Unno Release Their First eMTB - The Sleek & Expensive Boös

Unno is a brand known for its premium carbon bikes. The company, which is based in Barcelona, is led by ex-world cup racer Cesar Rojo. Rojo, who was once part of Mondraker's design team, also runs Cero Designs, which is a design and consultancy company and has had a hand in many other brands' bikes over the last decade.

They now release their first-ever eMTB, the €9,995 Boös, but the price tag isn't the only thing catching the eye, nor is the geometry and mixed wheels the only thing about the bike that could be considered progressive.

The bike uses a Bosch CX Gen 4 motor and a 750Wh battery.

It's made in partnership with Oceanworks, a company that helps retrieve and recycle rubbers and plastics from the world's oceans. All the resin parts of the frame are made with recycled nylon. Each BOÖS contains 184g of Oceanworks nylon and 80% of this comes from the ocean, mainly from the nearshores of Asia. Unno uses PA+GF15% for all recycled plastics.

The Details

The bike is a mixed-wheel affair and is built around a 170mm fork. This is combined with 160mm of rear-wheel travel. The frame uses a virtual pivot design and is as compact as it is sleek. The shock is almost encased inside the frame and looks to run to reasonably tight tolerance at the bridge of the stays. The frame uses Enduromax double row bearings to increase stiffness and should help increase intervals between maintenance.


Unno recommends using around 35% sag and says the useable range runs from around 30 - 40%. For 160mm of travel that seems quite deep, and although the only graph available is relatively basic, it looks as if the rate falls from around 3.7- to 2-to-1 in a relatively consistent fashion, without any bumps or rises. This would indeed make it very progressive.


Many parts of this bike would suggest that integration was high on the list of priorities. There are little things such as the small chain guide affixed to the frame, or the motor cover that doubles up as a bash guard. There are also bigger elements like the near-flush Bosch Kiox screen or the cables running through the Deux headset. The bars and stem, also from Deux, are one-piece, plus thre's a hidden clamp in the mast-like seatpost.

The motor cover is interesting in itself as it almost looks to try and protect the relatively low-slung rear triangle. It's as if if you're going to hang up on something Unno would rather the cover take the brunt. The location of the lower bearing on the swingarm isn't that dissimilar from the Norco Range, which also has a lot of protection.


Geometry

The S2 size, which is currently the only size on sale, uses a reach of 470mm and stays of 450mm. This will give it lots of weight on the front wheel. It also has a relatively high stack of 640mm. This makes it a very interesting proposition as the rider's weight will be largely driving the front through their feet, with the option of adding more weight in their hands. Both the rear center and the stack are a greater value than you might typically see on a bike of this size. The head tube angle is 64 degrees and the seat tube angle is 77 degrees. One outlier is the seat tube. At 460mm for what is effectively a size large, this seems a little on the long side to me.

The S1 and S3, which use reaches of 435 and 510mm respectively, both use the same length rear end. It feels like the 450mm rear center would pair up best with the reach of the S2 or S3.

Availability

Unno will release the Boös online and initially in only one build kit - The Race, and only in the S2 size. Unno says that other sizing and build options will be released through 2022 and into 2023. For more information please visit their website.