Forbidden Launch the new Dreadnought E

A brand known for their hard charging designs, it was something of a surprise for many last year when the first E-Bike from Forbidden was based around their shorter travel Druid platform rather than the Dreadnought. There wasn’t long to wait for the big bike in the end though, as today Forbidden unleashes the long travel monster that is the Dreadnought E.

With 170mm of high pivot rear travel and a 180mm fork out front, the brand new Dreadnought E has been built to supply confidence and speed no matter how wild the terrain gets, or how high the speeds become. An unapologetically downhill focused bike, it combines a tall front end with slack angles and mixed wheels to create a ride feel that comes closer to their Supernought world cup race bike than anything else. 

For those used to looking at trail bike geometry charts, the Dreadnought E is going to look quite unusual at first glance, whereas for those more familiar with DH bikes everything will seem more conventional. Reach figures are unusually short compared to a ‘normal’ e-bike but the key thing to understand is that as bikes tip forward on steeper ground, reach numbers grow as the front end falls away. That in practice means your bar position on any bike will feel relatively further away and lower as trails get steeper, so a bike can either be designed to fit optimally when things are steep or flat, but not both at once. With this bike, Forbidden have gone squarely for DH performance, with the rider standing upright behind the bar in a strong and centred position.

Some numbers from the S3 (Large) to give that context are: 445mm Reach, 648mm Rack, 1295mm Wheelbase, 463mm Chainstay, 63’ Head Angle. All of that points to a bike that’s probably not the best thing for your local blue trail, but one that will absolutely charge through rougher and steeper ground, with geometry closer to the Supernought world cup DH race bike than the regular Druid.

The suspension design follows a similar path, with a very different set of numbers to those that you’d find on most other manufacturers trail riding E-Bikes. There looks to be just enough anti-squat at sag (how much the chain tension locks the shock or not) in the climbing gears to keep the bike decently upright and efficient, while the values drop away dramatically in the harder gears, especially deeper in the travel.

That in combination with the idler placement means that in the descending gears pedal kickback is reduced almost to zero, a number you’d hardly ever see on a regular mountain bike outside of the DH world. What those figures produce is a system where rear wheel impacts will have almost no effect on the chain and cranks at all, creating what’s likely to be an amazing smooth ride through the rough. Anti-rise is also super low, so even under hard braking, there should be very little change to behaviour, or locking out of the shock. 

The motor system is bang up to date, with the Dreadnought E using the Avinox M2S and M2 motors. You’d have to have been hiding on the moon to have missed the discussions around the motor online, but they are currently the highest torque and power systems out there with the M2S putting out a massive 130Nm of torque and 1300 watts sustained power in Turbo, with even more available on Boost.

Considering the power available, traction is surprisingly easily controlled by rider effort and both are hugely tuneable via the Avinox app. There are battery size options, but all our incoming bikes will have the larger 800W version installed. 

Elsewhere around the frame, there are plenty of quality touches. SRAM AXS mechs come wired into the main system so no battery charging is required for them, and clever clamping cable ports allow for any routing options you like while also eliminating rattle. The AXS versions also open up the option for shifting without pedalling, which as well as letting you switch gear while descending but also can help to reduce drivetrain damage and wear.

The idler pulley is an e-bike specific 18T steel wheel with two enduro bearings inside. That may cost a couple of grams but it should be a good long lasting part more than able to cope with the loads of the bike. All frames have good dropper insertion, with even the S1 able to take a 180mm post and every bike can also carry a full size water bottle. 

As normal for Forbidden, there are three tiers of bike to pick from. The Tier One bike above comes with a full SRAM XO group, Crank Brothers Carbon wheels, Maven Silver brakes and RockShox Ultimate suspension, while the Tier 2 build switches to Fox Factory with Maven Silver brakes, a GX AXS drivetrain and an alloy wheel set. 

Finally the Tier 3 bike uses RockShox Select Plus, with Maven Base brakes and a SRAM Eagle 90 drivetrain.

Tier 1 bikes are £10,399, Tier 2 is £9399 and Tier 3 comes in at £7999.

We’ve a mix of specs and size on their way to us, but almost certainly not enough, so if you think one of these might be for you then get in touch and reserve yours before they all vanish!

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