E-504 2022

The E-504 was Whyte's compact Bosch-powered hardtail eMTB, billed by the brand as a "big tyre brawler" built off its award-winning enduro hardtail platform. At £3,599 at launch (rising to £3,825 by mid 2022) it paired the 85Nm Bosch Performance Line CX motor and an integrated 500Wh battery with a 120mm RockShox 35 Gold RL fork, 27.5 x 2.6in Maxxis Forekaster tyres and four-piston Tektro Orion brakes on 200mm rotors front and rear.

The single build was sensibly specced for hard use rather than headline value: SRAM GX 11-speed shifting with a steel 11-42 PG-1130 cassette, a Whyte drop.it dropper on every size, WTB ST i30 tubeless-ready rims and Whyte's own steel narrow-wide 165mm crankset. The basic Purion display and 2 Amp charger were the clearest cost savings.

Geometry was aggressive for a hardtail of its day: a 64 to 64.5 degree head angle, 74.5 degree seat angle, 440mm chainstays and reach from 403mm (XS) to 450mm (M). The E-504 deliberately covered the smaller end of the size range (riders 148 to 178cm) with XS, S and M frames, while its 29er sibling, the E-505, picked up M to XL.

It is long discontinued. The hardtail pair left Whyte's range after the 2022 to 2023 model years with no direct successor, as the brand's eMTB line moved to the full-suspension E-160, E-180 and later the lightweight ELyte and Karve platforms.