Moustache Xroad 4 review – Bosch PX motor is a highlight

The Moustache Xroad 4 is a capable and fun e-bike that adds some back country capability to a bike that’s still happy on city errands. It’s a bike that Moustache says is “equally at ease on country paths as in the urban jungle” and I’d say that’s largely true. The bike is more capable off-road than I expected, and the spec is decent for the money with the Bosch PX motor the highlight. You’ll probably want to ask yourself if you actually need this amount of trail capability in your commuting bike – and maybe swap the seatpost if you do – but it’s an enjoyable all-rounder.

Moustache Xroad 4 – the build

The Xroad 4 is built around a low-step frame that’s available in hardtail and full-suspension variants. Moustache uses its extruded triple cavity tubes for extra stiffness. It doesn’t offer this bike in a diamond frame.

Our review bike is the hardtail, with an SR Suntour XCR 34 fork and a telescopic suspension seatpost.

You get a Shimano Cues 10-speed groupset with MT200 hydraulic disc brakes, and a full city package that includes Moustache double wall alloy mudguards and Axa/Spanninga front and rear lights.

There’s a rear rack that’s compatible with Ortlieb’s QL3 system on the sides and the MIK HD ecosystem on the platform for lots of carrying options. The gross vehicle weight limit is 160kg, which with a 26kg bike and me (100kg) leaves 34kg for luggage, which is likely enough even for heavily-laden excursions.

The bars are backswept, with ergonomic grips, and you get a Selle Royal Essenza saddle to sit on.

It’s a 27.5in-wheeled bike, and the 32-spoke wheels are shod with Schwalbe, Smart Sam off-road tyres.

Motor-wise, the Xroad 4 has the Bosch Performance Line PX system with a Purion 200 display and a 600Wh PowerTube battery (an 800Wh option is also available).

There’s nothing in the spec on this £3,399 bike that either stands out for being especially good value, or looks a bit cheap: it’s more or less what I would expect.

Moustache Xroad 4 – the ride

As much as it has a more aggressive look and off-road-capable kit, the reality is that this is a hybrid, and most people will be using a bike like the Xroad 4 predominantly on the road.

There’s nothing in the build that really causes a problem there. The tyres, though big, roll pretty well, and the fork with its 34mm stanchions is plenty stiff enough to be accurate and untroubled about town. There’s the option to lock it out if you find the long travel an issue. I didn’t do that. There is a bit of dive under braking, but overall the benefits of having a bit more give at the front for rough surfaces and potholes outweighed any negatives.

The bike turns in nicely, and steering is accurate and predictable. The big knobbly tyres can scrabble a little bit if you make sharp turns, but I never had any real issues. Braking is handled by Shimano MT200 hydraulic discs with 180mm rotors and this was faultless throughout, save for a slightly sketchy first grab of the brakes when I realised our review bike was running European brakes with the rear on the right…

According to Moustache, the bike is a “real cloud of comfort,” but to be honest I found it a touch mismatched. The Suntour fork is generally good, if a little bouncy at times, the suspension seatpost much less so.

I found it to be pretty sticky, and I suspect that the slackish seat tube angle has something to do with that, because when you sit forward in the saddle it’s okay, but when you’re in a more standard riding position it just doesn’t work that well. A parallelogram post would be a better option here. If you’re after real back-end give then there is also a full-suspension version of the bike available.

The saddle I found okay for an hour and more. It wasn’t a particular favourite, but it’s easily swapped if you don’t get on with it.

The ride position is not especially long, and the adjustable front end can be brought up and down to suit your taste and riding style. I never really thought about the position much on the road: it’s comfortable and neutral, and reasonably upright. It’s great for taking in the views whilst the motor takes the strain.

With its big tyres and 120mm suspension fork, the Xroad 4 presents as a bike that’s going to be pretty capable on some fairly serious terrain. So is it? Yes, up to a point. I’ve taken this bike on a range of rides, all the way up to trails I really didn’t think it’d be able to cope with, and the limits are mostly to do with the geometry and some of the equipment.

The Xroad4 has a leisure geometry, and that limits how much fun it is once things start to get serious. On steep off-road climbs, the relaxed seatpost puts your weight too far back and you start to lose the front wheel. If you do stall on something steep and technical, the weight of the bike is suddenly a very real issue when most of the time you don’t notice it at all. It’s a well-balanced machine.

The 10-speed Shimano CUES gearing has a range wide enough to tackle pretty much anything, although it’s not the slickest gearing setup you’ll find. Functionally, it’s fine, but it lacks the finesse of Shimano’s more expensive groupsets and it feels a bit clunky at times.

Going back down, the lack of a dropper seatpost makes it hard to get your weight over the rear wheel. It’s definitely not bad though. The tyres offer loads of grip and the fork has plenty of travel and is reasonably well-behaved. The limit of it being fun was further into the rough stuff than I imagined it would be.

Realistically, a bike like this is likely to see better-graded trails and the odd bit of more technical terrain and for that it performed admirably, especially with the assistance from the excellent motor.

I found that on rides where I knew I was going to encounter some technical terrain, the trick was to drop the seatpost a few centimetres. Sat down a bit in the bike, it was more predictable both uphill and downhill, and you don’t need the maximum efficiency that a higher saddle position gives. If you were planning to spend more time off-road than on, I’d certainly consider swapping the seatpost for a dropper.

Moustache Xroad 4 – motor system

This is the first bike I’ve reviewed with the Bosch PX system. With 90Nm of torque available, and assistance up to 600% of your pedal input, it’s a powerful engine indeed.

I took the Moustache up some of central Bath’s most savage climbs – there are some 25% walls if you know where to look – and I never felt like I was having to do that much work. Certainly the usual test of my commuting hill (1.5km at 5%, with a 12% bit) was a walk in the park.

I didn’t use Turbo mode all that much, as I found it a bit too poky away from the lights. I opted for Auto for normal riding, which is more progressive, and Tour mode was plenty on the flat.

This isn’t a bike where down the line you’re going to wish you opted for something with a bit more grunt, that’s for sure. The PX motor isn’t silent by any means, but it’s a bit less intrusive than a Cargo line or CX motor, and once you’re out of the higher modes it’s pretty quiet.

The Xroad 4 comes with Bosch’s new Purion 200 display, which is kind of like a Kiox display shoehorned into a bar remote. You get a proper 1.6in colour screen with a good selection of information available, and you can also customise what the display shows if you’ve paired your bike with Bosch’s eBike Flow app.

You can pair the Purion with another Bosch display if you want, or use your phone as a secondary display, but for me the Purion does everything I need. It provides access to the modes and all the basic information you want with a proper granular battery display to indicate the percentage of charge left. You can’t do some of the more complicated things, like turn-by-turn navigation on it – and given this bike’s possible use cases that might come into play – but I think that it does a great job for most riding.

This bike has a Bosch PowerTube 600Wh battery in the down tube, offering a claimed maximum range of 144km which, as always, is aspirational. Around lumpy Bath, and not being too careful with the assistance modes, I’d expect maybe 60km of range. In flatter environs, with a lighter rider, you might get near three figures.

You can add a 250Wh PowerMore battery extender to the bike if you think you’ll need it – if your plan for the bike is multi-day touring with heavy panniers, for example. The bike charges via a port in the bottom bracket and with a 4A Bosch charger you could significantly increase your range with an hour’s lunch stop, if the café is okay with you plugging in.

For most leisure uses, however, the range will be plenty and using the bike around town for running errands I was only really charging it up once a week. If you’re looking to head further afield than the supermarket then there’s an 800Wh PowerTube option too.

Moustache Xroad 4 – value and overall

At £3,399 the Xroad 4 is a decent investment, and for that money you’re getting more or less the level of spec I would expect. A lot of the spend goes into the Bosch motor system, and there’s enough left over for decent but not top end gears and suspension.

Of the bikes we’ve recently reviewed, Megamo’s Reach HT is a similar kind of machine but with the more powerful CX motor, and that’s £3,999.

Giant’s Explore E+ Pro 1 GTS uses Giant’s SyncDrive motor and packs in an 800Wh battery and better transmission for £3,799.

The Amflow TL Carbon offers a carbon frame and greater off-road capability for £3,199, but the service and warranty network for its more powerful Avinox motor isn’t so well developed, which may be a sticking point for some.

So the Moustache comes in about par for value, and it’s a versatile bike. If you’re in the market for something that you can pilot about town but also take further afield then this is one that you take a good look at. It’s well-behaved as a day-to-day errand bike or a commuter, and it’s more fun than I was expecting when things get a bit more gnarly.

> Trek stars: The best electric touring bikes