THOK TK01 R

Does Italian lair give the TK01 R an edge over the competition?

Unlike most brands, e-bikes don’t just make up part of Thok’s range, but all of it. The Italian company was founded in 2017 by BMX world champ and ex-World Cup downhill racer Stefano Migliorini, and then bolstered by the arrival of former Moto GP team manager Livio Suppo. With this kind of racing pedigree behind it, we were keen to throw a leg over their TK01 e-enduro bike.

THE FRAME

The TK01’s angular aluminium frame and removable fender/rock-strike guard are clearly moto-inspired. Up front is a big 1.8in head tube. You get a single bottle mount inside the front triangle, plus internal cable routing. Thok spec Shimano’s latest EP8 motor, with an impact-resistant cover. The 630Wh battery is concealed within the down tube. There’s 170mm of rear wheel travel, courtesy of a four-bar Horst-link system. The Italian brand have opted for a ‘mullet’ wheel set-up (29in front, 650b rear).

There are four frame sizes. Geometry is neither super-long and slack nor properly old-school. Key figures include a 64.5-degree head angle and 75.5-degree e ective seat tube angle, paired, on the large size we tested, with a conservative 464mm reach and 453mm chainstays. While Thok cite a 355mm BB height, ours was 366mm.

THE KIT

This range-topping R model comes with a host of high-performing parts. You get a 170mm-travel, 38mm-stanchion RockShox ZEB Select fork, with the brand’s mid-level Charger RC damper. At the rear is a Super Deluxe Select+ shock, with a custom-tuned lockout. Shimano provide the 1x12 XT/SLX drivetrain and four-piston XT brakes. Mavic rims are wrapped in Maxxis Assegai tyres. Finishing kit is own-brand.

THE RIDE

The TK01 is one of the best-climbing e-MTBs out there. While its seat tube angle is fairly traditional on paper, it doesn’t feel too slack on the trails, where it works with the top tube, chainstay and wheelbase measurements to create an upright and comfortable seated ascending position. Rider weight feels wellbalanced between the wheels, with a slight forward bias that makes it easy to keep the front wheel on the ground when the hills get steep. Add the chunky 2.6in rear tyre, and it feels like there’s no incline it can’t get up.

This is helped by the predictable power delivery and plentiful, controllable low-down torque of the Shimano motor. Aside from its widely-reported and slightly o putting ‘death rattle’ over rough terrain, the EP8 is a great drive unit. It feels like it has more power and torque than the Specialized 2.2, but isn’t quite as punchy as Bosch’s Performance Line CX, especially when you’re putting in hard e orts. The Thok is happy to either chug up climbs at low rpms or spin rapidly to the top, but does have a cadence sweet spot – get your legs moving at this speed and ascending is a truly enjoyable a air.

Thanks to the relatively high BB and short 165mm crank arms, you can power around turns and along rock-strewn singletrack without fear of pedal strikes, increasing climbing speed and flow. The suspension also feels supple and well-controlled, absorbing smaller chatter while remaining supportive through larger holes and dips.

Point the Thok downhill and there are situations where it shines, but plenty where it doesn’t. In making the TK01 climb so well, compromises have been struck. It’s great in a straight line, especially on high-speed, trail centre-style runs, where its weight helps it feel calm and fairly composed. However, around turns, whether flat or banked, we found the front end had a tendency to push and understeer instead of gripping. We put this down to the bike’s short front centre and steeper-than-we’d-prefer head angle causing us to hang o the back, shifting weight o the front tyre. To mitigate this, we increased shock sag to 35 per cent, which slackened the head angle, lowered the BB

THE THOK IS ONE OF THE BEST CLIMBING E MTBS OUT THERE... IT FEELS LIKE THERE’S NO INCLINE IT CAN’T GET UP

and increased the wheelbase slightly, improving the dynamic geometry. After adding an extra volume spacer to the fork for more bottom-out resistance, we were then able to weight the front end much more confidently, without feeling like it was going to tuck under, and could hit turns with more commitment – albeit still less than on a bike with more modern geometry. It doesn’t help that the long seat tube (450mm, large) and a dropper post with a tall stack height combine to create a high-feeling rear end. Our 5ft 10in (178cm) tester wasn’t able to get the saddle low enough on steep trails without manually dropping the post into the frame.

On the plus side, the rear suspension is impressively supportive in the midstroke, not diving around turns or through compressions, and has plenty of bottomout resistance, even with the extra sag we were running. The custom-tuned shock did feel a little overwhelmed at times, though. We couldn’t open up the rebound damping enough for our preferences, and over chattery terrain the rear end felt like it was packing down in its travel and unable to recover in time for the next bump. This meant grip wasn’t as abundant as we’d normally expect from an e-bike.

Up front, the ZEB refused to dive or flex, although this did come at the expense of some o -the-top suppleness. While the rest of the spec generally impressed, the tyres were the weak link. Set up tubeless, it wasn’t long before we punctured the rear Assegai, a rock slicing through its EXO+ carcass. We also found that, unless inflated to 29psi or higher (in the process, sacrificing grip), the midweight casing squirmed and deformed, burping air when pushed hard through turns. This was much less of a problem on the front, but here, the not-particularly-soft

MaxxTerra compound meant the tyre lacked chemical traction (how the rubber ‘sticks’ to the terrain), while its 2.6in width gave it a tendency to glide over the trail surface, not claw into it. This made picking and sticking to lines tricky. We’d spec 2.4in or 2.5in, MaxxGrip Assegais in DoubleDown casings front and rear, and accept the weight penalty.

As an overall package, the Thok isn’t bad, especially when you consider the price. Once set up well, it’s great to cruise about on, with a stable chassis and parts – bar the tyres – that work cohesively together. If you take the time to learn how to get the most from it, there’s little it can’t handle. However, the way the TK01 rides isn’t hugely intuitive. Don’t expect to be able to jump on it and shred the trails instantly. To go quickly and commit to turns, you have to work harder than on other bikes here, and it isn’t as rewarding to ride at its limits. Alex Evans www.windwave.co.uk

DON’T EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO JUMP ON IT AND SHRED THE TRAILS INSTANTLY. YOU HAVE TO WORK HARDER THAN ON OTHER BIKES HERE