There is one problem with testing e-MTBs. They are so fun that sometimes (more than sometimes) a diligent unscientific scientist like myself gets a bit distracted. And I just end up riding for fun. The “testing” gets forgotten.
Well, with cool autumn weather closing in on Colorado, I’ve put my nose to the grindstone. As I did long, long ago with the Specialized Turbo Levo SL, I embarked upon another Unscientific Test.
This time, I’m aboard a Cannondale Moterra Neo LT. The mission remains the same, however: Ride the same lap of my favorite enduro trails back-to-back. Each lap is strictly in one assist mode. Then, at the end, ride it normally, switching between modes as I like. The idea is to get a handle on ride feel, speed, and battery consumption.
The Test
Since I had to test four assist modes on the Cannondale’s Bosch CX Peformance drive unit, I truncated the original Unscientific Test loop. It might have been nice to compare directly between bikes, but it wouldn’t be apples to apples. The Moterra is a full-power e-MTB, while the Levo SL was (you guessed it) lightweight. Plus, there are so many confounding variables, that it might actually be better to discourage direct comparison.
The test lap was 1.54 miles with 416 feet of vert. It included some gradual fireroad climbing, a few steep, nasty uphills, and a fast, rough descent with everything from jumps to berms to blown-out sections of chunk. In hindsight, this loop was a bit short, so take the battery consumption numbers with a grain of salt. All of the assist modes were in stock settings.
| Assist Mode | Time | % Slower vs. Turbo | Battery Usage |
| Turbo | 7:20 | – | 6% |
| EMTB | 8:01 | 9% | 5% |
| Tour+ | 9:30 | 29% | 4% |
| Eco | 10:31 | 43% | 3% |
| Rider Choice | 6:58 | 5% FASTER | 5% |
Color Commentary
Off the top, I really like having four assist modes on the Bosch drive unit. I rarely ride in Eco, but I like having it as a little insurance policy, in case I’m low on battery and I need to limp home.
The numbers validate my tendency to mostly ride in eMTB mode. It’s not that much slower than Turbo, and it is pretty easy on the battery, considering the assist it provides. From that mode to Tour+, there was a perceptible difference in speed. Again, the numbers bear that out. Any time the climbing starts to get really steep, I prefer eMTB, if not Turbo.
Eco is a particularly interesting mode because it makes the bike feel almost like a conventional mountain bike. Essentially, it seems to compensate for the bike 50-ish pound weight. The motor is very detuned, almost to the point that it’s not noticeable. At this point, I started wondering, “Why bother riding an e-MTB if you’re going to have it in Eco mode.”
The big surprise was my Rider’s Choice lap. I didn’t think it would be faster than a full-Turbo run. It was. While I don’t have the exact data, I can say I toggled between eMTB and Turbo settings on the climbs, naturally using the latter for steep pitches. Looking at the Strava comparison, I made up most of the time on the downhill, likely because I had the lines dialed in from the first four laps. Again, this is an unscientific test.
Conclusion
While this testing doesn’t yield major surprises, it gives me some interesting takeaways on how I might adjust the Bosch drive unit’s assist modes. In fact, I’d already tweaked a few things through the course of normal riding before resetting for this test. This day’s results seemed to validate my intuition.
First of all, I like giving the Tour+ mode an extra click of Assistance and Dynamic Acceleration, so that it doesn’t feel drastically slower than eMTB mode. I like smooth transitions between modes.
Second, I prefer one more click of Dynamic Acceleration in eMTB so that it has a bit of oomph for unexpected maneuvers. I’m not always able to quickly toggle to Turbo, but I don’t like climbing continuously in Turbo because the dynamic eMTB mode has a more natural feel, plus it’s harder on the battery.
Finally, even if you aren’t recording your times and battery consumption like a nerd, it can still be informative to ride a short loop multiple times and experiment with different assist modes on your e-bike. Get out there any try it!