Manufacturer: Decathlon
Model: E-ST100
Model Year: 2021
Price Paid: €1000
New/Used: Brand New
Score (out of 10): 9
Review: Very short review of the e-st100.
Keep in mind, this is a cheap EMTB, costing about the same as a 500wh battery for my Kenevo.
I had an e-st500 when these were first released. It wasn't a bad bike, but it had a couple of issues.
Lets be clear, you don't really want to be throwing this down mountains, but if you just want to ride simple trails and fire roads - or if you're a really good rider and are very active on the bike, you could do more serious things with it and not die.
This is downspec'd a little to get it under €1000 - though at these spec levels it really makes no difference. The main difference being the battery is slightly smaller at 380wh instead of 420wh.
Weight wise, it feels super light compared to the Kenevo or the Jam2. Think of it as a very cheap Specialized X/Y/Z bike with a mahle motor, but with more power and a bigger battery.
The main improvement over the older versions is the "Torque Sensor". The original ones were built into the crank and used to suffer from water ingress issues, so you couldn't ride your bike for 2 days whilst they dried out. The other problem was it would just measure pedal movement when the left crank came over top dead centre - then it would guess when you've stopped pedalling leaving you on a bike with a 3 second overrun ...
The new one has a sensor on the outside now, whilst this doesn't feel like it's measuring torque, it at least measures pedal/crank movement around 360 degrees.
The tyres aren't overly confidence inspiring, but if you're using the bike for what it's intended, they're fine.
The cable operated disks lack the power and feel of a Shimano Zee or an XT setup, but they stop the bike.
It's hub motored, so you don't have to worry about cadence as you would with a mid drive. Power is less than a Brose or a Bosch Gen4 but it still got me up my steep and loose test hill without any problems.
The display is neat and effective. About the same size as an E8000 display with + and - buttons and a power button. Far neater than a Bosch Purion and the buttons are far more positive in their actions. You can even hold the - down for 5 seconds to turn the back light on and off.
Four modes of assistance are available - 0,1,2,3.
0 - no assistance, which is actually easy to ride in comparison to Full fat bikes.
1 - is like an Eco and I'd imagine you could get good range - at least 50k.
2 - is like trail
3 - is like turbo/boost.
Lets not beat around the bush, the front forks are awful ! They don't really move much and if you hit anything bumpy and jagged - you have to do the work or you'll be bounced off. On the bright side, with the lighter weight of the bike and "support" they forks offer, it's easy to bounce the front end up over things.
The saddle is simple and comfortable (squidgy).
The pedals are obviously plastic and crap - BUT are actually semi grippy so fine for their purpose.
For me, the bars at 720 aren't really wide enough - but then I'm used to wider. If you're coming from smaller, they'll feel huge.
If you wanted to ride with Mid mount full fat bikes on leisure trails you'd have no problems keeping up whilst Levo SL's/Orbea Rise's would be dropping behind you on the inclines as you effortless climb - with no proper torque sensor, you just get loads and loads of assistance.
There's already a review of this bike, but I thought I'd just add a few things .
It is amazing what "little" money can buy today: Rockrider e-ST100
I register to post this because there is not much information online about Decathlon's Rockrider e-ST100, a couple of YouTube videos that does not say much (maybe I should make my own) and some generic reviews, some from people who probably didn't own the bike. I was in the market for an e-bike...
www.emtbforums.com
