Everyone seems to be obsessed with motors at the moment. Power and torque numbers have become the new head angle and BB height, with everyone (us included) fixated on the headline stats. Yes, this has always been an important aspect of e-bikes, but since the introduction of the Amflow PL Carbon and the DJi Avinox motor, the arms race really seems to have ramped up, and we are all lapping it up.

But are we missing something? What about the rest of the bike? The geometry, the sizing, the frame design and material, and most importantly, the suspension – all of these aspects feed into the blender that gives the bike its handling qualities and ride performance. A poor bike design is not magically fixed by a class-leading motor.

So we discuss this topic, drawing on experiences with standout e-bikes we’ve tested in the past that didn’t have the hottest motor, as well as speculating about the remaining brands that have partnered with DJI to power their next gen e-bikes.

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Gates has clicked its marketing into overdrive for 2025 with the rollover of the Belted Purse competition. This contest offers €100,000 to the first man or woman to win an Elite UDI World Cup Downhill race. Last year, a few riders tried their hand, but for 2025 the list of competitors making a play for the ultimate payday in mountain biking includes two former World Champions and a host of other talented riders.

In the mix is Continental Atherton's Charlie Hatton, and fellow former World Champ Reece Wilson, on his newly-formed AON Racing team. But could we see Rachel Atherton lured out of retirement (again)? She's done it once, and that was without a big, fat, juicy carrot being dangled at the start line.

Not forgetting Intense Factory Racing, with Joe Breedon and Mille Johnset on board, and MS Racing with Elenora Farina amongst the roster. And as an interesting aside, while MS Racing is on Zerode bikes this season, last year it was on Intense, and the US brand showed a Pinion/Gates prototype M1 downhill bike at Eurobike, at the exact same time Elenora made sense of the wild conditions in Les Gets to win her first World Cup. That win could have been all the sweeter if she'd been riding the Gates-equipped Intense.

We also run through the pros and cons of this alternative drivetrain, and the reasons why a belt drive and gearbox might suit downhill racing even more than some other MTB disciplines.

And we comb through the small print, to find a couple of interesting points about what happens if the men's and women's are won on Gates belts at the same round of the World Cup.

This video was recorded before the official Gates press release came out, and some team announcements were made, so you'll have to forgive a few speculative inaccuracies, like Matt Walker joining AON Racing.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.