Moustache Xroad FS 6

The Moustache Xroad FS 6 is suitable for a huge range of riding, from city trips to multi-day off-road touring. Common features include full-suspension, an independently suspended rear luggage rack and Bosch’s most powerful mid-drive motor. The latter now boasts more torque than ever and also brings the digital capabilities of the Bosch Smart System. The Xroad FS 6 is consequently firmly on the list of the most capable e-bike designs I have ever tried.

What’s so special about this design? As an ageing e-biker but (in my head at least) an adventurous one, this powerful, full-sus, step-through design hits the sweet spot for me. It mixes pure electric mountain bike style hill climbing power and pretty effective off-road performance with a good dose of comfort (I was very glad to see a dropper post as standard) and plenty of super practical heavy duty carrying capacity.

It won’t quite do what specialist e-MTBs or e-cargo bikes will do, but it goes a long way towards it and I’d wager that if money were no object, many e-bikers would plump for this design if they were restricted to just one bike.

Okay, at 30.6kg on my scales, it is weighty, but I don’t mind that too much as I rarely need to pick up this kind of bike.

First impressions

Clearly this is a hugely strong and beautifully finished e-bike. The single down tube has internal ribs cast into it for extra strength and every part of both the mainframe and rear swing arm look extra-sturdy but smoothly finished and there is not a weld in sight.

All the practicalities of the design look very well thought through too, including ideally placed and powerful front and rear hardwired lights (the front can easily be tilted up and down), rigid mudguards with equally rigid strut support (I’m often disappointed by pricey e-bikes with rattly mudguards, but not here), a rear shock unit with easily accessible adjustment controls, and an independently suspended rear rack that should take most designs of pannier, including Ortlieb’s proprietary QL3 system, plus the MIK HD racktop platform that will take child seats. As you would expect on such a strong design, thru axles are specced.

The only false note for me was the plastic guard around the headset area which acts as both a guide for internally routed cables and as part of the mount for the front light. The bike came partly disassembled, requiring installation of the cable-actuated dropper post and pulling the outer cable through this area to the correct length felt very stiff. This kind of cable integration may look nice but it only seems to hinder easy maintenance.

To get back to the main theme of the FS 6 – its superb blend of performance and practicality – I was pleased to see the battery was removable through the top of the frame rather than from the side or underneath. It’s by far the most straightforward method.

Cable integration aside, it’s clearly a superbly made e-bike and one I was itching to take out on the trail – especially since Bosch had just released a software update via the eBike Flow app that told me 120Nm of torque was now available on the system. So buckle up for a description of one of the most powerful motor assisted rides I’ve had yet…

The ride

Before we get into the hill climbing abilities of the FS 6, perhaps more important for riders like myself is the everyday comfort and power the bike offers. On roads, the power means you feel safe as you can easily make a quick getaway ahead of traffic at junctions and lights, whilst the plush suspension – adjustable to make the ride as soft or hard as you like – smooths out all but the very largest potholes and means hopping over big kerbs to get out of danger is a viable last ditch option.

I rode some of the Trans Pennine Trail which, whilst not at all hilly, had plenty of not brilliantly maintained off-road sections. Whilst on other e-bikes – for example thinner tyred gravel models – I might have had to watch my wheel placement a little, the FS 6 coped with any line I wanted to take and rolled easily over everything. It’s a really forgiving ride on and off road.

Having tried the Shimano CUES gearing several times, I’m now a firm convert as the changes were always reliable and pretty crisp, even under load. The brake pads took a while to bed in, but once they had, they proved to be reliable and smooth and extremely strong.

Talking of making e-biking easy and forgiving, dropper posts are on my list of things every e-bike should have. This particular example worked smoothly and quickly and made stop-start riding and getting on and off the bike easy peasy – not to mention being a boon on steep descents.

Unusually for a step-through model, the FS 6 comes in three frame sizes covering a height range from 5ft 1in to around 6ft 5in. What’s more, it has an adjustable angle handlebar stem, meaning you should be able to get exactly the right riding position for your frame.

In summary, it’s a great beginner’s off-road e-bike for anything that is below the level that might require a long travel hardcore electric mountain bike. At the same time, it has ferocious mid-drive power if you really require it, as demonstrated on my hill test where it easily blasted up a gradient in excess of 25 per cent. You could even whistle a tune as you were going up if you liked.

Perhaps more to the point, in terms of day to day riding, is the potential range you might achieve from the 600Wh battery. Riding my Trans Pennine Trail flattish-but-bumpy off-road route in the bottom two power levels – Eco and Tour – suggested a range of around 40 miles plus.

This means that for regular everyday riding, the 600Wh should be fine, and with the additional 250Wh capacity afforded by the Bosch PowerMore range extender, challenging day rides are possible too.

If you are taking on the kind of route that would require the 120Nm Turbo mode, a double battery system – as featured on Riese & Müller’s Homage – would be the best solution to range anxiety, but unfortunately that’s something Moustache doesn’t offer. Of course it’s no big deal (other than the extra cost) to carry an extra battery, especially on a bike as capable of load hauling as the FS 6.

Aside from that and the plastic headset collar, this is a bike that is so good it begs the question where do e-bike designers and Bosch motor systems go from here?

Bosch is incrementally yet determinedly enhancing its digital connectivity services – witness the recent news that there will be an official certification scheme for second-hand ‘Bosch bikes’ using the Smart System – but it would be nice to see a more varied hardware offering, perhaps in the areas of USB charging ports or even solar charging.

For now though, the FS 6 is a bike that has true mass appeal in terms of spec and performance. This version comes with a steep price tag of £4,499, but it is a premium product, so let’s take a look at what value that represents compared to other similar models out there.

The competition

If this bike is right at the edge of your budget, you can save £200 by opting for the non-suspended rear rack. There are then more significant savings to be had if you don’t need all that mid-drive power. Prices for the FS 4 (Performance Line PX mid-drive) and FS 2 (Performance Line) start from £3,499 and £3,899 respectively with much the same spec options elsewhere as the FS 6. There are also even less pricey front suspension only variants.

The bike that was a pioneer of this ‘do anything’ design, the aforementioned Riese & Müller Homage, appears significantly pricier (most online pricing starts at over £5k). This certainly makes the FS 6 look good value for what you get, but there is that dual battery option for the Homage if you have sufficiently deep pockets.

This field also now has much more competition than when Riese & Müller started the ball rolling in 2021. Other ‘go anywhere, do anything’ e-bikes of a similar mould include the Haibike Adventr and Velo de Ville’s FEB range. Haibike is competitive on price and if you shop around there are some good deals on FEB bikes too.

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Overall

If you want to ride wherever and whenever you want on a comfortable, high quality, powerful e-bike, and you want to carry plenty of stuff too, the Moustache Xroad FS 6 could well – if you can afford it – be the bike for you.