Haibike Xduro Dwnhll 9.0 - eMTB review
eMTB Week
Pinkbike is running a week-long focus on eMTBs. We’ll be sharing reviews, news, and opinion pieces all week in addition to our regular coverage. Read our stance on eMTBs here.
While Haibike might not be a familiar name to most mountain bikers, in the eMTB world they are the biggest brand in the world right now. Started in 1995 by Susanne and Felix Puello as a traditional bike brand in Germany, they brought their first ebike offering to the market in 2010 - the eQ Xduro. More than any other brand, Haibike have worked out how to sell eMTBs to people outside the core of the sport, expanding their markets, rather than simply upselling to existing consumers. That doesn't mean they have forgotten their roots though. In 2015 Haibike released the first-ever, production downhill eMTB, the Xduro Dwnhll Pro (apparently it is too exciting for the correct amount of vowels). For 2017 the Dwnhll range has expanded to three models, each sharing the same chassis, starting at €5299 with the Dwnhll 8 up to the €7999 range topping Xduro 9.0 version we tested.
Haibike Dwnhill Xduro 9.0
• Intended use: downhill
• Travel: 200mm F+R
• 27.5" wheels
• 6061 hydroformed alloy frame
• Fox Factory suspension
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL
• Weight: 24kg / 52.9 lb (claimed)
• Price: $8,999
• www.haibike.com
• Intended use: downhill
• Travel: 200mm F+R
• 27.5" wheels
• 6061 hydroformed alloy frame
• Fox Factory suspension
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL
• Weight: 24kg / 52.9 lb (claimed)
• Price: $8,999
• www.haibike.com
Geometry and Details
The Dwnhll 9.0 has an all alloy frame and swingarm. Haibike have stuck to a tried and tested, four-bar Horst linkage with the Dwnhll. Paired with the Float X2 shock, the Dwnhll offers up a full 200mm of travel. The bike is built around the Bosch Performance CX motor Bosch and 500wh Powerpack. Fox supply their 40 Float Factory 40 fork and Float X2 Factory Air shock to handle the rough stuff. A Shimano Saint groupset and brakes handle the stop-and-go duties and the Mavic Deemax DH wheels are shod with Maxxis High Roller IIs. The cockpit is decked out with a Thomson 780mm bar, paired with a direct-mount stem. A KS LEV-DX 100mm dropper post is topped off with a house-brand Xduro saddle to round out the spec.
It's a full, factory-spec Fox 40 out front./
The linkage uses an idler pulley above the sprocket to reduce chain influence on the suspension.
Haibike offer the Dwnhll in four sizes from a 420mm seattube, up to a 450mm XL. The reach of the Dwnhll chassis is small by 2017 standards, starting with 379mm for a small, then each model growing incrementally by 24mm to 450mm on the XL. Head and seattube angles are a static 63.5° and 73° respectively on all four sizes. The chainstays are also shared between all the models at 470mm. This produces wheelbases that range from 1211mm to 1288mm.
A Fox Float X2 keeps the rear in check.
Bosch's minimal Purion display.
At the heart of this bike is a Bosch Performance CX motor, paired with a 500wh battery, which has become the benchmark for eMTB motors. It is paired with the minimal Purion display, which helps declutter the cockpit and is less exposed to crash damage, although this comes at the expenses of fewer functions than Bosch's bulkier Intuitiva or Nyon systems. This bike doesn't have the latest firmware, so the motor has four assist modes: Turbo, Sport, Tour and Eco. The 500wh battery has the biggest charge capacity currently on offer by Bosch, which on the Dwnhll translates into roughly 900m (2900ft) of vertical climbing in turbo mode to 1600m (5,249ft) in Eco. Haibike have mounted the motor with a 16- tooth, steel sprocket, which equates to a 40-tooth chainring, as the Bosch system spins 2.5 times faster than the cranks. At the back, their choice of a Shimano 11-36 10 speed cassette offers a relatively close ratio for an eMTB. The inevitable play that accompanies every Bosch battery, has been anticipated by cleverly placing a piece of foam on the frame underneath the battery. This attention to detail hasn’t stretched to the speed sensor mounted on the swing arm, the connecting cable is dangerously exposed to being caught on any passing debris.
It's a full, no-expense-spared Thomson cockpit here.
Specifications
| Specifications | ||
| Price | $8999 | |
| Travel | 200mm | |
| Rear Shock | FOX Float X2 Factory, air | |
| Fork | FOX 40 Float Factory, air, Travel: 200mm, | |
| Headset | A-Head Tapered, Cartridge, aluminium | |
| Cassette | Shimano Deore XT M771, 11-36 teeth | |
| Pedals | XDURO Freeride pedal | |
| Chain | Shimano HG95 | |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano Saint | |
| Shifter Pods | Shimano Saint | |
| Handlebar | Thomson Downhill, aluminium oversize 780mm | |
| Stem | Thomson SM-E162, direct mount, Bar bore: 31.8mm | |
| Grips | XLC lock on grips Sport | |
| Brakes | Shimano Saint M820, 203mm rotors | |
| Wheelset | Mavic Deemax DH | |
| Seat | XDURO Light MTB | |
| Seatpost | Kind Shock LEV-DX, telescope, 31.6mm | |
Setup
The supplied literature with the Dwnhll includes Fox’s suspension set-up guide; so armed with a shock pump, and a pair of 3 and 6mm allen keys, we started by getting the sag to 30% and matched the rebound to the rider weight (67kg). The problem with this is that the stock setups for the 40 and X2 are not corrected for the extra 10 kilograms of weight that an eMTB carries. To compensate, we reduced sag to 25% and took off some of the rebound so that the suspension was a bit faster and didn’t sit too low in the travel.
Climbing
It may sound obvious, but grafting a motor onto a downhill bike doesn’t in any way turn it into a long travel trail bike. When we took it to one of our regular test loops we quickly found that while the geometry may give it DH credentials, it was never intended for serious, technical climbing. The slack seat angle puts the rider too far over the back of the bike. The 63.5° head angle is not precise enough to thread the bike through technical sections and makes the bike a handful through tight corners. Haibike's gearing choices do not help the Dwnhll on the ups either, the 16t sprocket paired with the 36t cassette was too large to cope with serious singletrack climbs.
Once you get past thinking of this bike as a trail bike, you can start to get into what this bike really excels as: a DH bike that uplifts itself. Sticking to fireroad and tarmac climbs, the Dwnhll allows you to spin back to the top of your favourite track, nicely working through the lactic acid built up from your run down. The independence of no longer being dependent on a shuttle or chairlift is truly invigorating. Our local DH tracks are all around 300m drop, which corresponds to 3 runs in Turbo or a 5-run ride in Eco, so battery life equals to roughly a half day of downhilling. Luckily, the Bosch battery recharges up to 70% in 90 minutes, so with a bit of planning or a good lunch break, the bike can be ready to go again for a full day of action.
Descending
The only way to describe this bike going downhill is as a bludgeon. The extra mass of the motor, coupled with the power it delivers, gets the bike up to speed almost instantly, which is where this bike needs to be. The faster you go, the bigger your smile gets. It is definitely more of a blunt weapon than it is a precision instrument, smashing through obstacles is far more rewarding than picking the bike up and over them. Despite running relatively little sag, the small bump sensitivity of the X2 shock keeps the rear wheel glued to the track, helped by the overall weight of the bike. Braking performance is impressive as a consequence, with the rear wheel digging into the ground to slow the bike rather than skipping and skidding over trail chatter. As the hits move through to the mid stroke; the bike accelerates out of the compression phase, with the fast rebound adding speed. Rock gardens and roots encourage you to smash through the middle of them to gain speed as opposed to finesse it and clear them. Seeing as the bike weighs in at 24kg, it is definitely for the best. As we got the bike up to speed we found that the bike struggled with the bigger hits when run with the stock compression settings . The rear end is surprisingly linear for a downhill bike. It has a tendency to rip alarmingly through the last quarter of travel, even with the added progression of an air shock. We definitely wouldn't recommend running a coil shock on this bike. We upped the high-speed compression in an attempt to compensate for the linear stroke rate, this showed immediately on the clock in our back-to-back test runs, going noticeably faster.
The reach on the Dwnhll is pretty short across the board. At 402mm for a size medium, it is well off the short end of the scale for a modern downhill bike. This doesn’t help when trying to keep your position neutral through the rough sections. As a consequence, the bars are too close, which leaves a cramped feeling in the cockpit, despite the 780mm Thomson bars spreading out your hands for a solid, well-spaced grip. Conversely, the chain stays are relatively lengthy, coming in at 470mm, which is a ballpark figure for the majority of eMTBs. This undoubtedly contributes to the feeling of the bike being glued to the floor and its penchant for tackling things via straight lines and high speeds.
Technical Report
KS Lev-DX seat post:
The minimal travel of the KS Lev-DX seat post in its 100mm form really is a misfit, even for a 5’8” tester, leaving us obliged to drop the post with the quick release. Admittedly this isn’t the end of the world, but with such a superbike specification it deserves at least a 125mm, if not 150mm, alternative.
Mavic Deemax DH wheels:
The Mavic Deemax DH wheels suffered the occasional loud pinging noise when smacking into particularly nasty square-edged hits; despite this, they have remained true, round and with only minor dents to show. Bearing in mind the pounding that they have received from a 24kg bike, this is quite remarkable.
Fox Factory suspension:
The Fox Float 40 Factory and Float X2 did their best to adapt to a bike 10kg heavier than they were designed for. The fork came out decidedly better than the rear shock, with its rigidity and range of tuning able to cope with the extra weight. The rear shock struggled with the weight and linear curve of the suspension design, despite running small amounts of sag and large amounts of compression damping.
Shimano Saint brakes and drivetrain:
The Shimano Saint stopping and shifting kit was more than up to the task of handling the Dwnhll. The brakes remained constant over repeated runs without overheating and the bite point remained consistent and the gears never missed a beat, but then we would expect nothing less.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | Why fit a pedal-assist motor to a bike from a discipline where chairlifts and shuttles are de-rigeur? Because it’s outrageous fun. And because Haibike can, and have done so. The biggest challenge to reviewing this bike hasn’t been the ride quality, or the components; even the motor is a well-known top level performer. It has been answering "who is this bike for and how do you judge it?" It doesn’t compare to regular downhill bikes, nor does it have an eMTB rival against which you can pitch it. This bike has to be judged as the unique beast that it is. Do you get your kicks from doing huge shuttle days with your crew? Then it’s possibly not a fit. Do you enjoy seriously technical eMTB climbing? Again maybe you need to look elsewhere. If, however, you have the downhill bug, your lifestyle doesn’t accommodate a regular half or full day of shuttling and you have serious terrain on your doorstep, then this is a bike that you should consider. It delivers with panache and a guaranteed smile, what more is there to want? This bike is quite the conundrum, you feel guilty about riding it, you struggle even to justify it; but once you overcome reason and swing a leg over it, it delivers. A guilty pleasure then, but one that you will struggle to get enough of. |
About the Reviewer
Stats: Age: 34 • Height: 5'8 • Legs shaved: yes • Weight: 67kg • Industry affiliations / sponsors: Lapierre and Formula test rider • Instagram: kieran_page_
Kieran Page is a former world-class road and track cyclist, until he saw the light and embraced proper bicycles in 2009. These days he is based in Peille in the South of France where he runs a guiding business and works on local programmes to get kids into cycling.
Stats: Age: 34 • Height: 5'8 • Legs shaved: yes • Weight: 67kg • Industry affiliations / sponsors: Lapierre and Formula test rider • Instagram: kieran_page_
Kieran Page is a former world-class road and track cyclist, until he saw the light and embraced proper bicycles in 2009. These days he is based in Peille in the South of France where he runs a guiding business and works on local programmes to get kids into cycling.
Author Info:
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I will tell you that E-bikes will be the death to free biking as we know it here in Europe.
Also, this slippery slope that you fear happening about tons of know-nothings showing up and ruining it for everyone is simply not realistic. If it were true, then we would have already seen it happening at bike parks all over the place. We'd see Jerrys buying downhill bikes left and right and killing themselves on a daily basis. While this does sometimes happen, it's not the wide-spread apocalypse that your foresee.
Ultimately, the price of these bikes will prohibit the true masses from swarming the mountains. Yes, sales of eMTBs are increasing, but again it's not the apocalypse that you foresee.
What I do think should happen is that rental operators need to educate their clients more before they send a clueless tourist out. This applies to eMTBs but also any rental bike in general. Clueless tourists will always be a problem, eMTB or traditional pedal bike.
The end is nigh, there are bumps on the trail!!!!
Wake the f*ck up and think, the saying "You can't see past the end of your nose" applies perfectly to you and others like you that spout the same ill thought out bullshit day after day on here, live in the real world, ebikes are here, more riders are coming, think of the benefits instead of just inventing potential negatives, nothing bad is going to happen because of ebikes or more MTB enthusiasts, only your attitude is bad.
Do trails regenerate on their own? Or do they require trail builders to shape them back they way they "ought" to be?
The haters here seem to all share the opinion that eMTB riders are clueless and reckless individuals who don't care for their trails or others using the trails. Does that argument remind anyone of how XC riders used to view the DH/FR crowd? I guess I'm just old enough to remember being warned by XCers that using downhill bikes on trails will cause their trails to be taken away because we are a bunch of clueless, disrespectful idiots wreaking havoc all over the place, who have no desire to help with trail maintenance.
More likely than not, just like with DH, cyclists want to be able to ride their trails and preserve their usage. Why you think eMTB riders will not want this is baffling to me.
Can't believe it asterixed thunderc*ntingly, good job profanity bot
But to think that ALL eMTB users are that way, or lacking the desire to learn how to be a responsible user, or fat or lazy or unpure or anything else you want to call them, it's nothing short of bigotry. Well done, you're a first class bigot.
Now you are spewing the same exact arguments to the eMTB crowd, saying that they are ALL this way. That amounts to bigotry and is completely unfounded. Yes, some are lazy. But so are some DH/FR riders. Yes, some are disrespectful and don't care. But so are some DH/FR riders. Instead of making a blanket statement where you lump 100% of a certain population into a value judgment, how about you judge each individual on an individual basis as you encounter them? Seems a bit more fair, doesn't it?
Now yes the xc guy was right when he said you increase erosion ( but so does he). Here in Austria, I'm pretty sure people doing trail maintenance are the one with big tyres, and not the one in Lycra (the only people I have seen here doing trail maintenance had dh and trail bikes).
So according to you, why do people chose ebikes, and which category of ebike riders will do trail maintenance?
From what you've said, the people who do the least amount of trail maintenance are the ones who are pedaling uphill (the lycra XC crowd). So tell me again who is the real problem here and how pedaling uphill is an indication of being a responsible cyclist? That's right- it isn't an indication at all. It depends entirely on the person, not the bike they are riding.
So please, leave your bullshit arguments at the door and focus on how to educate cyclists in general of how they ought to be responsible members of their cycling community, regardless of what kind of bike they ride. Because at the end of the day, any cyclist can be an irresponsible douche bag. The fact that they ride an eMTB or an XC bike is no indication of their commitment to their cycling community.
@deadmeat25 : I guess you have never experienced a MTB-ride without the "necessary" infrastructure and that's what Biking for me is all about. Experiencing nature and remote areas and I fear that getting this experience will become harder and harder as the unfit jerries are already there.
Fire roads are everywhere in the (Austrian) Alps, not just at resorts. They are one of the main ways cyclists can experience nature and get away from the crowds/town/valley.
Even if you have a trail that is 100% pure single track up and down, then I still don't see the long-term concern. If someone is not good at riding technical single track (pedal-only or eMTB), then they will not be returning to that place any time soon. They will seek out the flow trails or fire roads that better suit their ability. The same thing happens in ski touring all the time- newbies very quickly find themselves WAY over their heads in the back country and go back to the piste where they feel more comfortable.
I am outta here
Your. Exact. Words.
"I have health issues, so I wouldnt be able to ride more than 10km if I was using a normal bike"> this category is not healthy enough to ride, how can they do trail building, which destroys the back ?. I have asked you 20 times to help me find all the others category of people who are interested by E-bikes, yet you failed to mention a single one that would be likely to do some trail maintenance.
You could have mention that E-bikes might facilitates carrying heavy tools required for trail buildings, but you didn't. You said that I "claim that unless you pedal to the top, you are a lazy, irresponsible user" but I never said that. You are just another troll
I did not mention others yet because their motivation is not linked to the riding: hauling gear for trail maintenance (as you noted), or camera gear (like many PB photogs do), or rock climbers hauling their gear to the climb site, or touring skiers needing to cover distance on ground before reaching the snow. My friend who owns a bike shop sells many ebikes to people for the latter two purposes. But I am not so concerned with these groups because they aren't buying an eMTB for cycling.
But whatever their reasoning for buying an eMTB is, it is their decision, not yours. And as long as their decision does not negatively affect you or prevent you from riding your bike how you want, then shut up and embrace a little thing called personal freedom. Their decision or life may not be for you, but so what. As long as they are not infringing upon your life and your decisions, then let them be. When they start riding closed trails or single-use-only trails, then you have every right to be upset with them because then they are threatening your way of riding your bike. But if they are on trails that are multi-use, then let them ride their bike how they want to just as you would expect the same for you.
So that bike sounds like the perfect solution for such a rider(s).
How come a suspension or wheel can be "eMTB" specific?
I mean let's take the example of this review, 67kg rider, with a 24kg bike. How would that be any different from a 77kg rider with a 14kg bike? And a 77kg rider is not considered out of norm ...
Same weight is applied on the wheels, just not centered the same way... Heck, even the weight at the rear wheel is exactly the same since they all use the design with the engine around the BB and battery in the downtube. Wheels are the same as the DH version you can buy, same goes with the brakes (and how many times have I seen the need for "big brakes for the added weight!" ... no, 10kg on the bike will not matter much ...)
I'll sort of agree the freehub could do with some steel body, or hardened teeth, but then why would a rider on a "standard" bike not need the hardened teeth or steel body?
/rant off
The marketing BS we see more and more (not specific to ebikes though) is just pissing me off more and more ...
But, I agree that they should just call it a SRAM Code brake, not a Guide RE (for example). The naming is stupid, but the application of the actual component makes sense.
Like Guy would say : "Fok off!...are u serious!"
"...smashing through obstacles is far more rewarding than picking the bike up and over them (...) Rock gardens and roots encourage you to smash through the middle of them to gain speed as opposed to finesse it and clear them."
This is the end.
We dug out all the jumps on our local trails to convert them to doubles, roll-offs to step-downs and thus trapping Jerry on his ebike at his weak spot: he has no skill and will never be able to clear a jump on this thing.
1. Do you experience similar accelerated wear on rims and tyres as what Matt Wragg experienced on the Cube bike?
2. The motor probably doesn't do much once you're up to speed. So that got me wondering, have you tried the downhills with the motor completely shut off? How does that compare to other downhill bikes. Are you quicker, more comfortable or just more "straightline" due to the added weight? Quite a while ago already I read the reports on dirtmag.co.uk (from the Dirt magazine) and they experienced that they were actually quicker on the downhills so that got me wondering if that also goes for dedicated downhill bikes.
Personally i think Ebikes are not bikes, are not motorbikes are just plain different new thing (like in new category).
Some will buy, others don't even bother, but if there are special magazines and sites for specific motorcycles/cars/whatever, why continuing placing ebike specific posts?
If I'm into MX bikes I know what to buy/visit, and simply not read/see other posts (if they would do it).
Completly agree on E-Pinkbike like some others have already refer and from the pole you know you have market to that!
Hey??? The mass of the bike's electric components are all sprung, exactly the same as the rider's mass is... The damper tunes only need to differ if the extra mass in unsprung, which it is not. Just setup the bike's sag as you usually would and, definitely zero need to compensate for the frame mass.
Ther are few 180mm ebikes on the market,Haibike haved in first,wich can do the downhils also with fun and securety but no more have a full 200mm weapon.
120mm140mm150mm are the most common and trail ride more distance pointed.
Two fingers to haibike for have this solution 180mmand 200mm bikes
Three fingers for the others wich are waiting to have someone opening and cleaning the path.
And having ridden many ebikes, it isn't rampant wheel spinning everywhere, so the damage isn't coming from there either. It's totally fictional
PB is desperate for money?
No need to chiptune on this one!
what a joke looks like PB is desperate for money!!!
The pole shows only 5000 opinions (in pinkbike universe that's what?1%?)
Personally i think Ebikes are not bikes, are not motorbikes are just plain different new thing (like in new category).
Some will buy, others don't even bother, but if there are special magazines and sites for specific motorcycles/cars/whatever, why continuing placing ebike specific posts?
If I'm into MX bikes I know what to buy/visit, and simply not read/see other posts (if they would do it).
Completly agree on E-Pinkbike like some others have already refer and from the pole you know you have market to that!