Mondraker Level
Wheel Size: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 170 mm
- Fork: 180 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, M/L, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 64° (Standard), 63.65° (Low)
- Reach (size M/L): 480 mm (Standard), 476 mm (Low)
- Chainstay length (size M/L): 445 mm (Standard), 446 mm (Low)
Frame Material: Aluminum
Price: Complete bikes starting at $7,699 USD (build details below)
Intro
The Mondraker Dune is built around the Bosch SX motor and a carbon frame, but it has a bigger and burlier aluminum brother in the family. That bike is the Level, which has seen a couple of prior iterations, but has always been positioned as a bruiser with lots of travel and a full-power motor.
I don’t always land in the bigger is better camp when it comes to full power eMTBs for day to day riding, but I do find more maximalist examples to be a ton of fun for “self-shuttle” style riding — when so many of the longest and gnarliest trails in my area require a pretty long and steep logging road climb, a big battery and motor can unlock multiple laps down some heavy duty descents.
That appears to be the type of riding the new Level is optimized for. With 170 mm of rear travel and 180 mm up front, the Level has the suspension to handle some burly trails, and a removable 800 Wh battery powering the Gen 5 Bosch CX motor with 100 Nm of torque and 750 W of power should make quick work of the trip back up. Let’s take a deeper look at Mondraker’s latest Level eMTB.
The Frame
The Mondraker Level is a rare example of an aluminum-only eMTB. Design-wise, it deviates from the vertical shock layout of the prior version, moving the shock to an angle that runs through a tunnel above the motor. Aesthetically, I find it a lot sleeker than the old one, and it bears more family resemblance with the Dune and other bikes in the Mondraker lineup. Mondraker also says that the new layout helps to lower the center of gravity and allows improved frame stiffness.
The Level goes big in its suspension travel, with 170 mm of rear travel via Mondraker’s dual link Zero suspension design matched to a 180 mm travel fork. Mondraker doesn’t publish the suspension kinematics, but they claim that the Zero layout has been tuned to give the Level some of the traits that we often see brands talking about: more sensitivity off the top, more big hit resistance, and more grip under power.
The Level’s suspension layout does position the rear shock in the line of debris fire from the rear wheel, but Mondraker has included some plastic fenders for protection. There’s also a little chainguide and updated internal routing that runs through ports in the front of the head tube (but don’t worry, no headset cable routing to be found).
On a final but important note, Mondraker has gone to a dedicated mixed wheel layout on the new Level. That seems to be the emergent standard for long-travel eMTBs, unlocking a bit more agility via the smaller rear wheel while avoiding clearance issues associated with packaging lots of travel with a full-power motor.
Drive System
The Level is maximalist in its suspension travel, and it goes big in the motor and battery department, too. The fifth generation Bosch CX motor shows up with the latest updates installed, making for a whopping 100 Nm of torque and 750 W of peak power, with up to 400% assist on tap. While all that juice is unlikely to be of too much help on twisty and tight singletrack climbs, it should allow for wildly quick fire road ascents when you can really open it up.
To make the most of the high-speed climbing that the new motor update unlocks, Mondraker has chosen a big 800 Wh battery. In case there’s still some (possibly misguided) range anxiety for some buyers, the Level can also accept the 250 Wh PowerMore range extender to pack a ridiculous 1050 Wh of total capacity.
Mondraker has also adopted Bosch’s Kiox 400 digital top tube display on the higher-end RR and XR models, which provides lots of information as compared to Bosch’s more basic top tube controller.
Fit & Geometry
Mondraker has made some meaningful updates to the Level’s geometry — despite its travel numbers, the old one’s 65° head tube angle wasn’t quite on par with the slack angles seen on modern Enduro bikes. There are also now five sizes available, with a new M/L size in the middle of the range, though in typical Mondraker fashion, reach is quite a bit longer than average for each nominal size. The M/L looks a lot more like other brands’ Large frames.
In the standard geometry setting, the M/L Level gets a 64° head tube angle and 480 mm reach, mated to a very tall 658 mm stack. A fairly steep 78° seat tube angle works with that stack height to create a presumably rather upright seated position, though we’ll have to see how that geometry all lines up in reality once we get a chance to try it for ourselves. The bottom bracket height is 353 mm.
Another big update over the prior Level is the inclusion of size-specific chainstays. There are two lengths on offer: 445 mm for Small through M/L sizes, and 455 mm for the Large and XL.
And then there’s the flip chip at the lower shock mount. That two-position chip allows for the standard geometry listed above, or a more aggressive Low setting. That Low setting drops the head angle slightly to 63.65°, shortens the reach to 476 mm, and increases the already tall stack to 661 mm while dropping the bottom bracket height by 5 mm.
Full geometry figures are as follows:
The Builds
Mondraker’s typical build taxonomy persists with the Level, with three builds from the baseline R to the range-topping XR. Each of the three gets a different suspension package built around a coil rear shock, but all get shifting and braking components from SRAM.
The Level R gets a RockShox Zeb Select fork and Vivid Coil Base rear shock, along with mechanical shifting via SRAM’s new Eagle 90 system. The brakes are SRAM’s Maven Bronze, which slow down e*thirteen Grappler Core wheels wrapped in a Maxxis Assegai and DHR II tire combo with the well-chosen DoubleDown casing.
At the next step up, the Level RR jumps to a Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 fork and DHX2 Performance Elite rear shock. Shifting goes to SRAM’s electronic and OEM-only S1000 Transmission setup, still with Maven Bronze brakes and e*thirteen Grappler Core wheels with the same Maxxis tire setup.
The top step of the Level lineup is the XR build, which sports an Öhlins RXF 38 M.3 fork and TTX22M.2 shock. Shifting is handled by SRAM’s GX Transmission, the brakes get upgraded to the Maven Silver, and the wheels update to e*thirteen’s Grappler Race rims.
Full build details are as follows:
- Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Bronze (220 mm front rotor / 200 mm rear)
- Fork: RockShox Zeb Select (180 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Coil Base
- Wheels: e*thirteen Grappler Core
- Dropper Post: OnOff Pija (S: 115-140 mm, M: 135-160mm, M/L: 155-180 mm, L/XL: 185-210 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM S1000 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Bronze (220 mm front rotor / 200 mm rear)
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (180 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Performance Elite
- Wheels: e*thirteen Grappler Core
- Dropper Post: OnOff Pija (S: 115-140 mm, M: 135-160mm, M/L: 155-180 mm, L/XL: 185-210 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver (220 mm front rotor / 200 mm rear)
- Fork: Öhlins RXF 38 M.3 (180 mm)
- Shock: Öhlins TTX22M.2
- Wheels: e*thirteen Grappler Race
- Dropper Post: OnOff Pija (S: 115-140 mm, M: 135-160mm, M/L: 155-180 mm, L/XL: 185-210 mm)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) The Mondraker Level appears to push both the drive system output and travel figures to the maximal end of the spectrum. How big and burly does it ride on the trail, and does it still feel manageable on tighter and slower trails too?
(2) The 800 Wh battery sounds big, but how does it hold up to the power demands of the very powerful new Bosch CX motor?
Bottom Line (For Now)
Mondraker has pushed the Level to the pointy end of aggressive eMTB designs, and folks who find themselves looking at other bikes and asking “but why not more?” may find just what they’re looking for in the Level. We’re planning to get one in for review soon, and are keen to find out how it stacks up. Stay tuned for more once we do.