To find the beginnings of lightweight electric mountain bikes you don’t have to rewind far. Only a few years after the inception of e-MTBs (or at least, ones you’d want to ride), Specialized’s 2015 Turbo Levo SL brought the notion of lower-powered, lighter-weight bikes to the mainstream. With trail-focused geometry, impressive range for its battery size and a silhouette that virtually mirrored the Stumpjumper trail bike it was modelled on, it proved hugely popular. This created a swell of interest from other manufacturers, which has driven innovation.
The perfect recipe for a lightweight e-bike is still very much up for debate, though. Some manufacturers – such as Forestal and Specialized here – co-develop their drive units with motor specialists (Bafang and MAHLE, respectively). Others – including Focus and Haibike – fit off-the-shelf models from the likes of FAZUA. Some think lightweight e-bikes should have a cross-country bias, others go all-in with big-travel rigs designed for enduro racing, but most opt for a trail-focused middle ground. Whatever approach is taken, battery life and power need to be well-balanced, with criticisms levied at the first Levo SL centring on its limited torque.
Between 140mm and 160mm of travel appears to be the sweet spot. Manufacturers seem to have settled on enduro-style geometry, too – including a head angle of around 64 degrees and extended reach figures – to give stability at speed. Some add geometry-adjusting flip-chips or headset cups, or the option to swap rear-wheel sizes, for extra versatility. To drive weight down and improve battery life, lightweight e-bikes are often fitted with thin-casing, low-profile, fast-rolling tyres. In our eyes, this is a compromise too far – we’d happily sacrifice some weight savings for the improved traction and puncture resistance of chunkier rubber. We upgraded the tyres on all four bikes here so that we could reveal their true performance potential, and would recommend you do the same.
A lightweight e-bike has to perform well everywhere, so during our testing we were looking for adaptability, agility range and power. Senior tech ed Alex took to his local runs in Scotland’s Tweed Valley to push these bikes to their limits and find out what ingredients make up the perfect lightweight e-MTB.
MEET THE TESTER
ALEX EVANS
SENIOR MTB TECH EDITOR FOR BIKERADAR.COM
A hard rider with a habit of breaking bikes, motorised or not, Alex pulls no punches with his testing
OUR RATINGS
We base our scores on value for money and performance
EXCEPTIONAL
Close to perfect (rare!)
VERY GOOD
Not quite class-leading
GOOD
Will do the job
BELOW AVERAGE
Flawed in some way
POOR
We don’t recommend this
HAIBIKE LYKE CF 11
£6,799
This carbon fibre-framed, 140mm-travel 29er uses FAZUA’s RIDE 60 motor, which boasts 60Nm of torque and is powered by a 430Wh battery, so it should have plenty of poke.
Geometry is trail-focused, including a 65-degree head angle, 77.3-degree seat tube angle and a long reach and chainstays. Kit-wise, you get a Performance-spec Fox 36 fork and Float DPS shock, a Shimano SLX/XT drivetrain and four-piston XT brakes.
FOCUS JAM 2 SL 9.9
£7,499
head angle can be switched from a
