TQ HPR50 Motor: You know Trek and TQ are on to a thing specific when you watch someone with high expectations and lower anticipations jump on this bike and appear again in awe of just how damn tranquil the motor is. Hats off to the two teams who designed this bike. It truly is a well-oiled equipment and hasn’t skipped a defeat, even in torrential downpours and a good deal of bike washing with no safety measures taken. You know particularly what to count on when you stand on the pedals or enable off for that issue. That tiny harmonic pin ring drive device is the golden goose of e-bicycle motors.
Bontrager SE5 Workforce Problem Tires: Keeping again the stellar singletrack thoughts of the Gas EX-e are the Bontrager SE5 tires even though. They do the job decently in dry dust, but as a result of the rain-soaked summer season we’ve experienced in Squamish they promptly spun out on polished roots and glistening rock. Their spherical profile on the Line 30mm large rims meant that leaning on the aspect lugs dedication and time to achieve. I swapped them early on for a little something with far more tackiness to unlock what the bicycle was definitely capable of.
Bontrager Raceshop SLR bars: I dig the unibrow appear of the one-piece bar and stem – fortunately there are no integrated cables. The 6 and 7-diploma up and backsweep could not be the most widespread, but I got together effectively with the straighter backwards bend. While, I did recognize a minor far more strain on my palms than ordinary. Most bars are inclined to have a 5-diploma upsweep and can be rolled in the stem clamping floor to your liking. To begin with, I chalked up the hand exhaustion to the low entrance finish, but it might be value thinking about slip-on grips if you get started to feel soreness in this article. I also trimmed the width down from a whopping 820mm to 770 and by no means felt like they had been as well rigid.
RockShox Super Deluxe: This shock in mix with the suspension kinematics is phenomenal. There is certainly loads of selection to twist the dials and it’s not extremely complicated. No subject the sizing of the impression, the shock ate it all with forgiveness and assist when essential, only ever working with the great quantity of travel. I would go much adequate to say that, aside from the motor, it can be the standout part on the bike.
How Does It Review?
To be fair, there are not a ton of other bikes in this lightweight e-MTB group, at minimum from mainstream brand names. The two primary players just before the Fuel EX-e arrived on the scene had been the Orbea Increase and the Specialised Turbo Levo SL. The Increase uses Shimano’s full-measurement EP8 motor, but it has been de-tuned in conditions of electricity and runs off of a smaller battery, even though the Levo SL uses a distinct motor than its complete-powered e-MTB siblings from the major “S”. All a few rivals arrive in carbon-framed choices and hover all-around the 18-19 kilogram mark.
The place they are substantially different are the ability delivery, output, and sound ranges. The Shimano motor in the Increase has a great deal of jam, but it is the least refined and the gears rattle noticeably on the descents. The Rise frame geometry also has a more conservative truly feel with a steeper 65.5-diploma head angle. On the other hand, the Levo SL does not have serious geometry and the minimal motor output emits a better pitch whine than the Increase. Its electrical power shipping is smoother than the Rise, though all a few bikes can be tuned via apps.
Then there is also the charge issue. Sure, this major-spec Fuel EX-e 9.9 XX1 AXS has all of the bells and carbon whistles, but as opposed to the equal Specialised S-Operates Turbo Levo SL, it arrives in less than the $14K mark. They are both well-completed bikes that are really smooth, but the additional power and nominal sounds of the Gasoline EX-e wins out by a mile. Seeking back again at the Orbea, the value is acceptable, but the motor trades a raise in energy for a a lot less polished expertise.
Just place, nothing comes close to the Gas EX-e when you paint the picture of the mountain bike experience as a full. Up and down the hill, the TQ motor rides along beneath the yellow carbon carpet in this sort of a hush way that you’d barely know it can be there. You also have to factor in the torque density and packaging. Seem at it – it can be little and effective.
The only way I could see it strengthening would be to revert the AXS derailleur back again its possess battery pack and use a identical sizing distant on the motor support controller for zero wires. I know that goes against the grain of tying all those servos to a central electricity lender, but I might prefer to remove those tiny wires in advance of they get removed on the trail.
Torques
Turbo Levo SL: 35 Nm
Orbea Increase: 60 Nm
Trek Gasoline EX-e: 50 Nm
Batteries
Turbo Levo SL: 320 Wh + 160 ext.
Orbea Rise: 360 Wh + 252 ext.
Trek Gas EX-e: 360 Wh + 160 ext.
