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BH electrifies the trail with Yamaha powered e-Lynx and its Rebel family

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BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_complete

BH Bikes joins the growing list of European companies putting out e-Mountain bikes with their new Easy Motion trail offerings. The flagship bike out of the line is the new Rebel Lynx full suspension bike that builds off their standard Split Pivot bike design. With pedal assist by Yamaha motors, BH plans to grow their e-bike range, and will roll out a complete new 8 model deep Rebel family of e-MTBs for 2017…

BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_5-5_29er_studio

The top level Lynx brings all of its tech from the BH mountain bikes, reimagined for the heavier e-bike platform, with a different center of gravity that impacts both suspension movement and steering. At its heart in terms of geometry, the bike gets a modern trail long reach, paired with a short stem and a slack head angle for comfortable and controlled descending, since climbing shouldn’t be such an issue with the inclusion of a motor.

BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_front-end

The Split Pivot aluminum Rebel Lynx rolls on either 27.5″ or 29″ wheels and gets 140mm of travel for all-around trail riding with either wheel diameter.

BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_motor

BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_computer BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_battery

Each of the new e-MTBs in the Rebel line will be equipped with the Yamaha PWseries motor. The PW puts out 250W of pedal-assist power, with 70-80Nm of torque. Fueling the motor is a 500Wh downtube battery (some of the other Rebel bikes opt for a smaller and lighter 400Wh option.)

BH_e-MTB_ebike_full-suspension_Rebel_Lynx_rear-end

The Yahama drive system is one of the more compact e-bike motors, and with the high pivot of the Lynx should allow for relatively short e-bike chainstays. It uses 3 sensors – cadence, torque & speed – to try to provide a smooth power-assist without too much of the lag found in most e-bikes. All of the new Rebel bikes are up on BH’s website with some more details. Pricing and availability are yet to be announced.

BHBikes.com

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Fred
Fred
8 years ago

Yamaha powered, but it’s not a motorcycle.

Haromania
Haromania
8 years ago
Reply to  Fred

If I put an Evinrude on the back of my bike is it suddenly a boat?

Fred
Fred
8 years ago
Reply to  Fred

Nope, it’s a motorcycle…

larry
larry
8 years ago

Awesome! Glad to see more manufacturers joining in what will be an e-bike revolution soon. The sooner the classic MTBers embrace the change the sooner we can get more people into biking, mt biking, trail system development, etc.

Antipodean_eleven
8 years ago
Reply to  larry

Alarry, that was sarcasm, right?

Cheese
Cheese
8 years ago

Don’t all of our single track trails need more Yamahas?

Sam
Sam
8 years ago

You should change your name to ‘motorcyclerumor.com’

jlg
jlg
8 years ago
Reply to  Sam

I don’t see a lot of rumor, they might remove that too 😉

Justin
Justin
8 years ago

I trust that was ridden on trails designated for motorized vehicles only.

bearCol
bearCol
8 years ago

The bike industry is playing with fire.

Duzzi
Duzzi
8 years ago

Really: this is not a mountain bike, why to we have to seat through motorcycle advertisement?

chase
chase
8 years ago

Now we are talking. This is a nice e-bike!

bart
bart
8 years ago

but will Yamaha have the same support as Bosch? they are really leading the way in aftermarket support and training.

Michael
Michael
8 years ago

Well, I can finally stop reading bikerumor now. Ridiculous. Keep this hypocritical crap out of cycling. Trail access is fragile enough as it is, and when we effectively lose it all as a result of being associated with and categorized as motorized recreation, your e-bikes are going to look really lame on the MX track and OHV trails we will all be restricted to. It really is as simple as it sounds. If i put a motor on my row-boat or canoe to supplement my paddling, should I be allowed on waterways and lakes where no motorized boats are allowed? But it only supplements my paddling! I still need to paddle! It doesn’t have a throttle!…yet.

out for a ride
out for a ride
8 years ago
Reply to  Michael

That’s an interesting comparison because there are lakes that are “trolling motor only”, which is essentially the e-bike equivalent. Making issues black and white takes all of the nuance out of life and doesn’t allow for any intellectual growth.

wheelz
wheelz
8 years ago

And BH is added to my list of companies to boycott for future purchases.

tom
tom
8 years ago

I’m going to put a set of cranks on a YZ250, and call it a gBike (gas powered assist bike) and go rip up some single track.

myke2241
myke2241
8 years ago
Reply to  tom

thats funny. i was just thinking about where this is going. when electric motors don’t get the range lazy people want and companies start offering long range lower power gas assist engines. but it still won’t be a motorcycle… i was actually just looking at buying a BH frame set. i guess not anymore!

ascarlarkinyar
8 years ago

Another support for banning ebikes (motorcycles) on our bicycle trails. Please stop this non-sense of adding motorcycles to this bicycle site.

Jim
Jim
8 years ago

Yamaha is a conglomerate that also makes musical instruments, stereo equipment, and lots of other things. Exclusionary and selfish bike snobs trying to keep assisted bikes off the trails are no better than hikers or equestrians trying to close trails to mountain bikes – these bikes add very little weight over the existing weight of a bike and rider, allow people to ride to trails they might otherwise be unable to reach or have to take a car to get to, and there is zero actual evidence they are adversely affecting trails in any way, which makes perfect sense since the folks who buy them tend to be responsible older riders. Don’t buy into the all-mine exclusionary mentality.

Dingo
Dingo
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim

Bingo! Totally agree

chase
chase
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim

The vitriol that you see from US based riders is misdirected anger. They really should be angry at the out of control fascist government bureaucracies that have continually moved the bar of trail access out of reach for any growing or legitimate user group or stakeholder .
The agencies use fabricated accusations of erosion, endangered species and whatever else they can (all fed to them by enviro political groups) to deny or complicate any reasonable request for either expand or maintain access or add additional trails to avoid the very minor overuse issues that creep up. Their goal is absolute control. If you grant access to larger user groups you lose control,NO?.
But to ask these lemmings to look at who is doing this to them gets a see no evil/hear no evil sort of head bury into the sand, as the correct conclusion will violate the programming they have received by the usual MSM,union educator/propagandists and liberal politicians and environmental political activist groups.
Someday they may wake up and see the truth. Probably not.
E-Bikes will not have any impact on land use. Period. They may however be the excuse all the lemmings will use when their favorite trail system is stolen by the enviro group/government cabal.

Jim
Jim
8 years ago
Reply to  chase

Spot on Chase, couldn’t agree more.

the biz
the biz
8 years ago

eventually battery technology will get to the point where we can have mass produced non-assist ebikes with throttles, and the real trainwreck can begin.

José Rodrigues
José Rodrigues
8 years ago

I have a piano branded Yamaha and of course it’s not a motorcycle! 😀

Heffe
Heffe
8 years ago

The electric moped thing is really getting a bit old. I did enjoy my Yamaha 12 string guitar when I was an adolescent though! Yamaha guitars don’t have a serviceable neck joint though, so you typically just chuck them when the neck angle goes south. You might wonder what this has to do with bicycles – that’s exactly my point.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
8 years ago

This is getting old.
Bikerumor, why report on this if not just to fan the flames? If you’r so confident this is cycling related and something your cycling viewers want to see, than put your money where your typing fingers go and put up a separate site. “ebikerumor”, whatever, and check the metrics yourself. The only reason this page gets any clicks is because readers know it will be filled with pleas, like mine, to stop this.

Train access is tenuous at best in most regions of the US.

Its news, but despite the marketing managers feeding it to you, its NOT CYCLING news. Please stop.

matthew moseley
matthew moseley
8 years ago

delquattro- what about an e-motocross bike? they exist now. what is it? pedals? is that it?

jorje
jorje
8 years ago

This makes bicycling more accessible. Not everyone who wants to enjoy some mountain biking has time to train.

Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden
8 years ago
Reply to  jorje

I don’t really “train” nowadays and I enjoy plenty of mountain biking. Turns out riding more often results faster and bigger rides. You might as well say, “I want to rip downhill, but climbing sucks and I don’t have any friends to shuttle me.”

Of all possible arguments for e-bikes, this is the worst. Some modicum of fitness is a barrier for entry for many activities and being fat and slow is not a valid reason to ask for concessions. “I didn’t do it because it was hard” basically epitomizes lameness.

kbark
kbark
8 years ago

riding in terrain so rough you need full suspension to keep balance yet the rider is unable to pedal themselves?

That doesn’t add up to me.

Sam
Sam
8 years ago

It has absolutely nothing to do with footpegs, noise, or smoke. It has everything to do with changing trail dynamics. With an e bike every trail can be ridden very fast, even uphills. This is going to increase already strained tensions between cyclists and other trail users, and lead to more trail networks completely banning mountain bikes because they can’t tell the difference.

out for a ride
out for a ride
8 years ago
Reply to  Sam

I can ride the uphills fast on my non e-bike if I ride them in the revers direction. Faster than an e-bike, in fact!

Colin M
Colin M
8 years ago

what is the charge time for that Yamaha battery?

-rizza
-rizza
8 years ago

in a few years when the cops/rangers can’t tell the difference between bicycles and motorcycles we’ll all be treated like motorcyclists and be required to have all the same B.S. like insurance, license, helmet, lights etc…eBikes are a perfect example of “this is why we can’t have nice things”

TomM
TomM
8 years ago

“Rule #55 – Earn Your Turns: If you are riding down a mountain, you must first have ridden up the mountain. It is forbidden to employ powered transportation simply for the cheap thrill of descending. The only exception to this is if you are doing intervals on Alpe d’Huez or the Plan de Corones and you park your car up top before doing 20 repeats of the climb.”

Michael
Michael
8 years ago

No. Your wrong about that. The whole premise of the e-bikes is to be grouped in with those that are non-motorized. Which is in reality only going to group the non-motorized two wheeled users in with the motorized two wheeled users.
The comparison to the boats is pretty solid in my opinion. This is like the watercraft industry developing supped up kayak that only offers thrust when you paddle, marketing it as a high speed water weapon, and then trying to convince the buyers market and the land and water managers that it belongs in the same waterbodies as NON-MOTORIZED vessels because you still need to paddle it. Beginning to see the irony? I Know these are not dirtbikes. But as clear as it is to see that these are not dirtbikes, they are also not human powered mountain bikes.
I am not willing to leave my trail access up to the ability of a policy maker to see the different shades of gray, or their ability to enforce and restrict the use of each. You know what they do? They will lay down a blanket and ban mountain bikes the moment they begin to hear the words motor and bikes used synonymously.

Keith R
Keith R
8 years ago
Reply to  Michael

“they are also not human powered mountain bikes.”

Oh, OF COURSE they bloody are!

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

I’m not a huge e-mtb fan (commuting – yes), but I can also see their advantages for certain demographics. And yeah, I am sure they are fun.

However, what I consistently hear are two very opposing statements. On one hand you have people stating E-bikes will allow those to ride trails that are otherwise inaccessible. But then all reviews state how its not an “assist” and the riding is still super hard as you just push the same, plus the upper body workout is significantly greater, especially as you are riding terrain requiring enduro geometry/travel levels.

So who are these riders that are power limited uphill, but have the upper body strength/endurance otherwise? I get that people with disabilities can benefit greatly, but the industry never seem to care about them to any great degree before (for example, where are all the OEM bikes with nicely integrated linked brake options for 1 handed operation?)

I think the “need assist” rider argument is BS. Which is fine. Just be honest though and state these are for getting a boost uphill for otherwise capable cyclists.

That One Guy
That One Guy
8 years ago

Nope. These things will ruin trails and access to trails. Bad idea all the way around.

SomePeople
SomePeople
8 years ago
Reply to  That One Guy

Has anyone actually proved this? I see a lot of people wringing their hands, “won’t somebody think of the trails!” but no actual proof that e-bikes are any more of a threat to trail access than standard MTB use is right now. I’m not arguing either way on this, but all of these people who keep pushing the “trail access threat” argument need to show some evidence that this is actually the case otherwise it feels like just a bunch of fear-mongering troglodytes scared of the new. Land managers are just regular people with an e-mail, has anybody bothered to ask about their feelings on this subject?

Chris Head Operations Manager

This trail access argument is what is getting old. In the nation as a whole mountain bike access is expanding. The issue in Idaho with the wilderness designation is regrettable. In Arizona trail access is on the rise and new mountain bike trails are in the works or already under construction. Sedona has staked the future of the tourism on it. Mesa built a million dollar bike park and Phoenix had a meeting last week about expanding the network in the worlds largest city park where conflicts with hikers are prevalent. Beatty Nevada is building a network to rival Fruita. e-bikes climb faster but descend slower so the conflict with hikers is LESS likely as virtually all hiker bike conflict happens on the descent. The arrogant folks that continuously say NOT ON MY TRAILS need to get a clue. They are NOT YOUR TRAILS they are public trails and the nation as a whole is moving in the direction of California to classify them as bikes.The idea that you are going to see the trails flooded with e-Bikes costing $4000 is ridiculous on its face. I am willing to bet that every negative comment on here comes from
A. a person that has no personal experience riding or even seeing an e-bike on a trail
B. A person who’s only sense of self worth comes from climbing a hill on a bike
C. A person that has no ability to see the world through anyone else’s eyes

Allan
Allan
8 years ago

Sick of this stuff, and it’s the last e-MTB article I’m reading on this site. All I’m gonna say is we’ll see…we’ll see in 5-10 years what the score is. What’s more likely…a bunch of fat tourists on e-bikes zooming around steep technical singletrack, or access to trails in and surrounding sensitive areas in the US cut off, limited further, or ceasing to grow?

Antipodean_eleven
8 years ago

Is an ‘e-assist’ bike an ‘e-bike’? It’s an interesting question. The ‘e-bikes’ I see getting around go uphill by themselves, they more like bicycles with an electric drive that can do the pedalling for you. An ‘e-assist’ bike, well, you still need to pedal, as the electric drive is connected to the crank, not the wheel.

Regardless, all the usual comments above.

What I don’t see here (maybe it’s there but lost), is more of a societal question. On the roads and paths, ok, fine, but on trails? The way I see it mountain biking is one of those effort/reward things. What you put in, is what you get out and that can be anything from the buzz, to the access to otherwise harder to get to scenery etc. Just because it’s there, does not mean ‘you have an automatic right’ to it, something that seems to have leached itself into modern societies. No longer do you have to put in the time and effort to get it, you can take a short cut.

Does that mean I have an exclusionist view? No ,to me if you want to access what mountain biking offers, then you need to put in the effort. What’s next, a e-assisted climbing harness? It could be then argued that there are cases where some people need the assist, they might have a disability or physical condition that prevents them from riding up in the mountains. That’s a reasonable call but to counter that it can then be asked if the condition is such that they can’t pedal a bike up to where ever it is, should they be there at all? Just because you can does not mean you should.

And as for trials, access yadda yadda. Will these e-whatevers have an impact? Hell yes they will and whoever says they won’t is deluding themselves. It may not be because of the equipment itself, I agree, a bike like this will have as much/little impact as say a heavier rider but what WILL have impact are the increased users and the increased speeds. And these bikes will usher in a new ‘type’ of rider with none of the understanding of how to ‘behave’ on trails in shared areas, as has happened already with the ‘new crop’ of riders we see on the trials. And while some will learn over time, where things are already fragile, that time might never come…

Soco
Soco
8 years ago

Braaap. Because enough weekend enduro warriors haven’t already passed off the rest of the public while chasing strava glory. Now we can do it on something that says yamaha.

Hans
8 years ago

E-Bike could be O-Bike and you all would still complain…. AODA law states E-bikes can go where ever bicycles can go…. US department of transportation States an electric bicycle is a bicycle not a motor vehicle. “title 49 UNITED STATES CODE” BICYCLE electric big deal wait till you aren’t supper human and then maybe you will see things from a different point of view!

Chris Head Operations Manager

THEY DON’T GO FASTER OVER ALL!!!!!! GO RIDE ONE!!!!!!! THEY CLIMB SLIGHTLY FASTER AND DESCEND WAY SLOWER!!!!! GET SOME REAL EXPERIENCE BEFORE YOU COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. EVEN IMBA SAYS NO GREATER IMPACT.

Ebikes are bicycles
Ebikes are bicycles
8 years ago

You ebike haters have no idea. Do you realize actually how much power 250 watts is. Not much is what, a fit rider can put out much more than that. Most 50cc scooters are rated at 2000 watts. Comparing ebikes to motorcycles is just silly.

Please bikerumour continue to post articles about all forms of bicycles.

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

Um, do you have any idea how much 250 W is? Ever run a FTP power test?
I don’t care that the assist level is 250W, but if you think an additional 250W is not much power in cycling, you are delusional. The difference between a fit weekend warrior and a pro level rider (sustained) is normally less than 250 W. Have you ever been climbing up a hard grade and been blown away by a CAT1 racer? Given where I live, this is common and the speeds they can maintain are insane.

Now I agree, comparing e-bikes to motorcycles/scooter is ridiculous.

Bmx
Bmx
8 years ago

I think Bike rumor should explain AGAIN how EU electric bike regulations make this kind of bike a reasonable solution for the future.
Assisted speed is limited to 15mph FIFTEEN. That really isn’t a crazy speed, and you ONLY get electrical assist while pedaling. AND power is limited to 260W.
Essentially an ebike can only level the playingfield between the unfit and the super fit.
The electric bike is here. Electric motor and battery technology can’t be put back in the box, people are going to ride them on trails and realistically the trails can’t be policed.
The last trail access we lost was because of “hoons” on Strava missions not ebikes.
By having tight regulation we will create a workable solution and ebikes will develop on sensible lines that do no more damage than a normal bike. If we just ban all electric assist then we will see problems with outlawed bikes riding where they shouldn’t much faster and doing much more damage…

Fred
Fred
8 years ago

1. If I put out 200 W and someone in this bike is putting out 100 W, does that mean their total power is 350 W? How is that a level playing field?

2. Level playing field not withstanding, the biggest concern is backlash from other trail users due to high speed riding by more (possibly less experienced) people. 15 MPH is very fast on technical terrain, unless we’re talking DH.

3. I just don’t see the point, if you want more power just but a dirt bike, they are pretty much the same price as an eMTB

bearCol
bearCol
8 years ago

If not for trail access issues I really don’t care if someone wants to ride Mopeds instead of mountain bikes. I’m just crossing my fingers these will be banned everywhere. So far there are a number of famous mountain bike destinations that have done just that.

RAB Share
RAB Share
8 years ago

The problem with eBikes is that with a pedal-only bike, your speed generally correlates with your bike handling skill (tri-dorks aside). The problems with eBikers I see on the multi-use path I commute on is that these dopes are going faster than everyone else AND have no idea what they’re doing. They ride too close to others, pass without warning and weave in and out of pedestrians. Yes, prior to ebikes you had guys who could push 20-25mph on that route, but they were generally experienced cyclists on light bikes, not total newbs on something that weighs fifty pounds. And guess what: now that they’re here there are cops on the trail checking speed, something I’ve never experienced before these clowns showed up.

These same problems will play out on the trail. The fastest guys will be the ones with the least skill. Hikers will rightfully get upset and complain, and all of a sudden there will be a big crackdown.

Good deal for shops though when these dudes wreck their $7000 moped two weeks after purchase.

Lance
Lance
8 years ago

Some states already have restrictions banning ebikes from the non-motorized trails.

Adam
Adam
8 years ago

To me, it is not so much about the power these roll off the assembly line with. It is what happens in the aftermarket community. People will be hacking batteries, motors, and electronic speed controls before long. You will be able to order upgrades and soon all these “250W” bikes will be 500 plus or a 1000. Most people can barely get their bikes out of a shop before they are thinking about upgrades, now we can buy power.

Adam
Adam
8 years ago
Reply to  Adam

I don’t think people will be rewinding motors. There will be drop in motor upgrades, speed control, and batteries in the aftermarket. You are kidding yourself if you don’t think people and suppliers won’t find quick solutions. You don’t just have to increase batteries, there will be companies out there making matched sets with optimized voltage matching and low resistance. Just look at high end radio control cars. They are capable of amazing power output. This will all be scaled up. It will come from China and it will be easy for the shade tree mechanic to install. This stuff is far from rocket science.

Chris Head Operations Manager
Reply to  Adam

I work in the e-bike industry. I know a lot more about this that you can imagine. Bosch, yamaha, Brose ETC are not going to get upgraded by the end user for so many reasons. to make a 250watt a 1000watt it takes every part of the motor upgraded. This drop in motor upgrades are not possible. I am not going to take the time to explain it all to you but just know that what you are saying is ridiculous. RC cars are not an analogy. Our head tech is an RC car pro and i would let him explain the difference. The fact is that my company makes 1000watt motors that are not functional on a trail because the trail defines the speed. and for the record i am fine with power limits on trails and speed limits for all bikes if the land managers deem it necessary

Chris Head Operations Manager

It is incredible complex to increase the power of a motor and impossible on 99% of electric motors. It is not simply “hacking” the software. it means that you have to wind copper, replace mosfets, haul sensors etc. Batteries would have to have more cells, and new BMS installed and the cases simply don’t fit. Far beyond virtually anyone’s skill out side of the manufacturers

matthew moseley
matthew moseley
8 years ago

chris head. yes let’s take a fringe issue and apply the pathos to the entirety of the justification argument. come on man. cheap.

it’s really the exception that proves the rule. thats the ONLY segment of the population that merit access.

pedalpedal
pedalpedal
8 years ago

Chris Head, maybe you can explain why Ebikes descend way slower? Is there a gravity control device that keeps them from going downhill just as fast as a pedal bike?

Chris Head Operations Manager

pedalpedal- e-bikes are just not built for the descent at this point. If you rode one you would quickly see what I am talking about. They are heavy and cumbersome with poor or non existtant suspension. Haibike is a small exception but at $8000 dollars you are more likely to see a mountain lion. But as virtually every decenter (sic) in this tread I am sure you have not ridden one and only going on uninformed perception

Chris Head Operations Manager

Matthew Mosely- the fact is that 95% of the folks looking for this have some physical reason they want it. I am in this industry and talk and work with 100+ people a month and that is the constant underlying theme. Commuters aside mountain bikers with limitations want to enjoy it like they used to. A gentleman in portland that i was working with committed suicide recently because he had defined himself as a cyclist his whole life and a knee injury took him out of the game. the e-bike was his last hope and just didn’t happen quick enough. The fact is that every “against’ post in this thread has no basis in reality. Take the motor boat analogy. True there are lakes that don’t allow motors (gas) but the vast majority of those lakes allow electric trolling motors. That is the real analogy.

Chris Head Operations Manager

Then i guess trails will just have to have speed limits for everyone

Adam
Adam
8 years ago

Chris, I don’t care what you say. An e bike is far from rocket science. We will be modding these in no time. The manufacturer will have their design intent and the customer will change it.

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