Gearing is an interesting and hugely complex area of e-mtb. Where some systems break down is when the motor cannot recognise the power input and cadence correctly but, more than this, getting the right parity between the sensors and gearing alone lets many systems down.
There’s two other ways of looking at gearing up front. Whilst many Bosch bikes use small front chainrings of 16T the Shimano and Yamaha motors go for the bigger 36 or 38T systems. But whilst there’s little to choose in terms of gear range, their functionality in deep mud has quite different results and we’ve been clogged up on the smaller rings quite regularly. The larger ring bikes in our test haven’t suffered from this.
Overall gear offerings are pretty similar to mtb but there’s a few new systems coming on line which are geared up tougher and stronger. E-mtb is certainly more demanding on drivetrains. At this moment in time the impressive Shimano Steps E8000 comes as a system but Sram offer an after market drivetrain with a different cassette configuration, EX1.
