Forestal - Hype or Ripe ?

Zimmerframe

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Jun 12, 2019
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Well, the world continues to wait .. excitedly ..

Before saying anything further and suffering the wrath of the Bafang Extremists (Yes, Don't worry, anything bafang makes is the best in the world and anyone who says otherwise is wrong - if you need to expand, you could join with the Yamahaha's "our fails don't count as fails" group), I have almost ordered one of these myself. When I went to register though the emailed registration link bombed out which wasn't really a good sign, so I gave up.

The Cyon, Siryon and Hydra all look like incredible bikes with some interesting design ideas, exciting geometries and lots of great features.

But, we still don't actually know very much.

Normally there's a bit of an Embargo before bikes are released, then we have information, reviews, comparisons. In this case, we have some pictures and a few short videos, many of a bike ridden by a man so capable he could make the next bike from Tesco's/Walmart/ShopRite/Suning.com seem like the best bike in the world.

The weight is impressive but arguably the other interesting things about the bike are the technology behind it, but we don't know much.

The frame : ALPHA BOX. Colour schemes are cleverly thought out and the more you spend, the nicer your bike looks.

The rear suspension : TWIN LEVITY - which is effectively a simple but elegant progressive linkage system, or a clever way to reduce the number of bearings in the rear and then add them all back in again.

The rear triangle: The Gullwing or broken boomerang design looks visually stunning.

The Motor : EON DRIVE ! Supposedly 60nm.... Personally, I think this is going to be more like an SL motor than an EP8 RS motor. Weight is the same as the Mahle, though the Mahle in theory his scope for more power based on the physical build. It's claimed to be silent, the ones where you can here it in a video though don't appear to be - though these could be prototypes and we know there are delays which they're unprofessionally pointing at Bafang.

I think like with many of these things, most people won't be disappointed. It becomes a thing of passion and we accept it for what it is and hopefully enjoy it. The hardest thing will be balancing performance in assistance terms with performance in range and altitude terms.

The Battery : Aurora . 360wh or 350wh depending where you read it on the website, but most likely 360wh. 51v system with optional, not yet available, 250wh range extender. Again, we don't really know much about this. Claiming to have an 80% rapid charge in 80 minutes, but will this have an impact on battery longevity. Will it charge when it's hot straight after use ?

The Display "Smart Dashboard" - obviously the guy with the Dictionary of Exciting names was out of the office that day. I'll go with "SuperNova Display" (© Zim Industries) for the future as it's far more in keeping with the naming convention and "Smart Dashboard" sounds like a very cheap mobile phone with a not very exciting display application running on it. Arguably the heart and sole of this bike .. but again, we know very little .. Any questions asked about it always receive the reply "YES, it can" .. so either they're still developing it and just add in what people ask about, or it's total pants and you're just talking to someone from marketing.

This is basically the next exciting bike we're all waiting to see .. what does everyone think ?
 

R120

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Apr 13, 2018
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I think its always a problem when a bike gets "launched" months or even years before anyone gets any concrete information on it, as the longer you wait the more sceptical you become.

However to be fair to Forestal its likely the bikes would be in owners hands by now if it wasn't for Covid and associated supply chain issues - I feel like the new Levo has stolen its thunder a bit on the tech front with their updated TCU, but then again the Forestal offering looks to be a bit more featured than the Spesh.

When they announce it the bike did appear game changing, however in the time between its announcement and now we have seen the Orbea Rise and the new Kenevo SL launched, with the rise in particular showing that a lightweight EMTB can be done with very little compromise in terms of power loss compared to a full fat.
 

Tim1023

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Aug 25, 2020
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Hamburg, Germany
Some interesting toys on it. That display looks nice, if useless for me as I don't wear reading glasses when riding.
Looks like you have to take the motor out to remove the battery.
400 for paint also sounds a tad rich. I wonder what the incremental cost to them is.
 

Tonybro

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This seems to be a (to my view positive) move within the industry of lighter e-bikes, started by Specialized a few years ago.

This is positive in that the full-on e-bikes will continue to have their market and these lighter bikes are more to entice normal riders to move up.

Its the reason I am moving down from a full on 24Kg Merida down to a Orbea Rise at 19Kg.
 

mas

Member
Apr 3, 2020
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I work in R&D and would never buy first gen anything. There are just too many firsts here - bike, brand, motor, display - and it's the inter-relationship between them that compounds the difficulty. They are doing the right thing though by taking their time to get the right product out. They have done the easy things right so far (brand launch, capturing customer attention, unique offering) but with things this new it will go wrong (not might go wrong) and the make or break moment for these guys will be how they go with customer service.
 

mark.ai

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Jul 10, 2018
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For me the main thing with the Forestal bikes will be what is the motor like? How does it feel when riding? How does the power compare etc?

And then overall, how reliable is the total system? I.e. motor, display, electronics - particularly in the wet.

If everything comes together, then they are looking very good!

Personally I don't like their default color schemes, but the custom option is there too.
 

Mteam

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Aug 3, 2020
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I said in another thread that I think youd have to be nuts (or very rich ) to buy a forestal bike at this point in time.

- Unknown motor/battery combo
- no dealer support in uk
- high prices but with lowish specs
- silly proprietry stuff like that display - and arguably the motor and battery - but we dont know much about these.
- unknown how good they will be at warranty support - thinking cracked frames etc.


Just buy an orbea rise ,levo sl or kenevo sl.
 

smtkelly

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
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ldn
I think it would be a leap of faith to order one given the amount of 'new'. It could be amazing...... but;


The fact the hype proceeded the launch by such a long way makes me cynical af. If the bike is so solid why not give at least one journalist an exclusive to swoon about it? My guess is it's more of less the same as every other light weight bike (which at launch it was unique not the case any more) while being unproven at worst its high concept poor execution.



E-zesty springs to mind, it was paper perfect..
 

Gary

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Mar 29, 2018
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Massively over hyped.
Quite gimmicky.
Tons of yet to be verified claims.
Some of which are actually quite mediocre individually.
But all together it could be a pretty good new alternative to the few lightweight options out there just now.
UglyAF tho. ?

No doubt the forum will soon be filled with threads on how to fit a coil shock to one. ?
 

Slowroller

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Jan 15, 2018
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"The rear suspension : TWIN LEVITY - which is effectively a simple but elegant progressive linkage system, or a clever way to reduce the number of bearings in the rear and then add them all back in again. "

:LOL:
 

Zimmerframe

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Gary thinks its Ugly ... maybe it's a mix of retro and future ? Future Retro - that will definitely be a thing ;)

Over 10 years ago and also in Andorra :

meta.jpg


And almost 10 years ago - with plenty of space in the frame to hide batteries - an early version of the Hydra .. (which shipped without the bafang motor as they didn't arrive)

gt.jpg
 

Mteam

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Gary thinks its Ugly ... maybe it's a mix of retro and future ? Future Retro - that will definitely be a thing ;)

Over 10 years ago and also in Andorra :



And almost 10 years ago - with plenty of space in the frame to hide batteries - an early version of the Hydra .. (which shipped without the bafang motor as they didn't arrive)
I forgot that point in my earlier post - the forestal's have looks that only its mother could love.
 

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