Moustache Bikes 2017: Their Best eBike Range Yet

Moustache Lundi eBike

Everyone is currently talking about Moustache’s e-mountain bikes and no wonder they look amazing and ride even better but we are going to start by discussing everyone’s least favourite day of the week. Lundi, Monday for those who never did high school French, we all think it is a great looking bike.

Just look at the bike, it sums up everything you would expect a French bike to be. It is only missing a string of garlic and a packet of Gauloises. This would all count for nothing if it were not for the fact that these bikes have a great specification and work as well as you would hope.

Looking at the step over, you can instantly see why this model is a great choice for those of us with mobility issues. The range starts with the Lundi 9s. Now despite this being the entry level model, there is absolutely nothing entry level about this bike.

Moustache Lundi Configuration

Coming in at £2,199 you can instantly see where your money is going. The bike comes with a Bosch motor, as we have discussed before Bosch motors are industry leading (link to raleigh blog post). So we have French style but German efficiency, these both may be cultural stereotypes but there is a reason for them existing.

With the Bosch Bosch Active line system & 300wh battery which is good for between 30-60 miles. You will be able to use the bike for commuting, picking up some shopping or just cruising around the streets of your hometown. As a bike for commuting on you can see the definite Euro choices of full mudguards and fully integrated lights. Making this bike a complete commuting package.

Coming with Schwalbe’s Fat Frank tyres you will feel like you are floating over the potholed streets. These tyres are part of Schwalbe’s Balloonbikes range and the easiest way to think about this range is a cheap and easy form of suspension for your bike.

With a proper rear pannier rack, you will be able to carry up to 20 kg of weight. This could help speed up your descent down hills but thanks to Shimano’s M315 hydraulic disc brakes you can be certain that you will slow down and stop safely. Once you have stopped, the sturdy kickstand will make sure your bicycle stays upright.

Talking about staying upright, that is exactly how Moustache’s bar will have you sitting on the bike. You will not be hunched over like a racer on this bike. You will feel comfortable cruising about town. At the end of the day, that is more fun than wearing Lycra and forcing yourself into positions that a Yoga teacher would feel worried about.

Moustache Lundi Nuvinci

In the Fully Charged Picks, we also have the Lundi Nuvinci. Coming in at £2849, the main upgrade over the 9s is that this bike comes with a Nuvinci rear hub. The Nuvinci rear hub is magic. We really want to say literally magic here but we will let you see what you think. The Nuvinci rear hub is an internal gear hub.

That may not sound magic but it is also a continuously variable gear hub. This means that it has an almost infinite number of gear ratios. With a simple twist of the gear shifter, the hub will change resistance. Meaning you should be in the correct gear all the time for no effort. Tell us that is not magic?

Moustache Samedi Range

Now we will move onto a much more agreeable day of the week. The Samedi (Saturday) range is a huge range in Moustache’s catalogue. The Samedi range contains bikes that are very much in the hybrid category and some that will allow you to get out and properly offroad. The full on mountain bikes have been getting plaudits from everyone, including us.

So to understand the Samedi range we will have to look at how Moustache class the bikes. They go from trekking through Xroad to mountain bike. If you want to use traditional cycling parlance the trekking and Xroad are like your standard hybrid but with a motor.

Moustache Samedi 28 Brown

We will start by looking at the Samedi 28 Brown, coming in at £1899. This is the entry level bike in the Samedi range, much like the Lundi this entry level bike is many brands high-end bike.

It also carries off its brown paint job with a style no one would have expected. Especially, after seeing so many other brand’s attempts at doing a brown paint scheme. We just do not know how they make these bikes look so beautiful. Their design department deserves a raise is all that we can proffer. This might be why they call it bronze because it looks fantastic.

Low step through or traditional?

The 28 Brown comes in two variations. We have a traditional top tube version and a low step through bike. Both look great, so pick the one that suits your bodies mobility. On the low step over the battery is moved to the rear rack, the rack can still hold any pannier bags you want though.

Like the Lundi, the 28 Brown comes with many great features. Again we are looking at a pannier rack, full mudguards, lights and a high-quality kickstand. Once you have used a great kickstand you will never want to settle for a cheap one again. You will be fully equipped for commuting or taking trips out into the countryside.

In the UK you will be thankful for the Suntour Nex suspension fork. With 63mm of travel it has just enough to take the sting out of the road surface but not too much that you feel you are bobbing along when riding.

The excellent Bosch motor, we have mentioned Bosch motors are excellent before, is great for between 35 and 60 miles. This depends on power settings, hills, and remembering to charge the bike. This makes the bike great for a ride out along canal tow paths, just remember and take a bike bell.

Moustache Samedi 27 Xroad 1

The next model we will look at is the Samedi 27 Xroad 1. This is a carry on from the more city hybrid like of the 28 Brown towards the more full-on mountain bikes we will come to shortly. It is still a hybrid and still comes with that amazing Moustache riding position. Honestly, their handlebar is a work of art and makes riding seem so comfortable.

So for £2,199, what do you get over the Samedi 28 Brown? Well, you get different tyres, more importantly, we carry on our French theme and you now get Hutchinson tyres. Which may possibly be the least sounding French name ever.

Quality Tyres

With Hutchinson though, you get 160 years of tyre manufacturing experience. The Python tyres have a great all around tread pattern. The other beauty of these tyres is that you can convert them to tubeless. Tubeless bike tyres are a revolution.

As well as great tyres, you also get a motor that can get you that little bit further. This will be handy as this bike will be taking you to places you have never gone before. Have we mentioned that it looks good? Or, have you finally come to the conclusion that all Moustache bikes look great. This would be a correct conclusion.

The bike is also that little bit lighter. We all like a bike that is lighter. It is one of the most easily grasped concepts when we talk about why a bike is more expensive. There is a saying in cycling that is you can pick 2 out of light, strong and cheap. With this bike, we might be cheeky by saying it is cheap but for what it is, it is cheap. As such you can get all three in one bike here.

Moustache Samedi 27 Xroad 3

From here it is a little jump up to the Samedi 27 Xroad 3. The French do not believe in consecutive numbering systems. It is probably not stylish enough for them. Like the Xroad 1, the Xroad 3 comes in both a traditional top tube and a low step over version.

It costs £300 more than the Xroad 1 so what do you get for your money. Well, you get the same all in package, mudguards, lights, kickstand, and pannier rack. Now though you get Alex double walled wheel rims.

We can hear the excitement well up in you about that statement. It means that your wheels are stronger. If you take the bike off-road, and with the Hutchinson Python tyres why wouldn’t you, you can hit rocks and holes knowing that your wheels will stay true. Time has shown that round wheels are the best for cycling with.

Sram gearing

The bike has also moved over to using SRAM’s slick GX gear set. This gives you a huge ranging 11-42 cassette, you should never ever run out of gears on this bike. Like a few manufacturers who want to spec you the best bike for your money, you will see that the bike comes fitted with Shimano M315 brakes. This is because you are getting the best from both manufacturers for your money.

The bike also comes with an AXA Solid Plus lock. This will allow you to go anywhere and know that you can securely lock your bike up. There is no point in having an e-bike with great mileage if you come out a coffee shop and someone has decided to look after it for you.

Moustache Samedi 27 Xroad 5

We then jump up to the Samedi 27 Xroad 5. This costs £2849 and again comes with either a low step over or traditional top tube. We have the same great commuting and trekking accessories, including the AXA Solid Plus lock.

Now though we have Shimano SLX gears. SLX for myself is one of the underrated groupsets. It is bomb proof and the clutch on the rear mech is great. Simply put the clutch on, it has a clearly marked on or off on the mech, with the clutch on it is virtually impossible for your chain to come off on off-road downhill sections. It is one of those small things that makes life easier.

Great brakes

As you will now be coming down hills that little bit faster, the brakes have been specced up. They are now running Shimano M395 hydraulic brakes. These brakes are genuinely a fit and forget part. They are also more than acceptable enough for pulling skids with. Riding a bike should still allow you to retain a little bit of child-like wonder and pulling skids is all part of that.

We have also now jumped up in the Bosch catalogue. This bike like the other Xroad models runs a Bosch Performance system motor with high torque but it now has a 500Wh battery. This simply means that you can now go further afield again.

Now that we have looked at the Xroad models, we have the Samedi mountain bikes to look at.

Moustache Samedi Mountain bikes

The Samedi e-mountainbike range might be one of the most eagerly awaited line of bikes yet. Given the history of Moustache’s owners, this is hardly surprising. You do not rise to the top of downhill racing without picking up some knowledge.

This knowledge has been carried through into this range of bikes. Being one of the few brands of e-bikes that we can all manual through a rollers section, We would say that they have gotten their balance points and weight distribution sorted on these bikes.

Hidden Power

This is what Moustache call Hidden Power. Moustache has gone back to the drawing board and instead of just bolting a motor onto a frame, they have spent time designing ways to integrate the battery into the frame. Giving you a great handling e-bike, handling much like a standard bike. As such they have changed their mountain bike geometries and have lowered their centre of gravity. In a way, they have thought slightly outside the box, in order to bring you the best riding mountain e-bike.

Look at any of the Samedi 27 Trail bikes and they do not scream e-bike at you. They look like most other hydro-formed aluminium or carbon framed mountain bikes on the market. That means that Moustache has taken a lot of time to get the aesthetics of these bikes correct.

In order to do this Moustache had to pay attention to their suspension linkage. They have designed their own, to allow for ease of battery installation and to allow the suspension room to do its job.

Moustache wheels

On top of that they moved to Plus sized wheels and tyres. They used 27.5+, this is great news if you live in the UK. Plus sized tyres deal very well with UK mud, in fact they tend to let you bike float over the mud. They also provide loads of grip. It is very hard to crash a Plus sized bike, the tyres just never want to give up grip and trust us we have tried.

To allow the bikes to go Plus sized Moustache designed their own rim. This rim is tubeless ready. As we said earlier, going tubeless is a revelation,  so do it. There is no better feeling than looking at all the small white dots on your tyres after a day’s riding and realising that any one of them could have been the puncture that ruined your day.

As well as their own rim, they have also designed their own crank arm. They have made reinforced arms so that your cranks will be stiff. They will not flex even under off-road torque. You use more torque when riding off-road than you do on the road.

Fully Charged Picks

Fully Charged have picked out three bikes as our picks from Moustache’s mountain bike range. All of these bikes come with the same Bosch Performance CX motor and a 500Wh integrated battery. They all feature 140 mm of travel, in the UK this will be more than enough for everywhere. Except maybe the Fort William downhill track, feel free to prove us wrong. They also feature Moustache’s own rear shock, which is designed specifically for Moustache’s custom suspension linkage.

Moustache Samedi 27 Trail 6

One of the things worth noting is that the entry level, Moustache Samedi 27 Trail 6 weighs only 22.7 kg. This is the same as many brands hybrid bikes but now you have a full suspension frame, it should weigh more, not the same as, all for only £3,749.

The bike also comes with the Suntour Aion 35 RL suspension fork. This fork has been the revelation of the last few years. It is stiff and plush. It works and does not let you down when you need it. It is simply a great fork but without a cool brand image.

Moustache Samedi 27 Trail 8

We then jump up £100 to the Samedi 27 Trail 8. We are still avoiding consecutive numbers. Your main difference is that we have moved to a Fox Float 34 fork. Fox is synonymous with plush feeling suspension.

The other difference is that we have changed from SRAM NX to GX gears. Both options offer a wide range 11-46 cassette and 11 speeds but the GX is a little bit lighter than the NX. Both bikes feature Magura MT4 brakes, if they are good enough for Danny MacAskill, they are good enough for you.

Moustache 27/9 Trail Limited

We then have a big jump to the 27/9 Trail Limited. This bike comes in at £7,599. Many people may be scared of the price, I think it is a bargain. Occasionally I ride endurance XC races. My bike has a similar spec and costs a little bit more. I always get comments from people of “I hope the bike rides itself for that price”, well mine does not but this one can certainly help you out there. I now feel kind of short changed.

Your bike frame is made of carbon and not aluminium like the other models. This means the bike has a sub 20 kg weight. Even without a motor, this is light, with a motor, a battery, and a full suspension set up this is super light.

Coming with SRAM Eagle, you will soon get used to comments from people about how big your cassette is. You also now have a 12 speed groupset with a super wide range cassette, 10-50t. It looks ridiculously bling and changes gear amazingly well.

The Rock Shox RS1 fork is a dream. There is a reason it is fitted to many super bikes and this bike is indeed a super bike. It looks amazing in its black colour scheme, with the gold accents provided by the SRAM Eagle setup. It is a bike we could look at all day. It looks like a million dollars.

Now there is one thing that really sets this bike out as different from all the rest. It has a 29” front wheel and a 27.5” rear wheel. This is to make it’s handling the best it possibly can be. You will also find with this set up the bike should sail over any obstacle.

Moustache Friday 27 Black 5

We now only have one pick left to look at. It comes the day before the Samedi range. It is the Moustache Friday 27 Black 5. This bike is the bike for you if want to cruise to work in a suit and get back home quickly on a Friday evening.

As you may have guessed being a commuter style bike and coming from Moustache for your £2,949 you get a fully equipped commuter. We have a great Bosch motor and battery set up. Allowing you to have a reliable and hassle free ride to work.

By using a carbon fork and Schwalbe SuperMoto-X 27.5 x 2.35 tyres, the weight of the bike has been kept down. But the fork and tyre combination will smooth out all roads in front of you. With Schwalbe’s renowned puncture protection making sure you have reliable tyres for the journey.

Like all Moustache bikes, this bike looks great. You will look great sitting on it in your work clothes. Annoying the Lycra clad gang as you smoothly sail past them after a hard day’s work. This bike is a premium commuter and you deserve it.

There we go the Moustache range and at no point did we say “ I moustache you a question.” However, if you moustache us a question feel free to comment below or give us a phone on 0207 111 0977. You can even pop in and see us, we are not scary and we do respond well to offers of cake or coffee.