The best eMTB of 2021 for € 5,500 – 7 budget eMTBs go head to head

After finding the best high-end eMTB in our big group test of 25 bikes, we’re turning our attention to the 7 hottest entry-level bikes of the 2021 season to find the best eMTB for around € 5,500. How much performance can you expect from a budget eMTB and where do you have to accept compromises?

Before we get into the review, we would like to tell you about our latest print edition. The E-MOUNTAINBIKE Print Edition 2021 is our fourth annual edition and the ultimate guide in your search for the perfect eMTB. Spread over 260 pages of high-quality print, we offer you a comprehensive buyer’s guide, reviews and details of 35 bikes and a group test of the 8 most exciting motors. You’ll also find many helpful tips and a guide to the most exciting eMTB trends – all of this is wrapped in a high quality print format. Click here for more information or order it directly in our shop!

Table of content

1. Reality check – What do you really need and where do you ride with your eMTB?
2. The test field of our budget E-MOUNTAINBIKE group test
3. What does the best eMTB for € 5,500 have to be capable of?
4. What does value for money mean?
5. Who tested the bikes, where and how?
6. Our test philosophy
7. The motors and batteries on this test
8. The most exciting insights from this group test
9. The tops und flops of the group test
10. Which is the best eMTB for € 5,500?

With every new season, we see exciting new bikes getting developed and introduced. That’s why we have the crème de la crème of the hottest bikes compete against each other in our big group test of 25 eMTBs at the start of the season. Our aim is to find the best bike of the year that will set the benchmark for all else to follow. However, not everyone needs or wants to spend their hard-earned cash on the best and most expensive bike. After all, the bikes in our high-end group test cost an average of € 8,846. The most expensive model will set you back by a whopping € 13,999. That’s where this group test comes in, seeing us set an upper limit on the price.

This test is about finding the best eMTB at a cost of around € 5,500. We’re looking for the best all-rounder that’s capable of mastering every trail and combining the best riding characteristics in one coherent package – just at a more affordable price. That said, our goal is to help you find the bike that suits you, no matter how much you want to spend. Given the difference in price and performance of the bikes in these two group tests, it’s impossible to make direct comparisons. However, there is a certain degree of overlap, given that one bike, the FOCUS JAM² 6.9 NINE, features in both tests. The flagship model of the FOCUS JAM² with its Bosch motor is priced at € 5,499, perfectly fitting the criteria of this test. However, it allows us to draw some conclusions about the performance differences between the bikes in this and our mega group test of 25 bikes. The realisation: regardless of whether you want to budget € 5,500 or € 10,000 on a bike, you can buy an excellent all-rounder or an absolute stinker no matter how much money you’re spending.

Reality check – Which type are you? Our personal buyer’s guide will help you find the answer

Regardless of the group test, our goal is to classify the bikes according to their strengths and weaknesses so that you can find the bike that’s right for you. Only you know what you really need, what’s important to you and what demands you have of a bike. To help you with this, we ask ourselves to which type of rider a bike is suited and to which it isn’t, for every single bike. Let’s be honest, only a bike that suits you will make you happy. As such, it’s important that you know what your ideal eMTB must be capable of. Where do you usually ride? And what type of rider are you?

If you don’t know the answer to all these questions or aren’t entirely sure, that’s no problem. Our personal buyer’s guide is here to help. It will help you find out more about yourself and your needs and provide you with personalised tips, tech and bike recommendations from our editorial team as well as a selection of articles and bikes that are relevant to you.

The test field of our budget E-MOUNTAINBIKE group test

As mentioned, the FOCUS JAM² 6.9 NINE bridges the gap between our mega group test of 25 bikes and our budget test, with the same exact model competing on both occasions. Of course, we also had to include entry-level alternatives to the Best in Test and Best Buy from our big group test – the MERIDA eONE-SIXTY 10 K and the SCOTT Ransom eRIDE 910, respectively. After all, they’ve already proven themselves against a strong competitive field in the high-end segment, making them hot candidates for another test victory or buyer’s tip. MERIDA sent us the eONE SIXTY 700 and SCOTT provided the Ransome eRIDE 920. Additionally, we took our readers’ feedback to heart and invited the brands that you’re most interested in. Haibike competed with the AllMTN 4 and Canyon sent us the Spectral:ON CF 7. Propain are also in the mix with the Ekano AL 29. Completing the test field is young German brand, INFRONT, with the IF-2.1 Fully, the most affordable underdog of the test field.

We set a price limit of € 5,500 before the start of the test, so you might be surprised to notice that two of the bikes in the test field cost more. That’s due to the current bike-boom, crisis, stock shortages and the associated cost increases for manufacturers, which have ultimately led to price hikes. Canyon and MERIDA raised their prices during our 3 month test period. As a result, the MERIDA eONE SIXTY 700 is now € 100 over the limit. The Propain is 29 € above the maximum price of € 5,500 because we wanted to max out the potential of the online configurator by choosing the air-sprung suspension.

What about CUBE, Trek and Specialized?

Admittedly, we would like to have included more bikes. However, the current delivery situation and bike boom have made it more difficult than usual to get every bike that we wanted in the group test. Unfortunately, the winner of last year’s group test, the Trek Rail 7, and our Best Buy, the CUBE Stereo Hybrid 140 HPC, weren’t available. COMMENCAL and Moustache also didn’t have the bikes we wanted during the test period. YT didn’t yet have an eMTB with the new Shimano EP8 motor and were unable to participate. BULLS didn’t want to face the competition in a head to head comparison and Specialized simply don’t have an aggressive eMTB in this price bracket.

What does the best budget eMTB for € 5,500 have to be capable of?

Ideally, our sought-after all-rounder can deliver on tours, is fun to ride on a wide range of trails both up- and downhill and is equally suited to experienced riders, beginners and experts. Its intended uses range from relaxed cycle paths, flow trails and technical singletrack to manicured bike park tracks. It’s not necessarily about being the best in one individual discipline but about offering the best overall package. The best bike is able to combine supposed opposites such as composure and agility, ideally combining lots of comfort on the one hand, with predictable and direct handling on the other. Besides having refined geometry, a great motor and good suspension, the design, motor performance, battery concept, weight, attention to detail and appropriate components are just as important contributors to a successful bike. However, the amount of fun you can have on the trail remains our most important consideration! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: the bikes have to meet some basic safety requirements. In other words, the brakes must be powerful and easy to modulate, the tires have to be grippy and the overall build must make a solid impression, while assembly quality should meet high standards.

Why did we draw the line at € 5,500? Because it’s here that you will still find plenty of attractive options on the market that are suitable for aggressive trail use. If you go lower than that, you will usually have to accept significant compromises that severely restrict a bike’s performance on the trail. According to our reader survey with 13,500 participants, this is the most applicable price point for you too, as you aim to spend an average of € 4,947 on your next eMTB. Perhaps you’ll be willing to reach a little deeper into your pockets for the most exciting bikes in the test field. Our head to head comparisons show that it’s worth it!

What does value for money mean?

Clearly, value for money plays a pivotal role in this test. At E-MOUNTAINBIKE, we don’t measure value for money based on Excel spreadsheets, theoretical values or the spec list. Instead, we consider the actual performance on the trail and the quality of the overall package. In other words, the deciding factor in our determination of value for money is the handling, not the components. What good is the best motor if the bike’s handling or suspension aren’t any good? No good at all! When assessing value for money, we also make sure that the componentry matches the eMTB’s intended use. To make sure your hard-earned money is well-invested, we’ve made it our task for this test to find and evaluate price-related compromises. Safety also plays a crucial role in our evaluation as we believe it’s something no manufacturer should save on! By that, we don’t just mean powerful four-piston brakes with 200 mm rotors, as fortunately, you’ll find them on every bike in the test field, but also the assembly quality and safety in general. Spoiler: unfortunately, not all manufacturers in the test field succeed in the latter.

Who tested the bikes, where and how?

We found the ideal test conditions in Germany’s Palatinate Forest, where all 7 bikes were ridden head to head on a varied test loop. Simple paths, flowing singletrack, rooty and rough trails with bike park features such as berms and jumps: we had it all. Our chosen route was sure to bring each bike’s individual strengths and weaknesses to light. Going back up, we didn’t just stick to fire roads but also took on more technical singletrack climbs. To complete the picture and for the ultimate test of versatility, we also rode the bikes on our home trails around Stuttgart and in the Odenwald.

Our test philosophy – Honest instead of simple, differentiated instead of “super”!

Lots of buyers let themselves be blinded by graphics, diagrams and lab measurements in the search for quick and easy answers. Thankfully, the industry is developing more of an awareness of the fact that reality is significantly more complicated and that a bike, its abilities and its characteristics can’t be expressed in just numbers. Every day we confront several questions. Which information helps with making a purchasing decision? How can we test bikes in the fairest and most realistic way possible? What testing format provides the best guide?

Everyone knows that we take a holistic approach and aren’t fans of rigid scoring systems in which individual parameters like components, weight and lab measurements are viewed in isolation and added up to give an overall score. Why? Because the scoring system itself will have been established on a subjective basis, even if the points are supposedly distributed objectively for the individual criteria. In addition, this kind of method completely disregards unique characteristics that can make certain bikes attractive for some riders. Special solutions created by manufacturers also can’t be considered, regardless of whether they are positive or negative – they just wouldn’t fit into a rigidly defined test structure.

That’s why we try to evaluate the bikes according to their strengths and weaknesses in a context that lets you decide, based on this information, whether the bike fits you and your personal requirements. Furthermore, where and how you use your bikes are too diverse to be lumped together in one set of testing criteria. We need to represent the character of every bike clearly and in an easy to understand way. As such, we consider assigning marks or scores the wrong way to go about things because it simplifies complex realities and doesn’t do them justice. A bike can’t just be “very good” or “super”, because its handling and characteristics will predetermine it to be better for one use and worse for another. Apart from that, we’re also convinced that every reader or biker has different requirements and preferences, and in turn, needs to be able to identify which bike fits or doesn’t fit them. Anything else would be misleading and not just unfair towards manufacturers, it would also patronise our readers.

For this reason, the central question that we asked ourselves during this group test is to which type of rider a certain bike is suited. And to which it isn’t. We want to answer these questions in every review, providing you with clear recommendations or even steering you away from a purchase when necessary. To help you quickly understand whether a bike suits you, we visualise the characteristics of every bike at the end of their review with a sliding scale of ratings.

Good eMTBs manage to reconcile apparently contradictory characteristics managing, for example, to be both playful and stable at the same time. For the scales at the end of the review, the higher the rating, the better the bike is in this regard. The ratings refer exclusively to the bikes in this group test and let them be compared to one another. To make the differences clear, we make use of the full range of the scales. To be clear, this means that scores of 10, but also 0 or 1, are given to the best and worst riding characteristics. We’re not aiming to rat out individual manufacturers but trying to make it easier for you to compare the bikes. A scale from 0 to 10 only makes sense if all of it is used! Despite these ratings, the bike texts are decisive, because that’s where we explain the characteristics of the bikes in detail and look at them in context of one another.

2 out of 7 bikes had a massive safety issue

What happened to us was something that should never have happened, and it didn’t just happen once. The battery fell out of the down tube while riding at full speed! At first, we couldn’t believe it either. But it happened! If you’re thinking that’s because we pulled some kind of crazy stunt, we have to disappoint you: we didn’t do anything out of the ordinary when the battery fell out of the down tube of both the INFRONT and the Propain. Fortunately, no one got hurt, but it could have had serious consequences. A battery coming loose on the trail is a serious safety concern.

Batteries can actually fall out of bikes? An absolute no-go! We’re just as surprised as you are, but it happened!