Mini rant about weight weenie-ing EMTBs
I do love me a lightweight mountain bike, and have done silly things including titanium bolts and stupid low spoke counts to get a mountain bike really light. So I get it.
But even on a non-motorized MTB, you can go overboard getting the bike lighter. The Cardinal sin in the weight weenie pursuit, imo, is putting light weight, thin walled, low tread tires on a bike that has a good amount of travel. I did this to to an Ibis Ripmo, and it was just dumb. If I rode anything that used more than half its travel it rode terribly - bouncy, unstable, slippery. Once I figured out the error in my ways and got back to DHR2 level tires, the bike felt like itself again.
The upsides of the lighter tires were faster rolling, less drag and quicker spin up, all of which might be justifiable on a Non-Motorized mountain bike in given situations. But I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would put tires like Aspens or Rekons on EMTB's like the Amflows. The motor easily and completely takes care of the added watts necessary to overcome the extra drag and slower spin up of sticky rubber with more stable sidewalls. And the bike rides twice as well with tires aggressive enough to match its full capability. And this is true even if you are not pushing the limit. What's more, it makes you a better rider having tires that you trust more - you learn better, more committed technique instead of dancing around the danger points in your lean.
Can say similar things about ultra lightweight saddles, pedals and grips. They make the scale say nice things, but they ride like garbage and make the experience overall worse. Makes absolutely no sense to me on EMTB other than people just get sucked down a competitive consumerism sinkhole scheming and researching and shopping online. It's fun in the garage at the scale, but out in the real world with a bike that has a darn motor in it, nothing but downside for no good reason.
Okay, end of rant. I know it seemed strident, but of course if weight weenie-ing a high power EMTB makes you happy, then, I suppose, enjoy.