Experience high quality is a fancy topic comprised of many smaller components. These embody sizing and match, total consolation, dealing with, motor engagement, the person interface, and so forth. Collectively, these elements decide how a motorcycle feels to experience and function.
The Obsidian ST is obtainable in a single body dimension marketed for riders from 5’6” to six’8”. I discovered a snug experience with my top of 5’11”, however contemplating the bike’s restricted vary of adjustment—the saddle top has a variety of 6 inches—Mokwheel’s marketed top vary appears hopeful.
We respect that they added a quick-adjust dropper seatpost with 50mm (roughly 2”) of journey so as to add an additional inch of saddle top over the HS mannequin, however taller riders should still expertise much less leg extension than anticipated. The bike’s motor and torque sensor will probably assist to offset this to a point, however it’s one thing to pay attention to.
When it comes to experience consolation, there are two principal points to think about: the bike’s suspension and its contact factors (grips, saddle, and pedals). With a full suspension together with 130mm of journey from a lockout suspension fork and a rear shock with 50mm of stroke, the experience felt extraordinarily easy and gratifying even with driving over rocky, bumpy terrain.
I appreciated the bike’s huge, thickly padded saddle and was pleased to see locking ergonomic grips. The grips themselves are coated by fake leather-based and embody a gel pad, which I didn’t discover well-suited to off-roading. Happily, it is a cowl that may be eliminated to disclose commonplace rubber grips beneath.
As talked about beforehand, the Obsidian ST is a big and heavy e-bike, so its dealing with isn’t as nimble as one thing lighter can be. It cornered and steered nicely for its dimension, and it has the advantage of stability and plantedness, so I discovered its total dealing with to be good.
The bike’s knobby 26×4” Chaoyang tires carried out nicely on- and off-road; they felt secure, grippy, and will add an additional layer of cushion when set to have comparatively low tire stress.
One critique I’ve is with the velocity of the motor’s re-engagement after coasting or braking. At occasions, it may take a full rotation of the cranks to re-engage the motor, and the bike’s torque sensor required considerably of an preliminary “shove” in opposition to the pedals to learn my effort. I’d have most popular it to really feel a bit extra responsive.
I discussed beforehand that it’s attainable to regulate the pressure and velocity of the bike’s acceleration. Within the highest of the 5 accessible ranges, the motor felt noticeably punchier with sooner acceleration. This helped the bike to really feel extra responsive—and I like to recommend this setting for off-roading—however I believe there may be nonetheless room for enchancment.
I appreciated the bike’s person interface; as with Mokwheel’s different e-bikes, the Obsidian makes use of a customized shade show that’s interesting and usually simple to learn. The bike’s settings menus enable customers to customise the bike’s really feel and features, together with throttle velocity, the variety of PAS settings (3 or 5), and the supply of throttle energy from a standstill—along with the motor depth.
To summarize, I believed the Obsidian ST typically felt nice to experience, particularly when off-roading, the place the bike’s full energy could possibly be appreciated. It has a couple of areas with room for enchancment, however these didn’t overshadow how a lot enjoyable it could possibly be to effortlessly and comfortably energy by means of areas the place different e-bikes don’t dare to go.
