Devinci E-Spartan Lite
Wheel Size: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 165 mm
- Fork: 170 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 63.5°
- Reach (size L): 480 mm
- Chainstay length: 436 mm
Frame Material: Aluminum
Price: Complete bikes starting at $6,099 USD / $8,199 CAD (build details below)
Intro
Devinci is a bit of an outlier these days in their commitment to North American manufacturing. While their range of carbon frames is made overseas and assembled in Canada, they make their aluminum frames — which form the majority of their lineup — in Quebec, Canada. In fact, they’re quite possibly the only brand out there offering aluminum, Canadian-made eMTBs.
We reviewed their E-Troy last year and also talked a bit about their E-Troy Lite, the lightweight sibling to the full-power E-Troy. Those bikes sat in an interesting middle ground of having fairly aggressive geometry numbers, but topping out at 150 mm of rear travel.
Well, the new E-Spartan Lite has officially entered the chat, and it too sports some fairly aggressive geometry while pushing the travel numbers a good bit higher. With 165 mm of rear travel and 170 mm at the fork, the E-Spartan aims to please eMTB shoppers looking for something on the more aggressive end of the spectrum. Let’s dive into the details and see how Devinci has gone about creating a bigger sibling to the E-Troy Lite.
The Frame
Like the E-Troy and E-Troy Lite, the E-Spartan Lite is a unique bike for its Canadian-made frame. It looks an awful lot like the E-Troy Lite with its Split Pivot-equipped four-bar suspension design, though keen-eyed readers will note that the rocker is a bit simpler and more angular. The rear suspension cranks out 165 mm of travel and is mated to a 170 mm travel fork. Also like Devinci’s other eMTBs, the E-Spartan Lite employs a dedicated mixed wheel layout, which is increasingly the chosen option for eMTBs.
Devinci doesn’t provide the suspension kinematics for the E-Spartan, but they do say that they’ve tuned the four-bar Split Pivot layout to suit both air shocks and coil shocks. Our experience with the E-Troy was quite good in terms of that bike’s suspension performance, so we’re curious to see if Devinci has strayed much from that bike’s more planted feel with the E-Spartan Lite.
Other details include internal routing with ports in the front of the head tube, plenty of burly frame protection along the downtube, and a substantial nylon motor shield to protect the Bosch SX drive unit. Tire clearance is ample as well, and Devinci says a 2.6’’ width tire should fit with room to spare. Devinci specs short 155 mm crank arms on all sizes to maximize ground clearance.
The frame comes with a lifetime warranty, too.
Drive System
As hinted by the “Lite” moniker, the E-Spartan Lite is equipped with Bosch’s lighter assist SX motor, which cranks out a maximum 600 W of power and 60 Nm of torque. The SX motor is mated to a smaller 400 Wh battery, though that can be augmented with Bosch’s 250 Wh PowerMore range extender.
Fit & Geometry
Despite having more travel, the E-Spartan Lite is awfully close in geometry to the shorter-travel E-Troy Lite. Unlike the E-Troy Lite which offers a size Small, the E-Spartan Lite offers just three sizes, from Medium to XL.
Using a Large as a reference, the E-Spartan Lite gets a 480 mm reach, 618 mm effective top tube, 63.5° head tube angle, and 77.5° effective seat tube angle. The E-Troy Lite measures the same in its reach and effective top tube lengths, and is just 0.1° steeper at the head tube. Chainstay lengths are similar too, with the E-Spartan Lite getting 436 mm chainstays across the size range (the E-Troy Lite’s measure slightly longer at 438 mm).
The Builds
While the geometry is similar between the E-Troy Lite and E-Spartan Lite, the builds diverge somewhat, with the E-Spartan Lite getting burlier parts choices in multiple areas. The E-Spartan Lite gets just two builds — Eagle 90, and GX AXS — both built around RockShox suspension. The less expensive Eagle 90 build gets SRAM’s Eagle 90 Transmission groupset along with a Zeb Select fork and Vivid Air Select+ shock, and SRAM also provides Maven Bronze brakes. The GX AXS build steps up to an electronic GX Transmission shifting setup, an Ultimate-level Zeb fork and Vivid Air shock, and Maven Silver brakes.
Wheels are from RaceFace on both builds, with the Eagle 90 build getting an Aeffect wheelset and the GX AXS build getting ARC30 rims on Vault hubs. Maxxis provides an Assegai DoubleDown MaxxGrip front tire and a DHR II DoubleDown MaxxTerra rear tire on both builds, too.
- Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Bronze (200 mm rotors)
- Fork: RockShox Zeb Select (170 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Air Select+
- Wheels: RaceFace Aeffect
- Dropper Post: TranzX (M: 170 mm, L: 200 mm, XL: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver (200 mm rotors)
- Fork: RockShox Zeb Ultimate (170 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate
- Wheels: RaceFace ARC30 rims, Vault hubs
- Dropper Post: SDG Tellis (M: 170 mm, L: 200 mm, XL: 230 mm)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) The E-Spartan Lite seems to take a lot of inspiration from the E-Troy Lite’s geometry while stacking an additional 15 mm of travel at the rear wheel. How does that change the E-Spartan Lite’s ride quality as compared to its smaller travel sibling?
(2) Given the planted suspension performance of the full-power E-Troy, where does the E-Spartan Lite fall compared to some others in its travel bracket in its balance of agility and stability?
Bottom Line (For Now)
Devinci’s E-Spartan Lite answers the call for folks who like the idea of a Canadian-made eMTB, but want a bit more travel than the E-Troy or E-Troy Lite have to offer. We’re curious how it will stack up compared to those shorter travel bikes in Devinci’s lineup, but also how it will compare to other big travel eMTBs with light assist motors.