- That has an e-bike tune.
So that basically means it's incompatible with anything
that doesn't have a battery.
(laughs)
- [Crew member] Yes.
- It just won't work.
(upbeat music)
- All right everybody,
you've seen all our e-bike reviews
from the 2021 Summer Field Test.
There's one last thing to do.
I'm here with Matt and Henry for the e-bike round table,
which means we have to sit here
and make some hard decisions.
I'm gonna find out which bike these guys like the most,
and we're gonna call out some stuff that we liked
and that we didn't like.
So the four bikes that we have here with us
at Sun Peaks to test,
Commencal's new Meta Power 29,
Yeti's new 160E,
Specialized Kenevo SL,
and Norco's Range VLT.
All right. My first question for you guys,
I want to get right into the tech stuff.
There's a few different suspension platforms here.
I want to know which one you guys liked the most
for use on an e-bike.
- You know, we've got a bunch of different platforms.
All the eBikes use a different layout,
but the one that surprised me the most was Yeti's new 160E.
- [Mike] Yeah.
The Six infinity is really impressive.
- [Mike] Yeah.
Henry, we've talked about this a bunch,
I feel like you're gonna agree with Matt.
I wanna know what about it impressed you so much.
- You know,
it does actually fulfill the promise
of small bump, mid stroke, end stroke.
So often it's just bandered about,
and often bikes can fail to deliver.
The Yeti delivers that in buckets.
It's really impressive as a system.
- [Mike] Nice. All right.
The next question,
which bike would you choose for all around riding?
If you're the kind of rider that's,
you're not all about the death shoots and the huge senders,
you know, you're not all about just being out there
doing the cross country thing all day.
You just want an e-bike just to go riding.
- That is such a hard question because the most versatile,
which could be, feel like you're answering the same question
for me is the Kenevo,
because you can do so much, it's so light,
you know, it can basically,
it's a great descender,
It's a great climber, et cetera,
but if we're talking in pure e-bike terms
- Yeah
- of which is the best,
the most all around riding with other e-bikers,
I would probably go for the Norco
because you can change the battery size
to fine tune the weight.
It's got loads of grip.
It's got the modern geometry and it doesn't have
potentially the blind spots of the Commencal or the Yeti.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Henry] Now that, it's a really hard thing to answer.
And you ask me tomorrow and I might say the Specialized,
because both do so good,
but in the Specialized lighter package
it does actually give a different flavor.
- Yup.
Matt, my question for you is a little bit different,
which one of these bikes would you choose
if you were all about capability?
If you wanted to e-bike that you're going to ride
as a full on downhill bike,
which one is it going to be?
- I think I would pick the Kenevo SL.
- Really?
Over the Norco Range?
- Yeah.
The Range was great with the grip
and the suspension platform
that it has to offer on that coil shock,
but it was just a little bit too unwieldy with its weight.
So it's really good in a straight line, lots of grip,
lots of traction.
But if, yeah,
if I had to try and get that in and out of corners quick
on a track, it, it showed in the timed sections.
- All right. All right, Henry,
I want to talk about surprises
and I want to talk about good surprises first.
- You know, I think
we've spoken about before that the Yeti suspension
- [Mike] Again?
- [Henry] was just so good
and it's not that,
it's not that I didn't think it was gonna be good.
Yeti have been making great bikes for a long time.
- [Mike] Switch infinity is well-known
for being super versatile, great pedaling, all the things.
- [Henry] Absolutely.
And it's just the fact that, I think,
it's cause when I looked at it I thought
this doesn't look like a Yeti.
Well, they've clearly, you know, lost their minds.
It doesn't look like Yeti. Then you ride it and you just go,
this is fantastic.
- Yeah.
- And actually we spoke about it a lot,
especially in the non e-bike test,
but it had me cherry picking the attributes
cause this suspension system worked so well
and had me thinking,
but it could it not have like maybe the geometry adjustment
or the, you know, something
just to make it a bit slacker
because it is a great bike,
but maybe, you know,
Yeti putting in more than I do,
maybe they actually didn't want to intimidate an end-user
by saying, "Hey guys, here's our 63 degree head angle".
Like ultra slack.
It's their thirst around e-bikes.
Who knows what the future holds.
I think it's a really good bike
and maybe they'll bring up something more aggressive
in the future.
- Fair enough, Matt,
if I'd ask you about a good surprise
and said you couldn't say Yetis Sixfinity suspension,
what would you say? What's your pick?
- Well, I would go back to the Kenevo SL.
- Yeah.
- I knew this thing was going to be good.
Specialized has nailed the six bar suspension layout.
Works really well on the Enduro,
so I knew it was going to feel similar to that,
but I was really surprised
that they can package a motor into this bike.
It seems like a regular Enduro,
but it's got that little tiny motor.
Yeah, it makes a little bit of noise,
but I could deal with that just to get up the hill
a little bit faster.
And once you have that range extender off,
it's pretty playful.
It's kind of like the weight of a bigger downhill bike,
but totally manageable.
- [Mike] All right.
We have to talk about bad surprises too.
And I'm gonna call something out here.
- Go on.
- The Commencals's long seat tube
and the tolerance of that seat tube.
I mean, it just totally scratched up the dropper post.
It was actually very difficult to get it out
and I know the Meta Power 29 is less expensive.
I know it's aluminum,
but I don't think that means
that it's allowed to just eat seat posts.
- It's still a $7,000 bike.
- Right.
You know, I mean, I think,
I think you're totally right.
The Commencal would actually be for me,
make an argument for
one of the most well rounded bikes on test
if the seat tube was shorter.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Henry] Because although, you know,
bikes have got longer drop saddles, et cetera,
fundamentally the dimensions of the human body
haven't really changed
in the time that e-bikes have been about.
And if you're gonna make a seat tube angle 78 degrees,
you've quite simply got to make it shorter
and you've got to be able to get the saddle out of the way.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Henry] And if it can't do that,
it doesn't matter that,
like I got away with it just about,
but there are a lot of riders that quite simply won't
and it is such a big,
like it's a massive achilles heel for the bike.
- [Mike] Yeah, yeah.
All right.
I also want to ask you guys about battery sizes.
So we have a full-size e-bike here,
that Norco Range VLT, 900 watt hour battery,
and then we have the Kenevo SL.
That's a lighter weight bike.
It would have been nice to have the smaller batteries
for that Range VLT I think,
just to see how the bike performs with a smaller battery.
And I want to ask you guys,
does that interest you at all?
Like, would you want to go Range with a small battery
or are you just full in all battery? All power?
- Yeah. I think if I was going to go on the Range
I would go all in at least with the 720, maybe the 900,
but you have to think about
how long are you going to ride for
versus the weight of the battery.
Are you gonna really drain that battery every ride,
or would you be better off with a lighter weight battery
and getting the max use out of it, you know?
- Right.
That makes sense.
Henry, what do you think?
- Yeah, I think something similar.
I mean, for the comparison cost of the bikes,
the Norco actually does adequate degree of versatility
because you could,
we said it in its review video,
but there's nothing to stop you buying two batteries.
You're having a, like what
- If you had the money.
- You have the money,
but compared to the cost of the Yeti or the Specialized,
you could afford to do that.
And it's not like you're trying to plug gaps
in the Norcos spec.
It's a very high spec bike.
It's it ticks all the boxes, you know?
So I would probably say I'd probably agree with Matt there.
- Yeah. Okay.
One thing I want to talk about before we get to our big
question here,
which is which bike you guys would actually buy.
So you have some warning you could think about it.
I want to talk about e-bikes in general and sort of how we
were all kind of let down by, I mean,
the refinement or lack of refinement of these e-bikes the
Shimano EPA motor was kind of rattling.
The Specialized motor has a super loud whine to it.
Aside from the Kenevo SL they all have like
these little wires everywhere that are just
waiting to get pulled out,
as well as the plastic displays that
clamp onto the handlebar.
Now we didn't break any of them,
but I do really like what Specialized does with the
integrated display in the top tube.
It's a way cleaner look,
you're not going to smoke it with your knee,
but in general guys,
is it fair to say that these things that e-bikes are just
super unrefined at this point?
- I don't necessarily think the unrefined.
I think they're definitely the journey, I mean,
a couple of years ago they looked like
a snake laying a goose.
You know, it was just,
- I mean, some of them still do,
- I mean some of them still do
but they've definitely got better.
I think that,
I think that everyone considered,
especially when the Kenevo came out,
that now they have arrived and they are here,
but actually riding these bikes like day in day out has left
me to be honest for a bike that costs between 10 and 15
grand is left me somewhat underwhelmed.
- One counterpoint to argue against that though, is that,
you know, at some point you're gonna have to service
these things and picking a reputable brand like Shimano,
even though there are a couple of flaws, you know,
you're going to get a quicker turnaround time and there's
going to be more service centers available
rather than something that's homegrown.
Specialized as a huge company,
and they put a lot of money into these e-bikes as well.
So they definitely have your back on this, but yeah,
you kind of have to pick one of the bigger brands when you
go with these e-bikes.
- Yeah, no risks.
- There we go.
- Yeah. Okay guys, we're going to wrap this up,
but first I have to ask you the hardest question,
- Yeah.
- Henry of our test bikes here, our e-bikes,
which one would you buy?
- That's so.
- With your own money.
- That's so hard because I want to say the Commencal,
but for that seat tube, it is so annoying,
it just undermines the whole bike.
- I agree.
- It would probably be the Norco because north of $10,000
for a bike is I think that's, that's a bit rich for me.
- Yeah. Fair enough.
So your yours is based solely on price?
- No, I mean the Norco is a great performance bike.
I don't think it's like $3,000 whenever it is better.
- Yeah.
- Than the Commencal, I'd love to try and alloy Norco.
- Yeah.
- That'd be the one that probably really piqued my interest
because I think for me,
probably the way that I ride e-bikes,
it wouldn't be my only bike. You know,
it's not gonna be something that is my pride and joy.
It's probably going to be a thing that basically in the
winter when it's wet and I don't want to get too sweaty,
my overalls are go out and I'll ride a muddy track.
- Yeah.
- And I wouldn't wanna spend 15 grand for the pleasure of
quite frankly.
- Yeah. Fair enough.
- So it'll probably be one of the cheaper Norcos if I could.
- Yeah.
I think the one for me that I'd be most interested in
price aside would be that Yeti, to be honest with you,
the suspension as you guys have already said,
so impressive.
Matt, what e-bike would you buy?
- This is a tough question for me too,
because I want to say the Kenevo SL
I really liked the lightweight package with
just a little boost of energy,
but it kinda is pigeonholed because you have
that half power motor that helps you get up there.
But unless you're riding alone,
you kind of have to choose your battles on what kind of
rides are going to go on and who you're going to do those
with.
- Yeah, I agree.
We rode it when you were on the Norco and
I was on the Kenevo and the discrepancy is huge.
- Definitely.
- You know, I mean,
I think the Kenevo is good for somebody that basically is
still really in love with pedaling, you know, it's,
I don't think,
I think sometimes people say that e-bikes are
people to avoid pedaling.
If you get the Kenevo, you have to know what you get
yourself in for, you get some very refined,
but you also get with something that wants and
needs to be peddled.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. That's a good way to put it.
This is a bike that's quite lightweight and manageable
downhill.
You know, you don't have that freight train feeling
coming behind you.
This thing is manageable to get in and out of turns
on steep tracks,
but it's got that little boost to get you up there.
- Yeah. So that'd be your pick?
- I think so.
- All right.
That is it for the 2021 Summer Field Test with e-bikes from
Sun Peaks, but we still got a couple more videos to come,
including The Impossible Climb,
the efficiency test and a little thing that we like to call
the Huck to flat.
So make sure you subscribe to the channel
so you don't miss those videos and we'll see you there.