Pole’s 725wh eMTB grabs the spotlight again with SRAM motor?

Pole hasn’t been shy with teasing its CNC machined eMTB, but these latest images have us scratching our heads.

If you follow the Pole Instagram account you likely haven’t seen much of the upcoming eMTB but if you’re a follower of Pole founder, Leo Kokkonen, then you have probably seen the assisted CNC trail weapon on more than one occasion.

The unnamed Pole eMTB appears to use a similar CNC construction to the Stamina, meaning the frame is machined from large blocks of aluminium then bonded together. In the case of the Pole eMTB there is also a large battery access panel on the upper side of the downtube allowing easy access to the internal battery.

From Leo’s posts, we uncovered that Pole is currently testing a huge 725Wh battery. Those who keep up-to-date with the latest eMTB tech will realise that 725Wh is significantly more than what either of the Shimano or Bosch systems currently offers. This huge battery capacity is already proving to offer an impressive range with Leo commenting that just 40% of battery will cover 25 kmh, with 600m of climbing at an average speed of 23kmh!

I rode 25km with 600m vertical climb. My average speed was 23km/h

Leo Kokkonen

Though the battery size is known, what is more of a mystery is the motor that assists this Pole E-Machine along the trail. Looking at the highly integrated design and size I have considered it could be a Fazua motor, but new images cast doubt on that idea.

In screenshots taken from Instagram stories, we can clearly see that the motor is running a set of SRAM GX cranks. This alone is enough to prove that many of the most popular motor systems are not being used on this prototype. This could leave us with a few possibilities;

1) Pole is testing a SRAM motor system.
2) The motor is similar to the system employed on Rocky Mountain electric bikes.
3) Leo is trolling us and added GX stickers to another chainset.

As much as I would love to see SRAM enter the eMTB market with a motor, I as of yet haven’t heard a whisper of such a product. At least not of anything that will be coming to market soon.

Perhaps then the system is something along the lines of the Dyname 3.0 motor produced by Propulsion Powercycle for Rocky Mountain? The design might use a standard BB and chainset with a motor placed in front using an ‘idler’ style cog and mechanical torque sensor. Looking at the photo below there appears to be plenty of room for such an arrangement.

While I have your attention, Pole fans will have also spotted the new suspension linkage too. From a distance, it appears to be a single pivot design but it seems to be attached to the mainframe via 2 links rather than a simple single point.

I’m sure Leo will post more teasers in the coming weeks, but if you have any thoughts or suggestions as to what this motor could be please let me know in the comments below.