The best electric mountain bikes under £2,000 represent excellent starter bikes for those who want power assistance on the trails. As with all cheaper electric bikes, there will be some compromises made by the manufacturers so they can hit that price point. You’ll likely find some hub motors and lower end suspension components on these bikes - but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to tackle the same trails as someone on a £10k+ bike. However, if you want to see what you can get for a bit more money, make sure you read our guide to the best electric mountain bikes for some context.
As with non-powered bikes, you can spend a little or a lot, and that decision will be down to your budget, and what you want the bike to do. The more technical the riding you're going to be doing, the more you'll be looking at a larger outlay. Electric mountain bike prices go right up into five figures, but you don't need to spend that to get a properly trail-capable bike.
Best electric mountain bikes under £2,000
- Oxygen S-Cross MTB MKII - best hardtail e-MTB | Buy now for £1,799 from Willow Ebikes
- Dallingridge Coniston - best leisure e-MTB | Buy now for £1,248 from Electric Rider
- Eskute Netuno - best for tall riders | Buy now for £999 from Eskute
- Batribike Delta - best looking | Buy now for £1,724 from E-bikes Direct
1. Oxygen S-Cross MTB MKII – £1,749 (best hardtail e-MTB)
Designed as a leisure electric mountain bike, this hardtail from Yorkshire based Oxygen bicycles uses a Shengyi rear hub motor making it ideal for bridleways and towpaths. Paired with a 576Wh battery, it gave our reviewer a projected range of about 44 miles. Here’s what Richard had to say about the bike:
“I found the Oxygen a very nice bike to ride; it feels pretty fast and sporty, even with the motor power turned off altogether. The Shimano hydraulic disc braking was excellent and Altus gears pretty responsive and crisp. On my longer hilly rides over Pennine tracks and trails it never failed to tackle anything put in front of it, even on muddy and grassy climbs with challenging gradients – even if it wasn’t the fastest up them.”
There are cheaper options with smaller batteries available, if you don’t feel like you need the 576Wh option. Those Shimano hydraulic disc brakes also represent pretty good value at this price point.
For more detail, read our review of the Oxygen S-Cross MTB MKII.
2. Dallingridge Coniston – £1,349 (best leisure e-MTB)
Like the rest of the Dallingridge range, the Coniston offers a sensible spec for the money. It uses a rear hub motor, which is cadence sensing only. Nevertheless, our reviewer found that it was pretty sensitive and kicked in quickly once he started pedalling. It comes with seven gears, controlled by a twist grip shifter on the handlebars, and mechanical disc brakes.
Three power assist levels are included, although our reviewer found that level three was the best for most types of riding. (Levels one and two aren’t underpowered, they’re just better for slow speed negotiating, like in a city centre for example.) The Coniston is great for those who want a bike capable of gentle trails and off-road, like canal towpaths or fire roads.
For more detail, read our review of the Dallingridge Coniston.
3. Eskute Netuno – £1,299 (best for tall riders)
The successor to the Eskute Voyager that we reviewed back in 2021, the Netuno is a decent budget option mountain bike for moderately challenging off-road conditions. It comes with a central display integrated into the handlebar stem, which also includes a charge port for your phone.
Eskute has used a Bafang rear hub driven motor, capable of 45Nm of torque, alongside a 522Wh battery, which our reviewer managed to get 39 miles out of on one charge. Seven-speed Shimano Tourney gears offer a decent range, although perhaps not on the steeper terrain you might encounter off-road.
For more detail, read our review of the Eskute Netuno.
4. Batribike Delta – £1,899 (best looking)
Although it’s an old (by MTB standards) model, the Batribike Delta has remained a firm favourite since 2017. Also, if you’re looking to spend less, there are cheaper versions with smaller capacity batteries. It comes with five levels of assist, and, unusually for this price point, an app within which you can view your speed, power or distance.
The Delta comes equipped with an 8-speed Shimano triple chainset, giving you plenty of gear options for the steep stuff. A further positive is the Shimano hydraulic disc brakes. Unlike other bikes at the £2,000 mark, there is a choice in frame sizes as well.
How to choose from the best electric mountain bikes under £2,000
What is the best electric mountain bike under £2,000?
It’s hard to say which bike is the best as it will depend entirely on how you plan on riding it. By this we mean are you going to be sticking to canal towpaths and fire roads, or trying something more technical? There may not be many electric mountain bikes to choose from under £2,000, but the ones we’ve highlighted above are good places to start.
Is an electric mountain bike worth it?
Absolutely! Not only are they incredibly fun, but electric mountain bikes can help you tackle trails and rides you may not have thought possible before. As with most things, the bigger your budget, the better the bike you’ll generally get for your money. At £2k and under, they’re essentially entry level electric mountain bikes and won’t be suitable for hardcore trail riding. If you think you can stretch your budget a bit or want to see what else is out there, have a read of our guide to the best electric mountain bikes.
What’s the difference between a hub motor and mid-drive?
Hub motors are pretty capable and cheap these days. If you're looking at the lower end of this price range then that's what you'll get, either in the front hub or (more likely) the rear. Up over £2,000 you can get a bike specced with a mid motor instead. For mountain biking, this is better for a number of reasons.
The first benefit is weight distribution. A mid-motor eMTB has all the weight in the middle and that means more predictable handling on more technical terrain. If your bike has a rear hub motor and it's a hardtail bike, the motor weight is concentrated at the centre of the wheel, so if you hit a rock you'll be exerting larger forces on the wheel and rear triangle relative to a mid motor design. If it's a full suspension bike then you have more sprung mass with a hub motor, which will negatively affect the suspension response to changes in terrain. The same is true of a front hub motor in a suspension fork, with the added problem that the heavy motor will increase fork flex, meaning steering isn't as precise.
The other, perhaps bigger, reason why mid-motors are preferable on electric mountain bikes is because of how power is applied. Because they are situated at the pedals, they - like you - can exploit your bike’s gears. This tends to mean they apply power better at lower speeds, in lower gears - when you need it most, basically. You can find more detail in our guide Electric bike motors: everything you need to know.
For all those reasons, if you're looking to do any proper off-road riding over technical terrain, you're better off with a mid motor bike. There's lots of people who might be looking at an e-MTB who aren't planning any white-knuckle stuff, and there's plenty of bikes out there that will be fine for light off-roading at prices well south of the £2,000 mark.
It's also worth noting that if you're looking at mountain bikes and the toughest terrain you're going to be pointing them at is towpaths and fire roads, then there's plenty of hybrid bikes that can easily cope, and you may get more for your money going down that route. Read our guide to the best electric hybrid bikes if you think this could apply to you.
What sort of suspension can I expect on an electric mountain bike under £2,000?
All eMTBs will come with a suspension fork of one sort or another. Most of the bikes below £2,000 are hardtail designs. Hardtail bikes have no suspension at the back, and usually have a fairly standard diamond frame. Full suspension bikes will have some sort of linkage to allow the rear wheel to move, and a shock unit to control the suspension. Full suspension adds weight and complexity and the quality of the shock you're going to get for this money will mean the increase in ride quality is unlikely to be huge.
What levels of componentry are popular on electric mountain bikes under £2,000?
You'll likely see derailleur gears from Shimano, or SRAM, and disc brakes on mountain bikes under £2,000. Hydraulic brakes (where the brake is actuated by hydraulic fluid in a hose) are better than mechanical brakes (where a cable is used to pull the brake). The suspension fork will probably be made by RockShox or SR Suntour if you're nearer the £2,000 mark, and by Suntour (a lower spec model) or Zoom for lower budget bikes; it may also be branded the same as the bike.
Currently there are three wheel sizes for mountain bikes. 26-inch is the original size and used for most budget bikes, with the newer 27.5-inch and 29-inch sizes more common on higher-end trail bikes. There are also plus-sized systems, which use a wider rim and a bigger tyre. They're good for eMTBs because they give more grip and a bigger air chamber in the tyre to soak up bumps from rocks and roots.
Explore the complete archive of reviews of electric mountain bikes on ebiketips and also our sister site off.road.cc.
