POLYGON SISKIU TE EMTB LINE

PERFORMANCE EMTBS ON A BUDGET

Words by Drew Rohde | Photos by Dusten Ryen
Video by Brian Niles/Treeline Cinematics

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Based on the popular and award winning Siskiu mountain bike, the Siskiu TE range is electrified to give trail riders that extra bit of boost to climb more, ride further and go faster. Built around a Shimano STEPS drive unit and battery, the Siskiu TE carries over Polygon’s tried and true trail geometry with a versatile and fun blend of playfulness and confidence. Polygon’s Siskiu T6E and T7E come in at an impressive $3,599 and $4,199 respectively and could be exactly what mountain bikers who wanted to enter the eMTB space but didn’t want to drop ten thousand dollars on another bike have been waiting for. Today we’ll be Dissecting these new Polygon eBikes and sharing our first ride review impressions.

MODELS

Polygon expands their eMTB offerings with the Siskiu T6E and T7E models, which have a few key spec changes to keep the price tag so competitive. The Siskiu T6E features the Shimano EP600 drive unit while the T7E uses the EP800 drive unit. Both drive units put out 85Nm of torque, however material and weight differences will be the larger differences.

Also different between the two bikes is the battery size, with the more affordable T6E coming with a 504Wh battery and the T7E packing 630Wh.

Beyond the drive unit and battery size, spec also differs between the two bikes and would likely be noticed by most average to above average riders.

POLYGON SISKIU T6E

POLYGON SISKIU T7E

Polygon has given the Siskiu TE bikes a flip chip that can allow the bike to either run in a High or Low position, or to be used for different wheelsize configurations. If you’d like to maintain a full 29er you have two options based on terrain, whereas Mullet (29/27.5”) riders will be best suited by sticking to the High position.

Despite the differences in parts, the two bikes share an all-around trail-friendly geometry that should make the bikes enjoyable to a wide range of riders and terrain. These are not radically extreme bikes and those looking to ride extremely steep terrain may want to consider this, or get a longer travel fork by 10mm to give that little extra confidence on gnarlier downhills.

SUSPENSION PLATFORM

Polygon shared their suspension information with us and we believe it should offer a pretty solid all-around feel for most riders. It’s got a rather typical Horst Link-style curve that has made countless other brand’s bikes crowd favorites. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, as the saying goes. Over the years countless podiums have been won aboard Horst Link bikes and we’re certainly pleased thus far with how Polygon has designed their bike to perform.

Braking performance should remain relatively neutral and balanced without firming up too much and the progression is predictable thanks to a linearity that would also make it a solid candidate for a coil shock. The leverage ratio at sag sits around 2.88 with a beginning ratio of 3.13, which should give a nice blend of pedaling performance without being too stiff. Only time will tell as we work on our long term review, but so far we’ve been pleased.

THE WOLF’S FIRST IMPRESSION

Our crew has put quite a few miles aboard the Polygon Siskiu T7E for the creation of this feature, however it is not our long-term review. We will be continuing to put more riders and more types of terrain at the Siskiu TE and reporting back in a few months after we’ve given it a much more thorough shake down. What we can say at this time however is that it’s the best riding eMTB at this price point we’ve yet to ride. We think there are some notable improvements that could be made by more tuning on the suspension or even upgrading spec down the road, but for an off-the-shelf, affordable, and entry-level eMTB, this will get a lot of mountain bikers out on the trail and experiencing the E-Life at a fraction of the price!

We give Polygon some major props for dropping two affordable eMTBs on a market that is very much in need. Overall, the bike performs well in a variety of trail and condition types, even if it does have some limitations. That said, we’d wager a large majority of riders would likely not ever struggle with those issues as they’re on the outer end of the spectrum and we’re admittedly being a bit overly-critical at this early stage. Timed runs were not too far off from our $10-, $11-, and even $14,000 test bikes, so take that for what it’s worth as we talk about fine tuning and performance. Nevertheless, a fork upgrade would likely be our first suggestion.

In the coming months we look forward to spending more time reviewing the Polygon Siskiu T7E and even playing with some potential part swaps just to see if a fork and shock make that big of a difference to how it feels. We are excited for the future of more affordable eBikes on the market and what that means for more riders.

Price: $3,599 – $4,199;
Weight: 54.5.lbs;
Website: Polygonbikes.com