LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Of course, all the gear and cool bikes in the world wouldn’t matter if we didn’t have cool trails to ride. Our entire crew wants to thank Discover Klamath for the amazing things that have taken place on Spence Mountain and Moore Park. Klamath Trails Alliance have a lot more amazing stuff in the works, and if you haven’t ridden Klamath Falls yet, we suggest adding this place to your hit list when passing through Oregon on your next trip.
If you do decide to visit Klamath Falls for more than a day – which we think is absolutely worthwhile – check out the Running Y Resort. They’ve got amenities, a ton of rental houses to accommodate large parties, hotel room options, a pool, fitness center, family-friendly activities and an awesome golf course. The Running Y and Klamath Falls are our home away from home here in Oregon.
MISSION STATEMENT
HONEST. CONSISTENT. REAL-WORLD TESTING, WITH YOU IN MIND.
Our Loam Wolf Shootouts are not about making brands feel good or giving everybody an award. However, we do try and select enough categories for awards in hopes that most riders can find a genre or bike that suits their trail type and desires. These shootouts are an opportunity to educate ourselves on what’s out there, and ride as much new stuff as possible. Our mission is to translate that into usable feedback, so that you have the best chance at spending your hard-earned dollars on the eBike that’s best for you!
Proof? On more than one occasion, we’ve awarded products and bikes shootout crowns who have never once advertised with us. Not in hopes of getting budget from them for next year, but because that product thoroughly impressed us, and we believe you’d love it too. We have an open-door policy to anyone who’d like to be included, and we extend invitations to any brand we have a contact for. We hate answering the question, “Why wasn’t (insert bike here) included?” as much as you hate not seeing that product you were hoping for in the mix! If we believe it’s a relevant option in the space, we more than likely tried to get it more than once! But sometimes, it’s out of our hands.
Lastly, if our tests weren’t thorough, honest and valuable, you’d know it and the brands would know it. It’s in our best interest to have shootouts that you can trust, otherwise brands wouldn’t have much of a reason to send an expensive bike over to us, just to get scratched and beat up for a half-ass fluff piece where nobody loses and everyone’s a winner. The brands who send us bikes are ready for a thorough test process, integrity in testing, and they know if it does well, it’s for a reason. And if not, they’ll have some focused areas to work on improvement for a better product next year. With that said, we’d like to also say thanks to the brands who are strong enough to commit to that process and have the confidence in their products to see how it stacks up with no guarantees.
Like all consumers, all media outlets are different and prioritize different things from products. We at Loam Wolf have ALWAYS prioritized on-trail performance above all else. We consider ourselves riders first, and for that reason, our focus is on how stoked something makes us feel on the trail. While our testers are primarily gravity-focused riders who prefer downhilling, we separate our test time and create categories of bikes to offer insight and useful feedback for riders beyond our own favorite type of trail. It’s another reason we don’t just pick one, ‘Bike of the Year,’ because a downhiller’s bike of the year in the Pacific North West likely isn’t going to serve a rider in Texas or Bentonville, Arkansas quite the same way.
MEET THE TESTERS
Drew “El Jefe” Rohde prefers a lightweight eMTB with a supple suspension feel, and values solid ground clearance and drive unit control for the most technical climbing.
Cole “Picky Eater” Gregg seeks a light electric mountain bike plush underfoot feel with an attitude that lands on the more playful than planted side of the spectrum. Descending performance is more important than technical climbing.
Sean “Sourpatch” Leicht enjoys a mid-power e-mountain bike that is well-rounded and capable enough to offer a cushion if things get a little too spicy, but also one that does not need to be ridden at 110% on every ride.
Chris “Coach” Joyce is a friend of The Wolf who’s helped us test multiple bikes and products. As a busy father he values speed, power, efficiency and a bike that offers a silent, enjoyable ride with good range.
Patrick Lindsay is one of our Wolf Pack supporting members, who won the guest tester experience for this shootout. Patrick owns an SL eMTB and brought great real-world insight to our crew.
Guest Tester Extraordinaire
This year’s Lightweight / SL eMTB Shootout was extra special, because we brought along one of our very own Loam Wolf Pack members to help with testing. As part of our paid members platform, this lucky rider got a full behind-the-scenes experience — from test-loop laps and data collection to late-night debates about motors, geometry, and ride feel. Plus he went home with a box of goodies from Endura, Giro and some new Schwalbe Radial tires! Having a real member of our community on the crew adds fresh perspective, and reminded us exactly who we’re testing these bikes for: riders like you. If you’d like the chance to join future tests, get early access to videos, discount codes to the bike industry, and exclusive giveaways, consider joining The Wolf Pack. Your support helps us keep these massive, independent shootouts alive — and you might just find yourself shredding next to us in the next one.
TESTING, TESTING, 123.
We do our diligence when it comes to testing. Over the course of our shootouts, we have had several of our in-house test crew ride these bikes on local trails. We also passed them around to our extended group of contributing testers (aka friends and neighbors) for first impressions and to get bikes shaken down. This allows us to establish suspension settings and preliminary feelings on trails we are familiar with as well as get feedback from bike-purchasing consumers. Testing bikes on trails we’ve ridden countless other bikes on helps us compare and build our understanding of each bike. Our goal is to always arrive at our host destination with a nearly complete picture of as many bikes as possible.
We also use our home miles to conduct some more standardized or repetitive testing. For example, this year we had one rider put all drive units and batteries to the test for a battery efficiency and timed “race” lap on a loop he is intimately familiar with.
MEET THE MOTORS
THE HEART OF EVERY LIGHTWEIGHT EMTB
Each bike in this year’s Shootout runs one of seven drive systems — each with its own personality, power curve, and noise signature. Here’s a quick breakdown before we get into deeper comparisons.
| MOTOR | MAX TORQUE | MAX POWER | BATTERY OPTIONS | MOTOR WEIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosch SX | 60 Nm | 600 W | 400 Wh Internal + 250 Wh Extender | 2.0 kg |
| Fazua Ride 60 | 60 Nm | 450 W | 480 Wh Internal – No Range Extender | 1.96 kg |
| Dyname S4 Lite | 75 Nm | 700 W | 480 Wh Internal + 314 Wh Extender | 2.26 kg |
| Shimano EP801 RS | RS: 60Nm RS+: 85Nm | 500 W | 420 Wh Internal – or – 630 Wh Internal + 210 Wh Extender | 2.7 kg |
| Specialized SL 1.2 | 50 Nm | 320 W | 320 Wh Internal + 160 Wh Extender | 1.95 kg |
| TQ HPR 50 | 50 Nm | 300 W | 360 Wh Internal + 160Wh Extender | 1.85 kg |
| TQ HPR 60 | 60 Nm | 350 W | 580 Wh Internal – or – 360 Wh Internal + 160 Wh Extender | 2.1 kg |
BATTERY CONSUMPTION & TIMED TEST
13 Miles. 1,300 Feet. Turbo Mode.
We created a 13-mile, 1,300-foot elevation “Battery Efficiency Loop” and rode every bike in its highest assist mode until the loop was done. Our test rider, Travis, is 193lbs and was diligent about his efforts and physical state for each ride.
Why Turbo? Because that’s how we like to test limits, find out if a motor has heat issues, and we believe it’s the easiest mode to expose the weakest links of a system.
| MOTOR | TIME | BATTERY SIZE | BATTERY % CONSUMED | WH CONSUMED | WH REMAINING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosch Perf. Line SX | Pre-Update | 01:03:04 | 400 wh | 75% | 300 wh | 100 wh |
| Bosch Perf. Line SX | Post-Update | 00:59:28 | 400 wh | 97% | 388 wh | 12 wh |
| Dyname S4 Lite | 01:02:04 | 480 wh | 61% | 292.8 wh | 187.2 wh |
| Fazua Ride 60 | 01:01:37 | 480 wh | 80% | 384 wh | 96 wh |
| Shimano EP801 RS | 00:56:55 | 630 wh | 50% | 315 wh | 315 wh |
| Specialized SL 1.2 | 01:03:34 | 320 wh | 79% | 252.8 wh | 67.2 wh |
| TQ HPR 50 | 01:05:50 | 360 wh | 64% | 230.4 wh | 129.6 wh |
| TQ HPR 60 | 01:03:23 | 580 wh | 34% | 197.2 wh | 382.8 wh |
DRIVE UNIT SPOTLIGHT
POWER, WEIGHT & TUNING— HOW THE MOTORS STACK UP
In this lightweight category, torque isn’t everything. Power curves, software tuning, and assist feel matter just as much as peak Nm.
BOSCH – The Bosch Performance Line SX drive unit was a two-headed beast. Post-update, the motor delivered the most “race-tuned” response with impressive power, especially at higher cadences. With that power update loaded to your profile however, it guzzles energy and is the least efficient in the group. It also makes a lot of noise on the descents, with a clacking-type sound similar to the Gen 4 Bosch CX rtattle. With a mindful tune on the eBike Flow App, riders can get a lot more range out of the smaller 400Wh internal battery. We experimented with altered torque and power numbers and found that a 55Nm, 400W of Peak Power for a more economical mode really extended range capabilities.
Where the Bosch stood out, however, was in its power delivery, overrun and tunability. It can reward soft-pedaling recovery days with top speeds, or can give you the grunt to clean technical pitches with ease. Compared to other units, the overrun is certainly an asset that helped us clean more climbs than the competitors. The traction and power delivery are two more standouts on the positive side of the Bosch SX unit.
DYNAME S4 LITE – Rocky Mountain’s motor sits in a league of its own — technically a mid-power unit, but it offers full-power performance with plenty of customization. This unit suffered from increased chain noise, and was more dependent on maintenance to keep quiet while pedaling. It’s silent on the downhills, which puts it above the Bosch for many testers, and as a result it was a drive unit most of our testers would certainly consider for our own bike.
The grunt and low-end power combined with fast-pedaling speed make this motor the Hot Rod of the bunch. It was truly impressive, and the 700w of Peak Power was certainly noticeable when we needed the drive to get up something steep.
FAZUA RIDE 60 – Fazua blends ample power with subtlety, with a 30-second Boost mode to unleash a little burst of speed. It has a rather simple display which suits the minimalists. When compared to TQ’s data center and some of the bikes equipped with Bosch’s KIOX 400c, it was lacking sophistication. We’re also not big fans of their Ring Controller, as it’s finicky and delicate.
While we appreciated the sleek form factor of the Fazua drive unit, the amazing feel and natural power it produced while climbing, there is no denying that these units can be temperamental. We’ve tested 7 Fazua bikes over the years and had four of them fail on us. A higher percentage than any other drive unit.
SHIMANO EP801 RS Gen 2 – Found on the Orbea Rise LT, the RS-tuned EP801 drive unit has an RS or RS+ setting. This allows users to choose between 60Nm or 85Nm of torque, depending on their mood on the trail. This can be changed on the fly via Orbea’s very neat remote.
We spec’d our bike with the 630Wh battery, though they do offer a smaller 400Wh option if weight savings and the reduced range that comes with it are your preference. With our big battery we opted to run this thing in Boost for our mileage test and it put down the fastest time on our 13 mile battery efficiency test loop by no small margin.
While the EP801 RS unit delivered awesome power, great traction control and assist that can keep you at the front of the pack, the EP801 unit rattled like the Bosch unit. It was notably loud on chattery descents. Combined with the larger form factor, it ranked a bit lower on our list of preferred units for the SL category. We think a lot of riders who want a lightweight eMTB are going to want that stealthy, incognito look, which this drive unit does not deliver in terms of sound or size.
SPECIALIZED SL 1.2 – The Specialized SL 1.2 motor was mid-pack in terms of noise while pedaling; however, it sat near the bottom of the chart when it came to power and range. The drive unit delivered sufficient power for solo riders, but for those looking to keep up with more powerful units, the 1.2 drive unit struggled on steep, extended climbs.
If you’re not looking for mega-days with tons of elevation in anything above Eco mode, the SL 1.2 could be worth considering, but compared to other units, it fills the pack as a good but not great drive unit option.
TQ HPR 60 & 50 – The TQ HPR 50 system sets the benchmark for silence, efficiency and display metrics, and the TQ HPR 60 has boosted power and battery size to answer some of our prayers. By the end of our test, the TQ HPR 60 became THE system of choice for us. Even if it wasn’t as powerful-feeling or fast as the Bosch SX post-update, or the Shimano and Dyname units. It was fast enough to keep up, however, and offered nearly double the range combined with a 580Wh battery vs the Bosch’s 400Wh.
We appreciated how silent and smooth the TQ HPR 60 was, up and down the mountain. The data and options on screen from the TQ made our luddites love number crunching and kept data nerds satisfied equally. We particularly loved watching the human to motor Watt numbers, as we pedaled away on long climbs with undulating pitches. With this unit, stock power modes and the internal battery, we were able to break 6,000 foot days.
One bike had the TQ HPR 50, and while we have lots of praise for the HRP 60, the 50 is behind the curve and would not be a unit we’d opt for when presented with the option to have the 60.
WHICH DRIVE UNIT IS OUR FAVORITE?
Our top three eMTB motor units were the Bosch SX, Rocky Mountain Dyname SL and the TQ HPR 60. Testers loved the power of the Bosch and Rocky units, and the tuning capabilities were also impressive.
However, as a complete package, the TQ HPR 60 took the cake for us. The large integrated battery, the small form factor, its impressive efficiency and the relative silence both up and down were much appreciated. It offers a great display screen with awesome data, too. We all agreed that while the power of Bosch and Rocky are great, if we were buying a lightweight eMTB to obtain a fun, natural-ish riding experience, the TQ HPR 60 would be the best option. With that, it still let us get in some big rides and attack some steep climbs.
MEET THE BIKES | THE BAKER’S DOZEN
This year we had a lot of exciting new bikes, some repeat contestants, others with the same names but completely redesigned chassis, as well as some others that we’ve never ridden before. It was a fun mix of eBikes spanning a wide range of applications and riding styles. Our crew was excited to see where each of the bikes would shine, and if they’d show any limitations as we pushed them uncomfortably into scenarios they maybe shouldn’t get in. We know mountain bikers love to push the envelope, and we’re no different.
REVIEWS DROPPING DAILY. FINALE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22.
TITLE FIGHT
BEST VALUE, MOST VERSATILE, & OUR TOP PICK
In an effort to offer our readers and viewers practical and useful suggestions for a wider range of terrain and abilities, we’ve selected four bikes that stand out above the rest. Make no mistake though, this was the closest and toughest shootout we’ve conducted and scores from first to fifth place were within 2.5 points.
It was tough to cull bikes out of the running for these coveted top spots when their on-trail performance was so competitive. It forced us to move down the lines on our review sheets to start looking at each category in a less emotional way. Each rider received a sheet for each bike with categories to be scored from 1-10. Our test sheets focused on categories like serviceability and product support, value, how excited the bike made us feel on-trail, to integrations and frame features. As it worked out, some bikes were too close to call from a purely rider experience perspective, which is why we’ve created these sheets and refined them year after year.
We separated the bikes into two categories: bikes with rear travel of 150mm and under sat in the Trail or All Mountain category while bikes with rear wheel travel of 155mm and above were scored in the Enduro category. We do this to help riders of various disciplines and regions have a chance to find a bike that best suits their needs.
In line with that, for this year we picked a winning bike from each category in two fields. The first category focused on the bike brand’s ability to offer its owner an impressive spec for a competitive price. This doesn’t always mean it’s the cheapest bike on test, instead it means that the spec found on this winning bike is spec’d on bikes with much higher price tags.
BEST VALUE “TRAIL” SL EMTB
PROPAIN SRESH SL
BEST VALUE “ENDURO” SL EMTB
REVEL RERUN
Our second category is primarily driven by the team’s overall impression of the bike and which bike they’d like to keep for themselves. It’s a question we ask each one of our testers and really helps clear the air sometimes as we get so focused on the minor details, specs and score sheets and details that sometimes we just need to ground ourselves and remember, we ride bikes to have fun not to fulfill an Excel spreadsheet. And every once in a while, the bike that we like most isn’t the highest scorer on the “sheet.” This time, we didn’t have that problem as the winning bikes really were class leaders.
BEST ALL AROUND TRAIL SL EMTB
YETI MTe
BEST ENDURO SL EMTB + TLW EDITOR’S PICK
TREK FUEL+ LX
EXTENDED GALLERY
2025 eMTB LITE SHOOTOUT SPONSORS
Without the support from Schwalbe Tires, Discover Klamath, Endura, Giro and the Running Y Resort, this year’s shootout would not have been possible.
If you’re in the market for new gear, new tires, a place to visit or a way to get your bikes to the trail, consider showing these guys some love.
SUPPORT AND JOIN THE LOAM WOLF PACK
Did you find this shootout helpful? Would you like the chance to review (and keep) products? Are you interested in saving big bucks by getting exclusive Members Only discounts from industry brands all while helping support a small, rider-owned media crew? We have big plans for our members beyond big discounts and product giveaways! To learn more and help support small, independent media, visit our Member’s Page.