Best Electric Mountain Bikes (2026): Specialized, Cannondale, Salsa

electric mountain bikes are both a boon and a curse if you like riding the trails. There’s an old saying that you have to “earn your ride” — that the dopamine-boosting lurches and jumps on a pump track just don’t feel as good if you don’t have shaky legs and sweat while pedaling to the top. It’s a lie. It’s wonderful either way. (Just follow the cries of “whoo-hoo!” as they quickly descend downhill.)

Mocking e-MTBs keeps many people who aren’t in the best physical shape away from the sport, including former mountain bikers who may have gotten older or injured. Access control is never a good idea. On the other hand, getting buzzed by a ton of electric mopeds in the shape bikes on a backcountry trail is enough to make anyone murderous.

Testing electric mountain bikes is one of my favorite things to do. That’s why I’ve rounded up some of our favorite rides to help you get out and get moving. Each electric mountain bike has been personally tested on over 50 miles of trails. Don’t see anything you like? Check out WIRED’s outdoor guides, including guides to the best e-bikes, best merino clothing, and best gravel running shoes.

Best overall

Critic Stephanie Pearson said it would take more words than there are in War and Peace (587,287) to describe how every component of Specialized’s S Works Turbo Levo 4 came together to work in silky, perfect harmony. You can customize your ride on the full-suspension carbon fiber frame by changing the angle of the headset, so you can sit or lean forward as you wish. It’s a mule, with a larger 29-inch front wheel that lets you go down hills more aggressively. The motor features Specialized’s exclusive app so you can fine-tune the settings of the 720-watt motor to make riding powerful and intuitive.

Everything about this bike makes you feel like you’re 24 again and you don’t go “phew” every time you get up. Pearson tested it on more than 50 miles of single-track trails, pump trails and big technical rock bridges around his home in Duluth, Minnesota, using the powerful motor to sneak behind other mountain bikers on slopes like The Puker to squeeze in even more downhill. On one trip, she was able to climb 3,451 feet over 22 miles in about 2 hours without her legs falling off. It can also switch between a Class I e-bike and a Class III e-bike, which begs the question: If you could go to the highest assist possible, why would you lower it?

Finalist

Photography: Stéphanie Pearson

Specialized has its own proprietary motor system, but Trek uses one of the best and promising new lightweight motors, the TQ HPR50, for its Slash+ electric mountain bike. It uses a pin and ring drive transmission. In most electric bikes, the electric motor spins at a much faster speed than the person pedaling, and the motor compensates for this lag with sprockets and belts. A spindle drive replaces these sprockets and belts with an inner ring of spindles, which rotate at different speeds in an outer ring of slightly different sized spindles.