I will say that despite its agility, muscling an e-bike around a bike park all day is a full body workout - I need to start adding some press-ups to my morning routine of drinking copious amounts coffee and scrolling the ‘gram. And when you come to a very rocky section you can smash right through, the tires and suspension soak it all up. Hop over jumps, hip around stumps, the agility of this bike is highly impressive.
I was really impressed with how I could chuck it about with the ease I’d expect from a much lighter regular bike. I spent a lot of time well above the speed limit, but when you’ve got gravity working for you, the Alpine Trail E2 is very maneuverable. But when the trail gets steeper the Marin is really in its element. Naturally, you get up to speed quickly, a few forceful stabs on the pedals and you’re up to speed - gassing out of slower speed corners, especially if you’ve made a mess of the entry, is great fun. Pulling the bike out of the back of the car you’re reminded just how heavy and cumbersome e-bikes are compared to regular 30lb trail bikes, but on the descents, the weight largely fades away. While it does move about when you’re riding, pedalling efficiency concerns aren’t the same as a regular bike so I revelled in all the traction and comfort it provided. The coil shock has a climb mode, but I left it in open the entire time. Tricking along in eco mode on mellow fireroads lets you conserve battery for the more challenging trails and when they arrive, the trail mode is the perfect setting for letting you scamper up root-infested tracks. There’s a lot of fun to be had from riding climbs you wouldn’t even contemplate on a regular bike, the only real limit is traction on the wet trails at the time of year the test was conducted. It’s supple and sensitive with good ramp up for bigger hits, and was a real star of the package.Ĭlimbing is a comfortable experience with the 78-degree seat angle helping to make light work of the trickier climbs, keeping weight over the front wheel and balancing the power to scramble up some ridiculous climbs, while the short back end helps you nip and tuck through tight bends. Fitting a coil shock is a good move the weight penalty is negligible on an e-bike but the performance it offers is so good. Setup time was limited, but getting the suspension dialled in was straightforward, using the recommended settings for the Fox 38 got a good base tune from which I opened up the rebound and compression to my liking, and the coil shock was set and forget. I found the size large a good fit, with the 485mm reach in my sweet spot combined with a stubby stem and 800mm handlebar. That's not nearly enough time to form a well-rounded conclusion but it is enough to share some thoughts on how it performs.
#Alpine mtb ride plus
My time aboard the Alpine Trail E2 was all too short, one local ride plus a trip to the local bike park for a day of gravity-induced smiles.
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