Bethel has taken its time with the e-mountainbike theme - apart from the Tramount hardtail, they had nothing to offer so far. This allowed the Americans to study the market all the more thoroughly. The findings: Bosch supplies the most powerful motor, but Brose offers the best integration options. The key question: Can the two be combined? With its Moterra and Moterra LT fullys, Cannondale now offers an interesting answer.
The Americans had set their sights high: "short chainstays, a low centre of gravity and a bottle cage position" was what product manager Marcel Geurts had written into the engineers' specifications. The special challenge: the Cannondale fullys had to be powered by the Bosch motor. Up to now, the Swabian drive system did not offer too many integration options - compact geometries with short MTB-characteristic chainstays and a low centre of gravity were rather a trademark of Brose bikes. The trick with the Moterra: the battery was not placed on the back of the down tube - as is usual with other e-mountainbikes - but on the front. This allowed the motor and swingarm pivot point to be placed further back and the centre of gravity low. To prevent the battery from pushing too far towards the front wheel, the thin hydroformed down tube was given a pronounced kink. The construction was reinforced with a solid cast set to provide the necessary stability and rigidity. To further reduce the installation space, the engineers even worked on the motor housing: The original Bosch mounting plate and the plastic cover for the cables were cleared out. Instead, Cannondale's own design keeps the motor on the frame and the electrics in check: the "SI motor mount". To protect the exposed battery from stone chipping, a thick rubber hem is placed around the battery case.
Instead of relying on the Boost standard, the Americans run an even wider 157-millimetre axle through the rear hub. The Ai chainring, which is 6 millimetres further out, was developed to optimise the chainline.
The bottom line is that the design of the supported single pivot is very compact, but also massive. The LT with 160 millimetres of travel weighs 23.4 kilos, while the All Mountain model with 130 millimetres of travel weighs 22.3 kilos. Three model versions of the All Mountain are in the starting blocks, two of the Moterra LT. Customers will have to invest 5999 euros for the top version, the Moterra LT 1.
Interview with Marcel Geurts, Product Manager E-Bikes
BIKE: You took your time to study the market. What were the targets for your engineers?
Marcel Geurts: We attached great importance to the handling. But it was also clear that we wanted the most powerful motor: the Bosch Performance CX. The crucial question was therefore how we could integrate the motor ideally in order to achieve a low centre of gravity, short chainstays and an ideal pivot point. With 443 millimetres on the LT, we now have the shortest chainstays on the market and a very low centre of gravity at 127 millimetres above the bottom bracket axle.
You have also worked on the Bosch motor.
Yes, we took a close look at the Bosch CX and the add-on parts and realised that it still had reserves in terms of installation space. So we modified the plastic cover for the cables and the motor mounting plate and turned it into a single part: the Si motor mount. This gave us the millimetres of space we needed to position the pivot point ideally - closer to the bottom bracket.
The construction looks very solid. At 23.4 kilos, the Moterra LT is not a lightweight.
We looked at the kilos, but not at every gram. The intelligent integration of the Bosch drive in terms of compact geometry was particularly important to us. We reinforced the hydroformed down tube with a cold-forged casting that also wraps around the battery - a load-bearing part that gives the overall frame a very high level of stability and rigidity.
First ride test: Cannondale Moterra LT 1
In the first ride test, the Moterra LT proved to be extremely agile: thanks to the low centre of gravity, the bike can be turned over quickly in tight turns, and the short chainstays help on angled, technical singletrails. There are certainly better specialists for steep climbs, but the LT still climbs reasonably well. The Bosch Performance CX delivers plenty of power. To prevent the bike from rearing up on very steep sections, you have to use the power in a controlled manner and put a lot of pressure on the front wheel. Although the stem is short, the cockpit is pleasantly low - which helps.
In downhill mode, the chassis is very stiff, the steering angle of 66 degrees is quite slack and the Fox 36 provides the necessary reserves in rough passages. The chain is kept on the chainring by an integrated chain guide, and the downhill tyre combination is beyond reproach: Schwalbe Muddy Marry at the front, Hans Dampf at the rear.
Josh Welz
Editor-in-Chief
