The 7 most exciting insights from the E-MOUNTAINBIKE readers’ survey 2018

The aim of our readers’ survey was to find out who you are, what you’re interested in and whether you prefer carbon or aluminium. 10622 eMTBers from 79 countries responded, answering about 70 questions and providing a ton of exciting insights.

Why a readers’ survey?

Actively gathering feedback and being as in tune as possible with how our readers live eMTBing has always been a cornerstone of our philosophy. The readers’ survey helps us better understand what kind of riding you do, which topics and brands you’re interested in and what you’re having trouble with so we can help you make the most of eMTBing. We use this information to position and plan our reviews and articles and thanks to your feedback on our app and the website, we’re able to continuously improve E-MOUNTAINBIKE. As the world’s largest eMTB survey, many of the big eMTB brands also use the results to improve their strategy and products. Besides influencing how we position ourselves, your feedback helps shape eMTBing itself.

Our Vitruvian Man, Michael

Who is our average reader? Thanks to the readers’ survey we now know! His name is Michael, he’s 47 years old and has a net household income of € 76,835. Michael rides a Haibike (27%), Specialized (14%), CUBE (12%) or SCOTT (5%), it cost him € 4,290 and he’ll own it for 14.4 months on average. He’s looking to spend € 4,341 on his next bike. In 2019 David will spend an average of 8.8 days on a bike holiday and spend € 207 per day. Besides biking he is interested in travelling (46%), computers and electronics (43%), cars (38%) and good coffee (34%).

But you are far too diverse to be summed up in one faceless average person. So let’s forget about Michael (except of course the 251 real Michaels who took part in the survey!) and take a look at where, why and how you’re spending your time instead! Having fun, staying fit and experiencing adventures is the core motivation for most of you when getting on your eMTB. You enjoy riding easy single track or forest roads. Around 27% of you, however, ride your eMTB in rougher terrain – and trending. It’s no wonder then that 31% of you say that you’re actively working on improving your riding skills. With regards to tech, 35 % do most of the tinkering on their eMTB themselves and only seek professional help from their dealer for tasks such as wheel truing and suspension servicing.

You love your bikes – at least for a while…

Our survey also asked how satisfied you are with your current eMTB, on a scale of 0 (not satisfied at all) to 5 (fully satisfied). And we’ve got good news: an average score of 4.26 shows that our readers are mostly satisfied with their bikes – a bit more so than last year (4.21). The brands with the most satisfied customers are Thömus (4.75), MERIDA (4.65) and CENTURION (4.59).

1. Thömus (4.75)
2. MERIDA (4.65)
3. CENTURION (4.59)
4. Riese & Müller (4.53)
5. NICOLAI (4.53)
6. Mondraker (4.51)
7. Specialized (4.49)
8. Cannondale (4.35)
9. ROTWILD (4.35)
10. Canyon (4.34)

It’s interesting to see how satisfaction decreases with the bike’s age. Wear certainly plays a role here, but perhaps comparing the performance of your bike with your demands and with the many innovations that are constantly coming on to the market plays an even bigger role. Our readers start looking around for a new bike after about 17 months – shortly after their satisfaction with the bike falls below average.

You love our app

We are particularly happy to hear that besides loving your bikes, you also love our app and that you’re using it more than ever. 46% of the survey participants use our app regularly. So, if you’re one of the people who primarily read our content online: give our free app (iOS / Android) a try – E-MOUNTAINBIKE doesn’t read better anywhere else, especially if you own a tablet!

Market shares stabilise

While in recent years the development of the market share of individual brands was marked by major leaps, the changes in percentages are currently all in the low single-digit range – a sign that the eMTB segment is maturing and that territories have been staked out by the big brands. We’re seeing a little more movement with the motors: Shimano almost doubled its market share to 13 % compared to the previous year and, above all, claimed a part of the market previously occupied by Bosch. At 46 % Bosch remains by far the most popular, followed by Yamaha and Brose with 18% each.

Looking at our readers’ planned new purchases also shows that innovation continues to be an important driving factor: Haibike, for example, beat the downward trend and increased buying intentions by a respectable 5 % compared to the previous year, so that 21% of the planned new purchases will be from Haibike. This is probably due, in part, to the announcement of its new FLYON product line, which was extremely well received by our readers. The successful entry of Canyon (7% of the planned new acquisitions) also shows that established eMTB brands are far from being able to rest on their laurels.

Range isn’t a big issue

78% of our readers’ don’t ride more than 50 km at a time, while only 21% say that their bike’s range limits their rides. Only 5 % consider battery capacity to be the most important criterion when choosing an eMTB. Those who go on longer rides usually resort to taking an additional battery (19%).

The best brand

As we do every year, we asked you which brand you think makes the best eMTBs and components. Of course, the individual answers are entirely subjective – very few of our readers are able to test and compare the various products themselves – but they clearly show which brands have been most successful in gaining your trust over the past season. With more than 10,000 participants, we have created the largest and most representative survey in the industry. The brands that rank highest in the best brand vote can rest assured that their brand image, product range, marketing and product performance (test results!) has convinced our readers.

You can find the complete results here: E-MOUNTAINBIKE Readers’ Choice: The Best Brands 2018

Lucky winners

We love getting to know our readers a little better by doing the survey, but we also love saying thank you by giving away prizes. Together with our partners BMC, Haibike and Thule we have given away prizes worth more than € 12.000. The lucky winners are:

BMC Speedfox AMP THREE: Jeremy H., United Kingdom
Haibike XDURO AllMtn 10.0: Lars K., Germany
Thule VeloSpace XT: Thomas C., Germany

For all our other participants, we hope we brightened your day just a little with the surprise we left in your inbox.

This article is from E-MOUNTAINBIKE issue #015

E-MOUNTAINBIKE Magazine is published in a digital app format in both English and German. Download the app for iOS or Android to read all articles on your tablet or smartphone. 100% free!

Text: Aaron Steinke Illustrations: Julian Lemme

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