Never say never, but currently the industry is very guilty of greenwashing. If you wouldn’t ever release an eMTB, why not? Plus there is the legislation side of things that’s difficult for a boutique brand of our scale to justify. They are for a different type of customer, and different marketing is required as a result. I consider it quite a different prospect. I guess I just like the human power element, and feel that a lot of our loyal customers feel the same and share ethics.ĭo you think releasing an eMTB is a different prospect from a standard bike? Or would it be like adding any different style of bike to your range? Bikes are often considered the most efficient human-powered modes of transport ever created. What considerations are there in deciding to release an eMTB?įor us this is mainly about our brand and what we stand for Releasing an eMTB (in their current form) would be hypocritical as we currently do what we can to minimise environmental impact, and we like to promote the purity of riding. I mean, why do eMTBs still have traditional derailleurs when there is so much opportunity to integrate gearing with the motor? I feel eMTBs of today will be laughed at in 10 years time as design and tech improves significantly. But only once the tech is cleaner and gears are integrated into motor and a few other things like that. ![]() I quite like the idea of something like 100-200w assistance to help you climb a bit further and faster but without having huge impact on weight and with a much smaller battery and motor. Maybe, but only once the battery tech cleans up significantly, and I’d aim for slight assist rather than loads of power. Would you ever consider releasing an eMTB in the future? Something I have personally witnessed a number of times mainly by people renting eMTBs at trail centres. There is also an element of impact on trail conservation especially on climbs (wheel spins plus more general wear and tear), plus radically different speeds on climbs can cause issue on occasion if riders are not respectful. They are generally pretty rudimentary and unrefined afterthoughts added on to a bike, they could just be so much more integrated with gearing etc. I don’t like the current battery/motor options out there. There is lots of red tape around ebikes in terms of regional testing etc… So they are expensive to bring to market, and for our scale it wouldn’t make financial sense. We have a sustainable business and strong niche, why be greedy and risk destroying what we have? We are a small brand, (just 3 people) and there is an economy of scale required to compete in the eMTB world from a pricing perspective, minimum order qty of motors being a big one. I don’t like the idea of unnecessarily introducing the pollution inherent in batteries and consumed power where they simply aren’t required by most people (eMTB are an amazing accessibility tool if someone’s condition requires it, so they have a niche that justifies them, and I’m all for this, but it’s more than covered by the many eMTB makers already in the market) ![]() At Banshee we are purists, and like to ‘earn our turns’. There are a whole number of reasons… but I guess the main ones are:
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