MOTORISED MILE-MUNCHER

Trek’s E-Caliber is their lightest full-sus e-bike yet, made for epic XC adventures

With e-MTBs becoming ever more diverse and now fitting into categories similar to those of their ‘analogue’ cousins, Trek have launched a powered version of their top-end crosscountry race bike, the Supercaliber, to bridge the gap between e-bike and race machine. It may look like a hardtail, but the new E-Caliber has the same 60mm of rear wheel travel as the Supercaliber, delivered through Trek’s IsoStrut suspension system, which relies on flex within the frame instead of pivots and linkages.

The bike has been beefed up somewhat compared to the Supercaliber, to handle the sustained speeds that a motor can provide. It comes with a 120mm-travel fork instead of 100mm, a slacker 67.5-degree head angle and 15mm longer reach numbers (470mm on the large size). This should make it more capable in the rough, pushing it beyond pure XC and into ‘downcountry’ territory.

It uses Fazua’s evation [sic] system, with its lighter but lower-powered motor (250 per cent max assistance) and battery (250Wh). These can be removed as one unit, with only the gearbox (which is permanently fixed to the axle) left behind. This means the E-Caliber can be converted to a ‘normal’ bike if you fancy a change or want to ride with mates who don’t have e-bikes.

There are five models in the range, starting with the E-Caliber 9.6 at £6,300, with Shimano Deore shifting and a RockShox 35 fork, and topping out with the 9.9 model, with a SRAM AXS wireless spec, at an eyewatering £11,750. Weights are claimed to range from 18.49kg for the 9.6 down to 15.77kg for the 9.9.