I've been keeping a very close eye on the best electric mountain bike deals in the run up to this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping event. A bigger surplus of bikes than usual this year means there are plenty of bargains to be had on the best electric mountain bikes. But if you're looking for truly outstanding value-for-money spec on a very well put together bike, there is one particular deal that stands out for me.
The Vitus E-Escarpe 290 VRS has an RRP of £4,799.99, but it's currently available with a 40% discount – which takes the price to £2,899.99, with a huge saving of £1,900.
Unfortunately, this offer is only available in the UK as Vitus e-MTBs are not sold in the US. However, I've added e-MTB deals for those in the US and the rest of the world at the bottom of this article.
I've been tracking the price of this bike since Chain Reaction first discounted the Vitus e-MTBs some weeks ago. The original discount was 30%, then 38%, and finally it rose to the current 40% at the beginning of last week. You may well be tempted to wait to see if it gets any bigger, but now that Cyber Monday is here, I'd be very surprised if that happened. Chain Reaction have already reduced the discount on some of the other models in Vitus e-MTB range. That said, we may find that some time from now they offer a slightly bigger discount than the current 40% to try and shift a handful of remaining bikes in less popular sizes. But unless you ride a Small or XL bike and are prepared to wait until sometime next year to see what happens, you will likely be disappointed.
The Vitus E-Escarpe 290 VRS isn't just an excellent e-MTB bargain though, it's a top performer on the trails too. We've yet to review the bike here on Bike Perfect, but our colleagues over on MBR.co.uk. have tested the longer travel Vitus E-Sommet VRX which has a very similar aluminum frame design and is also based around Shimano's latest EP801 e-MTB motor with a 630Wh battery. MBR's bike test editor, Alan Muldoon, gave the E-Sommet VRX a highly respectable score of 8/10.
The lighter weight E-Escarpe 290 VRS tips the scales at 24.3kg (claimed weight for a size medium). The bike rolls on 29-inch Nukeproof Neutron V2 alloy wheels shod with a tried and tested Maxxis tire pairing of an Assegai up front and a Maxxis Minion DHR II to the rear. The tires come set up tubeless as standard and with triple compound rubber for maximum surefootedness on the trail, plus EXO+ sidewalls for better support and protection.
The E-Escarpe gets 150mm of suspension travel with a capable Boost width RockShox Lyrik Select RC fork with a DebonAir spring and Charger RC damper up front and Super Deluxe Select+ RT DebonAir shock making it ideal for trails of all kinds. Gearing comes from Shimano with 12-speed SLX system with an E*Thirteen E*Spec Plus chainset, while the brakes are four-piston SRAM DB8 with 200mm rotors front and rear.
Finishing kit is mostly in-house from Vitus and Nukeproof (owned by the same parent company), plus a Brand-X Ascend dropper seatpost (S: 125mm drop, M: 150mm, L & XL: 170mm).
The only potential drawback you might want to mull over with this bike is the battery capacity. Yes, at 630Wh, it's mid-sized, larger than many other e-MTBs currently discounted, and will give you several hours of riding – more still if sticking to eco mode. But like all technology, bike battery capacity is ever increasing and 720 to 900Wh options are now more typical on higher spec, full power e-MTBs. To be honest, I wouldn't let that put me off at this price, as you'd need to pay a lot more money for a bike with a bigger capacity – an E-Escarpe 290 VRS plus a spare battery which would still cost less. For me, this is a fantastic deal and should be top of anyone's short list when looking for maximum bike per buck.
Here at Bike Perfect, we're trawling the internet looking for the best MTB and off-road cycling deals around. For the best deals we've uncovered, have a look at our Cyber Monday bike deals hub. We've also curated the best Cyber Monday budget full-suspension bikes, Cyber Monday mountain bike lights and Cyber Monday kid's MTB deals for you.
