First Ride: The 2020 Cannondale Moterra Isn't Just Another SUV eMTB

The bike's geometry has been updated as well, but the changes weren't too drastic - the 66° head angle matches that of the previous Moterra LT model, as does the 75° seat angle. The reach numbers have increased, though, by approximately 20-30mm per size.

In recent years Cannondale has had a change in brand mindset, shifting their focus to reach a broader group of riders. Peter Vallance, Senior Product Director, stressed their pursuit of fun, dependable, and well thought out bikes. And it’s with this mindset that they developed the new Moterra.

---

Details & Features

Cannondale envisage the Moterra as the eMTB for people who come from having an analog full suspension bike. It’s a bike for people who are already informed about mountain biking, rather than the SUV-approach that some brands are using to reach beyond the traditional mountain bike industry.


Frame Materials

All Moterra models use a carbon fiber composite front triangle paired with an aluminum rear end. In some segments gram counting is rife in development, and while weight is an important factor Cannondale erred (errr, 'aired'?) a little more in the direction of durability. The frame carries a lifetime warranty.



Proportional Response

Sampling just a small percentage of the population shows the diversity in heights and weights between people, and trying to accommodate all these shapes and sizes into one package is tricky. What could be good for a small and lightweight Dave might not work for a long and hefty Sheila. Cannondale’s answer to this is 'Proportional Response'.

While taking into account that the center of gravity of a system of bike and rider will be different for an eMTB (with the added weight from the motor down low) Cannondale adjusts the frame kinematics for each size to tune the way the bike pedals, brakes and compresses the suspension. This should give a repeatable ride feel for the aforementioned Dave and Sheila and make sure that each rider extracts the same amount of fun that Cannondale engineered into the bikes.

Kinematics and geometry are handled by Luis Arraiz. If you don’t know about this chap then you should do a bit of searching on the internet to see why he’s gained the title El Kinematico. Arraiz moved the upper link position around to maintain the same acceleration and deceleration responses. Added to this he adjusted the shock mount on the mainframe to increase the leverage ratio progression as the frame size grows to add more resistance for the increase in mass that the bigger riders bring.

---

E-Bike System

Bosch Generation 4

The Moterra is built around the new Generation 4 Bosch Performance CX system with 250W (more on that soon). This new system is a much more compact and lightweight affair with increased performance capabilities all round. It's actually shrunk to half the size it was and ditched 3kg in the process. But performance is nothing without control, and the new system samples the inputs at a much higher rate and responds to those inputs with a faster response time. Power delivery is smooth and with a vastly reduced lag and makes the system feel a lot more natural in the whole riding experience.

The new eMTB mode is a welcome addition too. It continuously and seamlessly matches the rider's output, ranging anywhere in assistance from 140% to the full whack of 340%. It's almost a set and forget mode that just goes about its job silently and smoothly beneath you.

Nearly all Moterras use the bigger 625Wh Powertube battery (the Moterra 3 uses the 500Wh) and come with the 4a charger to refill your bike with go-juice in a shorter time. It’s hard to give an estimate of range, as it depends on a great many factors, but there’s a lot of data available on show through the display that goes into quickly helping you manage your ride with the different assistance modes that the system offers. But for example, we rode for 2.5 hours over about 23km and almost 1,500m of climbing in a mix of eMTB mode and Turbo and returned back to base with 18% battery.




Integration into the Moterra

With one of the weight saving tactics employed by Bosch on the new system being to use a motor casing made out of magnesium, Cannondale added some armour in the way of a sturdy aluminum skid plate. With the added mass of an e-bike it sometimes results in you going through trail obstacles rather than up and over. So, this skid plates protects your investment.

There’s a sealed battery cover protecting the down tube located battery, an integrated speed sensor on the frame monitoring what’s going on via the magnet on the brake disc and a neatly positioned charge port at the bottom of the seat tube.

There’s been some good work to clean up the bike and there’s definitely no cable salad going on out front. It is recognizable as an eMTB, but it’s much closer to an analog bike than some of the competition. All cables are routed internally through guided tubed moulded into the front triangle.

---

Build

The Moterra 1 that I rode comes specced with a Fox 36 up front with the Grip2 damper and a Fox DPX2 shock out back, which despite its visual size packs a deceptive amount of party.

Drivetrain is all SRAM with a mix of NX, GX and X01. Stan's Flow MK3 rims are laced to a front Formula hub and a rear SRAM hub and use DT's thicker Champion spokes. Maxxis tires provide the grip and the Moterra 1 comes with a Minion DHF and DHR II combo in 2.6 width. If wider tires aren’t your thing then the Stan's rims will easily accommodate narrower tires without having an adverse effect on the tire profile.

Magura MT7 brakes do the stopping and use the big 220 and 203mm rotors, which is a really nice touch to see specced on all sizes. The bikes specced with SRAM also see the big rotor sizes too.

Cannondale handles the stem and bars with 780mm wide bars mated to a nice short stem. Grips and saddle are from Fabric, which is part of the Cycling Sports Group, and were damn comfy to use. The dropper is also Cannondale-branded and worked well, although the drop is on the short side. Another little addition on the Moterra 1 is the SuperNova front light (with high and low beam), just in case you're out so long that the sun disappears.

Cannondale has four spec options of the Moterra.


All spec information and pricing is available on the Moterra page of the website.




Moterra SE

One bike that jumps out in the line-up is the Moterra SE. While the frame remains the same there’s a Boxxer up front with 180mm travel. Even though many places in the world have lift access to the trails, be it from a chair lift or shuttle, this Moterra SE could be a splendid option for riders keen to lap their DH trails outside of lift hours or alternatively, if there’s no lift at all, get to the top quicker and cram more laps in coming down.

It also looks damn mean and there’s no doubting its intentions with the dual crown bolted on there.

---

Geometry

The geometry of the Moterra is focussed around having balance, and there’s no crazy numbers that push the envelope. There’s a lot of experience that the development team can look to from not only Cannondale but the other brands in the larger parent group. And with the e-bike product lead, Andreas Wildgrube, being almost exclusively an e-bike rider the development team definitely isn’t at their first rodeo.

There are four sizes on offer from 430mm reach for the S up to 495mm for the XL. A 66˚ head angle on all sizes and a 450mm chain stay to take a bit of that mad hill climb motorbike idea for when you’re deciding to see what bat shit crazy gradient you can make it up.

The 75° seat angle isn’t mega steep, and for spending more time aboard a Moterra the seat would probably get nudged forward a bit. But it’s definitely not bad, and results in a comfy space when sat down and climbing. Especially when climbing more technical terrain there’s a lot of body language going into the bikes, so a comfy position is a must.

The seat tube length is tiny bit longer than some other bikes out there, and maybe results in the shorter dropper posts being used. This is something we noticed with the Cannondale Habit as well. As is always the case with bikes, it’s best to jump on one and see if you fit properly before you hand over your hard-earned cash.

One surprise is the BB height. On paper it’s a bit high, but bikes are a collective of figures and factors that all work together. So out on the trail it didn’t feel as high as the number would suggest. It also leads to a greatly reduced amount of pedal-ground interference occasions that, especially on e-bikes, can come about all too often.

It should be noted that the S size uses 27.5" wheels. In a concerted effort to reach more riders, and not force them to ride something unmanageable, Cannondale chose the smaller wheels for the smallest frame size.

---

The relatively unknown town of Alpbach, Austria was the destination for the Moterra launch. It’s relatively unknown due to its lack of authorized trails. But the Cannondale team wangled a deal with the various land owners for the launch and opened up some beautifully loamy trails to take the bikes out on. Big sweeping fire road climbs with panoramic vistas, steep, loamy and rooty descents and some equally steep and rooty climbs were laid out to show what is possible with that added motor power.




Climbing

The seated climbing position was comfy, but as mentioned, to make it a little more personalized the seat would be moved forwards a touch. Not once was the shock lockout lever touched, mainly to see how the suspension performs while climbing. But the package of anti-squat and shock tune handled the climbing well. As explained by Arraiz, the motor actually smooths out the power delivery, reducing the normal pulsing effect when pedalling, meaning that they could tune the acceleration response of the bike differently to that of an analogue bike.

Long smooth climbs are eaten up and with the excess of energy you can take loose inside rocky lines on the fire roads to see how long you dare keep your feet on the pedals after you’ve broken traction. There is loads of live information on offer from the Bosch system, such as cadence and power output, which was fun to keep track of and see how different gradients and terrains used a different power and speed. And after not much time at all you’re using these metrics to gauge range and effort to see if you can sneak in another lap before your battery runs out.

Technical climbing is still, personally, the most impressive aspect of eMTBs. Things that at first look nigh on impossible turn out to be achievable and many times deja vu kicks in from riding trials motorbikes as you’re using the same techniques and exaggerated body language to find grip and muscle your way up ridiculous climbs. Alpbach had some violently root infested climbs that really were a challenge, and once completed, a delight to get up. The Moterra balanced out the whole riding experience and brought a lot of fun to getting to the top before the descending started.




Descending

The bike was immediately comfortable and easy to get on with. Setup back at base was quick and easy, and only required 25% sag in the shock and about 10psi more than normal in the Fox 36 to get it feeling balanced. Out on the trails the bike felt dependable, in a way that you’d been riding it for much longer than just a few hours.

When descending it did take more rider input to pilot the bike compared to the analogue bikes I'm used to. Manuals were hilarious affairs and probably where the added heft is felt the most, but the descending capabilities of the Moterra were very good. If Jérôme Clementz, who was our guide for the launch, tells you that there’s a sneaky double coming up, you had no doubts or hesitations in the bikes handling or character to pull when you saw the flying Frenchman pull.

It was a short ride on the bike, and only more time and more diversity of terrain will tell the full story, but after that short ride it was clearly an easy bike to feel at home with, one that was predictable, consistent and entertaining.

---

---

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech eMTB First Looks First Rides Cannondale Cannondale Moterra