I bought the internal battery m600 29er version of this bike and thought I’d leave my impressions to help others make a purchasing decision.
I’m just under 6 feet and am kind of a tweener, feeling cramped on most medium frames without putting on a longer stem and moving the seat back so I got the 51cm and although it’s big, it fits me well and doesn’t feel big when riding it.
Assembly was straightforward except for the dropper, which others have noted. The cable was way to long, so I ended up cutting off a few inches. If your not handy this alone might make it worth having it done by a lbs. The battery wouldn’t click in after putting on the cover. I fixed this by shimming it with a couple washers on top of the stand offs on the end that faces the headset.
I’ve got a little less that 200 miles on it so far. I live in south west Pennsylvania which has lots of short steep hills and is often wet and muddy and I ride technical single track almost exclusively.
At first I was disappointed with the range, but I think that was due to riding in muddy conditions. As the trails dry out, range has improved quite a bit. I find The m600 to be pretty quiet. I ride without throttle in 1 with 9 power levels enabled. It’s the canbus controller, so it can’t be tuned like the uart version which isn’t ideal. I’d like to tone down the initial surge of power, which can be a bit much.
Reliability wise, both the deraulier and the hanger have come loose. If you have shifting issues, check both of these.
The front chain ring is already showing some wear and there is a tiny amount of play in the rear suspension.
The battery occasionally un-clicks after big hits which is annoying. Still trying to figure out why. The release lever had become hard to move because it had gotten some grime in it and after cleaning it, the problem has become more frequent.
On my very first ride, the back tire started rubbing the speed sensor cable. I re-routed it on the outside of the rear triangle, which fixed the issue, but also reveled another annoyance which is that the motor won’t run unless the speed sensor is working. It’ll give power for a few feet and then display an error on the screen, so keeping a spare spoke magnet thingie handy is a good idea.
The in-frame charge port doesn’t work. I’ve checked all of the connections with a multimeter but nothing happens when the charger is plugged in. It might be the contacts, haven’t tried bd to see if they can send a replacement yet, I’ve just been removing the battery to charge.
Oh, another odd thing is the battery won’t charge when it’s cold. The charger light turns solid green until it warms up at which point it will charge.
Upgrades so far have been the pedals, replacing the RockShox forks with some Fox rhythm 36s which has been an all-around improvement. Also just got a 27.5 wheel set to try a mullet setup. Other than that, just some cheapo fenders.
Was it worth it? I think so. I find it to be plenty capable for what I ride and even with the upgrades I’m still under what I would have spent on big name brands.
How does it compare to x? No idea, my experience is limited to a 2010ish trek fuel conversion with a osf tsdz2 which is smoother and more natural. I’d guess that without the ability to tune it, the m600 won’t be competitive with other motors in terms of feel.
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