What Do we Want to Experience? – The New E-MOUNTAINBIKE Issue #044 is here!

Have we forgotten how to commit?

When progress brings us to a standstill

Today, one innovation barely has time to land before the next arrives. The latest Avinox motor has only just reached the market, and already the next “revolution” waits in the wings. The pattern holds, only the pace picks up: a new motor, a smarter feature, the next big trend. And with every launch, the same nagging question creeps in: Is what I have now even good enough anymore?

Or, to put it another way: have we forgotten how to enjoy what we already have and make the most of it? As a magazine, comparing things is what we do best, and rightly so. Only by putting products head to head, consistently and without flinching, can we separate marketing promises from meaningful differences, and show you which bike or product suits which rider and kind of riding.

And you probably know the feeling yourselves: we compare. Research. Debate. Ask ChatGPT and Google, or trawl forums for that final scrap of information, all in the hope of being absolutely certain. We spend so long optimising our decisions and eliminating every last doubt that we forget to make them in the first place. Read one more review. Watch one more video. Study one more spec sheet. And while we’re still wondering whether next year might bring an even better motor, others have already had their first adventures. And that’s exactly what this issue is all about.

My dad and his three best mates just wanted to spend a night outdoors. No epic expedition, no survival adventure. They climbed aboard their electric steeds, wrestled with modern tents, squeezed more drinks stops into five kilometres than should be legally allowed, and eventually discovered that an adventure doesn’t require the perfect kit or months of preparation. Which is why the biggest lesson in this issue doesn’t come from our big tent group test, but from four mates in their seventies who realised that comfort is mostly a state of mind.

Benedikt had a similar experience on the North Shore. He flew to Canada to experience one of the world’s most legendary mountain biking destinations, where he met freeride legend Wade Simmons and an 86-year-old trail builder who still heads into the woods every day with his shovel and wheelbarrow. What he brought home wasn’t a debate about the most powerful motor or the latest geometry, but the realisation that the best memories are made where garage doors are left open, people give you their time, and someone builds trails they may never ride again themselves.

Erik, a long-time friend of the magazine, simply wanted to buy a new bike. Then EUROBIKE arrived, and with it the next generation of motors, gearboxes and futures. Suddenly the question was not which bike suited him, but whether buying one at all still made sense. His opinion piece, then, is not really about Avinox. It cuts to the dilemma beneath: what happens when innovation moves so fast that excitement curdles into uncertainty, when high-end sports equipment starts to feel like disposable consumer electronics?

That same question runs through our big E-SUV group test, 13 of the most exciting models on the market. We put every one head to head, analysing them down to the last detail and puncturing a few bold marketing claims along the way. But numbers only take you so far, so we handed the bikes to my mum, to friends, to riders of wildly different fitness, and the results surprised us. Strong as the field was, we deliberately chose not to crown a single winner. Why that was the right call, and what these bikes can really do, waits in the article.

And that’s exactly where our project with MAHLE comes in. Instead of asking which motor is the most powerful or which spec sheet looks the most impressive, we flipped the question around: what do we actually want to experience on a bike? The answer is two dream bikes built around the same platform that could hardly be more different. One is light, agile and unapologetically focused on riding fun, while the other is ready for luggage, long days and adventures with no fixed return time. Same frame, same motor, but two completely different takes on what makes a great eMTB. Read the story!

The Zweirad-Einkaufs-Genossenschaft, or ZEG, which includes brands like BULLS, are tackling a very different challenge. It’s not about selling even more bikes, but about turning people who buy bikes back into people who actually ride them. It’s a remarkably simple idea, and probably one of the most important challenges facing our industry today.

There are plenty more stories and group tests in this issue, waiting for you to find them. But if I can leave you with one thought, it is this: we can overthink, philosophise endlessly, argue about who owns the best kit. None of it matters. In the end it is never about what you have, but what you do with it.

So, make the most of it! Enjoy the issue, and have even more fun out there.

Cheers,
Robin Schmitt
Founder E-MOUNTAINBIKE

Words: Robin Schmitt Photos: various