Moustache Clutch w/ Pinion MGU first ride review

BikesChargedReview

by Ben Haworth May 21, 2025 21

The Moustache Clutch with Pinion MGU gearbox motor is seemingly the answer to all our prayers. Benji ponders the future.

• Brand: Moustache
• Product: Clutch
• Price: from £7,999 (for Gates CDX belt models)
• From: Moustache Bikes
• Tested by: Benji for a day

Pros

• Fabulous sprung/unsprung suspension feel
• Shifting whilst freewheeling is a game changer
• Decent motor

Cons

• 27kg may be too much of a handful for some riders/conditions
• Odd shift feel between 4th and 5th
• Longer dropper please!

Cutting straight to the point, this bike (and the Pinion MGU gearbox motor it contains) will please the gearbox fans. It may not win over many ‘drivetrain agnostic’ riders out there. But it should pique the interest of all suspension fanatics.

Read on.

First of all, what is this bike? Moustache Bikes aren’t very well known over here in the UK. It’s a French bike brand who only make e-bikes. And the Clutch is only available in aluminium. It has 160mm of rear travel delivered by a fairly standard looking 4-bar with a shock extender driving the shock situated under the top tube. The fork travel is 170mm. Oh, and it’s a mixed wheeling mullet.

If you take a quick look at Moustaches other eMTBs, you’ll see that the Clutch is very much a design departure for the brand. Most of Moustaches full susser eebs have interrupted seat tubes and shocks mounted near the BB. It feels like the Clutch has been very much designed first and foremost around a gearbox. Which can only be a good (and bold) thing in my opinion.

What is a 160/170mm travel bike these days? It’s not really enduro (remember that?) anymore. It’s arguably ‘more’ than a trail bike. Shall we bring back the noughties terms of ‘All Mountain’? Yes, let’s. I was always a big fan of All Mountain. It made sense to my brain.

The motor is what we’re all here for though isn’t it? Because that motor is also the drivetrain. It’s a gearbox people. And 2025CE has been agreed by the MTB Illuminati as being The Year of the Gearbox.

What’s good about a gearbox? Well, to partly answer that, we should ask ‘what’s good about traditional derailleur drivetrains?’ And to my mind, as an overt trad drivetrain fan, is that trad drivetrains are overall lighter than gearboxes and they are incredibly efficient. There ain’t many human watts lost into a trad drivetrain. But derailleurs get broken. Chains snap. Derailleur drivetrains need maintenance. And you can’t change gear without pedalling*

*apart from on certain Shimano and SRAM ebike systems which do offer coast-shifting

Anyhoo. Both of my trad drivetrain positive aspects (weight and efficiency) are thrown somewhat into the air by pedal-assist bikes. The efficiency aspect is almost entirely irrelevant because of the er, pedal assisting. The weight aspect is also much less overt than on an acoustic bike. But weight does still matter, somehow.

I will caveat this whole mini-reviewn by saying that I test rode the Moustache Clutch in nigh on perfect trail conditions. I did ride up and down and along some of the most demanding, steepest tracks we have around here but… it was dry AF. The Achilles heel of heavier eMTBs is often how they fele on slippery, sheary, can’t-slow-down, wet conditions. For once, I encountered zero conditions like those.

Addressing the weight issue, the Moustache Clutch is something of a conundrum. At around 27kg (almost 60lb) it is undeniably hefty. I don’t think I’ve ridden a heavier bike in fact. But – and it’s a massive but – the unsprung to sprung mass ratio is the immediate standout characteristic I experienced when riding this bike.

As always, it’s hard to assign exactly what was having an effect on what – and eMTBs always have ‘better’ ratios of spung/unsprung mass – but even factoring in the portly sprung mass, the ease and speed and consistency by which the back end compressed and extended was remarkable.

I basically found myself dialling on more rebound than is typical because… I could. The back-end was still supple and self-settling at all speeds and amplitudes but the added rebound kept things immensely stable and lurch-free and kickback-free. Usually on bikes, I end up having to choose between having fast rebound for traction and pop and ‘fun’ and just put up with occasional bucking, or dialling on more rebound to counter the buckings and putting up with ‘dead’ feeling bike and/or general harshness.

Sp yeah. Big fan of the gearbox and belt for making the rear suspension work really, really nicely. Leaving the gearbox er, gears aside for while (sorry), how about the motor? Essentially, it felt like pretty much any full-power/85Nm-ish motor (Bosch CX, Shimano EP8, Specialized). Except louder. It wasn’t as powerful or as super-responsive as the DJI Avinox on the Amflow PL Carbon. But what is?

The bar remote was fine. Much, much better than the similar rotating ring design found on Fazua systems. But I personally would just prefer the classic two-button design that most other brands use. Pushing/pulling a ring around a handlebar just will never feel as instinctive as simple buttons. But as I say, it worked and I dare say I would get used to it.

The full colour top-tube display was fine. To be honest, I didn’t really focus much on it. I just concentrated on riding the bike. The big 780Wh battery was never in danger of running out. What I would say, is that I would have liked the display to permanently display what gear I was in. Hopefully that is/will be something you can sort via the Pinion app.

Why would I have liked the display to permanently show which gear I was in? Partly because it’s just useful info. And you can’t just glance at your rear cassette to see for yourself. But partly because when shifting from fourth to fifth gear (or vice versa) there is a lull, a brief loss of power and the cranks free-rotate a few degrees. Should this happen during a technical climb, it may cause you to stall. If there was a clear indication on the top tube display that you were in either gear 4 or 5, it would be very helpful.

I’m not going to make a massive point about this aspect of the gearbox. Mainly because I haven’t ridden the bike for long enough yet. I partly expect that it is something that may well become a bit second-nature and you learn to adapt/predict it. It’s too early to tell. But to my mind, this issue of changing between 4th and 5th is the main thing I’d like more time to evaluate.

By the way, the gearbox does also do the same ‘hiccup’ between gears 8 and 9. But because when you’re in such gears, you’re not in such super-crucial high-torque instances (you’re descending most likely) so it’s less of a problem. I didn’t find changing between 8th and 9th gear a problem at all in fact.

There are 12 gears in total, covering a massive 600% range. No other current trad derailleur system comes close to that range. That’s a clear win for the gearbox. The other not-so-unique win for the Pinion MGU is the ability to change gear whilst coasting.

Nowadays it’s not a totally unique feature to gearboxes; e-drivetrains from Shimano and SRAM offer the same ability (you can spin the chainring on its own via the press of button and the derailleur changes gear). But it’s still totally worth mentioning and bigging-up in this review because coast-shifting is completely brilliant.

Much like how learning to deal with the shifting issue between gears 4 and 5 is going to be a thing about the Pinion gearbox, so too is unlearning everything that’s been utterly ingrained into you after decades of derailleur gear shifting.

It was only towards the end of my test ride that I was remembering that I had the super-power of coast-shifting available to me. Whether it was during riding along, or just changing gear whilst resting stationary at the foot of climb-after-rad-descent, coast-shifting really highlights the true big problem with most derailleur drivetrains. Namely, having to turn cranks to change gear.

Being able to pre-select gears whilst freewheeling along technical singletrack is a revelation. Such a great revelation that it probably made me look less harshly on the aforementioned 4th/5th gear issue. And that was only a brief taste of things. I can only imagine this aspect opening up more good things.

Enough about the MGU, what about the MTB? The geometry felt pretty bang on for a Large ebike. 64ish° head angle. 77ish° seat angle. The not-short not-long 450mm stays felt a good balance to the 480mm reach. The 130mm head tube was fine. Yes, I would run higher rise bars than those specced. I’d also like to see slightly longer travel dropper posts than those specced; being able to get super low squashed down is often extremely helpful on a heavy ebike.

Oh, I’ve just remembered something. It will also take me awhile to appreciate that I don’t have to ride with half an eye on not smashing my derailleur against something or other. Tighter gaps. Tighter apexs. Less worry. More lines. Sure, there’s still a small derailleur-like tensioner off the rear axle but it’s way shorter and massively less wide than a derailleur (especially a SRAM AXS mech). Part of me wonders whether that tensioner is entirely necessary too… Hmm.

Overall

On the whole, the geometry and suspension feel of the Moustache Clutch were really good. The heavy weight, whilst not so much of an issue during my test period, is a concern for times get slippery and steep. Part of me would love to see this bike with a smaller (lighter) battery and less-burly but still-capable parts package. As it is, the Moustache Clutch will not disappoint anyone already predisposed to the way of gearboxing but I personally still need more time on one to see what it can really open up to riders. Sure, it has niggles. But arguably not as many as the derailleurs we’ve been living with for so long.

Moustache Clutch 160.9 Specification

• Frame// 6061 T4-T6 aluminium, 160mm
• Shock// RockShox Vivid Air, 230x65mm
• Fork// RockShox Zeb Ultimate, 170mm
• Wheels// Mavic XM1030 rims on Mavic x Moustache hubs
• Front tyre// Maxxis Assegai, 3C MaxxGrip, DD, 29×2.5in
• Rear tyre// Maxxis Assegai, 3C MaxxGrip, DD, 27.5×2.4in
• Chainset// Pinion, 160mm
• Drivetrain// Pinion MGU, 12-sp
• Brakes// Magura Gustav Pro, 203/203mm
• Stem// Moustache Alloy 35, 40mm
• Bars// Moustache Alloy 35, 780 x 30mm
• Grips// SB3 Hornet Lock-on
• Seatpost//KS Lev Integra, 31.6mm (shimmed to 34.9mm), 175mm
• Saddle// Fizik Terra Aidon X5
• Bottom Bracket//Pinion
• Motor// Pinion MGU, 85Nm, 600w peak
• Battery// 780Wh
• Size tested// Large
• Sizes available// S, M, L XL
• Weight// 27kg approx

Geometry of our size Large

• Head angle// 64.2°
• Effective seat angle// 77°
• Seat tube length// 430mm
• Head tube length// 130mm
• Top tube// 631mm
• BB height// 349mm
• Reach// 480mm
• Chainstay// 450mm
• Wheelbase// 1,282mm

Review Info

Ben Haworth

185cm tall. 73kg weight. Orange Switch 6er. Saracen Ariel Eeber. Schwalbe Magic Mary. Maxxis DHR II. Coil fan.

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