Can a standard eMTB participate in a race like the E-Bike World Tour or does it have to be tuned to cope with the demands of pro racing? We took a closer look at the Haibike AllMtn SE as raced by Italian Haibike team rider Andrea Garibbo and found out more about his preferred setup.

Haibike AllMtn SE (Sonderedition)| Yamaha PW-X2/600 Wh | 160/160 mm (v/h)
22,58 kg in Größe L | 10.000 €

The first stop of the 2022 E-Bike World Tour was held as part of the 1st Flachau E-Bike Festival and we had the opportunity to take an in-depth look at the race bike of Italian Haibike team rider Andrea Garibbo immediately after the race, finding out more about his upgrades and setup preferences.
Andreas’ race bike is based on the special edition of the Haibike AllMtn SE, which was released in February 2022 to celebrate Haibike’s 10th ePerformance anniversary. The yellow decals of the Öhlins suspension and the gold-coloured SRAM AXS chain contrast starkly with the Haibike’s otherwise discreet black/grey full carbon frame.

Andrea GARIBBO | Born: 1989 | Nationality: Italian | Height: 1.68 m | Weight: 59 kg | Bike size: M

The tuning measures taken by Haibike team rider Andrea Garibbo

Cockpit:

At the cockpit, Andrea reduced the handlebar width to match his proportions and fitted a shorter stem.

Andrea shortened the standard Race Face SixC carbon handlebar from 785 mm to 760 mm as he found it too wide.
Shorter stem: instead of the original 50 mm stem, Andrea fitted a stubby 35 mm stem from SWITCH.

Suspension

For the 2022 E-Bike World Tour stop in Flachau, Andrea chose to rely on the standard suspension, which consists of an Öhlins RXF36 fork and an Öhlins TTX Air shock, both providing 160 mm travel. In rougher terrain with gnarlier descents, Andrea swaps the Öhlins fork with its 36 mm stanchions for a stiffer model with burlier 38 mm stanchions. He also swaps the shock for a coil variant of the same brand.

In Flachau, Andrea relied on the standard Öhlins RXF36 M.2 fork, providing 160 mm travel. He ran the air pressure at 95 psi in the positive chamber. Andrea had the ramp-up chamber pumped up to 214 psi, which Öhlins use in place of tokens. If you’d like to know more about how the Öhlins RXF36 fork performs, head over to our sister magazine ENDURO to check out the review.
The Öhlins TTX Air shock provides 160 mm travel at the rear. Andrea had it pumped up to 160 psi for the conditions in Flachau.

Motor

The Haibike AllMtn SE still features the Yamaha PW-X2 motor, providing a torque output of 80 Nm. In contrast, the new Yamaha PW-X3 motor isn’t just lighter, but also offers an increased torque output of 85 Nm. However, it’s not only the power of the motor that decides a race, but also things like the rider’s skills, pedalling cadence, etc. For the everyday heroes amongst us, check out these 11 tips and tricks to increase the battery range on your e-bike to learn how you can get the most out of your eMTB.
Andrea replaced the standard cranks with shorter 155 mm versions to avoid striking the pedals on the ground. Since it’s such a hot topic, we took a deep dive into finding out which is the ideal eMTB crank arm length in a dedicated article. Check it out here.

The Haibike AllMtn SE still comes with the Yamaha PW-X2 motor, providing a torque output of 80 Nm. Yamaha’s new PW-X3 motor doesn’t fit into the current frame since it requires a different interface. However, the Yamaha PW-X2 motor has a unique, punchy character, as we found out in our motor group test.
The chainstay protector isn’t missing because Andrea was looking for a way to save weight, it simply fell off during the race.
Shorter cranks: to minimise the risk of getting hung up on the pedals, Andrea swapped the standard cranks for shorter 155 mm versions, supplied by Italian brand MICHE.

Wheels and tires:

You can save a lot of weight on the wheels and tires by resorting to carbon instead of aluminium rims, and fitting thin-walled tires. However, doing so doesn’t always make sense in rough, off-road terrain. For the conditions in Flachau, Andrea stuck with the lightweight carbon wheelset from DT Swiss as on the production model. For extremely rough conditions, however, he’ll switch to aluminium rims from MICHE. Andrea decided to swap the standard MAXXIS Minion DHF EXO/DHRII EXO+ tires for models with a thicker, more robust casing. Up front, he chose to go with the thick and heavy MAXXIS ASSEGAI Doubledown, which he paired with a Schwalbe Big Betty featuring the Super Downhill casing at the rear. MAXXIS updated their EXO+ casing last spring, promising improved puncture protection compared to the previous generation. To find out more, check out the article we wrote about the MAXXIS EXO+ update here.
As already mentioned, when things get really rough, Andrea will switch from carbon to aluminium rims and fit a pair of Schwalbe Magic Mary Ultra Soft tires, which he inflates to 1.1 bar (16 psi) at the front, and 1.38–1.4 bar (20 psi) at the rear.

In Flachau, Andrea had the MAXXIS ASSEGAI Doubledown on the front inflated to 1.25 bar (18 psi).
At the rear, Andrea prefers the Super DH version of the Schwalbe Big Betty, which he believes rolls a little faster than its MAXXIS counterpart. He had it pumped up to 1.1 bar (16 psi).

Brakes, drivetrain and co.

Andrea saw no reason to change the high-end Shimano XTR M9120 brakes, 203 mm rotors, and exclusive SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS 1×12 drivetrain of the standard bike.

There’s a Shimano XTR M9120 brake and 203 mm rotor to help Andrea keep his speed in check at the front…
as at the back.
The 150 mm RockShox Reverb AXS dropper post…
… and Prologo Proxim W450 Sport saddle both conform to the standard spec of the Haibike AllMtn SE.
The standard SRAM XX1 AXS 1×12 drivetrain…
… hasn’t given Andrea any trouble yet, even in the harshest conditions.
Almost all pro racers have a spare tube taped to their frame.
Andrea relies on Garmin for his navigation.
The two-day “E-Tour of Salzburger Land” eMTB race with the defending UCI E-MTB World Champions Jérôme Gilloux (FRA) and Nicole Göldi (SUI) came to a close with an exciting stage around the centre of Flachau, with Andrea Garibbo coming in at a close second behind Gilloux.
Andrea on the trails of the “E-Tour of Salzburger Land”.

We wish Andrea Garibbo all the best for his next race. You can follow him on Instagram garibboandrea folgen.


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Words: Manne Schmitt Photos: E-Bike World Tour and Manne Schmitt

About the author

Manne Schmitt

As the proud father of Robin and Max-Philip, Manne has been there from the start and is the wise elder of the editorial team. He won his first cycling race in elementary school at a school sports day. After less successful attempts at football, he found his passion for cycling via endurance racing in 1989! The world of racing still consumes him and no one in the team knows the EWS pros better than Manne. As a former head analyst of a state agency, he knows how to do proper research and finds exclusive news that no one else has. He supports his sons in day-to-day business dealings as the authorised signatory for 41 Publishing – viva la familia!