Cannondale describes this bike as “the lightest full power mountain bike ever”. But what does that mean? What is “full power” exactly?
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It’s a mountain bike first and foremost
Before we get into the stuff that gets all the hoopla and headlines about Cannondale Moterra SL, we should first just clarify some of the bike’s vital stats.
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The Cannondale Moterra SL is a 150mm travel pedal-assist e-mountain bike with a 160mm travel fork up front and a firm focus on being a capable do-it-all trail bike.
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This is not just an exercise in shaving grams at the expense of actually being a good mountain bike. It’s supposed to be a good pedal-assist mountain bike that also happens to be pretty flipping light.
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See that head angle there? That’s 62.5° my friend. That is… bonkers. That is slacker than a lot of World Cup Downhill bikes. That alone tells you that the Moterra SL is not a weight weenie fireroad-munching euro lycra nightmare.
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What is full power?
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Digging down to the asterisked section of the Moterra SL’s spec sheet, reveals that for Cannondale, “full power” means a motor that can give out at least 85Nm of torque.
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More importantly, a “full power” ebike can’t be doing anything daft with its battery. A “full power” ebike needs to have a decent capacity battery as well. There’s no point saving weight by running a dinky battery if it means you can only play out for an hour before it dies.
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So, in this particular “lightest full power mountain bike ever” claim, Cannondale set the parameter of the battery being at least 600Wh in capacity.
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Weight for it
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Despite all the glamorous carbon framery and high end build kit, it’s fundamentally the Moterra SL’s motor and battery which are the building blocks of this bike’s low weight. This Large size bike we have here weighs in at 19.8kg by the way.
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The Shimano EP8 motor is one of the lighter full-power drive units out there, weighing in at 3.1kg. The 601Wh capacity Shimano-sanctioned battery from Darfon also weighs 3.1kg including its wiring. That’s about the same weight as most brands’ 500Wh batteries.
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Where else have Cannondale saved weight on this bike? Well, the battery is not designed to be easily removed from the frame. You charge it in-situ. This method saves some weight from the down tube area.
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Oh, and to state the obvious, the frame is all flipping carbon. Aluminium eMTBs with removable batteries are significantly heavier machines. We’re talking 25kg sort of heavy.
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Where the grams have been lost
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So yep, The Moterra SL 1 and SL 2 are carbon fibre. The highest of high falutin Moterra SLs – the LAB71 – uses extra fancy carbon fibre that saves even more weight. And yes, costs even more money.
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On a less obvious note, the use of a smaller rear wheel size also has weight savings attached to it. Like for like, a 27.5 wheel is always going be to be lighter than a 29.
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Perhaps the most eye-catching areas of weight saving is those super slender, flattened chain stays. Look at them! They look really skinny and that’s with them covered in the fairly substantial rubber chain stay protector material. Under the rubber they are amazingly thin.
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This flat, skinny section is called the Flexpivot. Essentially it’s an area of bend-friendly carbon fibre that’s used instead of having a pivot, bushing or bearing in this spot.
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A pivot in this place only has to rotate a few degrees so it’s feasible to use flexstay here instead. Less weight, less maintenance. Keen Cannondale watches may recognise this sort of thing from the brand’s Scalpel XC race bike models.
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The great weight debate
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Let’s wind this whole thing back a bit and ask a question. What is the problem with having a heavy ebike? There’s a motor there, why are we worrying about weight?
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It’s all about the handling. Full fat ebikes… well, for a start they’re called full fat ebikes. That almost tells you everything you need to know. Full fat ebikes are a handful. Especially when things are sketchy. Trying to change direction or improvise a move on something that essentially handles like a fridge freezer is often not a fun experience.
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And then there’s the whole issue of having to lift the things up and over obstacles. That gets pretty old, pretty darned quickly.
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Don’t get wrong. I am a regular full fat rider. But they are a very different animal to a mountain bike. Full fat e-biking is almost a different sport in fact. The Cannondale Moterra SL is designed to feel much more like a ‘normal’ mountain bike. But better.
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