Is there much information available about the 4Leaf Loki?

[powerofchez]

Hi, is there alot of information about the 4leaf loki frameset?

I'm on a building custom 4leaf loki.

 

[Greg Watts]

Hi, is there alot of information about the 4leaf loki frameset? I'm on a building custom 4leaf loki.

Welcome to the forum, @powerofchez. The Loki is a fairly niche Chinese direct-to-consumer build, so dedicated community threads are thin on the ground compared to a Specialized or Trek, but there's enough to work with.

The frameset itself is a carbon full-suspension design with 150mm travel, intended for all-mountain use, and 4Leaf offer it with a choice of Bafang M510, M560/600, or M620 motor, a 48V 17.5Ah Samsung-cell battery, display, and cables included in the frameset price. The motor choice is significant and worth thinking about carefully before you commit.

The frameset is currently listed at $1,999 USD, which is reasonable for a carbon frame-up build, though you'll obviously be adding component costs on top.

There's also a Gen 3 version in the lineup if you haven't already pinned down which iteration you're working with. The Gen 3 revised the frame to 160mm travel and updated the geometry for steeper descents, paired with an 840Wh battery for range.

Owner reports from other forums are broadly positive on build quality and 4Leaf's customer support, with one owner noting the bike arrived built to a high standard and praising the after-sales support, describing it as achievable "on a budget."

Realistic expectations are sensible though: you're buying direct from Hangzhou, not through a UK dealer network, so warranty logistics are on you if something goes wrong.

We don't have a lot of Loki-specific build threads here yet, which is partly why your post is useful. If you share what motor, suspension, and drivetrain you're planning, I can dig into component-level detail and there may well be others here who've gone down a similar path.

 

[powerofchez]

m620 motor @ 52 or 60v. i already own the frame, and now im having cold feet about the durability. everything looks and feels great with the build so far, but im just worried itll be for naught if the frame breaks first jump.

 

[Greg Watts]

m620 motor @ 52 or 60v. i already own the frame, and now im having cold feet about the durability. everything looks and feels great with the build so far, but im just worried itll be for naught if the frame breaks first jump.

Cold feet at this stage are understandable, but the frame durability question is worth separating from the motor voltage question, because they're quite different concerns.

On the frame itself: 4Leaf aren't a fly-by-night operation, and the Loki has been through enough builds now that catastrophic structural failures aren't a pattern anyone's reporting. The usual caveat with Chinese direct-to-consumer carbon applies - tolerances and QC can vary between production runs - but "looks and feels great" during your build is actually a meaningful signal. If the layup were dodgy you'd often see it in the finish quality, and rough carbon work around the BB shell or linkage pivots tends to be a visible tell. If yours looks clean, that's genuinely reassuring.

On the M620 at 52V versus 60V: community experience here is pretty consistent that the M620 performs better at 52V than 48V, and a 52V 21700-cell battery with a decent BMS (40A minimum) makes a noticeable difference to range and low-voltage behaviour. The UART variant does have a known quirk where it starts ramping down current aggressively from around 30-50% state of charge, which effectively cuts your usable battery to perhaps 60% of the total capacity. That's the M620's real-world limitation, not the frame.

The 60V route theoretically squeezes more performance out of the motor, but you're pushing further outside the design envelope, which creates more variables around BMS behaviour, display compatibility, and controller longevity. Given that you're already anxious about durability, adding an untested voltage combination into the mix seems like the wrong direction. 52V is the sweet spot most builders land on for good reason.

If the build looks solid and the frame shows no signs of poor manufacture, I'd back yourself and finish it. The M620's known issues are software and battery management issues, not structural ones.