a top of the line mountain bike will go a long way to help you get comfortable on the trails and to progress your skills, but when you're first starting out it's more important to just get out there. It's possible to learn basic mountain biking skills on nearly any bike. As you improve, you'll be able to get a feel for what type of mountain bike will work best for you, too. This means when you're ready to upgrade you'll know exactly what you want.

Anyone who is a serious mountain biker or even a road biker uses some kind of performance measuring tool to track their progress when it comes to things such as distance, elevation gain and time. And for most people that tool is the popular Strava smartphone app. Even if you use a GPS like a Garmin you can still upload your ride to your Strava account.

If you are a Strava user then you know about all of the great information the app can track for you making it easy to see how you are progressing on your riding and how you compare to your friends that you follow. Strava uses things like segment time, moving time, ride time, total mileage, total elevation gain, top speed, average speed and so on allowing you to get a great summary of your ride.

One thing Strava won't give you is information about the weather that you experienced during your ride. Sure you can get the current weather on your Garmin but what if you want to go back and look at your ride history to see what the weather was like for that particular day. This is where the KLIMAT Strava weather addin can help. It will record the weather at the start of the ride and end of the ride and you can have this information displayed with your Strava results for you and others to see.

Now that people ride for Strava times more than they ride for fun you may have started to wonder how accurate the device that you use to track your rides really is? Many people use their smartphones with the Strava app or maybe (and I do mean maybe) a different app to track their riding progress and see how they compare to other riders. Then you have others that use a GPS to track their rides but which is the best for you?

If you use a smartphone with Strava and ride with someone that uses a Garmin or other GPS device that then uploads to Strava you most likely will notice that your data is not the same when it comes to things like mileage and elevation gain. This is because your smartphone is not really a GPS but rather has GPS capabilities within it where a Garmin was designed to be a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite by the way). For example, with a real GPS the elevation data is calculated using a barometric altimeter which is more accurate using the measurements from a topographic map like your smartphone does.

If you are a regular reader of our mountain bike blogs then you might have seen the article we did on what tools you should own to be able to do basic maintenance to your bike yourself. If not then you should check it out here so you make sure you at least have the basics covered before you go trying to turn yourself into a bike master mechanic!

There are so many tools these days that are bike specific and designed strictly with one purpose that it makes it easy to work on your bike yet expensive at the same time when you buy all they specialty tools. Plus some of these tools have a learning curve when it comes to using the tool itself. So assuming you already have the basic repair tools such as Allen wrenches, tire levers, a pedal wrench and so on lets now talk about some of the more advanced tools you can add to your arsenal. Keep in mind that there are more tools available than we can ever really talk about but we will go over the most common. Plus there are some that you will probably never use and are left to the professionals such as a headset press or bearing press kit.