Lauf eElja Electric Mountain Bike Review: Power Trip

At 37.7 pounds, it’s conscionable a fewer pounds heavier than my accepted upland bike. And yet, with a centrifugal susceptible of providing 350 watts of assistance expertly hidden successful the bottommost bracket, the caller eElja is thing but a accepted bike.

Over the past decennary oregon so, Icelandic marque Lauf became astir good known for its innovative beforehand suspension. Rather than the accepted piston style, Lauf created a suspension strategy that is astir similar 2 forks connected by a bid of tiny solid fibre springs.

These days, Lauf is venturing into implicit bikes, precocious rolling retired the caller eElja electrical upland motorcycle successful 1 of 2 offerings: the high-end Race build, which boasts c wheels, upgraded suspension and groupset, and c cranks; and the somewhat much humble but inactive astonishing Weekend Warrior build, which has alloy wheels, a high-midrange groupset and suspension, and alloy cranks.

I precocious spent a week putting the eElja (pronounced “el-ee-yah”) Race exemplary done its paces and was perfectly blown distant by conscionable astir everything the motorcycle has to offer. Then again, I benignant of expect to beryllium blown distant by a motorcycle that retails for much than $8,000. Still, fixed everything I learned astir this bike, some done riding and research, I’d accidental each penny of that database terms would beryllium wealth good spent.

Weight Watcher

The eElja is accelerated and nimble connected descents, and casual and astatine location connected climbs. It's responsive wherever it should beryllium and relaxed erstwhile it needs to be. It’s besides a damn great-looking bike.

Thanks to a beauteous SRAM Eagle groupset that includes wireless SRAM AXS PODS e-shifting and a wireless RockShox Reverb AXS dropper post, the eElja looks ace clean, arsenic it lone has 2 cables (one internally routed), which run the bike’s brakes. The eElja Race comes retired of the container with a RockShox Pike Select+ fork, boasting 140 millimeters of travel, and a 130-mm RockShox Deluxe Select daze successful the rear. The Race sits connected E*thirteen Optimus Carbon Sidekick, tubeless-ready, six-bolt, XD freehub 29-inch wheels wrapped successful Goodyear Escape Max Trail Lite 2.6-inch tires. And some the Race and Weekend Warrior models travel with a monolithic 12-speed cassette, ranging from 10 t to 52 t.

And yet, contempt each of the sparkly bells and whistles (all of which are things you’d expect connected a motorcycle astatine this terms point), the bike’s lightness is its defining feature. With galore e-MTBs tipping the scales successful excess of 50 pounds, the eElja’s sub-40-pound value makes it easy maneuverable connected the trail. Perhaps conscionable arsenic important, it makes it a breeze to maneuver disconnected the way arsenic good successful those benign moments we often overlook: loading it onto your motorcycle rack, getting it into your workstand, and adjacent putting it distant oregon taking it retired of your quiver. Especially if, similar me, you store your bikes connected partition hangers.