The Ultimate E-Bike Buying Guide: Frames

Cycling has long captured the hearts of adventurers, fitness enthusiasts, and commuters alike. From exhilarating off-road trails to peaceful city streets, the experience of riding a bicycle offers a unique blend of physical activity, freedom, and a connection to the world around us. If you’re embarking on a journey to find your perfect bicycle frame, you’ve come to the right place.

Selecting the ideal bicycle frame is a critical decision that can significantly impact your overall cycling experience. A well-suited frame enhances your comfort, performance, and enjoyment, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the sheer joy of pedalling. However, with countless options available in the market, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. We will guide you through the process of choosing the best bicycle frame tailored to your individual needs, preferences and riding style…

The most common styles of e-bike frames are Road, Mountain and of course folding bicycle frames. Now, it is worth pointing out there that even those 3 do go under several different names and indeed there are probably hundreds more frame styles out there like recumbent, BMX etc, etc. But for this article we will stick with the 3 most common and the most commonly used names.

Who Are Mountain E-bike Frames For?

The number of styles and types of mountain bike frame out there is almost countless in number. From hard diamond to soft-tails, hard-tails, rigid, full-suspension and many more but they are all essential mountain bike frames in terms of classification. As a general rule mountain bikes are for those people who want to go off-road, but not all of them are built for trial rides and thrilling downhill rides. Almost all MTBs (for short) can handle a little bit of off-road, from gravel tracks, to muddy sections, but when it comes to e-bikes some of them (like mid drives only) are allowed on trial runs, but even if it is a full-suspension E-MTB if it has a thumb or twist throttle it is NOT allowed to be used in most bike parks. So if that is your thing, you will need to comply with the bike park’s rules.

But MTBs are not just for those who love off-roading as they are also good for riding about town taking corners easier and bumping on and off curbs a lot more joyfully. When it comes to the MTB’s frame style a lot of the choices boil down to comfort rather than practicality, but we will go into suspension in a different part of our buying guide. It is the frame style most people will pick, but not everyone needs.

Who Are Folding E-bike Frames For?

It doesn’t matter how small a folding bicycle is, nor how, or indeed where it folds what matters is the usefulness of what that folding mechanism does. Some people buy folding frames because they have a lack of storage space, some people buy them because they need to tuck them under their desks at work and some people buy them because they want/need to take them on public transport.

Gone are the days when getting a folding e-bike was a sacrifice in frame rigidity and strength because these days they have strong locking clamps and clips that make them almost as strong as their solid frame counterparts! Many folding e-bikes also have batteries built into the frames making them look neater than solid-frame e-bikes. If you feel that at some point you will need your bike to become a smaller form factor than it normally is, these are the types of frames for you.

Who Are City E-bike Frames For?

If you plan to stick to road riding only, or light gravel tracks this is probably a good choice of frame. They are static in nature with little or no suspension options at all, but many of them are also designed for pure speed. E-road racing bikes are becoming more and more popular as well with carbon frames to make them even lighter, thus faster.

But this frame style is not just for those who like to wear cycling shorts, this style of frame can also be seen as retro and classic in nature with people using them to ride to the shops and back, but of course, combing this style of frame with an e-bike motor means you can get way more fun out of it than you every couple before.

As you can see, there are several different frames and styles out there to choose from and knowing what each one offers is an essential part of picking the right one for you. If you have any questions regarding buying an e-bike, or what you can get within your budget do get in touch with us via the comments below, or the contact page.