2023 Ghost

E-Riot Trail Essential

Ghost recently revamped its assisted range with the aim of competing with the best electric mountain bikes on the market. And while you can still buy the excellent Hybride ASX with mixed wheel sizes, the new E-Riot platform forms the basis for Ghost’s 29in Trail, All Mountain and Enduro e-bikes. Travel increases in line with application so Trail has 140mm, All Mountain gets 160mm and Enduro boasts 170mm travel. Need to know 140mm travel e-bike using the Bosch Performance CX (Gen 4) motor Carbon front end houses Bosch Power Tube 625Wh battery Fox Factory-level suspension, where fork travel is pumped up to 150mm 29inch wheels and front and rear specific Maxxis Minion 3C MaxxTerra tyres with Exo+ reinforced casing. Size specific bars and dropper posts on all four frame sizes. Size S also gets 27.5in wheels Modular disc brake mount and SRAM UDH gear hanger In the Trail category there are four models – two carbon and two aluminium – the Pro featured here is the second-string carbon bike. Only the front triangle is carbon however, the one-piece links and welded swingarm are both made from aluminium. The bike is available in four frame sizes and features geometry that has been extrapolated using Ghost’s Super Fit algorithm. As far as I can tell from my measurements it is pretty standard stuff in terms of angles and lengths. That said, the small size does have proportionally shorter chainstays and 27.5in wheels. The other three sizes in the Trail range roll on 29in wheels and Ghost also runs wider handlebars and longer dropper posts on the bigger frames. Motor and battery The Ghost E-Riot Trail Pro sticks with the tried and tested Bosch Performance CX (Gen 4) motor with a Power Tube 625Wh battery and Purion display. The battery is housed in the down tube and, while there’s a discreet charging port next to the motor, the battery can also be removed for charging indoors. To offer some splatter protection, Ghost uses a plastic cover on the underside of the down tube that hooks into tabs at the bottom and is then secured at the top with a captured thumb screw. We’ve had similar plastic covers work loose and even fall out on other e-bikes, but the one on the Ghost has been secure and rattle free. Frame and components Ghost uses another plastic cover on the top of the down tube to hide the cables. It’s sort of like internal routing but at the same time you can access the cables by removing the cover, which makes servicing and replacement that much easier. However, it’s debatable how useful this feature is because at best you replace outer cables maybe once a year and the cables also have to be anchored at the head tube, which doesn’t do a lot for the aesthetic. There’s also a downside to the design – the cover uses a SnapLock fitting and during testing the press-stud partially unclipped causing the cable cover to rattle. It is …Continue reading »

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