The Forestal Siryon is my go to eMTB that I am riding right now. If you don't know much about the bike, check out the Forestal Siryon full review we did. As mentioned in that review, I really like the spot where the Siryon sits in the world of E Bikes. It's what is currently a part of the lightweight or half power e-bike category with mine weighing in at 43 lbs, as pictured here. The Siryon is a 170mm travel front and rear machine and it really loves to ride steep, chunky enduro style trails. Over the last few years, it seems like many of our local riders have gone from riding normal enduro bikes to long travel e-bikes. After all, it's easier to get to the top and you can get in more laps while staying fresher on an e-bike. It's pretty much the best of trail riding. For myself, I definitely took a bit longer to hop on the train with my riding group for two reasons. Firstly, I really enjoy pedaling and just riding my bike. Secondly, there were not any bikes that really sparked my interest, especially bikes that we stock. I had ridden a handful of e-bikes at this point but I always felt like I was being ridden by the bike and I couldn't quite give the input I like to when riding. One thing to note is that I am 150 lbs and most of my riding group is in the 180-210 lbs range. This might not sound like much but when you take a percentage of bike weight to body weight, 150 lbs of human meatsack to 50 lbs of a full power bike isn’t a great ratio for throwing a bike around.

Once the lighter bikes started to come out I tried a few of those. I took a friend's Specialized Levo SL on a week-long trip and I became more intrigued with this platform. I could ride it more how I wanted to. The ratio between bike weight and body weight was much more even. The only thing was I would get smoked by everyone else on the full power bikes. So I still held out a bit as nothing really ticked the boxes for me. This all changed when I saw the Forestal bikes, the message behind them, and what they were able to achieve with their platform. I started to look at the power numbers, weight, and specs. It also just so happened that a friend who we had worked with previously went over to help with sales at Forestal and reached out to Worldwide Cyclery. I immediately wanted to ride a bike and try it out. On the first ride I knew this bike had the potential to be my perfect e-bike. I could throw it around how I wanted, I could keep up with all the rest of the e-bikes and it had plenty of travel to ride all of our rough enduro style trails we have around here.

After riding our first test bikes for a bit, I knew I wanted to set this bike up the way that I prefer. I changed a few things like tires, rotor sizes went up, I installed a longer dropper post, and of course SRAM GX AXS came on board. Since then, I have been riding this bike on all of our e-bike rides, testing out how much time I can get from it, putting it up against pretty much every other e-bike out there with every type of motor. I can just about keep up with full power bikes in ECO mode and I can get roughly 3,600-3,800 ft of elevation gain on the bike. Depending on the route, if I can pedal spots with the power in OFF mode I can get more. I've gotten up to 4,800 ft of elevation gain by doing this in certain areas. Needless to say, I am stoked on this bike and I've gotten everything dialed in after riding a Forestal for the last nine months. The past two months of riding on this bike have been some of the most fun I've ever had on a bike.

I'm currently riding a size large Siryon, but that is more recent. I originally got a medium and spent about five months on it. In the review, I was on the Coral colored medium frame and was having a blast. Sure, it was super playful, the wheelbase seemed more manageable, and the chainstay was shorter so I could hold manuals easier. Long story short, I spent the end of summer riding the Crestline RS205 downhill bike which had a reach of 480mm with a chainstay of 445mm. Once I got back from some of those trips and jumped back on the Forestal it felt small and not as stable as the Crestline did. I looked a bit at geo and interestingly enough the large Siryon is super close to the Crestline with a 488mm reach and 446mm chainstay. So I decided to swap out the frame for a Large and build it up with a few beefier parts that I like.

The Forestal platform has been great with 170mm of travel and the simple yet consistent linkage system of the Twin Levity Links lends itself to a smooth feeling while providing enough support for the steep and rough trails I take this bike on. The single arm rear end might look a touch different but there should be no doubts about how stiff it is. I haven't felt any flex and it also means that there is almost no chain slap so the bike remains super quiet, something I love. The integration of the screen into the frame is also super clean because it means there isn’t a cluster on the bars. That’s also nice because it isn’t something to get hit or ripped off should you send it a little too hard. Lastly, it uses a universal derailleur hanger so you can easily replace that when you bend the derailleur or hanger.

Suspension is always important, but I think even more so when riding an emtb on enduro and downhill trails. When I first got the Forestal it came with the stock 2022 Rockshox Lyrik Ultimate and 2022 Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate. Both are good bits of equipment, but I knew from riding the old ZEB and the new ZEB that I needed the most recent one on my bike. So now I am currently running the 2023 RockShox ZEB Ultimate in 170mm and the RockShox Super Deluxe Coil Ultimate in the rear. The new 2023 RockShox feels really good and the changes to both the fork and shock make a huge difference. Having ridden and tested the 2023 ZEB I knew I could get that set up pretty fast.

To me, RockShox is always a bit easier to get dialed in than other brands. I've also spent a lot of time on RockShox over the past five years or so. The ZEB on my Siryon was no different. After my initial setup, my pressure was solid and the rest was just fine tuning some compression and rebound to make sure I can keep the bike in control. I weigh about 150 lbs and I ended up with 59 psi in the fork with two tokens, three clicks of HSC from closed and 12 clicks of LSC from closed with rebound also at 12 from closed. The new ZEB and new air spring handles pressure quite a bit differently than the previous model. I think I dropped about 10 psi and one token from a 2022 ZEB to a 2023 ZEB.

The RockShox Super Deluxe Coil for 2023 has some major upgrades. The main two are HSC adjustments and the Hydraulic Bottom Out adjustment. Both are some of the main reasons why I wanted to run the 2023 Super Deluxe Coil. The Forestal isn't the most progressive bike out there so this coil with the adjustments really helps me get the feel that I am looking for. The Hydraulic Bottom Out really does its job and is a super noticeable adjustment. For me, I run that all the way in or closed so I have the max amount of HBO possible. I am running a 350 lbs spring with one turn of preload. My LSC is two with HSC at two, both from closed, and my rebound is at seven. While I still bottom out on heavy hits or g-outs, the coil with these settings really make the bike handle super smoothly and predictably. With the Forestal having a bit more weight than other enduro bikes, getting suspension dialed in seems to be even more necessary so you don't get bounced around. Having both HSC and LSC front and rear really allows you to tune in the needed adjustments so you can ride hard downhill on a bike that weighs 41+ lbs.

To me, the front end and contact points are the most important parts on any bike. If I do happen to travel without a personal bike, I'll bring a cockpit setup so I can throw that on the bike and immediately be much more comfortable. This comes down to the same grips, same bar width and sweep, and, of course, same stem length. Each of these are very important and if I use my preferred setup, I can pretty much get any bike to feel good.

Starting with what you touch, the grips. I am running the Trail One Components Hell’s Gate Grips. I have been running these for two years now and really like them. They are a bit thicker than other grips on the market and I feel as though I get less hand fatigue and arm pump by not having to grip a thin grip. The extra cushion is really nice in the rough terrain. On the Siryon, I chose to run the Trail One Components Crockett Carbon bar in 35 mm rise. Going with the higher rise helps keep my weight back on the steep stuff and puts me in a nice, balanced position on the bike. I also run my bars at 760mm wide. Just recently I went up on my bar width from 750mm to 760mm on my big travel bikes. I just felt more stable at speed on the slightly wider bar. The last bit of my cockpit is the Trail One Components Rockville stem, and changing from my norm of 40mm, I choose to ride the 32mm stem on this bike. When I went up from a medium to a large the reach got quite long, so to bring it back a touch and also better match the feeling on my Crestline DH bike, I installed the 32mm stem.

I have been using the same model of pedals and saddle for a long time. With my saddle I ride the Fizik Anteres, regular width. I've had the Anteres on all my mountain bikes for seven or so years now. The shape just works for me. I can do long days or sometimes ride without a chamois, so why fix what isn't broken? For pedals, I just recently switched to Time Speciale 8 pedals, having ridden Shimano for a decade. I tried CrankBrothers twice but just couldn't get the right feel for me. I wanted to try another brand of pedals to rid my bike of said current brand. I switched all my bikes over to Time pedals, with my mountain bikes getting the Speciale 8. If those work really well maybe I'll go with the 12s next. So far so good. The Time pedal feels like a perfect balance between Shimano and CrankBrothers with the ability to adjust the tension; they seem like they will do the trick for me.

I'm not too picky on brakes. I seem to get used to just about anything I have ridden in the past few years. While I have spent the most amount of time on SRAM Code RSC, my medium Forestal Siryon came with Magura MT7 and I immediately got used to those and really liked them. When I swapped frames, the large frame had the Magura MT5 routed through the frame so without causing more work I tried these out. So far I really like them. I bumped the rotor size to 200mm front and rear so I can keep solid braking control on long and steep descents.

Something that needs to be thought about when building a burly eMTB are the wheels and tires. If you are riding aggressively I recommend having the toughest wheels and tires possible. You have a motor to help you get to the top of the hill, so having all the protection you can get while headed downhill is needed. For wheels, I am running the Crank Brothers Synthesis Carbon E bike wheels. I spent a lot of time on the trail bike version of these wheels a few years ago. They provide a really good balance between stiffness and ride feel with the front and rear rims having different dimensions and carbon layups. The front wheel has a bit more compliance and is a little wider while the rear rim is stiffer and a touch more narrow. With no issues or damage in nine months of riding, I think these will stay on for a long time.

Moving to tires, I spend 90% of my time on Maxxis tires. They are the standard for grip, casing feel, rubber compound and predictability. That was until I tried out the new Continental tire range. While the names of the tires are a bit out there, what isn't out there is how these tires ride on the trail. Their main mixed terrain tire model is the Kryptotal, which is made in a front and rear version. This really comes close to matching my Maxxis tire combo of the Assegai and Minion DHR2. I also wanted to try the Xynotal in the rear as that is a bit faster rolling and reminds me of the Maxxis Dissector tire. Having ridden both, I found I really like the Kryptotal Front up front and Xynotal in the rear, both in the Downhill casing and the softest rubber compound Continental offers. I find the Continental tires to be extremely predictable with good grip and speed and the casing also doesn't flex too much. So far this is the only tire that comes close to Maxxis. Now that I’ve spent about four months on these tires and have a good feeling for the Contis, I am curious to throw on some Maxxis after for a little comparison.

I have been riding a SRAM drivetrain almost exclusively since 1x11 came out in about 2012/2013. So, no surprise that I keep it going here. A few changes with the e-bike and some new brands but overall it's a SRAM setup. While there are E-bike specific drivetrains, once you ride AXS and get used to it, it's very hard to go back. Spoiled? Yes. Do I care? Not too much.

SRAM GX Eagle AXS is the heart of the drivetrain, with the GX rear derailleur and GX controller. I then have a SRAM X01 Cassette in 10-50t. I felt like I didn't need any more range considering I have a motor to help. The chain I am running is a SRAM X01 chain paired with a 32t SRAM chainring. Pretty basic setup here that gets the job done and while the X01 or XX1 rear derailleur save some weight, that isn't a concern on this bike and I am much more likely to smash this derailleur into a rock or crash, so keeping the replacement cost down is always a good feeling.

Last bit are the cranks. I recently swapped all my bikes over to 5DEV eMTB cranks and haven't looked back. There are three reasons why I love these cranks. The main reason is all the shorter crank length options. On my pedal bikes, I have been trying out 165mm cranks and those have been really awesome. For the e-bike, I am now trying the 160mm crank length on here. It has been a huge improvement and I’m really liking that. That is reason one: short crank length options. Reason two is how they machine the end of the crank. Not only are the cranks shorter but they also have the least amount of material around the pedal area out of all the cranks I've seen. This greatly reduces the chances of pedal strikes, so much so that I have barely touched the crank arms and now just strike with my pedal or shoes. The last reason is simple: made in California, really cool color options and just as a whole they look badass.

I did a full review on the stock Forestal Siryon a few months ago. This is just a quick review on how my bike is set up. My goal for this bike was to have pretty much the burliest setup to ride our enduro and DH trails from the RockShox ZEB and RockShox Super Deluxe Coil, to the Continental DH casing tires, and full size rotors with the 35mm rise bars. For me, this is the perfect setup and the weight is just right, too. I can still throw it around as if it was a normal enduro bike, yet I can keep up with a lot of full power e-bikes for about 3500 ft or so. This setup gives me the ideal platform to go smash out some quick laps and put a huge smile on my face. If you are a hater on e-bikes, I just don't think you have ridden the correct one yet.