At 37.7 pounds, it’s only a few pounds heavier than my traditional mountain bike. And yet, with a motor capable of delivering 350 watts of assistance cleverly hidden in the bottom bracket, the new eElja is no traditional bike.
Over the past decade, Icelandic brand Lauf has become best known for its innovative suspensions. Instead of a traditional piston style, Lauf created a suspension system that is almost like two forks connected by a series of small glass fiber springs.
These days, Lauf is venturing into full bikes, recently releasing the new eElja electric mountain bike in one of two versions: the High Race construction, boasting carbon wheels, improved suspension and groupset, and carbon cranks; and the more conventional but still impressive Weekend Warrior model, which features alloy wheels, a higher center group and suspension, and alloy fenders.
I recently spent a week putting the eElja (pronounced “el-ee-yah”) Race model through its paces and was completely blown away by just about everything the bike has to offer. Then again, I expect to be blown away by a bike that retails for over $8,000. Still, based on everything I’ve learned about this bike, through riding and research, I’d say every penny of that list price is well spent.
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The Elja is fast and nimble on the slopes, and easy and at home on the climbs. It’s responsive when it should be and comfortable when it needs to be. It is also a very good looking bike.
Thanks to a good SRAM Eagle groupset that includes a SRAM AXS PODS wireless electronic shifter and a RockShox Reverb AXS wireless post, the eElja looks very clean, as it has only two cables (one routed internally), which operate the bike’s brakes. The eElja Racer comes out of the box with a RockShox Pike Select+ fork, boasting 140mm of travel, and a 130-mm RockShox Deluxe Select rear shock. The Race sits on E*thirteen Optimus Carbon Sidekick, tubeless-ready, six-bolt, XD freehub 29-inch wheels wrapped in 2.6-inch Goodyear Escape Max Trail Lite tires. And both Race and Weekend Warrior models come with a massive 12-speed cassette, ranging from 10 t to 52 t.
And yet, despite all the shiny bells and whistles (all of which are things you’d expect on a bike at this price), The bike’s agility is its defining feature. With most e-MTBs tipping the scales at more than 50 pounds, the Elja’s sub-40 pound weight makes it easy to maneuver on the trail. Perhaps just as important, it makes it easy to manage the trail also in those beautiful moments that we often don’t pay attention to: loading it into your bike rack, inserting it into your work stand, and even putting it away or removing it from your quiver. Especially if, like me, you store your bikes on wall hangers.
