WHYTE E-160 RSX
Whyte’s new e-bike packs a punch but can it float like a butterfly and take the sting out of the trail?
£7,999 • 29in • whytebikes.com
Istumbled across a Loris Vergier soundboard the other day. At the click of your mouse you get access to all kinds of suspension and riding insights, like “cac-cac-cac-cac,” “wrah-wrah-wrah,” and so on. I mention it now, because I couldn’t ride the new Whyte E-160 without making sounds like this. It’s such an exuberant bike to ride, it draws out the inner child in you and makes you want to slap corners like Loris, something that took me completely by surprise on a bike that weighs more than 26kg.
While you digest that number, on what is probably the heaviest e-bike I have ever ridden, you’ll need to know what’s changed on this iteration of one of our favourite ever e-bikes.
By a mile, the best improvement Whyte has introduced is to make the battery slide in and out more easily. You can put your steel-toe-cap boots away, because there’s no chance it’ll come careering out and break your foot now, so controlled is the release mechanism. How easy is it to get the battery out? Simply remove the single hex bolt to slide off the black plastic cover underneath the BB, pull on the nylon webbing strap inside and the 750Wh battery slides out as smoothly as a melted Calipo. There’s no mass of cables to get tangled up in now, and re-entry is just as pleasant a process, thanks to a flip-lock lever that packs the battery in tight and ensures there’s no rattle. The previous-generation bike would have scored full marks in our last E-bike of the Year test, but for the crappy battery removal… this year we might have to turn it up to 11.
Also new to the bike are 29in wheels, and it’s a testament to how quickly things have moved on in the e-bike space that just two years ago, smaller wheels were still in vogue. You can get the bike with 27.5in wheels if you prefer, although principally this is an option for smaller riders, says Whyte. There’s an MX option too that I’d love to try, because my shorts did make contact with the rear wheel on one steep section of trail. And try it we will, because
Whyte will supply a different shock extender link if you want to mullet the bike, matching the geometry across the different wheel sizes.
The grunt behind the new bike is the Bosch Performance Line CX Gen 4 motor, arguably a superior beast to the Shimano EP8, and now you get access to the biggest 750Wh battery available. There are two other battery options on offer aftermarket (625Wh and 500Wh), and all three fit in the bike thanks to the Rail system - unscrew two bolts high up the down tube and you can reposition where the battery makes its connection,
It’s an exuberant ride that draws out your inner child