By Casey (get it?) Zilinek, SB Bike apparel buyer
  

Are e-mountain bikes worth it? Are they cheating? Are they "too much"? At Sports Basement we're pretty happy to embrace new technology (comes with the territory here in the Bay Area), so when one of our staffers recently started debating whether to buy one for himself, a whole lotta people immediately swiveled their chairs around to debate the merits of the e-MTB. I've got an embarrassing number of bikes in my garage at home, so , well, I have stronger opinions than most. One of the other people in the office told me to start writing all this stuff down, so here we are, and I'm sharing my rather strong opinions with the world.
 

Are e-mountain bikes "too much"?

No way! Having ridden other e mountain bikes, the Transition Repeater instantly feels more like my regular bike than an e-bike. The Shimano motor is very smooth and pedaling feels completely natural. You wouldn't really know this was electric.
 

Are they cheating?

Okay, real talk. As a lifelong mountain biker I love going downhill. The Repeater helps me get more downhill laps at my local riding spots in half the time as a regular bike. Not only that, the repetition has made me a better mountain biker all around! It doesn't hurt that its just so much fun, too.
 

Are e-MTBs worth it?

As a father of young children, having the repeater allows me to get out on a ride and do more with the time I have. I can go out for an hour and ride twice as far and still be back in time for Ruby's dance class. And while I'm on the trail, the repeater makes exploring new riding areas much easier. Going down an unknown trail isn't quite so consequential, because climbing back up to the top doesn't take as long. I've been able to explore and familiarize myself with nearly every trial (and nontrial) at my local riding spot and beyond.

So yeah, it's worth it, it's not cheating at all, it's just making you better at something that's awesome. Who could turn that down? Just buy the bike, Adrian. Jeez.