Nbd...Whyte ELyte EVO RS

Mikerb

Mikerb

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Just bought the above and had my first ride on it so thought I would give some feedback.
I am 6ft (183 cm) and I am about 70kg rider weight kitted up and the bike is size large.
Firstly in terms of aesthetics the bike is immaculate and very eye catching in a gloss aquamarine and black colour scheme. It has the latest Bosch CX motor and all the latest updates were installed....so 120nm/750w max.
My preparation work included fitting RRP Proguard mudguards, setting up the suspension, converting to tubeless, fitting my Ergon SME Mountain Sport saddle and using Flow to tune the modes.
Converting to tubeless was easy as the WTB wheels are ready taped and the Maxxis tyres easy to remove and refit.
In terms of tune I like to just use emtb for the majority of any ride offroad and tour for any road sections I have ride. That is how I set up my Whyte E160 RSX which has the gen 4 motor. So on the ELyte with the Gen 5 motor these are my current settings (assist/ dynamic/ nm/ watts)
Turbo 5/3 ,120nm/750w
EMTB 5/3, 95nm/ 600w
Tour 3/2 , 90nm / 450w
ECO 1/1 90nm/ 400w.

So to the ride review. This was a country ride so no drops or jumps but plenty of non technical climbs and fast twisty single track in the mix. Suspension was super plush ( the Lyric is a great fork) handling superb and DB8 brakes plenty powerful enough. The 2.5 Maxxis DHF/DHR combo set at 23f/25r) added to the comfort and performed predictably well. Manual T Type transmission was also good. I had both main battery and extender fully charged, covered 18.55 miles with 1350 ft of climbing and used EMTB for the majority of the ride with just one short climb against a stiff wind in turbo, and used 50% battery.
The only change I intend to make is to reduce the bars from 800 to 770.
A great bike in my opinion certainly as a trail bike and feels capable of handling more than this ride required........how much more is yet to be discovered!
 
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Mikerb said:
Just bought the above and had my first ride on it so thought I would give some feedback.
I am 6ft (183 cm) and I am about 70kg rider weight kitted up and the bike is size large.
Firstly in terms of aesthetics the bike is immaculate and very eye catching in a gloss aquamarine and black colour scheme. It has the latest Bosch CX motor and all the latest updates were installed....so 120nm/750w max.
My preparation work included fitting RRP Proguard mudguards, setting up the suspension, converting to tubeless, fitting my Ergon SME Mountain Sport saddle and using Flow to tune the modes.
Converting to tubeless was easy as the WTB wheels are ready taped and the Maxxis tyres easy to remove and refit.
In terms of tune I like to just use emtb for the majority of any ride offroad and tour for any road sections I have ride. That is how I set up my Whyte E160 RSX which has the gen 4 motor. So on the ELyte with the Gen 5 motor these are my current settings (assist/ dynamic/ nm/ watts)
Turbo 5/3 ,120nm/750w
EMTB 5/3, 95nm/ 600w
Tour 3/2 , 90nm / 450w
ECO 1/1 90nm/ 400w.

So to the ride review. This was a country ride so no drops or jumps but plenty of non technical climbs and fast twisty single track in the mix. Suspension was super plush ( the Lyric is a great fork) handling superb and DB8 brakes plenty powerful enough. The 2.5 Maxxis DHF/DHR combo set at 23f/25r) added to the comfort and performed predictably well. Manual T Type transmission was also good. I had both main battery and extender fully charged, covered 18.55 miles with 1350 ft of climbing and used EMTB for the majority of the ride with just one short climb against a stiff wind in turbo, and used 50% battery.
The only change I intend to make is to reduce the bars from 800 to 770.
A great bike in my opinion certainly as a trail bike and feels capable of handling more than this ride required........how much more is yet to be discovered!
Click to expand...
I do like Whyte bikes, had a few acoustic over the years. I've got a Karve on order, currently Jan27 for delivery, I might look at one of these instead. Anyway enjoy your NBD, and let us know more 😁
 
Mikerb said:
So to the ride review. This was a country ride so no drops or jumps but plenty of non technical climbs and fast twisty single track in the mix. Suspension was super plush ( the Lyric is a great fork) handling superb and DB8 brakes plenty powerful enough. The 2.5 Maxxis DHF/DHR combo set at 23f/25r) added to the comfort and performed predictably well. Manual T Type transmission was also good. I had both main battery and extender fully charged, covered 18.55 miles with 1350 ft of climbing and used EMTB for the majority of the ride with just one short climb against a stiff wind in turbo, and used 50% battery.
The only change I intend to make is to reduce the bars from 800 to 770.
A great bike in my opinion certainly as a trail bike and feels capable of handling more than this ride required........how much more is yet to be discovered!
Click to expand...

Agree about the Lyrik (I prefer Lyrik to Zeb). I remember reading this:


"RockShox claims the Zeb is 21.5% stiffer torsionally than the previous Lyrik chassis and the new MY23 Lyrik is 20% stiffer torsionally than the same fork. With the focus on torsional stiffness, I think this is a solid reason for anyone weighing performance v. weight to purchase a 35mm stanchion 160mm travel Lyrik over a 38mm stanchion 160mm travel Zeb."

Also use 23f/25r for our Assegai/DHR2 tyres.

Suspension is coil shock and 160mm coil Lyrik.

Edit: have a black Zeb A2 160mm (with spare 170mm air shaft), didn't like it. (For sale if anyone wants it with spare 170mm air shaft).
 
Last edited:
jpgell70 said:
I do like Whyte bikes, had a few acoustic over the years. I've got a Karve on order, currently Jan27 for delivery, I might look at one of these instead. Anyway enjoy your NBD, and let us know more 😁
Click to expand...
I will! Let me know any info you need if you decide to go for this bike.
I ride a large E160 RSX and the reach is about the same but because my body form is long legs and a compartively shorter torso I use 50mm riser bars at 770 wide on that bike..........but on the Elyte stack is bigger and seat tube steeper so I am comfortable with the stock bars also cut to 770. I am not that interested in ride stats etc so perfectly happy with the basic controller and uncluttered bars. There are of course options to add a screen if you want....Kiox 400c with surround or bar mounted Kiox 300 with a bit of cabling and probably a change of left side grommet to handle 3 cables. One other mod I intend doing is to add some protection to the front of the down tube....probably a rubber one rather than 3m etc.

20260609_165901.webp
 
Mikerb said:
I will! Let me know any info you need if you decide to go for this bike.
I ride a large E160 RSX and the reach is about the same but because my body form is long legs and a compartively shorter torso I use 50mm riser bars at 770 wide on that bike..........but on the Elyte stack is bigger and seat tube steeper so I am comfortable with the stock bars also cut to 770. I am not that interested in ride stats etc so perfectly happy with the basic controller and uncluttered bars. There are of course options to add a screen if you want....Kiox 400c with surround or bar mounted Kiox 300 with a bit of cabling and probably a change of left side grommet to handle 3 cables. One other mod I intend doing is to add some protection to the front of the down tube....probably a rubber one rather than 3m etc.

View attachment 186659
Click to expand...
Nice bike owned a couple of Whyte bikes over the years, But wait this is carbon, how many times have we herd from yourself I would never buy a carbon frame bike just saying
:)
 
2nd ride yesterday, another 17.5 miles. The only changes were bars reduced to 770 and reset of the shock tune. Battery use a bout the same...maybe a little less. It is very noticeable how much you can lean this bike without feeling like it is heavy to bring back up. That is what makes it so manoeuvrable. I guess that is down to the very low centre of gravity. The bike also stays very stable and secure on rowdy terrain. I am still yet to try some decent jumps and drops but to be honest I have an enduro bike for that type of ride so not important for me to test on this bike.
 
I bought one last week. First eBike. 179cm here, long torso. Getting plenty of elevation from the 400W battery and more than enough for any ride with the extender. Grips and pads changed. Have a bench full of upgrades (longer PNW post, Ergon saddle, SC carbon bars, Hunt wheels. Magura MT7 brakes, etc) but holding off as after 5 rides (in 6 days), the "low spec" stuff is working just fine.

Just being invisiframed. Paint is too nice to leave it unprotected. Only issue I've had is it's quite step-y where we ride and had a few rock strikes on the motor guard. But I needed to up the pressure to get 28% sag. Was way more than that on pickup. Love the way it rides up and down. Going to swap wheels just to see how it feels with Schwalbe tyres rather than Maxxis.
IMG_1520.webp


Oh being a Newbie, I've been relying on my more experienced ''e" riding buds. So far added + 1 to Eco. - 1 from Tour+, removed turbo with eMTB and eMTB+ as the final two modes. Mostly I'm riding in the bottom 2, but full power up climbs you've ridden 100s of times is quite addictive!


IMG_4788.webp


Ride wise. it doesn't feel that much different to my Bronson/5010. Bit more planted downhill. Low CofG is great for cornering. Without the extender, it is just under 20kg, my beefed up Bronson is close to 17!
 
Mikerb said:
Just bought the above and had my first ride on it so thought I would give some feedback.
I am 6ft (183 cm) and I am about 70kg rider weight kitted up and the bike is size large.
Firstly in terms of aesthetics the bike is immaculate and very eye catching in a gloss aquamarine and black colour scheme. It has the latest Bosch CX motor and all the latest updates were installed....so 120nm/750w max.
My preparation work included fitting RRP Proguard mudguards, setting up the suspension, converting to tubeless, fitting my Ergon SME Mountain Sport saddle and using Flow to tune the modes.
Converting to tubeless was easy as the WTB wheels are ready taped and the Maxxis tyres easy to remove and refit.
In terms of tune I like to just use emtb for the majority of any ride offroad and tour for any road sections I have ride. That is how I set up my Whyte E160 RSX which has the gen 4 motor. So on the ELyte with the Gen 5 motor these are my current settings (assist/ dynamic/ nm/ watts)
Turbo 5/3 ,120nm/750w
EMTB 5/3, 95nm/ 600w
Tour 3/2 , 90nm / 450w
ECO 1/1 90nm/ 400w.

So to the ride review. This was a country ride so no drops or jumps but plenty of non technical climbs and fast twisty single track in the mix. Suspension was super plush ( the Lyric is a great fork) handling superb and DB8 brakes plenty powerful enough. The 2.5 Maxxis DHF/DHR combo set at 23f/25r) added to the comfort and performed predictably well. Manual T Type transmission was also good. I had both main battery and extender fully charged, covered 18.55 miles with 1350 ft of climbing and used EMTB for the majority of the ride with just one short climb against a stiff wind in turbo, and used 50% battery.
The only change I intend to make is to reduce the bars from 800 to 770.
A great bike in my opinion certainly as a trail bike and feels capable of handling more than this ride required........how much more is yet to be discovered!
Click to expand...
A few rides in now.....all country type rides. Yesterday I did a 16 mile loop across the Jurassic Coast upper path. I used EMTB for the entire ride which includesa fair bit of climbing and used c 30% battery (650 w/h fully charged fixed+extender) . As above I have EMTB set at 5/3 95nm 600w and that is plenty enough power with good control, whilst also ensuring using a good range of gears.
The tubeless conversion is the best of any bike I have used losing very little pressure between rides.
The DB8 brakes are good. Just checked and it appears that organic pads are fitted as standard by SRAM. So given they are likely to wear quicker than the sinteted pads I use on my Code RSC brakes I ordered a set from Total Bleed Solutions.
There a fast and twisty downhill single track section on thr ride and that really shows off the handling off the bike.
One further mod I thought advisable on the bike was to add some protection to the front face of the downtube.....I used a self adhesive rubber strip......oh, and I have also changed the grips to my usual Ergon GA3 which provides a more even spread of bar forces across the palm of the hands.
Overall very impressed with this bike.
 
Reminded me to post an update of mine. 3 weeks ownership, 450km ridden in 16 rides, must be close to 12000m vert in that. Flow app tells me 13km Motor Off/286 Eco/96 Tour+/37 eMTB and 14 eMTB+. Eco and tour are -1 and I have not used the upgrade past 85nm. Just back from a four day tour of the Quantocks and Exmoor.

Changes from stock: Epic BS eBike brake pads. Made a big difference to the DB8s. Lightly used Hunt TrailWide wheels with Cushcore trail and Mary/Betty combo. Much prefer these over stock Maxxis. Burgtec 42mm stem and SC 780mm carbon bar with Peaty Monarch grips. Will prob stick one of my spare Ergon saddles on.

I love the bike. As my first ebike, I think anything that gets you up the hills with far less effort would be great, but it's the way this bike handles that's really impressed me. Also as a trail (150/140) bike, it can handle some pretty full on trails even with me riding it. I'm easily getting 1000m of vert on the internal 400W battery and still had 40% left on a 1500m day with the range extender fitted. But mixed groups mostly so this is probably not a good comparison if it was all Es.

Getting the bigger display fitted this week. Other than that no plans for further changes unless I get Sprung (local suspension tuners) to work their magic on the fork and shock. Issues? BB is low, need to make sure 30% is the max sag on the shock and even with that I've bashed the motor guard a few times. The extender being so low is great but I worry the cable will break eventually as it's very squeezed up in the frame. Otherwise? Nope just loving it.

IMG_1979.webp
PXL_20260705_142503239.webp


PXL_20260705_142505546.webp
 
Oh and I thought I'd try and get a 200mm dropper to replace the 170mm one. But even on some steep trails this week, doesn't feel like the saddle is in the way so I'll probably hold off for now.
 
AlexLeigh said:
Reminded me to post an update of mine. 3 weeks ownership, 450km ridden in 16 rides, must be close to 12000m vert in that. Flow app tells me 13km Motor Off/286 Eco/96 Tour+/37 eMTB and 14 eMTB+. Eco and tour are -1 and I have not used the upgrade past 85nm. Just back from a four day tour of the Quantocks and Exmoor.

Changes from stock: Epic BS eBike brake pads. Made a big difference to the DB8s. Lightly used Hunt TrailWide wheels with Cushcore trail and Mary/Betty combo. Much prefer these over stock Maxxis. Burgtec 42mm stem and SC 780mm carbon bar with Peaty Monarch grips. Will prob stick one of my spare Ergon saddles on.

I love the bike. As my first ebike, I think anything that gets you up the hills with far less effort would be great, but it's the way this bike handles that's really impressed me. Also as a trail (150/140) bike, it can handle some pretty full on trails even with me riding it. I'm easily getting 1000m of vert on the internal 400W battery and still had 40% left on a 1500m day with the range extender fitted. But mixed groups mostly so this is probably not a good comparison if it was all Es.

Getting the bigger display fitted this week. Other than that no plans for further changes unless I get Sprung (local suspension tuners) to work their magic on the fork and shock. Issues? BB is low, need to make sure 30% is the max sag on the shock and even with that I've bashed the motor guard a few times. The extender being so low is great but I worry the cable will break eventually as it's very squeezed up in the frame. Otherwise? Nope just loving it.

View attachment 188181View attachment 188182

View attachment 188183
Click to expand...
Nice....yes I find fitting the extender cable a bit of a pain as well! Without getting too personal I would guess you are heavidr than me...I am 70kg fully kitted......which is possibly why I find the DB8s good as provided.
My son lives over in Devon so I have ridden the Quatocks with him...not on thr E lyte though......and he has discovered some epic trails on Exmoor which he wants to take me on.
 
Mikerb said:
Nice....yes I find fitting the extender cable a bit of a pain as well! Without getting too personal I would guess you are heavidr than me...I am 70kg fully kitted......which is possibly why I find the DB8s good as provided.
My son lives over in Devon so I have ridden the Quatocks with him...not on thr E lyte though......and he has discovered some epic trails on Exmoor which he wants to take me on.
Click to expand...
I'd like to hear about the trails on Exmoor when you've done em! been trying to persuade the missus to spend a week between the Quantocks and Exmoor exploring - she isn't convinced (as yet) - but me folks live in Devon so I'm keen...
 
Probably nearer 82kg in riding gear. The Hunt wheels have Ice-Tech rotors fitted. I re-bedded the brakes in (they already had the new pads) and performance improved over the stock SRAM rotors. Not much but noticeable. Some of it is just getting used to their feel, it's very different to Magura or Shimano.

We were based in Porlock and it's brilliant down there especially with a local guide. Very winch and plummet tho. I would have struggled big time on a non E doing 1000m+ rides for four consecutive days.
 
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