FORESTAL CYON HALO

Andorran brand Forestal is thinking big; does its new e-bike back up ambition with ability?

- Danny Milner

£8,499 ● 29in ● forestal.com

NEED TO KNOW

• Lightweight e-bike with 150mm travel front and rear
• 60Nm torque from the Bafangbuilt EonDrive motor, paired with a 360Wh battery
• Carbon frame with asymmetric reinforcement strut,single-pivot swingarm and linkage-driven shock
• Full colour display integrated into top tube gives GPS mapping and enough data to make your head spin

 Last month we rode the new Trek Fuel EXe, with its smooth, silent, unobtrusive motor and uncorrupted handling. If that piqued your interest in the emerging category of mid-power e-bikes, but you’re after something a little more exclusive than a Trek, then young upstart, Forestal, might have just the bike you’re looking for.

Situated in one of the main streets of Andorra la Vella, a stone’s throw from one of the most challenging downhill tracks on the World Cup circuit, in just a few years it has grown from a seed of an idea into a serious operation with a range of three mountain bikes, two urban bikes and a number of further models on the way.

But that’s just the start, with bold plans to bring its carbon manufacturing completely in-house in the next few years. And rather than use conventional thermoset carbon construction techniques, it’s developing a cutting-edge process that uses recyclable thermoplastic composite. Spools of carbon sheet will be cut and pressed into moulds – milled on giant CNC machines in the basement – by a pair of high-tech and incredibly expensive bespoke robots. No more painstaking lay-ups or long curing times in an oven.