REVIEW – A few months back, I got to review my first electric bicycle, the Magicycle Jaguarundi. It is a folding electric bicycle. I love the bike’s power, but it did feel a bit cramped when I hopped off the seat and stood between the seat and handlebars. Since then, I have wanted to review a full-size electric bicycle. When Julie offered the Cyrusher Montta ebike, I jumped at the chance to review it. Read on to learn more about it.
What is it?
The Cyrusher Montta is a full suspension (forks and under the seat) fat tire electric bicycle. It has seven speeds and will assist with power up to speeds of 28 mph.
What’s in the box?
- user manual
- front headlight
- two side view mirrors
- pedals
- reflectors
- two bolts to attach the front wheel
Hardware specs
| Motor | 750-watt Bafang |
|---|---|
| Battery | 48 volt 17 amp-hour |
| Max Load | 330 lbs (150 kg) |
| Range | 43 miles (70 km) |
| Rider Height | 5’7″ ~ 6’6″ (170cm ~ 200cm) |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Design and features
On the back side of the battery, you will find a button and and LED light. Pressing the button and holding it will cause the LED to light up. A green light indicates that the battery is charged.
On the bottom right side of the battery, you can find the charging port as you face the bike. I noticed this plug was the same plug that was on the Magicycle. It may be a standard for these types of batteries. I personally hate these plugs as it is hard to get the plug on the power adapter in the correct position to plug it into the battery.
The battery pushes into the bottom of the frame running from the front forks to the crankset. The battery is completely encased by the frame except for the part facing the bottom of the bike. This gives it much more protection than on a bike with a completely exposed battery, as on the Magicycle Jaguarundi. The frame has a port that is covered by a rubber grommet. Removing the grommet exposes the battery’s charging port. This is a nice feature that will allow you to charge the battery while on the bicycle.
The display on the Cyrusher Montta ebike has to be one of the nicest I have seen. It is full color. It has the following display options:
- battery level and percentage
- headlight on indicator
- odometer, trip, max, and average speeds – triggered by toggle button on the left side of the handlebars
- speed
- Pedal assist level
- speed unit (mph or kmh)
- walk boost indicator
On the right side of the handlebars, you with find the Shimano 7-speed gear changer. There is only one chain ring up front.
You will find two control units on the handlebars’ left side. The one on the left has a button for the front headlight and a button for the horn. I like that the horn is electronic. It is pretty noticeable. The second control unit will let you increase or decrease the pedal assist level. The default levels are 0-5. On the bottom of the minus button, there is the power button. It wasn’t easy to find, and I had to read the manual to figure out where it was. Press and hold the power button, which will turn on the display. On the right side of the plus and minus buttons is the toggle button, which will let you switch the display from the odometer, trip, max, and average speeds.
The Cyrusher Montta ebike came with a nice LED headlight. It makes you more visible to cars, but I would get another larger, more powerful light if I rode at night.
The front shocks let you adjust the preload and will also let you lock them out if you wish. Preload adjustment is a nice feature. the Jaguarundi has front forks, but only a lockout adjustment.
The Cyrusher Montta ebike also comes with an under-seat shock. You can add more air via the port on the bottom right of the shock in the picture below.
Setup
This Cyrusher Montta ebike is a heavy bike. It weighs 74 lbs with the battery. Throw in packing and a box, and you have a pretty heavy package. You really should have a friend help you move the box to the place where you want to set up the bike.
I am a huge fan of how Cyrusher packed this bike. So many things come packed in styrofoam. The Magicycle bike had a ton of dead space due to how it was packed, and the box suffered some pretty severe damage. The foam packing in the Cyrusher box was very dense and did not let the bike or parts shift around. Opening the top of the box, you can see how densely packed the bike is.
I ended up cutting down the sides of the box to expose the entire piece of foam packing. In the picture below you can see the box where the tools and small parts are stored, the front wheel, and a window to the back side of the bicycle showing the kickstand.
Removing the Cyrusher Montta ebike from the packaging, I could see that all of the logo areas were covered in protective tape.
Assembly was super easy. I mounted the front wheel, twisted the handlebars around, and mounted them to the stem. I mounted the front headlight and the pedals. I was done with box opening, installation, and box teardown in about an hour and a half.
Performance
First off, let me state that the Cyrusher Montta ebike is not a cheap ebike. It is on sale right now for $1999. Compared to the Jaguarundi, the Montta costs $700 more. For that price, I would have expected to have a quick-release skewer for the front wheel. As I stated earlier, this bike is heavy. If you load it into the back of an SUV, you must take the front tire off. Pulling out a tool to do so every time is a big pain in the you-know-what.
I had to adjust the rear derailleur to get the gears to shift smoothly and properly. I also had to adjust the front brake caliper to keep the brake pads from rubbing on the front wheel rotor.
Now you are getting a much bigger bike than the Jaguarundi. Their website states that this bike is made for people five feet six inches tall and taller. I am five feet seven inches tall and have pretty close to a 32-inch inseam. Putting my leg over the bar is a pretty good reach for me. I can straddle it just fine, but pulling my leg back out when dismounting does require some concentration. In the pictures below, you can see me and my husband riding the bike. He loves the size of the Montta and feels much more comfortable in it than the Jaguarundi. He is right at five feet nine inches tall with a 32-inch inseam.
I took it for a ride down the same trail system I took the Jaguarundi. The Montta handled the off r0ad portion much more comfortably than the Jaguarundi. The rear suspension makes a difference in the smoothness of the ride. The fat tires let you roll over a lot of obstacles easily. The pedal assist seems to kick in more smoothly with less abruptness than I found on the Magicycle. That may be because of the difference between the 52-volt battery on the Magicycle versus the 48-volt battery on the Cyrusher.
The other thing that disappointed me was that the max speed I could go with throttle only on the Cyrusher Montta ebike was 20 mph compared to the 28 on the Jaguarundi. I contacted Cyrusher to ensure no governor was in place in the motor or computer. On the Jaguarundi, I had to modify a setting in the advanced settings to get it to go faster than 20 mph throttle only. Alas, there was no governor, and I was informed the bike would go up to 28 mph with pedal assist only. Of course, the bike will go faster if you are riding down a large hill (yes, I did this and reached a speed of 33 mph coasting downhill), but the motor will only assist up to 28 mph.
What I like
- It comes with rear-view mirrors and an electric horn
- Full-color LCD
- Front forks have preload along with locking adjustments
- Full suspension bike with under-seat suspension
- Easy to assemble
- Well packaged
- Chat in customer support was responsive and available during the day.
- Bright color choices on frames
What I’d change
- Make the front wheel come with a quick-release skewer
- Let the throttle only go up to 28 mph like other bikes if the user wants to.
Final thoughts
The Cyrusher Montta ebike may be the bike for you if you are 5 feet 7 inches or taller and have at least a 32-inch inseam. It offers a nice cushy ride with fat tires and full suspension. It has braze-ons for front and rear fenders or a rear pannier. It would make a great commuting ebike. I think they should have offered a larger 52-volt battery, and then the bike could go further faster.
Price: $1999.00
Where to buy: Cyrusher and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Cyrusher.
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I love the coloring on this bike. So sharp!
The bike is advertised as being suitable for 5’6″ or taller. Now that Ive bought it , Its saying 5’7″ or taller. The 1 ” makes a difference.
Regardless of what Pas setting I only get the speed of pas 1 . top speed is 11 mph. I have not been able to find , on line , any settings to correct this. The Manual covers very little. I would be happy with the bike if it came as described. I can live with it if the pas speeds can be corrected.
It’s me again. I have had nothing but trouble trying to get this bike set up. The front wheel bearings are dry so I don’t expect them to last long. Cyrusher’s reply to that was to take it to a bike shop, for the cost of this bike I should not have to pay to have it worked on. The second and most important , the bike will run the same speed, 11 mph, in every PAS 1-5. I was told to remove the battery and look for the controller, find the red wire to disconnect the speed limiter. I removed the battery, there are no wires , much less a red one.