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Our resident e-MTB specialist, Mark, headed out to Switzerland to ride and learn about Trek's upgraded e-MTB range.
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0:00
I'm going to give you a rundown of this
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powerful LT 9 that I've been riding for
0:03
the last day here in Bad Ragaz, in
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Switzerland.
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Um let's start with the battery cuz it's
0:08
an e-mountain bike. Trek famous for
0:11
their three-letter acronyms have come up
0:13
with a new one. They've come up with the
0:14
RIB system, RIB, which stands for
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removable integrated battery system.
0:19
RIBs.
0:21
But anyway, RIB. Um what's different is
0:23
instead of last year we had the battery
0:25
sort of loaded into the downtube from
0:28
the top here. This now is a side entry
0:31
system. This battery here with a single
0:34
key will pop out and um and pop back in
0:37
sideways. It's the goes in on the drive
0:39
side here because that means you can
0:41
lean the bike down on its non-drive side
0:43
and you can insert the battery while
0:45
it's on the floor. Kind of more
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convenient.
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Also, the battery can be charged while
0:50
it's in situ. So, if you've got a
0:51
garage, and you've got power in your
0:53
garage, and you can just roll your bike
0:55
in, plug it in. There's a port on the
0:57
other side of the motor.
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Um if you don't have that facility and
1:01
you need to bring the battery inside,
1:03
then you can just pop it out. It's got a
1:05
handle on it. You can just carry it
1:06
inside and plug it into your charger
1:08
there. So, ultimate convenience and uh
1:10
you take your pick.
1:12
Trek have stuck with the Bosch motor
1:14
system. Uh the Bosch motor system has
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developed quite well over the last few
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years. The original version that came
1:19
out about 3 years ago was a little
1:21
clunky.
1:22
Um more for general e-bike use than
1:24
e-mountain bike use. Uh what we've got
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now is the Performance Line CX version
1:30
of Bosch's e-bike motor. It has four
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power modes, five if you count off.
1:35
Those are eco, tour, eMTB, and boost.
1:40
Like most e-mountain bikes, boost is
1:42
kind of over the top.
1:44
Uh but the eMTB mode, that's what we
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spent most of our time in while we were
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testing it today.
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Uh that is much more sensitive and much
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more tuned to what you tend to do on a
1:53
mountain bike. Those sudden changes of
1:55
cadence and the sudden power
1:57
applications, and it seems to deal with
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it really well. It was kind of a felt
2:00
much more natural like you're riding an
2:02
ordinary bike but with obviously with a
2:04
powerful motor behind it.
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Also, Trek have stuck with Bosch for
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another reason. Bosch being a big global
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brand, Trek claim that the
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serviceability of this motor is kind of
2:15
paramount to them. So, it means that no
2:16
matter where you are in the world, that
2:17
you're never that far away from someone
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who can actually
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service your e-bike.
2:22
There's actually quite a lot more sort
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of e-bike specific components going
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Let's start with e-bike specific wheels.
2:27
We've got
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the Bontrager Powerline wheels here
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being beefed up with 32 spokes for
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e-mountain bike.
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John Riley, the Trek
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product guy, reckons that these are
2:40
actually stronger than their downhill
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wheels.
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Makes a lot of sense when you consider
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that what we've got here is a bike that
2:45
weighs 51 lb. So, that's quite a lot of
2:48
punishment going through those wheels.
2:50
And the weight as well, 51 lb. This bike
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does come in a carbon version if you
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really want to shave off some weight.
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That will save you 650 g. Not quite a
3:00
pound and a half. Arguable about whether
3:02
that makes the blindest bit of
3:03
difference with a bike of this size with
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a motor. However, Trek do say that there
3:08
are further benefits to making a carbon
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version of this which means that they
3:12
can actually make the whole form here
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around the motor. They can actually mold
3:15
the frame in a way that they can't do
3:17
with aluminum. Which means that if form
3:20
and how the bike looks is important to
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you, that might be a reason why you'd
3:23
consider the carbon version. The fork,
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the fork has actually been beefed up
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specifically for e-bikes. This is a Fox
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36 fork that's a lot stiffer laterally.
3:33
Makes a lot of sense when you consider
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how much mass is trying to ram itself
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through the front of that fork and make
3:38
that fork flex. Also, at the back here,
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Trek
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claiming that there's a feature here
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that the back end is actually longer
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than usual. They claim that this
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actually enhances the climbing. Does
3:47
make sense. A long back end does tend to
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keep the front end down which means that
3:52
on steep climbs you're going to be less
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likely to have that front wheel pop up.
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It's arguable whether that's actually a
3:57
design feature or whether it's just a
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consequence of an e-bike with an
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enormous motor here around the bottom
4:02
bracket preventing you from really sort
4:04
of compacting this chainstay. It does
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work. It does mean that it keeps the
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bike down on the big steep climbs.
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Whether or not it's a feature
4:13
Another change we've got this year on
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the power line is we've got a SRAM GX
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Eagle groupset going on. Last year Trek
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spec'd the SRAM EX8 groupset, which is
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an e-bike specific groups. Less gears,
4:27
eight sprockets, because you've got that
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extra addition of the power coming
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through the motor, so it's arguable that
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you you don't actually need the full
4:35
range. However, Trek have found that
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there's a kind of an expectation at
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high-end bikes that people want to see a
4:41
big expensive high-end groupset on it.
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And so for more consumer reasons,
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they've actually spec'd this now with a
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12-speed GX Eagle system. Now, it's
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interesting that they're claiming that's
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because of you guys thinking that the
4:57
EX8 is a bit too cheap-looking, and uh
4:59
so I'd like to hear your comments on
5:00
that one.
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Trek have spec'd this with their new
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line dropper post. Now, this is
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interesting because this is a 150 mm of
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dropper post, and that's the only size
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they do. Those who know me know I'm a
5:11
little bit short in stature, and I
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generally never go anywhere near 150 mil
5:15
dropper. It's just too much. But, Trek
5:17
have done two things here. One, they've
5:19
changed the way that they've built the
5:21
seat tube here, and you can actually
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insert the seat post down a further 10
5:25
mm inside the frame. That kind of helps.
5:27
But also, you can actually get
5:30
travel reduction spacers that fit inside
5:32
the dropper post to actually reduce its
5:35
travel, which is kind of handy. Um also,
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they claim that this is a one-tool
5:39
user-serviceable seat post, which is
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kind of a big deal for seat post.
5:43
Imagine that, a seat post you can
5:45
actually service yourself.
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Now we've been I've only had this for a
5:49
day so we've given a good ride through
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the mountains around here.
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Not enough to really form too much of an
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opinion on it so we are going to get one
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of these into the office soon and we'll
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give it a thorough testing on our home
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trails. So as usual if you want to know
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more about this bike, you want to know
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the whole specs, the measurements, the
6:08
angles, check out our website
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singletrackworld.com we'll have the full
6:13
information package for you right there.
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So that's all from me from Bad Ragaz.
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I'm tuning out and I'll see you soon.
#Sports