My Long short List.

[Mr Scooter]

I have ridden a Levo, Commencal AM 29, Pivot and Trek Rail.
Only the Trek is on my short list which includes Merida E160 Mondraker Crafty Orbea wind FS. I a waiting on the EP8 to see if that's an option. The Bosch EMTB mode is cool but really needs to be able to be tweaked. I a super surprised Bosch are resisting app tuning. Pivot was far too expensive for what it is, the council just too leaden and heavy - the Trek rides lighter somehow - levo spec was terrible - bad brakes awful forks.
Merida looks quite pretty and if they still do the extra battery then the 10K looks descent value given the quality of the build. The Mondrakers are supposed to ride really well. New Trek Rail 9.8 is another contender.

I ride a Zerode Taniwha and so far its been very hard to find anything a decent ride quality - Trek the best of what I have ridden...but motor tuning and rattle are a bit of a turn off as my analogue bike is absolutely silent. The Trek sounds like its falling apart the entire time.

Looking for opinions. Ride quality is absolutely paramount - and review of the Merida as a mullet seem to tick my boxes

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Whyte.

 

[Mr Scooter]

Whyte.

I can't get over how they look. Never liked them. I know they are well regarded

 

[Muzza]

Have you considered the 2021 Focus Jam2, they look pretty good, especially the 6.9 nine which is well specked?
I ride a Levo comp & love the quiet motor & no rattling going down hill like the Bosch & Shimano EP8.
The Lyrik fork is nice but changed the brakes to XT.
Brother rides a Merida E 160 & loves it.

 

[Mteam]

If a 100% silent bike is required then that does rule out any bike with both the bosch and the upcoming shimano ep8 motors.

Personally (with the bosch at least - I havent ridden the shimano) - I dont find the rattle a problem , in fact I hardly notice it at all, I think if I hadnt read about it , it wouldnt have even registered as anything but silent, This is on an Orbea Wild FS - maybe other bikes are noisier?

On the orbea, the rattling battery cover made more noise than the motor until I stuck a couple of small rubber pieces to the underside where it clips into the frame, now its pretty much silent.

 

[Mr Scooter]

If a 100% silent bike is required then that does rule out any bike with both the bosch and the upcoming shimano ep8 motors.

Personally (with the bosch at least - I havent ridden the shimano) - I dont find the rattle a problem , in fact I hardly notice it at all, I think if I hadnt read about it , it wouldnt have even registered as anything but silent, This is on an Orbea Wild FS - maybe other bikes are noisier?

On the orbea, the rattling battery cover made more noise than the motor until I stuck a couple of small rubber pieces to the underside where it clips into the frame, now its pretty much silent.

you like the ride quality of the Orbea?

 

[Mr Scooter]

Looking more an more that my short list will be reduced to what is actually available!

 

[Doug Stampfer]

I can't get over how they look. Never liked them. I know they are well regarded

Hey that's funny I have a Rail but not totally sold on what it looks like yet i love the look of the Whyte & the Spesh.

 

[Doug Stampfer]

Looking more an more that my short list will be reduced to what is actually available!

I take it you're in NZ? We are pretty limited in range to what they can buy in the UK/Europe etc.

 

[Mr Scooter]

I take it you're in NZ? We are pretty limited in range to what they can buy in the UK/Europe etc.

Yep and the is zero stock until december for most.. Might be a Rail if I get impatient

 

[Doug Stampfer]

Yeah I got mine for $7K T7 sale & 2 months later are $2K more expensive. I donm't think they'll get cheaper with riding season starting. Ayear or so ago the LBS was saying focus's were being ordered straight off the factory assembly line they couldn't get enough.
Those new Meridas look good.

 

[Mteam]

you like the ride quality of the Orbea?

It depends how you define ride quality, its a good bike and does what I want it to do, if I was being picky I'd like the rear suspension to be a bit more progressive in the leverage curve (ie more like my YT capra), but its not a big deal. It gives a real magic carpet smooth ride, and works well . I might try and add another volume spacer in the shock at some point. It climbs very well when using the motor, the rear suspension is super active giving lots of traction. If you ever ride with the motor off (why would you? unless you run out of power or are trying to get a lot of miles out of the battery) that super active rear suspension bobs a fair bit and seems to sap a lot of power from your legs , unless you flick the climb switch on the shock, this firms it up nicely and tames most of the bob. It goes down hill really well, again that super active rear end works to smooth out the worst of the square edge bumps, but as mentioned it does tend to use a bit more travel than I would like on bigger drops, its not a big deal though.

I think I read that orbea tried to take advantage of the fact that this was motor powered and were less constrained by having to consider pedal efficiency and so designed to suspension to be more active at the expense of pedalling efficiency, I think this is probably noticeable - in a good way unless you ride with the motor switched off,but then its a just under 24kg (size large Mteam model, with pedals, tubeless, co2 canister, multitool, fidlock bottlecage mount, plus rrp proguard front mudguard ans some dried mud) bike, so its never going to feel efficient when pedalled up hills under human power alone. I think they made the right call to sacrifice pedal efficiency for better bump absorbing qualities.

When I first got the bike, it was quite a noisy ride, I could hear various knocking and rattling, which having read reviews of the bosch motor I assumed was just the well known bosch motor rattle, but then I realise that the battery cover is slightly lose and makes a knocking noise, you can make it do this at will by lifting the front end and dropping it. So I fitted some thin rubber to the inside of the battery cover between the tabs that locate it into the frame and that fixed the battery cover knock - which it turns out was much louder than the standard bosch motor rattle. Its now a mostly quiet ride, including on very rocky downhills, aside from the (in my opinion) faint rattling from the bosch motor.

I'm not so impressed with the shimano 12 speed drivetrain - it seems impossible to get it to shift really cleanly, it works ok, but its never quite as good as I think it should be, and not as good as previous 9,10,11 speed drivetrains I've had. I know that orbea dont fit the bike with a shimano chain so I am thinking about changing this for a shimano one to see if it improves things.

I dont like the magnet for the speed sensor being on the spokes, I think other brands have done a better job by using the brake rotor mounted magnets , but it hasnt caused any issues yet, and I doubt it will do, it just looks a bit clumsy. Might try and modify it to use a brake rotor mounted magnet if I fancy a project at some point.

Would I change anything on it ? Probably not immediately (aside from the chain) , I may change the rear tyre for a double down casing, but only if I rip/puncture this one. When the cassette wears out I may put a slightly smaller range cassette on it, but to be honest it might be useful having the big range for that scenario when the battery has run out and you still have one more big climb to do before you get home. The brakes (shimano Xt 4 pot) work very well. Dropper post works very well, I'm getting used to the saddle. Handlebars suit me, I might change the grips as I like thicker grips.

 

[Mr Scooter]

It depends how you define ride quality, its a good bike and does what I want it to do, if I was being picky I'd like the rear suspension to be a bit more progressive in the leverage curve (ie more like my YT capra), but its not a big deal. It gives a real magic carpet smooth ride, and works well . I might try and add another volume spacer in the shock at some point. It climbs very well when using the motor, the rear suspension is super active giving lots of traction. If you ever ride with the motor off (why would you? unless you run out of power or are trying to get a lot of miles out of the battery) that super active rear suspension bobs a fair bit and seems to sap a lot of power from your legs , unless you flick the climb switch on the shock, this firms it up nicely and tames most of the bob. It goes down hill really well, again that super active rear end works to smooth out the worst of the square edge bumps, but as mentioned it does tend to use a bit more travel than I would like on bigger drops, its not a big deal though.

I think I read that orbea tried to take advantage of the fact that this was motor powered and were less constrained by having to consider pedal efficiency and so designed to suspension to be more active at the expense of pedalling efficiency, I think this is probably noticeable - in a good way unless you ride with the motor switched off,but then its a just under 24kg (size large Mteam model, with pedals, tubeless, co2 canister, multitool, fidlock bottlecage mount, plus rrp proguard front mudguard ans some dried mud) bike, so its never going to feel efficient when pedalled up hills under human power alone. I think they made the right call to sacrifice pedal efficiency for better bump absorbing qualities.

When I first got the bike, it was quite a noisy ride, I could hear various knocking and rattling, which having read reviews of the bosch motor I assumed was just the well known bosch motor rattle, but then I realise that the battery cover is slightly lose and makes a knocking noise, you can make it do this at will by lifting the front end and dropping it. So I fitted some thin rubber to the inside of the battery cover between the tabs that locate it into the frame and that fixed the battery cover knock - which it turns out was much louder than the standard bosch motor rattle. Its now a mostly quiet ride, including on very rocky downhills, aside from the (in my opinion) faint rattling from the bosch motor.

I'm not so impressed with the shimano 12 speed drivetrain - it seems impossible to get it to shift really cleanly, it works ok, but its never quite as good as I think it should be, and not as good as previous 9,10,11 speed drivetrains I've had. I know that orbea dont fit the bike with a shimano chain so I am thinking about changing this for a shimano one to see if it improves things.

I dont like the magnet for the speed sensor being on the spokes, I think other brands have done a better job by using the brake rotor mounted magnets , but it hasnt caused any issues yet, and I doubt it will do, it just looks a bit clumsy. Might try and modify it to use a brake rotor mounted magnet if I fancy a project at some point.

Would I change anything on it ? Probably not immediately (aside from the chain) , I may change the rear tyre for a double down casing, but only if I rip/puncture this one. When the cassette wears out I may put a slightly smaller range cassette on it, but to be honest it might be useful having the big range for that scenario when the battery has run out and you still have one more big climb to do before you get home. The brakes (shimano Xt 4 pot) work very well. Dropper post works very well, I'm getting used to the saddle. Handlebars suit me, I might change the grips as I like thicker grips.

thanks heaps for the detailed response. Orbea's are super delayed. Availability isn't until Jan - March depending on model and spec