The "Cheeb” e-MTB Is Fast, Strong, Cheap, and DIY - What More Do You Want?

Folks, this is the story of a gentleman that has been riding e-MTBs for some time now. And he too has noticed that prices are on the up and up. We know him as Rob from the YouTube channel Rob Rides EMTB, and how glad am I to have come across this gentleman.

His mission was a simple one; how to create an awesome e-MTB for the best possible price while using a Chinese e-MTB carbon frame and more Chinese components. Hold on a second, a Chinese carbon fiber frame? Yup. Surprisingly, it seems to work out just fine.

Because we're not going to talk about some mass-produced bike, we need to approach this a bit differently. First of all, what you’re currently reading about is basically a DIY project you can do at home over the course of a few weeks if you include shipping times.

The whole thing started due to a massive number of questions from viewers pertaining to really good but low-budget e-MTBs. Seeing that there aren’t many around under $6,000, Rob set out to build one for £4,000 or $5,400 in U.S. currency.

After long hours of searching and weighing options, Rob stumbled upon DengFu Bikes and was particularly pleased with the geometry of its E10 setup. Now, the E10 comes with a full carbon frame, a Bafang M500 motor, and an 840Wh removable battery, all for the price of $2,254 with shipping.

The frame is pretty straight forward with internal cable routing, removable battery integration and is perfectly shaped for all extra components. The best part, it only costs $680. However, the secondary components are the real stars of this show.

If you don’t know anything about the Bafang M500, not a problem. This beast of a motor comes in with a weight of only 7.5 lbs (3.4 kg) and is ready with every piece of wiring you may need. But the best part of this $650 motor is the massive 95 Nm of torque. If you don’t know what this means, I'll help: it’s 70 friggin pounds-feet. Sadly, the motor has a speed cap at 15.8 mph (25.5 kph), but I'm sure that can be tweaked over at your local nerd shop.

As for the juice to move it all, the massive 840Wh removable battery comes with the package and costs $320. Now, I don’t know for sure how long this will keep you running, but it sounds like a three-hour ride is most certainly possible.

The only things left undiscussed are the suspension, brakes, and, finally, the drivetrain. If you’re to be building an e-MTB, the suspension is one of your most prized possessions. On the Cheeb, we find a top-shelf RockShox Zeb fork that offers a tight 170 mm (6.7 in) of travel, while the rear suspension is covered by a RockShox Super Deluxe with 155 mm (6.1 in) of travel. Honestly, with a total bike weight of 54 lbs (24.5 kg), this suspension setup is more than enough to tame some decent trails.

But if you want to know what sort of brakes and drivetrain Rob chose to go with, you’ll have to just watch the video below. Listen, it's strong, it’s fast, and you can build it in your garage. What more do you want? Me building it for you? No, no, no, that’s all up to you or whoever you pay to put it all together for you.