Lightweight electric mountain bikes are something of a recent phenomenon, brought about by the desire to reduce the weight but not the fun aspect of riding an electric bike off-road. In the electric mountain bike world, generally anything under 20kg is considered ‘light’, so the ELyte 140 Works fits nicely into that category with its weight of not much more than 17kg.

So far there are two ELyte’s in Whyte’s range, the 140 and the 150. The 150 is more enduro oriented, while the 140, tested here, is for more cross-country and trail riding - think riding across the South Downs or the Yorkshire Moors rather than hitting Ard Rock with it.
 

Motor and battery system

The Bosch Performance Line SX mid-drive motor is spectacular for its category, and this model comes with a combined 650Wh of battery (400Wh internal and 250Wh in the range extender).

We’ve covered the stats of the SX motor before, so I won’t repeat all of them them here, but 55Nm of torque and 600W of peak power is hard to beat on a lightweight bike. The fact the overall package weighs so little only benefits the lighter drive system further, inspiring confidence you'll get up climbs you didn’t think you could, or ride further than before, getting in more laps of the woods.

The ELyte 140 Works comes with a control on the handlebar as well as the built-in top tube display. It’s easy to use - although if you want a screen with more detail, you’ll have to shell out for a Kiox display or the like.

I felt that the battery range was excellent on this bike. It ate up a lap of Dalby Forest’s notoriously long (around 18 miles) red route with ease, even with heavy use of the top level of motor assistance.

The only thing with lightweight or mid-power eMTBs is you’ll notice you’re on one if your friend's riding a full-fat e-bike. They’ll be getting maybe 30-40Nm more torque, and a little bit of extra top-end power, so it should be no surprise if you can’t keep up with them after a while. But if you’re on your own getting some laps in, you likely won’t find it lacking.
 

Geometry and ride quality

The geometry and frame of the ELyte 140 Works is designed around 140mm suspension front and 135mm rear (it’s the same frame as the ELyte 150, just with different amounts of travel).

It’s a uni-directional carbon fibre frame composition which helps keep the weight low,  without making it feel like it could crack if you hit a drop slightly wrong. The geometry can also be adjusted thanks to Whyte’s Shape.it Link V2 (which is essentially the brand's flip chip) so if you want it to be a little slacker for descending, you can do so.

It works by lowering the height of the bottom bracket which in turn slackens the bike by up to 0.6 degrees - which is not inconsequential. It can also be used to allow you to swap between a 29in or 27.5in rear wheel whilst maintaining the geometry intended by Whyte.

The head angle on all sizes is 65.6 degrees, and on the small, the seat angle is 77.9 degrees which I definitely felt the advantages of when climbing on the bike. Even though it’s a pretty cross-country/trail oriented bike, I had no problems throwing it down some more technical stuff, and if I’m being perfectly honest, it’s one of the first electric mountain bikes I actually felt like I could control properly.

The sizing is part of that, sure, but the overall geometry just seemed to really work for me and my riding style. And I think it’s worth mentioning that because as a lighter rider it can be difficult to get to grips with electric mountain bikes and feel like you’re not just a passenger on one. The weight of a full-fat bike especially is usually too much for my weak self to really throw around. They descend quickly, sure, but the weight makes it more difficult to manoeuvre around tight berms or switchbacks. So kudos to Whyte, they’ve really nailed this bike.

I especially liked that even the size small comes with a Fidlock mount for a water bottle. I don’t have a Fidlock compatible bottle so couldn’t test this unfortunately, but one would assume it fits a decent capacity bottle.

As always, Whyte has taken care to think about weatherproofing. The pivot bearings use marine grease to help keep debris out and diminish wear on them - although they are subject to a lifetime warranty, so you can get them replaced easily. Everything is sealed pretty well, including cable and hose ports.

Even the charge port positioning has been carefully considered. It’s situated on the front of the seat tube to keep it out of the way of rear wheel spray. Being based in Yorkshire has its benefits when you need to test weatherproofing claims of products, and I can safely say the bike and drive system has survived swamp, mud, and rain with ease.
 

Components/spec

At £10,999 you probably want all the bells and whistles you can think of for an eMTB, right? Well, Whyte has thankfully delivered on this, with Fox Factory suspension front and rear and SRAM AXS T-Type gearing. SRAM’s Level Ultimate Stealth four-pot brakes keep you from falling off the edge of a hill when you misread the trail (don’t ask how I know).

If I was to be incredibly picky and choose one thing to change, it would probably be the tyres. In the dry, the Goodyear Escapes were decent, but as soon as things got a bit sloppy or I encountered wet roots, my confidence declined somewhat. It’s more of a personal preference thing than a dig at Whyte, but worth pointing out.

The frame can accommodate tyres up to 2.5in in width, so you’ve got plenty of choice to enrobe those DT Swiss XRC rims with. And yes, they do use the 240 hub – you can stop drooling now.
 

Value and conclusion

I think Whyte has taken the lightweight eMTB segment to a whole new level here. They’ve got what I would consider one of, if not the best lightweight drive system and packaged it into a seriously capable and premium trail offering.

Even though you might be baulking at the £10,999 price tag, you can’t really ask for much more for your money here. You’d be hard pressed to find an eMTB that offers so much even at this price.

For instance, with the Trek Fuel Exe, a similarly designed lightweight bike but with a TQ motor instead of Bosch, the top-of-the-range model costs £13,500. Yes, you get SRAM’s top-tier wireless groupset, but the battery capacity is far smaller and definitely doesn’t offer as much range.

Specialized’s S-Works Turbo Levo SL is also £13,000 and although it uses the brand’s top-end carbon frame, it doesn’t utilise the most premium components throughout.

If weight is the biggest aspect of your eMTB purchasing decision, then the Scott Lumen eRide 900 may be of note – you can grab one for £9,300 and it uses the TQ drive system to keep the weight down to 16.7kg.

Overall, there's not a lot to fault with the Whyte ELyte 140 Works. It's definitely aimed towards more of a niche market with the 140mm travel and down-country aesthetic, but I think it could be a real hit with someone who wants a decent amount of power from the motor without the weight that usually comes with that. If you're not heading to Morzine and want something to take on all-day rides across the South Downs, this could be the bike for you.

whytebikes.com