Test Report E-Mountainbike: Kreidler Las Vegas 2.0 650B

The city of sins has definitely little to do with E mountain bikes. Nevertheless, Las Vegas was the place where the Kreidler crew developed their idea of an all new E mountain bike that meets the “ideal” of the tourist megacity in Nevada: bigger, faster, further and most of all: fun.

140 mm of travel, Bosch mid engine and a flashy white and red finish with gold lettering – those are the striking characteristics of the newest development from the German manufacturer Kreidler, who named the bike after exactly this city. Our flight to Las Vegas was in late September in order to test the new Kreidler bike on Nevada’s bone-dry desert tails. How would the Kreidler Las Vegas E-MTB fully perform? Keep reading to find out.

Without a cover panel, the mid engine has an aggressive look, the massive screws and nuts lead however to a slightly less appealing look. The striking and excellently integrated chain guard is very well made.

Both the suspension fork and the rear shock are manufactured by Magura. The Magura TS 8 R offers 140 mm of travel and comes with the DLO3-System, offering three different shock settings “Open-Firm-Lockout”. With as little as one click of the control knob, the suspension fork can be adjusted to any terrain. The Magura TS RC rear shock offers the same adjustment range for the compression stages: Open-Firm-Lockout.

The equipment convinces with solid Shimano XT components: As standard, the Las Vegas 2.0 is equipped with hydraulic Shimano XT brakes with a 180 mm disc at the front and a 160 mm disc at the rear. Those considering longer downhill rides would prefer at least 180 mm on the rear, as this would increase the braking force and heat dissipation. The XT gearshift works flawlessly.

Embracing the newest developments within the sport of mountain biking, the Las Vegas rolls on 27.5” (650 B) wheels. The larger diameter, when compared with the usual 26”-wheels, brings along major advantages like improved rollover characteristics on humps, more traction, better deceleration and more comfort. The neglectable disadvantage of being more inert due to the increased weight from the larger wheels is hardly noticeable because of the nice E-assist.

An obvious equipment deficit is the Syntace P6 seatpost. For a bike with this travel range we would definitely appreciate a height-adjustable dropper seatpost like for instance a RockShox Reverb.

The Kreidler Las Vegas 2.0 offers solid riding qualities. The seating position is slightly stretched, not least because of the 100mm-long stem in combination with the 715mm-wide handlebar by Syntace. A 10-20 mm shorter stem would provide a little more comfort on uphills and notably more safety on downhills – but we will get to that later. The settings “Open-Firm-Lockout” of the Magura chassis are easily set, instantly noticeable and effective regarding the achievement of greater efficiency. While we always had the fork set to “Open”-mode, we sometimes set the rear suspension to “Firm” in order to prevent the rear suspension from bobbing which may occur due to pedaling influences on uphills.

Faster than expected, we slowly reached the peak while pedaling and sweating beneath the bright and hot sun of Nevada. The ascent was sporting, fast and demanding but still fun thanks to the turbo-assist Bosch E-powertrain. Being able to avoid the tortures of a conventional mountain bike was a real blessing! Still: Time for some more airflow – time for downhill! Before we started the descent, we lowered the seatpost into the seat tube to have more freedom of movement for the downhill ride.

The chassis convinced in all respects: The forgiving spring elements did a flawless job and provided a great deal of comfort. While the fork was a little too linear compared to the rear suspension both of them still presented well-defined deflection characteristics. The rear shock could have been equipped with a slightly wider adjustment range for the rebound damping; therefore, we performed the test rides with a completely open rebound.

With a long wheelbase of 1185 mm, the Kreidler Las Vegas aligns itself more with downhill bikes. What does that mean for the rider? Very narrow, winding trails are not among the favorites of the Las Vegas. Instead, it loves speed and fast flowing trails! Especially in fast sections you can rely on the Las Vegas because it runs extremely smoothly and offers great safety – not least because of the flawless chassis. As mentioned above, we would have appreciated a shorter stem for more safety and control on downhills.

At 455 mm, the chainstays are rather short for an E-MTB with a Bosch engine, which is a result of the rather compact construction of the rear suspension. With this reduced clearance, the bike is equipped with light Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires in the 2.25” version. While those are perfect for comfortable gravel path tours, they soon reach their limits in technical terrain (and especially on sandy and muddy grounds). Unfortunately, the scope to mount wider and deep-tread tires is rather limited.

Bottom line: The Kreidler Las Vegas was able to entirely convince all the test riders; a highlight for all was the exotic Magura chassis with its excellent functions. The equipment and geometry of the standard model are designed for comfortable tours, minimum weight and smooth running. The ones who like to go off-trail every now and then can increase the riding fun significantly with only minor changes: wider tires with more grip, a shorter stem (80 mm) and thinner grips do the job!

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Words & Photo: Robin Schmitt

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