TREK FUEL EXe 9.9 XX1 AXS

£ 13, 250 • 29 in • trekbikes.com

The e-bike market has rapidly become a numbers game. Where more torque, increased battery capacity and higher prices are all taken at face value as progress. Well, maybe not the pricing. And while the pedal-assist feature guarantees that these machines are very much bicycles, there’s no denying that the metrics on which they are commonly judged are analogous to motorsports.

But much in the same way that cars which handle well, often in spite of their numbers, are referred to as drivers’ cars, the emerging lightweight mid-powered e-bike designs have their sights firmly fixed on becoming riders’ bikes.

And on that front, Specialized leads the way with its lightweight Levo SL and Kenevo SL platforms. Compact motors with 35Nm torque and smaller 320Wh batteries offer some assistance, while the reduced weight makes the handling more in keeping with a conventional mountain bike. The main benefit of Specialized’s design being the