The 8 Best Electric Mountain Bikes
This wiki has been updated 10 times since it was first published in October of 2017. If you've made a habit of hitting the trails on two wheels, you know how hard some of that terrain is to traverse. With an electric mountain bike, you can combine your muscle power with that of a rechargeable battery to either give you a welcome assist on those steep inclines or help you reach thrilling speeds. They can be operated 100% manually, too, so they are great for eco-friendly commuting. When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki. Skip to the best electric mountain bike on Amazon.
8. Rattan 7-Speed
7. Ancheer Folding
6. QuietKat RidgeRunner
5. Merax 26-Inch
4. NCM Prague
3. Ancheer Pro
2. Grace MX II
1. DJ HE004
Special Honors
Rocky Mountain Powerplay Series These don't have the futuristic appearance of other luxury ebikes, but they are more focused on sport performance and are built with a plethora of powerful components. They come with massive batteries and fancy options like carbon fiber frames and 4-piston braking systems. They're also relatively adjustable and are built to ride for many, many miles without any of the hardware failing. bikes.com
Cannondale Electric Cannondale is a producer of fine, competition-quality bikes, and their e-bikes are as well-made as their traditional selection. Their best options offer an extra-low center of gravity, rock-solid frame, and especially agile controls, this one is great for climbing and descending tough trails. You'll find them available in various configurations ranging from a few to nearly ten thousand dollars. cannondale.com
Riese and Muller These are some seriously top-quality bikes; they both look and perform better than nearly anything else on the market. The company's also recently updated some of its smaller and less-costly models with all-terrain components. None of their products come cheap, but they truly are some of the best. r-m.de
Editor's Notes
October 03, 2019:
You can spend a few hundred dollars or several thousand on an electric mountain bike, depending on how long your rides will be, how much power you want, and how smooth you want your experience to be. Ancheer, Merax, and Rattan make some excellent sub-$1,000 models that are perfectly reliable, though their gears may not shift as smoothly and they may not work as consistently well as those from bigger names. Models like the NCM Prague and DJ HE004 are solidly in the middle of the pack price-wise, though the NCM isn't nearly as powerful as the DJ. In fact, the DJ offers more performance per dollar than almost anything else. If you're going for an attractive choice as well as highly dependable and efficient drivetrain, consider the Grace MX II. It's a fantastic machine, but its $2,000 price tag may put off some potential buyers.
As with any bike, whether motorized or not, proper safety equipment is required, including but not limited to a high-quality helmet, and if you will be taking any intense off-road trips, you should consider getting one that's made for mountain biking. Also, it never hurts to look at upgrading integral transmission components and tires.
October 16, 2018:
Replaced several models because of availability concerns. Bumped the Cyrusher Fat Tire XF660 from #1 spot to #2 after finding the Addmotor Motan M-5800, a marvelous beast of a bike. Updated the Addmotor Motan M-550 with the newer model, the M-560. Removed models that function better as street bikes than they would in off-roading environments.
Building PCs, remodeling, and cooking since he was young, quasi-renowned trumpeter Christopher Thomas traveled the USA performing at and organizing shows from an early age. His work experiences led him to open a catering company, eventually becoming a sous chef in several fine LA restaurants. He enjoys all sorts of barely necessary gadgets, specialty computing, cutting-edge video games, and modern social policy. He has given talks on debunking pseudoscience, the Dunning-Kruger effect, culinary technique, and traveling. After two decades of product and market research, Chris has a keen sense of what people want to know and how to explain it clearly. He delights in parsing complex subjects for anyone who will listen -- because teaching is the best way to ensure that you understand things yourself.