E-bikes offer a silent and speedy way to access remote hunting areas. Are they right for you?

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Consider how you’ll transport your weighty e-bike

TRANSPORTING

It’s important to remember that e-bikes are considerably heavier than pedal bikes. And when you add in the fat tires, they are much more cumbersome to load and unload from the back of a pick-up truck. With a little finesse, one person can do it, but it’s much easier with two. Alternatively, a bumper or trailer-hitch accessory rack built specifically for e-bikes—or even for dirt bikes—offers the easiest way to load and transport them.

Fat tires make for a comfy ride, but they can be punctured

TIRES

An e-bike’s fat tires are especially tough, but they’re not invincible. On one hunt last fall, for example, we hit a really bad patch of cacti and managed to blow three tires in 20 minutes. One option to prevent this is an armour-plating you can add to the inside of the tire. We’ve now done this with our bikes; it’s expensive, but it works really well. A considerably more affordable option is to add a product such as Slime’s 2-in-1 Tire & Tube Premium Sealant to the inside of your tire. It works well to help prevent and repair flats, but in my experience, the armour-plating is much more effective.

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