CannonF600
Member
Reviews for each bike are coming over the next few days. A round table will come after the reviews to talk about each bike and pick a winner.
Pinkbike 2025 Field Test-6 Bike Shootout -Which eMTB Jumps, Corners, Climbs, & Descends the Best
- Thread starter CannonF600
- Start date
WatermanJim
Active member
One easy prediction is that the Levo will be dead last, and a bike with the avinox and 600 battery will be first.
That Forbidden has 800. The Lite is the 600. (dumb naming conventions)
And Bentonville looks like last place I would go to ride bikes 
The test was not nearly as in-depth as the Loam Wolf test but it was decent. No surprise the Levo came out last. Specialized made the decision weight didn’t matter so they produced a water buffalo. My neighbor has one and I have ridden it several times. Quite heavy but still a very nice bike overall.
sjturner2112
Member
It was a weird test with a random assortment of bikes, and the endura gear twinsies thing looked ridiculous. At least wear different gear so you don't look like Team Endura. Everything pinkbike puts out seems to rub me the wrong way. Bentonville is another silly moment, just say you are sponsored by Wal Mart and get it over with. I don't care how many trails they build in Bentonville, you cannot defeat Bentonville's inherent lack of elevation. Or mountains.
Rando_12345
E*POWAH Master
We don't ride - checks notes -up, down, turns or jumps?Yeah but that was just one part of the field test, most of the riders don't ride any of that stuff on those challenges
I agree the terrain looks a bit flat, but it's a really nice set of bikes they got for the test at least. Also yes, loam wolf and Brian Cahal have put out really good test videos, but the bikes they had are almost outdated now less than a year later :/
Bentonville is pretty tame, but it has its sections. I've been 3x on bikes.
It's a fun place to go with the family. Good beer, good food, friendly people and trails that most people can ride from the first time.
Do you need a 180mm full power e-bike there? Well no. But it would sure speed up the long boring climbs.
And still they were able to test many important bike characteristics.
I think the Yeti LT won pretty easily.
It's a fun place to go with the family. Good beer, good food, friendly people and trails that most people can ride from the first time.
Do you need a 180mm full power e-bike there? Well no. But it would sure speed up the long boring climbs.
And still they were able to test many important bike characteristics.
I think the Yeti LT won pretty easily.
.Don't worry mate, it's just their opinion, try a bike, if YOU like it buy it, doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.
My worry quotient here is 0.0%
bmwpowere36m3
Member
Nobody will ever be happy... they'll test in a bike park or typical PNW trails and folks will complain that's TOO extreme. IMHO those guys ride more bikes and places than most of us. I think they can sus out traits and pros/cons of bikes. At the end of the day, some things are very personal preference so any review needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
I throughly enjoy Brain Cahal, but all this Norcal riding seems super buff and fast and I can't relate to my riding with steeps and rocky/rooty tech.
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Emailsucks98
Well-known member
100%. Bellingham does have such a wide variety of trail styles (although Pinkbike also reviews from Squamish BC and elsewhere). Looking at Strava it's easy to see they're absolute monsters on the bike- riding massive days in all kinds of weather conditions. Also known locally for trail work.
I like the PB reviews since I ride many of the same trails and I appreciate their take on EMTBs.
I don't get Bentonville either, but Outside magazine needs to pay these guys somehow, and I'm sure Bentonville has a much larger tourism budget than Bellingham. I'm sure they're trying to relate to a wider audience, and escaping the incessant rain in Bellingham doesn't hurt- lowlands here are currently flooded.
Which makes me think, lets see a test of riding these bikes through deep standing water or a timed pressure-wash to motor-failure. Not likely to happen but would be great info and entertaining!
have you ridden there in 2025?
GolfMaster52
Active member
Why do you think the Yeti won? The Forbidden was the only bike to win 2 categories and finished 2nd and 3rd in the other two. If you tally the points, Forbidden wins easily.
I felt their mood and the number of compromises was less with the Yeti going off of their comments. But for sure from a points perspective the Forbidden won.
I guess we'll see here very soon!
Emailsucks98
Well-known member
Still waiting on the walk-mode shoot-out. No product review would be complete without comprehensive testing of this crucial feature!
1. 1.75 Forbidden
2. 2.75 Yeti
2. 2.75 Crestline
4. 3.5 Norco
5. 4.5 Pivot
6. 5.75 Specialized
Having spent more time on the bikes with longterm reviews, Dario likes the Yeti, Stephane like the Norco.
I'm sure they could tune all the bikes to be great, so I take the review as more of an extended first impressions. Medium impressions. Plus the location needs to be factored in.
2. 2.75 Yeti
2. 2.75 Crestline
4. 3.5 Norco
5. 4.5 Pivot
6. 5.75 Specialized
Having spent more time on the bikes with longterm reviews, Dario likes the Yeti, Stephane like the Norco.
I'm sure they could tune all the bikes to be great, so I take the review as more of an extended first impressions. Medium impressions. Plus the location needs to be factored in.
When I’m shopping for cars I build each vehicle, then compare prices for how I’d actually spec/buy each one. This is relevant here because for example, I’ve liked Yeti since the 90s, but the LTe “T3” id actually buy is almost $13k; where the Levo Expert I like and bought is $10k. Price and spec/build matters, yet isn’t considered in this comparison.
I absolutely love the dji walk mode. 3.7 kph no matter which gear you are in and auto handbrake on climbs. Brilliant. Also super boost is magnificent on super steep and techy climbs. I was not expecting 1000 watts and 120nm of torque to be so useable
Pinkbike went downhill from the day they sold to Outside.
Their main demographic is woke urban yuppie posers.
Alfmeister
Active member
I managed to get a Yeti LTe C2 Factory (UK spec) for just a fraction over £8500, which says a lot about current bike shops climate! Still a huge sum of money in anybody‘s world, but comparable to other manufactures. Maybe not on a T3, but that really is a niche bike, up there with S-Works etc.
The T3 is the highest level LTe without the CX-R motor so I think of it as sort of a Levo Pro equivalent and not the S-Works with top spec motor.
Alfmeister
Active member
Yeah your right, I was thinking T3 was the top of the line, but that’s the T4 Podium version. Still in the UK, one could possibly expect to get 10% off if your lucky, as I was, if you can get your size.
Not sure how the US discounts are at the moment, on the various manufacturers?
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