First Ride: CANNONDALE MOTERRA

With most of the other major bike company players throwing their hats in the electric mountain bike ring, Cannondale decided to follow suit. They didn’t just make a “Me, too!” mountain bike, though. This one has not only their incredible mountain bike design experience, they  really thought this out. The battery is inverted and mounted on the underside of the downtube, lowering the center of gravity. But between this and the single rear shock setup, there’s room for a bottle cage and bottle inside the front triangle. It’s fitted with a Bosch CX motor, surprisingly unbranded, and the only thing covering the battery is a rubber “Batstrap” that helps hold in the battery, but we’re not sure what protection it performs if you bash the battery against a rock. There is AMPLE power for climbing, though we wish it would kick in before 20 RPM cadence. That only affects you if you come to an almost or complete stop on a trail.

It features 130mm of travel front and rear, including a RockShox Yari RC fork, Shimano SLX components, a short rear end for agility, and 27.5″ Plus-sized tires.

Let us tell you, this setup WORKS! With great geometry, a good riding position, low center of gravity and the plus tires, this bike was one of our absolute favorites to ride at Sea Otter. It was so planted, it begged to be ridden to the limit. We did, and it proved more capable than we were. It was almost unbelievably good. Having all that power, that low was divine. And with Bosch’s newest 500Wh battery, range should be spectacular.

We hope to get one of these soon for a full review, stay tuned!