Devinci E-Troy Lite GX AXS 12s Review: Less Power with Less Weight for Tons of Fun

I don’t personal an eMTB, so I nonetheless get enthusiastic about having pedal help each time I get to check one. However would a ‘lite’ class eMTB convey me the identical pleasure as a high-powered mannequin? Devinci’s E-Troy Lite rapidly answered that query with a strong YES.

My preliminary hunch was, “why would you purchase a mannequin that gives much less help or vary than you can have?” Effectively, the E-Troy Lite satisfied me there may be positively a spot for ‘mid’ or ‘lite’ eMTBs. Should you’re not shopping for an eMTB with the intent of tackling enormous epic rides, a motorcycle just like the E-Troy Lite will nonetheless get you fairly far, fairly darn simply.

These trying to sustain with youthful or fitter riders, or who simply don’t have the time for 5 to six-hour rides could possibly be completely effectively served with the E-Troy Lite. Additionally, you get the advantage of driving a extra regular feeling 44.5lbs bike as an alternative of a beefy 55-60 pounder.

Devinci E-Troy Lite: Primary Specs

For all the main points on the brand new E-Troy Lite, take a look at my launch article from earlier this 12 months. Right here I’ll rapidly run by way of the essential specs and options: The E-Troy Lite frames are constructed from Optimum G04 6061-T6 aluminum. The frames are handmade in Chicoutimi, Quebec, an space recognized for producing high-quality aluminum.

Devinci’s Break up-Pivot suspension linkage handles the E-Troy Lite’s 150mm of rear journey. The bikes get 160mm forks and roll on a mixed-wheel setup.

Devinci claims the E-Troy Lite’s weight at 42.99 lbs. My scale confirmed 44.55 lbs (together with pedals).

Bosch Powertrain:

Bosch provides the powertrain for the E-Troy Lite. Help energy comes from a Efficiency Line SX motor, which has a most 55Nm of torque and 600W energy output. The motor is powered by a 400Wh Bosch CompactTube battery. Which may not sound like an enormous quantity of energy or capability, however learn on to learn how these numbers stack up on a 44.5lbs bike…

On the handlebar, Bosch’s compact wi-fi mini distant controller means that you can swap between help modes and allow stroll mode. The E-Troy Lite gives 4 help ranges: Eco, Tour+, eMTB, and Turbo.

Geometry:

Simply by the numbers, I knew I’d be proud of the E-Troy Lite’s geometry, which is nice as a result of there aren’t any changes constructed into this bike. At 5’10”, the medium body’s attain of 461mm felt prolonged however not too stretched out. Out again they’ve struck a pleasant stability of agility and stability with 438mm chainstays.

For climbing the E-Troy Lite’s geometry was nice – My physique weight was effectively centered between the wheels, and I hardly ever felt the necessity to rise up whereas climbing. 99% of the time only a shift in physique place was all that was required to maintain weight on each wheels and the tires gripping. The rear finish by no means felt too lengthy on tight switchbacks, and the steep 77.8° seat mast places you in an aggressive pedaling place. With a BB top of 346mm and 165mm crank arms, I had only a few pedal strikes throughout my check rides.

As for descending, I loved the E-Troy Lite’s snug front-end size. The attain isn’t loopy lengthy, however by no means felt quick on the path. Its 63.6° steering angle is on the slack facet, permitting for secure dealing with at velocity and loads of functionality on steep, tough terrain. The rear finish is simply lengthy sufficient to stability out the bike’s attain, and with the 27.5” rear wheel the E-Troy Lite rails by way of corners fairly properly.

Dealing with:

The E-Troy Lite’s weight is true within the center between a traditional bike and a full-power eMTB. The E-Troy rides far lighter than a giant eMTB however nonetheless feels a bit heavy versus a traditional bike. The load doesn’t go unnoticed whereas leaping however together with your wheels on the bottom, it’s straightforward to neglect about. The bike does provide a few of that extra planted feeling heavier eMTBs produce, however once more it’s proper on the mid-point between a non-assisted and full powered ebike.

I feel MX wheels have been an important alternative for this bike, because it helps the E-Troy Lite keep a pleasant diploma of agility and playfulness. Additionally, the rear tire clearance is useful on steep descents, and the marginal lack of rolling velocity vs. a 29er is greater than compensated for by the motor!

Battery Life/Vary:

I used to be fairly impressed with how far the E-Troy Lite’s 400Wh battery bought me. Clearly, the lowered weight of the ‘lite’ bike interprets to much less pressure on the motor and battery. This bike doesn’t match the vary of a a lot bigger capability eMTB, however it goes so far as I often wish to!

I did most of my driving within the Tour+ and eMTB modes, as even Tour+ supplies sufficient help to make climbs a laughing matter. After many rides, I’d say if you happen to’re switching between these two modes you may anticipate round 4 hours of journey time on a full cost. I ought to observe I’m not a really heavy rider at 135lbs.  

From Eco to eMTB mode, the E-Troy Lite makes use of its energy fairly conservatively. Switching into Turbo will eat up the battery pretty rapidly – I used up one bar (out of 5) in about half-hour of climbing. An area store mechanic advised me he rode this bike in Turbo solely and killed the battery in about two hours. Should you’re all about driving in Turbo, you may discover the E-Troy Lite a bit gentle on vary, however anybody who toggles between the decrease help ranges needs to be fairly happy.

Charging the battery was fast. The longest it took was about three hours, going from almost lifeless to the charger robotically shutting off.   

Help Energy:

Help energy is the place the E-Troy Lite’s power-to-weight ratio actually shines. With a most motor output of 600W, the facility isn’t that far off a bigger eMTB to start with. Now take +10lbs off the bike, and I discovered there was hardly any compromise even with simply 55Nm of torque.  

Sometimes with eMTBs, I describe their Eco mode as ‘weight compensation’, however for the reason that E-Troy is lighter than full-powered bikes, its Eco mode supplies a extra noticeable help. Nonetheless, Eco doesn’t provide a ton of increase when you begin going uphill. It helps significantly whereas cruising to and from the trailhead or traversing, however leaping to Tour+ is once you actually begin having fun with uphill trails. 

Even in Tour+ mode, there’s loads of energy accessible for all however the steepest climbs. Whereas the subsequent degree up (eMTB) is the self-regulating mode that adjusts energy output, the Tour+ mode does this to some extent too. On steeper terrain, the help ramps up, and it’s noticeable. This additional increase makes driving in Tour+ mode very intuitive and handy. Should you’re not in a rush, this mode will get you fairly far with little effort.

Driving in eMTB mode gives extra help energy than Tour+, and it dynamically adjusts the output as you journey. On the highest, eMTB supplies as a lot increase because the Turbo mode, however often, as you’re pedaling alongside it stays a bit under that degree. This mode grew to become my favorite because it’s attentive to pedal inputs, you get loads of help energy and it nonetheless makes use of battery energy conservatively.

Like most eMTBs, driving in Turbo is simply plain hilarious. It had me laughing out loud as I launched into uphill switchbacks with extreme velocity! A lightweight contact on the pedals will get the E-Troy Lite blasting ahead so simply that I hardly ever even used Turbo mode. On actually steep climb sections, I did swap to Turbo and it rallied me up every part with out hesitation.

The entire E-Troy Lite’s energy help ranges are adjustable by way of Bosch’s eBike Movement app, however I used to be proud of the bike in its manufacturing unit configuration. Every degree has a discernably completely different really feel, they usually cowl the vary from ‘somewhat assist’ to ‘LET’S RIP!’ fairly properly.

For me, the E-Troy Lite’s final check was once I rode with two very skilled ebike pals on their full-powered Specialised Levos. All through a 2:30-hour journey, I rode virtually totally in eMTB mode and had no bother maintaining with them. This journey additionally introduced a few of the steepest climbs I’ve ever tackled, and the E-Troy Lite took all of it in stride.

The one time I ever felt a scarcity of energy help from the E-Troy Lite was attributable to rider error. Like each eMTB I’ve ridden, if you happen to’re a bit late getting on the pedals for a sudden incline, or if you happen to’re in too excessive a gear, you gained’t get the cadence or torque required to immediate a correct response from the motor. I did expertise this with the E-Troy Lite just a few occasions, however I’d name it unhealthy method on my half. So long as I saved the pedals spinning appropriately, the Bosch motor carried out persistently and reliably.

The Efficiency Line SX motor makes a little bit of noise when it’s helping at larger ranges however total it’s fairly quiet. All through my testing, I had no useful points with any of the bike’s electronics.

Suspension:

Being a fan of Trek’s ABP linkage, I suspected I’d like Devinci’s equally designed Break up-Pivot Suspension linkage. In the long run, I’d say it’s an important design, providing good small bump sensitivity and a pleasant degree of progressivity.

Devinci’s linkage requires extra air strain within the shock than your physique weight. At their rep’s suggestion, I set the E-Troy Lite up at 30% sag. The RockShox Tremendous Deluxe Final rear shock wound up requiring 145psi for my 130lbs physique weight. Fast observe – I used to be gaining weight again throughout this check after dropping a major quantity attributable to a well being situation.

This setup was bang-on for me till the final a part of my check, after which I did expertise just a few clunky bottom-outs on my closing few check rides. After hopping on a scale, I spotted I had placed on just a few kilos and may have bumped up the psi to round 150.  In any other case, my shock setup was fairly regular for me, sticking near really helpful settings and by no means feeling the necessity to deviate removed from them. 

Whereas climbing with the shock in Agency mode, the linkage would dip about 50-60% into its journey. This supplied a strong pedalling platform, however nonetheless left ample traction for bumpy singletrack climbs. Now since this bike has a motor, I did most of my climbing with the shock open and loved a extra snug journey and all of the traction accessible. In open mode the shock will dip to 75-80% journey, which I’d say is a bit a lot for a non-assisted bike… however it’s no downside with a motor serving to you journey uphill! Why not let the rear wheel keep on with the path higher when there’s no sacrifice of effectivity?

On descents, the linkage dealt with impacts fairly properly. Small bumps have been smoothed out very effectively, and with some additional heft, the rear wheel caught to chattery trails. The linkage did a nice job of dulling greater impacts and the progressivity was nice, letting me hit 99% journey on most rides with out bottoming out. With the suspension’s easy motion, I by no means thought a lot in regards to the smaller 27.5” rear wheel.

There’s sufficient mid-stroke assist to provide the E-Troy Lite a extra pure journey really feel than a full-power eMTB. Whereas it doesn’t equal an unassisted bike, the E-Troy Lite gives a pleasantly energetic and supportive journey simply because it seeks to. With some velocity behind it, the bike pops properly off bumps, it doesn’t wallow into its journey when you’re pumping by way of rollers or berms, and it’ll spring out of corners properly.  

Parts:

The RockShox Lyrik Final fork carried out nice and rode stiff sufficient that I wouldn’t say this bike wants the beefier Zeb. With no tokens and my typical setup recipe the fork labored completely effectively for me.

The one element I had an issue with was the Magura MT5 brakes. The issue was that it took 5 full rides for them to mattress in and begin producing any type of stopping energy. On one early journey, I almost rammed right into a tree attributable to extraordinarily weak braking. On one other early journey, I used to be dragging each brakes whereas descending a path, they usually have been barely slowing me down. After 5 rides the MT5’s lastly grew to become rideable and grabby on the primary pull. From there on they remained dependable and constant, however I nonetheless wouldn’t applaud their braking energy.

In the future whereas charging the bike I by accident pulled the battery cost port’s rubber cowl off the body. After a little bit of poking and prodding, I used to be in a position to pop it again into place with out disassembling something.

General the SRAM GX AXS shifting was nice, however on my previous few check rides two gears did get a bit skippy. That is the primary time I’ve ridden an AXS drivetrain that required any type of adjustment, and naturally, it’s only a minor repair.

The SDG Belair 3.0 seat is snug sufficient, however the one on my check bike was tremendous creaky. Each second my butt was within the saddle it was making loads of noise. Devinci shares a 175mm SDG Tellis dropper submit on a medium body, which is superior. The submit carried out with out fault.

One arduous hit left two punctures within the Maxxis Dissector EXO+ rear tire. It was a small drop onto a pile of sharp rocks, and I wasn’t shocked I flatted… however a DH casing may need survived! A DH tire could be ideally suited for the rear finish of any eMTB.

I did put a really small ding within the rear rim once I flatted the tire, however in any other case, the RaceFace ARC30 rims held up nice all through my testing. Even after the arduous hit, the rear rim is not more than 2mms out of true and there’s no hop within the wheel. Lastly, the RaceFace Subsequent R35 carbon handlebar is a pleasant contact to the construct, and I just like the 800mm width.

MSRP for the E-Troy Lite GX AXS 12s is $7,399 USD. The body is available in one Gloss/AL13 colour.  

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