2024 eMTB LITE GROUP REVIEW

ARI NEBO PEAK REVIEW

FUN, LIGHT, & FLICKABLE

Words by Staff  |  Photos by Dusten Ryen

When we first rode the Ari Nebo Peak for a Dissected Feature earlier this year, it was one of the most exciting lightweight eMTBs we’d ridden. Fast forward and it’s still incredibly light and exciting. In fact, it is the lightest ebike in our 2024 eMTB Lite Shootout. Weight isn’t everything though, and luckily the Ari Nebo Peak has a lot more positive attributes to talk about. Let’s see how this 140mm rear, 150mm fork Fazua Ride 60-powered eBike performed for the crew, and who we think the ideal consumer for this lightweight eMTB might be.

We’d like to offer a huge thank you to our sponsors: Outdoor Research, Schwalbe Tires, Ride Concepts and the Running Y Resort. Without their gracious support, these types of content series would not be possible. Give them a thanks down below!

ABOUT THE ARI NEBO PEAK PRO

The Nebo Peak is the first SL eMTB to hit the market from Utah-based Ari Bikes. Ari (formerly Fezzari Bicycles) opted to use the Fazua Ride 60 system, and a versatile geo-set to make it a great all around trail rig. The Ari Nebo Peak has 140mm of travel out back and 150mm up front. It rolls on a pair of 29” wheels and packs the same good value yet high performance nature that we’ve come to expect from Ari bikes.

DRIVE UNIT AND ELECTRONICS | The Ari Nebo Peak has a Fazua Ride 60 drive unit, one of the four light eMTBs in our 2024 SL Shootout to use this system. Fazua’s Ride 60 produces 450W Peak Power and 60Nm torque out of its 4.3lbs (1.96kg) drive unit. It’s powered by a 430Wh battery, which is fixed inside the downtube and requires removal of the drive unit to replace.

Fazua continues to promise the launch of their Range Extender, which will boost the system by a further 200Wh, but we are yet to see it become available. The Ari Nebo Peak will accept this range extender once it is available, taking total capacity to 630Wh.

The Fazua Ride 60 system uses a display with five LEDs, integrated into the top tube, and features a USB-C port to power or charge accessories. The LEDs do dual-duty of indicating the riding mode selected – Breeze, River and Rocket – and indicating battery life in 20% increments. The system is controlled by the ring controller on the handlebar, which lets the rider toggle between power modes; activate the BOOST function (delivering maximum power for 12 seconds), and activate WALK mode.

The Fazua App allows riders to connect to the system with Bluetooth and customize power modes; check battery life to the nearest 1%, and download new riding profiles.

FRAME AND FEATURES | Ari manufactures the Nebo Peak from carbon fiber only, delivering the lightest eBike frame they’ve made so far. Ari ensured that seatpost insertion depths were very long, to allow riders to use a long travel dropper post. The standover height is extra-low to afford improved maneuverability. The chainstay pivot features Ari’s GA-Link flip chip, letting riders select between two geometry positions. This gives the Nebo Peak the ability to run a mixed wheel setup, or to obtain a higher and steeper setting with dual-29” wheels if desired.

The downtube, chainstay and seatstay are well protected by custom rubber protectors. And neat to see for the truck users out there is the additional shuttle guard closer to the head tube, fending off shuttle damage. Cables are routed internally with fully guided routing to keep noise to a minimum. And no, they don’t go through the headset.

SUSPENSION | Ari continues to use their Tetra Link four bar suspension platform, with the Nebo Peak sporting a 140mm rear end. All shocks available with this frame are custom tuned to deliver the best performance on the trail.

GEOMETRY | The Nebo Peak features quite appropriate geometry for a bike in this travel category. That’s to say, it’s not the most aggressive out there, but retains plentiful agility for less gnarly sections of trail. Ari offers it in sizes Small to XL.

Highlight figures are the 65° Head Tube Angle, 77.5° Effective Seat Tube Angle, and 480mm Reach on a size Large. The Chainstays are short at 435mm across the size range, giving a playful feel. Stack heights are low on sizes Small to Large with 611mm-622mm figures, then jump considerably to 652mm on the XL to keep tall riders more comfortable.

BUILD SPECS | Ari Bikes are purchased directly from Ari’s website, allowing them to cut out a middle man and pass on savings to the customer. This means their value typically stacks up very well, with the Nebo Peak being no exception. Ari offers the Nebo Peak as a frameset option, which is great to see and answers the prayers of many. This allows customers who currently have a dialed parts list to purchase just the frame, drive system and rear shock and equip it with their own parts.

Standard builds are available from Ari beginning with the $6,199 Comp spec and topping out at the $9,999 Team spec. Ari offers the chance to customize the spec and fit, and choose between “White Gold” or “Dune Red” colorways at the point of purchase. Ari custom-tunes the rear shock on all builds, and puts the focus on quality suspension and brakes above all else to ensure good performance at each respective price tier.

We tested the $7,999 (currently on sale at $6,999) Nebo Peak Pro, which features a solid spec that is likely to please most riders. Leading the charge is a 150mm travel RockShox Lyrik Ultimate, which is paired with a Super Deluxe Ultimate rear shock. Braking duties are handled by the monstrous power of the SRAM Maven SLV, with two 180mm rotors. The drivetrain is SRAM’s XO Eagle T-Type, with Praxis EC-6 cranks providing the input to the drive unit.

The cockpit is provided by in-house Ari components, with a Team 35mm alloy bar and Charger CNC stem. PNW’s Loam Dropper is provided in a length to suit each rider, and is topped with a Ergon SM10 saddle.

Rounding out the build is a quality DT Swiss XM1700 Spline wheelset, which is wrapped in a pair of Maxxis Dissector tires as standard with EXO+ front and DD rear casings. However, as with all of the bikes in this years’ SL eMTB Shootout, we replaced them with our Schwalbe Albert Radial Trail control tires with Ultra Soft rubber compound.

The Ari Nebo Peak Pro in size Large with our Schwalbe control tires weighed 41lbs (18.6kg).

THE DIRT

SETUP | When it came to getting the Nebo Peak ready to hit the trails, the RockShox Lyrik and Super Deluxe made it easy to find the sweet spot of comfort and support for the intended terrain.  When taking the bike into terrain over its head, this balance became harder to find. Pressures for our test riders varied based on rider weight but most of us left the compression settings on the fork roughly in the middle across both Low Speed and High Speed. The same went with the shock damper settings. Volume reducers were left untouched from what was spec’d on the bike, giving a good compromise overall. For our Schwalbe Albert Radial tires in the trail casing, we ran between 26 and 27 psi up front and 30 to 31 psi out back. These numbers may seem high, but the Radial casing tires flip the script when it comes to tire pressures.

ELECTRONICS & INTEGRATION | The Ari Nebo Peak features the Fazua Ride 60 drive unit with a 430Wh battery. This system produces 60Nm of torque with a peak output of 450W in the time limited boost function. The Nebo Peak was one of 4 Fazua equipped bikes we had on test, and for good reason. The Fazua system integrated into the Ari frame extremely well and produced very little noise under power, as well as minimal rattle on the descents.

Most of the test crew was not a fan of the Fazua Ring Controller. We liked how clean the bars looked, and the functionality of the controller was good when it worked. On this bike, the controller was a bit sticky, often becoming stuck in the up position. When not sticking, moving between power modes was quick and could usually be done without looking at the bars. We like the concept, but feel there is some room for improvement in the execution of the Ring Controller.

The Fazua LED display is clean and simple. It let us know what power mode we were in and how much battery was remaining, but nothing else. One slick feature was the USB-C charge port, just in case we forgot to charge our action camera or other small electronics such as a phone or Garmin.

The Fazua drive unit provided a comfortable amount of power. It may not feel as snappy as say the Bosch SX motor when you’re looking for maximum power, but it offers enough power to tackle some solid climbs, far outpowering the TQ or Specialized SL1.2 systems. Our 430wh battery had plenty of range for our long film days and none of us had to worry about the system running low at the end of the day. That said, we’d still appreciate the option of a range extender to extend the days even further, so are looking forward to the Fazua extender to hit the market eventually.

The Fazua Ride 60 drive unit in the Ari Nebo Peak was one of the three that worked flawlessly in this roundup, with the YT Decoy SN’s Fazua unit giving issues. The motor in that YT was the second problematic Fazua unit we’ve had out of around ten that have come across our desks – certainly not a great track record. When it works, the system is excellent in the mid-power space, but we’d ensure we’ve got good support in case issues should arise as a customer.

CLIMBING | The Nebo Peak provided a very comfortable ride going uphill. Even with just 140mm of travel, it handled square edge hits well and proved to have great traction. The Fazua Ride 60 system paired with the Nebo Peak’s 41lbs overall weight meant there was plenty of power on tap for steep ascents, so long as you got your cadence into the sweet spot to take full advantage of the system.

The test crew agreed that the Nebo Peak was a solid choice for those that enjoy technical climbing. We tested the Nebo to see how many times you could go into the Fazua Ride 60’s 450W boost mode in a row before the system said no more. After 17 times in a row, Cole reached the top of our main climb with no overheating or system issues. The extra 100W of power that the Boost mode provides is noticeable, especially on steep sections of climb.

The 65º Headtube angle and short 1,239mm wheelbase made tight switchbacks a breeze. This is tied for the shortest bike on test with the Pivot Shuttle SL, with pros evident on technical ascents. With a 345mm bottom bracket height and 160mm crank spec, the resulting pedal clearance ensured that pedaling through technical rock gardens equated to very few pedal strikes and sketchy moments. Thanks to that low 41 lb weight, getting the bike up larger steps felt almost the same as an analog bike.

DESCENDING | Our test crew instantly felt comfortable on the Ari Nebo Peak. The bike begs you to dip it into corners faster than you think you could, offering impressive confidence. Some of the crew considered the Ari to be the best cornering bike across mixed terrain on test, and ranked very high for everyone else as well. The relatively conservative geometry (not super long and low) made for an agile feel, getting very close to the feeling of a standard mountain bike. On long sustained flat corners the bike just wanted to hook up and go. When it came to getting airborne, the Ari Nebo Peak felt at home, whether it was pre-hopping a drop or pulling off a small side hit. The bike responded very well to rider input, and the crew all agreed this is easily one of the most playful bikes on test as a result.

While the 140mm of rear travel was exactly what you wanted on flow style trails, once you started getting into deeper repeating compressions the bike did start to fight back and feel overwhelmed. The support on single big hits such as going long on a step down was met with reasonable control, but the higher speeds on chunky terrain required you to dial back the speed to stay in control. With that said, we undoubtedly rode this bike past its intended use, but when staying within the realm of what this trail-focused eBike is made for you, we were rewarded with a good time.

As speeds picked up even on the flow trails there was a tendency to feel a bit unsettled. This was due to the 65º head angle and short 434.6mm chainstays. This may not be as glaring if you were not switching over from bikes with chainstays in the mid 440’s like we were, but the Ari would not be the machine we would choose to feel confidence at the highest speeds. The Ari had lively feeling that was very rewarding on the right set of trails.

FINISH AND VALUE | When it comes to price point, Ari’s direct-to-consumer business model really shines. At $7,999, the Nebo Peak Pro was the 3rd least expensive bike on test. The only thing you could say this build is “lacking” is an AXS Dropper Post, but besides that you get all the top-spec parts you could want. The SRAM Mavens on this bike were a bit mushy. But with that said we are experiencing relatively poor results when it comes to the Mavens behaving as they should with no need for special maintenance.

The fit and finish of the frame is what you could expect from any of the top tier brands in the industry. Ari did a solid job when it comes to paying attention to the details. All bolts for the pivots are easy to access and changing from Hi to Low can be done without a fight.

COMPARISON AND RANKING? | The Ari Nebo Peak ranked high amongst our group of testers, and was tied around 3rd overall for most. Some of the crew were calling for 10mm more rear travel and .5º slacker headtube angle to make the Nebo Peak the machine of their trail-duty eMTB Light dreams. But that would take away from the lively feel this bike delivers, serving other riders worse.

When compared to the Fluid VLT, the numbers are very close, but the Norco FLuid VLT had a calmer demeanor and handled the repetitive hits a bit better when riding it on gnarlier terrain. The Ari took the fun prize on mellower terrain, with the Norco being a little more muted. Both have the same travel, but vastly different feels on the trail.

The Wolf’s Last Word

If you are looking to maximize your fun on flow trails, the Nebo Peak is a top contender. It climbs technical uphills competently, and holds its own on the way down until things get rough and rowdy. The build kit and price on our Pro level build were exceptional.

Price: $7,999

Weight: 41lbs
Website: Aribikes.com

Thanks again to our amazing sponsors who made this group test possible.

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