Mondraker Sly: Is this the best new lightweight EMTB?
The all new Mondraker Sly. "One Sly Fits All", a marketing phrase dripping with melted Spanish cheese but does it fit the bill? Let's have a look at the bike and see if we can find any truth to it.
The Mondraker Sly, built on the backs of the excellent Mondraker Neat and the Dune is the latest lightweight E-MTB from Mondraker. Featuring a Bosch SX motor and a 400Wh battery and a sleek carbon-esque frame, it weighs under 21kg in the stock build and will give you 600w of peak power. The range starts at only £5299 and we feel for the price there's not much out there that will beat it.
The Frame
When the boss dropped by Mondraker HQ, one thing immediately stood out: the new alloy Sly frame. The team was buzzing with pride about it and honestly, they should be. It looks great, and they’ve done an awesome job.
To nail the ride feel, they teamed up with a new factory, which let them tweak the frame for better performance. The welds are super smooth and stealthy, giving it a clean, refined finish that wouldn’t look out of place on one of their top-tier carbon bikes. It’s a complicated design, yes, but it’s come together beautifully.
In concept they've taken what they learnt from the Neat, the trail bike and the Dune, the bottomless pot of smashing rocks, added a new alloy frame and combined all the best parts of both. This gives you a very capable trail bike with a lightweight motor at a much lower cost.
The Suspension Platform
Like the Neat, the Mondraker Sly has 150mm of rear suspension paired with a 160mm fork. Using Mondraker's newly updated Zero suspension system and still using a short lower link and a rocker to drive the shock, this version has a much lower shock mount to help fit longer dropper posts which we've traditionally found to be an issue on the older bikes.
The rear end on this bike is especially good, it tracks the ground beautifully and the way it carries speed is awesome, Mondraker has done a fantastic job with this and has obviously taken some inspiration from the Mondraker Factory racing team's input.
Sizing and Geometry
Mondraker has gone a step further than most with the sizing, we've now got 5 sizes from small to XL, and the standout is the M/L which replaces a traditional large, with a reach of 480mm and a seat tube length of 43. It'll fit a rider normally on a medium who wants a longer reach and if you normally ride a large it'll give you a super low standover. The reach on the new large is a roomy 500mm (which is the size of some brand's XLs).
The bike comes with 455mm chainstays on all sizes and features a super long head tube on the large and XL giving a mega-high stack which you'll love if you're tall and normally run massive riser bars.
The overall geometry is progressive even for modern bikes where big sizing seems to have started to slow down. This gives the bike a really nice descending feel, putting your body noticeably more upright, just make sure to push on that front wheel when it gets hairy.
We've spent lots of time on the Neat and for us, it represented something unique, a cliché but it really didn't feel like an E-bike. It'll still pull you up a hill but you don't get that pulling away from you feeling when accelerating and braking hard that you get on a full bike E-MTB. Yes, you'll not go as fast and no the battery won't last as long if you're riding with full-power bikes but you'll also not feel one step away from E-mobility bikes.
The build kits
The Mondraker Sly comes in two build kits. We won't go in to too much detail here, just what we think is important:
Mondraker Sly R 2025: RRP £5,299.00
- Blue frame
- Rockshox Deluxe Select+ rear shock and a Rockshox Psylo Gold RC fork.
- Sram DB8 stealth 4 piston brakes.
- Mavic E-CrossRide 29" wheels.
- Sram S1000 Eagle AXS T-Type Drivetrain.
- Maxxis Minion DHF 29x2.5 Exo+ MaxxGrip tyre on the front, Maxxis Minion DHR II 29x2.5 Exo+ Maxxterra tyre on the rear.
Mondraker Sly RR 2025: RRP £6,199.00
- Black frame
- Fox Float X Performance rear shock and a Fox 36 29 Float Performance GRIP fork.
- Sram Code Bronze Stealth 4 piston brakes.
- Mavic E-CrossTrail SL 29" wheels.
- Sram GX Eagle AXS T-Type drivetrain.
- Maxxis Minion DHF 29x2.5 Exo+ MaxxGrip tyre on the front, Maxxis Minion DHR II 29x2.5 Exo+ Maxxterra tyre on the rear.
Both bikes come with Mondraker's Onoff finishing kit with the S3 on the R and S6 on the RR representing a better build on the more expensive model. Both bikes use the same frame, motor, battery and interfaces
At Biketart, we love a customized bike. If you want one and would like to change any of the parts, let us know and we'll happily put a package together.
Bosch Performance Line SX Motor
There are two types of E-biker. The ones that come from Moto, want all the power, no effort and to just enjoy riding downhill as much as possible. The other end is the mountain bikers, coming off light bikes that want the same thing but don't want to lug around the extra weight. The weight gives a stability and plushness that really feels great but you lose so much of the nimbleness that makes riding a light bike fast so much fun.
Bosch is a huge player in the E-Bike market and lends a lot of time-earned expertise to any bike fitted with one of their lightweight emtb motors. Weighing only 2.05kg, it's 20% smaller than the full-size Bosch CX motor and has a narrower Q-factor, adding to that normal bike feel.
The battery is a CompactTube 400wh which can be combined with a 250wh PowerMore range extender which would add around 1.6kg but give you a total of 650wh.
It'll achieve up to 55nm of torque and 600w of peak output which is dynamically adjusted to rider effort. This is notably less than the new DJI Amflow system but it makes the bike feel a lot more natural. The system provides more support at higher cadences and less when you're cruising keeping the noise to a minimum. This takes a little adjusting to and is a strange sensation at first but it does add to that 'normal bike feel' which is the point.
The Mondraker Sly is for a rider who wants some motorised assistance but still wants their EMTB to feel like a real bike. Go for the Neat if you want to splash that carbon cash, if you want a long travel bike, get the Dune If you don't want to break into a bank, get the Sly.
Check out Mondraker's website if you want to deep dive into the bike.
If you want to look at more Mondraker bikes Click Here
We've got a fresh stock of the Sly in the Biketart shop, you can find the bikes here:
If you've got any questions or need any help making an order, message our dedicated Bike Sales Team here.
And if you've got a spare 15 minutes here's a great video from Mondraker TV