NEW BIKES FOR 2024
A-sub 18kg e-bike is a tidy prospect but can the Neat RR clean up when chaos reigns?
£8,499 • 29in • mondraker.com
NEED TO KNOW
● Full-carbon frame and TQ system adds up to a sub-18kg e-bike
● New Zero suspension layout with 150mm rear travel
● Removable 360Wh battery and optional 160Wh range extender
● Four frame sizes and three models starting at £6,799
While the bike industry currently seems to be battling strong headwinds, no one seems to have told Mondraker. Against a backdrop of demand suppressed by rapidly rising prices, and a market flooded with excess units, the Spanish brand enjoyed growth of 50% last year. To thank for this enviable success are rising sales of its e-bikes, and chiefly the Crafty trail/enduro model. That 160/150mm-travel category seems to be the sweet spot for the brand at the moment, and where demand is strongest. To bolster this segment, dip its toes into a growing sub-category, and hopefully attract a new audience, Mondraker has launched this brand new lightweight e-mtb. It’s called the Neat, and it’s basically a Foxy with a motor.
What it’s not is Mondraker’s first sub-20kg e-bike. Back in 2019 it built a Crafty Carbon with full-fat Bosch system that weighed considerably less than anything with a similar engine and fuel tank. Although not as light as rivals from Scott and Rotwild, the new Neat saves 2kg over the old flyweight Crafty, as well as bringing a ride experience that claims to be much closer to an analogue bike in terms of noise, handling, and drag.
Even a casual glance is enough to tell you that the Neat gets a reconfigured Zero twin-link suspension layout. The shock is still actuated by a rocker link, but it now reclines at an acute angle and is anchored at the swingarm rather than the lower link. What this does is allow Mondraker to lower the rocker link assembly without interfering with the motor, which gives the opportunity to increase standover clearance. In a similar vein, the top tube has been radically slimmed, and the wafer-thin profile gives more room inside the front triangle for two bottles.
Alongside rejigging the suspension layout, Mondraker has gone for a shorter-length shock with less stroke. As such it can use a higher leverage rate, which helps overcome friction within the shock. It’s also one of the reasons why the Neat gets a piggyback reservoir Fox Float X shock, rather than a lighter inline model, to better manage heat.
Mondraker says that weight was not the number one goal with the Neat, but that’s not to say it wasn’t towards the top of the white board. The naked full carbon frame is claimed to weigh 2.3kg in size Medium, which is only 100g more than the Foxy Carbon. Add on the motor (1.85kg), battery (1.8kg), and sho
